Opinion

Santa Clarita, Duncan, Oklahoma, Fresno…. With several dead, and hurting, law enforcement officials are still in the process of unfolding the why and the how. So far, speculation supports crimes of passion, possible gang activity and the angst of a grieving teenager. ...

We haven’t heard much about the Great American Smokeout this year, but it is today, part of Tobacco Cessation Awareness Week in Nebraska. There has been more publicity about a related subject, vaping, a practice which the American Medical Association said should be banned...

It may be more blessed to give than to receive, but if you’re addicted to buying those gifts, you may be headed for trouble. German researchers have published a study finding that a small percentage of people are actually addicted to shopping. They say 1 in 20 adults has “buying-shopping disorder” (BSD), which “is characterized by extreme preoccupations with and craving for buying/shopping and by irresistible and identity-seeking urges to possess consumer goods.”...

I am contemplating introducing a constitutional amendment during this incoming 2020 legislative session that would put a lifetime limit on serving in the Legislature. No one would be allowed to serve in the Legislature after being elected to three 4-year terms. It would give Nebraskans an opportunity to vote on making a change to our existing term limits that are set for the Legislature...

Dear Editor, I would like to comment on the Open Forum letter from Stew-art Epstein of 11-14-A.D. 2019. Stewart, you write in your letter that we need a hero. There is nothing wrong with a hero, but what we need now in this world is a Savior, The Messiah Jesus. ...

Grannie Annie and the old guy did an interesting trip last Saturday. The goal was to pick up the meat from a newly butchered half a hog (long story) at a processing plant in Diller, Nebraska. Yes it is a quaint small town in Eastern Nebraska just over 200 miles straight east of McCook. The most direct route was Highway 4 and so we traveled...

A discussion around the coffee machine this morning drew some laughs. South Dakota’s new anti-drug slogan is “Meth. We’re on it.” Its unveiling Monday naturally drew some instant criticism as “a colossal blunder.” Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) held her ground, saying the campaign, which a Minneapolis ad agency created for nearly $449,000, underscores the importance of combating drug use in a state where twice as many 12- to 17-year-olds reported using meth compared with the national average...

Dear Editor, I find myself to be in an uncomfortable position--- If you are concerned and worried and fearful and scared of the secret right-wing conspiracy (led by the Kochs) to one day abolish all of the federal government social programs (especially Social Security) that help people, then you have to worry about who the President will be now and in the future. If s/he agrees with these extreme conservatives, the lower and middle classes will be at-risk and in danger...

You know the tune, you’ve probably heard a thousand times without thinking about it much: “Once I was seven years old my momma told me “Go make yourself some friends or you'll be lonely “Once I was seven years old...” The lyrics of the 2015 song by Lukas Graham progress through life’s milestones -- friends, a wife and children -- ending with hopes at age 60 that his children will visit a couple of times a month...

This year, Nebraska Community Foundation celebrates 25 years of community-building from the ground up. I have had the honor of helping to lead this remarkable organization for more than 20 of those years. Much has changed during that time, and the pace of change quickens each year. But the core principle guiding our work remains the same: Communities can only be built by the people who live and work there...

Southwest Nebraska is hard to beat when it comes to outdoor opportunities. With four great lakes for fishing and water sports, top-flight public golf courses and some of the best pheasant and upland game bird hunting in the state, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better place to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine...

Phooey. My friend Mike Hendricks and his “Mike at Night” column have departed the area. Gone back to his home in Russelville, Arkansas and back to family. I’ll miss his acerbic wit used to razz me and all us of conservative political bent. I was pleased to read in his final column for the Gazette a nice tribute to your humble columnist for the jousting that we have done over the years. Blessings to you Mike, friend. May the rest of your life be in pleasant surroundings of family and friends...

By the time you read this, I’ll have taken up residence in Russellville, Arkansas. Things have just become too much for me to deal with them alone in McCook and so I’m moving to where I have a support system in the personages of my two sons, Michael and Will, and my ex-wife Linda. ...

Auto workers have seen their jobs taken over by robots. Some fast-food restaurants have done away with order-takers at the counter, replacing them with touch screens. Truck drivers will soon be replaced by self-driving semis, as scary as that sounds...

Despite the “extra” hour of sleep on Sunday, some of us are finding it hard to get adjusted to a new work/sleep schedule. Perhaps that’s what public health experts had in mind when they designated Nov. 6 as Stress Awareness Day. The last time you took a commercial flight, maybe you heard the instructions for people traveling with children...

On Oct. 30, the social media platform Twitter decided to stop accepting political advertising. And by the next morning, the cry that Twitter was violating its users’ right to free expression was loud across the land. There’s an official term for the nature of such a complaint: Baloney...

Now that you’re going to work an hour later, thanks to the end of daylight saving time, how about taking it a step farther? As part of its “Work-Life Choice Challenge,” Microsoft’s Japan office closed its offices every Friday in August and found that labor productivity increased by 39.9% compared to August 2018...

Today, Tuesday the 5th is a big day at our house. Grannie Annie’s birthday, her 81st. Typically for her we will celebrate along with 24 or so volunteer workers out in our garage backing boxes to send to one of “her” chaplains deployed overseas. This particular one is stationed in Egypt with a UN multinational peacekeeping force. ...

Unhappy with the way things are going in our local, state or federal government? If you’ve never bothered to vote, or perhaps even run for office, you may have only yourself to blame. Nebraska Secretary of state Robert B. Evnen has published the 2020 election calendar, and if you want to get involved -- run for office, or, definitely, vote -- you should mark down some dates...

I was born on October 7, 1945 at St. Vincent’s Infirmary in Little Rock, Arkansas. That makes me an age I never thought in a million years I would see and quite frankly I don’t know what to do with it. That’s because my life has been pretty structured up until my retirement and now it’s not structured at all...

To achieve property tax relief and limit government, I continue to pursue wasteful spending; the prime example is the NCORPE project and its unnecessary ownership of 19,500 agricultural acres. A recent newspaper guest opinion submitted by an NCORPE official is a case study of a wasteful government entity out of control. I must ask what do the subjects of government paying property taxes, pasture land rental rates, and public hunting lands have to do with groundwater management?...

Maybe the hundreds of kids who took part in the Gazette’s Halloween Parade Saturday have so many goodies they won’t bother going out for more Thursday night. If you believe that, let me tell you about some swamp land I have for sale in Florida .....

Baby boomers may remember the excesses of the late 1950s, when Sen. Joseph McCarthy saw a communism behind every rock, and a single, unfounded accusation could ruin a promising career. Now, a couple of generations later, and we’re in danger of going from that extreme to the other...

During the Vietnam War I was privileged to spend quite a little time flying out of Thailand. In so doing I developed a high regard for the Thai people. I judge them to be a very moral people. Their main faith is Buddhism and there are little shrines about wherever one looked. Young men practice as monks and standout in a crowd wearing their bright saffron robes. I found them to be a very clean people and honestly a handsome lot. Beautiful ladies abound...

Dedicated workers are a prized commodity, but healthy workers are just as important. The majority of us don’t let a little sneezing or coughing keep us home, but more of us should. According to an Accountemps survey, nine in 10 workers admit to going to work with cold or flu-like symptoms...