Mark Burchfield with the National Weather Service presented Dallas County Emergency Management with a certificate stating that Dallas County is now a “Storm Ready” community.

The Buffalo City Fire & Rescue in conjunction with the University of Missouri Extension Division Fire and Rescue Training Institute hosted an Introduction to Fire Service training on June 8-9 in the parking area at Superior Gearbox in Buffalo. The two-day, all-day training was offered to the local area of fire departments, that included Buffalo Rural, Long Lane, Louisburg, Urbana, Tunas, Pittsburg and more. This specific training according to Buffalo City Fire Chief Greg Cunningham is the “nuts and bolts” of beginning training.

Buffalo High School seniors were presented with scholarships and awards on May 2 at their Senior Awards Ceremony. Following the scholarships, all seniors were recognized with a list of their awards and future plans.

There was a time in America when most people were healthy. Up until the late 1800s, families generally raised their own gardens. The word "cancer" and some of the modern health problems were seldom heard. Toward the end of the 1800s, however, the growth of population and rise of large cities changed things. More and more processed foods were put on the market. Chicago became the center of the meat-packing industry, and that is when people noticed that food safety was going down. The Chicago Stockyards and Chicago meat industry headed up much of the country's meat production. It was soon learned that the meat-packing facilities were places of filth, putrefaction, disease, dampness, poor-ventilation, and lack of oversight. People were sickened when they read of the problems. Newspapers noted that sometimes poisoned rats, splinters, rope ends, and other things were scooped up and canned as potted ham. Upton Sinclair's novel on the subject and a 1906 jingle that ran in the newspaper made people take notice.

Last week, I walked my dog and took trash to the bin. Suddenly, the neighbor’s German Shepherd bolted towards us and grabbed little Sophia by the back haunches. Quickly, the neighbor popped out of her house and called the big dog off. I’ve never seen this behavior out of the German Shepherd before. It was an unfortunate incident. No injury occurred, except she now has PTSD.

I like old things.

Earlier this week my kids beat me at poker. No money changed hands, other than colored plastic chips. But the bragging rights will last a while, at least until next December. Our college-aged kids taught us how to play Texas Hold ‘em this year. We ordered cheap pizza and listened to Kenny Rogers sing “The Gambler” while we played.

‘Twas the day before Christmas when I got a splinter in my eye that nearly ruined everything. I was 7 years old and all set to be Wise Man No. 1 in the annual church Christmas play the next day.