Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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It Depends. In colonial America you were an Englishman, or you were not. The common plea was that an Englishman was an Englishman no matter where he stood in the world. The colonists increasingly took this to mean that they were equal in status and right to any other English subject. British people of the upper classes viewed this idea with some distaste and were often offended when approached with familiarity by an American. (Sounds like some of our elected officials and other classes in presen...
Time to take a break... Every once in a while we need to pause, take a deep breath and step outside of the daily grind. So without making apologies if I step on some political toes here are some humorous moments from days gone by. You deserve a chuckle for enduring today’s weirdness. While in the Navy (late 1960s & early 1970s) my favorite watches were mid watches – a 2 hour watch between midnight and 0400. Those scheduled to have a mid watch could to go to the mess hall before, or after the...
Shortly before the spring of 1959 our family moved out of a freezer of a house located near the Immaculate Conception Grade School in Fairbanks, AK. We tried living in a small apartment complex on the southwest side of town, but the apartment had a couple of problems. It was too expensive to keep at a livable temperature (lack of insulation) and it was infested with all kinds of critters including cockroaches and mice, left over from previous tenants. Mom and dad immediately started looking for...
I've been a game player for more decades than I care to think about. I've played several different card games, a couple dozen different board games including checkers, Monopoly and chess. I've played games with marbles and became relatively good at them. In various boxes and cabinets in my house I have games that can be played by the little ones and others I can play with their parents. And in spite of my age I can also play games on a computer . . . mostly war games with other guys and gals on...
Let us pretend for a moment that we can change the future. For instance, what if some one or more of us came up with an idea that stood a good chance of bettering our city's economy. What if we stopped being stuck in past ways of looking at things and took a chance on changing our perspective. What if we did that? I was looking through some some of the old newspapers I've collected over the years and found some that dated back to the days after I left the Navy. I spent my first year after...
Before the start of our mid-point Fallout Shelter Management class at the University of Alaska one of our instructors turned on the radio to hear the weekend weather report. An emergency notice interrupted and we heard "a nuclear attack is imminent – seek shelter immediately, this is not a drill." As the warning was repeated the air raid sirens went off with the signal for a nuclear attack. As the sirens wailed we were herded into a fallout shelter – a large room outfitted with a heavy fir...
16 wasn't noteworthy for me and I was not worried about the state of the world. 1963 was better. I graduated from 8th grade and discovered girls. Weeks before the graduation dance I had lessons from my parents and watching American Bandstand. They didn't take. Overcoming shyness I approached one of the girls in my class and we tripped the light fantastic. I only tromped on her toes 2 or 3 times. I've never been a good dancer (as my wife Dorothy would have confirmed) but I like to dance. In...
It Depends. In colonial America you were an Englishman, or you were not. The common plea was that an Englishman was an Englishman no matter where he stood in the world. The colonists increasingly took this to mean that they were equal in status and right to any other English subject. British people of the upper classes viewed this idea with some distaste and were often offended when approached with familiarity by an American. (Sounds like some of our elected officials and other classes in presen...
Sometimes we need to stop and look back in our nation's history and see some of the grander and better seeds that were planted by our elected leaders. Here are some seeds from both sides of the political aisle that were planted years ago. We need to water them and help them to grow in these troubled days. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT QUOTES: The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose...
The following is an editorial article my father Calvin K. Sunderland wrote in the 1970's. I've edited it a bit so this version only half as long as the original. Sometimes we need to go back to our roots and rediscover our foundations. This article is from my early days in the newspaper field. At the time my dad wrote the following, I was a reporter, photographer, press operator, dark room tech, etc. at the Humboldt Sun newspaper in Winnemucca, Nevada. * * * As a reaction to Watergate, a lot of...
If you think we have it rough today with a shaky economy, terrorists, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, tidal waves, high taxes, messed up real estate values, high unemployment rates, low income to high cost of living ratio, and all of the additional etceteras of modern life in the USA – think again. Just to put it into perspective consider poor Methuselah and all that he had to deal with: 1. A 900-year lifespan, and you think you get bored with doing the same job for 20 or 30 y...
Continuing from the first Constitutional Argument article let us take a look at a few more amendments that most Americans have little or no knowledge of. I dare say that most of our nation’s public schools do little if any teaching about the Constitution of the United States. As a result we are witnessing more and more trespassing of our rights and freedoms by various levels of government and governmental agencies. So, picking up from where I left off here are a few more constitutional arguments...
Recently our country has seen activities by various levels of government, from states to our national government that, at the very least, could be assessed as unconstitutional. Unfortunately many of our educational systems around the nation have failed to teach our young for some time about the Constitution of the United States. There are few today who have any knowledge about the original document, much less about the Amendments that have been made to it. And during the recent pandemic several...
We hear a lot about "white privilege" from certain power hungry politicians who are not afraid of producing division in our nation. I know that I'm treading a narrow and dangerous path in writing this article. All I ask is that you stick with me until you get to the conclusion... According to some politicians and radial left pot stirrers if you are a certain skin color and have a nice home and car you are automatically labels as "privileged." I beg to differ with them. Yes, there are people (of...
The Beach Boys (I'm showing my age here) is one of my favorite bands. Most of their songs gave us a musical image of life under the sun on a pleasant coastal beach. A very small number of their songs had a sad note... as in losing your girl friend, or being lonely. The song "In My Room" comes to mind as I write this article. It has been a bit over a year since Dorothy, my wife of over 50 years died. During that time I've dealt with all kinds of legal issues... too many to list here. My children...
Recently our country has seen activities by various levels of government, from states to our national government that, at the very least, could be assessed as unconstitutional. Unfortunately our educational systems around the nation have failed in many schools to teach our young for some time about the Constitution of the United States. There are few today who have any knowledge about the original document, much less about the Amendments that have been made to it. And during the recent pandemic...
My last full* year of school in Fairbanks, Alaska was at Monroe High School. Although it was called a "high school" the majority of the classes were designed to prepare the graduates for college. The classes we attended averaged anywhere from 1 year to 4 years ahead of what was taught in the public school system. From the middle of my Sophomore year through my Senior year at Monroe High School I participated in the Debate Club. Before that I was a member of the school choir. Partway though the... Full story
Just to flip the coin a bit... here is a bit of the other side of military service. Most of us have read or heard war stories, and at one time or another watched movies by the dozen that hammered home the bleak and bloody side of warfare. There are few TV shows and movies that show another side of life in the military. Lest you get the idea that time in the military is dull and dreary, or just a series of unpleasant experiences, allow me to recount a few of the more humorous events that took... Full story
Collecting information upon some thing or some one can be beneficial, such as a doctor obtaining as much medical history that is available on a patient. On the other hand, collecting personal information can be harmful, especially if it is on individual citizens, or communal groups of citizens that will be used to "monitor" their activities, even if those activities are peaceful and legal. That is something done in socialist, fascist and communist countries. (In reality there is so little... Full story
This article will be short and sweet. Well, sweet to some and not so sweet to others. December 25 is the day that has been chosen for the majority of the world's citizens to celebrate a holiday we call Christmas. For many, especially in Western cultures (America and Western Europe) Christmas is that time of year we take a break from our workaday world. During this break time various cultures celebrate it in various ways and for various reasons. Many days prior to December 25 most of us spend an... Full story
Some are addicted to alcohol. Some are addicted to various narcotics, while others are addicted to various perversions. Our nation and world has increasingly become addicted to these and other things to the extent that we have all but passed the national fatality level. Most of us are aware of the various drug addictions that plague our fellow Americans. In every part of the nation there are young and old who are addicted to the junk that is pouring over our so called sovereign borders. The... Full story
Probably the most frequently asked question is "Why?" As children we bombarded our parents with such questions as... "Why do I have to do this?" "Why do I have to do that?" among others, and probably the most frequently asked was: "Why me?" Today many are bewildered at the current state of the world in general, and the state of America in particular. Why are things so confused and chaotic? Why does it seem that things are getting worse? The simple answer is: human nature. From early in our... Full story
Thanks to my dad I became a student of history. It seems like a lot of today's parents are so busy making a living, they don't have time to share their personal and family history with their kids. Yes, I know it's rather difficult these days for us average (non-millionaire) parents. Dorothy and I experienced that even to the point of total bankruptcy and losing everything, yet we still raised 5 kids and adopted a 6th. Nonetheless, thanks to my dad I learned to share my personal history with my... Full story
I became a student of history way back... well, never mind how far back. One of the things I learned was that humans seem to be very, very slow learners when it comes to assimilating the lessons of history (also known as "life"). Century after century the same pitiful mistakes are made by governments and societies around the world. This tendency has been summed up by historical philosophers throughout the centuries. Kurt Vonnegut phrased it like this: "We're doomed to repeat the past no matter... Full story
Went to the Sidney Post Office Saturday morning, Nov. 4, and I got a letter! Usually the only mail I get is junk mail and bills. I am so thrilled to get this letter that I'm reporting it in its entirety in the following paragraphs. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And I quote with expletives somewhat deleted, but spelling unchanged: "10-30-2023, I hope this F--k the right man. To Mike Sunderland in response to your article in the Sun Telegraph August 22, 2022! How are you feeling now Mr.... Full story
