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Sunday, July 6, 2025 at 3:32 AM
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From the Publisher

Captain's Log March 26th... Cannon Fodder
From the Publisher

This has been a week of dealing with interesting community dynamics. I finally got the Cannon Petition flyer in the mail. It was anonymous. Who does that?? What’s wrong with a good ol’ fashioned letter to the editor where you sign your name. We aren’t internet trolls in this town. We all live here together and if you’re unhappy about something, own it.

So of course, I read the flyer and looked up the petition link that was all the way at the bottom of the page-long complaint. The petition seems to indicate it was posted by a gal I know so I sent her an email to see if it was her – she lives right next to one of our local dairies, so it feels like a logical connection. This gal is pretty responsive normally, but in this case – crickets. Still haven’t heard from her and it’s been a week.

So far 65 people have signed the online petition that the mailer explains. The flyer was sent by mail to “attract the attention of the leaders of Churchill County regarding the increasing and detrimental use of ‘Propane Cannons’ in our valley.” It says Churchill County should go back to being a place of peace and quiet -- I’m wondering how these people missed the window-cracking sonic booms that regularly shake the entire valley when jets break the sound barrier.

Out of curiosity I looked up the postal permit imprint since we’ve been dealing with that process anyway – it says the “presorted standard postage paid” was used and is called a Every Door Direct Mail Permit Extended Carrier Route Walking Sequence Saturation. Dang. That’s serious. From what I can tell $1,900 worth of saturation. I’m wondering why someone would spend that kind of money when all they have to do is call the county commission to “attract the attention of the leaders of Churchill County.”

Interestingly, I asked the county commissioners if anyone had contacted them at any point about the issue of the cannons, and all three of them said no. Which is so strange to me. Everyone knows if you have any sort of question whatsoever, all you have to do is pick up the phone and call one of your elected officials. And their phone numbers are listed everywhere, including in this paper.

I also find it interesting that during the recent conversation and decision-making process about whether or not schools were going back to full time instruction, all three county commissioners were receiving pleas from the community to do something to get kids back to school. But during the school board meeting, school board members said they hadn’t heard from parents one way or the other.

Call. Your. Representatives. The ones who make the decisions.

Speaking of the school district…

Another allusion to the “Captain’s” theme was made by one of the county commissioners at the Board of Health meeting, ironically to the Superintendent of Schools in reference to captaining the Titanic.

Ironic because we have been researching a story brought to us by several community members wanting to know why we weren’t covering alleged drug use by employees of a school district contractor.

We are on the story – and have received the following response from Dr. Stephens to our inquiry into the allegations.

“The District and Chartwells have worked together to investigate these allegations be- cause they involve both entities."

As soon as this was brought to our attention, we initiated a thorough investigation which includes (among other things) interviews of potential witnesses and review of security cam- eras. As you know, information from the investigation cannot be shared because it involves confidential personnel matters. While we are not in a position to share these details, we can state with confidence that students are not impacted in any way. In addition, the school com- munity can rest assured knowing that in the investigation all District policies and Chartwells procedures have been followed.

Chartwells and the District will continue to take seriously and fully investigate all potential instances of substance abuse or impairment on school grounds.

Keeping you posted,

Rachel


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COMMENTS
Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I knew Sam as a member of our church growing up. He always had a warm smile, a kind word, and a great sense of humor! He will be great missed!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:57 AMComment source: Obituary -- Samuel Bruce WickizerComment author: Mike HinzComment text: Great teacher, great coach, but even a better person!!! Rest in peace Mr. BeachComment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:53 AMComment source: Obituary -- Jack Victor Beach, Jr.Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I had Mrs Hedges for First Grade at Northside Elementary in 1969. I still, to this day, remember her as a wonderful teacher…one of my favorites!!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:29 AMComment source: Obituary - Nancy Marie Hedges C Comment author: Carl C. HagenComment text: What are MFNs and PBMs ?? ............................ From the editor: This is a very good question and we apologize for not catching that wasn't in there. We reached out to the writer/submitter and got this info back...hope it's helpful. PBM: Pharmacy Benefit Managers are pharmacies that are owned by insurance companies. (CVS is one.) They negotiate with drug makers to get reduced pricing for medications, but they historically have not passed along those savings to patients. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/pharmacy-benefit-managers-staff-report.pdf MFN: Most Favored Nation pricing is a policy that means a country agrees to offer the same trade concessions (like tariffs or price reductions) to all member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). When applied to pharmaceuticals, it could disrupt global access, deter innovation, and obscure the deeper systemic issues in American health care. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2025/05/22/the-global-risks-of-americas-most-favored-nation-drug-pricing-policy/Comment publication date: 6/23/25, 7:47 AMComment source: L E T T E R TO THE EDITOR
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