GUEST COLUMN, Greg Doering, Kansas Farm Bureau

The old proverb “society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit," recognizes the small contributions of past generations in forming the outline of the world we live in today and that shapes all of us.

Four individuals — Jennifer Mathes, Mona Owens, Pam Dougan and Ron Betzen — received recognition for their roles in creating a lot of shade over the past three decades by helping to create a five-county Earth Day program in Parsons.

When the local community Earth Day event was discontinued, the Young Farmers and Ranchers of Labette County, led by Mathes, decided to keep the event going with a focus on agriculture and conservation. Her original purpose was to promote agriculture, educate children that today’s agriculture is environmentally friendly and to educate teachers and provide them with curriculum ideas to use throughout the year.

THE POSTSCRIPT, Carrie Classon

“Carrie!” my husband, Peter, called from the bathroom.

We are still in Mexico, and Peter’s abscessed tooth had been extracted earlier that day. The extraction had been difficult. Peter was sore and tired, and he had not eaten since the night before. All this factored into what happened next.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m feeling a little faint. …”

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

After years of trying to be known as the “crossroads of commerce,” the City of Liberal adopted a much better slogan in 2024, “From generosity to prosperity.”

That slogan is based on scripture and how it applied to Seymour Rogers, Liberal’s founder, who hand-dug a water well and then gave the water away free to travelers. His generosity earned him the title of being a “liberal” fella, and the fledgling community that sprouted up adopted the name Liberal.

The town continued to prosper and grow, reflecting Proverbs 11:25 which states,  “A liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”

From those humble beginnings Liberal thrived and grew into the town we know today with major chain stores and restaurants, a major beef processing plant, community college and so much more.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Todd Stanton, Seward County

Some say we have only one local political party but I observe three. We have Democrats that are perhaps increasing with migration, we have Republicans (a party being redefined nationally) and then we have the Republican-In-Name-Only folks, RINOs.

It’s this last group that seem to be the source of much local strife and the issue has gained the renewed attention of the county GOP under its current leadership.

Those who aren’t what they appear or perhaps do not represent the fundamentals of their party, whether Democrat or Republican, need scrutiny. Local Democrats grapple with some whose actions or words are aligned with the extreme left — something I do not associate with the majority of our local Democrats.