Today's presentation is being made to those who gave the okay to chop down the cherry .er .er walnut trees in Nebraska City.
The award is especially apropos at this time because in just 11 days it will be the birthday of J. Sterling Morton, the Nebraska City man who gave the world the idea of planting trees.
We yielded the opportunity to make the formal presentation of our annual Wormy Applewood Plaque. Joe Voges of the Otoe County Wildlife Society and his sergeant-at-arms, Ron Badberg, (they don't have wooden heels on their shoes), are in charge of the program for today's observance.
The Elvis Presley fan.
Remember, I told you about the Omaha secretary who is a fan of actor-singer Elvis Presley?
Well, I learned in a visit to the Omaha office the other day that she is still waiting for her tickets to his big show at Civic Auditorium. And so are a lot of other people.
Her boss is Ray Turnquist of Branham Newspaper Sales, the company that represents the News-Press with our national advertisers. Ray doesn't say much about his secretary's interest in the singer. In fact, he doesn't say anything . . . he's got a teen-ager at home and the youngster keeps him hopping.
We got into a discussion about the dress of teen-agers. Yup, we agreed, it's not always what the moms and dads believe is good dress.
Punishment for a teen-aged girl nowadays is making her wear a dress to school one day a week.
Punishment for a boy is a haircut.
Crazy world. Wonder who made it that way.
The county agent
Dick McClure, Fremont county, Ia., county extension agent, said maybe it was the mild winter or maybe farmers were just more active during the winter . . . he's not sure .but his office was swamped with farm-associated activity.
"And now, it's spring and it's really picking up," Dick said the other day when he stopped in at the News-Press.
Farmers are in the fields and that means county agents are consulted for a lot of advice on the latest farming methods.
Dick said Fremont county could use some more moisture, otherwise things look pretty good.
Percival got .30 of an inch last week from the shower that soaked Nebraska City, while not a drop fell in the Shenandoah area.
The license directory
The Rev. Gary Nienkamp, Ken Ledbetter and a number of other Lions are working everyday to compile the information for the publishing of the annual Lions club auto license directory.
Ken is a frequent visitor to the News-Press where he checks with our printer, Chuck Johnson, on the progress of the book which will have about 90 pages.
The Nebraska City Lions are to be commended for the fine work they put into the book. It's not an easy project and sometimes some of the membership may wonder if it's worth the trouble.
It's worth the chips, Lions members. Ask the people who have last year's copy. They want the new one.
From Fire Chief Bill Berger
After several practice fire drills, the chief and his staff were called to watch the elementary school pupils go through the drill again. With the ringing of the alarm, the 600 pupils evacuated the building in three minutes.
Everyone went back to the class proud and pleased.
An hour later the buzzer sounded again — recess.
The building was emptied in two minutes.
That spring storm that swept south-central Nebraska hit at the home of some relatives and put them back in the "good old days."
The family lives north of Hebron on a farm and like most farm families they enjoy the conveniences of the modern day farmers. That is, until the storm hit and knocked out the power.
The staggering amount of damage has slowed the repair work to the point where farmers have had to fend for themselves. We are told of farmers who brought in their own generating units to keep up enough power for home living.
Modern farm homes without power are just about shut down. The small generating units permit limited uses of water; otherwise the machines would be running the water pumps day and night. Deep freezes loaded with frozen foods are operated on "shifts" to keep the foods from spoiling.
Where there are fireplaces, there is warmth, but at night it's just like the good old days .lots of blankets. Our little nieces, Polly and Jana, probably are getting a bang out of many nights in sleeping bags but their parents aren't too happy about it.
"Company" is a no-no and large families have additional difficulties: the little generators are having a tough time keeping up with the water pumps to flush the toilets.
Tain't so funny to the people living that way for a week or so.
Good ole' Mom
You can help with a nice Mother's Day present by taking advantage of the upcoming Nebraska City retail sales event which will result in the selection of two "Million Dollar Mothers."
Neil Hayhurst and Chris Gress, co-chairmen of the Chamber's sale, said shoppers are invited to register at the participating stores for two and a half days prior to the May 8 drawing.
The two Million Dollar Moms will receive the interest that a million dollars earns in a two-hour period. And in the Nebraska City sale, that means $50 in scrip redeemable at stores.
Congratulations to Boyd Mayfield on his installation as the exalted ruler of the Nebraska City Elks lodge. Boyd has been active in the lodge for many years and holds the interest of the lodge and its fellowship.
The only Elk we know who doesn't "move up the chain" is my neighbor, Louie Genoa. He prefers to serve the lodge as tyler and his friends say that a meeting without a Louie is like no meeting at all.
Best wishes to Mrs. Ed (Lola) Hunter who retired last week from Nebraska Outerwear. George Scalise, Omaha, manager of the Nebraska City plant, presented her with a watch for her 25 years with the company.
Ed and Lola have been in the sewing factory business for many years. Ed retired several months ago. Ed and Lola worked side by side for many years. In fact, we never understood who was the "boss" at the factory downtown. He always claimed that Lola ran the place and all he did was repair machines and cut material. They are a fine couple. Their work is missed and their retirement is respected by all of us.
The war helmet
Up on the shelf in a closet in our home is a black helmet worn by a German soldier during WWII. It is emblazoned with a silver crest and the red swastika.
The helmet is a war memento given to me some time ago. The only time I wore it was when I had a passenger on my motorcycle and only one helmet. I gave the passenger the regular motorcycle helmet and wore the other on the eight-mile trip. That was a couple of summers ago.
Since the story the other day about Nazis in Nebraska and the poo-poo about an organization in Nebraska City, I think I'll just leave it right where it is. There's too many WWII vets in my neighborhood and for all I know there may be some M1's or carbines in the same area.
Stolen
An armored truck got caught in the middle of a funeral procession and the driver could do nothing but ride it out.
As the procession passed a tavern, one slightly tipsy man looked out and said.
"Well, whatya know, you can take it with you!"