If you ever want to take a trip back down memory lane, all you have to do on a Wednesday morning – or whatever day your local office of the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles is open – is make the trek up to the courthouse and walk inside the front door.

Ten Years Ago, 2013 The St. Paul Board of Education held a community meeting on co-oping sports with Elba prior to their regular meeting on Monday night. Besides the St. Paul school board members, there had been probably eighteen to twenty people present, including some representatives of the Elba school and St. Paul administrative and athletic staff members. Superintendent John Poppert opened the meeting by introducing Elba Superintendent Mikal Shalikow and explaining what was being proposed. Elba junior high and high school atheletes would be able to participate on St. Paul teams. There would be no name, mascot, or uniform change for St. Paul. St. Paul coaches would be used, and all varsity games would be held in St. Paul. Elba’s cost would be prorated by the number of students participating… When asked what the time table would be on making a decision, Poppert… anticipated that a decision would most likely be made in March or April.

The gauge heights of the South Loup and Middle Loup rivers are well below flooding stage. That’s always a good thing to see when you live on the Loup. This week has been geese, geese, and more geese. Hunting season is done for the dark goose for this spring. I am surprised that I’ve not seen many snows. The grandsons went out looking for deer sheds. They found one, so far. The early night sky was amazing the other night, with the orange glow of the sunset in the west and the bright stars coming out. Oh, yes. Then, Sunday morning, Shawn went to let Moses out. He turns on the light before letting him out, and he saw a skunk at the end of our sidewalk. The two of them meeting would not have been good. We had a freshman from Centura stop to pick up a donation for the trap team. Shawn enjoyed visiting with him. I was thinking, as a grandparent and property owner (thinking of those tax dollars), that it’s nice that Centura has several options for kids. Everyone has different talents. I for one, was not good at sports at all. It is nice to know there is trap, FFA, FBLA, music, bowling, and so many more things students can get involved in. Don’t get me wrong, reading, writing, and arithmetic are very important also, but those ‘extra’ activities are a good place to apply what students have learned in the classroom.

The Nebraska Tourism Commission’s Nebraska Passport program announced its 2022 Passport Champions in early January. Among the almost 49,000 individuals from thirty-six states who participated in the program between the start of May and the end of September last year, about 980 travelers managed to visit all of the programs seventy passport stops across the state.