Opinion

The unidentified above us

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

And the saga continues. A huge balloon shot down and now two, or maybe three “unidentified objects” shot down. President Biden didn’t get a lot of credit for his late decision to terminate the huge (weather?) balloon with the excuse that he didn’t want to cause casualties on the ground when it fell. Therefore his order to finally shoot it down looked more like a political decision than one of national sovereignty. The other three (or more) unidentified objects my beloved Air Force pulled the trigger early and yet we, the public, have no knowledge of what they were or where they came from.

This old Vietnam-era warrior hasn’t much of a clue what is happening with all the new happenings of “unidentified objects” being destroyed over our US territory including one in Canada. If the powers in Washington know what is going on they sure aren’t telling so all we the people, members of Congress too, are left to conjecture who what or where.

So all that this old airman can do is make a guess. I do know that we, the US Air Force have been flying over the sovereign territory of China for years in our U-2s and the now obsolete SR-71s. Even today we have satellites that have the fantastic ability to view what is down on the ground. For an idea pull up Google Earth on your computer, put your street address in, and voila a pretty good picture of your humble abode. Possibly the Chinese Communists don’t really appreciate that we too are snooping on them with our high-tech satellites so are floating debris over our territory in the hope we will shoot them, it, down. That would give them an excuse to destroy any of our satellites orbiting over their sovereign territory. It is an ability that we know they can do as they have already demonstrated by doing just that. Understand that this idea is just a guess on my part. Time will tell.

At the Nebraska Aeronautics commission meeting in Hastings Friday a discussion was had concerning LB384. LB384 is a proposal to grant all the Nebraska-generated sales tax funds related to aviation to the Division of Aeronautics to be used for airport improvements. Presently those tax receipts go into the General Fund to be spent who knows where. Our airports are currently cared for and improved with what is generated by fuel taxes from the sale of aviation fuels plus fees from passengers boarding on airliners. It is similar to the gas taxes you pay for the fuel used in your car which pays for the upkeep and improvement of our road system so if you chance to see our State Senator please mention to him that he should vote for the passage of LB384 when it comes before the Legislature.

It was kind of the end of an era. Saturday I attended the funeral of one of the longest friends that have been a part of my life, a 90-year-old gentleman by the name of Joe Edwards. In my oldest known memories, Joe and his family were a part. We lived south of Culbertson just short of the Kansas line and the Edwards were our closest neighbors. Our house was a bare minimum with no electricity, no bathroom—just an outhouse and water was from a hand pump outside and carried into the house. The kitchen range and a potbellied wood stove provided heat in winter and air conditioning was not yet invented. The Edwards home was a little bigger with the same non-existent utilities except that Joe and his brother Lee were natural-born innovators and it wasn’t long before they managed to rig electricity and later a water system. After a stint in the army, Joe returned to this area to work as a machinist at Klein’s Motor Electric and then at Nate Romanoff’s meat packing and rendering works. Then he set up his own machine shop in McCook and prospered in life. For me, a special part of his life was his little sister, Goldie, who later was a member of my high school class here in McCook. We parted when I went off to join the Air Force and Goldie attracted a gent from New Jersey who came out to McCook Junior Collage to play football. They married and went back to Anthony’s home in New Jersey to raise a family and to prosper in life but we have always kept in touch.

Joe chose to be buried in the little country cemetery just north of the Old Stone Church near where he grew up. He is again surrounded by family. Lots of friends and relatives in attendance and that is the way the end of our lives should be.

In closing the forecast is for a wet and uncomfortable Valentine's Day. Still, it is an occasion to pause and enjoy the ones you love.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail

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