The most pleasant thing we've seen in recent days are the slushy and sloppy streets.
Must be warning of coming spring fever . . . seems like droopy eyes and yawns are occurring more often around 3 or 4 o'clock as of late.
From what I hear the TV movie "It's Never Too Late", must have had a lot of viewers . . . Jack Brawner sez twin bed sales sure have been good.
Charles Chace who spoke at the Jaycee awards banquet the other night, tooted his horn for tourism in Nebraska and urged his listeners to be salesmen.
He told a number of stories and read several letters from prospective visitors. Among the stories was the one about the service station attendant who did everything but speak highly of his community when questioned by a visitor.
The service station owner asked the attendant why he didn't help "sell" the town to the tourist.
To which the man replied: "Heck, I didn't know he was a tourist."
Sheriff Bill Miller has been given the "okay" sign from District Judge Walter Smith following a major clean-up, fix-up and paint-up job at the Otoe county jail.
J a i l s aren't necessarily as comfortable nor as pleasant as your home, but they must maintain a standard of sanitation and comfort of sort to the prisoners.
In this respect, the job done by Ed Haselwood is a compliment to the maintenance of the Otoe county courthouse, the oldest public building in the state.
Despite rules and security, prisoners the country over wallpaper jail cells with drawings and scribblings of all kinds.
I've often wondered if a judge would convict one of those artist-prisoners for "defacing public property."
County Clerk Jerry Schmitz, on a recent tour of the jail with the sheriff and his deputy, Tom Durant, pointed out the metal cover over a furnace thermostat. The metal cover shields the side of the thermostat in view of prisoners . . . because if it isn't shielded, the prisoners will break it and "that's $30 of county money."
Sheriff Miller would like to see Otoe county do something in the way of family quarters for the county sheriff on the courthouse grounds.
I recall former Sheriff Ralph Hall talking about that several times.
Sheriff Miller thinks an addition could be put onto the courthouse and he could be his own night radio operator and save the county some money.
Know what the word "grass" means? That's marijuana. And if officers believe what they are told by the pot smokers, this part of the state will be in for the biggest rush on marijuana we've ever heard of c o m e summertime.
One officer who interviewed a man convicted of possession of marijuana was told that while he was caught harvesting the $200 a pound stuff, he estimated another 50 to 60 people picked the fields and scooted out of the country.
The convicted man is from California.
He said he came to Nebraska because of open "advertisements" on school campuses on the west coast about the bountiful supply of marijuana in eastern Nebraska.
Nebraska has a noxious weed law. If you have a weed on your property that is in the noxious class (the common thistle, for example), the county or state can remove or destroy it and make you pay the bill.
But marijuana is not on the noxious list.
And there are those who believe that some day it will be as legal to smoke marijuana as it is to enjoy a glass of beer.
And speaking of the spirits, the residents of Burr will be voting in a couple weeks on whether to have liquor by the drink. Indications are the voter turnout will be heavy. Otoe countians will be watching the vote there with interest. A couple years ago, voters at Douglas turned down a similar proposal.