Oh, to celebrate!

Just as advertised Grannie and your scribe made the short trip to join in Stratton’s Fall Festival. Actually, we just took in the Parade down their main street. I tickled a bit as we took our place in the shade of the Methodist Church by the announcer and judges’ station. Someone in the crowd mentioned, a bit loud, “There is Grannie Annie! I don’t know her real name, just Grannie Annie”. Their VFW proudly led the parade with the colors. Now, remember that the high school left the village to combine with Dundy County hence no marching band. So the colors halted in front of the speaker's platform, presented arms and a local group of teens, all girls, led the crowd in singing our National Anthem. A pretty neat way to give honor to God and Country.

The parade was appropriately long, with not a lot of entries not a lot of people in town. One beautifully restored tractor, a couple of special old GMC pickups but many floats with children on board. One I thought was special was by the Forch Family Cattle Drive with the barrels decorated as cows and horses pulled by a four-wheeler around and around. Incidentally, the wheeled barrel carts were constructed by former McCook High teacher Jamie Forch and decorated by his wife Pat. Each barrel contained a happy western-dressed young child waving to the crowd. One thing I thought really special was the announcer naming the vast majority of the parade participants as they came by. He was that familiar with the majority of them and why not they were probably all his friends. Then too about all the community vehicles: fire trucks, ambulances and work rigs for local businesses were driven by adults but with a cab full of kids throwing candy out to the younger set along the way. Join the youth in and they will build the future.

I’ve not lived there but have watched the fortunes of Stratton from afar. The place was pretty dynamic a while back when a large firm was manufacturing Miller Discs popular in the ag industry. Miller Discs moved away, but Miller Weeder on the East side of town was sold and continued to build the Weeders and other implements to prepare the soil to plant wheat. They were copied by another couple of companies and lost their advantage so they developed machines for grooming ski slopes. That petered out and the manufacturer owner cut and ran. Still, the village sits surrounded by agriculture. The pioneers that settled there were of middle European stock and strong Christians who brought their faith and built dynamic churches in the community. Schools were good but due to population decline, too few students, combined with their neighboring villages to operate larger combined school districts.

Still, the Village wanted to continue as a community. How to do that? If we look closely we see one or more self-appointed leaders step forth. Behind the scenes in Stratton, a gentleman named Bill Zahl quietly pulls the strings. Bill’s profession was in the banking and related insurance industries. He was the long-time Boy Scout Leader. Stratton needed a care home for the older generations and Grandview Lodge came to pass. It has had its ups and downs but now is a community center. Bill’s wonderful wife Linda steps up to do community programs, for instance, FROG, to encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Stratton sits alongside a busy highway and viola a volunteer ambulance corps complete with modern equipment evolved to tend to accidents and of course, the ag industry is somewhat a challenging scene for injuries. Same thing for an accomplished rural/municipal volunteer fire department.

Somehow my friend Bill Zahl deflects credit for helping build his community, and names about everybody else for getting things done. Typical! But then who else was the parade announcer talking about all the entries as they passed by? Yep the behind-the-scenes mover and shaker that somehow makes community things come to pass. Keep on keeping on my friend.

Grannie and I skipped the big Barbeque that was to take place a little later that evening. Local talent BBQ and possibly a little “adult beverage” to go with it. I am sure that it was a good time for all.

An interesting program by Mark Levin on TV last evening. The Great One outlined how the Democrat Party has been the movers and shakers pushing slavery and racial prejudice in the world we see today. They were the party of slavery during the Civil War. The party of Lincoln, now known as the Republican Party fought to free the slaves, those of colored skin. The democrats created the Kul Klux Klan to enforce Jim Crow their code of unwritten law to keep those of non-white skin color down. The major icon of the Democrat party, Franklin Roosevelt showed his tolerance of other races by incarcerating all former Japanese citizens during WWII. Some 78 percent of the votes in both the House and Senate that were cast against LBJ’s Civil Rights Act of 1964 were cast by democrats though with the majority of republicans voting for it, the measure passed. Now the elites in the Democrat Party are on a tirade against the majority of Americans who bear white skin.

Thankfully I don’t see any sign of racial prejudice in our community today. For all of us, it is just a nonproblem but it behooves us to pay attention and vote wisely in the upcoming elections.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail