Opinion

Blessed by OUR community

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Good weather smiled on McCook's annual Farm and Ranch Expo. The many superb facilities of our Fairgrounds were chock-full of vendors. Attendance appeared to be excellent judging by every parking space filled with pickups. Vehicle licenses in most part boasted of Nebraska residence but Kansas, Colorado and other states far and near were in evidence.

Those manning the booths inside were welcoming and in good spirits. This old, has-been, farmer loves looking at farm machinery. (You can take the kid out of the country but you can't take the country out of the kid!) The machines there on display all seem larger and much more outfitted with electronics than I used some two decades ago. To go back and learn to operate that equipment would require a steep learning curve for this old guy but then a similar revolution occurred in my world of aviation and I have just managed to keep up there. Ag has experienced a fantastic revolution in how we produce the food to feed this great country plus a large part of the world's population. It was a thrill to rub shoulders with those bright young people who operate on the cutting edge.

The facilities at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds should be the pride of this wonderful community. The Kiplinger Arena is second to none in all of Southwest Nebraska. It is in use nearly every day of the year mostly for those of livestock persuasion. For the Expo the dirt floor of the arena was solid, smooth and not a bit of dust to hover in the air. Charlie Collins, the head groundskeeper, does a superb job of preparing that surface which was to be reworked to a softer consistency for the roping scheduled next day.

The members of the Fair Board can be proud of the dynamic facility they have overseen building over the years. Donnie Klein longtime member and energetic driver of that board once told me that all you have to do is look around at the buildings to discover that evolution. Only those buildings that are sided with galvanized tin are the remnants of what was there when he/they entered on the scene. All the other modern buildings they have been responsible for envisioning and putting in place. You, me and the Red Willow County taxpayers have played a part in financing the facilities and kudos to long-time farmer Tom Kiplinger for having the dream and selflessly granting funds to make many of those projects possible. This community is truly blessed.

Refreshing as it was to experience the optimism of the Expo there are dark clouds of pessimism on ag's near future. Prognosticators writing in Farm Publications predict that commodity prices will remain low. Fuel and most other required inputs will continue to be expensive. Farm and ranch operators will be squeezed to show a profit. Talk to most producers and you will find the same pessimism concerning their near future bottom lines. Hopefully, with the new administration, there will be a reigning in of recent exploding EPA and other liberal government oppressive regulations. Build the pipeline, stop the war on coal and other sources of cheap energy and help the USofA become energy independent would all help brighten our future. Yes, this community will be affected because our largest economic driver is the ag industry. Tighten your belts.

Grannie Annie is overjoyed as I write this because she just received a picture of the Chaplain opening the boxes from her first mailing. This Chaplain, a deployed member of the Kansas National guard, is actually the full-time pastor of a congregation in nearby Cambridge. It is even more special to be caring for one of our own.

When you read this Grannie Annie's big push for her Adopt-A-Chaplain packages sent to our military personnel deployed in areas of world conflict will be in the bag. The last fifty, of the two hundred, large military flat rate boxes were delivered to the Post Office just this morning. Grannie and I are just amazed at the generosity of the good people in this and surrounding communities. The hundred or so volunteers that came to pack, seal and tape all those boxes were a blessing. Your giving of items to send, funds donated to buy other items for those boxes and the nickels, dimes and dollars exceeded all expectations. One little girl handed Grannie a dollar and a quarter from her allowance. Other donations, from "widow's mite" $5, $10, $20 bill also ranged to hundreds of dollars.

The big push for the Adopt A Chaplain she does in time for the soldiers to receive those boxes by Christmas is complete. In each box, there are placed a handful of Christmas cards expressing best wishes and prayers for each soldier's safety and appreciation for what they are doing to keep our country safe. Some of those hand-crafted cards from grade schoolers are just precious. All are appreciated.

Christmas is not the end of the project. however. The funds you have so generously donated makes will make it possible for Grannie Annie to send boxes year around starting again in January. She is sending to four Chaplains and each will get one or two boxes a week throughout the year. Grannie protests that she is just the hands and feet of the operation; it is YOU that make it all possible. So thank you one and all.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail

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