Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 242
Change may not be fast but it does happen. This year I have heard farmers talking about the small, but well developed corn they were harvesting. In at least some of the fields, the ears had filled well but were about the size of the early Fourth of July variety of sweet corn I used to plant in my garden. The early corn tasted good but the yield was so small I eventually decided it was worth waiting for the longer maturing varieties that produced larger ears and tasted even better. When my father sold Steckley Genetic Giant seed corn, the compan...
I’m sure harvesters bringing grain into Superior this fall have been real frustrated by road construction caused delays. While local officials could not require a pre-harvest completion date, they had asked for one and had been told to expect one. Road construction is now the responsibility of the government and most often it is state government’s responsibility. That hasn’t always been the case. One hundred years ago road construction was often done by local volunteers. In October of 1923, the Nelson Gazette reported there was a real spiri...
In last week's Notebook, I wrote about spelling. I thought the correct spelling was syphon but my word processing program's spell checker changed it to siphon and the dictionary agreed. After reading last week's Notebook entry, a faithful reader and former resident of Superior, Arlen Sealock, shared a story regarding the correct spelling of the word. His father, Elmer Sealock, operated the Superior Truck Line. Arlen's story follows: The agency which regulated truck lines published a tariff book...
This week the Good Samaritan Society sponsored a fishing program for the residents of their Superior home. I wasn’t there to see it. So I can only guess how it was done. I suspect it was similar to carnival games where the players tried to hook a prize. In country school, we sometimes played a fishing game in which we used a willow stick and dangled a hook over a blind made with a blanket or sheet stretched across a door way. The person on the other side of the blanket would grasp our hook and attach the fish which was a prize or instruction ab...
The United States Postal System keeps changing. Sometimes for better but not always. Seventy-years ago the post office was flirting with discontinuing twice daily mail delivery in Superior. From reading back issues of this newspaper, it appears the post office tested cutting back to once a day in the residential area while preserving twice daily service in the business district. Eventually, the decision was made to discontinue the twice daily service to both residential and business customers. When I built the West Third Street car wash in...
This week I looked through what was once the main entrance to Brodstone Memorial Hospital but it didn’t look the same. I didn’t see a Gray Lady sitting in the hall welcoming visitors and giving directions. Neither of the Jeans were in the office. When I first started visiting the hospital, Gene Steele was probably the only woman working in the office, a position she held for 25 years. Later Jean Linn shared office duties. I think my advisor was pulling my leg but I remember being told that to work in the Brodstone office one had to be nam...
Mike Combs, a Superior High School classmate of mine, shares my interest in history. Over the years, we have had many a conversation about the history of this area. I have questions about who were the Light Guards of Superior and why. I’ve asked Google those questions and not gotten a satisfactory response but it appears Superior wasn’t the only community to have similar organizations. The Sept. 7, 1903, issue of The Nuckolls County Herald Newspaper published at Nelson refers to what may have been a similar group of young men who held tar...
Last month’s illegal raid by law enforcement officers on a Kansas newspaper has made national news and will long have repercussions. I expect a steep price will be extracted from those who caused the raid. In Nuckolls County, a visit to a Nelson newspaper office with illegal intentions was treated as a joke by the operator of the newspaper and his crew. But that doesn’t mean the participants didn’t have a price to pay. Before sharing the story, I should perhaps share a bit of background. In 1903, aspiring teachers were not required to have...
My grandfather told me "It's an ill wind that blows no good" And that concept appears to be true with the vultures migrating into this area each spring. This year's drought has provided them with a feast. With ponds and streams drying up, the vultures have been enjoying a regular smorgasbord with the dead fish to supplement their normal road kill diet. Officially vultures are an endangered species but judging from the number of birds I've been seeing this year, they certainly aren't on the...
After the last heat wave broke and we had several days of pleasant weather, I was certain the hot summer days were behind us for this year. I was wrong. The last few days have been even hotter. Manhattan, Kansas, had the nation’s high, 114 degrees on Saturday. Had I been attending school there, I would have wanted to visit the state park located below the dam, When I was a KSU student we called it Tuttle Puddle and it was high on the students lists of favorite summertime places. However, this year the park is closed because of blue-green a...
A postal worker in a nearby community called this newspaper after the last issue was mailed and asked why the paper wasn’t being received in her office in an adjoining county until Friday. I was asked to please publish a story saying the papers weren’t being delayed by the post office. I was assured the papers are distributed the same day they are received and never held in the local office for delivery at a later time. I believe her story but the post office is to blame for the delay. In recent weeks the postal system has moved the pro...
Candy Downs, a former Superior resident now living in Florida and working as newspaper advertising salesperson shared the following story with friends Monday evening: Went to a convenience store this evening and a guy in line in front of me complemented me on my dress. I said, “Thank you.” He turned back around and asked if it was hot enough out for me today. I said, “Yes. It was brutal out there today.” Then he said his employer sent him home today to grieve properly because his son died on Friday. I said, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” He said, “My son...
An advertisement elsewhere in this issue gives the date and time for a tire collection activity in Nuckolls County. If this year’s event is anything like similar events in prior years, by the end of the day there will be a big pile of worn out tires to be disposed of. Tire disposal isn’t easy and it has gotten harder with the advent of the steel belted radial tires. When I was a youngster, it would have been easier to recycle the bias ply tire for the only metal in those tires was around the beads but recycling was not mandated as it is now. Di...
It’s almost the middle of July and the street in front of the newspaper has yet to be filled with trucks bringing wheat into Superior. The lack of trucks isn’t a surprise but it doesn’t feel right. There are several reasons. Wheat is no longer as popular with local farmers as it once was, this year’s drought has reduced, if not eliminated, the yield from many fields, and it is common for farmers to now bin the wheat on their farms as it cut and then bring it in to market after the harvest is completed. And I may not recognize their trucks...
Weather forecasting has changed over the years and for the most part the changes have been for the better. But we are still quick to criticize the weather bureau forecasters when they get it wrong. We won’t be satisfied until they are right 100 percent of the time and to the very minute. Saturday we were told there was a 90 percent chance of rain which might come in torrential amounts. It did rain some place and it was torrential someplace just not where I was so my take is they got it wrong again. Based on that forecast, the Superior C...
My nephew and his family live near Accident, Maryland. They stopped by North Central Kansas this week for a brief visit with relatives including his grandmother, parents, aunt and uncle. The Blauvelts met Garrett and family in Osborne about 11 a.m. Saturday. The Maryland residents left by 5 p.m. headed to Limon, Colorado, where they planned to stay the night. One of their goals on this trip is to visit the Four Corners Monument area. The monument, marks the only spot in the United States where four states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New...
A modern marvel caused this writer’s home to slip a few decades back in time this week. While growing up in the country, modern services like running water, inside conveniences and electricity were not common, if even available. We routinely kept about 30 gallons of water available, should our well not be available. And while they may not have been conveniently located, we never removed all of the outside conveniences. (Editor’s Note: When this article was proof read on Tuesday morning, one of our younger associates asked “Why did you have...
This has been a week of both rejoicing and sadness. Thursday morning got off to a sad start when Craig Barfknecht called to report his mother, a longtime employee of this newspaper, had died. Irene was the last living member of the crew that helped Howard Crilly produce this newspaper prior to the arrival of the three Kansas kids in May of 1970. Irene was a lifelong resident of Nuckolls County and I think she questioned if anything good come out of Kansas. She was loyal to her newspaper and fiercely clung to the standards set by her former...
Saturday afternoon, Jeff Barnes, a Humanities Nebraska public speaker, will make a presentation about Jesse James in Nebraska at the Nuckolls County Museum located in Superior’s City Park. We haven’t heard his presentation and we doubt he will either confirm nor put to rest the stories about the James brothers Nuckolls County connections. However, we want to hear what he has to say. After learning the 2023 Lady Vestey Festival theme was picked to honor the late Lew Hunter, we recalled a story Lew told about his mother’s family and the James gan...
After the excitement of graduation, at least one graduate's family sought /the solace of the Republican River. Though the drought has reduced the stream flow and made spring canoeing and kayaking difficult if not impossible, I understand the water was warm and the family found the quietness of the river to be refreshing. In this day of political discord, we should not think the selection of the Republican River's name was the endorsement of a political party. The river's name predate's the forma...
5/4/23 A comment made Monday by a former Superior High School classmate of min, Martha Daniel McFarland about how much fun it was to give May Baskets on May Day reminded me of my childhood. When May approached while I was growing up in the country, I dreamed of living in town and both finding and leaving May Baskets. While we exchanged Christmas gifts, Valentines and Easter baskets at the country school I attended, the spring school term closed around April 20. Consequently, the exchange of May baskets was not part of the country school...
In his more than a half-century affiliation with The Superior Express, Howard Crilly often wrote a column he titled “Among Ourselves.” In my growing up years, it was one of the first things I read when The Express arrived in the mail box about noon on Fridays. While searching for information for another story, I copied the following observations from his March 20 and 27, 1947 columns: One of the prettiest things is a pretty girl who doesnʼt know it. County Assessor Ira Adams told us the other day that fibbing to the assessor isnʼt going to be...
This week many Nebraska newspapers will be printing stories toting all the awards they won as part of the Nebraska Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The honorees were recognized as part of the 150th annual Nebraska Newspaper Association meeting held Thursday night through Saturday at Lincoln’s Cornhusker Hotel. While I haven’t gone to all, I have been attending those meetings since April of 1971. Much has changed since the first meeting in the Lincoln Hotel. In the early years, my primary reason for attending was the oppor...
Possible editor’s notebook People laughed at me when, as a college student, I got lost in Fort Riley and feared I might be shot or at least arrested by the military police. At that time soldiers were not welcome in Manhattan and I didn’t expect a lost college student was welcome to prowl around on the post. I had given a ride to a college coed who was living in a colonel’s home on the post. With her directions I easily found my way to the house but I missed a turn or two trying to get off the post and became hopelessly lost. I drove aroun...
For his sermon title the Palm Sunday speaker at the Olive Hill Church chose “Normal isn’t returning, Jesus is Returning.” Instead of his normal attire when delivering a sermon, the speaker wore a T-shirt with those words printed on the front. A member of the congregation saw the T-shirt in a Marysville shop and purchased it. Not only did the sermon have a far from normal theme, so did the Sunday school and worship service hours at Olive Hill for the Webber electrical power circuit served by Rolling Hills Electric lost power a bit after 8 a.m....
