Out of the blue

Atwood, Kansas can be proud of one of their former residents that passed this last week. He was Ramon Horinek, LtCol USAF Retired and had the distinction of spending five and a half years as a guest of the North Vietnamese Army in the Hanoi Hilton as a POW. Tough duty following his capture after being shot down in his F-105 in 1968. Your columnist met him once and visited when the Vietnam Wall came to Norton, Kansas. A hero in my eyes. May he rest in peace.

Karen called Grannie Annie to inform that one of her “Adopt A Chaplain” soldiers wanted to get in touch. No clue how Evan and Karen came to converse but Grannie fired off an email to the gent. Amazingly a return email came back from Iraq the same day explaining how Evan made the connection. Grannie Annie is happy to share:

Ann thank you for the email! The letter was dated November 2017 but for some reason it was still in our operations center here in Iraq. I was drawn to it mainly because your husband was a KC-135 pilot and you are both living in a small community similar to mine. The Midwest is a very special place and I hold it dearly to my heart. I am a UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter pilot in the MN Army National Guard and I also fly for the largest regional airline in the country if not world, SkyWest Airlines. I love to hunt and fish and travel with my wife and friends. I love visiting Nebraska and I’ve flown all over your area inspecting pipeline a few years back. Thank you for the email, stay healthy, and thanks for everything! I’m on the left in this picture.  ss Evan

In Grannie’s letter she explained that she has stepped back from organizing the sending of packages to our military operating in current hot spots around the world. She pleads that her eighty year old body is wearing out but that people from a couple of area churches have picked up the torch and the effort continues. Evan notes that we live in a small community similar to his own home of choice and it is a very special place that he holds dearly to his heart. So you see, you generous members of this giving community are making a mark, a good mark, the world around. Keep up the good work!

The pandemic continues. It is interesting that we have to wear a mask to get a simple haircut and to walk the halls of the hospital but few masks are evident in other places of business. It makes little sense but is simply a statement of power from those who are in charge. In my world common sense and Christian brotherhood should be the rule and guide to life.

Speaking of church I was visiting with a lady who attends Catholic Church services in neighboring South Dakota. Like here in Nebraska every other pew is roped off and unrelated persons are asked to sit at least six feet apart. Yet the South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has released such restrictions and my friend said the Baptists down the street are doing church as normal. I suspect that her church governing body has directed the separation requirements. Oh well just put up with it.

The demonstrating and shootings continue in some of our larger cities—those with Democrats in positions of control (not) or rather positions of authority. Yes there is a difference. Now the cry is to defund the cops. That would be a sheer disaster. Still notice that there is no criticism of the legal system that turns the crime perpetrators, after arrest by the cops, loose with no punishment. The cops go out and do the hard and sometimes dangerous work of stopping the criminals in action or settling a domestic disturbance and a couple days later some lawyer sitting in his secure safe office decides to “plea bargain” the justified charges written up by the police that made the arrest. Somehow our law doesn’t say maybe if you feel like it. Laws are written in black or white, yes or no.

Take for instance a discussion that I had back when I was a County Commissioner with one of our local attorneys. I wondered out loud why the police don’t pick up persons exceeding our 25 mph speed limit on B Street in McCook. “Well he said we don’t fine persons going 5 mph over the speed limit and most of the time we overlook 10 mph over.” My question is why even make the law read a 25 mph limit and leave it up to the whim of a County Attorney somewhere to overlook speeding of 5 or more over the limit? It makes little sense.

The larger question then is why do we expect our police to keep arresting perpetrators when our legal system just turns them loose after the hard work is done.

Take for example the combination of George Floyd and the cop that arrested and killed him Derek Chauvin. News reported that the two had had prior contact and that Floyd had spent time in prison. I suspect that somewhere along the line Chauvin had picked up and charged Floyd for crimes that were dismissed. That would make any policeman discouraged but still I in no way excuse Chauvin and his fellow officers for killing Floyd the way he did.

For sure that death, pictured on social media, triggered the major uprising we are seeing today and the lax lawyers in the background have come out looking as pure as the fresh driven snow. Our legal system needs massive change in this old guy’s judgment. Good luck!

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail