I just don?t get casinos. How can losing hard-earned money be entertainment like so many people say it is? It has never been a pleasant experience for me when I?ve lost. In fact, it still bothers me that I put lots of money as a kid in one of those steam shovel things at the Pow Wow carnival in Mountain Lake, Minn., in the mid-?50s and never did get what I wanted.
Why does the government, which is supposed to be helping the citizenry, encourage people to lose money?that wasn?t a question.
It is a way to raise money without taxing people?a voluntary tax, you might say.
OK, it?s fine if you can afford to lose money, but what about the ones who can?t? From what I have read, the number of compulsive gamblers, or those who have become addicted to it, is growing fast.
As soon as there?s a casino on every street corner in Kansas, we will have so much money in the state coffers it will be astounding. No one will ever convince me that missing out on a casino in Marion County was a bad thing. In my opinion, they were never planning to bring one here anyway?just using us to try to get someone else to jump for it in a bigger market.
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Once in a while I think about high school basketball days and recall a game we played against Peabody in 1964. It was at the new Tabor College gymnasium.
Our coach decided we needed to prepare for tournament time and that he wasn?t going to tell us what to do that game. So we huddled underneath the goals and looked at each other wondering what to do next. Some of the parents were mystified by the coach?s action.
Fortunately, we won the game by one point, 66-65, after winning by a score of 51-49 in their gym.
So maybe we didn?t need a coach after all. Same result.
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The postal walking mail carrier?s get my vote for the toughest people on earth, given the weather we experienced last Tuesday.
It was a tough day for our delivery, too. Our carrier crew was given the option of delivering the Free Press in Hillsboro city on Tuesday or Wednesday.
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We received this e-mail from one of the Marion businesses that we deliver to.:
?Our newspaper delivery boy just jumped out of the van in front of our building in this terrible snowstorm, in his ski mask and gloves and brought our newspapers to our door. What great service!! Your motto should be ?Come rain, sleet or snow?the Free Press delivers what you need to know!??
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We run three delivery routes to the area post offices on Tuesday as well, and all three drivers got stuck in the snow?in Ramona, Canton and Burns?due to the drifting that occured.
It was me who was stuck in downtown Ramona. I thought I could make a U-turn in the main intersection and stay high in the street. The van nosed down a little hill and it was all over. I think I could have gotten going down the hill but wasn?t sure how to get out of town from the west side.
Luckily, the postmaster?s husband gave me a push and got me going again.
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If anyone is wondering how to text on a cell phone, here?s how: Punch in the number you are texting, then go to the menu and select ?SMS?text,? and then type in the key word. Hit ?Send.?
