Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 1376 - 1400 of 1862
"People cannot learn by having information pressed into their brains. Knowledge has to be sucked into the brain, not pushed in. First, one must create a state of mind that craves interest and wonder. "You can teach only by creating an urge to know." Victor Weisskopf (1908-2002) As this school year comes to a close, I look bakc upon my 42 years of teaching. It's been an interesting journey, to say the least. I began in what was then the largest high school in Georgia with 2,100 students, and I end in a rural eastern...
"Girls 4x100 Relay Sets New State Record!!" Was this the headline we saw? We have a track team that goes to state and places in the top 7 in all their events. We have a girls relay team that takes first in two events and breaks the state record for cryin-out-loud. We take 3rd in boys 100m & 200m (photo finishes on both by the way). A girls 100m and 200m dash that places 3rd and 4th (photo finish here too, I think), 5th on boys triple jump, 7th in girls long jump, 4th in girls triple jump. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? What...
I'm a little cranky today. I've never read the Divine Comedy, the epic poem written by Dante Aligieri. Having seen paintings inspired by the first section, usually called Dante's Inferno, I've never really wanted to. That hasn't stopped me from imagining Hell as I would have designed it. Never mind the seven deadly sins. I would have a place in Hell reserved for people who abuse those weaker than themselves, whether that be spouses, children, or animals. This would, I...
Buster Brown, my big mutt from the dog pound, is now 10 years old. Perhaps because he’s a senior citizen it took him a full week to learn how to operate the dog door I had installed last winter. He was used to going to the back door and barking to be let in or out. Once the dog door was there, I held it open, showing him the great outdoors, and encouraged him to go through it. I had to repeat this maneuver many times, patiently making happy noises when he ultimately would h...
The name “natural gas” might be a puzzle. After all, how could there be such a thing as unnatural gas? The reason we call natural gas what we do has to do with history. There was a day that people made burnable gas by heating coal. The gases that came off the coal were piped around cities where they did things like light street lamps and even power cook stoves in homes. Coal gas had its down side. For one thing, it often contained carbon monoxide. And it took energy to make th...
Calling all alumni! It's that time again, when Odessa's graduates come back to visit with family, old friends and former classmates. It is always a time of much laughter, clowning around and other high-jinks. We all get to act like we are 18 again. Just bring forth the memories and ignore what your eyes are telling you. Don't see the gray hair and the wrinkles. See the handsome boys and girls we used to be. The alumni association has done its work well again this year, thanks to Debbie (Frederick) Praetorius and her...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 5/10/13: The USDA supply and demand report was not very kind to the market on Friday as prices basically lost all their gains from Thursday. The major factor was next year's corn ending stocks projected at over 2 billion bushels versus this year’s 759 million. The USDA did drop their projected yield down to 158 from 164 which was projected early on at their February outlook conference. Soybean stocks also see a large jump doubling next year's ending stocks...
This is my concern. All along the main street of town (First Avenue) there are handicapped-access curbs at each intersection. I am really glad they have them and use them, but it is hard to use them when there are people who park there and block them. I think it is real inconsiderate of people who do this. People, park further away from the handicapped access areas, even if it means you will have to walk a little farther. Carol Williams Odessa...
The framers of our constitution showed a great deal of wisdom! Certainly it was more than our state legislators showed when they were pressured into fully funding basic education without having a definition of basic education. That little omission has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. I do not remember the exact year that folly took place, but I know that special levies for maintenance and operation had to be increased. The state took more money from each district so the amount of the levies had to be raised. This w...
Some more interesting news you never hear in the media. This year Earth Day was on April 22. EarthDay is when the tree huggers and environmentalist wackos get together to celebrate mother earth. Ira Einhorn is the founder of Earth Day. Ira Einhorn “beat his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux , to death and then stored her body in a locked trunk in his apartment for more than a year – about 18 months – before she was discovered by the police. He fled to Europe and was convicted 25 years later for her murder in 2002 and is servi...
I'm fresh back from International Quilt Market in Portland. Well, I don't feel particularly fresh - I'm still tired, but you know what I mean. Talk about a fish out of water. Now, in all the years I lived in Portland, I did not feel particularly bumpkin-like. I knew I wasn't a sophisticate, by any means, but I could usually hold my own in a conversation. As soon as I walked in the door at the convention center, I knew I was in over my head. Two days later, I was drowning. In...
Modern veterinary science is a technically advanced field. Some animals receive not just x-rays, but sophisticated scans like MRIs. If you visit a large veterinary hospital you will find cats getting chemotherapy and dogs on the receiving end of complicated surgeries. Naturally, a lot of the training vet students receive is focused on the “hard science” parts of what they will do as practicing veterinarians. But there’s also a softer side to veterinary medicine, one that...
I tire of hearing some people say that our schools and universities are failing and not turning out enough science-savvy students. I guess if some pundits, politicians, and corporate leaders belt it out often enough and loud enough, people will believe it. I hope not. There is good evidence that this claim of failure is false: there is no evidence that American science education is failing, and no evidence that we face a shortage of qualified science and math professionals. American students are doing well in science and...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 5/10/13: The USDA supply and demand report was not very kind to the market on Friday as prices basically lost all their gains from Thursday. The major factor was next year's corn ending stocks projected at over 2 billion bushels versus this year’s 759 million. The USDA did drop their projected yield down to 158 from 164 which was projected early on at their February outlook conference. Soybean stocks also see a large jump doubling next year's ending s...
I’ve decided I need a fight song. I was on my way home from town last night when the idea occurred to me. The first thing you need to know is that yesterday was the first day of my new program. (That’s right! I still haven’t given up on becoming healthier! Even though there are only 9 months until my 60th birthday, I’m giving it another try.) So I was ravenous. The first four days of this program involve two homemade shakes and a 2-cup bowl of soup, along with one crunchy...
The Friends of the Pool have engaged their children in efforts to keep the Odessa Aquatic Recreation Center afloat, so to speak. The kids who participated in the group's walk-a-thon know that their efforts help to keep the pool available to them over the summer. They get out and get pledges and then they walk or run around the track for most of an afternoon. They also have fun and win prizes, but at the same time they learn that community efforts can get things done. Their pool is important to them and to the entire...
Boston (4-15-13) did not need to happen! When the truth is finally known we will see a serious trail of mistakes that goes back many years. It is difficult to pinpoint an exact starting point as both the red and blue parties are at fault! We have become a nation that has tried to grow too fast by allowing far too many visitors and immigrants. We have tried to be the perfect host by forgetting about the rules and trying very hard not to offend anyone! We don't even have the intestinal fortitude to make immigrants learn the...
I feel like a medical marvel today. Never mind that the medical professionals I spent some quality time with yesterday do this kind of thing all day, every day. I still feel like a medical marvel. For the first time in months, I got out of bed and walked, instead of crept, to the bathroom. When I walked down the sidewalk this morning, I didn’t have to stop and bend over to relieve the pain I’ve been dealing with for several months. I suspect I may have been swaggering a bit...
One of the most breath-taking geologic events is a major earthquake. In just a few moments, shaking of the Earth can result in billions of dollars of damage and thousands of lives lost. Many earthquakes are related to the movement of tectonic plates, the large chunks of the Earth’s outer surface that move with respect to each other. Plates are “born” in places like Iceland, where magma comes up from below and creates oceanic plate material. Plates “die” where one plate div...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 5/2/13: The grain futures markets have chopped around for the last two days, which hasn’t done much to our white wheat price. New crop and old crop prices are now virtually identical. Corn has rallied back from the low posted after the March 28 stocks report, with the May Chicago futures contract finally trading above that day’s low, which was limit down. Corn-planting delays combined with heavy snowfall in Iowa drove the gains. The HRW tour in Kansas cam...
Brianna was only 17 years old when she was targeted by traffickers while working as a waitress at a Southwest Washington restaurant. With the help of a concerned friend, local law enforcement and Congresswoman Linda Smith, Brianna was rescued only minutes before being taken to Phoenix, allegedly to be sold to traffickers. To help rescue other teens, Shared Hope International, a Vancouver-based anti-trafficking non-profit, teamed up with Brianna and Lacy, two Washington teens who were recruited by traffickers, to share their...
It's time for Spring Fling, and folks have been calling and asking about yard sale maps (yes, they're coming out today) and with questions about many of the other activities being offered in Harrington and Odessa. The quilters in both towns have been busy preparing for their annual shows, labors of love for sure. The Odessa show runs Friday and Saturday, the Harrington show just Saturday. The Odessa museum will also be open this year on Saturday, so both visitors and residents will have an opportunity to see the new displays...
Mr. Wollman, so my recent letter to the editor reminded you of a quote by Martin Niemoller. Well, your letter reminded me of a quote by FDR , “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” You have my deepest sympathy. It must be just awful to live your life in such an extreme state of paranoia. Let’s take a look, one by one, at the six Supreme Court cases that you cited and see if we can’t lower your anxiety level a little. But before we start, there are two things that we are going to have to remember: 1. When the Dep...
I have a recurring dream. I actually think of it as a nightmare, but it doesn’t feature monsters or murderers. It features forgetting. In the dream, I am sitting in the hallway of my college dormitory, playing cards with a group of my friends, when I suddenly realize that I have forgotten to go to my forestry final. A surge of adrenaline (or some equally uncomfortable biological substance) floods my body, and I know that I will never graduate. The dream goes on for quite a w...
Our holiday dinners get funnier each year. Take these last few years – I’ll use the Goetz family for example. We always eat between 12:00 and 12:30, mainly because Grandpa and our son Treg can’t wait another minute. Now Treg always sits by Grandpa, then Grandma has to find her own place at the table. And speaking of tables, we have now added a card table, because I’m too weak to put the leaf in the table to make it bigger. Although this last holiday, my brother-in-law, Greg, did fix it for me with lots of washers that ha...
