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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Some are addicted to alcohol. Some are addicted to various narcotics, others to various perversions. Our nation and world has increasingly become addicted to these and more 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. Even in Sidney, Nebraska there are both young and old who are addicted to the junk that is pouring over our so called sovereign borders. The alarms have been sounding...
There is a joke about an 85 year old widower who went around banging his head against the brick walls in town. When asked "Why are you doing that?" The widower replied, "Its the only pleasure in life I get." The inquirer responded in disbelief, so the elderly gentleman explained, "The doctors won't let me smoke or drink, and my wife died a few years ago. So I do this instead." The baffled stranger said, "I'm sorry, I really don't understand." The silver haired octogenarian said, "I do it...
I often regaled my family with stories of my childhood in Alaska as we sat around the table after dinner. I remember getting up early that morning long ago... "Put the cooler in the trunk" Dad said. Excited by the prospect of my first hunting trip, I played pack mule, lugging equipment to Uncle Norman's vehicle. Norman teased, "Think you'll be able to bring down a moose with your popgun?" I grinned and kept loading. On my 10th birthday I received a .22 cal. single-shot bolt-action rifle. I knew...
My first venture into the business world was in the summer of 1957 as an 8 year old. Dad brought home an old rusty platen press from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. I can't properly describe a platen press. It was foot treadle powered and hand fed. You can find pictures of them on the web. The pressman (me) stands in front of the press, grabs a big flywheel on the left side of the press and gives it a hard pull. This puts it into motion. The next step is to take a sheet of paper, slip it into...
Plans and dreams – starting in childhood and lasting through all our lives we dream and make plans. In grade school I dreamed about being the best artist in my class. Didn't happen and I'm still a lousy artist. When I got into high school I dreamed about becoming the star basketball player and being on the honor roll, too. Made honor roll in my junior and senior years, but I couldn't dribble worth an "expletive deleted". I dreamed of going to college and being #1 on the dean's list, then a...
In the distant future archeologists will argue about certain aspects of my generation's lifestyle. Long after our high performance muscle cars have been outlawed and turned to rust, legends and folk tales will speak of the mystical metal monsters that ruled a legendary land of highways and parking lots. What future historians and archeologists will make of these only God knows. Some tales will survive into the 50th century, long after the last drop of petroleum has been leeched from the ground,...
The first 2 years my parents and I lived in Winnemucca, Nevada were filled with excitement and hard work. I had a new bride and we were part of something rarely done – starting a newspaper from scratch and seeing it rapidly grow into one of the most influential, respected and successful newspapers in the state of Nevada: the Humboldt Sun. We built our success on our philosophy of what a hometown paper should be. A newspaper is just that: a paper filled with news of immediate impact, concern a...
Picking up from the previous Historical Argument article, I'll continue in the same vein with some United States 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 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...
I believe a major failing of our national education system is the general lack of teaching the historical foundations of our Nation and its governmental system. Even though it is not close to the Fourth of July, I believe it is time to look at the Declaration of Independence that was passed by the fledgling American Congress on July 4, 1776. Let's examine just a few parts of this document and see how they apply to the state of the Union today. The second paragraph makes a concise and logical...
Reaching back into the not so far distant past, one of the activities I participated in during my high school years was debate. Monroe High School in Fairbanks, Alaska had a debate club that I joined shortly after leaving the high school choir. My voice had changed and I couldn't hold a note without ending up screeching in C above high C. That simple change ended up making a great change in many things in my life over the following years. Among the things we were taught in the debate club,...
After watching young people (anyone under 30 years old... snicker) demonstrating and rioting because they find their lot in life so difficult I want to throw up. It makes me that sick. They want other people to pay for their college education. They want to enter the work force and get paid large salaries for sitting on their duffs in front of a computer screen. They act like they are the only ones who have to deal with the stress of living. Yep. Living can be stressful, especially when you have...
Power hungry politicos are using "climate change" to scare you out of your wits and make you willing to bow down to their power grab over your life. They believe that we must allow them to do what they want or the world is doomed. Let's look at a couple of the tools they claim will help solve the climate crisis. There really is no crisis, but we'll look at that another time. The major item in their tool box is wind power and battery-powered vehicles. Having lived in various locations in this...
Do you remember the TV show this quote is from: "Push the button, Max!" It was invariably followed with, "That's the wrong button!" instantly followed by chaos. No fair peeking at the answer. After watching the recent elections and the national news pundits I was reminded of the TV show that frequently used that verbiage in it's scripts. For the most part the show was one comedy foul up after another as the main character tried to accomplish his assignment. The recent elections reminded me of...
Aside from using a Kodak Brownie (which I doubt few today even recognize the name!) and borrowing dad's old 35mm Argus a couple of times in high school, I didn't know much about taking pictures, much less developing film and making prints. After joining the family newspaper in Winamac, Indiana Dad assigned me the job of taking pictures at a local basketball game. He hauled out this old 4"x5" sheet film Crown Speed Graphic. You see them in the old, old movies. They weigh about 4 lbs. Add another...
There are those who are so scornful, or maybe afraid, of the past history of the United States of America they want to remove the study of American history and our nation's system of government from our schools. Among the reasons given it is claimed that there are more important things to learn. It is asserted that it is more vital our children learn how to live in today's digital world. Some base this argument on their belief that the past is not relevant to the present. Others contend the...
By Calvin K. Sunderland, edited by Michael K. Sunderland When Roosevelt came in things worsened quickly for the Sunderlands. FDR’s first act in office was to close every bank in the nation for the historic bank holiday. There was panic in some quarters and banks went under to the dismay of their depositors. A flood of emergency measures came from the White House quickly rubber-stamped by a thoroughly cowed Congress. Whatever Roosevelt wanted, he got with hardly a murmur of dissent. The r...
There are those who are so scornful, or maybe afraid, of the past history of the United States of America. They want to remove the study of American history and our nation's system of government from our schools. Among the reasons given it is claimed that there are more important things to learn. It is asserted that it is more vital our children learn how to live in today's digital world. Some base this argument on their belief that the past is not relevant to the present. Others contend the...
By Calvin K. Sunderland, edited by Michael K. Sunderland When Roosevelt came in, things worsened quickly for the Sunderlands. FDR’s first act in office was to close every bank in the nation for the historic bank holiday. There was panic in some quarters and banks went under to the dismay of their depositors. A flood of emergency measures came from the White House quickly rubber-stamped by a thoroughly cowed Congress. Whatever Roosevelt wanted, he got with hardly a murmur of dissent. The radical...
I’m an avid reader. From soup can labels, magazines in doctors’ offices, street signs, newspapers, and just about anything that has the printed word I’ll pick up and read. Early in my life, around 7 or 8 years old I discovered the Tom Swift books and I was hooked. By my early teens I had read every sci-fi book in the Fairbanks Public Library from the Tom Swift series, to the great authors. Over the years the list grew to include Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, H. G. Wells, George Orwel...
Even in the 1970’s some of the old gold rush style miners lived the life of a hermit and it was a risk to life and limb to explore the mountains in Northern Nevada. You never knew when you would stumble across one of these characters. The first indication you were trespassing on their claim would be the sound of a bullet ricocheting off a rock at your feet. Taking a page out of Wild West history, in mid-summer of 1974 one of Winnemucca’s sheriff’s deputies decided to put together a gang and r...
By Calvin K. Sunderland Edited by Michael K. Sunderland The following is a short excerpt from the Family History my father worked on until Alzheimer’s progressively destroyed his memory. The nation, and the world, found itself beginning the slide into The Great Depression by 1930. The unprecedented economic disaster began with the stock market crash of October and November 1929. It can hardly be argued the crash caused the depression, but it was the curtain raiser. The Great Depression is s...
With the on set of warmer temps I invite you to come with me on a short trip to 1968 and visit a couple of “cool” events in my past. As related in an earlier story, “The Blizzard of 1968”, Fairbanks, Alaska was visited with one of the largest snowfalls seen in recorded history for the state. So far as I know the 16 feet of new snow deposited by one storm was the most ever recorded since the Ice Age. Another first was soon to follow. The coldest time of the year in Fairbanks usually comes i...
We take computers for granted. We text, talk, do research and spend too much time sitting on our duffs in front of them. It wasn’t always like that. In 1966 a major change in the way newspapers are produced was previewed. The first computerized typesetting machine was field tested at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. C.W. Sneddon, the owner, was always eager to try new technology and IBM accepted his offer. IBM combined a keystroke capture system with a Selectric typewriter and added a punch tape...
With the permission of my wife, of course. So buckle up and prepare for another series of politically incorrect articles. After watching the serious over reach of the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party In Power, aka FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a Lago residence, I can not remain silent. Yes, this might be dangerous as it could induce the radical left into requesting their army of political correctness enforcers to raid my home, subject me to a strip search and put me...
Life is full of uncertainties. There are few things I can count on as anchors in the storm. Many of the people and things I thought I could rely on turned out to be false hopes. So what do I count on for my sense of security? If I’ve learned anything in my life to date it is this: I can count on my God and Dorothy, my wife. Before we moved to Sidney, she and I owned and operated The Town & Country Shopper in Albion, NE. Circumstances beyond our control drove us into bankruptcy. Those we thought...
