AFL penultimate round

It’s the next to last round and every game has finals implications. Tonight’s game between barely alive Richmond and wooden spoon contender North Melbourne might be a stretch, but two of Tiger’s greats are retiring after the game. This should fill the MCG at least.

The Cats are in a must win to stay alive game with St. Kilda, while the Saints can nail down a finals berth with a win. By Sunday morning the finals picture should be a whole lot clearer.

Odd jobs, fair edition

At the end of the Coffeyville Fair and Rodeo one year the PA system had an announcement looking for some help to tar down the rides. Since I had never done it before I thought,why not? When the fair closed we gathered at the office where we were divided into crews to tear down one ride each. They wanted the rides to be torn down and loaded in 2-3 hours so the larger crews tore down the ferris wheel and larger rides.

I was on a three man crew tearing down a simple slide. The light fixtures had to come off first and proved to be the most difficult part of the job. The lights were designed to not be moved or broken and worked as advertised. After that, taking the plastic panels proved much easier. The remaining metal supports came down and we waited a few minutes for the truck to load some other rides since ours had to go in last.

After three hours we went to the office to get paid. They had never mentioned how much we were going to get paid and most of us just wanted to tear down a carnival ride. A few were disappointed to get our whopping twenty-four dollars for three hours of work. I was happy to get most of the money I spent that evening. It was something I was glad to do once, but would not do again.

Storm troopers raid newspaper

In Marion, Kansas the entire police department raided a weekly newspaper office and the publisher’s home. Since five cops were not enough, a couple of Marion County deputies went along. Almost everything the paper needed to publish next week was seized, including cell phones, computers and hard drives. The publisher said he would get something out next week.

By most accounts, the paper had received information that a local business woman had a DUI conviction which may have eliminated her chance of getting a liquor license for her catering business. The publisher did not use the information but chose to notify police about the allegations.

This same businesswoman had the reporters banned from a public meeting with Congressman Jake LaTurner a few days earlier. (Full disclosure, LaTurner is my congresscritter.). I almost feel sorry for his staff members who have to field phone calls wondering why he was there with this person.

In case you thought we weren’t in a drought

Our local area is still in a severe or extreme drought. For those who don’t read droughtmonitor.unl.edu or drive by any local streams, every water supplier in the area has declared a drought watch or emergency. The major difference is between you should use less water and you shall not wash your car or water your garden. There is enough rain to keep plants alive so extra watering is not needed. Unfortunately we are not getting the extra rain needed to fill reservoirs.