Bits 'n pieces

While talking to my son last night, he asked me if I was going to watch the Republican Presidential debate. I told him not only was I going to watch the headline debate, I was going to watch the undercard debate as well. This struck him as strange, as it did a couple of other Democrats I told the same thing earlier in the day. I reminded all of them that we can't analyze or criticize if we don't know what the other side is saying and meaning. But this point seems to be lost on Democrats AND Republicans because both sides seem to want to listen only to their own sources and no one else. And we wonder why we have gridlock in politics.

I've been a political junkie almost as long as I've been a sports junkie. I anticipate a presidential debate as much as I do the opening games of the college football season and that was my mindset last night as well. I wanted to hear what the sixteen Republican men and one Republican woman had to say about the state of the nation and what they were going to do to fix it and the only way to do that was to listen to both debates so I did. There weren't a lot of surprises. The seven candidates in the first debate did little more than show why they WERE in the early debate except maybe for Carly Fiorina, the only woman and the only non-politician on the stage. But it would take something of almost monumental proportions to propel any of them from the low single-digits they're currently in to being competitive with the ten front runners and I didn't see or hear that from them last night.

The big question the political pundits were asking before the main debate was whether or not the leader in the polls, Donald Trump, was going to continue to be The Donald or was he going to try and act more presidential. It was a foolish question to begin with because Trump knows it's his brashness and straight-forwardness that got him where he is today and it would be a fatal flaw to back away from it so he didn't. He was the same Donald he's always been, much to the delight of his supporters, but it's hard for me to believe that his light will continue to shine as bright as it is now.

*****

Terry Peterson asked me to be his partner in the annual golf scramble in Atwood, Kansas this past weekend and I was happy to do it. It was my second time to play with him in it and I've grown to love Atwood's small town charm. He got me a reservation at the town's only motel, oddly called the It'll Do. At least it seemed odd until we got there and I saw the sign out front. In small letters, the sign read "It's not the Hilton but" and in much larger letters "It'll Do."

There was no one in the office and Terry had to call four different numbers before he found someone that could check me in and assign me a room. I was in the Kansas ski section of the motel so everything on the wall had to do with snow skiing; from boots to sleds, to maps to ski's. There was a washer and dryer in the bathroom and the television was sitting on top of the refrigerator which I thought was "cool" if you get my meaning. I met some wonderful people in Atwood I had not met before, made some new friends and Terry and I even won some money playing golf. It was a delightful two days in a small town that reminded me of the small town that was my home during my growing up days in Arkansas.

*****

Finally, I want to recognize a good friend of mine for the outstanding work he's done for several decades in McCook. David Mefford, the lead pressman for this newspaper, has retired after almost 49 years of making sure this paper and others he was responsible for printing made the deadline and got out to the people who wanted to read them. David and his wife Gloria have been friends of mine since shortly after I moved to McCook and are quality people like so many in McCook are. The paper will continue to be printed and for almost all of you, you won't be able to tell the difference but for those who knew David's dedication to his job, something will be missing that can never be replaced. I know that he will be as dedicated to his retirement as he was to his job and now he and Gloria will have much more time to go to Jimmy Buffet concerts, spring training baseball games and listen to Blues bands at the Zoo Bar in Lincoln. Happy Retirement David. You've set a standard that will be hard to beat!