Opinion
Other Editors
The Garden City Telegram, on using city funds for holiday celebration: Garden City and Finney County earned praise last summer for making sure the community had a Fourth of July fireworks show. Unfortunately, the Finney County Commission hasn’t appeared as eager this year to do the same. The city and county stepped up last year to fund the bulk of the $12,000 contract for the local fireworks show after the Garden City Area Chamber of Comm...
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Review board’s job isn’t glitz and glamour
Carl Manning Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — Deciding who will manage the four state-owned and operated casinos in Kansas won’t be a task filled with glitz and glamour. More likely, it’ll be filled with non-glitzy topics such as revenue estimates, population projections and targeted markets. By the end of September, the decisions will have been made by the seven-member Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board on the developers for a si...
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Still waiting to hear from the poor
Leonard Pitts Tribune Media Services A few words about white trash. I’ve always found that term offensive, its ubiquity notwithstanding. I have a number of reasons, but the most important is that it is a gratuitous insult to the white poor. Of course, they are one of the few groups remaining one can insult with relative impunity. Granted, Vice President Cheney did not actually use the term “white trash” in the “joke” he attempted last we...
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What do Rachael Ray, Al-Quaida and Bugs Bunny have in common?
Leonard Pitts Tribune Media Services You’ve seen this gag in a hundred old cartoons: Cat turns to flee angry dog, steps on a rake instead, knocks himself silly. It’s not sophisticated humor, but it is a visceral illustration of an abiding truth: panic can make you hurt yourself. Some of us, I think, need reminding. Consider the case of Rachael Ray and the scarf that made people scream. Ray, of course, is the preternaturally perky host o...
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Other Editors
The Kansas City Star, on Teach for America’s turned-away applicants: One of the exciting things about the 50 “Teach for America” recruits coming to the Kansas City School District this year is that they come so highly qualified. The new teachers, all recent college graduates, were selected from a national applicant pool of 25,000. They represent some of the top minds graduating from the nation’s colleges and universities. In total, 3,70...
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Apple of an uncle’s eye
Mitch Albom Tribune Media Services The nephew asked the uncle if he would come to his high school graduation. The uncle said sure. It was far away. Another country. But the nephew and the uncle always had been close. In fact, the nephew looked so much like the uncle, it astonished people. They used to mug in front of the mirror, the two of them, making the same face, the same squint, the same grin. It was like looking at old and young ver...
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Letter to the editor
Support for Erie ambulance service appreciated There was strong support, at the commission meeting May 30, for the Erie Emergency Care Unit. I regret in not speaking up when I had the opportunity, for our local schools. They have used the ambulance service more than once and have been very pleased with the immediate response and care given. A sincere thank you to all of the people involved with the running of the service as they do an excelle...
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Letter to the editor
Think safety The proposed water park near the Highland Park Lake is not a safe place. We don’t want any tragedy regarding such. A wandering child could be gone in a split second. I know because on a church picnic I pulled my son off the bottom of the public pool. Six mothers were supposed to be watching the “kiddy” pool. A near tragedy. There is plenty of room on the east side of the park. Plenty of nice shade, room for parking and need fo...
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Chamber’s Membership Drive success
The Chamber has just wrapped up a Membership Drive where Chamber volunteers visited nearly 80 local businesses, professionals, individuals and non-profit organizations. During the three-day drive, 13 new members realized the benefits of Chamber membership and joined. We are pleased to announce these new members - American Payday Loans, The Blessing Cup, The Boutique, Thad Clements, Greve Income Tax Service, P.B. Hoidale Co., Laura Hoppas Farm...
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D-Day anniversary
On this day in 1944, thousands of heroic men and women made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom. This anniversary has come and gone so many times, and it is often only during the landmark years, the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries, that the whole nation stops and collectively honors those who fell on the beaches of Normandy. But on this 64th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, during a time when our nation is at war, ...
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Braking for euphoria
Kathleen Parker WASHINGTON -- The history-making moment with which we’re now all familiar seems to have surpassed inevitability and entered the realm of foregoneness. There seems no stopping Barack Obama, not solely because of his obvious appeal but because, who really wants to be the one who stands athwart history yelling “Stop!” when this particular history is so compelling? And so charged. It is compelling, no matter one’s politics. ...
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Gorilla hunt to begin soon
Chanute Historical Society One of a series Little men and big men, the natives of Congo jungles, will hear the click of the camera within a few months. Martin Johnson and his wife Osa Johnson, now are in Chanute spending much time arranging business affairs so that they may be away another 18 months or two years. The local big-game hunters, searchers for the unusual in the jungles of Africa, will leave the United States in November or Dec...
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Subscription for Chanute Tribune
The Chanute Tribune is, again, going to online subscriptions. We tried doing this a month ago, but found we had a few bugs to work out. Now that they’re fixed, everything should be ready. Those of you who already subscribe to our print edition are entitled to a free subscription. In order to get one, email us at amy@chanute.com and we’ll set you up. It may take us up to 24 hours to arrange your free access, so please be patient. We need y...
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Abortion doctor’s visit to governor’s home raises questions
TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius undercut her efforts to build her credentials as a moderate problem-solver with a reception last year at her official residence with abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Sebelius has gained national attention for winning two terms as a Democratic governor in a traditionally Republican state. National party leaders promote her as someone who governs successfully by bridging political differences, and she’...
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Other Editors
The Topeka Capital-Journal, on driving distractions: We cringe to think common sense is becoming more common in California than Kansas, but that appears to be the case. The home of Hollywood and unlimited ballot propositions is well ahead of the Sunflower State in recognizing the danger of driving while holding a cell phone to your ear. Beginning July 1, it will be illegal in California to hold a cell phone and conduct a conversation whil...
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Kansas Profile: Our Town — Lucas
Ron Wilson Huck Boyd Institute The Lucas Triangle. It sounds rather forbidding, like the Bermuda Triangle, but this is a region of a different sort. The Lucas Triangle consists of three remarkable attractions within a single community in rural north central Kansas. This threesome features an incredible array of what is called grassroots art. Special thanks to Kansas! Magazine and writer Sally Snell whose article told this remarkable story....
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Letter to the editor
Former resident comments on county situation Hooray! Someone finally got it ! It’s time the people of Chanute, Erie, Thayer, and St. Paul, as well as Galesburg and the rural community of Neosho County respond and reject the present county commission and their arrogance when it comes to employees, projects, and decisions. Just who do these people think they are anyways? It’s time people, to put them into their places. They need to know ...
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Over the hill with Bill
Kathleen Parker Tribune Media Services WASHINGTON — Hope. Change. Hope and change. Hope ‘n’ change. Say the words often enough and they begin to take hold, attaching themselves lichen-like to the psyche. Soon they take on a life of their own and assume human form. He is the one Democrats have been waiting for — the agent, the beacon, the Everyman who can change the culture of Washington and restore hope to the disenfranchised. He even ...
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Too little, too late to matter
Leonard Pitts Tribune Media Services “The first grave mistake of Bush’s presidency was rushing toward military confrontation with Iraq. It took his presidency off course and greatly damaged his standing with the public. His second grave mistake was his virtual blindness about his first mistake...” — Scott McClellan in “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” Years ago, I gave one of my kids some a...
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Tobacco is costing Kansas
Kathleen Sebelius Governor Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death and disease in Kansas. One thing all Kansans can agree on is that an effort to stop young Kansans from ever smoking is a worthwhile goal. Each year nearly 3,900 Kansans die from tobacco-related diseases, including 290 deaths attributed to secondhand smoke. The most startling statistic is that one in four Kansas high school students currently uses some form of to...
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