Opinion

GUEST COLUMN, Greg Doering, Kansas Farm Bureau

I still have my very first pocketknife, a Henckels three-bladed stockman with a red bone handle. It’s safely stowed in a drawer now because its everyday utility was long ago surpassed by its sentimental value.

It was a gift from my father, as should be the case for every child’s first pocketknife. But it was so long ago I can’t remember if it was a birthday or Christmas present. I do know I was still young enough that opening the blades was somewhat difficult.

SAINTS PERSPECTIVE, SCCC President Brad Bennett

We are less than a week away from Christmas, and it is not just the kids who are ready for the holiday. Growing up, my mother liked to say, “If you don’t believe, you don’t receive.” It still rings true for me in more ways than one.

Here on the campus of Seward County Community College, we are in the middle of an academic year that bears out the wisdom in what my mom liked to say. Starting nearly three years ago, when we created our Strategic Plan, we believed that increasing enrollment was critically important for a secure future for the college and for the community we serve. More important, we believed it was possible to achieve our goal of growing enrollment by five percent year over year.

GUEST COLUMN, J. Basil Dannebohm

On Sept. 20, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In his address he said, “Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” Two months later the President’s life would be cut short by an assassin’s bullet; his vision of peace would become a hallmark of his legacy.

Six decades later, our world continues to struggle with the notion of peace.

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

I’m a fan of Oatmeal cream pies, you know, those Little Debbie discs of deliciousness holding in a sweet cream like two soft cookies around icing.

Maybe I walk those off after eating them, maybe I don’t.

What enjoyment do they bring to me? It’s not something anyone could understand.

It’s similar to the Cadbury Easter Egg or almost anything I’ve eaten while inside a Disney park.