Interestingly, I see now (through reading the Wikipedia entry) that Memorial Day is celebrated in recognition of soldiers who have died in war; Veterans Day is the general holiday for veterans.

Oh, well.  I’m still glad I did the cartoon this way.  We can’t be reminded too much of the sacrifice of those who came before us.  (P.S. – the dates I used were the birth/death years of my maternal grandparents; my grandpa spent 3 1/2 years in a Japanese prison camp, and his twin brother died in a separate camp).

It is a great joy in my life to be doing what I love for such a wonderful newspaper and great group of people.

Happy Birthday, Citizen!

The Gering Citizen -  It’s time for the Nebraska Unicameral to redo the state’s legislative districts again based on the latest census figures.  And everybody knows that the continuing trend of western Nebraska losing people and far eastern Nebraska gaining people is going to mean that some lines will need to be redrawn to reflect this shift.  Fair enough.

However, the legislature’s redistricting committee is proposing a plan that would take one of the Panhandle’s three districts (District 49) and move it to suburban Omaha, where there was a 30% gain in population over the last decade.  District 49 Senator LeRoy Louden was quoted in Chadron, NE as saying “We’re getting screwed royally…”

Why?  Because, for one, the west wasn’t the only part of Nebraska to lose population.  Ten districts in Omaha lost population as well.  Where did those people go?  To the same suburban Omaha that they want to move District 49 to.  How about moving one of Omaha’s bajillion districts instead?

There are lots of ways to redistrict that don’t shrink the already sparse representation we have out west here, but that still reflect the population trends and which are drawn to anticipate future eastward movement.

But fat chance of that.

To make a long story short, the contractor put more names on a Gering Pathway thank-you plaque than what the Gering Parks Board had okayed.  He said that information he had gotten throughout the process was ambiguous and that he included that many names in an effort to not leave anybody out; after all, better a few extra names than a few left out, right? 

It appeared to be a simple case of miscommunication, but, in the end, the Gering Parks Board’s loud and public complaints made the contractor look both marginally inept and very presumptuous (he had included his own name as the builder of the wall that held the plaque).

He also got a public scolding out of the deal when the Board told him it would refuse to pay him $1,000 for his services as long as the extra names were on the plaque.

A contractor’s livelihood depends on his name, and this contractor had some pretty big mudballs lobbed at his over something that could have been handled in a far less patronizing manner.

So, here’s the Gering Parks, Cemetery, and Tree Board:

The Citizen published an editorial about people’s complaints this year about the fact that a mere “cover” band is performing as opposed to a more well-known group.  The paper responded with a reminder that when a major act does come to town, the show generally loses money.

They then went on to say that one of the few money makers of the last several years has been midget wrestling.

But I thought I’d better get something up after I followed my promise of two cartoons a week by, y’know, not posting a cartoon for two weeks.

Anyway, the paper ran a guest editorial about environmentalists wanting to keep gas prices high by restricting domestic oil production and thereby creating public demand for alternative energy.  So I basically illustrated the editorial with a cartoon.

This should make my conservative friends happy.

Morrill’s mascot is the Lion.  Mitchell’s mascot is the Tiger.  The Citizen suggested I draw a Liger as a compromise.