Our community in action

Our community was very much in action. Grannie Annie and I participated in Hillcrest’s Night on the Hill fundraising celebration last Saturday evening. Lots of the movers and shakers were there but best of all were the large number of young adults, family people, the dynamic ones that make our economy happen day after day. A good meal prepared by the Home’s kitchen put one’s mind at ease. Then the ever flowing “adult beverages” probably further loosened more than a few more pockets. No surprise as that is what we went there for in the first place. Following dinner then Dueling Pianos a musical event with lots of audience participation and obviously popular with the younger crown in attendance. This old couple would have preferred the wonderful dance bands that played for large crowds during and following WWII for which the great old building so admirable served the community.

Hillcrest Foundation’s fundraising event was a good example of community involvement, the very thing that fellow scribe Ronda Graff has been encouraging in this local paper. Hillcrest is a vital asset to this community and surrounding area and obviously the many people in attendance agreed. My advice is to look around this, your, community and see those things that make this a great place to live. Then get out of your comfort zone and participate in keeping them vibrant for this generation and those to come. Inaction on your and my part will cause what we know and die on the vine.

Earlier this old, but current, Aeronautics Commissioner journeyed to Lincoln to attend our quarterly board meeting. A major function of the Commission is to allocate the funds raised by our aviation fuel “gas” tax and a tax charged to each passenger that boards an airliner. That money is used to keep the State’s airports in best condition possible. Runway repair and upkeep, maintaining the navigation aids, building hangars and a whole lot more. Happily, our own McCook Airport was included in future plans and that is to replace the existing Airline Terminal build with one larger and of modern design. No idea of when it will happen but at least we are in the queue.

Interestingly aviation has been responding well in the recovery from the Covid Pandemic. Crops grow and the need of aerial application continues. Corporate aviation is vigorous carrying our doctors weekly to and from our hospital, for instance, our daily FED EX and UPS 24 hour deliveries and a thousand other errands for business purposes. The nations airlines are flying more passengers and crying to hire a bunch of new pilots. Hopefully, Denver Air, the new carrier chosen by City Council will step up and provide much more reliable service to and from Denver when they come on board than sadly we have seen of late with our Essential Air Carrier.

Hopefully your Valentine’s Day went well. Grannie and mine suffered a bit of a hiccup with a minor health problem on my part. We were scheduled to attend a Sweetheart meal and extravaganza in nearby Palisade but it seemed more prudent to stay home and enjoy leftovers and just enjoy each other, company. We did savor a short pop in visit by our three great grandsons which always makes an evening happy.

It has been interesting of late to watch the contest of wills, truckers verses Trudeau that is making the news in our northern neighbor. Canada professes to be a democracy but when the elite government does not listen to the people, even in cold weather, their economy grinds to a standstill. The answer is simple, cancel the mandates, but for some reason, Prime Minister Trudeau refuses to back down---yet. Some of our failing big city Democrat Governors and Mayors are evidently siding with Trudeau and our own American truckers are paying attention and threatening to also threaten the status quo. Right now, we keep hearing that empty shelves are explained by “supply chain” problems but if our elites in charge don’t pay attention things will abruptly get much worse. Stay tuned!

Our fairgrounds was busy this past weekend with a big barrel racing event. Lots of high dollar horse and people camping trailers were in evidence. License plates from many of the surrounding states testified that participants came from far and wide. Those “guests” eat at our local restaurants and buy from our local stores so hopefully you all made them feel welcome. We are so blessed to have such a huge well-run facility right here in our community.

That is how I saw it.