Opinions

Viewing the documentary “William Allen White: What’s Wrong With Kansas” at the EJSHSchool on Sunday, Aug. 14, as the opener for Cowtown Days week and in celebration of the Independent-Reporter’s 150th, awoke in our hearts a renewed appreciation of community journalism and quality local newspapers.

You might notice that we’ve shared a plethora of stories about the history of the Independent-Reporter and its predecessors in this issue of the newspaper. Some might argue we’ve gone over the top in self-congratulations.But how often does a business turn 150?

As I was outside with my kids waiting for them to catch their big yellow bus to begin another school year, I was reminded of how all of the back-to-school excitement is similar to the anticipation of fall on the farm.

Richard J. Hinton crossed into the “promised land” of Kansas on Aug. 7, 1856. He was part of Jim Lane’s “Army of the North,” organized to bring arms, ammunition, and citizen soldiers to fight for the cause of freedom on the soon to be blood-soaked soil of Kansas Territory.

“Price is what you pay, value is what you get,” Warren Buffet is fond of saying. That line was running through my head recently as my wife and I were preparing to have some flooring replaced in our kitchen and living room.

Cholera struck with a vengeance the summer of 1867 along the line of the Kansas frontier. At the end-of-track boom town of Ellsworth, panicked townspeople raced to get away, reducing the population from nearly 1,000 to only 40 citizens by the middle of July.

A proposed amendment with the potential to affect the citizens of Kansas for generations will be on the Aug. 2 ballot. Yes, the Value Them Both amendment is that important. For years those who opposed access to what many consider to be a woman’s health issue have chipped away at abortion rights.

From the moment of his arrival in Kansas Territory from his former Iowa home, Owen Abbot Basset’s course was directed in support of the free-state cause.He was a witness to the 1856 Sack of Lawrence, Kan., by proslavery militia, an experience that led him to take up arms in the defense of freedom.

It’s easy to forget today that agriculture is the foundation of civilization. It’s the process that ended our ceaseless following of food and allowed us to settle into cities. What followed, over the past several millennia is the world we inhabit today.

Owen Bassett’s everpresent cheerful nature and genial spirit could win over even the most adamant antagonist. He was an early resident in the novel Kansas Territory experiment known as popular sovereignty.Born July 16, 1834, to Samuel and Jane (Bradford) Bassett at Troy, N. Y.