It was the only way.
In a rut
A new family in the neighborhood in a city overslept and the six-year-old missed his bus. Mother, though late for work, said she'd drive the little fella if he'd direct her.
Well, they drove here, turned there and this went on for about 20 minutes. Mom got a little disgusted when they finally pulled up in front of the school building — it was only a short distance from their home.
"Why did you direct me over such a long route when the school isn't really that far away?" she asked the little guy.
"That's the way the school bus goes, Mom," he explained. "It's the only way I know."
Today's children
This is the part of the job we all like — congratulating students on their accomplishments.
Deanna Hall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Duane Hall, won the county spelling contest for the seventh and eighth grade division. She will compete in the Midwest Spelling Bee April 30.
Danny Thomson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Thomson, Palmyra, won the fifth and sixth grade championship. The other winners were listed in the Sunday News-Press.
The county agent
We're gonna miss Marv Hoffman as the county agent this summer at the Otoe County Fair.
Marv is retiring this summer, but we'll bet he will still be around the boys and girls in the 4-H and FFA programs that he enjoys so much.
The News-Press has enjoyed his cooperation the past 20 years in helping us keep up to date on farm news in this area. Marv has always been a good and reliable source of information concerning farm reports.
We wish him an enjoyable retirement and since we know Marv pretty well, we're confident that it won't be a leisurely retirement because he is an active man.
Congratulations also to Julie Brockhaus, and Denise Davis (hello there, again) on their selections to Girls State sponsored by the American Legion auxiliary.
Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. Jim Brockhaus and Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Davis. Alternates are Pam Fielder and Kim Harding. Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. Carl Fielder and Mrs. Marlene Rhoades.
Long hair
Coach Jerry Joy at Peru State was interviewing a boy for an athletic scholarship and asked about his shoulder-length hair.
"Jesus had long hair," the young man explained.
Coach Joy took the recruit to the swimming pool and stood there with his charge and said:
"Okay, buster, let's see you walk on water."
Mutual aid
An organizational structure for mutual aid has been set up for communities in southeast Nebraska much like the system that has been in service for many years by fire departments.
A funny thing happened at the meeting. No one knew much about why they were meeting and after several months and several meetings, there still was no mutual aid established.
Well, they had another meeting and this time, rescue squadsman Loy Jones of Auburn got up and unloaded both barrels and repeated the story of the nonsense meetings.
When he got through and the dust had settled, the Southeast Nebraska Mutual Aid Association was established.
We congratulate the Auburn man for being outspoken. He turned what apparently was a dry, drab and uninteresting rescue meeting into an organizational session mixed with enthusiasm. It is hoped 15 towns will be involved in the structure.
You'll hear more about this. Hopefully the crews are never put into service. If and when they are, it will be for a tragedy, the kind that no one likes.
The attorney
Deputy County Attorney Randy Rhemeier glared at the witness on the stand and asked.
"You mean to tell me you were 35 feet from the accident scene? Just how far can you clearly see?"
"Well, sir," Lyman Ballard, the mayor of Douglas said, "when I awoke this morning, I could clearly see the sun and I reckon that's about 90 million miles from here."