Opinion

It’s encouraging to see the number of relief efforts that are being organized to help our Nebraska neighbors to the north and east who are suffering from floods that have destroyed their homes and disrupted their lives. Most of us personally know the people involved in organizing the relief efforts, and know that they’ll do their best to make sure the items get to where they’ll do the most good. Unfortunately, there are always those who will attempt to capitalize on other people’s suffering and generosity, and donation scams are sure to follow any major disaster. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson sees one of his duties as helping citizens avoid such scams. His advice: -- Donate to organizations whose reputations you are familiar with and those having a local presence. -- Be cautious about fundraising efforts initiated on social media with no known ties to an established organization or local charity. -- Carefully evaluate the charity before making a donation. Check sites like Charity Navigator, GuideStar, IRS Select Check, the National Center for Charitable Statistics and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance to determine where to give. -- Designate the disaster so you can ensure your funds are going to disaster relief, rather than a general fund. -- Don’t fall for impsters with names that sound similar to sell-known organizations, and contact the charity directly if you have any doubts. -- Avoid cash donations. A credit card of check directly to the charity is better; not to an individual or money transfer. -- Be cautious of unsolicited emails with attachments or links, which may install malware onto your coputer. -- Be wary of newly-formed charities, which may mishandle donations even if they have good intentions. -- Ask specific questions and give elsewhere if you don’t receive answers. -- Use peer-to-peer fundraising platforms carefully to avoid identity theft and donation to a charitable organization rather than a specific person. -- Get permission and all details before raising money on behalf of a charity or individual. Contact the charity or individual beforehand to make sure you know how the money wll be used, so you will know how to answer donors’ questions. If yoususpect a charity scam, contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at https://protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov or (800) 727-6432.

An awesome day it was today — Sunday. Sixty degrees and almost spring. People out for walk on as sunshiny day. Mamas pushing baby carriages. A motorcycle cruising Norris. Hope is in the air. And yes this little corner of the state dodged a bullet. A cyclone named “Bomb” ravaged the rest of Nebraska but left us almost damage free. ...

Columnist Walt Sehnert’s story on this page about Gazette founder Harry Strunk should offer some insight into the impact the current flooding elsewhere in Nebraska will have over the coming months and years. Strunk used his personal drive and influence to make sure nothing like the 1935 Republican River flood occurred again...

In order not to hear or read about the problems of building a wall along the border between the U.S. Mexico, we would have to live on another planet. El Paso, Texas, is located on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Residents there watch President Donald Trump, wondering what will happen when the wall is finally completed. (This was a disputed territory -- 99 years ago.)...

Considering all the thousands of airliners in the air at any one time, a couple of crashes shouldn’t be that big of a thing. That’s small consolation if you’re about to get on one of the planes in question or know someone who died in a crash. In a private conversation, a commercial pilot once decried the amount of automation in a modern cockpit, citing an instance where a crew had to pull a circuit breaker to regain control of an aircraft...

This is always a strange week, at least for the Hendricks family. My youngest son Will and his wife Erica celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary on March 13, which is also the birthday of my oldest son Brandon, who died in San Diego while serving in the Navy eighteen years ago. Will decided to get married on Brandon’s birthday as an honor and remembrance of him but it also brings back those tragic memories to everyone in the family...

We are now to the point in session where all my bills have been heard in committee, and many have been scheduled for general file. There are still some being decided upon by committees, which we are monitoring closely. I will select my priority bill by the nineteenth of March. ...

For many Nebraskans, the process by which local governments increase property taxes can seem mysterious. The property is assessed, and near the beginning of the year, a postcard arrives with a preliminary valuation that may mean a property tax increase...

Gov. Pete Ricketts’ pledge to not raise taxes is unpopular for those of us who depend on tax dollars for our salaries or vital public services, which includes everyone in the state in one way or another. For example, the University of Nebraska is the largest employer in the state with nearly a $1 billion budget, we spend more than $2 billion a year on Medicaid (before a voter-mandated expansion) and the current budget of $500 million a year won’t properly keep up our 10,000 miles of roads, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation.. ...

If you’ve been on this earth four or five decades, you may remember the sound, that squealing, cracking noise emanating from the phone line as your Apple II or TRS-80 compter attempted to log on to a remote computer somewhere, you weren’t sure just where...

You will note that the McCook City Council is considering a new ordinance. This one to make it illegal for truckers to use their “Jake Brakes” in town. Evidently, those along the sloping part of West B Street (Highway 6 & 34) object to the noise, muffled grumbling pop pop pop, as truck drivers try to efficiently keep their speed below the limit. Just what we need another ordinance, seldom enforced, about like the speed limits on B Street most often ignored. It should be at least 35 MPH anyway...

It's now possible to order almost everything we need from Amazon and similar sites, and have our groceries and pharmaceuticals delivered to our door and fulfill our pets' needs on chewy.com without leaving home. The advent of these circumstances are certainly convenient, a tremendous timesaver with practically the next day service, but is in progress?...

We’ve just adjusted the clocks to allow for the earth’s tilt toward spring in the northern hemisphere, but winter is not ready to release its grasp. McCook is on the edge of a winter storm warning for Thursday, but we’re in a flood watch starting Tuesday evening, with heavy rain predicted to create runoff problems, especially because the ground is still frozen and unable to soak up the water...

Of the two time changes a year, Sunday is arguably the worst. We always have good intentions of going to be an hour early to make up for the hour we’ll lose overnight, but hey, who wants to give up watching Saturday Night Live? You’d better have some freshly-ground coffee ready to go Sunday morning, or, especially, Monday morning...

The Las Vegas odds have been posted for the 2020 Presidential Election and they’re pretty interesting. I’m sure many if not most of you weren’t even aware that Vegas posts odds on elections but they have for some time. For the Presidential election that occurs every four years, they post their first set of odds in November, two full years before the election and then update them as the election grows closer. ...

A native of Canada and naturalized U.S. citizen, Alex Trebek once hosted three game shows at once, but he will forever be associated with “Jeopardy,” which he has hosted since 1984. With class and composure that surprised no one, Trebek, 78, announced in a YouTube video Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer...

This week has been a busy one, with the highlight being meeting with the McCook Senior Leadership class. Interacting with them gives me hope, knowing that those intelligent, respectful young men and women will be our future community leaders. I introduced LB144 to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday, February 27th and LB632 to the Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, February 28th. ...

According to the story in Monday's Gazette, State Sen. Dan Hughes intends to erase party lines in small-town votes with his bill, LB 144, and I believe this effort would cause more harm than good. I've interviewed Sen. Hughes several times and enjoyed his openness over the last decade when I was previously tasked with covering his weekly legislative conference calls for the Gazette. ...

Ronald Reagon once joked that the “nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” The folks around Beauregard, Alabama, will certainly welcome offers of help from whatever source, although we’re sure it will initially come from neighbors and friends, the American Red Cross and other private organizations long before the federal government steps in. FEMA money, provided it hasn’t been diverted to The Wall, will arrive slowly if at all...

Last spring, the college hosted a one-day leadership conference with a variety of local speakers. I still think about Clark Bates and Kyle Dellevoet talking about the thoughtful leadership transition at McCook Christian Church. They used the illustration of the 4x100 relay race and successful baton handoffs. For a relay team to be successful, they have to execute clean baton handoffs. It happens with both runners being at full speed when the exchange happens...

The letters to the editor in response to my weekly column are sometimes interesting to say the least. Recently “bob s”, whoever that might be, wrote: “Nobody really follows Jesus. I have never met a Christian who has. Not one.” Yep, Mr. Bob has a point but he leaves out those of us who are trying. ...

Cruise the alleys of the older parts of McCook and other small towns and you’ll notice structures that jog the memories of the older among us while baffling younger folks. For many of us, one of our first chores was taking the household trash out to the incinerator — that fireplace-like brick structure that has fallen into disrepair, been overgrown with vines or converted into a planter...

It’s hard to believe when we’re experiencing the coldest temperatures of the winter, but this is the last week of “standard” time. At 2 a.m. Sunday, we’ll all be forced to set our clocks ahead an hour, losing an hour of sleep and supposedly taking advantage of the longer days the earth’s tilt toward the sun provides this half of the year...

I’ve lived in McCook since 1995 and this is the worst winter I can remember, at least in terms of cold temperatures, and the worst part of winter is bearing down on us this weekend. Snow is due to start falling sometime today and continue through Sunday with moderate to heavy snow falling Saturday night and Sunday morning which will count for more accumulating snow. ...

Last week in the Natural Resources Committee, I introduced LB368, a bill to eliminate the over-appropriated designation on certain Natural Resource Districts. The hearing served as a means of educating the committee on how and why we manage water the way we do and the relationship between ground and surface water. Currently just the upper Platte river basins are designated as over-appropriated...