Opinion

Last week, I had an experience worth noting. A random drive through town rendered an idyllic, if not exaggerated, snapshot of our recent progress in McCook. I had driven from the Gazette office to the North Pointe subdivision to grab a photo for our reporting on the Coffee Talk discussion with MEDC housing director Amanda Engell...

I know that I’m in the minority on a lot of thoughts and opinions. Perhaps the most obvious is my love of winter versus summer. Every June and July, I hear people expressing their desire for hot weather over cold temperatures. With sweat dripping in their eyes and their thighs sticking to their carseats, people relish the sun and heat...

Grannie Annie and your old columnist really enjoyed a sumptuous Thanksgiving meal with daughter Nancy and family. Turkey, sliced ham, green bean casserole, cranberries, stuffing and my list of favorites goes on and on. Followed by watching football on TV, it was a perfect day...

Last week’s announcement from U.S. Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy, launching a national civility initiative under the banner “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You,” landed with unusual resonance in communities like ours. The campaign arrives in response to an alarming spike in bad behavior in the nation’s skies—a 400-percent rise in unruly in-flight incidents since 2019, more than 13,800 such cases since 2021 and physical assaults on flight attendants at a rate unthinkable a decade ago. ...

We have been able to enjoy the beautiful Fall weather and every one of us has so much to be thankful for as we head into the holiday season. There will be some empty places around some of our Thanksgiving dinner tables but there will also be gatherings that have new faces. When we have friends and relatives stop by McCook this holiday season, we have a lot to share with them so take them for a ride around McCook...

Thanksgiving has always carried far more meaning than the schoolbook version of the 1621 Plymouth gathering suggests. While the simplicity of “Pilgrims and Indians breaking bread” carries a valuable lesson, a deeper dive into history makes it far more interesting...

Yes, a favorite United States holiday will be here in two days. It is my favorite. Grannie Annie and your old columnist have celebrated all over the USofA, but of course, the food at home is always the best. Food, family, and friends enjoying it all. What could be better?...

An employee recently gave me a tremendous gift. It’s a copy of the McCook Daily Gazette dated November 22, 1963. For those of you who recognize the date, be patient. I’m burying the lede intentionally because the newspaper is a time capsule; a mid-century snapshot of McCook preserved in tangible newsprint...

The names of those people who have made a generational impact on McCook and Southwest Nebraska is a long list. Many of them are working day-in, day-out right now to make their mark on the community. And then there are those people who no longer call McCook home but still make an impact long after they are gone...

Although the exact origins have been challenged, Mark Twain is most credited with the quip, “God created war so that Americans would learn Geography.” The line feels newly relevant as Venezuela becomes the next potential flashpoint, forcing us to reacquaint ourselves with a part of the map most Americans rarely study...

Sadly, your old columnist just learned of the passing of a dear friend from being a roommate in college, in this case at the brand-new Air Force Academy. Jon Black was his name, and he came to McCook to stand with me in Grannie Annie and my wedding. ...

This past weekend brought word that we have not seen the last of the protests directed at our former Work Ethic Camp. The sponsoring group has not responded to inquiries about the central objective of the demonstration, so we question whether an objective exists at all...

A study about mice has been taking up a lot of my thoughts lately. Yes, mice. But it is the study’s relevance to humans that is important. Known as the Universe 25 Experiment, a series of studies in the 1960s and ‘70s was conducted on mice to observe the effects of a utopian environment with unlimited resources but limited space. It was repeated 25 times to the same exact results; hence the name of Universe 25...

It’s interesting to watch what Mike Hilgers’ office will come up with next. Since taking office in January 2023, Nebraska’s attorney general has developed a reputation for joining heavyweight fights, sometimes tinged with a helping of partisan activism. ...

People. I love people. Recently, your old columnist has had the opportunity to interact with ladies who have relations serving as security guards in McCook’s “new” Cornhusker Clink. Somehow, each has expressed reluctance to discuss their husband, dad or son’s experiences working there in our repurposed Immigration Processing Facility...