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Some things never change, it seems. Many years ago someone said, “There’s never a good day for a funeral!” That statement has been proven out many times over the years and last Friday was another proof. We buried my brother, Bob, in Gretna, Nebraska. The day was cold, wet and just plain nasty . . . the gravel road on the way to the cemetery was under construction . . . and you had all the understandably sad feelings to go along with it. Then, later in the day, we had to dodge the tornados that hit Lincoln and Waverly on the way home . . . and...
I was reminded last week of a bit of history of the Lawrence community that seems to have been mainly lost over the years. It involves an action of Lawrence High School students during World War II. More than 80 years ago, in the early years of WWII, after Pearl Harbor, “The Lawrence Locomotive” was not being printed on a regular (weekly) basis. As such, much of the local news was not being circulated. The students at the high school started putting together a “newspaper” which they called: “The Panther.” I know from my days in this high s...
I have attended what I consider “my fair share” of funerals over the years. There are several that stand out to me for one reason or another. Funerals of family members, of course, maybe stand out the most, but one of the first one I remember was not long after I returned home to southcentral Nebraska after time in the military, the East Coast and St. Louis. It was the funeral of a cousin, Art Hoelting. What impressed me the most was the number of people at the funeral in the St. Stephen’s parish church. By that time, the world became famil...
I’ve watched my share of basketball lately, most of it being high school and college action. Last week, as I was watching the Cornhuskers play, a thought came to mind after watching those “big” men bump into each other. Many years ago, I remember hearing a number of parents of high school age boy’s debate over the decision of letting their children play football or basketball in high school. Part of that conversation centered around the fact that basketball used to be called a “non-contact” sport. Watching those games last week brought tho...
It was quite the weekend, on many items of interest. First off, the weekend included the fund raising “Dueling Pianos” at the American Legion Hall. The small group of citizens on the Community Building Committee did a lot of work in bringing the entertainment to the community to raise funds for the building. I’ve only heard good comments about the whole evening which seemed to end successfully. No matter how successful it was, the need for more monetary contributions to complete the project remains. The committee welcomes any contr...
Legislators, both federal and state are often condemned for the way they vote. Some times they are praised, but it depends on the issue, the time and place. I’ve read and heard and at times have also made remarks less than flattering at the people involved with the issues they vote on as they become more and more complicated. I thought of this when reading the Nebraska Unicameral Update last weekend. A front page article had to do with the inheritance tax the state allows counties to use to generate money. The interesting thing for me was t...
• Gosh, a beautiful blue sky. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Gosh, those clouds sure look like a rain may be possible. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Gosh, look at the dust from the field a farmer just prepared for planting. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Driving north or south is a lot easier than driving east of west. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Didn’t we just shovel four + inches of snow the other day? What a w...
I’ve mentioned my questioning of the national media reporting practices in the past. Well, maybe I was wrong. The following little item appeared last week concerning the state of Oregon and a change in their laws: to wit: “DRUGS: The Oregon Legislature passed a bill Friday to recriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs, undoing a key part of the state’s first-in the-nation drug decriminalization law amid the deadliest U.S. overdose crisis.” That’s about it folks, seven lines of information about a 180 degree turnabout in the drug laws...
I’ve mentioned before that I like high school and some college basketball games, but I’m not thrilled by the National Basketball Association’s style of games. They just recently had the NBA ‘All-Star’ game. If that is what you want to call it. Did you see the final score: 211-186? I did not see the game. I enjoy seeing points score, but that is ridiculous. A game without defense being played . . . is not a game. It is just a scoring practice. Hopefully, they will either drop the game, or else change it to include some sort of defensive...
Alexei Navalny. Oswaldo Paya. Two names that many of us sheltered here in southcentral Nebraska may have never heard of, or just briefly on a national news broadcast. Maybe that’s not all bad, but it does limit our understanding of a conflict between Socialism (Communism) and Capitalism (the free world). Most of us are too involved in our day-to-day lives of church, working, and family that much of what happens in the world does not involve us. Now retired, I’ve had more time to read and I just finished two books that give vivid des...
I have at times admitted to watching too much TV, but sometimes it’s the only alternative to doing nothing. It is good entertainment (at times), but it can also be an annoyance, especially the TV commercials. Years ago I read an article about TV commercials and the intent of the item was that many commercials were aimed at the mind of a nine year old. That surprised me, but over the years, I tend to believe it. What brought this up was a comment Nancy made recently while we were watching TV one evening. After a commercial she said: “That was...
“It’s tough to see into the future” someone once said. Right now, it’s tough to see a quarter mile ahead with all the fog we’ve had so far in 2024. Someone came up with the phrase: “Unintended Consequences” I understand in the 1700s. So, its been around for some time. In our day and age, most people take it to mean that the results of an action is not what was expected, or desired. This happens often in our daily lives and most likely just as often in our public lives. Many times in our political lives, decisions are made at some point with ma...
I don’t have the records to check but I’m guessing January, 2024, has to be unique in some way. Our days of below zero temperatures and consecutive foggy days has to be some sort of record. That’s how I feel but every year is different and there probably has been many such Januarys. This is probably just the only one in recent years that I remember. Whatever it is, it is. I just got the feeling 2024 has to be memorized in some way. As such, my contribution to our collective memory: An Ode to January 2024 . . . Ice, snow, fog and cold, On these...
Every so often a person reads, or hears, or sees something that strikes him in a particular way. It may be humorous, serious, or just plain interesting. A couple of items caught my attention this past weekend which I’d like to pass on. You may think uninteresting, or silly, or just wonder if I don’t have something better to write about. Basketball . . . A sport that maybe doesn’t have as much interest as football, but a sport I enjoy watching. High school and college versions of this game is what I enjoy and this year’s Nebraska Cornhus...
Something to talk about . . . The weather . . . This was one of the major things that impressed my sister-in-law who was born and raised in Chicago. On one of her first trips to Nebraska, she was impressed with how people talked about the weather. She noted that in Chicago, one person might mention receiving an amount of rain during the night. The other person in the conversation would reply his experience and that part of the conversation would be over. (Maybe a minute or two at the most.) She quickly learned that in Nebraska, any question...
As you know, I’ve used statements from books I’ve read that somehow relate to our current living conditions. I’m currently coming to the end of a good book called “The Universe Behind Barbed Wire.” The book is the memoirs of a Ukrainian Soviet dissident and written before the current Russian-Ukraine war. The author, Myroslav Marynovych, was a Ukraine citizen but lived in the late 1970s through the 1980s in a Russian prison because the Soviet Communist considered him to be a threat to the Russian government. I am not through reading the book yet...
I thought it fitting to start the New Year with a comment by Pope Francis. “My hope is to remind people that the ‘Christmas Spirit’ is not over.” The Christmas season extends far beyond the commercial season we’ve been taught to believe is the reason for the season. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas Day and the message below stays with you all the yearlong. The message of Bethlehem is indeed “good news of great joy.” What kind of joy? Not the passing happiness of this world, but the joy that consoles hearts, renews hope and bestows peace...
Gosh . . . maybe it was something in the air . . . but to see the Husker volleyball team lose in the manner they did, and . . . to see the L-N boys basketball team lose in the manner they did . . . it was a tough weekend for Nebraska sports. On the other hand, both Husker basketball teams won. The best comment I heard concerning the women’s volleyball team was . . . “at least it wasn’t to Wisconsin.” A O Another word for “Atheist” is “Non-believer” and I’m guessing that this time of the Christmas Holy Day may be among the toughest times of the...
Seems we can no longer paint California with negative issues because of all of the earthquakes that occur in that state. The Webster-Nuckolls County areas in Nebraska have had three earthquakes in the last two years. And . . . they seem to be getting closer to Lawrence all the time. This past Sunday a quake strong enough to be heard and felt happened some six miles northeast of Guide Rock. We have not heard of any damage caused by the quake. This was the third quake in this same general area in the past two years. A O Try . . . Try again . . ....
A 4.2 magnitude earthquake rattled south-central Nebraska on Sunday, with tremors felt in communities like Red Cloud, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS recorded the earthquake approximately 6 miles north-northeast of Guide Rock in Webster County at about 1:30 p.m. It had a depth of a little more than 4 miles with tremors stretching to just south of Hastings, according to a USGS map. The earthquake had a Level IV intensity according to USGS measurements, which is considered “light,” defined as being “felt indoors by many...
Some of the boys on this year's boys' basketball team may not have been born the last time the L-N Raiders won their first four games of a season. You have to go back 14 years before you find a year where the first four games were won. That was the 2009-2010 year when they won their first 7 games. Rather stay in the present? OK, last week the Raiders defeated Franklin on Friday night by a score of 34 to 27 and Bruning-Davenport-Shickley (BDS) on Saturday evening by a score of 37 to 24. The two v...
It took a trip out west for the L-N girls’ basketball team to find their first victory of this young season. But, find it they did with a team effort at Franklin. It was not a blow-out win, but one where the girls played well, with their defensive effort maybe the most effective tool. GIRLS: L-N 34 – FRANKLIN 20 The box score: L-N 11 7 8 8 - 34 Franklin 7 4 7 2 - 20 Kara Menke seems to be a favorite of all our opponents so far this season and they guard her closely. In the first half of play, Addi McCloskey, Jessica Sole and Josie Hajny all...
I’ve been spending some time within the medical establishment in the U. S. during the past two months and have learned some things about how the world operates. Two items stand out in the last few weeks: Insurance and 4 x 4’s. Insurance: Any reader of my words over the age of 65 are pretty familiar with Medicare and the insurance supplements that go with it to help pay for as much of it as possible. I’ve had my insurance supplements for some time now and assumed most everything was OK. That is, until a month or two back when I got a lette...
Did you ever get a song caught in your mind and it kept repeating itself over and over all day (or maybe more than a day) in your mind. Maybe it was a thought or phrase or whatever. Well, I recently heard a song and had to look up just when and where it came from. The name of the song is “People are Crazy.” It was written in 2008 and the three lines I keep hearing in my mind were: “God is Great!” “Beer is Good!” “People are Crazy!” I got to thinking: “God is Great.” That is the only one of the three lines that is true without qualificati...
Memories . . . Some things we remember forever, others we forget as soon as possible. Sunday, a bad memory came rushing back because of driving to Sunday Mass on a gravel road soaked by about an inch or rain. I forgot what it’s like to drive on gravel roads when they are wet. It all came back to me . . . quickly. However, I did stay out of the ditch and I’m thankful for however much rain fell during these couple of days. As I heard one lady say: “We just couldn’t go into winter without some moisture.” A O A good friend of mine retired a...
