Opinions

We recently wrapped up our wheat harvest. Although our crew experienced a short harvest in comparison to previous years, we are still very thankful for the crop and for the safety of our workers.

If you saw someone doing cartwheels this past week on Douglas Avenue, we’re guessing it was a Democrat celebrating the news that former attorney general Kris Kobach has tossed his hat into the ring for Pat Roberts’ Senate seat.

The Way West As if settlers in Lincoln County, Kan., had not endured enough from Cheyenne raids across north-central Kansas in 1868, terror returned to the Saline River valley on May 30, 1869.

The Fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday. My hometown of Pittsville, Wisc., has a population of 800 that easily quadruples for the festivities. We have a quintessential celebration with a parade, fireworks and numerous unique traditions.

For $3.5 trillion a year, shouldn’t we Americans have a world-class health care system? Yet while we spend the most of any advanced nation in the world to get care — more than $10,000 a year per person — we get the worst results.

The photographs on the front page of this week’s Independent-Reporter are filled with symbolism. Over the years, one of our most consistent editorial themes has been the responsibility older residents in a community have toward younger generations.

The Way West The spring of 1874 was an uneasy season for settlers on the southern Kansas frontier. The Comanches attacked Kansas buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls in late June.

I am here, in the house, writing this column because we had another round of rain, and I cannot be out mowing hay. I said last summer I was not going to complain about rain, but here we are a year later, and it is hard not to.

Support the local cancer fund In the past fiscal year, the Ellsworth County Cancer Fund has distributed $20,234.79 from the Smoky Hills Charitable Foundation and $7,522.30 from other local sources. That money has gone to cancer patients for hotels, food, to pay their electric bills ...

Linda Mowery-Denning Editor/Publisher Residents of the Canren Addition, in the south part of Ellsworth, are upset because a developer plans to build a dozen single family homes in the area.