Imagine the scene: A well-known car, belonging to the editor of the local weekly newspaper, is spotted in a remote area of town with the parking lights on at dusk. The editor appears to be inside by himself… or is he? That’s the predicament my father found himself in one night on May 1, 1959. […]
Big Men Born Here? A stranger walked into the Gallatin Democrat newspaper office one morning and asked: “Any big men born here?” The editor, “Uncle Wes” Robertson, replied, “Nope, just babies.” Now That’s Nervous! There’s this lady in Gallatin who is the most nervous person I have ever seen. Her husband admits she’s a problem. […]
It’s amazing what you find in old files! I was going through some of my dad’s old Post Scripts columns for a new project, when I found one about immigration and border walls during the George W. Bush administration. Here’s what he published in The Gallatin North Missourian on April 19, 2008: Steel Curtain “They […]
I’m thinking of former Vice President Joe Biden’s struggle now with the accusations he’s made women feel uncomfortable with his pats, hugs and kisses in public places. This reminds me of a column my father wrote in Post Scripts in 1972 about Senator Edward Muskie. Biden’s Lesson That Times Have Changed Vice President Biden is learning […]
I guess I’m the only person who has a complete 11-issue collection of The Gallamo, the high school newspaper I started and edited as a senior at Gallatin High School. The name Gallamo actually existed before in mimeograph form. But the newspaper hadn’t been in existence for a number of years when I revived it […]
For a decade and a half my father labored hard to build support for a dam on the Grand River that he was sure would renew economic growth and energy in Northwest Missouri. It seemed that every few days, he would be going somewhere to make a speech, taking a trip to the state capital […]
The following is taken from my father’s first book, a collection of his Post Script columns (this one from April 30, 1954): A salesman from Iowa was in town Friday. And he told us an unusual story which he insisted was true. It concerned a wreck a few days ago near Sigourney, Iowa, which has […]
I don’t know how the stray collie-like dog knew, but he always did. Thursday was printing day, and the day the dog we’d nicknamed Firecracker could make a soft bed in the pressroom from the trimmings the newspaper folder generated. One of my jobs, during summer vacation from school, was to pick up those trimmings […]
I had lots of jobs at the Gallatin newspapers. But one that held some of the most interest for me was writing School News. I did this from fifth through the eighth grades. Then in high school I revived the school newspaper for the campus, but that’s a story for another day. Dad came with […]
My parents purchased a maple spinet piano from Jenkins Music Co. in Kansas City when I was eight, and I immediately began piano lessons with Mrs. Eva Metzgar. Mrs. Metzgar was the town’s piano and voice teacher, and I spent many hours in her care over the years. What a stickler she was! At times, […]