Custer County Chronicle

‘Thin blue line’ is all that separates us from anarchy

Published by admin on Thu, 06/11/2020 - 9:44am
There was universal condemnation to the death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin May 25. It didn’t take long for Chauvin to be charged with third degree, and then second degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death. Three of Chauvin’s fellow officers also face charges because they stood around and said or did nothing while Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes. The video of the terrible event said it all.

They mite be monsters

Published by admin on Thu, 06/11/2020 - 9:41am
Face mites! I have the strangest conversations with my 5-year-old son. One of the latest involved face mites. 

It’s irresponsible governing

Published by admin on Thu, 06/04/2020 - 10:21am
Hold the phone! Stop what you’re doing and read this column! Have you heard of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)?  Here’s what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is doing: They are sending out debit cards in the mail.  Yep! A neighbor called me over and sure as can be, they received a debit card in the mail. No place did it read “U.S. Government” or “IRS.” It came from Money Network Cardholder Services, P.O. Box 247022, Omaha, NE 68124-7022.

What's happening to our country?

Published by admin on Thu, 06/04/2020 - 10:12am
This isn’t Iraq or Afghanistan or any other Third World country, but you wouldn’t know it after unlawful events unfolded around the nation the past week.
Major cities in the United States of America from coast to coast came under attack last week following the tragic death of a black man by a white police officer Monday, May 25. The attacks came, not from forces outside our country, but from loosely organized domestic terrorists bent on fomenting riots and destruction in our cities.

Welcome to the night shift

Published by admin on Thu, 06/04/2020 - 10:11am
When your day ends, my day begins. 
As house lights go off, the stars sharpen into crystal points in the sky. The flow of traffic thins to a dribble, then stops. Only the creatures of the night, both animal and human, glide through the darkness between pools of electric light.  
This is when I go to work. 

Be sure to get out and vote

Published by admin on Thu, 05/28/2020 - 9:02am
Greetings! Primary Election Day is dangerously close, as on June 2. You can still vote at each county courthouse through June 1.  On June 2 you vote at your regular voting location.  Marcia and I vote at the community center in Keystone.
Absentee ballots need to be delivered by the post office no later than June 2.  Did you know you can track your absentee ballot on the Secretary of State’s website? You can also view a sample ballot for your district. Visit the voter information portal at sdsos.gov. 

The Streel: A Deadwood Mystery

Published by admin on Thu, 05/28/2020 - 9:01am
“When I was fifteen and my brother Seamus sixteen, we attended our own wake. Our family was in mourning, forced to send us off to America,” is how “The Streel: A Deadwood Mystery” begins.

Shot heard ‘round the world: revisited

Published by admin on Thu, 05/28/2020 - 9:00am
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
Excerpt from “Concord Hymn”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Saying goodbye to my girl was hard

Published by admin on Thu, 05/28/2020 - 8:57am
It’s been five months since it happened, but it still hurts me in a way I didn’t know I could be hurt. When you’ve loved that deeply since the first time you met, I guess the pain of losing her is supposed to cut that deep.
I’m reminded of a scene in the movie “Men in Black” when Tommie Lee Jones’s character is telling Will Smith’s character about how he lost the love of his life, to which Smith’s character replies: “It’s better to have loved and lost, right?”
“Try it sometime,” Jones’s character replies flatly.

Govt. has no right to force vaccinations

Published by admin on Thu, 05/21/2020 - 9:08am
Famed Harvard Law School emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz said in an interview earlier this week that the federal government has a constitutional right to forcibly vaccinate a citizen in order to stop the spread of a contagious disease. We beg to differ.