The Red Willow County GOP (Republican Party) will resume regular monthly (4th Tuesday) meetings for 2024. The meeting will be January 23, 2024, at 6:30 pm (meet/ greet) followed by the business meeting at 7:00 pm at Bedore Barn/Marlene’s Kitchen (38404 Road 719, McCook, NE).

Southwest Public School hosted children’s author Amanda Radke recently. The kids of every age group from Kindergarten to seniors asked tremendous questions and represented the school very well.

Funeral Services For Rev. Carl R. Lilienkamp age 72, of Wayne, NE will be held at Grace Lutheran Church on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 10:30 a.m. Visitation at Grace Lutheran Church, Wayne, NE on Friday 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Richard Eldon Breinig, 82, of Arapahoe, Nebraska passed away Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at his home surrounded by family. Richard was born September 1, 1941, in Oxford Nebraska to parents Raymond “Bud” and Maxine (Watts) Breinig.

Emma Geraldine “Geri” Fisher, age 93, of Arapahoe, Nebraska passed away on Monday, January 8, 2024 at the Beaver City Manor, Beaver City, Nebraska. She was born northwest of Oxford, Nebraska on the family farm to George and Myrtle (Johnson) Baily on February 11, 1930.

Dolores Corrin Oelkers left her earthly home on January 10, 2024, at the age of 93, in Elwood, Nebraska. She spent her entire life in the Elwood and Eustis area, whether it was at her birthplace, on the farm, at her home in Elwood, or in the Elwood Care Home & Assisted Living where she took her last breath and joined Jesus and her husband in her new heavenly home.

LaVada Kaufman, age 91, passed away on Sunday, December 17, 2023. She was born in Beaver City, Nebraska.

A funeral service for Hans G. Stickel will be held at 11:00 a.m.

My family has a fondness for crime dramas and thrillers. It isn’t uncommon to watch a scene in which a peacefully sleeping individual wakes when a shadowy figure approaches their bedside with a pillow. Predictably, the assailant calmly presses that pillow over the face of their victim and waits until the struggling stops.

Imagine if a Houthi drone were to hit one of our ships in the Red Sea. Imagine there were an incident in the South China Sea. Or imagine we suffered a terrorist attack here at home. All of these crises are possible — but if any of them had occurred earlier this month, no one would have known where to find our nation’s Secretary of Defense.