Opinion

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

To anyone paying attention, there is no question that significant progress has been made in the City of Liberal, and credit must be given to the current Liberal City Commission and to previous City Manger Rusty Varnado.

There has been significant movement in terms of economic development, other public improvements have taken shape, and the interaction between the community and city government is at an all-time high in recent memory.

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

For a few weeks, we've been looking at the Messiah, and the role Judaism played in preparation for His coming. Jews made contact with Babylonians and others over centuries, as multitudes of people from Israel were taken captive and dispersed from their homeland. Later, Jews were exposed to Hellenistic [meaning the language and manner of the Greeks] tendencies. Despite the strength of Jewish religious and social background, it was impossible to escape the impact of Greek culture and thought. People across the known world, especially the more educated, spoke Greek, and even Romans who were in control were taken with Greek style.

GUEST COLUMN, David Dorsey, Kansas Policy Institute

How does the Kansas State Board of Education and Education Commissioner Randy Watson avoid having their feet held to the fire with constantly unacceptably low student achievement? One way that has been very effective for them is to deflect the blame. And what serves as their protective armor? Is it not enough money? Given the showering of cash provided by the last two lawsuits, Montoy and Gannon, that horse is out of the barn. No, it’s the one they can always count on: poverty.

GUEST COLUMN, Greg Doering, Kansas Farm Bureau

Outside of holidays, the most important date on the calendar when I was growing up was always the second Saturday of November or the traditional opening of pheasant and quail seasons. While I did plenty of quail hunting in east Kansas, we always headed west for the opening day to chase ring-necked pheasants.

While life has interrupted my participation for the last several opening weekends, including this year’s, the memories of past hunts are always on my mind when the time rolls around. Provided we were heading to the far western frontier, pheasant hunting remains the only reason I was ever permitted to leave school early without suffering a dire illness.