Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Dadgum! More news from the county paper.

My first off-farm farm work was hoein' watermelons for a farmer whose family was County Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year one year, then flat-ass broke a few years later. Not unusual at all.

The county paper says that one of his sons' families is up for STATE Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year! Cows, wheat soybeans, alfalfa. He was a lil kid last time I saw him. I'm old.

Luck to him -- better luck than his uncle had.

--ER
 

OK, that was funny. The paper ran two sides of an issue that came in as a letter to the editor.
 

Back home, when I was a kid, the paper was a bi-weekly, running on Saturday and Tuesday. By the time I graduated high school, it was up to 5 days per week (Tues-Sat). It wasn't long after that before some big out-of-town news conglomerate bought it out. It isn't even printed in the town anymore. I think it runs six days a week now, but there's still no Sunday paper.
 

I don't think this paper will be for sale until another generation or two dies off -- and the current generation is in their 30s.

And they are unapologetic Dems.

Some of the most thoughtful anti-Bush, anti-rightwing commentary come out of it. Rural Okie Dems survive!

I loves my county paper.

--ER
 

Unapologetic Dems? Sounds familiar. Them bastards never apologize. :-)

C'mon. Let's party!
 

My very, very first job was at the Muldrow Herald, rolling newspapers and putting rubber bands around them so they could be delivered. The very first time I got paid for it was a small article in the Muldrow Herald, too.

And my second job was as a proofreader and typist at the Van Buren Argus. I was allowed to cover some town hall meetings at the ripe ol' age of 15, as well. I couldn't even drive myself to the meetings, my older sister had to take me. (sigh) I'll always have a soft spot for those little county papers. :)
 

Both the original letter and the rebuttal were in the same issue? How did that happen? Did the paper contact Bill and ask for his side?

That's still a funny exchange.

I posted news from my local newspaper over at my place, too, but it isn't as funny.
 

Reckon Bill is the inlaw, cousin, or poker buddy of the editor? Or maybe Bill's crew is the one that works on the editor's own county road, culvert, and driveway. Or maybe Bill is six foot six, wieghs three hundred and fifty pounds carries a shot gun in the back window of his pickup and lives across the fence from the editor. Or maybe the editor just wanted to be fair and balanced.
Betcha the exchange isn't done yet.
ER keep us apprised.
 

Crystal, I thought it wasd the Big Basin Herald.

Mark, yes.

Drlobojo, who knows? I think they wanted to run the leter because they're open that way, but the writer was making a serious charge (the alled F's and GD's not least among them), and they probably figured it was worth calling the guy in the interest of fairness and balance. Any Faux News watchers out there, that's how it's actually done.

--R
 

I was in the Muldrow Herald years ago when it was run by two girls named Betty and Mary. I think I remember a skinny little girl doing something to the papers too. Maybe it was you.
 

The Headline in my local paper reads, "Gun found at school"

A student was caught with a loaded Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and an extra clip of ammo. It is my son's school and his friend who was being threatened.

Scary.
 

Dang, mark. Back in my day, the "gun found at school" coulda been a shotgun in any of a bunch of gun racks in the pickup trucks in the parking lot.

Here's hoping that kid stews in juvie and gets the right help until he's a grup, then is kept an eye on for a long time afterward.

--ER
 

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

ER: Nope, it was the Muldrow Herald. Dang if you didn't make me look it up, though. :) I keep trying to post on your blog and it's not showing up. If you get a bunch of repetitive stuff on here from me, feel free to delete some of them.

"not so" anonymous: Ha! "Skinny little girl..." God bless you. :) Seems like I remember a police officer hanging around the place, too. E-mail me once in awhile, will ya? It's getting harder to keep up with you through the grapevine! ;)
 

Well, it was the Big Basin Herlad sometime back in there. Odd little long thin tabloidy sized thing.

(I wonder if the "not so" anonymous is who you think it is? I wonder if it is who I think you think it is? I have no idea. Bloggers are without honor in their own families).

--ER
 

Historical comparison to Mark's story.
It is 1962, and David ..... and I who were seniors were on Student Office Duty at the high school in our small SW Oklahoma town. A junior named Billy C.... walks by the wall to ceiling window of the principal's office. He has a 45 cal. automatic sticking out of his back pocket. David looks at me and jumps up and out the door in few steps. With out a word he grabs Billy around the arms and I grab the pistol. He sits on Billy until I can lock the pistol in a desk drawer and find the principal. Were David and I Hero's, no, just stupid high school kids who eventually got reprimanded by the superintendent about our stupidity and kicked out of the office and back to boring study hall for the effort.
The principal takes the gun out of the drawer, it was loaded, and waves it in Billy's face. For a little while I thought he might shoot him, with his own gun. Seems Billy was going use his father's old Army pistol to shoot the football coach when we tackled him.
Billy's father is called, he is given Billy and the gun, and told the story. Billy doesn't show up for school for a week or so and when he does his car that he drove to school is no more and his dad picks him up at the door after school(that was total humiliation at our school). NO sheriff, no school record, no newspaper articles in the weekly paper, no fuss, and David and I are told to keep our mouths shut as well( fat chance that).
Can you imagine something like that going down that way today?
 

Man. Drlobo, have yiou ever read "The Last Picture Show" by McMurtry? Sounds like you lived it, just on the right side of Red River!

--ER
 

ER: The paper did become the Big Basin Herald later on, and Tech and I worked on it for a brief time together. Betty and Mary had left the paper behind and moved on to other things. I believe I was between colleges at that time...and still didn't know how to drink beer properly. :)

Anonymous isn't who I think? Hmmm...
 

McMurtry may have made his money in New York City, but he got his soul from a close knit very small Texas town.
My little town was a mirror image of Archer City Texas (the last Picture Show town) but on the good Oklahoma side of the Red and about twice as far from Wichita Falls as Archer City is. I saw the movie and its sequal. I haven't read the book though.
Have you been down to McMurtry's town size book store?
 

I have made several trips dowjn there, and spent way too much money there, especially when I was hip deep in my M.A. Hoo boy.

--ER