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Tornado Watch
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Sliding toward Prohibition ... again (05/17/13)
The new NTSB recommendation that the limit for driving under the influence of alcohol be reduced down to .05 is a much bigger story than currently meets the eye. The initial standard of .15 was reached in 1938 after careful study involving the American Medical Association and the National Safety Council. ...
The dark side of social medial (05/10/13)
In the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, an unpleasant, unneeded, and unwanted phenomenon occurred. Thousands of people were using social media to inspect, investigate, strip down and evaluate every single shard of video evidence from the bomb blasts and to develop their own suspect list, which was universally wrong. Many people were incorrectly implicated in this horrible event and, in some cases, their lives have become permanently sullied because of it...
Music is the doctor of my soul (05/03/13)
The title of this week's column is a great line from the Doobie Brothers hit, "The Doctor" and it really captures the spirit of so many of us. All of us grew up with music in our souls, whether it was the big band music of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra from my parent's era, Elvis Presley, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Marvin Gaye from my era, disco music from the '70s or hip-hop and rap from the current generation, music touches us all...
Fantasizing about Powerball (04/26/13)
The Powerball jackpot is up to over $91 million dollars this Saturday (immediate cash value) and after a 25% hit from the IRS, the winner, if there's just one, will take home over $69 million dollars. That's been my favorite number for as long as I can remember so I thought this would be a good week to write about it...
Honored and privileged (04/19/13)
I certainly felt both the emotions in the headline of today's column when I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the Phi Theta Kappa honor society's induction ceremony Tuesday past. The society was inducting 33 of our best and brightest students who will make a difference and create their own mark on society as they go forward in life...
A special anniversary (04/12/13)
I was driving through Wagoner, Oklahoma, on the way to Northeastern State University where I was already late for class with less than a month to go before graduation. I knew I was going to be late and there was nothing I hated worse than walking into class after it had already started...
Two who reached for the stars and beyond (04/05/13)
In my 30 years of college teaching, I have always made essentially the same speech on the first day of class to my Intro to Sociology students. I know it will fall on deaf ears for most of them but I always hope that one or two will get the message and take the challenge. ...
The whole truth and nothing but the truth (03/29/13)
My playing partner and I are purists when it comes to the rules of golf. Although we're not very good, we always play by the rules. It makes golf much more enjoyable. Instead of having to watch the other guy like a hawk to make sure he isn't cheating, we can attend to our own game and get the most out of it we can. Some say rules were made to be broken; I think they were made to be abided by...
Warrior or war-monger (03/22/13)
I was going to write today on the war threats that North Korea has made against the United States and Iran has made against Israel but a show I watched last night on Showtime changed my mind. It was a documentary about Dick Cheney, who served as vice president under George W. Bush...
The have lots, the have some and the have little (03/15/13)
Things must be great in America! The NYSE has reached a new high for the last six days in a row, something that had never been done before. From a low down in the 6000's a couple of years ago, it has rebounded to a new stratosphere, reaching over 14,500 yesterday and still going up. And Standard and Poor's is closing in on a record high too...
A melancholy trip (03/08/13)
I mentioned at the end of last week's column that I was going to attend my youngest son's father-in-law's funeral in Seward and that's what I did. I drove to Lincoln on Friday and checked in at Embassy Suites, one of my favorite hotels. I had forgotten it was also the weekend of the state high school girl's basketball games, even though I knew that McCook had played and lost on Thursday night. ...
Bits and pieces (03/01/13)
The feature story in Time magazine this week, reportedly longer than any feature they have ever run, is the appalling financial burden imposed on most hospital patients who are unaware of what's being done to them. The only time I was ever in the hospital was when I was six years old to have my tonsils taken out so I know nothing personally about this situation except the horror stories I've heard from others. Nick Veasey's article confirmed those stories...
The forecasters got it half right (02/22/13)
Wednesday's snow storm was everything it was cracked up to be. The forecasters had zeroed in on this storm when it was still out over the Aleutian Islands and predicted it to hit here more than a week in advance. That's pretty good forecasting, considering that they often miss forecasts only six hours away...
How old is too old? (02/15/13)
Brent Musburger caused somewhat of an uproar during the Alabama-Notre Dame National Championship game he was broadcasting when the camera zeroed in on Katherine Webb, the girlfriend of Alabama's starting quarterback A.J. McCarron. He spent a good deal of air time talking about how beautiful she was and how all the young kids watching the game should start playing quarterback because the quarterbacks get the best looking girls...
The rich get richer in college football (02/08/13)
Even though I'm a big sports fan, I don't write often about it because my duty as a columnist lies elsewhere. However, since national signing day was Wednesday, I decided to present the overall recruiting picture since the one thing that binds most Nebraskans together is Husker football...
The burning bed (02/01/13)
I'm teaching a class this semester called Current Issues in Criminal Justice and we're focusing on domestic violence for the first eight weeks. I became concerned about it ten years ago when I personally knew a victim of emotional and physical abuse and ever since, I've taught a class about it every two years or so. Sometimes it recedes into the back of my mind because I no longer know any victims of abuse but it pops out again front and center when I teach this class...
The rest of the story (01/25/13)
There are basically three kinds of people in the world. I call them the doers, the get-byers, and the slackers. And they're as different from each other as daylight is from dark. The doers are constantly striving forward, searching and usually finding every ounce of promise they have to offer to themselves and the world. ...
My Christmas vacation (01/11/13)
I was really looking forward to getting out of McCook for awhile. I hadn't been out of town since my son Will visited me last summer and we took the train to Denver so my excitement was high. I was a little concerned about the roads since I left only a couple of days after our blizzard but, as usual, the toughest part of driving was getting out of town. Once I was on the highway, it was clear sailing all the way to Arkansas...
Saying good by to an old friend (01/04/13)
Not goodbye to a person today but to an institution. Newsweek magazine went all digital with its last print magazine publication on Dec 31. All future installments of Newsweek can be read only on an IPad, Kindle, computer or phone. And so, a newsmagazine that has been informing us since the presidency of Herbert Hoover has passed away, or at least been reincarnated...
The end of the world ... again (12/21/12)
Today, the Mayan calendar, the 5,125 year long count cycle, comes to an end. A lot of people worldwide think this means the world will end today. Because of that, World War II bunkers have been opened up to refugees in France. People are taking off work in China. Citizens are hoarding matches, fuel and sugar in Russia and in Sirince Turkey, people are awaiting the arrival of the Ark which they believe will save them from the catastrophe that erupts today...
A white Christmas and beyond (12/14/12)
I became a snow lover when I was growing up in Arkansas. It snowed there more then than it does now and the snows we received were much different than the typical snow in Nebraska. Up here, we often have winds accompanying the snowfall which causes the snow to fall sideways instead of straight down, resulting in deep drifts in some places and bare ground in others. In addition, the snow is usually accompanied by frigid temperatures...
The bigger they are, the harder they fall (12/07/12)
David Petraeus is one of the most decorated generals of his generation and one of the most admired and respected, both at home and abroad. There was no problem he wouldn't tackle and no problem he couldn't solve. He was well read and had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things military. He was, as some put it, a general's general...
My last column ... almost (11/30/12)
After the written attacks I've suffered over the past couple of weeks, I had decided late Monday afternoon that I had had enough. I have never minded trading good-natured barbs with people but the good-natured part of it stopped some time ago. Because I have political views that don't agree with the majority view around here, I am ostracized by a good many people in the region. ...
Thoughts about Thanksgiving (11/23/12)
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and my thoughts are mixed. Bill Stokley and Betty Kenner invited me over to their house for Thanksgiving dinner and I had a wonderful time. Bill does most of the cooking and yesterday he fixed a turkey, a ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, croissant rolls and pumpkin pie and everything was delicious. ...
A nation divided? (11/16/12)
Seven states have reached the signature threshold to have their petitions to secede from the Union addressed and responded to by the President. Texas leads the way with about 100,000 signatures, followed by Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida with about 30,000 each. Six of the seven states voted overwhelmingly for Romney in the Presidential election. Obama narrowly won Florida. On the other hand, Austin, the Capital of Texas, is talking about seceding from Texas...
The numbers behind the numbers (11/09/12)
At first glance, the presidential election results look similar to what was projected. Obama received a little over 3 million more votes than Romney did which accounts for about a three percent edge and he garnered 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206 (Romney has conceded Florida, although it has not been officially called yet). So it was close, but not as close as many were predicting...
The doctor is out (10/26/12)
Both my mother and my former wife thought their doctors were gods. They would do anything they were told to do, would submit to any procedure and take any medicine that was prescribed because of their heartfelt belief that the doctor could do no wrong. I criticized them often for their messiah perceptions but the criticism always fell on deaf ears. And I know many other people who feel the same way...
Here comes the judge (10/19/12)
I'm aware of a situation that exists in our fair city that isn't unlike situations that exist in many cities and it's probably not the only one here either. It's just the one I happen to know about. This involves an employee of a corporation overseen by a Board of Directors. This person has been criticized off and on for the length of their appointment by different people who get their information mainly from gossip, rumors and innuendos. And most of us know that's a tough combination to beat...
Proof of heaven ... or not (10/12/12)
There is a remarkable story, almost unbelievable in fact, in this week's Newsweek magazine. It's written by Dr. Eben Alexander, a respected neurosurgeon, and reflects his trip to heaven while in a coma when his brain was literally "turned off" by the illness he had...
Life is good (mostly) (10/05/12)
Every now and then I reflect on my life and try to determine if I'm doing good or bad, based on what my folks expected out of me. I've done that again this past week and I think they would have given me good grades but maybe not exceptional ones. I grew up as an only child in a house full of grown-ups. ...
He wasn't what I expected (09/28/12)
Bill Clinton is the greatest politician I've ever known and I've been active in politics since I was 18 years old. Bill never forgot a name or a face and when he shook your hand and looked you in the eye, which he always did, you felt like you were the only person in the room. ...
Bob Kerrey in McCook today (09/21/12)
Bob Kerrey, Nebraska's former governor, U.S. Senator, wounded Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, will be in town today seeking votes in his attempt to win Ben Nelson's seat as U.S. Senator. He will hold a news conference at 3:45 p.m., at the George Norris home and then will appear at a reception after that at the Bieroc Café. ...
How Boys State affected me (09/14/12)
Boys State was created in 1935 to counteract a project underway in the 1930's called Young Pioneer Camps, which were promoted by the Fascist party to attract high school students. At these camps the Fascist Part would advocate the virtues of the Fascist system and the uselessness of Democracy. ...
Getting off the schneid (09/07/12)
My folks raised me to always have empathy for those who had less then I did and they put their words into actions. Every Sunday was canning day and the women in my home would spend much of the day in the kitchen canning peaches, strawberries, beans and spinach. When they were finished, we would all get in the car and deliver them to people who had less than us...
Rebirth is always good (08/31/12)
I love fall more than any other season. It always causes a rebirth in me. A new school year brings new faces to the college, most right out of high school with dreams and ambitions and that youthful "I can't fail" attitude that is so life-affirming. ...
The end and the beginning (08/24/12)
A strange thing happens to my golf game every year. I shoot my best scores the first few weeks of the season and then they start getting progressively worse until, by the end of the summer, I'm totally tired of golf and ready to go back to teaching. And this summer an exclamation point was added...
The good, the bad and the disappointing (08/17/12)
Will got in late last Thursday night and, after we talked for a bit, he tried connecting his laptop to my PC because he had to work the next day. After trying several different connections with none of them working, he decided he would have to go check into a hotel with wireless accommodations so that's what he did. ...
Polygamous and polyamorist relationships (08/03/12)
You knew it was coming. With gay marriages becoming legal in several states, it was just a matter of time before other people involved in non-traditional relationships wanted theirs legalized too and that is reflected in a story in the Aug. 6 edition of Time magazine titled, "I Do, I Do, I Do."...
The Joe Pa conundrum (07/27/12)
Joe Paterno was the epitome of success, both professionally and personally. He coached practically his entire life at Penn State University, produced All-Americans nearly every year and achieved a graduation rate for his football players that led the nation. ...
Another mass murder (07/20/12)
As I write this, breaking news says that gunfire erupted from a man in a gas mask at a movie theater premiering "Dark Night Rises" the latest Batman installment, during a midnight showing earlier this morning in Colorado and that at least 14 people were killed and 50 were wounded. The suspect is allegedly in custody...
The unemployment crisis (07/13/12)
My son Will works for a major multi-national corporation and was informed yesterday that the area he supervises is being shut down nationwide. Thankfully, he's being transferred to another supervisory job within the company with comparable salary and benefits. But a whole lot of other people in America aren't so lucky...
Winning is everything (07/06/12)
A good friend of mine and I play golf most every weekday during the summer. We're friendly, cordial and supportive and neither one of us would ever think about cheating. We compliment each other on good shots and we never argue about a rule because we both know the rules. ...
Obama's health care bill is law, for now (06/29/12)
In a stunning and surprising victory for President Obama, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld what is now commonly referred to as "Obamacare" by a 5-4 vote. The surprising part was that the deciding vote was cast by Chief Justice John Roberts instead of Justice Anthony Kennedy who has been the deciding vote many times before and most assumed he would be again...
The good, the bad and the ugly (06/22/12)
We're in the middle of a national malaise that shows no sign of breaking, and that malaise is mediocrity. Too many people today fail not only to meet the challenge but to even confront it. They're satisfied with putting out just enough effort to keep their heads above water without once relying on their inner reserve to be more than they have been...
Too many heroes (06/15/12)
Occasionally, the media latches on to a concept, passes it on the public who latch onto it too and it becomes a phenomenon. We've seen that happen with fads, words and phrases, behaviors and dress and now it's happening again with heroes. We've got way too many of them...
The perfect marriage: Part Two (06/08/12)
I ran into Gene O. Morris, the retired publisher of this newspaper, on the 16th hole of the annual horserace at Heritage Hills last Friday and we had a discussion about my column that week, which he said he liked. He mentioned, however, that I had left out a most important attribute of a perfect marriage and that's commitment. ...
The perfect marriage (06/01/12)
The perfect marriage is hard to describe and even harder to achieve. In fact, the comment I hear more than anything else from married couples is, "Our marriage isn't perfect but ... " It requires being married to your confidant, your best friend, your soulmate and the love and lust of your life. ...
Equal opportunity for all (05/25/12)
On Wednesday, two female soldiers filed suit to end the U.S. military's restrictions on women in combat. The women are Command Sgt. Maj. Jane Baldwin and Col. Ellen Haring, both currently Army Reservists. The current restriction bars them from certain assignments solely on the basis of sex which includes infantry, armor and special operations units. ...
Pomp and Circumstance (05/18/12)
We had our last graduation in True Hall on the McCook Community College campus last Friday and only a little more than half of the graduates showed up to take part in the ceremony, even though they were participating in a watershed moment in their lives. Their names and pictures will be displayed and talked about over the next 50 years by alumni of MCC, but obviously to the half that didn't show up, that didn't matter...
Anonymity strikes again (05/11/12)
I've cautioned before in this column against taking anonymous postings as the truth and forwarding them on without fact checking them yourself. Oddly, on the day that students graduate from McCook and North Platte Community college, another one has raised its ugly head; this one in the form of a letter. ...
The roots of racism (05/04/12)
Degrees of racism are in all of us and have been forever. They're there because race is a visible element, something we can see with our own eyes and use to discriminate against others who don't have the right skin color. We're all in competition for scarce goods and resources which means there isn't enough of anything to go around, so when some get something, others don't. And this causes friction and tension on both sides...
Friday night lights (04/27/12)
I grew up in a place much like the small towns in Nebraska. Football was king and the whole town supported it. On Friday night, every business was locked up tight because practically everybody in town was at the high school football game. Everyone from the owners and the entrepreneurs to the working man shared a common bond for two and a half hours a week and that was Atkins Red Devil Football. ...
Two giants of rock 'n' roll leave us behind (04/20/12)
I met Levon Helm when I was attending the University of Arkansas and the band he was in, Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, were touring the southern states. It was a strange collection of folks to say the least, four Canadians and two good ole' boys from Arkansas. ...
The most important job in the world (04/13/12)
There are obviously a lot of important jobs. Being President of this country is important. Being the head of ANY country is important. Being the head of any THING is important. But they're not the most important job. The most important job is being a parent because you're training the next generation, the generation that will take over for you...
It's not always how it seems (03/30/12)
A lot of students come into my office to talk about a lot of different things but by far the most popular topic is relationships that have gone bad. And the commonality in those conversations is striking because they all want the same questions answered...
Flying the friendly skies (03/23/12)
I loved to fly when I was younger. It was such a wondrous adventure, flying high at 35,000 feet and feeling like you could see forever when you looked out the window. Practically all flights over an hour in length served full meals, the stewardesses were all attractive and friendly and you were really made to feel special...
The new DSM and what it means to you (03/16/12)
I have been a critic of psychiatry for many years because I see it as a pseudo-science rather than a science and the new DSM 5 doesn't do anything to allay those concerns. The DSM is short for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the first edition was printed in 1952. ...
Living alone isn't what it used to be (03/09/12)
Time magazine's cover story this week features the 10 ideas that are changing our lives. Somewhat surprisingly, the first thing mentioned is that living alone is the new norm. In 1950, only 4 million Americans lived alone and they made up only 9 percent of all households. And even then, it was usually a short-lived stage on the road to a more conventional domestic life...
The winter of our discontent (03/02/12)
Andrew Breitbart, a politically conservative writer and author, died the other day of natural causes, according to postings on his website. This hasn't prevented conspiracy theorists from claiming that the government murdered him to silence him or that Obama had him killed because he was about to expose the president by showing compromising videotape of Obama when he was an undergraduate in college...
You do the math (02/24/12)
Two years into the Presidency, most people believed that the Republican presidential candidate would easily defeat Obama, regardless of who the candidate was. Two years later and only eight months before the election, that's not a sure thing anymore and the reason lies as much in the numbers of the 2008 election as they do with anything that has happened recently, something I think the Republicans are overlooking as they battle each other for the nomination...
Things you might want to know (02/17/12)
We talk a lot about common sense; as if that's a good thing. I remember my uncle describing a guy once by saying that he was smart as a whip but didn't have a lick of common sense. So it has always been something held up as a good thing. The problem is that common sense is sometimes wrong too. ...
Looking a gift horse in the mouth (02/10/12)
A year ago Barack Obama was prime for the picking. The economy was in the tank and as James Carville proposed when Bill Clinton ran for President in 1992, "it's the economy, stupid" because people always vote their pocketbook. Combine the economy with all the character assassination charges being leveled at Obama by every right-wing critic on television and radio and it looked like he was a loser for sure in 2012...
A lot, a little, or none (02/03/12)
We've been under a winter storm watch for two days and a blizzard warning for one. Rain was supposed to change over to snow at midnight last night and accumulate 3 to 7 inches by daybreak but, as I write this at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, it's 37 degrees with light rain falling...
Health, hope and healing (01/27/12)
Just about everyone is aware of the new construction going on at Community Hospital in McCook. When it's finished, the hospital will be like a brand new entity, providing new hope and care for residents of the area. At the same time, there's another project at the hospital that hasn't received the widespread attention that the new construction project has. ...
From stability to who knows what (01/20/12)
The fall semester at MCC ended peacefully and we all went home, blissfully ignorant of the sea change that would occur in the spring semester's first week. The first news we received during our all-campus meeting the week before classes started was that our president was leaving for a similar position at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, all the way across the state from us. ...
The week in review (01/06/12)
It's been quite a week around the country. It started off on Tuesday with the widely anticipated Iowa caucuses, the very first test of a candidate's appeal to the electorate and the results were somewhat surprising. The front-runner, Mitt Romney, won by only 8 votes over the late-charging Rick Santorum while the libertarian-minded Ron Paul was a distant third. ...
Three things that will change human relationships (12/30/11)
Three things have happened in recent months that promise to change the nature of human relationships forever. A recent report indicates that the marriage rate in the United States is lower than it's ever been and the birth rate continues to decline as well...
A strange but enjoyable trip (12/23/11)
I journeyed south to Arkansas last week to attend my oldest son Michael's college graduation and my youngest son Will's birthday and decided to fly the whole way. I flew Great Lakes airlines out of McCook at 7 a.m. last Friday to Denver, changed to American Airlines after a layover to Dallas, changed to another American Airlines plane in Dallas and arrived in Bentonville, Arkansas at 2:30. ...
Far too many addictions (12/09/11)
We misuse a lot of words. By "misuse" I mean using words in ways they weren't designed to be used. Addiction is one of those words. We say that people are addicted to food, to gambling, to exercise, and to work. This week's Newsweek magazine's cover story is about sex addiction. None of these things are addictions, they're psychological dependencies...
Stupid is as stupid does (12/02/11)
Tom Hanks uttered this famous saying in his role as Forrest Gump. It means that if a person, even a smart person, does stupid things, they're stupid. In other words, you are what you do. My ex-wife Linda fought this battle with her parents her whole life. I remember hearing her mom tell her on many different occasions that she was just stupid. So she spent her whole life while they were alive trying to prove them wrong...
A melancholy Thanksgiving (11/25/11)
Nine years ago at exactly 6 o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by a knock at my door. I was in that slightly foggy condition between being asleep and awake as I jumped out of bed and threw some clothes on to answer the knock. I thought maybe it was the girl I was seeing at the time but then I remembered that she had a key so I was at a loss as to who could be at my door so early in the morning...
Garbage in, garbage out (11/18/11)
This is a phrase used in computer science and technology to remind programmers that the information computers produce is only as good as the information programmed into the computers. If the information plugged into a computer is solid, it will produce solid results; if the information is bad, then the results will be bad...
Another 'good-guy' scandal (11/11/11)
We have several theories in Sociology about deviant behavior. Some of the theories ask why people break the rules. Others ask why people conform to the rules to begin with since there are attractive and exciting things to do that violate the rules. But there's one theory that doesn't ask either question. ...
A revolution's going on (11/04/11)
Nobody should be surprised at what's happening in many of the major cities across the country. People who call themselves the 99 percent are protesting the financial greed displayed by the 1 percent of Americans who control 80 percent of the assets in this country. ...
Sissies and tomboys (10/28/11)
When I was in grade school, there was a boy in our class who played jacks and jumped rope with the girls instead of playing ball with the rest of the guys. At that age, we didn't think anything about his sexual orientation at all. We just thought he was a sissy...
Why we are the way we are (10/21/11)
When we hear about the horrible crimes that man commits against man, most people wonder why. What could possibly make people do the things they do? The answer is deceptively simple. We are what we learn. We don't all grow up on the same level playing field. ...
A birthday, TJ's Family Fun Center and a standoff (10/14/11)
I had one of the best birthdays I've had in awhile last Friday. Scott Kasch, Bill Stokely and Matt Stebbins met me at the Coppermill Restaurant and Lounge Friday afternoon for happy hour. Drinks were bought for me by Adam Siegfried, the guys I was with, and Rob and Gina Stamm. ...
Domestic Violence Awareness Month (10/07/11)
I write about domestic violence once a year, always during the month of October, since this is the month that has been designated domestic violence awareness month. The horror stories are real, vivid and disturbing and they continue to fill up journals, magazines and police blotters. And although some men are also domestic violence victims, about 90 percent of all victims are women and that percentage has stayed fairly stable over the past several years...
Summer's drawing to a close (09/30/11)
I've always loved the change of seasons because the change reminds us that we're still alive. Although there are a lot of things to do in the summer, there are other things I don't like to put up with and two of those are the sometimes oppressive heat and the bugs that seem to be everywhere. ...
Identity theft (09/23/11)
We've all heard of individual identity theft. This occurs when your credit card numbers or your checking account number is hijacked by a bad guy in a myriad of ways and then they proceed to drain your checking account and run your credit cards up to the max. This has all sorts of negative consequences for the victim and it's a tragedy whenever it happens...
The folly of moving violations (09/16/11)
I got my last traffic ticket forty years ago. I was driving through a small town in Oklahoma on the way to class at Northeastern State University when I got caught in a speed trap. At least it seemed like a speed trap because I didn't think I was going as fast as the officer said I was. But he won the argument...
One is the loneliest number (09/02/11)
Something most of us discover eventually is that it's hard to go through the world alone. There are all kinds of situations and circumstances where we need other people for love, support, compassion, understanding, sympathy and a shared walk through this unpredictable world we live in. We're happiest when we have someone to share the good times as well as the bad times with...
They're all the same (08/19/11)
The following three paragraphs are from an article written by Michael Scherer for Time.com: "In his campaign kickoff last Saturday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry burnished his conservative credentials by attacking the idea of deficit stimulus spending. 'Washington's insatiable desire to spend our children's inheritance on failed stimulus plans and other misguided economic theories have given us record debt and left us with far too many unemployed,' he said...
A bad week for many (08/12/11)
The hailstorm some parts of McCook received Tuesday afternoon was the worst storm I've been in since my car was totally destroyed, with me in it, in a hailstorm on I-40 in Oklahoma back in 1973. Every window was knocked out, every piece of chrome knocked off and there was no place you could put a finger without sticking it in a dent. ...
Synchronicity (08/05/11)
Many people believe it's a very random world we live in where good and bad things happen unaccountably every day. It's a world where some folks live into their 100s while others die as infants. We inhabit a planet ruled by Mother Nature where tornados, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and droughts strike indiscriminately, destroying the lives of many while having no effect on the lives of others. ...
We only come around once (07/29/11)
I've always thought how fortunate or lucky or blessed or whatever other word you want to use to describe my good fortune of being born in this country. None of us had anything to do with where we were born or the family we were born into because it's biologically determined rather than socially created. There's a lot of places in the world I would like to visit but only one place I want to live and that's right where I am...
You don't know your neighbor (07/22/11)
As a matter of fact, you don't really know your spouse or your kids either. We all hide things from others, no matter how intimate the relationship is. That's why so many husbands and wives are totally shocked and surprised when they're served with divorce papers. ...
What's it all about? (07/15/11)
A lot of people believe the world is getting progressively worse; that there is more lying, cheating, dishonesty, and aberrant behavior than ever before. I'm not sure that's true but one thing is true; thanks to 24 hour a day, 7 days a week news coverage, we sure hear about it more...
The Casey Anthony verdict (07/08/11)
This case has consumed the public interest for the past three years. Casey Anthony was charged with first degree murder in the death of her 2 ˝ year old daughter whose skeletal fragments were eventually found in a field, six months after she was reported missing by her mother who waited a full month before reporting her daughter's disappearance to the police...
A couple of things (07/01/11)
A story that borders on being unbelievable occurred last week involving a plane crash that critically injured a University of Michigan basketball recruit. According to the Associated Press, Austin Hatch, a 16 year old junior at Canterbury High School in Fort Wane, Indiana, suffered his injuries in a plane flown by his father, Dr. ...
A very peculiar thing (06/24/11)
There is no other occupation, save the military and then only in times of war, that comes closer to being a true brotherhood than police work. It's a family that is often closer and more tight-knit than your own. I learned this early and often during my service with the Tulsa police department. ...
Signs of testosterone overload (06/17/11)
Another sex scandal has made the news involving a well-known politician and this is the most amazing one yet. Anthony Weiner, a Democratic congressman from New York and a leading voice of his party, has resigned after texting and emailing sexual messages and revealing photos of himself to several different women. ...
Farewell to a good friend (06/10/11)
Kurt Fritsch, our outgoing city manager, called me on Tuesday of this week to invite me to have a couple of "going-away" cocktails with him and Allen Gunther yesterday (Thursday) and I was happy to accept. I've known Kurt for as long as he's been in McCook, being introduced to him by Duane Tappe shortly after his arrival in town, and we've been friends ever since...
The best day of the year (06/03/11)
Today is the day I look forward to all year long as most golfers around here do. It's time for the annual "horse race" at Heritage Hills in McCook. Except instead of having horses in this horse race, there are professional golfers from six different states competing for a prize only one will win, with golfers being eliminated on each hole until there's only one man left standing and that's the exciting part. ...
A maligned profession (05/27/11)
In this bipolar world we live in today, teachers have become the new whipping boys for everything that's wrong with society. The critics say teachers make too much money and get too many benefits for only working nine months out of the year so they're attacking the professional organizations that represent teachers by alleging they're the source of our financial woes...
When addictions aren't addictions (05/20/11)
We hear about these things all the time anymore; food addictions, gambling addictions, marijuana addictions, sex addictions, relationship addictions, etc. etc. We have more addictions than Carter has pills and every week it seems like a new one is added to the list. The problem with that is that the above mentioned behaviors AREN"T addictions...
A life-changing weekend for many (05/13/11)
The annual "rite of passage" will happen for many young people this weekend as high schools and colleges hold their graduation ceremonies. High school students will be off to college in the fall, community college graduates will be on to four year colleges and universities and those graduates will be starting careers that, for many, will last a lifetime...
Seal Team Six (05/06/11)
They're called the best of the best and the baddest of the bad. Of all the Special Ops forces that currently operate in our Armed Forces, the SEALs (sea, air, and land) are the elite. And this special team, Team Six, which was formed in 1980 in the aftermath of the failed attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran, has been the go-to team for the toughest missions since...
Liar, liar, pants on fire (04/29/11)
Today's column title is what we used to yell at other kids in elementary school because lying wasn't a good thing. It was always better to tell the truth, accept the consequences for your actions and get on with you life. Not so today. We live in a country of liars. And it's not just a certain group of Americans, it's every group. It's not just in a particular place in our country, it's everyplace...
An amazing weather day (04/15/11)
The past 24 hours have been pretty remarkable weather-wise. In fact, yesterday I saw a first. During our severe thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, we had thunder, lightning, hail that covered the ground, sleet and snow, all at the same time. I'm not sure when the snow started falling in earnest because I went to bed but when I got up this morning, it sure looked a lot more like January than April...
Mike Hendricks
Mike at Night