Jon Angell

Up front we have a story about two rural hospitals in our trade area. They all struggle for many different reasons and many of the same. As members of small, rural communities we need to ask the question – are their services worth saving? This is an issue I have watched for a long while. For the most part I would say, absolutely yes! A good rural hospital saves lives, and is often a blessing to the quality of life for those they provide services.

During the Whu-flu outbreak, millions of dollars were shoveled into the healthcare system. At the time, I distinctly remember talk of structuring the shower of government printed money to be directed to help struggling rural hospitals. It isn’t enough to shower money at a problem. This is a lesson that politicians and many voters don’t understand. The money needs to be shepherded. It needs to be accounted for, and most importantly some-one should be accountable. But the rule of law and holding people accountable has had a whole lot of setbacks in recent years. It’s easy to point at the private sector or companies seeking easy profits for shareholders. This is like going camping in the mountains with fresh meat laying around the campsite and wondering why the bears ransacked camp. Government irresponsibly shoveling money around is about like campers baiting bear and just as stupid.

Also on the front page is yet another lawsuit against the Big 4 beef packers. I have a bias on my view of the market practices of Big Beef (Big Biz in general). I find it somewhat vindicating to see so many distributers suing and settling with huge settlements and or taking them to court and holding their own. However, it appears there still needs to be a lot of work on trying to figure out how to get the domestic cattle prices to reflect beef value properly. There are all kinds of opinions. What interesting times we live.

Before I forget (again), the two Sallys at Angell’s Western Wear wanted me to mention that The Cattlemen Days Rodeo in Ashland, Mo. will be August 26 and 27. This is their 44th year. You can buy advance tickets at Angell’s in Centralia. This has been going on in Ashland since 1973. For more information, you can go to www.cattlemendaysrodeo.com

Last month I told you I was taking a short train trip and visiting The Grand Canyon. It was a great trip. The sights were spectacular and being out of town away from news and the daily grind was so relaxing. I guess the spin of so much worldly bad news was draining my spirit more than I thought. I came back and hit the ground running.
It seems as if there is way too much to do this summer. As August has arrived, I am realizing it may be hard to get it all done… and decisions on what doesn’t get done may be coming soon. It all seems overwhelming… heck another vacation is sounding appealing now.
One problem from the trip. My wife realized that she liked train travel and is off again to Colorado on the train to see our daughter, leaving me at home to handle things. What is worse is she has already booked for herself another trip this fall. Evidently, she has decided that a train, more so than a car or plane, is well suited for her to travel with fewer worries and less need of me accompanying her.
Somehow, I didn’t consider this as a possible consequence of our trip. What have I done!

Like always, we have a well-rounded collection of news and information for you in the paper this month.
Thanks for reading and your continued support of our paper.