Editorial

In my last Palmer’s Almanac (Journal Record, Feb. 20), I traced the evolution of almanacs from the beginning of recorded time to the founding of the United States of America. As American expansion moved west, the publication of almanacs soon followed.
Almanacs began as inscriptions on clay tablets about 5,000 years ago in the fertile Euphrates valley in modern-day Iraq.
Ancient farmers kept records of the seasons, the weather and the climate as a way of predicting when Spring planting should begin and, hopefully, increasing the next season’s harvest.

My parents were young people during the Great Depression. While my maternal grandparents had owned the town grocery store and a large rooming house, complete with “hired-girls” to help, they were now relegated to living with their children, in a miner’s shack. It had a dirt floor and whatever they could find to stuff into the cracks in the walls.
I believe the World War II may have been the relief our nation found to overcome the abject poverty the Depression visited on our world.

After their successful special five-day Special Session, the Legislature has been in their Regular Session for a few weeks now. The session will end in June so it is about one-fourth over.
Almost one-third of the members are new, freshmen if you will. Even though they are, for the most part, a bright and talented group, they are still wet behind the ears when it comes to legislative ways.

A little over two weeks ago, Hamilton Mayor Bob Page commended the Resource Conservation and Development council during the council’s meeting to discuss 2018’s projects.
Throughout last year, RC&D has funded projects ranging from buying computers and printers for schools and police departments to funding paving projects for school parking lots as they had at Brilliant High School in 2018.

The governor has been inaugurated and the Legislature has had its organizational session. The quadrennium has begun. Therefore, it is time for our state officials to get to work.