A history of trees
Your help is needed. Vern Livingston has taken on the duty of attempting to identify tree planting programs and he needs a whole lot of help.
Do you know of trees that were planted and the particulars of the dedication?
The only major project we could recall were the 93 trees planted along Centennial highway and U.S. 75. Paul J. "Dick" Niemann worked on that in 1967.
Mr. Livingston also worked on that project. If you can help him, please call or drop him a note.
Ole' dead eye
Otto Berthold has been hunting ducks along the Missouri River for many years and he's had some good shots. One day he took along Leonard Navrkal to witness his skill with the old 12 gauge pump.
"Watch this," he whispered as a lone duck flew by. He took careful aim and WHAM-O! The duck kept right on going.
"My friend," said Otto, "you are witnessing a miracle. There flies a dead duck."
The fashion show.
Jerry and Gen Livingston were pretty proud that their store was invited to be part of the Bicentennial fashion show at the finale of the State Fair.
The compliment extends to the shopping community. Somebody in Lincoln likes a store in Nebraska City and that is satisfaction and worth the chips any time for the entire community. Every retailer knows, there's nothing better than a satisfied customer. He returns again and he becomes like a member of the sales staff.
The best news
. . . we've read was in the News-Press story of the city council meeting on plans to change the ancient traffic signals on Central Avenue.
The National Guard.
The Nebraska National Guard recognized a number of people at a banquet Saturday night of the Guard Association at Lincoln. The Association was formed several years ago to honor retired guardsmen and other individuals. We have a fine plaque displayed appropriately in our home from the Association.
This year the speaker was Lt. Col. Floyd Thompson, a former POW in Vietnam. He was a POW for nearly nine years. That alone would be a story of infinite value.
Women in sports
We read the other day that aside from the Big Red craze that has once again swept Nebraska, there is something else — women's volleyball and basketball.
Lady Husker volleyball tickets are $2. There will be four home games and three tournaments. Coach George Nicodemus says the girls basketball season tickets are $10 for the seven home games. And, team managers are needed for the women's swimming and diving teams.
Success on Social Security
Harland Sanders was born September 9, 1890, but he was 66 and living on Social Security when he exploded into the food business. They call his food "finger lickin' good." We're talking about the famous Colonel Sanders. That title was awarded to him in the 1930's by Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon.
The Colonel Sanders restaurant in Nebraska City is new. The man who started them is 86 years young and he overcame many obstacles before he hit it "big."
We thought you might like to read about his success story:
Because of a death in the family, he was forced to work and care for younger children. By the age of eight, he was master of a score of regional dishes and when he was 10 he got his first job on a farm.
In later years he worked as a streetcar conductor, was a railroad fireman at 15, soldiered in Cuba, studied law by correspondence, was a justice of the peace, sold insurance, operated a steamboat ferry, manufactured acetylene lighting systems, sold tires and operated service stations. When he was 40 he operated a station at Corbin, Ky., and served meals . . . on his own dining room table.
As his kitchen fame grew, he shut off the gas pumps and opened the restaurant and concentrated on his still-secret combination of 11 herbs and spices.
Later he opened a second restaurant and built the first motel in the state but WWII came along and gas rationing shut off the tourist business. After the war he re-opened the restaurant but a new interstate highway by-pass was announced.
This time he quit. He auctioned off his business at a loss and after paying his bills, he was reduced to living on his Social Security check.
He began traveling cross-country by car, cooking batches of chicken, convincing restaurant owners his finger lickin' chicken was the greatest. He made the deals with handshakes that stipulated a nickel a chicken for himself.
He sold his interest in the U.S. company of 600 franchised restaurants but held his Canadian ownership.
Today, he and Mrs. Sanders live in a modest home in Shelbyville, Ky., and he devotes time and money to charities through the Harland Sanders Foundation.
There are more than 5,000 outlets worldwide with annual sales of $1.5 billion.
And it all started 20 years ago on a $105 Social Security check.
The Blue Ridge family
A recent book published by Larry King of Manchester, Tenn., lists the Virginia families who moved from Grayson county, Va., to this area.
"In the late 1800's five members of the Calvin Hall and Mary Jane Flagg family moved from Grayson county to Otoe and Nemaha counties and to the Sidney, Ia., area. Among these are the Hall, Walker, Thomas, Masonbrink and others."
We took a copy of the book "Blue Ridge Mountain Kinfolks" to Jerry Hall at Sears. He was pleased to read about his grandparents and many other relatives.
Mr. King's address is 1001 Lincoln Street, Manchester, Tenn., 37355.