McCook Daily Gazette: Columns

Memorial Day in the Middle East (05/25/12)
Memorial Day has taken on different meanings over the years. It began as a holiday on May, 30 1868, to remember Union Soldiers who died in the Civil War. After World War I, when it was called Decoration Day; commemorations honored members of our military who died in all American conflicts. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May...

Remembering our fallen (05/25/12)
This summer, a travelling memorial called "Remembering Our Fallen" will make its trek across Nebraska. This 60-foot long tribute to Heartland soldiers who have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a poignant reminder of the high cost of freedom. This past Friday, I had the special honor of welcoming its arrival in Gothenburg, where it will be on display through May 31st at Stone Hearth Estates...

Equal opportunity for all (05/25/12)
No one's celebrating the price of gasoline -- down a nickel last week and 32.4 cents lower than a year ago -- but drivers are more likely to think about hitting the road this Memorial Day weekend. AAA expects 34.8 million Americans to travel 50 or more miles from home this weekend, 1.2 percent or 500,000 more than the 34.3 million who traveled last year...

Advances in technology (05/24/12)
As we continue to make state government more efficient and available to our citizens, I want to highlight several successful projects launched in the past year and provide updates on other online services. Our goal is to provide access to government services outside of regular business hours, while providing increased efficiency at a lower cost...

'The Avengers' is big -- and enjoyably nimble (05/24/12)
"The Avengers" has been the number one film in North America for the last three weekends in a row. It's a record-shattering success for Marvel Studios, the now-wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney -- it passed the $450 million domestic gross benchmark 10 days faster than the previous bar-setter ("The Dark Knight"), is well on its way to the half-a-billion-dollar mark, and internationally, continues to climb its way up the ladder inside the illustrious International Billion Dollar Movie Club (as of now, it sits in fourth place out of twelve titles, $150 million behind the last "Harry Potter" movie).. ...

Bringing BooBoo home (05/23/12)
I walked to our back door April 27, parted the curtains in the window, and as I peered out into our driveway, I burst into tears. I made my way into the living room, and fell into Danny's arms, sobbing, "I don't want my BooBoo Kitty to be dead!" "Neither do I," he replied, choking back his own tears...

How is overregulation impacting you? (05/22/12)
While Nebraska continues to see a strong job market, the national economy remains weak with unemployment above 8 percent for 39 consecutive months. The tepid pace of growth is due in large part to the overregulation coming out of Washington, paralyzing employers with uncertainty. And just as a rising tide lifts all boats, the opposite is also true. Failure to rein in out-of-control regulations will result in lasting damage to our country, and all Americans will pay the price...

Planes on the Plains help Nebraska's economy soar (05/22/12)
Nebraska is sometimes referred to as "The 500 Mile State" because it's about 500 miles from east to west borders. Our land area total is about 77,000 square miles making us 16th in the nation in total land mass. In a large rural state like Nebraska, if it wasn't for general aviation and the small prop driven planes many people use to get around it would make it difficult for many businesses to thrive, search and rescue operations to be carried out, hunters to get to remote areas, public officials to meet with constituents and many others who need to travel long distances quickly.. ...

Primary success (05/22/12)
The call came from a cell phone on his tractor. The question "Who should we vote for, Stenberg or Bruning?" He and his wife would take time to vote in the rather inconsequential primary election in Nebraska but more important to the questioner was finishing his annual task of planting corn. My suggestion, "Deb Fischer." "Who is that?" was his response...

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...

Nothing like a small town summer (05/18/12)
Declan is gearing up for his summer and has been counting down the remaining school days for several weeks now. He is anxious to spend time with family members outside of McCook, primarily his mother and sister in Colorado, but he is also scheduled for an adventure with Grandma and most of his cousins, that I am more than a little disappointed to be missing...

Bruning's death grip on sodium thiopental (05/16/12)
LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Perhaps murderer Michael Ryan feels blessed. Attorney General Jon Bruning might feel jinxed. At the least, he's very upset and, as is his custom, he has given voice to his discontent. Ryan, 63, has been on death row since 1985. The story of how the one-time leader of a religious, anti-government cult, came to be convicted of two shockingly brutal torture/murders made national news...

Whose opinion really matters? (05/16/12)
Holidays irk me. Especially those so cleverly managed by Madison Avenue it's sacrilege to miss them. Apparently, Mother's Day took in an average of $172 per mom this year. So to my dear mother-in-law, "Sorry Mom, once again, we come in well below average."...

Old airplanes and memories (05/15/12)
"Wow I thought Nebraska was all flat!" The words of the young pilot I was teaching to fly my 1946 Aeronca Champ. She had learned to fly in Florida and is part of the Air Ambulance flight crew now operating out of the McCook Airport. (Forget its official name!) Life Team flies a twin engine turboprop "King Air" aircraft that is most comfortable above 10,000 feet where most everything down below does indeed look more flat. ...

One of these mothers just isn't like the others (05/11/12)
As a single father with custody of Declan since his early months, I am, for the most part, accustomed to filling both parenting roles. Typically I have looked at it as being no different than any other challenge and stubbornly set out to prove any nay sayers wrong...

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. ...

Power in the blessing (05/09/12)
The last high school graduation I attended, when someone I knew and loved had donned the hard-earned cap and gown, was some years back. And in those long-gone yesteryears, I attended only one Baccalaureate. Apparently, the entire concept, to bless those brave, young hearts as they go forward into a world that will seek only to see how many kicks it will take before they cry "uncle" and surrender, had fallen out of favor...

Good news and disgust (05/08/12)
Good news! Grannie heard from her warriors in Afghanistan and all is well. Actually she received a form letter thanking all who had sent boxes to the troops during the unit's tour of duty. They are rotating back to their regular duty station, from whence they came, in Germany...

The thousand day budget myth (05/07/12)
There's been a rumor going around that says the Senate has now gone about 1,000 days since passing a budget resolution. What the rumor mongers aren't aware of or are not telling people is that last year, instead of a budget resolution, the Senate and the House passed, and the President signed, a budget control law...

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...

The pilots I'd like to see (part one) (05/03/12)
A couple of weeks ago, I used this space to talk about the shows that may or may not be returning to the various broadcast networks next fall. This time, I'll deal with some of the pilots that could be finding their way to your TV in a few short months...

Come out of her, my people (05/02/12)
"My kingdom is not of this world." This was Jesus' answer to Pilate, recorded in John 18:36, when asked if he was, in fact, a king. His answer is still true, even though American Christianity has done its best to coronate the United States as our own version of Jesus' kingdom. We were told that this was all part of that original, breathtaking dream, forged in the hearts of the nation's founders...

NIMBY (05/01/12)
Things one learns while mowing lawn. A former Red Willow County deputy stopped by to tell me that the old Brown McDonald store, presently in renovation, is going to be the new jail! "Yes and on Monday morning Paul Wood, Red Willow County attorney, will be at the Commissioners' meeting to protest. Not across the street from my office!" chortled the spreader of news. Loved it! Human nature in action...

Nebraska National Guard -- much more than weekend warriors (04/30/12)
Nebraska has thousands of men and women who are members of the National Guard and I salute each one for the tremendous contribution and sacrifice them and their families make for America. Yet too often, the role of the Guard, both Army and Air in securing our nation against foreign enemies receives less than their due. Also, too often the contributions the Guard makes to secure our homeland are overlooked...

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. ...

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