Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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Amid the week after Christmas, piles of wrapping in bags, shiny paper and boxes in trash with the tags. Sad little scissors sit broken and bent, from clamshell packaging--they don’t make a dent. The lights are still sparkly, still light up the town, but pretty soon work begins in taking them down. Kids run around ‘cause they’re still out of schools, having a good old time while acting the fools. But the tots are forlorn from here to Hoboken, Christmas is gone and their new t...
This is an important message. Please do not hang up the phone … *CLICK.* That “click” was me hanging up the phone. I am pretty sure you have received these annoying calls yourself. I have signed up for the government’s “Do Not Call” list (donotcall.gov) on several occasions now. That works about as well as you might think a top-notch government-run organization might run. Which is to say … “RING!” Excuse me. “No, I don’t need help with my student loan!” This said to t...
It’s December and we all know what that means! Hallmark and Lifetime are subjecting us to their onslaught of holiday-themed movies until the day after Christmas. Last year, Hallmark released 33 movies and another 28 in 2016. Altogether, they have approximately 136 movies in their library. Lifetime has 44 similar movies. Netflix is starting to create their own line of Christmas movies as well, though I did enjoy “The Christmas Chronicles” with Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. With...
It is the start of the holiday season and for many that means traveling by air to get to a desired destination. I don’t know about you, but I used to love to have the adventure of going on an airplane trip. When I was a tyke, because one set of my folks lived in Houston and the other set in D.C., my sister and I flew by ourselves at least half a dozen times. On those flights, I can remember getting to visit the pilot cabin and getting toy airplanes. I doubt either practice h...
I would like to say “thanks” to Stan Lee for creating so many of the comic book characters I grew up with. I am going to miss his funny Marvel movie cameos too. But this is not about Stan Lee. Bill Maher has wondered publicly about adults that think comic books are “sophisticated literature” and goes on about how basically the love of them has dulled America’s wits. Maybe. But not necessarily. Personally, I think Bill Maher is an overstuffed shirt (and that was the extremely...
“As comics writers we had to have villains in our stories. And once World War II started, the Nazis gave us the greatest villains in the world to fight against. It was a slam dunk.” ~ Stan Lee *** What does it mean when you find yourself personally impacted by the death of someone you never met, but still feels like a member of your family? Though it was one of my dreams in life to one day meet Stan Lee, last Monday brought those dreams to a screeching halt as my social media...
This is the most stream-of-consciousness thing I have written in a while. I have had a lot of things swirling around my mind lately (elections, veteran day, Halloween, etc.) including writing a story about dressing as Spider Man. It was so darn ... well you'll see. A social media question Is social media killing social skills? I saw a girl recently walk by intensely scrutinizing her cell phone while heading somewhere at a furious pace. I said "Hi" the second time she walked...
Editor, Has anyone but me noticed the new 7 vehicle junkyard at the corner of Rochester and 4th St. Both state statues as well as our own nuisance ordinance clearly specify a maximum of 4 unlicensed rigs on private property. The obvious reason is so Saratoga can be a more pleasant place to live. Obviously someone isn’t doing their job of enforcement. If the present city council, mayor, planning officer or police chief isn’t interested in enforcement why not just dump the existing nuisance ordinance we spent hours dev...
Editor, As I write this letter we don’t know who will be the next Mayor of Saratoga but felt I needed to respond to Lynda Healy’s letter in the October 31 edition of the Saratoga Sun. She stated that the previous Mayor (that be me) had entered into a lawsuit with Randy Stevens that even the insurance company would no longer honor. First off, the mayor doesn’t have the authority to enter into a lawsuit without council approval or under the advice of the town’s attorney. Secondly, her claim that the insurance company would n...
A person I have known since my second year in high school just had her birthday on Halloween. Okay, actually it is on the 30th, but as often as we celebrated Halloween and her birthday, I often merge the two days. KC is special to me for many reasons, but there just isn’t the room in this column to share them all. Still, I have to try. She is the person that turned me on to one of my favorite all time rock bands. KC made herself the unofficial president of Aerosmith before ...
Editor, Election time is November 6th. I am writing to remind everyone how the dismal state Saratoga’s financial affairs came to be. The previous mayor had entered into a lawsuit with Randy Stevens that even the insurance company would no longer honor and left Saratoga financially vulnerable. Over a quarter million dollars was spent out of the reserves that I know of for sure. The current Mayor and Council are still paying on the remnants of this. The town is also financially responsible (court ordered) should that $70,000 w...
I was thinking a lot about this week’s column. Initially, with this edition of the newspaper coming out on Oct. 31, I thought about trying to write a spooky ghost story or examine why some of us love horror movies so much. Then I thought about writing something in regards to the recently arrested Florida man who mailed 12 packages to prominent politicians and activists. Instead, I have decided to focus on the importance of civics and voting with the general election being n...
Dear Editor, I was very upset approximately one year ago when our local National Forest Service (NFS) Director was involuntarily transferred a thousand miles from her home and employment in Saratoga. She had no warning nor explanation and placed under a professional directive to stay silent. The decision was made by the NFS Regional Forester supervisor of Denver, Colo., an unusual decision that employees spanning 25 years of experience had never seen before. This forced transfer surprised everyone as all her evaluations had...
I am never not working. That is not to say that I am always working—the fact is that I am as lazy as I can get away with. The amount I can get away with isn’t exactly at “independently wealthy” levels—and that’s enough said about that. We’re not allowed to whine in Wyoming, right? A Double Negative makes a Positive? But it is true I am never not working. I have been handing out candy to trick or treaters when a fire started up. If you are me that means drop your sweets, grab your camera and get to the flames. I have been taki...
When my Aunt Sylvia died a few months back, down in Alabama, I wrote of my sadness in her departure in a column not long after. An interesting twist of losing one aunt was reconnecting with my other, living, aunt and the closeness that cropped up. Aunt Vicki is the much younger sister of my mother and Aunt Sylvia. She really didn’t live with either when they lived at home. Both had left the nest when she was a very young child due to the 15-16 year age difference. My best m...