Commentary

By Alan S. Blinder
Special to the I-R

It has been a tough several decades for American labor, and now the Trump administration, Congress and the Supreme Court are all piling on. The latest blow was the high court’s 5-4 decision last month in Epic Systems v. Lewis.

The justices held that employers may use mandatory arbitration clauses to prevent workers from banding together to pursue their legal rights in a class-action suit against the company. The message was clear: Workers of the United States, don’t try to unite. You’re on your own.

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By "The Cowboy" Jim Gray
THE WAY WEST

Pedro Vial wandered the plains long before well-known famous explorers made their reputations from the endless sea of grass. Vial was born in Lyons, France, in the approximate year of 1747. Little is known of his earliest years in North America. By the 1770s he had traversed the Missouri River, trapping and interacting with the native tribes that lived there.

His reputation reached all the way to Texas where in 1786 he was commissioned by Texas Gov. Domingo Cebello to blaze a trail from San Antonio to Santa Fe, N.M.

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Lisa Miller Kijowski
Bits and Pieces

Who could ever believe that school age children would have to deal with fear of attending school?

Not so long ago, the only things to be weary of were the wrath of the strictest teacher piling on homework or — even worse — the threat of “wait until your father comes home” after breaking a school rule. Times change and for some reason, one change now is fear of your fellow student shooting you.

Students have staged “walk outs”, marched in Washington D.C. and had speeches televised. They have sparked a “never again” campaign.

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By "The Cowboy" Jim Gray
THE WAY WEST

Joseph Lehman (pronounced “Lemon”) was only 12 years old when he set out from New York state for Kansas Territory in the mid- 1850s.

Lehman was big for his age and had “shifted for himself ” at an early age. On the way to Kansas, Lehman fell in with Daniel Hussey Page, a studious young man from Rochester, N.H.

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John Schlageck
Insight

Reflection is a good thing. It allows you to see where you’ve been and hopefully chart a better course on where you’re going. While on vacation recently I had a chance to think about the small community where I grew up.

Located in northwestern Kansas, Seguin was a small farm/ranch community of approximately 50 hearty souls. Located in Sheridan County, three miles south of Highway 24, the Union Pacific railroad used to run through our small town.

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By John Schlageck
Insight

Grandma and Grandpa Becker were people of action rather than words. Not that they didn’t have much to say.

They just chose their words well and needed only a few to convey much. As their oldest grandson, I visited them during the summer when I was growing up in the late ‘50s. I always talked Grandma into letting me sleep in the screened-in porch on the east side of their home.

Shaded by tall elm trees, this was the coolest place to slumber on those warm summer nights before air conditioning. More importantly, the porch was right next to my grandparent’s room where I felt safe and slept like a log each night

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By Jill Richardson
special to the I-R

After every mass shooting, we repeat all of the same things. Some call for gun control. Those against gun control say this isn’t the time to talk about it. The Onion reprints its story titled, “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” and updates the dateline to reflect the location of the new mass shooting. When the shooter is white, we talk about mental illness. If they’re not, we talk about terrorism. Then, Congress does nothing. But, so long as we’re discussing mental illness, I’d like to weigh in.