YES, I AM STILL HERE peeking out of the newspaper’s window on Main Street and I so grateful I don’t live in a place like Pakistan or Afghanistan — the only two countries on the planet where ‘wild’ poliovirus is allowed to strike down children every year.
It should be easy to rid the world of polio — immunization is free thanks to billionaire Bill Gates, Rotary International, and other health organizations.
The problem is that the backward people of those countries just won’t get their children immunized. In some cases they are afraid — not of the vaccine — but of the people in power.
In Pakistan most of the vaccinators are women. Men can’t go into many homes because it would be deemed ‘improper.’ Well, they could go but then family members would have to kill the household’s women because of family honor.
The women vaccinators are frequently the recipients of curses, shoves, beatings and even death from parents (usually males) who do not want their children vaccinated, according to a magazine I read.
Americans have gotten slack about polio immunization. And so, polio is apparently showing up again.
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ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING. This one, Monday, at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn. When are our national and state legislators going to do something unpopular but meaningful about guns and nuts with guns? It’s called leadership.
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DIDN’T IT RAIN, CHILDREN? Yes it did. By Tuesday morning, 34 of the first 81 days of 2023 had measurable rainfall. That’s slightly more than one in every three days.
All three months are well above normal rainfall inches so far.
Month Actual Normal
January 5.05 3.95
February 7.75 4.24
March 9.90 4.25
Altogether, we’re more than 10 inches of rain above normal.
Of course, we’d experienced only 29 days of March by the time this was written. There’s still a couple of days still to go.
But what about California and its drought? Too bad there’s not a way to run a pipeline to carry excess rainfall and snowmelt to Lake Mead which apparently isn’t getting all the rain and snow northern California is getting. Lots of mafia body disposals are showing up.
Speaking of pipelines, tucked back in some city planner’s desk drawer in Dallas or Houston is a plan for a pipeline to Arkansas water, meaning Lake Greeson and the Little Missouri River.
We need to nail down our precious resource before it’s too late. Water from Millwood Lake already gets distributed in East Texas with (as far as I know) no compensation to the State of Arkansas.
Arkie water is letting those other places grow instead of ‘us.’
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JUST A THOUGHT. I read in the monthly Rotary magazine about the ‘El Tour de Tucson,’ a bicycle ride sponsored by a Tucson, Ariz., Rotary Club to raise some money for charity.
Made me remember that for a couple of years, while our town’s State Senator Larry Teague was still a bike enthusiast, there was a bunch from Texarkana that sponsored a ‘Tour de Possum’ bike ride which pedaled through Nashville.
I guess those people came to their senses. Put away their Schwinns.
My own bicycle was a Goodyear. It had a basket for my newspaper route, and a battery headlight for nighttime cruises.
I know some folks would find it hard to believe but there was a time when kids on bicycles went all over town without fear of being kidnapped and sold to the traveling carnival.
I do have some advice for the few kids who still ride: Don’t play video games on your phone and ride in traffic at the same time.
Also, if you get kidnapped and sold to the carnival call home at your first opportunity.
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DON’T FORGET. On Tuesday, April 18, at 6 p.m. an expert from the Parks and Tourism Commission will speak here on what our area is likely to experience before, during and after the total Solar Eclipse.
The eclipse will be on April 8, 2024. The speaking event will be at the Nashville campus of UA-Cossatot, and it is free.
The eclipse is expected to last 3-4 minutes and Nashville will be very close to the actual path that total darkness will take.
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THINGS I LEARNED by opening another email: There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.
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WORD GAMES. Two friends in a hurry who show up about noon: Eat and Run.
I hate to see them leave so soon.
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HE SAID: “I’m gonna reveal something to you that’s going to come as a shock: If you’re a stupid young man, you’re usually a stupid old man. Most people, including myself, keep repeating the same mistakes.” William Shatner, ‘Captain James Tiberius Kirk’
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SHE SAID: “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Edith Wharton, American writer
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
