LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Musical tribute much appreciated Dear Editor: As soon as school was out of session this spring, Bailey and Grace Howland made a commitment to our community. They promised to perform our National Anthem outside their home at 6 p.m. every evening rain or shine until school resumed.

Gambling with Nebraska a losing bet

Over the years, Nebraska has decided against allowing casino gambling in the Good Life—and for good reason. Gambling can ruin families, hurt communities, and pile on new costs to the state. By keeping Nebraska casino-free, our state has minimized the social harms associated with problem gambling.

Max, JoAnn Friesen celebrate 70th wedding anniversary

It was a classic love story. Boy meets girl. Girl doesn’t care for boy right away, then comes love and then comes a marriage that has spanned seven decades for Max and JoAnn Friesen. The couple met for the first time back in 1949 at a football game.

Legislative session ends on a high note

The longest short session in the history of the Unicameral has come to an end. The second session of the 106th Legislature adjourned sine die Aug. 13, the 60th legislative day of a session interrupted in mid March by the coronavirus pandemic.

A little history on the founding of Hampton, surviving a baby tornado

Greetings to everyone from the community of Hampton. In case you don’t know where “Hampton” is, we are six miles east of Aurora and 17 miles west of York, in the heartland of Nebraska. We were surveyed and platted in 1879 after a Joshua Cox settled in the area and coming from Illinois.

Bergen touts low tax rates as economic development incentive

The new executive director of the Aurora Development Corporation updated city leaders on a number of proposals in the works to create jobs and grow the tax base last week, pointing out how big of an impact lower local tax rates can be in that competitive process.

ANNIVERSARIES

Card shower to honor Randall and Marie Smith’s 50th wedding anniversary Randall and Marie Smith were married Aug. 16, 1970, at the First Baptist Church in Chadron by Pastor Dick Sisson.

Adapting to change

Flexibility. That, in a word, is the name of the game we’re playing heading into a fall season of uncertainty. Unfortunately, it’s not a game, but instead a real-life script for a pandemic drama with no known ending.

Compromise holds key to breaking stalemates

Scanning the newspaper headlines we noticed a word beginning to appear more frequently in them. The word? It is “compromise.” Political divisions have been evident for several months on both national and state key issues and both parties had given no evidence of compromising to reach agreements.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Colorblindness is not enough Dear Editor: I was deeply troubled to read the recent letter to the editor about the Baha’i faith and racism. Expressing our opinions is a privilege we have in this country, and one we should highly value.