Death and taxes

As I write this it is the birthday of my beloved US Air Force. Created in 1947 it has served our nation well. Happy Birthday.

Well, I received the dreaded pink postcard in the mail this week telling me that my City taxes will be going up. That was not a surprise because inflation continues to weaken the dollar and many of their expenses keep going up as well. Still it is a bit of frustration that our property evaluations are also going up so that also shows as a raise in our taxes. Then too I’ve been championing for combining the two police forces that we pay for in this county and am of the opinion that significant savings could be had by combining the two. As they say there are two sure things in life; death and taxes.

The old farmer in your columnist caused me to load Grannie Annie up and go for a little drive northeast of our town. Those roads were my responsibility when I was County Commissioner and I found them in good shape. However the road ditches were overdue for mowing so it kind of looked like driving through tunnels. I’m sure that Earl will get to it before snow comes.

Corn yields should be pretty great this year with all the timely rains that we received. Couldn’t tell about the soybeans but the milo looks really good too. Can’t complain about the belly-deep grass-covered pastures either. It is a fantastic difference from the drought that we experienced only one year ago.

Any farmer can find a downside to any situation and I harbor a little fear of possible wildfires when all gets dried out. Lots of fuel and sometimes we even get strong winds to make those fires hard to fight. Hopefully, we will not see anything like the disasters that they had in the Pacific paradise of Maui a couple of months ago. That is hard to imagine.

The water level in our Hugh Butler Lake is lower than I like to see but looked about normal. We didn’t check out the boat launching ramps and didn’t spy any of our vaunted Bison herd out there.

We also didn’t see any progress on the large solar arrays that are supposedly coming to this area. I guess out of sight is out of mind but I can understand the trepidation of the neighbors that will have to share the sight of those large arrays blighting their neighborhood. I can also understand the landowners that will host those solar array fields because they supposedly guarantee a pretty positive string of income into the future. I have friends on both sides of that fight so will keep my opinion to myself.

Speaking of fights in public it is saddening to watch our current politicians in Washington D C’s constant battles on TV these past couple of years. This past week we tuned into three episodes of Mark Levin touting his new book “The Democrat Party Hates America”! I seem to agree with the points that he is making and look forward to reading it from cover to cover.

Having lived through the last of the Dust Bowl/Depression, WWII and the several wars since kind of puts things into perspective. We have experienced statesmen in the office of president and unfortunately we have also had self-serving politicians. The present-day President is obviously one of the latter.

It is difficult to understand the thirst for power that drives modern-day progressives with their lust to implement a Soviet-style government to replace what has been eminently successful over 250 years and made this a great nation, the best in the world in which to live. We can’t let them succeed and only have the ballot box to make our voices heard.

Did you happen to notice the pictures of hundreds of immigrants headed for our border riding the train through Mexico this morning? A Congressman Turner was quoted as saying the border is being left open because of the Biden administration’s policies and that “the incredible influx” of border-crossers seen “since the Trump administration” is palpable. Turner noted that although some “seek a better life” there are also those who “intend” to harm Americans, referring to asylum seekers who’ve been caught and identified on terror watch lists.

So far our fair City of McCook doesn’t seem to be affected by illegal guests here looking for jobs, shelter and handouts like we see in the larger cities. Vote wisely!

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail