It was late August of 1999. I had just completed my first couple weeks at a new school and things were rough.

Now that the redistricting is over and we know what the boundaries are going to be, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The new 44th district will include the southwest quarter of Perkins County, all of Chase, Dundy, Hitchcock, Hayes, Frontier, Gosper, and now a new addition, Dawson County. I’m still certainly willing to continue my relationship with my former constituents in Red Willow, Furnas and Harlan Counties. Since I have served those counties for the past 7 years I don’t expect a change in boundaries to change my relationships with those individuals or groups. I certainly am not trying to do anything different in Dawson County. The individuals in Dawson County that have a good relationship with Senator Williams, I would expect they would continue with that relationship, but if they do wish to reach out to me, as their current senator, I am more than happy to visit with them and help them with any issues they may be bringing forward.

When we think of Henry VIII most of us envision an oversized man with multiple wives, a bitter personality, and a propensity for beheading his enemies. A lesser-known fact is that he suffered with chronic leg sores the last twenty years of his life. Living in a time before antibiotics, anesthesia, and proper wound care, this king endured excruciating ulcers with no cure available. Would history have been different if his sores could have been treated with today’s advanced wound care?