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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You need not be a meteorologist to see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon. I speak metaphorically, but just as you know it’s time to seek shelter when the sky looks ominous and warning sirens blare, so too you sense what I do about what’s coming our way politically and economically and want an action plan. I’m not a politician, nor am I an economist. I do have quite a bit of experience in disaster preparedness and helping to manage crisis. My ability to predict the future is pretty good,...
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...
Almost two years ago, the normal television feeds of news, sitcoms and game shows was interrupted by Breaking News. A deadly virus was identified in China. We can fill in our own story line based on the news sources each of us subscribes to, and we might be right, or we might be part of the flock. Since then we’ve seen restrictions, social guidelines, varying mask and vaccine requirements, variants and a generally higher level of fear. The political cartoonists are not wrong to point out just as...
God gave us children to bring us hope and assure the future. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the womb, a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth, …they shall not be ashamed but shall overcome their enemies during judgement.” Psalm 127:3-5 Momma sought the Lord, daily, where her wedding vows and the spiritual growth of her two beautiful, young girls conflicted. Papa, a local chef, worked Sundays, making use of the family...
In the first century A.D. a baby was born; His name was Jesus. It was prophesied that He would become the King of the Jews. At the time of His birth a king ruled over Judah by the name of Herod. Herod, like many kings, was notoriously known for his cruelty to anyone who was a threat to his throne. W hen he heard of the birth of Jesus, he immediately devised a plan to kill this innocent baby. He sent wise men to find the baby and told them to come back and tell him where the baby was so he could...
I serve on the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee is charged with the task of putting together the State’s budget. In other words, we decide how the State spends its money, and this year we have a lot of extra money to spend. Last Thursday the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee finished hearings on 123 bills. That is the highest number of bills ever to be assigned to the Appropriations Committee. The reason we had so many bills this year had to do with...
On Thursday, February 24, the world awoke to news that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Vladimir Putin launched attacks from land, air, and sea. By the next day, Russian forces had reached the outskirts of the capital city of Kyiv, where fierce fighting and heroic Ukrainian resistance continues against all odds. The scenes coming out of Ukraine are terrifying: newborn babies in need of intensive care moved to makeshift bomb shelters, a Ukrainian kindergarten under attack, and indiscriminate shelling...
The Right to Repair policy would allow consumers, maintenance people, computer experts, and mechanics the right to repair equipment. The importance of this policy is to reestablish support for consumer rights. To allow consumers the right to work on their property or give them the right to allow a qualified person to do the work. Several policies were put in place to safeguard Consumer rights and some policies were created to undermined consumer Rights such as the “Digital Millennium C...
In 1971, John Denver wrote a peace poem and sang a song that began like this: "Last night, I had the strangest dream I never dreamed before. I dreamed the world had all agreed to put an end to war..." If he was still living today, this song would hopefully be his number one hit. Among other vocal artists back then, John was a strong advocate for peace. We need more men and women today like John Denver. We need to put an end to wars like the one that is now going on in Ukraine. No nation should...
It’s amazing how quickly changes in the global landscape occur. Canada went from a representative parliament government to tyranny in a matter of days. Vaccine and mask mandates were supposedly settled science a few weeks ago, but are now dropping like flies sprayed with insecticide. And a peaceful, but tense relationship between Russian and its neighbors turned into the biggest war in Europe since 1945 overnight. The result is a world losing faith in institutions and a high degree of u...
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...
Kathrene and Robert Pinkerton married in 1911. He worked at a newspaper in a big city: long hours, deadlines, and stress. A doctor advised him him to “get out of newspaper offices and out of cities,” if he wanted to preserve his health. He decided he would write fiction — short stories — and sell them. When single, Robert had worked as a logger and fur trader in Ottawa’s woods, that vast wilderness that stretched between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. He and Kathrene decided that they would build...
A PRAYER: Father God, I thank You and praise You for bringing us through recent, harsh February weather. Come! Heal and restore where our farmers, ranchers, and rural families have suffered loss during this event. Leave no physical, financial or emotional scar, Lord. Challenging weather can yet come. Therefore, Father, allow a Blood Line around every home, especially with school bound children, every calving field, farrowing barn, kidding barn, dog and chicken house, in Jesus’ Name. Should a...
On a trip to Central America several years ago, the group I was with was encouraged to be careful giving money to panhandlers and beggars. A little background. For as dysfunctional as American society is becoming, there are places we are still as a Shangri-la. I remember leaving the airport terminal and being greeted, almost accosted, by children trying to sell what looked like origami from nearby plants. “Only a dollar,” still rings in my memory. One of our group shooed them away like stray dog...
Change, even good chance, can be hard. That’s what Karen and I are learning as we prepare to leave Cheyenne County for our new home in Belle Fourche, SD. This reality has been driven home as good friends we’ve made here share the impact we’ve had in their lives over the years, often impact we may not have known about until it was shared. I arrived in Sidney in October of 2004 as I transitioned from a 25-year career in TV and radio to a new position as a writer for Cabela’s. Karen and the kid...
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...
My wife and I recently had dinner with a collection of people; most we knew, some more than others. There were the conversations like old friends meeting again, and of newcomers gently entering the conversation.. One common thread went through the room: each person has had to confront loss through death. Death is an unfortunate fact of life. Biblically, biologically, and just the random roll of the dice living on this planet -- we all will face it at some point, on our own and when someone...
Parables and stories cause us to remember valuable life lessons. Jesus’ Disciples asked, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”. Jesus answered, “… Because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. [For if] they understood with their hearts and turned [from wicked ways], I would heal them.” Matthew 13:11-17. All parables are about God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Kingdom of righteousness and you. Stories like my husband, Frank, driving school children in...
Whenever a bill in the Nebraska State Legislature receives no opposition testimony at its public hearing and the committee members all support the bill, it becomes eligible for the consent calendar. The Speaker of the Legislature is the keeper of the consent calendar. Once the Speaker of the Legislature decides to place a bill on the consent calendar, it gets only 15 minutes of debate on the floor of the Legislature. Today I would like to tell you about four bills of mine that I have requested...
Dear Editor, Gun shows bring a lot of revenues into communities where they are held. Attendees rent motel rooms, they dine out at local restaurants, and they shop at local businesses. It is with great disappointment that the High Plains Shooters Supply gun show was turned down for the use of the facilities at your fairgrounds. After visiting with the county sheriff and the county attorney just before Christmas. We talked at length about what we would do and how things would be handled with the security at the show and they endorsed the ideas...
You can’t be blamed if you’ve not heard about the massive demonstrations and protests underway in Canada because most media outlets and social media platforms are doing all they can to block the spread of news about them. In spite of this, the protests continue and are spawning similar actions across the globe from Europe to Australia. It began as a protest involving thousands of truckers when the Canadian government imposed draconian measures it thought would prevent the spread of COV...
Don’t let Nebraska’s location in the middle of America fool you. Our state touches every corner of the globe with the crops we grow, livestock we raise, and products we manufacture. Each year, Nebraska exports around $10 billion of goods and services worldwide. Over 95% of consumers live outside of our borders. To grow Nebraska, we must continue to proactively reach out to international partners and share all the Good Life has to offer. This August 20-28, I am leading a trade mission to the Uni...
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...
Did I heart it right? If I choose to not get the vaccine, the powers that be (local, state or federal) can come to my home and arrest me by gunpoint and put me in lockdown? Some state far-left legislators are threatening and apparently doing just that to the unvaccinated. I’ve also heard that some city officials are confining the unvaccinated in their cities to their homes. Really? On what authority? As far as I have heard or know there is no law (local, state or federal) that makes it a c...
One of the bills that I have co-signed this year is LB 773. This bill would authorize private citizens to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Currently, the Concealed Handgun Permit Act allows cities to restrict the concealing of a handgun only to authorized permit holders. LB 773 would allow all Nebraskans to conceal their weapons anywhere in the state without having to carry such a permit. However, the bill would not apply to those who have already been prohibited from carrying a handgu...
