Opinion

Generally, animals communicate with humans using body language. “Millie’s Book,” published in 1990 by the William Morrow Co., is an exception to that fact. It is said to be unique and to have been dictated to Barbara  Bush by her Springer Spaniel Millie (Mildred Kerr Bush)...

Raising kids is tough. On days when I’m home with my three kids all day, I’m exhausted. It is a blast to play and learn with them, but takes a lot of energy. After having kids, my appreciation for early childhood educators has increased significantly...

I want to thank this community for a childhood that taught honesty, awareness, and sacrifice for fellow man. This was a wonderful community in which to grow up. The invitation came from out of the blue. You are invited to the dedication of a large brass plaque recognizing all Air Force Academy graduates that flew the KC-135 over the Vietnam War...

McCook offers as many healthcare services as some much larger communities, but a recent study and survey has found many areas for improvement. Residents are worried about cancer and radon, unhealthy lifestyles, high mortality rates and preventable diseases...

Protests were to be expected after a white cop received a fraction of the possible sentence for shooting and killing a black man in his own apartment. The judge in the Amber Guyger case was criticized for giving the killer a hug after the sentencing, and the propriety of that action is certainly open to criticism...

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made the effort to attend one of the interim study hearings the Natural Resources Committee held this past month in Scottsbluff and McCook. I appreciate everyone who testified and brought information to the attention of the committee members...

Cab companies were justifiably offended when ride-sharing businesses Lyft and Uber came on the scene, and the upstarts didn’t face the same regulations they did. We hope you’ll indulge us for a moment as a traditional media if we feel less than sympathetic to social media for a recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that found it allowed discrimination through targeted advertising...

For those of us more concerned about memory loss and mental sharpness, the idea of deliberately sabotaging our mental faculties is a mystery. For some, that may be because we had no shortage of mind-altering chemicals in our younger years, but we digress.....

Two country girls entering Junior High, 9th Grade, in the big city of McCook. Hardly knowing any of the classmates they found each other to be friendly. Over the high school years they became best friends. It has been a lifetime relationship—best friends...

If you think about it, a drive through the countryside can be a revelation, this time of year, especially. What were first tiny seeds have grown to tall plants and multiplied a thousand fold as the corn crop nears maturity. Despite difficult growing conditions, and some flooded fields, Nebraska is poised to harvest a record corn crop this year...

The annual Heritage Days parade usually includes a few political candidates during an election year, and that’s a good thing. There’s nothing like shaking hands with a political hopeful, looking them in the eye and chatting about an issue that’s important to you...

Two or three times a year, I make a trip south, always for dual purposes. The main reason is to go see my boys who are living in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Michael teaches a 5th grade history class at Waymon Tisdale performing arts elementary school in Tulsa and Will is job searching after retiring from Bank of American after 10 years. ...

Dear Editor, All sorts of advice is available on raising children. There is no such thing as a perfect parent or a perfect child. Being a parent is challenging. This old world is a tough place. We need to help our children. Our children need to develop resilience and ways to survive...

More American kids want to be YouTube stars than become astronauts, according to a survey conducted last summer. A young Iowa man may wish he had risked an explosion on the launch pad instead of the instant internet fame that made him a hero one day and a villain the next...

It’s fun to recreate old memories and greet old friends, but it’s also fun to share new experiences with new friends. There are plenty of opportunities for both at this week’s German Heritage Days. Yes, you heard that right, the “German” part ties in with the theme, “Back to Our Roots,” as columnist Dick Trail explains in the weekly contribution that shares this page...

Big celebration coming up the end of this week. Heritage Days 2019. The parade, vendors in the park arts and crafts plus food, a 5 K run, a class reunion. It promises to be a good time for all comers. Just what are we celebrating as our heritage anyhow? When Lester Harsch pushed the idea of a Heritage Days Celebration he called it “German Heritage Days”. ...

In a way, the use of e-cigarettes is like the bump stock. After it was somehow made legal, it was only a matter of time before some lunatic used the bump stock, which converts a conventional, semi-automatic rifle into something resembling a fully automatic assault rifle, to commit mass murder, which is what happened Oct. 1, 2017, on the Las Vegas Strip...

Say the word “hero” and images of a fireman, paramedic, police officer or soldier usually come to mind. There’s good reason for that, but when an ordinary citizen leaps into action when they could have looked the other way, that truly is something special...

Like the sun rising in the morning, you can count on one thing, any story that is less than flattering to the current president will quickly be labeled “Fake news!” Some stories certainly deserves criticism, Donald Trump is anything but beholden to established traditional media and even the most dedicated professional news people can let emotions cloud their objectivity...

Two happy young men, McCook natives, exploring the wonders of exotic Hawaii. Not mere passengers on a holiday lark, these two, Sean Cappel and Asher Brooks were the pilots that had just flown a Nebraska Air Guard KC-135 from Lincoln to Hickam. I have no clue why they are there or what their mission is but so proud that it happened...

Dear Editor, Poor mental health and death by suicide has become rampant in modern society. Some contributing factors are the breakdown of the family, fear and anxiety produced by school shootings and other senseless massacres, dealing with natural disasters caused by extreme weather, escalating tensions between factions within our country and wars and rumors of wars around the globe...

It’s popular to honor our military and law enforcement personnel, and with good reason. Both groups voluntarily risk their lives in order to protect the safety and freedom of their fellow citizens. Members of another group, however, are more likely to give their lives in order to keep their fellow citizens fed...