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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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...
Initiative sparked by incentive reaches for such deep desires as we are willing to strive toward. Humility cries out to the ‘unseen puller of our plow’; the Source of life, guidance, understanding, even peace. Humility in our leadership is paramount. James 4:6-7: “He says, ‘God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble’. Therefore, submit yourself under the mighty hand of God.” Men who placed themselves “under the mighty hand of God.” include some 250 Founding Fathers who constructed a C...
After reading Mr. Bensons’ recent column on his take on the events at the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021 I feel I must write a response. He starts his column by stating Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential election. I think it would be more accurate to say former Senator and Vice President Joe Biden appeared to be the winner as the votes were tabulated. Trump received 74.2 million votes and Biden 81.2 million votes nationwide. Both are unusually high numbers. Barack Obama received 69.5 m...
Immigration is not for the faint of heart. With high school diploma in hand, a young African from Ghana named Robert Kosi Tette came to the United States in 1998, leaving behind family, friends, and “a simple life of blissful innocence.” Ten years later, he described his decade in America, in an article that appeared in the March 1, 2008 issue of Newsweek, that he entitled “An Immigrant’s Silent Struggle.” In it, he said, “It was as though I had run ten consecutive marathons, one for each ye...
Humility is no one’s favorite word. Its opposite, ‘arrogance’ is detested! Humility may be defined as “acknowledging that achievement results from the investment others make into my life.” Young adults often report, “The older I get, the smarter Dad and Mom get to be.”. Humility is, also, associated with “submission”. Dislike of this word may come when Organizer precepts of leadership are misapplied. Very organized leaders may become bossy, persnickety and territorial when visualizing the o...
I’m not optimistic about America’s future. It pains me to say that. But with $30 trillion in debt, gains made by China, a belligerent Russia, an incompetent government, complicit media and a rising generation of Americans more concerned about gender issues than any of the aforementioned challenges, you can see why I’m concerned. Add to that increasingly open voices on both the political right and political left calling for the other side to be silenced, and it’s hard to see how we avoid bloodsh...
A coincidence: a remarkable occurrence of events at the same time. A coincidence? The start up and spread of covid 19 and the 2020 presidential election. A coincidence? The necessity of mail-in votes and the last minute effect it had on the election. A coincidence? The 1st year of Biden’s presidency and the worst inflation in America in many years. A coincidence? The 1st year of Biden’s presidency and the worst influx of illegal immigrants, drug cartels and crime in America A coincidence? The 1s...
The Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, outline basic rights of citizens and most importantly limits of the government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. (First Amendment)” It is clearly written what the government, Congress spe...
Here in the Good Life, we must not take our public safety for granted. We’ve seen other states fail to support law enforcement and underinvest in their corrections. News stories with video footage of rampant theft and outbreaks of violence have become the unfortunate norm in cities like San Francisco and Washington, DC. Residents of these areas feel unsafe, and they’re fleeing to find a better place for their families. More than half of the San Francisco Bay area population plans to leave per...
Last Thursday the Legislature’s Revenue Committee held a public hearing at the Capitol on LR264CA, which is my resolution for a constitutional amendment for the consumption tax. The resolution would put an initiative for the consumption tax on the ballot for the November 8 election. The time has come for the citizens of Nebraska to be given the opportunity to decide how they should be taxed. I would like to begin by saying thank you to all those who drove to Lincoln to testify in person at t...
A favorite Lincoln biographer of mine is Carl Sandburg. In 1926, he published a two-volume work, Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years, and then in 1939, he published a four-volume work, Abraham Lincoln, The War Years. This latter work won Sandburg the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1940. Although fellow historians have pointed out that Sandburg did a poor job citing his sources, his readers find his biography “exhaustively researched, and magnificently illuminating.” One reviewer called the six...
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...
The public hearing for my priority bill has been set at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln for Thursday, February 3, 2022 beginning at 1:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend the hearing and to testify in person. LR 264 CA is my priority bill. LR 264 CA is a resolution for a constitutional amendment for the consumption tax. Before the consumption tax can ever become law in Nebraska, the voters must vote to amend the Nebraska State Constitution. LR 264 CA contains the ballot language that...
When the concept of chicken and waffles came out, my first thought was somewhere in time a family, probably a mom struggling to assemble a family dinner, combined what was left from the night before with what remained in the pantry. The same could probably be said when steak and eggs were introduced in the morning I can almost hear the “Well, we’ve never done this before but what the heck,” or “This is what we have so this is what’s for dinner (or supper depending on the region).” It became c...
In August 2020, our nation marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification, which gave women the right to vote. This was the final victory in a decades-long struggle by these visionary reformers. The women’s suffrage movement succeeded partly because it appealed to a promise our Founding Fathers made at the birth of our nation, but which remained unfulfilled until the 19th Amendment’s ratification: that all men – and women – are created equal. Today, a different group of...
I’ve been blessed. I’ve been sure to let God know that. Though far from rich by the world’s standards, I’ve got a beautiful wife, a nice house, a vehicle that runs, food, clothing, clean water, and a lifestyle that’s comfortable. I’ve got friends, something of a “following” in the area, access to medical care and the benefit of living in a rural area not plagued with the problems afflicting the big cities. If you can relate to any of this, you’re blessed too. Many times over the years I’ve go...
The days of Andy Griffith and Mayberry RFD are gone. They are not a memory, except with previous generations. Even the scripts once seen as a distant dream are viewed humorously. Don Knotts has gone on to the next life. Andy Griffith and the gang have moved on. What’s left now decades later is a mentality even the writers of the show probably couldn’t have imagined. I was in a discussion recently when I was reminded we, this part of the country, is in a squeeze play. The West and East Coast pop...
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...
