Too many trucks, too little gas

Local gasman Manny Reynolds' ad in the Oct. 28, 1942, Gazette said that he was leaving that night for the Army. His ad stated that he appreciated the patronage of his friends and loyal customers at the 777 Super Service and that he hoped to only be gone a few months.

His 777 Super Service station would be open while he was gone and Manny was sure "the boys will do their best to give you the same kind of service as I tried to give while there." He signed it, "Yours for a short duration," Mannie Reynolds.

There was one doctor for every 1,500 people in America in 1942. That compared to one for every 700 people before we got into World War II.

That was good though, compared to Great Britain, which had one doctor for every 2,700 people and Germany, which had one doctor for every 12,000 citizens.

The November elections of 1942 were operated on Mountain War time, opening at 8 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m. Most of the county was using the Mountain War time instead of the Central War time. Red Willow County Clerk Mabel Lyon Curran was quoted as saying, "We don't care what they do other places, we are going by our time in this county."

Truck traffic on B Street was just too much, according to McCook Police Chief Lou Meissner on Nov. 5, 1942. About 55 trucks carrying gravel from the Barnett gravel pits and 75 trucks hauling cement from the railroad yards, not counting all the other trucks involved in the air base project were causing traffic problems. The new route for these trucks would be "Sixth Street east, north to "I" Street, thence west to West third and north to the port."

The Chamber reported another 40 workers had found lodging, mostly in private homes in the city. Mayor L. Kleven ordered that stop signs be placed along "I" Street, making it a temporary arterial thoroughfare. Mayor Kleven thought the stop signs would only be needed for a matter of weeks while the heavy hauling was going on.

Coffee, of course was rationed to war-time Nebraska and there was a small article in the Nov. 6, 1942, Gazette about some findings of the National Geographic society.

They found the first brewing of coffee was probably done by Mohammedans when they were forbidden wine and needed something to keep them alert during long religious ceremonies. They made some sort of a concoction out of coffee beans. In the early 1500s, though, Cairo city officials found out that coffee, too, was intoxicating so they banned that too, and burned all places where the "seditious berry" was stored or used. I thought I knew what "seditious" meant but looked it up just to make sure and was surprised.

No wonder the government was involved with the coffee bean ... sedition deals with stirring up of discontent, resistance or rebellion against the government in power. This is why all those little groups of people who sit around solving the city's and country's problems over cups of coffee each morning come up with all the answers ... it's the coffee beans!

Rolland Larmon, president of the First National Bank of McCook in 1942 and Harold Larmon's father brought a display of checks of famous Americans to McCook and had them on display at the bank. The earliest check here was by Thomas Penn and was written in 1733. Others whose checks were in the exhibit were Thomas Jefferson and eight other presidents, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was decided that Mark Twain had the nicest handwriting and Thomas Jefferson, the worst.

Gazette columnist, "The Bystander" had a question about the display: "What and for whom did Mark Twain buy something at Tiffany's that cost 55 bucks? That's a chapter he forgot to write."

There had been a troop train of English and Australian troops stop in McCook the week of Nov. 7, 1942. "The Bystander" said that the "furriners" had just gotten two months' pay in American dollars and "were fairly aching to get uptown and spend some" during their stop. They weren't allowed off the platform, though. The officers feared that they would never get them all rounded up. "The Aussies and the British were as curious about McCook folk as the natives were about them. A delightful time was had by all."

One further quip by "The Bystander" ... "With tires rationed and gasoline to be limited in two more weeks about all the fun a fellow will get out of owning a car will be to sit in it and honk the horn." Can anybody tell me the identity of Gazette columnist, "The Bystander"?