The date on this paper ….
The date on this paper is June 24. Meaning it is the last one for June and the first for summer, which arrived last Saturday. It also means we have reached the end of the line for daylight growing longer and now begins the journey to the shortest day of the year.
Flower beds are producing a wide variety of blooms and it is easy to be picking a new kind every time I make a trip to the cemetery. I have also noticed a number of greenhouses with their mum plants set out and before you know it, they’ll be blooming.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
A week ago Sunday I attended an early Father’s Day event at Sue and Mark’s in Holmen/New Amsterdam. So as soon as Pastor Dan was finished with his message on Internet, I was on the way. What a delightful trip down 95 to Blair and then down 53. Everything is so green and healthy, but it does appear the sand mines are all idle. Kind of reminds one of too many people getting in the same business at the same time. Coming home over the hills through Black River Falls and Highway 54 I got another view of the scenery so close by.
Not only was it an early Father’s Day, Sue’s son John and his friend Breanna Emerson were up for the weekend. I do think I heard them mention some special event coming about next summer. I sure want to be here for that.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
One of my habits, whenever I sit down, is to pick up a newspaper, if one happens to be handy. Such was the case on Sunday and the first thing to catch my attention was an article by Chris Hardie. I had just written about him a couple of weeks ago when I had gotten a clipping from another newspaper in which he had written an article about hoarding.
This was all together a different topic, and as I had explained, he is not only a former newspaper reporter, editor and publisher, but is co-owner with his wife at Brambleberry Inn, which I described as somewhere between Black River Falls and Ettrick. Their address is Taylor, which kind of explains where they are way out in the country.
His story this time was in the Onalaska/Holmen Courier which is owned by the LaCrosse Tribune and since he was publisher there that probably explains why he was writing.
His story told of not feeling well, but just thinking he may have overworked the day before. Seems things went from bad to worse and he broke out in a sweat and had chills. He finally sought out medical care and they first thought about COVID-19, but tests came back that he was suffering from Lyme disease.
He is on the mend, but explained that there is no known drug to help. There was one, but it was pulled from the market in 2002. He does have one word of advise though – don’t get it.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
Then in another part of the paper I found a joint statement issued by the Mayor of Onalaska and the Chief of Police. They were commenting on the horrible stories coming out of some communities where horrible actions by the police had resulted in the death of several people.
They wanted to assure the community their police department would never treat a human being in such a manner that has been taped and discussed at length.
Signing the article was Mayor Kim Smith and Chief of Police Charles Ashbeck. I knew Ashbeck had been chief in nearby West Salem, but wasn’t aware he had moved a little closer to the river. Quite a step up from the Loyal Gamble/ Hardware Hank Store in Loyal.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
It seems one story about police brutality seems to follow another. One of the latest, the shooting of a man in Atlanta, just kind of turned my stomach the more times I saw it on television.
When the police were called the man appeared to be passed out or sleeping in his car. The officer woke him and tested him for alcohol. Then instead of trying to get him away and out of harm, he just kept at him, making him walk a line and other police procedures.
Finally they tried to handcuff him and he rebelled. In the process he grabbed the stun gun from one officer and began to run off. Both officers followed him and he was shot in the back, dying at the scene.
It brought back memories of how a police officer handled things a bit differently. We had a police chief by the name of Vic Emigh in Turtle Lake when I first lived there. In fact, he was the police department, the street department, water and sewer departments. When it snowed, he ran the snow plow.
There were several stories about him finding someone from town, more than likely with too much to drink and not able to make it home on their own. Vic would take them home, put them to bed and continue on his merry way.
Those were the days of common sense, now we seem to be run by rules and if you break a rule there will be trouble ahead.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
The president seems to get into trouble and it is almost like he enjoys it. His big rally is still coming up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has been told not to do it because of the virus. He is going ahead with it, but will make everyone sign a statement that they won’t hold him responsible. I wonder how that will stand up in court?
Then he was upset for the Supreme Court because they didn’t return a decision he wanted them to make.
I guess you could say he had others who maybe thought some way like he did. A few nights ago all three contestants on Jeopardy missed a question they should have known.
They were asked what someone on the Supreme Court is called. They didn’t known the term was – non-partisan.
