HOW ABOUT A HOME CONCERT?

 

 

 

"FRIENDS AND GOOD MANNERS WILL

CARRY YOU WHERE MONEY

WON'T GO"

      Margret Walker

 

 

 

     Have you every just wanted to have some friends over, or a lot, for a nice evening but want to avoid dull and boring conversation?  What about a HOME CONCERT? 

     Many people think you have to have a lot of money or connections to get professional entertainers to come do parties or events.  Well there is a type of concert that many entertainers will do as they travel through from one gig to another.  Many of these entertainers are in Folk, Bluegrass, Western, and Acoustic music.  These are entertainers that really love to get to know their fans and are at home setting in the lawn chair in the backyard as in a fancy hotel suite.

     We have a backyard concert twice a year, if we can, and have friends of mine in Western music perform.  We let everyone know what is going on and when.  We make the concert into a pot luck supper so we don't have to figure out what to cook.  We tell everyone to bring one dish and their lawn chair.

     We generally do this on a weeknight because the artists generally have a paying gig on Saturday nights.  We have anywhere from 50 to150 people show up.  But you can do it on the space you have.  Nobody fails to have a good time.

     To make it worth the artists time we put out a jar and all the money donated goes to the artist.  We do not take any part of it.  We, also, put them up for the night and feed breakfast the next morning.  This saves them some expense and let us get to know them better.

      This works well for individual artists and duos.  But we have had all four members of the Diamond W Wranglers here.  I have friends in the Western Music Association that are traveling through here from New Orleans, Albuquerque, and Dallas.  We all have a great time.

     So how can you have a concert at your place?  Simple.  Through the Big Rural Brainstorm that the Kansas Sampler Foundation sponsors there is a group of us that formed KAN-REN (Kansas Rural Entertainment Network).  For now it is a Facebook page.  Like the group and you can find names of entertainers and make connections with people who have had these events for information.

     You do not have to be the richest person in the community to have a good time with good music.  Oh and it is more than music.  We have members who are Cowboy Poets and ventriloquists.

     Remember to LIKE KANSAS RURAL ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK (KAN-REN).

CODE 3 CRISIS

 

 

 

WHEN YOU BECOME A FIREFIGHTER

YOUR GREATEST ACT OF BRAVERY

HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

WHAT YOU DO AFTER THAT

IS ALL IN THE LINE OF DUTY.

Modern version of a quote by Chief Edward Croker FDNY

 

 

This quote is given to each class of recruits joining the New York City Fire Department (FDNY).  And probably many others.  But each individual firefighter everywhere knows this quote even if they don't know where it came from.  It is a principle that they live by.

      It is a question in the mind of many people as to why, when everyone is running to get away from a fire, some run toward it.

   

   There is a crisis building in this country and many elected officials, city and county managers are dealing with.  Some with utter disregard for the needs of our citizens.

      First let me start with this.  Congratulations to Joe Cox (47 years), Keith Rathenberger (33 county, 20 city), Tome Farney (HFD 20, KFD 20), Jerry McNamar (31), and Ed Hermon (27).  These are retirees from the Kiowa Kansas Volunteer Fire Department.  The numbers indicate years of service, some with more than one department.

     The years of service are an indicator of the age of firefighters all across the nation.  Kiowa is fortunate that they have young members stepping into each position.  Yet the depth of the department numbers could be larger.  This department has been able to side step the problems that are affecting the fire service nationwide.

     Everyday the news of the death of a firefighter, or officer, comes in and at least 1/3 of the time, or more, it is due to a heart attack suffered on a call or afterward.  It is reflective of the age crisis in the volunteer service.  It is also the trend of early heart attack and stroke suffered by firefighters at a younger age than the general population.

     So does everyone appreciate what the members of the fire departments do?  NO!  There are any number of towns, cities, townships, and districts across the country who are more concerned with saving money than equipping and training fire departments.  Compound the fact that the rural areas are losing young people as fast as they graduate and there are few young people to replace the aging and increasingly unhealthy members.

     There are also huge numbers of taxpayers who give more attention of cutting taxes.  Yet they expect the best and fastest service when it is their house on fire.

     There is a small town not far from home that has one old fire rig.  It is a grass fire rig and not even an engine.  There were only two men there that could take the unit out on a fire.  The town is in an extremely remote area of the county.  The closest department is over 20 miles away.  One of the men had had open heart surgery.  The other had heart problems.  Both were over 70.  One had to finally move into a larger town for health reasons.  That left one man with heart trouble.  When a call would come in he would pull out to the county road and wait for a local cowboy to come by and recruit him to go to the fire.

     I have not been there for a few years so I don't even know if there is anyone left to take the truck out.  Many departments are recruiting women because they are available and willing to step in.  Yet it remains to be seen if small departments can survive.

     To compound these problems there are certain minimum equipment and training standards that are law laid down by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) and backed by insurance companies.  Many of these standards are formed by large professional departments, code services, and legislation.  Many are all but impossible for a small underfunded department to even come close to.

     There are legal liabilities.  Many departments do not know the responsibilities that the law assigns to the fire chief.  From Code enforcement, investigation and police powers, maintaining minimum standards, and planning for major incidents.  The fact that the fire statutes, that authorize the existence of fire departments and regulations, does not differentiate between Volunteer or Professional.  Either term is not even mentioned in state statute.  With the authorization is the liability of discharging the duties.

     The very real possibility that regular inspection of facilities, training standards, and safety concerns can be prosecuted, and have as a criminal case.  Then there is the civil liability.

      But malfeasance is generally done by someone with the purse strings.  As an example, Houston Texas Fire Department is one of the recognised largest and best fire departments in the world.  This does not insulate them from budget cutters.  The city fathers have just voted to build a multi million dollar pet park and have slashed the fire department budget to the point that stations will be closed.  There is possibility of lay offs and the response times will go to the point that the danger to the public and firefighters will sky rocket.  This from a city that just buried five firefighters.

     Another city has a volunteer department but does have paid drivers in the station.  They recently created a new fire station and added new engines and equipment to the department.  There is an opening there right now and the ad reads, "maintenance and fire truck driver position open".  The main duties of the fire truck driver is Janitor at City Hall.  Most departments require several years experience and testing to become the Engineer (driver).  There is a lot more to 'driving' and operating a fire truck.  It is not for just anyone who hires in off the street to start at.  Although when I hired on in 1974 my department ran two man engine companies and I started to drive after 3 shifts of intense instruction.  It did help that I was a farm boy and had rode out with the department for several months as a volunteer.

     Can every department and entity do things better?  You bet.  Do some try?  Yep and many go over and above.  But the value that the community puts on its fire departments has a reflection on the values on the itself.

RELIVING THE OLD WEST?

 

 

 

TO BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK UPON ONE'S

PAST LIFE WITH SATISFACTION

IS TO LIVE TWICE.

 Lord Acton

 

 

BUT WHAT IS IT TO LOOK BACK IN SHAME?

 

 

     An old crime from the old west is making a comeback.  But then, it never really left.  Cattle Rustling!  As times get harder and the value of livestock goes up, there is always the lazy who will steal from others and try to live a life without pride.

     Maybe the city life can be done in an anonymous fashion but here a persons character and honesty still count.  Reputation takes a lifetime to build and a moment to destroy.  It is amazing how even those who know better get caught up in corrupt acts.

     Over the years a judge in Oklahoma, Sheriff in Kansas, contract manager, and many others.  It seems tempting to take something that can be quick cash and since it is out on pasture it may be sold and in hamburger before the owner knows it is gone.

     In 2013 by November there were 835 head of cattle stolen in Oklahoma.  This is a 16% increase over 2012.  In Pratt County 12 head of 13-1500 pound cattle were stolen in Feb. 2014.  29 head of heifers were stolen southwest of Sharon.  They were 500 - 550 pounders and mostly black.

     A man who had problems borrowed a trailer from an auctioneer and it showed up across the state with a load of stolen calves.  Of course the trailer was traced back to the well meaning auctioneer.  Luckily he was proved innocent.

     There has been a rash of building break ins and stolen trailers also.

      Kansas is still the highest state for cattle theft in the nation.  We have a unique amount of access and remoteness.  It is not an unusual sight to have a pick up pulling a trailer all hours of the day and night.  So often it is done right under our noses.

     Kansas has brand laws but they are not mandatory.  The Kansas Department of agriculture has two investigators that assist other agencies in investigating thefts but it is not enough.

     Oklahoma passed a bill in 2001 authorising Ag Dept. Agents to investigate livestock thefts, arson in forests, and timber theft.  There are nine state investigators.

     There is another deterrent in Texas and Oklahoma.  The Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association.  The association employs 29 Special Rangers that work both states as well as members in other states.  These are deputized special Texas Rangers with jurisdiction in both Texas and Oklahoma.  They maintain ties with law enforcement agencies throughout North America.

     Until the Kansas gets serious about cattle and other Ag theft this will continue to be a problem.  Brand laws need to be enforced and mandatory and a group of investigators like Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri have to concentrate on Ag crime.

     There is a bright spot that is trying to make a difference and it was initiated and run by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's office.  C.A.L.I.N. is a Facebook page that information and pictures are posted on for Construction, AG, and Livestock Information Network.  you can contact at Facebook CALIN, 316-660-0750, or calin@sedgwick.gov This is a statewide program.

     Our farmers and ranchers work too hard for a thief to take away his living.

NEW/OLD CROP OPENS GREAT POTENTIAL

 

 

BRING DIVERSITY BACK TO AGRICULTURE.

THATS WHAT MADE IT WORK

IN THE FIRST PLACE.

David R. Brower

 

 

     There is a new/old crop that will be available again to producers in the United States.  This crop has about as much diversity as the peanut and was once considered a crop of vital importance to the nation.  However, it has been illegal to grow it in the US.  Canada has been a leader in its production in North America.  Remnants of this once vital crop can be seen in roadside ditches and along creeks, and tree rows.  And if you pull it up and try to use it you can be jailed.

     WHAT IS IT?  Hemp.

     The hemp plant.  It thrives in drouthy areas and poor soils.  Is easy to grow and market.  So why has it been illegal?  Hemp is a member of the same plant family that Marijuana belongs to, (Cannabis).  It has similar visual features.  So the DEA has included the Hemp plant in on its 'War on Drugs'.

      There is one difference.  Hemp contains no THC which is the active ingredient that gets you high.  You also cannot hide the Marijuana plant in growths of Hemp because they do not look close enough to use as a shield for the illicit plants.

      In fact the great hypocrisy is that hemp products are marketed all over the US and most do not hide what it's ingredients are.  There was a provision made for one product that had so much use it could not be outlawed.  So they changed the name to Sisal.  Call it Sisal it is legal, call it hemp and it isn't.
     The leader worldwide in hemp production is China.  In 2011 the US imported 11.5 million dollars worth of hemp products.  Some hemp seed finds it way into Granola.  Wouldn't it be great to bring production back here from China?
     With the change in enforcement attitudes one grower in Colorado put in a crop and had excellent results in 2013.    Ryan Loflin planted a plot without even getting a permit from the State.  He plans on expanding production this year because he is saving seed to increase the small seed supply that exists.
      Hemp produces fiber, oil, and seed.  It is refined into seed foods, oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, pulp, creams, soaps, lotions, and fuel.  It was grown in Kansas especially for the fiber that was used in ropes and was vital to the war effort in WW 2.  This is why there is wild hemp growing all over the state.  You could smoke a bale of it and not get a buzz, though some dealers would mix the material with the real plant to stretch the volume.  The phrase 'smoking rope' comes from the time when most rope was made from hemp.  (Don't go trying to smoke an old piece of rope out of grampa's barn, it won't do you any good).
     With the passage of the new farm bill provisions are there that make farming of Hemp legal again.  This versatile and drought tolerant plant will make a great addition to the rotation in a farmers plans.  With the pressure on ground water this would be a great way to conserve what we have left.
     

FREEDOM?

 

 

WHEN LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE

POWERS ARE UNITED IN THE SAME

PERSON OR IN THE SAME BODY

OF MAGISTRATES, THERE CAN

BE NO LIBERTY.

Montesquieu

 

 

     What if someone made a claim against you and the police would show up with a SWAT team and you have done nothing wrong?  Seems like a story about a novel or a movie.  The story line is exciting in those contexts but what about real life?

      Is this really happening in the United States?  News of no knock warrants and Swat teams in action happen with common regularity.  Yet real crime is dropping.  Can it happen here in your hometown?  Very possible.

     Take the case of a time honored historic manufacturing company that not once but twice has had a Swat Team descend on its factories.  The employees were confronted by officers in full black tactical gear with guns drawn.  Not just hand guns but assault rifles and gear more military use than law enforcement.

      What could have drawn the Federal Officers down on this company?  Allegations, from an unknown source, that material used in the manufacturing of its products were illegally obtained from its foreign sources.  Not illegal in the US but by the supplying countries.  But those countries had no interest in prosecution since the transactions were legal.

      Yet the company produced all of the proper paper work proving that the materials were bought and shipped from legitimate sources and all licensing and permits were in order.  Yet the allegation had been made.  So all material was seized and put under impoundment.

      The company waited and waited for any indictment or legal accusation be made so the company could proceed to clear its name and get its workers  back to building product and earning pay checks.  In the mean time the companies name was being drug through the media muck and being tried in the court of public opinion.  After all our Federal agencies would not send an armed force against a legitimate manufacturer, would they?

      One other fact not discussed, there were many other legitimate manufacturers building the same products with the same materials and not one of them were closed or had a Swat team seize their materials.

     Who was this?  The venerable Gibson Guitar Company.  GIBSON GUITARS!!!!!!!!!!  Musical instruments are built to exacting standards and there is industry acceptance to the most superior woods to use for  instruments.  So this means that top grade instruments are using the same materials.  So was Martin accused?  Ibenez? Taylor?  Groetsch?  No.

      So has any indictment ever been brought against Gibson?  NO.  The material has been returned to the company and they are back to producing what they do best, building guitars.

    Who made the allegations?  No one is telling.  What is the only thing that has been found that is different from the other guitar companies in the United States?  The CEO owner of Gibson Guitars gave donations to Conservative candidates.

      They cannot find anything else.  So the material is back and what is the best possible course of action that the company can take to have any satisfaction?  They take the returned material and build a special GOVERNMENT MODEL GIBSON GUITAR.  Which has sold out.  The remainder of the material returned is being made into the second model Government Guitar.

      Where can you find the end of the story (so far)?  In a small story from the New York Times buried in the inner pages of other papers around the country.  After 2.5 million in legal fees and $300,000 in fines Gibson is back.

     The Swat Team legacy continues.  In the Gold areas around Alaska there is always a yearly inspection by EPA officials.  Normally they come with clip boards.  Last spring they came with a Swat Team.  No one knows why or what the threat was perceived to be.
      An elderly man was shot six times in bed by a Sheriffs officer in a no knock warrant in California.  The Swat team was called in when an officer who was watching the place for code vilolations swore he smelled chemical smells and was certain a Meth lab was working. 
    No Meth lab, one man dead, family ordered to leave.  No one being charged with wrongful death.
     This can't happen in the United States.  Right?

      

LOOKING FOR HISTORICAL INFORMATION

I NEVER REALIZED THAT THERE WAS

HISTORY, CLOSE AT HAND, BESIDE

MY OWN HOME.  I DID NOT

REALIZE THAT THAT OLD

GRAVE THAT STOOD AMONG

THE BRAMBLES AT THE FOOT

OF OUR FARM WAS HISTORY.

 

Stephen Leacock

 

     I have been a member, and a board member, of an organization called the COWBOY STORYTELLERS OF THE WESTERN PLAINS for a long time now.  The whole point of the group, which started at the coffee shop in Seiling Oklahoma around 1992, was to get the untold and unrecorded stories of northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas areas.

     These would be the stories as close to first hand as possible about everyday life and events.  From cowboys and ranchers, homesteaders, business people, professional people.  The whole purpose is to come into the community who hosts the meeting and listen to their stories and record them for history.

      One of the sad truths is that our membership is getting older and more and more space in our newsletter, (which I publish), is devoted to the 'Empty Saddles' of our members who pass on.

     One thing about history is that if it did not make the books or newspapers, it is just stories told to families and youngun's to be passed on.

     The sad thing is that our group has gone from four meetings a year to two, spring and fall.  Spring in Oklahoma and Fall in Kansas.  This last fall we did not have the Kansas meeting.  No one stepped up to host the event in their area.

     Our website never caught on and we are dropping it.  We have virtually no e-mails.  This is because the young are not interested in history.  By the time a person gets the history bug it is generally too late.

     I have been considering a project that I would like to ask my readers help on.  I am wanting to compile a book on very obscure people, places, events, and happenings in Kansas.  The title for the moment is ODD BALL KANSAS - THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE SUNFLOWER STATE.

     Every community has those stories that did not make the history books and if they made the papers it was generally wrong.  Newspapers are notorious for getting things wrong or putting a slant on things.

     I have people tell me little tidbits and I have to try and remember them or make a lot of calls because the folks down at city hall, or main street, did not hear the stories themselves.  If you have a good story, or a good story about something bad, that can be documented and researched, I would love to put it in my book.

     I don't know of anyplace in the state that something odd or notorious has not happened.  It does not have to be notorious, just a good story.  Contact me and let me get it recorded.  Not every story will check out but I want all sides of the story.

     Getting back to the Storytellers, I used to send a copy of the newsletter to every High School history department in the areas that we have meetings in.  I was hoping that there would be that one teacher that was interested, or at least give extra credit, for the students that came.  In all the years that I have sent out the newsletters I have not seen one student or teacher from the areas we come to.  Now that the Common Core standards are changing the history that is taught, by rephrasing or ignoring, it is efforts like ours that can keep the record straight.

     The Storytellers have published a book of news letters from the beginning until around 2006 that is for sale.  The book is $35 plus shipping.  Call it $40.  Let me know and I can get one out to you.

     Membership in the Cowboy Storytellers is $15 per year and you get a newsletter before each meeting.  If you would like to host a meeting in your area get in touch with me.  It does not take a lot of effort to get us there.  Just a place that holds around 30-100, people to tell us stories, any entertainers in your area, and cookie break.  Our members come from a long ways so a place to eat or a group to have a meal is needed.

     You can get in touch with your story ideas to me at wildfire620@gmail.com.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

              "MUSIC IS THE DEVINE WAY TO TELL BEAUTIFUL,
                        POETIC THINGS TO THE HEART"           

Pau (Pablo) Casals

 

 

     Fifty years ago a phenomenon came to the shores of the US from England.  I remember watching on our black and white TV set as the Fab Four getting off the plane.  And on Sunday night there was a lot of excitement on the Ed Sullivan Show about this new group.

     I had heard some of the Beatles recordings and there was a lot that I liked.  The hair cuts probably caused as much a stir as anything.  (Can you believe it was considered long?)  Dad was still running milk routes and he picked up a Beetle wig somewhere.  He came driving down 54 Highway from Blasi's gas station with this black mop on his head and a cigar in his mouth.  One old lady almost ran off the road seeing him.  We had a lot of fun with that wig.

     At the time I was listening to dad's Jimmy Rodger's LP's and listening to fading in and out signals on Saturday night from WSM the Grand Ole Opry.  Of course if you watched cartoons in that era you were always entertained with classical music.  I don't know how these kids today stand cartoons.

      The thing that irritated me, and probably most of the guys in America, was all the screaming that went on while the Beatles performed.  OK you can get excited but I don't understand screaming and not hearing what they were doing.

     I was soaking in music that had a new sound and yet a familiar one also.  The group was heavily influenced by the harmonies of the Everly Brothers.  I was also taken in by the sounds of Simon and Garfunkel who had many of the same influences.  My radio dial was moving between KFDI, KLEO, and KEYN.  I was also delighted by the Folk sounds of the Lamplighters, Peter Paul and Mary, the Kingston Trio.  I was in love with the earthy sounds of George Jones, Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs and many more.
     As the 50th anniversary of the Beatles is here it is a realization of how much this group influenced the music world.  Even today many of their songs lyrics need to be listened to carefully because their meaning is not what it was thought to be at the time.
     I had always hoped that the Beetle reunion would happen but John Lennon had gone so far from where the group had been it was impossible.  His murder was a shock but also was the slow death of George Harrison to cancer.
     It has been an over used term 'changed the world' but it is not so out of the truth in the case of the Beatles.

         "I have never really done anything to create what has happened.  It creates itself.  I'm here because it happened.  But I didn't do anything to make it happen apart from saying 'YES".
                                                             Ringo Starr