The best one we've heard . . .
. . . came from a Nebraska City home and a volunteer fireman.
"Whoopie" Landis was all geared up with air bottle, face mask, heavy duty boots, fireman's hat and coat and entered a smoke-filled home with fire fighting equipment.
Well, the first thing a fireman does when he goes into a smoke-filled home is to look for the source and snuff out the flame. That's what the volunteers did in this situation.
Whoopie is a seasoned fireman (that means he's been cooked on one side at least once during his service) and he was moving about the house looking for a flame in the dense smoke when the telephone rang.
You can guess what happened. If you can't we'll try to help with the wording.
"R-i-n-g."
"Hullo," Whoopie said.
"Hiya fella," the other voice said. "What's doing over there?"
"Oh, nothing much," Whoopie answered. "But we're kinda busy just now."
"Why? What's going on over there?" the caller asked.
"You're talking to a fireman and we're putting out a fire over here."
"Click."
Our thanks go this week to Junior High Principal Jim Hanks and Mrs. Shirley Gilfert, eighth grade English teacher, for helping us tell the story of newspapers during National Newspaper Week.
We provided Mrs. Gilfert with papers for her classes. The students had a daily newspaper to thumb through and use as a classroom assignment.
And, we were given an opportunity to speak to four of her six classes about the operation of a newspaper. We found the students interested in their local newspaper and for that we say thank-you very much.
Last week we printed a special tabloid section on the pork industry. There were a lot of hours spent on the project and much of the credit goes to Mrs. Robert Nichols, Brock, who initiated the whole thing.
We county fair goers worked with Mrs. Nichols when she was the home extension agent and we know when she is working on a project, she does more than her share to be sure it gets done and with good quality.
We said thanks to Mrs. Nichols for her help. But then she turned the tables and walked into the News-Press the other morning during coffee break with her own thank-you — many trays of delicious pastries.
Ummmmm good. Ummmm good. All three kinds were ummmmm good.
We felt the sting of a bee the other day, but read with assurance that rarely are insect bites deadly. However, (oh, that word) because there are more insect bites than snake bites, more deaths occur from them. That wasn't too assuring, but at the moment all we could do was say as the little fella was driving his stinger into the thumb:
"Oh my goodness, don't do that little bee" . . . er something to that effect.
Didya know . . . that Sparelock uses a Nebraska City girl in its advertising? Wirth Machine Works has a patent pending on Sparelock, a device that holds a spare tire inside the bed of a pickup truck.
Bob Wirth has an attractive colored flyer circulated widely on his product and the good looker in the ad with the product is Cheryl Burkhart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Burkhart, Nebraska City.
Congratulations to Peggy Kreifels, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Kreifels, rural Nebraska City, for being selected as homecoming queen at Peru State.
We got to know Peggy pretty well when she and No. 1 daughter roomed together at Peru. We carried clothes and boxes of "junk" up and down the stairs many times at their dorm. I've often wondered how those girls survived on snacks — cold macaroni. Ugh.
We hope to attend the Chadron-Peru game October 19 (Parents Day). No. 1 son went to football camp at Chadron last summer and he thinks Coach Sparky Adams is super. Dad and son may be on the opposite sides of the field that day. Game time is 1:30 p.m. in the Oak Bowl.
The pilot who landed his two rotor Army helicopter in the Wirth Bros. cornfield last week because of instrument and radio troubles said thanks on several occasions to Company A at Nebraska City.
Capt. Harris Esluer radioed the sheriff's office to contact the National Guard unit and in a short time Lt. Col. Del Broers, Second Battalion commander, gave the okay and Sgt. Allen Barrett provided Company A transportation and sleeping gear for the pilot and crew. The 21 soldiers were trucked to Omaha.
The pilot said when his instruments gave out on him, he dropped down to find a good landing place. The pilot has logged many hours in helicopters, a number of them under fire in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, his approach to Nebraska City and landing at the northwest edge of town was no secret. Many residents saw the chopper and some said their homes vibrated as the chopper passed over their homes. Mrs. Eugene Wilhelm has an interesting story about the chopper flying over her home, but she threatened to put crab apples in my apple pancake batter if I print it.
Dear Moms and Dads:
Know what "y-u-u-c-k" means?
Well, the other day No. 2 daughter, Clarissa, was telling me about a special program she has to whip up taping interviews with students at Senior High.
And since all dads are alike, I thought it was only pure and kind that I should take the first step, break the ground so to speak. I ripped off her tape recorder.
The interviews were really fun, but Millie said I hammed it up so much that it got to be corny. (She made one of those smarty pants remarks that it's sure good that tape can be erased.)
Well, anyway I interviewed four or five individuals on and wrapped up the program like a disk jockey with background music and wobbled the volume occasionally.
Clarissa thought it was "pretty good."
"How'd you like that closing background music . . . Woody Herman and the Woodchoppers Ball?" I asked.
"Y-u-u-c-k!"