Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sorted by date Results 1049 - 1073 of 1718
It's time to reopen Nebraska's schools. Children need to learn, so it is time for them to go back to school next month. Gov. Ricketts agrees. On Friday he said we can reopen the schools and manage the coronavirus at the same time, and I agree. Opening up the schools can be done safely. Matthew Blomstead, Nebraska's Education Commissioner, released a 25 page document last Friday explaining how we can open up our schools safely. The document includes recommendations to school districts for...
Dear Editor: In response to the two letters by Christina Boggess, who is a non-resident of our communities or school district. My children and grandchildren received a great education through the Leyton School, and now my great-grands are receiving a great education at Leyton. I resent the ‘tearing down’ down of our communities and school system by anyone and especially by a non-resident. I am proud of our communities and our school. All Leyton patrons, parents, taxpayers, etc receive a monthly newsletter from the school which includes the min...
If I remember right, this is a statement most recently connected with programs like Challenge Day and Sidney High School’s Unified Raiders. It might sound soft and all goody-feelie, but it has a lot of impact. It also has a lot of current relevance. Somehow, we have become a society where we are treated right, or we are offended. What happened to our great-grandparents is as important as what happened to us 10 minutes ago. The middle ground is increasingly hard to find. I’ve had discussions wit...
As a rancher and also the father of four boys, we spend the majority of our time outside. I’m told being a male is a real benefit to the efficiency of being able to answer nature’s call…when out in nature. During the potty-training phase each one of my cowpokes had to quickly learn how to deal with home toilets, public toilets or no toilets at all. Initially it’s simply enough to just get the job done. Not too far down the line, I’ve noticed each one of my cowpokes have had personal contests...
We live in a time when fear is prevalent. Fear of a virus, fear of being called a racist, fear that something written or said years ago will return to destroy, fear of taking a wrong turn in a city and ending up on the receiving end of mob violence. As chaos becomes increasingly the norm, many are wondering how we got here and what we can do to get things back to a semblance of normalcy. You may not like the answers. We got ourselves here. All of us. We were so consumed with our day to day...
I walked through a dounut shop recently, before in-house seating was returned, and found the SOFTIES busy solving the world's problems, at a picnic table outside of the doors. They were following the new social norms, mostly. There were about six at the table, six who looked like they have spent so much life together they knew each other better than their wives did. It is a scene repeated in coffee houses, and lunch and breakfast counters frequently, especially in small towns and close-knit neig...
Just when you thought things couldn’t get more insane in American politics, the self-described billionaire genius Kanye West announced over the weekend his intention to run for president of the United States this year. For those of you asking, “Isn’t he…?” the answer is yes. Mr. West, also known as Ye (pronounced Yay), is married to Kim Kardashian of Instagram and reality TV fame. Now most people will read this news, allow themselves a chuckle, and move on to watching the downfall of the Republi...
Dearest Leyton Community Patrons: Your positive response to my previous Letter to the Editor has been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you! The empowerment you feel as a community is invigorating. Keep up the diligent research. Document and fight back. Every day counts. Move quickly and expediently. Ask for help if you need it. As I understand it, the voters spoke boldly about the Board at the last election, and now they need to speak boldly about the next level down—at every Board meeting, every instance of impropriety, every act of cronyism a...
According to the Preamble to the United States Constitution, in order for the people of the United States of America to create a more perfect union, “justice” must be firmly established as well as “domestic tranquility”. In order to accomplish these goals, laws must be passed which promote the “general welfare” and secure “the Blessings of Liberty.” Laws become useless unless they are enforced. The police are our chief law enforcement officials who enforce these laws. Today our police departme...
Rosa Parks and her husband Raymond lost their jobs in the backlash from Montgomery, Alabama’s successful bus boycott to end segregation on that city’s buses. In the late 1950’s, the couple moved to Detroit, Michigan, in search of better jobs. There, in 1964, Rosa offered her opinion. “I don’t feel a great deal of difference here from Alabama,” she said. “Housing segregation is just as bad, and it seems more noticeable in larger cities.” By Rosa’s words and actions, one can see the circumstances...
Life on the ranch continues to have its fill of spills and adventures. The baby ‘poke has been eating moths and splashing in the toilet. The toddler ‘poke bosses everyone around and can command a room with his vibrant voice. The two older ‘pokes are enjoying boy adventures of playing in the pond and return to the house with a new pet turtle (who was removed after three days because he/she stunk to high heaven.) Despite the laughter, joy, work, chores, and everything in between the weight of th...
Predicting things is something I’m pretty good at. Today I hope I’m wrong. But unless President Trump puts down his tweet phone and surrounds himself with some competent campaign staffers, the people we see smashing things in the streets and toppling statues will be in control of the nation come January. Here’s why. An agenda-driven media in cahoots with wealthy globalist progressives in business and an out-of-control socialist academia have greased the skids for America’s slide into chaos....
Lately I find myself returning to the mantra of being a lifelong learner. It is a phrase that started in the education community. Education should not stop with the 3 p.m. bell and students leaving the classroom. It should be a philosophy of life that continues from this point on. It is a good idea. Better said, it is an idea that should have been present all along. I remember years ago during a stint in teaching a fellow teacher said to approach the class as if you the teacher are the only one...
Why do we celebrate the 4th of July? July 4, 1776 was the day we declared our independence from Great Britain. The document which contained that declaration was the Declaration of Independence, which was approved by Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence represents our core beliefs as Americans. It is a guidepost for what it means to be a citizen of the United States of America. The concepts contained in the Declaration of Independence unite us as Americans. The Declaration...
When a 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson sat down in a rented room in the heat of the Philadelphia summer to write the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution had already begun. On one level, Jefferson was simply putting the reasons for independence into words. The first shot had been fired over a year earlier, after decades of increasingly tyrannical British abuses of the American colonists had culminated in open revolt in Massachusetts. Even so, it was not yet clear whether all 13...
My wife and I begin each day with prayer, after which I run through about a dozen news sources to be informed about what’s going on that day. Lately a run-through of the day’s news agenda has me wondering what’s next. Moon turning to blood? Random volcanoes and earthquakes of unprecedented magnitude? Meteors slamming into earth? Four ghostly personages riding horses across the sky? It’s understandable some people are afraid. Others are angry. And beneath it all lies a sense of helplessness to do...
One of the deepest, yet most worn-out mantras, cliches even, is “you never know what you have until it’s gone.” Some of those life experiences, never fully return once they’re gone. I lost my dad and then my daughter within a few months, now 14 years ago. I don’t say this to draw pity, but to define a timeline. I grew up in a home where relationships were more important than things. Things tend to wear out. Relationships will continue as long as they are nurtured. Cars rust and get outdated....
Dearest Leyton Communities: I am writing with a sincere heart and grave anxiety for the health, stability and future of the Leyton School District. Having been raised in the community, I am saddened by the ever-growing outrage of the constituents without a viable, tangible response from the Board of Education. This indignation is becoming more and more public and infiltrates even the most innocent of conversations—making it across multiple state lines. The latter should concern the community as much as it does me. Leyton used to be a magnetized...
June is usually the month when summer hits full swing in Nebraska. In a typical year, Omaha would be hosting the College World Series right now. The Swedish Festival in Stromsburg, Polish Days in Loup City, and numerous other community celebrations would occur this month. NEBRASKAland Days would be underway in North Platte. Communities like Seward, Central City, and Ralston would be readying plans for Fourth of July celebrations. While this year has been anything but normal, we’re seeing e...
Before we officially enter into the summer months, let’s give Nebraska’s agricultural economy a check-up, so is time to take an honest look at how Nebraska’s agricultural economy is really doing this year. Last week the Farm Bureau’s chief economist, Jay Remke, released his own assessment of how Nebraska’s agricultural economy is doing. According to Remke, the outlook is not good. Remke warned that Nebraska’s farms and ranches stand in danger of losing 3.7 billion dollars this year. The primary...
Humanity overall has a way of pushing the envelope. If a person is told to stop at 10 minutes, they will want to go for 12, or 15. Just look at the traffic code. The State posts a speed limit at 65 and people automatically expect to go 68, or more. I question how many of us completely leave that child stage of pushing your dad or mom until “Don’t do it” is lost in the whimpering tears of punishment, however you define the repercussions. Think of how many people look at the speed limit sign...
Unrest, violence and hate spilling into the streets. Increasing disorder in urban areas. Talk of the need to throw out the old order and rebuild society from the ground up. This isn’t new. We’ve seen it before. And each time these things rise to overwhelming national prominence the outcome can be predicted. Tyranny and oppression. What we’re witnessing unfold in our media streams is the same play with different actors. It’s known as the “bottom up, top down, inside out” approach to overthrow a n...
As you know, the nation has been rocked by violent protests for the past three weeks due to the wrongful death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Last week some of these protestors even took over control of a six block section of Seattle, including a police precinct. Nebraska has not been immune to these kinds of violent protests. Rioters in Lincoln, for example, destroyed several buildings along the Lincoln Mall near the Capitol Building, including the Blue Cross/Blue Shield...
“Come and sit with me a moment, grandson, I want to tell you of how it used to be, When America was a republic and the people around here were free. The year was 2020 when everything started to shift, In March of that year on the news there was a drift. There was a new coronavirus that began across the ocean. It became a worldwide pandemic that caused chaos and commotion. We all quickly obeyed and stayed within our home. We didn’t know what to believe and fear began to roam. She came like a mig...
It didn’t start in Minneapolis. It didn’t really start in Fergusson, MO., a few years ago. Several years ago, the education industry, broadly speaking, adopted the theme of making students lifelong learners. Maybe one of the problems with racism is we adults are not good lifelong learners, and consequently our children either are not good lifelong learners themselves, or teach us. The issue of racism is a simple question with a complicated answer. Start with why are you (even looking in the mirr...
