Losing sight of our utopian society. Final Draft.

Author and Journalist Hendrik Willem Van Loon once said, “This world needs Utopias as it needs fairy stories. It does not matter so much where we are going, as long as we are making consciously for some definite goal. And a Utopia, however strange or fanciful, is the only possible beacon upon the uncharted seas of the distant future."

Perhaps its time we start thinking in the past.

Not long ago, it seemed as though Kearney was an excellent place to live and raise a family. It was as close to a utopian society as one could get.

For Generation Y, those of us born between 1970 and 2000, Kearney was seen as a place where nothing truly interesting and newsworthy really happened, yet recently, as in the past decade, the town has been akin to troubles you would see in larger metro areas and on giant movie screens.

Serious issues such as the 2001 Anne Sluti abduction, the 2009 murder of Kelcey Fike, the 2009 robbing of Kmart, the recent hostage crisis at Wells Fargo and the newly developing story about the teenager who, with the aid of his friends, allegedly robbed his 77-year-old grandmother of her pain medication have turned this once quiet town into a feeding ground for the morally dejected.

So what ever happened to the good old days?

Ask any Kearneyite and they will surely tell you, Kearney is a wonderful place to live and has a lot to offer. One can acquire virtually anything they need in order to carry on with their days in a short five-minute drive to the supermarket.

There are movie theaters, parks, bars, a public library and a slew of other places one can go for a good time, so why is it that trouble seems to find its way into our lives, and what can we do to keep it out and restore our utopia?

Society cannot be fixed using a computer or a cell phone, and this may come as the ultimate challenge to us, as our culture has come to terms with a lifestyle that goes along with push-button technology so much so that we tend to forget that it takes us, the people, to fix our problems and society.

It’s about time we took a step back and thought about things with a grass roots approach.
Rather than letting our children run amok whilst we whimsically chat with friends online, we should be spending quality time with them and being there to make sure they live a healthy childhood.

If parents spent more time molding their children and encouraging them, rather than letting them play mindless video games for hours so long as they stay quiet, there would likely be a shift in the crime rates for the better, as most of the crimes we see are being perpetrated by people ranging from young adults to those in their late twenties.

Not to say that it’s the video games fault, but more so the lax upbringing that children are receiving these days.

People have become dependant on technology to a point that it has become a necessity rather than a luxury, and that needs to change if we are to usher in a new generation of moral beings to inhabit this town and make it the place it once was when we were young…our own personal Mayberry.

It would be easy to look to the recession as a scapegoat for all the recent headlines that have shocked our town into a state of fear, but the blame could more squarely be placed on our own shoulders, and its about time we do something about it.

Facebook: the unknowing crimefighting vigilante of the internet

My mother always told me to be careful what I put on facebook because I may never find a job if future employers see me slamming beers and smoking hookah. I never really took those words to heart until I read this story in the Kearney Hub about a Nebraska State Penitentiary guard in Lincoln who made a post stating “When you work in a prison a good day is getting to smash an inmates face into the ground ... for me today was a VERY good day,” which sparked replies from two coworkers who agreed with him. Now all three find themselves in a very uncomfortable spot as former State Senator Ernie Chambers is calling for their dismissal from service. This proved to me that not only was my mom right, but also that the inmates may not be the dangerous ones to watch out for in prison. Its going to be Abu Ghraib all over again if they aren't mindful of what they put on the social networking powerhouse, and it is a valuable lesson for our facebook generation to take note of.

one bad morning drive...

Just west of Minden at approximately 7:57 am, a Kearney man died after colliding with a semi-truck. The deceased was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, whilst the unharmed semi-driver was. This may sound like an attempt show my backing on the issues of seat-belts and the importance they have in our day-t0-day commutes, but mainly I just want to point out that there was no reports of rubberneckers slowing the pace of our county police and ambulance aid. Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that this wasn't happening in downtown Kearney and didn't involve a gun, or perhaps it is because it was too early for all those people that dont have jobs to be up and looming, waiting for some kind of drastic event to take place so that they can all run down to the corner and stretch their necks to search out the macabre. Too often in our community, and virtually any community around, if there is an instance of trouble that reaches the radio and internet fast enough, swarms of people will find their way to street corners and sidewalks surrounding the happenings, clogging up any chance of help to have easy access if need be.

Kearney, you disappoint me.

What in the hell is happening to this town? Growing up, Kearney was the nicest place in the world. When a scuffle broke loose you half expected Barney Fife to come ambling in, take a slow walk around the room, shifting his eyes then squinting hard, saying in an all too cocky voice, "Gun-drawing practice, ten minutes every day. If I ever have to use this baby, I want to teach it to come to papa in a hurry."
Let's face it, Kearney was our own personal Mayberry, tucked away safely away in the heart of the Midwest. It was what Dobytown would have been like...safe.
Recently, over the last few years, Kearney has been home to a lot of trouble.
A murder of a young woman, her trailer burned.
KMart is robbed at gunpoint.
Wells Fargo has a hostage situation, and now today we have teenagers robbing an innocent old woman for Oxycontin, one of which was her grandson. These people are staining the sheets that Kearneyites sleep on each night, and we should not stand for it.

For the love of money...it's time to ask "why?"

With Nixon there was Watergate, with the (2nd) Bush administration there was Abu Ghraib, and the New York school system had the Queensbury Town Board.
For longer than we probably would even care to know, the government has been keeping the us in the dark, acting on secrecy and spending millions in taxpayer dollars for budget plans that, because of "confidentiality agreements," we as the general public have no idea about. So why are we so concerned with it? The answer kiddies is the fact that we, the people of this once great nation now teeming with scandal-stricken headlines gracing the front pages of almost every major publication, we are the ones paying for these scandals. We are the ones paying the money the government is spending in secret, and when we try to ask why the money is being spent the way it is, big brother tells us to simply shut our gaping maws and go back to our daily lives, AND FOR THE MOST PART WE DO! After reading through the editorials, I was happy to find that some people still care about the happenings that go on behind closed doors with our high ranking officials, but for the most part, it seems, people are indifferent or too afraid to voice their opinions. I think it is our definite right to know what the hell is going on, and why for instance $80,000 was paid to a teacher to end a contract. Sure, I dont live in the area and I was virtually unaffected by this, but if it is going on elsewhere, God knows it is happening here. Isn't it about time we stand up for ourselves and be the men and women we were born to be. Isn't it truly time for change...and I am not talking allocating Billions for health care here, I am talking about the simple right to know what our hard earned money is being spent on and why. It's time for some answers, but, as the articles prove, answers WILL NOT come if questions aren't asked. I say we go into these sorts of situations with the same mentality we had as children in a toy store. If you ask for a toy (answer) and your mom (government) says no, as again and ask louder. Keep asking until she either buys the damn thing or drags you out of the store in sheer and utter embarrassment. It always worked well for me anyways....

pay those damned parking violations!

I was just perusing through today's Omaha World Herald Newspaper, reading the Midlands section to check out my favorite column which is Robert Nelson's informative and opinionated front page writeup of section B, and there was a piece entitled "Check your mirrors for scofflaws" informing people that ignored parking fines will result in further financial punishment on the beholder in the market of $20. I know this doesnt seem like much to the hardworking middle-class, but as little as twenty bucks could buy a case of beer, a lapdance at a stripclub, a new t-shirt or a plethora of other things....Hell, give it to Haiti, but why pay more to those assholes at the DMV or the couthouse, I mean, what are they giving you?

Did Jesus spank his little saviour?

When I was growing up, my mother felt the constant need to remind me that Jesus was always watching my every move. When the day came that I discovered masturbation, I was so horrified of the thought of our Lord looking down on me that I would often find myself slumped down in the corner of our old storage closet with the lights off, a flashlight, a few pieces of toilet paper and the most current JCPenney catalog that we had (I was young, people...). I would keep the lights off because A) I was sure from my years in catholic school that Jesus was God in the form of man, therefore, like me, he could not see in the dark, and B) my mother had a crucifix and/or picture of the guy in virtually every room in the house. I'm not exactly sure when I fell out of my faith, or whether or not it had anything to do with masturbation, but I'm just spit-balling here, and I am pretty sure that if the catholic church was okay with the act of self-fulfillment, more people would be there on Sunday dropping money into baskets, paying for their salvation. I think that if God loves us and wants us to be happy, masturbation and premarital sex should be a requirement to get past St. Peter...Take a few tips from my good friend Kenny, who has been pimpin since pimpin was PIMPIN....sex is cool, and oh yea, be sure to join my group on facebook...Kevin's Crusade for Abstinence and support my cause!

What's so super about the Super Bowl

Seriously, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words Super Bowl? For Willie Nelson, its probably a giant bud of marijuana, and for most of the country football comes to mind, but for me, its just another excuse to get as drunk as I possibly can and urinate off the roof onto my friend's car whilst screaming about the lyrics to a song by Slayer. This year I chose an alternative route. I actually watched the game, and I got to say, The Who have still got it.

Effort to repeal Nebraska helmet law still stuck in neutral. FINAL DRAFT

Imagine Peter Fonda riding his chopper down an open stretch of highway in 1969, his hair blowing in the breeze across the collar of his black leather jacket; his red, white and blue helmet riding passenger on the seat-post behind him.

With Spring poking its head eagerly around the corner, it's easy to realize that soon enough the sun will be shining down brightly, the trees will have budded bright and colorful leaves, and the sound of high octane motorcycle engines will once again dominate the roadways.

Interstates and highways across the country will be teeming with pulled back pony-tails flailing in the breeze, men and women everywhere living out thier rebel-set dreams on a long stretch of blacktop, that is unless they are riding through the Good Life State.

Once again, Nebraska Legislative Bill 200, a proposal that would repeal the state's mandatory helmet law for riders 21 and over, failed to reach the amount of votes needed for repeal, thus creating yet another setback for cyclists seeking the freedom to ride their bikes with thier hair dancing in the breeze behind them.

Thursday, February 11 marked the fourth time in the last two decades that repeal measures have reached the full Legislature since the helmet requirement was reinstated in 1989.

The day also marks the fourth time in as many tries that the efforts have been for none, as the Legislature recieved 27 of the 33 votes needed in order to repeal the law.

Don't voters realize that 30 out of 50 states can't be wrong. Not to mention the fact that repealing the law would bring in much needed business and tax dollars that go elsewhere because of our helmet law.

Sturgis, SD has made a name for itself as the Biker Capital of the World, with people coming from all over for it's annual summer festival, which come August will be celebrating its 70th year in exhistence.

Many riders bypass our state, opting to go around rather than through it, because we have taken away their free will in choosing whether or not to wear a helmet.

So what ever happened to this supposed "Land of the Free" we are living in?

Aren't there more pressing matters at hand, or do we really need to deny someones right of free will and choice?

We live in a state wherein upon reaching the age of 21, individuals have the right to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and abort a child if they so deem it necessary to upholding a conventional lifestyle, so why is it such a big deal if someone of the same age wants to ride a motorcycle without a helmet?

It is not so much a question of safety as it is one of control. Perhaps Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha said it best when he questioned, "Whose rights do we trample on next?"

Watch out mall-walkers, your time could be coming very soon.

Helmets! Safety might soon be a mtter of choice as Legislature opens debate on mandatory helmet laws.

There is a debate currently being held about the importance of helmets when operating motorcycles in the State of Nebraska. Is the proposal is approved, Nebraska riders over the age of 21 would be granted with the option of whether or not they want to wear a helmet. Are they NUTS??? What the hell? I saw Easy Rider and I understand that Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper are total bad-asses sans-helmet, but did we forget the end of the film. Death! sure they were shot at, but I am sure the impact their skulls made with the pavement (unseen in the film, yet easily imaginable) didnt help with their chances of possibly recovering. I can't help but say that although this would save the state much needed funding from lost tax revenue, we would essentially be increasing the risk of taxpayers getting killed. I hold faith in the fact that the attempt to end the mandatory helmet law has failed since 1989, but in today's society, with drugs being legalized and, generally, the overall state of things, Anything could happen...

$20 to set up a facebook account...ludicrous!

Look in the regional briefs section in today's Kearney Hub newspaper and you will see it. Lexington, NE will be holding a Facebook start-up class in which applicants pay twenty dollars to sit in a room and be informed on how to type their name and favorite things. Basically, they tell you what the 'Sign Up Now' icon means...word for word. If I would have know this, I would have been holding weekly classes for ten bucks a pop since 2004 when the social-networking giant started. It irks me that I never think of things like this, because I would love to be able to say that facebook is paying my tuition! Anyone want to learn how to turn on a coffee machine or know what the play button does on their stereo, because I would be glad to help for a price.

I know that there are some people out there that just don't understand computers, but this is damned ridiculous!

OMFG! Don't drop the babbbbbby MJ!

Breaking news! MJ returns from the dead and resides in garbage trucks; eats babies.