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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The Fairbanks Flood of 1967 was followed by more dramatic climate events. No sooner had 1967 turned into 1968 than we had a winter in which a raging blizzard deposited 16 feet of new snow on the Fairbanks area. We thought that should be the end of it. The weather was expected to moderate. But no, Mother Nature wasn’t finished with us. She had one more piece of nastiness for us. The coldest time of the year in Fairbanks comes in January and normally lasts but a week or so. This winter the b...
The winter after the great Fairbanks flood of the previous year was memorable. Mother Nature was not finished with us. She must have known that I would soon be leaving Alaska for good and she wanted to make sure I would remember what it was like. I’ve read stories of blizzards on the Great Plains, but nothing I have read, or experienced since has come close to the one that hit Fairbanks in 1968, my last winter in Alaska (except one I experienced in Kansas in 1954). At the time I was working i...
Who do you trust to tell you the truth? Would you know the truth if you heard it? What is the difference between “disinformation” and a “different point of view or belief”? Your answers to these questions will have a great deal of influence on who and what you believe in. We are hearing a great deal from certain characters in our federal government and mass news media about “disinformation”. They are so distraught over what they call “disinformation” they want to instigate (yes, I know what tha...
I came across some stats the other day that, if remotely accurate, are astounding, shocking and demand action. Fasten your seatbelt and prepare for a jolt. According to this info it takes 21 to 35 days for a Russian oil tanker to get to a US port to be offloaded. It takes between 35 to 60 days for a tanker from the Middle East to make the same trip. It takes about 10 hours to load a tanker and up to 24 hours to unload if it has to wait in port, and to get to an unloading dock can take up to 3...
If you think we have it rough today with a shaky economy, terrorists, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, tidal waves, high taxes, high unemployment rates, low income to high cost of living ratio, a growing stronger dictatorial federal government, and all of the additional etceteras of life in today’s America – think again. Consider poor Methuselah and all that he had to deal with. For starters how about having a 900-year lifespan? And you think you get bored doing the same job...
In my preteen years our family lived in a subdivision across the river from downtown Fairbanks, AK. Besides having one of the best home we had lived in up to that time, the housing area was surrounded with a virgin forest that was a perfect playground for youngsters. We hiked, played hide-and-go-seek, and went fishing in the Chena River on the forest’s edges. Tree forts were built in many tall pine and spruce trees. The forts were used for several different purposes. We played war games, w...
Edited by Michael K. Sunderland Calvin K. Sunderland, my dad was, among many things a storyteller. It’s a trait that seems to have been passed on to me. I recently unearthed the following story of my dad’s while sorting through a stack of his letters and papers. It reveals a lot about where I got many of my traits. “The summer of 1941 was not over and by late summer I’d recovered enough from my exposure to poison ivy to be feeling frisky again. Horsing around got me into worse trouble just a...
When advanced Navy boot camp training commenced in earnest our recruit company was quickly immersed in fire fighting techniques, first aid, NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical warfare), among other necessary skills. We spent two sweltering days in Southern California heat at the San Diego Navy boot camp learning to handle fire hoses and how to put out a shipboard fire with nothing but water. It was hot miserable necessary training. When you are 100s of miles out to sea there are no fire...
Working for a local newspaper may not be as glamorous as working for a big city daily, but it is not boring. Where else can you do a story on a carrot that looks like Abe Lincoln, a 2-headed snake, or cover a cat rescue? One of the memorable stories I covered gave me opportunities to do it like the big city boys. In mid 1974 Northern Nevada from the Black Rock Desert on the west thru Elko County on the east was hit with high winds. For many hours from early in the day the wind blew at 70 mph wit...
The other day I sat down to write another article and my mind went blank! Go figure. So I loaded up the CD player with music by an old favorite of mine… C.W. McCall. I doubt many youngsters (anyone under 40) will recognize the name. He produced and sang Long Lonesome Road, Night Rider, Ratchet Jaw, Rubber Duck, among many more trucking tunes. Dorothy and I lived in Winnemucca, NV when he hit the top of the charts hit after hit, during the early 1970s. We installed a mobile CB in our car and a...
Written by Calvin K. Sunderland My dad was not a braggart. It was rare he would talk or write about his time in the WWII Navy on board the heavy cruiser USS Portland. What follows is one he wrote a few years before he died. I can only try to emulate the bravery it must have taken to weather events such as he experienced during the war. – Michael K. Sunderland “One of the most frightful episodes while I was aboard came late in our North Pacific excursion. A storm at sea is one of nature’s more...
Warning! This is a true story of a Navy boot camp experience. The language has been toned down to protect the guilty. I stood looking Fear in the face. Fear with a capitol F–E–A-R, complete with a body and personality all it’s horrible own. The name of that particular fear is Water. Looking at it makes me want to run under a hot shower and stay there for the rest of my life. That tower at the deep end of the pool – how high did they say it is? 50 feet? 50 infinite feet above 18 deadly feet of...
In the late 40’s and early 50’s dust storms (and this was before climate change, too!) roared through the plains and I remember one in particular. I was spending some time with grandma and grandpa Sunderland in Kiowa, Kansas, where they operated a cafe near the railroad station. While there a duster blew in and all but closed things down for several days. Sheets, towels and anything else that could be crammed into the cracks and crevices around doors and windows proved useless in keeping out the...
After some diligent investigation over a rather short period of time (I’m trying to emulate a federal in depth investigation) I have researched and assembled a somewhat limited dictionary of liberal verbiage, also known as jabberwocky. The first recorded use of jabberwocky was by Lewis Carrol in 1872. Since then the proliferation of the technique of jabberwocking has been expanded and refined. In modern times the usage of jabberwocky has been taken to new heights1 of wocking2 by liberal p...
There was a humorous record released in 1974 by the comedy team of Buchanan and Goodman, titled “Energy Crisis ‘74” Below is a word-for-word transcription of the lyrics… “We’re here at the White House for a special report on the energy crisis. Mr. President, have you any statements? “Leave me alone. Just leave me alone.” Mr. President, what really caused the energy crisis?” “Smokin’ in the boy’s room.” During the crisis, how much gas will motorists be allowed? “Just enough for the city.” Who d...
Here’s a short story to illustrate a dangerous trend being foisted on America. Hesitatingly he walked into the Java Shoppe. His downcast eyes refused to make contact with the patrons. Trying not to draw attention to himself he stopped inside the door and moved into the shadows. Minutes passed before the strange young man moved out of the shadows and slowly walked in to take a seat at the counter. Normally I would not have paid much attention to him. He did not appear to be any more or less t...
News outlets – newspapers, radio and TV – sometimes use a rather fancy and greatly misunderstood word when they speak of the presentation of evidence. That word is “forensics.” We’ve heard and read it used in the reporting of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Forensics is a great word to use when writing or speaking to people who have no real understanding of the word’s meaning! Especially if you are trying to bulldoze them into agreeing with you! I first became acquainted with forensics in high sch...
Let’s start the New Year by reaching into the past. As we look ahead into 2022 I’m reminded of a 1960’s Bob Dylan song: “The Times They Are A Changing.” Dylan tended to be a bit morbid with some of the lyrics he wrote for this song. Among them is this line from the first verse: “Then you’d better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone for the times they are a-changin’.” I’d like to quote the entire song, but space does not allow. I suggest you look ‘em up on line. I won’t call him a prophe...
My first newspaper route was acquired in 1962. I had it for about 2 years and it was a major reason why I ended up needing eyeglasses. My route began and ended at the Fairbanks Public Library. There I discovered the wonderful world of books that were within the walls of the public library (not the Internet). It became my habit to check out a book and read it while I was delivering my papers whenever the weather permitted, especially during the summer. By the time I was finished with my route I...
During the Viet Nam war era the hippies, peaceniks and other radical liberals were advising young men of draft age to avoid the draft in any way possible. Self-inflicted injuries, leaving the country for Canada and other foreign countries, and simply refusing to go, were advocated. More than one draft dodger moved to Canada, which may account for the mess it is in now. After graduating high school I enrolled at the University of Alaska. My plan was to take a year or two getting the liberal arts...
Thanks to my dad I became something I never thought I would be – a student of history. History was boring with no practical application in our fast changing, technically oriented world. Then I came across some pictures of my dad in uniform and the ship he served on during WWII – the USS Portland, a heavy cruiser that saw action at Midway, Guadalcanal, and other big battles in WWII in the Pacific. I asked him why he enlisted in the Navy instead of waiting to be drafted. He replied, “I wante...
Below is a poem I wrote about 15 years ago. I saw then that some of what has hit this country in the last few years was already in the works. I never thought the poem would be such a correct prediction of the way things are now. Titled “Code of the Rest,” it provides what I believe to be a fair comparison between the radical socialist left and the moderate conservative right. Forget the Code of the West, the Code of the Rest is best. Honor is out, we compromise. Morality is out, we surmise. Eve...
Humans tend to have a rather bad trait that often raises its nasty head. Shortly after God created the human race certain members of this new creation determined that they were better than anyone else and therefore the power to rule over one and all was theirs, and theirs alone. Even before the tower of Babel some people were attempting to gain power over others. This tendency has continued throughout history unto today. Kingships and dictatorships, regardless of the title, they all establish co...
She’s a real lady and for as long as men have gone to the sea, they continue to fall in love with her. For quite a number of men she was their first love. She is built. I mean really built! Her pictures grace a thousand museums and thousands of guys’ fondest memories are filled with the times they’ve spent with her. She can be a real tough cookie when she has to be, and still give a man a safe home and a warm bed. She can be fast, and men love fast women. She can be a lot of things to diffe...
Allow me to tell a wee bit about the one person I feel was the biggest man in the world. Big, large, great, grand, impressive, distinguished, striking, and exceptional are used to describe people we esteem. From my perspective I can truthfully say that I knew the biggest man in the world. He stood taller than any other regardless of the means of measurement. To me he was the strongest, wisest and gentlest of men. There was none more trustworthy, honest or courageous than this man. When it came t...
