May 18, 2012

You can beat the heat, but it’s a two-way street

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com I hate the fact that I even have to write this column. Kansas City, like much of the rest of the nation, is squirming in the grip of a stifling heat wave, and there are far too many of the sick, elderly and economically disadvantaged who are suffering in silence. When [...]

Permanent memorial for skywalk tragedy long overdue

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com Thirty years is too long to wait for a permanent memorial to those who died in the Hyatt Hotel skywalk collapse. But this weekend’s planned activities to mark the disaster certainly are a start in the long, arduous healing process. Kansas Citians – and engineering students as well – are familiar [...]

OPINION: Writer seeks local voices of generations

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com I’ve always been a sucker for history. I love hearing other people’s stories about where they grew up, how they grew up, how the world around them changed as they came of age, and how, possessing the knowledge they’ve amassed over the years, they view their world now. It just so [...]

OPINION: Carter book reminds of similarities to Obama

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com I have something to admit to you: I’m probably going to buy Jimmy Carter’s new book. Not because I am a fan of the man widely panned as the worst president in the history of our country, but because I want to see Carter at least try to admit, in his [...]

OPINION: Massive traffic jam highlights challenges of overpopulation

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com And you thought I-35 during rush hour was bad. Chinese media – with the government’s unnecessary blessing, of course – released images of a massive traffic jam on a highway in Beijing earlier this week. Motorists’ cars were at a standstill as road construction crews held up the flow of traffic. [...]

Teachers excited, anxious for new school year, too

When you’re 10 years old, it’s difficult to put yourself in the teacher’s shoes on that first day of school. You enter your new classroom on that first day, and your heart races. Your palms sweat. Your eyes dart from one end of the room to another, looking for your friends who ended up in [...]

OPINION: Roommate sparks war over junk food

But don’t get between a chubby kid and his junk food. Just don’t.

OPINION: 4-H builds character for those kids involved

Around this same time last year, I was writing a column about how, as a self-proclaimed “city boy,” I knew very little about what goes into the work of 4-H’ers and their experiences in raising and showing livestock and other animals at the Johnson County Fair. Although I learned a lot from last year’s fair [...]

OPINION: Saying goodbye to a car a difficult process

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com I knew it was going to happen eventually. Last weekend I walked out to my car after finishing a shift at one of my three jobs. Wanting to escape the sweltering heat – it felt like 95 degrees at 11 p.m. – I was looking forward to cranking up the AC [...]

OPINION: U.S. among countries yet to deliver Haiti aid

Corbin H. Crable chcrable@gardnernews.com A story on CNN’s website this week updated its readers on those countries that have made good on their promise to deliver relief funds to earthquake-ravaged Haiti – and the news isn’t good for the U.S. According to the article, America pledged a whopping $1.15 billion of the total $5.3 billion [...]