Today's favorite
With all the talk about the weather, 100 degree temps and little or no moisture, the morning conversations have been lacking zip.
Not so at G & L Conoco.
The other morning when Larry Twedt pulled in for service, someone asked him about the weather and the usual "yeah, I guess it'll be another hot one today."
Larry quipped: "Yup, probably in in the low 100s."
One of my favorite places is Baker, California. That's the gateway to Death Valley and the mercury really plunges. Every vacation trip to the grandparents I make it a point to stop in Baker.
I've been getting backlash from the younger set that Baker isn't so bad after all. Kids sure get smarty nowadays.
Faithful reader
Helen Mueller Duncan, St. Louis Park, Minn., a longtime News-Press reader, writes that she looks forward to the mail every day and her copy of the hometown paper.
"I've known the News-Press from way back. I was born and raised in the old town. My parents took the paper at least 75 years and I continued after they were gone. I've been a reader for at least 25 years."
She misses the stories by the late J. Hyde Sweet, publisher of the paper for 50 years. "We all enjoyed his humor."
Thank you for the kind words, Mrs. Duncan. Postmaster Howard Baltensperger and his crew do a fine job every day of getting the News-Press into the mail and we hope the mailman on that end does his job with as much efficiency.
J. H. Sweet was an institution with this newspaper. He wrote his Kick column daily and it appeared on Page 1 for many years. Even when he "wintered" in Arizona he continued daily writings.
He was commonly addressed as "Mr. Sweet", but most of the guys affectionately labeled him as "the old man". He had a head of snow white hair and a twinkle in his eyes.
On one occasion, we were standing by the front door of the newspaper engaged in idle chatter when two young chunky women dressed in slacks walked past.
The "old man" eyed their backsides as they strolled down the street, puffed his cigaret and quipped.
"Reminds me of two boys wrestling under a blanket."
Earl Chappell, a former Nebraska City policeman who visited in Sugar Land, Texas, sent along a note about a woman in Tecumseh, Oklahoma, who had been raising brilliant red and white blossomed plants for years. Police pulled them up and hauled them away.
Mrs. Ouida Parsons, 77, hadn't done anything different than the family had been doing for 40 years. She saved seeds and each year planted them and they attracted sightseers because of their beauty. She also contributed articles to a horticulture magazine and offered to sell the seeds for 25 cents a packet.
Police Chief Lloyd Rogers said Mrs. Parsons was unaware that the flowers in her garden were Turkish opium poppies, and one of the largest crops of the narcotic plants ever confiscated in the U.S.
Footnote: The chief said she wouldn't be prosecuted.
Karl H. Nelson
Congratulations to Karl H. Nelson on receiving the Rotary community service award. Mr. Nelson was showered with kind words by many of his friends in a program arranged by the man who does it so well, Verne Jones.
Mr. Nelson's close friends and associates spoke about his interest in the community and his contributions to development of the parks system. And they said one of the reasons few people know about his help is his wish to stay in the background.
That all went to pot when Mrs. Maxine Sheldon, a longtime friend, told some of her experiences with the family and friends over the years.
It was a good evening of entertainment and an opportunity for us all to learn more about someone in our community.
Mr. Nelson's response was typical — he spoke briefly about the previous honorees, most of whom he knew or knows very well.
The supreme sacrifice
Carl Henner, who retired a number of years ago as a Minersville area rural mail carrier, recalled the killing of Deputy Sheriff Howard McCallum.
"I'll never forget him and what he did as an officer of the law. He paid the supreme sacrifice."
Mr. Henner was an eyewitness to the shootout.
He was working at the post office as a substitute clerk when he heard shots and went outside the post office building to see what was going on.
Mr. Henner recalled seeing two men exchanging gunfire around a tree on the east lawn of the courthouse, then saw one man run east toward the post office.
It was about that time that Mrs. Henner arrived at the post office. The couple sought shelter in the post office. "Bullets were whizzing toward us. We heard the man run past us and then he fell southeast of the post office."
Mr. Henner said a person doesn't forget an experience like that.
To Bob McKissick
We were going to ask Loyal Shannon for an explanation of this, but after recalling an interruption in a city council meeting by Mayor McKissick for the same explanation, we thought it best to go straight to the Jack [illegible]er [illegible]horse [illegible]er.
Question — What is a Jenny? A mule? A horse? Can a mule foal?
Notice to our readers — for answers to this and other questions of unusual animal nature, send your cards and letters to the "Jack-Answer," care of the News-Press.