Columns

Winter sports, as hard as it is to believe, is coming to crunch time for teams across the state of Nebraska, and certainly for our three schools in Clay County. Wrestling districts are this weekend, while girls sub-district tournaments begin next Monday and Tuesday.

But this week, before I continue on with the “end is near” talk about the winter sports season, I have to pinpoint an amazing feat by the Sandy Creek boys basketball team, as the Cougars captured their first Southern Nebraska Conference basketball tournament title since 2002 with a 33-28 win over Centennial, on the Broncos home court, nonetheless!

As the chair of the Education Committee in the Nebraska Legislature, I’ve always been a major believer in public schools. I believe firmly that every K-12 aged child in our state deserves access to a well-funded, competitive, safe education.

I also believe that every family has unique needs and values in which a one-size-fitsall approach may not always be best. Because of this, I also support increasing school choice in the State of Nebraska.

Before last year’s historic legislative session, Nebraska was one of only two states that did not have any form of a school choice program. As a state, the majority of the Legislature knew we could do better and become more competitive.

The idea that 48 other states were ahead of us in the race was simply unacceptable. So last year Nebraska finally took a step in the right direction and passed LB 753, the Opportunity Scholarships Act.

Full Disclosure: My wife and I drive a four-year-old hybrid sedan. It runs on the electric motor up to 15 miles -per- hour before the gasoline engine engages. It feels and sounds like it’s dead at stop signs. It averages 44 miles-per-gallon in highway driving. But it’s a hybrid, not an all- electric vehicle.

U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts has vowed to use every tool he has to fight President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle mandates. Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has signed a letter to Biden as one of 16 Governors also opposed to the mandate that two out of every three vehicles be battery electrics by 2032.

Ricketts and Pillen and the other 15 governors are all Republicans, but I don’t consider politics as the driving factor here. It’s something as laudable as saying consumers and the marketplace should guide growth for electric vehicles. It’s something as practical as Nebraska’s recent cold snap and the lack of recharging infrastructure.

Planning has to start somewhere, and in the case of the future of the Sutton Community Home, and more specifically, the nursing home at the Sutton Community Home, that time is now, not just for Sutton, but for Clay County as a whole.

Financial support is the biggest key to any community improvement project, in any community, whether or not it’s in Nebraska, or any other state in the United States, if the support isn’t there, things just don’t move forward, as moving forward is next to impossible.

As the acting president of the Sutton Community Home Foundation, which I have been involved since it was launched 10 years ago, in 2014, the one goal from the very inception of developing the foundation was to improve, and enhance the lives of residents that live in the home.

Emotions can be a positive in life, depending upon how you react to the emotions. This week, as I pen the Bull, I think back to the fact that the older I get, the more emotions I show, maybe even the more opinionated I get, but the fact of the matter is, as I get older, day by day, and year by year, I’m 40 years removed from high school. I’m a so called “seasoned” newspaper fella, whether that is good or bad thing, I don’t know, as that’s not my prerogative, that is on you, as the readers of the Clay County News. Either you like it, or you don’t. In this world, “it is what it is.”

I reflect back to a conversation I remember having with my father, who is one of two people that I truly believe was, and are the drivers of who I am.

I’ve written a great deal about my dad, some called him Doug, the Duncan clan called him “Butch” (to this day I am not sure why they called him Butch, but they did), and the other person is my sister Tonya.

On numerous occasions, I have overheard the crowds of the opposing team comment on the number of small children in the Sutton stands. Sutton is growing, that is a fact. In addition, when newcomers visit our community, they are pleasantly surprised by the number of businesses in this town and how long many of them have been open.

Sutton is prosperous, that is a fact. What I find so fascinating is the fact that many of these successful businesses are owned by those parents with all those kids, many of whom are involved in about every activity that you can think of, and you see those same parents/ business owners attending all those events.

You can really tell this town supports its schools, daycares, businesses, police, after school activities, and churches. It is evident this community supports BOTH family and business growth. That is something to be proud of, that is a fact.

They’re back. The 108th Legislature, Second Session, convenes today.

One can expect proposed bills and discussion of some hot button issues as well as what could be a protracted debate on rules. It’s likely that state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon will have something to say about guns in schools.

The Education or Revenue committees will likely address school financing and the Executive Council will seek discussion about putting legislative committee clerks in a pool to provide uniform training while avoiding partisanship. The council will also offer something to deal with legislative oversight of corrections and social services.

Who should be allowed to carry a gun on school property, beyond on-duty law enforcement officers?

Participants in high school sports and performing arts are under tremendous pressure these days – from parents, teachers, coaches and peers. Their days are consumed with school, sports and activities. They are trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be – all while having to compare themselves to everyone else on social media. It’s easy to see why high school students have a lot on their plates … and their minds.

It is time for all of us to turn our attention to these students, including the activity participants at schools in Nebraska. Empathy is so important. No matter who you are—a parent, teacher, coach, athletic administrator, performing arts director, or anyone else who interacts with teens—we can all play a part in looking out for them.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord”, Luke 2:11.

Across the state of Nebraska, the colors of the Christmas lights are gleaming across the roads. On our radios, carols of reindeer and snowmen play spreading the joy of Christmas.

In our homes, the trees are being set up adorned with ornaments and twinkling lights filled with the scent of cookies coming out of the oven.

Our Children are anxious to look under the trees to see presents wrapped in bright colors and ribbons. The gifts of the Christmas season do much to spread joy into the hearts of old and young alike.

But all of these gifts, no matter how fun or special, compare to the greatest gift of all- our Savior Jesus Christ.

Our world is certainly full of sin and brokenness but the true meaning of Christmas gives us a reason to celebrate.

The Gospel of John tells us that God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save it.

With Christmas nearly here, this week I decided to share an article from our Extension Horticulturalist, Nicole Stoner on poinsettias.

A common holiday gift is the Poinsettia. If you receive one for Christmas this year, do you know how to care for it? Poinsettias are a staple for the Christmas season, but they don’t have to be a shortlived gift that is thrown away at the beginning of the year.

Typically, poinsettias are most commonly found in red, but the color range is constantly expanding.

They can now be found in white, pink, green, peach, yellow, or marbled or speckled colors. On an old-fashioned poinsettia, the red colored portion of the poinsettia is not the flower of the plant.

The colored, leaf-like structures are called bracts, which are just modified leaves. The true flower of a poinsettia is the yellow center of the colored bracts.