Ron Goodspeed, NCHS vocal music director, and I were breaking bread the other day at the Optimist club luncheon when he asked if I was from Washington, Kansas.
"Yup," I said.
"Do you happen to remember a young man who played football there in high school years by the name of Dean Merritt?"
"Oh, boy, do I remember Dean Merritt! Someone busted his nose up good at a game and that foxy young coach we had took Dean's helmet to Clyde Flury's blacksmith shop and they made a safety headgear out of iron." (If we had been on the ball we would have started mass production on football face protectors and have retired by now.)
"Well, anyway," Ron said, "that's kinda round-about the way to tell you that my wife, Frances, and Dean Merritt are brother and sister."
Welcome to Nebraska City, Frances. Ron tells me the Merritt family lives m Braddyville, Ia., and that Dean lives in Griswold, Iowa.
Bill Berger is my friend, but I just gotta tell this.
Bill has served, oh, I don't know how many years, on the volunteer fire department and is still the city defense chief and served a six-year term on the school board.
But this volunteer stuff can be for the birds er er the animals or sumpthin.
The other day firemen extinguished a fire in a pasture. Nothing unusual about that. Firemen are called on dozens of pasture or brush fires.
This one was different.
Bill is literally covered with poison ivy.
He's a mighty uncomfortable man, but he's not complaining about being a volunteer fireman. He's irritated that he didn't see the weed because of the heavy smoke.
Someone asked the other day
Are the rescue squadsmen going to resign over the moving of the police and clerk departments into the new fire-rescue building?
Glory be! I should hope not.
The guy who told you that has been siphoning from the kickapoo joy juice jug.
The City commission won't get a bouquet of flowers from the rescue squad (or probably from the fire boys) for moving two additional departments into the new building. There have been a few snorts by the crews. But the truth is, most of the guys are kinda human. They thought they had it "made" with the new building.
(Just for the heckofit, stop in the police station sometime and look over the arrangements that have existed there for many years.) ANYTHING will be better than that.
Here's another point that should be well appreciated. The rescue crews really need the help of the police. The officers and the firemen handle all the emergency calls on the white phone, push the button which signals squadsmen and get the rescue units started and onto the drive.
If anyone quits the rescue squad, it'll probably be me and not for any political reason or for any hassle. The late Ed Harshbarger got a number of us to join at the beginning and I'd like to yield to others who can handle the job much better than myself.
Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to quit rescue volunteer service when an injured or ailing person grasps your arm and thanks you for helping them.
If you would like to serve, then you're the person the squad needs. Contact Harold Rowe, the chief, or Gary Harpster, secretary. They'll take it from there.
P.S. (You might be interested: Ed Behrns is a member of the squad. He asked to join after he witnessed the rescue squad at work in a car wreck. The injured were members of his family.)
Optimists expressed their sorrow to the Fred Kuethe family of Lincoln after reading that Mr. Kuethe was killed in an auto accident.
The man was not well known in town, but he had visited here before and had addressed Optimists about three weeks ago.
A retired military man, he had a unique job with the state. He took surplus funds from the different agencies, invested them, collected the profits and returned that back to the agancies.
He told Optimists that in effect, his department was saving money for the taxpayers. The money earned on investments paid his salary and his staff's, and required less tax money from the various state agencies.
He was quite proud of Nebraska for its investment agency and the cooperation he had received from state officials.
The Optimists, who meet at the Elks each week, will take the "closed for moving" break as an opportunity to entertain a number of children this week.
President Harry Vondrak said the club will host all the boys and girls on the club's baseball and softball teams and their coaches at a party Tuesday noon at Buffalo City.
The children are to meet at the old Elks club at Fifth Street and First Avenue at 11:45 a.m., for transportation to Bill Stites' town.
Didya hear the one about
Don Chapin, the insurance man who rode a motorcycle to a meeting in Colorado, got soaking wet in several rainstorms, and was told to "move on" by a town marshal when he stopped to rest?
Well, good ole' Don spent last week with a scout troop at the Reservation at Humboldt. (You gotta be brave to do that.)
As necessity required, Don had to drive a couple of boys back to Nebraska City one day.
Well, he was cruising down the highway past a small town when "k-e-e-r-a-c-k! Powie! Sha-zam! Shattttererererer!"
His windshield got clobbered.
Don stopped his car and looked back. "There were a dozen boys running all directions except for one. He was standing there holding the bat in his hands and as I backed up, he asked."
"Did that ball hit your car?"
A man who works with boys understands boys so Don talked with the youngster and his father and continued on to Nebraska City. Have you bought a new windshield lately for your car?