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CBS: A'Colorado farmer said he was hailed on every time our planes flew by last year...implying, we were causing it to hail on him. 1iKWM: Pathetic hogwash---CBS "making" news rather than objectively reporting it. CBS gave credibility to an accusation instead of taking time to find out if there was any basis in fact. If CBS had done its homework, they could have found out the farmer was hit by a supercell, most likely, on May 30, 1995. Even the Dallas-based CBS crew doing the filming here might have remembered what happens if you're caught under a supercell---the costliest thunderstorm in U.S. history was a supercell which hit the DallaS-Ft. Worth area about a year ago, May 5th 1995, killing 16 people in Dallas and doing over $1 billion damage in Ft. Worth. Hail-sizes along its 40-mile long hail streak were as large as softballs. - :. - , , , " We're sorry to report the WKWM Program hasn't yet reached the capability to create supercells by seeding; otherwise, both southwest Kansas and western North Dakota would be known as the supercell-capitals of the USA, which we aren't. CBS: The U.S. government has put no funding into weather modification research this year. 1iKWM: True, but misleading. It may be news to Dan Rather, but for all of us in this field, it isn't. Significant funding for research hasn't been happening for years. Budget cuts forced the only such program to end recently and even that one inVOlved cost-sharing with states. Other non-related government programs have been cut, too. Currently, some legislators are trying to reinstate it. CBS: The National Weather Service indicated the storms seeded by our pilot during the filming produced-smaller hail than from storms outside our target area. ' WKNM: True, but we ended up furnishing CBS this information, having received it from of the National Weather Service in Dodge City. They didn't get it themselves.' What stories were missed? How about: (1) the evaluation done by the Kansas Water Office showing significant reductions in long- term hail damage worth millions each year to Southwestern and Western Kansas, or (2) crop-hail insurance rates dropping lower compared to surrounding areas, especially Colorado, or (3) recent area survey results showing rural landowner support, overall, of 3-to-1, or (4) program expansion into Northwest Kansas is planned for next year with state and local support, adding perhaps 9 - 10 more counties, or (5) that this prOgram is 22 years old? OPERATIONS: Two cold fronts swept into the target area in the early to mid-part of the week leaving record low temperatures in its wake. Warming began toward the end of the week as another front moved into the region. Severe storms occurred early and late in the period with hail suppression performed on all seeding days. All times listed are COT.