. to the recipients of the Arbor Day Foundation awards and local Arbor Day committee presentation. Prominent among the honorees are two from Nebraska City, Morton Steinhart and Karl H. Nelson.
There are many events planned during this weekend and we've printed a number of stories on the events. In addition, our news crew put together a special 20-page section specifically for the Arbor Day celebration.
John Quinlan, our managing editor, joined the News-Press staff for Arbor Day 1972, the Centennial. He cut his teeth on that assignment. As managing editor, this is the first celebration that he's had the responsibility of taking over the news and picture assignments for the special section and for the weekend coverage.
He's had some help. Society Editor Dorene Duffey and reporters Sue Quinlan and Jerry Wilson, have taken a lot of pictures, written a number of stories and will be covering the activities during the weekend.
They worked closely with Dee Driever and Sue Whitmarsh in the advertising department. The special section appeared in the News-Press and the Tri-State Weekly N-P.
This is Jerry's first Arbor Day celebration as a reporter for your daily newspaper. At first he thought it was a bit unusual to develop four or five rolls of film at a time and make dozens of pictures. Now, he's got the mood of the many people involved and events this weekend ana is ready for the celebration.
We join the Arbor Day committee and the Foundation in inviting you to the annual event.
The optimist
The 80-year-old gentleman was sitting in the waiting room until he was called to visit his doctor.
The man next to him started the conversation.
"Hello, George, you having troubles again?"
"Well, not really," he said, "I just wanted to ask my doctor something."
About that time, Dr. Harry McFadden walked into the waiting room.
"Say, Doc," the old gentleman called, "you know that arthritis you told me I'd have to learn to live with, and my bad hearing and my poor eyesight, and my high blood pressure?"
"Ummmmmmmm," Dr. McFadden mused, "George, with your courage you'd be able to live with all of your impairments."
"Oh, I ain't worrying about that," the patient said. "I was just wondering if you could add a 22-year-old wife to that list."
Murray Lockers had a page advertisement in the News-Press and Tri-State Weekly N-P last week calling attention of readers to the facilities and service of the business owned by George and Judy (Bebout) Spires.
George knew what he wanted but didn't know how to put it down on paper. News-Pressers took a series of pictures and the project suddenly snowballed. George works some pretty long hours at his business so had to rely on his wife to help put it together. There followed a late evening session and the result appeared in the two papers.
The point George wanted to get across was the operations of his business, the employes, the customers and service.
There's a glowing responsibility held by every owner of a business. George and Judy did a fine job of telling their story and printing it makes it history. The Murray Lockers page will be included in the bound volumes of the News-Press and will also be microfilmed and stored at the News-Press and by Bell and Howell.
George and Judy asked for something else — the original printing plates. That's no problem either with your local newspaper and so they now have the aluminum plates with the printing image treated with a solution to make it last for many years.
The candidate
Sam Schwartzkopf, the candidate for public service commissioner, said in Nebraska City the other day that he watched the primary in Nebraska City and will be watching the general election. The former Lincoln mayor gave up his seat to a woman. Mrs. R. C. (Edith) Fenstermacher was the big vote getter in the mayoral race. Mayor Ervin Rogers was second.
Mr. Schwartzkopf made a campaign trip to Nebraska City and offered some interesting information on the Ex-Big Green lottery which he directed in Omaha.
The interesting point was that although the lottery got the legal axe, it sure put a lot of money in the pockets of a lot of people. Mr. Schwartzkopf spoofed the report that the lottery took the money of the "poor" people. Instead, he said his studies showed that most of the tickets were purchased by the middle income.
It's a postal service no-no to avertise bingo or lottery in publications that go through the mails. In fact, Mr. Schwartzkopf explained that delivery across the river to Council Bluffs was also nixed. However, he pointed out that there was no rule which prevented Iowans from winning and they did win and took their winnings across the river.
Guess it's another of those things that make up today's crazy world.
The Bicentennial pages
We hope you've enjoyed reading the Bicentennial pages about the communities in the Nebraska City area. Those pages are brought to you by the individuals and businesses listed at the bottom on each page.
We've been getting a lot of help from many of you fine readers for the stories about your towns. In fact, the response is overwhelming. So many people have dug out old pictures and items about their communities. It's really been rewarding for all of us.
Each of those pages will be reprinted in a special Bicentennial section to be published in the coming months.
The University School of Journalism and the News-Press joined in a legislative reporting program that has brought you many insights into the legislative session.
Our reporter was Nancy Stohs. She was assigned to be the News-Press reporter at the statehouse by Neale Copple, director of the School of Journalism. Nancy kept in close contact with Senators Carsten and Wiltse and mailed her stories to us regularly.
It was a successful program for us and we hope Mr. Copple's staff feels the same. Nancy will go to work as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. We wish her much success.
The racing season
The I-29 speedway across the Nebraska City river bridge will be opening soon.
The roaring you may have heard last weekend was the good ole' testo-testo by a number of drivers. They put their cars on the track to check out their equipment and the track.
Ted Wilson, Sidney, Ia., is in charge of the track this season.
Stolen
from Jerry Gilliland's Car Quotes.
"Little Alice was left to fix lunch and when her mother returned from shopping, she noticed that Mary had the tea strained.
Her mother said, as they were eating, "Did you find the lost strainer, dear?"
"No, mother," the little cutie replied, "I used the fly swatter."