L&T Publisher Earl Watt

People succeed in Seward County all the time.

There are a handful of people I expect to agree with that assessment at any given time.

I believe in Seward County and the City of Liberal. I have dedicated my life and career to the community, and it’s an uphill battle to try to make our slice of the world better for those who choose to call this place home.

Some people have a dim view of our part of the world, and there are some who simply embrace the pessimistic “It will never work” mentality.

THE POSTSCRIPT, Carrie Classon

Last week, we went out to celebrate with my oldest and most curmudgeonly friend, Andrew.

Andrew is a tax preparer, so even if I hadn’t been in Mexico for the last three months, I still would not have seen much of him. He makes a good living by working insanely hard during the tax season and then teaching and taking a few classes the rest of the year. Andrew is very worn out by April 15th, so after he had recovered, my husband, Peter, and I took Andrew out to eat at a favorite Italian restaurant.

We had a lot to celebrate. Andrew had made it through another tax season. I had just signed the contract for “The Turnip House,” and “Loon Point” was doing well. Peter gave me a small stuffed loon that calls when you press its belly.

GUEST COLUMN, Todd Stanton, Seward County Commissioner

The Seward County Administrator offered to tender her resignation during an oddly unrecorded work session of the Seward County Commission April 23. What would be the result of such a resignation? What would that do? And, what could it lead toward?

Properly selected and qualified new administrative leadership could bring long-lacking stability through the ability to identify priorities and implement intelligent strategic direction.

It should be possible to add a much needed properly qualified financial officer to Seward County administration.

GUEST COLUMN, Jonathan Agin, Executive Director Prep4Gold

The childhood cancer that took my daughter’s life has a near-100% fatality rate — about half of children with the tumor die within 9 months of diagnosis, and less than 1% live past the age of five. There are numerous other forms of childhood cancer that are similarly difficult to treat. Unfortunately, the federally funded National Cancer Institute recently eliminated the entire Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, which was about to host an experimental vaccine trial that could have been a breakthrough in the fight against those sorts of tumors.

This is not the only bad news that children with cancer recently received. The Department of Health and Human Services announced major research funding cuts in August, terminating nearly $500 million in mRNA vaccine development contracts as part of a "necessary pivot" away from mRNA technology.

That pivot is a grievous mistake — mRNA technology is one of the most promising paths forward for treating cancer and a slew of other diseases.