Show and tell

Becky, third from left, and her three sisters enjoyed a visit to the Old Stone Church

Courtesy photo

It was a total delight. Out of the blue Carol Schlegel, Red Willow County Tourism Director (Your tax dollars at work) called and asked if I could conduct a tour of the Old Stone Church. “Sure it will be a pleasure,” I replied. The Stone Church is big in the history of my family it is a structure dear to my heart.

The “tourists” were a group of four sisters from the eastern part of the state. All married with families, including grandchildren, they get away each year for three days of togetherness, just the four of them with family left back home. What a neat idea! Becky the organizer of the sister pack researches interesting places and events for them to visit in Nebraska. Quilt shops are high on the desired list and other “girl friendly” enterprises count as well. She then finds three places to stay nearby and they vote to select which they might like. The sisters four have learned to inquire of their bed and breakfast hosts for suggestions on local items they may not know about like local eateries that are really good and they may not find on their own. This trip they stayed at Gloria Hilton’s Bed and Breakfast in Cambridge another area gem. Becky discovered the Stone Church, perhaps from a short video on NTV, and arranged the visit.

Typical siblings that obviously enjoy each other they kidded around and laughed at inside jokes. One’s cell phone rang and we all stood by for an important announcement. It was a text to one of the sisters announcing the birth of a new grandbaby. Mother and child, yet unnamed, were doing well. Applause all around.

As part of the introduction to the scene, I pointed out that next door, a quarter mile east of the church, the farmstead was owned by the Four D Cooperation. The D standing for the four daughters of my uncle Willard Hoyt. A coincidence four sisters in two different families crossing paths.

During my short presentation of the how and why the pioneer neighborhood came together to build a house of worship and community meeting place the sound of mowing came from outside. Dennis Hoyt had stopped by to trim and mow the grass a volunteer effort that showed that the place is still dear to community and family.

Some eight miles south of Culbertson along highway 17 the Stone Church is one of the gems of rural Nebraska. It is on the Historical Registry and all are invited to pause and read the historical marker that boasts of the history of a true pioneer effort to build community. If you want to know more give me a call and we can meet to give you a tour. All are invited to attend the annual meeting of the Stone Church Association held in the late afternoon of the Sunday closest to Memorial Day.

Dennis Hoyt, one of the volunteers who lovingly maintain the local landmark, mows the grass.

Courtesy photo

Less happy news of the day. Seems that the main interest of the news media is the Florence storm in the Carolinas and still Judge Kavanaugh. It is a little hard for me to feel too sorry for those who were warned day after day that the storm was coming and that there would be more rain than ever seen before. Rain it did and we have all seen the pictures of people being rescued out of their flooded homes. Sure it would be a tough experience but why endanger those volunteers when the whole scenario could and should have been avoided in the first place?

Now the continuing character assignation of a good man, Judge Kavanaugh, is problematic. The Judge denies it but dredging up memories of a high school drinking party where a 17-year-old is accused, only 36 years later, of pawing at the clothing of a 14-year-old girl is a little farfetched in my mind. No questions raised about underage drinking and where was the adult supervision? Evidently, those kinds of things are overlooked. Just defend a 14-year-old girl catching on that she is in the wrong place and it is time to leave when she never should have been there in the first place. It is rather instructive that she purportedly never told her folks or the police about the incident at the time. Whether it happened or not we will probably find out in time. Meanwhile, the Judge has evidently led a pretty sterling commendable life according to the many who have come forward to testify in his behalf.

Actually, the whole brouhaha is a bigger problem than gets addressed. Why is it that all Democrat Senators have committed to voting NO rather than making individual judgments in the case? Same holds true for the Republican Senators that have vowed to vote YES. It is my belief that we send those senators to Washington to use their best judgment to represent we the people who vote them into office. Evidently, they are listening to a different drummer than we who sent them and that is not how constitutional representative government should work. The House of Representatives is no different and something has to change. In my own experience term limits may be a better answer.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail