Columns

Lawmakers are going home to await the call to come back to Lincoln to tackle that once-a-decade task of redistricting. It’s high political drama for deeply partisan senators in a non-partisan Unicameral.

A special redistricting committee of five Republicans and four Democrats has already had a public hearing and indicated what lies ahead when the group has official U.S. Census figures for Nebraska in hand.

During an executive session, the committee removed a guideline it had accepted earlier to attempt to preserve the core of current legislative districts in reaching its redistricting decisions. They wanted those districts to look and feel like they always have, especially the balance of voters from each party.

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Saturday I attended the Clay Center American Legion Riders’ event on Human Trafficking Awareness.

They invited investigator Tony Kavan with the Nebraska State Patrol, and he gave an excellent presentation on the difficult topic.

In the past we’ve done our share of articles about human trafficking, especially in times when I-80 was deemed a hot spot for this heinous act.

But in no way are we experts on the subject, so attending events such as this is always eye-opening, and sometimes hard to listen to.

The statistics and facts Kavan presented were somehow shocking and unsurprising in the same step. Although many seem to turn a blind eye to the subject, we know it’s out there happening to many people, and yet when we see statistics on just how many people this is effecting, it’s heartbreaking.

State track this year, as I mentioned in the Bull last week, was loaded with some pretty great talent within all of our schools. We had a two-state championship performance by Sutton sophomore Nathan Baldwin; I witnessed a state runner-up pole vault performance by Harvard’s Ben Okraska; a third place pole vault performance by Harvard’s Ashley Nierman and so many other fantastic performances by our county athletes that to sum up what took place inside Burke Stadium in Omaha.

Even outside of the confines of the grand stage of high school track, it boils down to this for me...WOW, to keep up with 31 entries, it was my pleasure to serve and I’m thankful to some amazing assists from other newspaper folk that want to always bring to our papers the best, whether a medal is earned or not.

The Baldwin kid...that will come a bit later in this column. It was beyond amazing, but then again, I’m also an “old thrower,” so the discus and shot put are near and dear to this guy.

If this were a horse race, Nebraska lawmakers would be heading into the final stretch looking to muster more unadulterated energy than disqualified 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit.

As it turns out, this promises to be more of a steeplechase in which competitors are required to jump diverse fences and ditch obstacles.

Sure, the 2021 Legislature completed its constitutionally required passage of a $9.7 billion two-year budget without a single gubernatorial veto. But gaining veto-proof support of several big issues will pose a problem and passing other measures with a hefty price tag will be a temptation to be resisted.

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Reading that lead-in headline can read negatively, IF that is the way you want to read it that way, but honestly, it’s meant to lead-in to a couple of positive thoughts I had in late April, After missing the boat on National. Volunteer Week a week ago, I was reminded by something from a newspaper colleague of mine, Gerri Peterson, publisher of the Mullen/Hooker County Tribune.

Peterson began her own personal column quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”

While I can’t own up to the fact that this opinion topic is my own, I’ll definitely give Peterson the props for these thoughts.

Last weekend was busy, wonderful and emotional all in one. Crazy how graduations and Mother’s Day does that to a person.

In one of the speeches from a Salutatorian/ Valedictorian, I heard the statement, “enjoy the little things,” which is one of my live-by sayings.

It’s easy to focus on the big things happening around you, such as your kid graduating or seeing family, or celebrating your mom.

The advantage I get as a photographer is seeing those little side moments that are just as important and memorable as the bigger moments.

My first graduation Saturday was Harvard’s, and during theirs, senior choir students come off the stage and sing a beautiful song for the crowd. Without fail every year, they do a wonderful job.

Pretty much everything I’m going to talk about in this week’s column is most likely something all of our seniors have heard already, but anyway...

First off, congratulations on making it to graduation day. I’m sure there were moments where senioritis was in full-power mode, and there was probably a ton of homework throughout the year, but you made it.

From laying out this year’s graduation section I noticed you all have big goals set for your future, and I wish you the best of luck in achieving all of those and any others that come up.

Here’s some of my usual tips for graduating classes that, again, I’m sure you might have heard before, but it never hurts to hear— or in this case read—one more time.

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Sometimes for me, all it takes is a word, a visual or a comment to help me pen the Bull for a week, but at times, while I’m glad I’m not working in the daily newspaper field, I could almost write a Bull column every day.

This week, as you will read, either before the Bull, or after you read my weekly musings, my inspiration comes from two people that I had the privilege of interviewing last Wednesday afternoon (4-28).

Two totally different personalities, but each had the same common thread of feelings. As I write this at 7:30 Sunday night, I find that inspiring, to be honest. Deanna Peshek, who is retiring

Deanna Peshek, who is retiring from her “family job” as the office manager of the Clay County Extension office, and Nathan Ladehoff, a senior at Sutton High School. You may ask, how can one compare

It was 2016 when I was walking down the south hall of the Sutton Community Home.

On that particular day I was interviewing Walt Becker, the then 96-year-old whom I had met many times before but really never got a chance to sit down and talk with.

What I did know about Walt was that he was as active as he could possibly be. Always participating in activities the home put on for residents, and going out and about with family, especially attending the Veterans Day program at Sutton Public School or really anything the Legion was hosting.

On distribution days it became a regular habit to see him waiting at the door, ready to open it when the newspapers were delivered, or making sure the door stayed open when other deliveries were being made.

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Life can be full of ups, downs and sideway turns, but along the path of my own life, I’ve been beyond blessed to have come in touch with many people. After all, this business path that I chose kind of lends itself to getting out there and finding things out and learning about the different characters and personalities that we all run into each and everyday.

Unfortunately, those that have touched us in a clear and positive way we tend to reflect on the aspect of what stood out with them as they molded ourselves as a person after they’ve passed away.

Thus is the case this week, after hearing about the passing of a Sutton original, Walt Becker.

When one of our staff members informed me late Monday morning that Walt had passed away this past Sunday, it was like getting punched square in the stomach, I mean, literally, that is what it feels like as I pen the Bull this week.