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Elsewhere on this page, Gloria Schlaefli writes about her memories of the country roads of our youth. While we were raised in different parts of Jewell County, our roads were much the same and we share similar experiences. The biggest difference is the location of our childhood homes. Mine was on a highway that was hard-surfaced when I was three-years-old. That wasn’t Gloria’s case. The best she’s ever had is gravel or ground limestone surfacing. The country roads were challenging at times and other times they could be fun. I suspect it was a...
Nuckolls County neighborliness was demonstrated in recent days when three of Butch Higer’s neighbors helped a man from Oklahoma. The Oklahoman had agreed to buy a truck from Butch who has been battling a string of health problems in recent months and no longer had use for the truck. When the buyer arrived to get the truck, he was unable to get it started. He stayed overnight but was unsure what to do next. His worries were soon put to rest when three of Butch’s neighbors arrived and started working on the truck. With their expertise, they got...
I don’t know how they are picked for it seems every day of the year is a special day recognizing something. Sunday, for example, was National Daughters Day and Monday was National Public Lands Day. Since I don’t have a daughter, I didn’t check to see how the day was to be observed. I did learn that on National Public Lands Day, everyone was encouraged to explore the outdoors and enjoy the physical, mental and spiritual health values that nature offers. With the deadline for the printing of this newspaper on Tuesday rapidly approaching, I had t...
Shortly before I left work Saturday evening, this newspaper’s weather alert radio warned Republic County residents of thunderstorm possibilities. Neither Jewell nor Nuckolls counties were included in the alert and I dismissed it as something I need not be concerned with. It was past most people’s supper time, when I decided to head home and complete preparations for a Sunday School class I had agreed to teach the next day. As I left the newspaper office, I was surprised to see cotton candy thu...
Sept 18, 2022 In June of 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was exciting news for me. We didn’t have television or the internet then but I was spellbound listening to radio news broadcasts from London reporting on the festivities. I suspect I curled up on the floor with a toy truck in front of the Philco console radio and listened to the broadcasts. Compared to today’s radios, the old Philco was a monster. It must have been at least four feet tall and three feet wide. If my parents were present, my father was probably sitting nearby in...
Monday morning I fist bumped a traveling sales person and shared our first long conversation since the start the COVID pandemic. I’m sure the conversation took longer than either of us expected but it was good to catch up and learn how COVID has affected her business. While I know sales people are motivated to call with the hope of making a sale, over time the good ones become their customers’ friend. As this is being written, I’m anticipating the arrival of a combination sales and service representative since midweek. I’ve known since Friday...
When I was growing up, I’m glad I didn’t know the health risks associated with mice. Unlike some of my playmates who were afraid of mice, I wanted to demonstrate my manliness. I liked to think of myself as a “big boy.” If I found a snake, I ran for a hoe and swiftly dispatched the snake. Likewise with mice. See a mouse, stomp on it! Mice were a major problem around the gasoline station. The doors were open much of the time and when closed the gaps were large enough to provide freeways for a roaming mouse. The business and associated buildin...
One of the historical columns in this issue contains an item about a team of mules running away with a sickle bar mower. It apparently was a rough ride and the farmer operating the mower was thrown from the machine. The original story doesn't say if the farmer yelled at the mules to stop but it does report the mules stopped when they realized the farmer had fallen off the mower. Had I been driving the team, I suspect I would have had a few words for the mules. Sunday afternoon I was sitting at a...
I remember when a co-worker brought her pre-school age son with her to work. The youngster was struggling with the concept of time. When he wanted something, he wanted it now. It was hard for him to wait and I quickly tired of telling him repeatedly he would have to wait a specified time only to have him ask again in 5 minutes if the time had passed. We made progress when I learned to describe a delay not in the number of days but instead in a number of sleeps. He didn’t understand when I said Saturday was two days away but he understood it i...
Monday’s rain was a welcome event. Seldom are there unwelcome July and August rains in these parts. We sometimes have a surplus of rain in the spring or fall but summertime is different. We are more likely to have summer rain shortage. Summer rains are most always welcomed in farm country. As welcome as this week’s rain was, it made a difficult week for this writer. It didn’t rain out a single event I planned to cover. I was able to go wherever I needed to go without getting wet. The rain brightened the countryside, was good for the crops...
I’ve long enjoyed community celebrations. Though I was only 4 years old when Superior staged a diamond jubilee celebration, I remember that celebration and the one and only 4-H fair held two years later in Superior. My favorite celebrations are those which feature history. History was the original focus of Superior’s Lady Vestey Festival and while history is still part of the festival, it seems to no longer be the primary focus. I’m glad two local celebrations have kept their focus on history. Earlier this week, the Jewell County Histo...
This week, from the position I had taken while on the outlook for Nuckolls County Fair photos, I was able to observe a young family and their horses. I'm not a good judge of youngsters ages but the youngest was in a stroller and I guess the others were spaced a year or two apart. The parents and their stair-step youngsters left the rig and horses and perhaps went to the food stand or to register the youngsters for the kids' rodeo. One horse in particular was not pleased to be left alone, It was...
Friday morning, as I sat on a street barricade and observed the preparations for the Project BOOM ribbon cutting, I tried to visualize what the street looked like a century ago. As I looked west on Eighth Street and south on National Street, I thought of my family’s activities in the area. Before 1930 my grandparents called four houses in that part of town “home.” Their first house in that section was near the intersection of Eighth and North Park. In more recent times it was removed to make way for the construction of the current bridge over L...
A friend’s story shared on a social media site reminded me of my grandmother. My mother regularly drove an automobile. She used a special skill my father taught her to get through the water holes that separated our house on Blauvelt’s Hill and Superior. A Republican River flood had washed out the north approach to stateline bridge which served the “new” highway opened a handful of years earlier. With the new road closed, highway traffic was diverted over the former route we called “the old highway,” In the 1920s, Superior businessmen paved a po...
Twice while I was a student attending Kansas State University I had jobs helping with camps designed for high school students. My primary task during the day was working with the advanced photography students. At night I helped supervise a residence hall. There were various camps scheduled between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of summer school. The dormitories I worked in housed the high school scholars participating in the journalism and FFA camps. I had little contact with the FFA members but a news release about this...
Recycling has been a buzz word for several years. This month the Trailblazer Resource Conservation District is holding electronics recycling events in the district’s multi-county areas. Tire collection events are also scheduled. Many communities have centers where materials are collected for recycling. Long before recycling was a buzz word, my family was into recycling only we didn’t know to call it such. We called it “salvage.” Perhaps the word recycling hadn’t been coined. I don’t know when the Blauvelts began salvaging but it was before...
This writer was among the few who took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Cowboy Museum when it was open during the festival. The museum displays the private collection of Steve Werner, an 80-year-old Superior resident who inherited the collecting bug from his grandmother. When I signed the guest book, best estimates put me at about visitor number 50. In the company of Jim and Mel Rempe, our tour guide was the collector, Mr. Werner. And what a superb guide he was. As he showed us around, we were not only looking at stuff, we were...
As Superior residents prepare for the 31st Victorian Festival honoring Evelyn Brodstone, one of the community’s most accomplished residents, many current resident find it hard to envision what life was like in Superior more than a century ago. The Brodstone family came to the new town of Superior in 1876, only one year after William Loudon laid out the original town. Mr. and Mrs. Brodstone brought their two young children with them. They settled on farm near what is now the northeastern boundary of Superior. A portion of the farm is occupied b...
Been thinking about the upcoming Lady Vestey Victorian Festival and how to freshly retell the Evelyn Brodstone story on this, the 31st anniversary of the first festival. The festival founders hoped the annual celebration would help preserve the community’s history and highlight the life and contributions made by Superior High School’s most notable graduate, Evelyn Brodstone. William Loudon is credited with establishing the village of Superior in 1875. The community’s diamond jubilee was celebrated in 1951 and its centennial in 1975. It is proba...
Wow! I suspect you are as tired of reading about this newspaper’s internet problems as I am of trying to fix the problem but fixing the internet has been my focus for nearly two weeks. In addition to reporting our email was still not working as we began assembling this week’s edition on Monday I have a funny to report related our website at superiorne.com. The internet experts have been arguing about how to properly fix the problem and talking about things like ip addresses, DNS addresses, MX servers, name servers, SSL. POP, and IMAP. For all...
The 2022 Nebraska Primary Election is less than a week away and newspaper advisors think it is the duty of quality newspapers to endorse the candidates they believe are the best qualified and deserving of voter support. This newspaper has sometimes endorsed candidates and frequently those candidates lost the election. So I’m not sure if our endorsement helps or hurts a candidate. Quality newspapers are also supposed to write stories explaining the candidates’ qualifications. That sounds like a good idea and we have tried to do so prior to som...
editor’s notebook 4/28/22 A friend and former Nuckolls County resident, Gwen (Jones) Porter, recently shared the following article about a pet’s death. Since graduating from Nelson High School, Gwen married a veterinarian and has helped with his practice in the Omaha area. I expected she has witnessed first hand the death of many animals. I hadn’t thought about it before but since reading the article I have thought about my animal experiences. The death of a cat heads the list. The female cat was a neighborhood stray. I’m not sure where s...
In the newspaper business, politicians have long been considered to be poor credit risks. Many candidates plan to pay for their campaign with the money obtained after winning an election. When they don’t win, donors don’t contribute to the candidate’s campaign coffers and bills go unpaid. Consequently, politicians are often required to pay their bills in advance. I’ve considered funeral homes to be good credit risks and have generally not required out-of-town funeral homes to prepay for purchases. With the pandemic reducing this newspap...
Friday marks the middle of April and the time for Good Friday services. By now I expected there would be leaves on the trees, green grass and my winter clothes stowed away. Earlier I didn’t expect to wear my insulated coveralls to the Easter Sunrise Service but those plans are changing. Should the coveralls be needed, I’ve check the closet and know exactly where to find them. While the grass is starting to green and tiny leaves are looking our from the trees, the National Weather Service includes snow in the weekend forecast. This spr...
After the wildfire last week and traffic accident, I’ve had trouble focusing. My mind keeps skipping from one topic to another. Consequently, I have a number of short topics for this week’s notebook entry. A few days ago I received notice of the annual meeting of the Nebraska Press Women’s group. A former Express co-worker, the late Blanche Bargen, faithfully attended the association’s meetings, shared their reports with me and served at least one term as association president. For a time I was even an association member. Yes, there was a t...
