A Bubble Off Plumb

This week I’m going to hit you with a hodgepodge of items not long enough to warrant their own column.

First off, get ready for the celebration of T.B. Ferguson’s birthday. It’s free and will be held at lunchtime March 15 at the Watonga Senior Center. His birthday is really the 17th, but that’s Sunday, so we’re doing it early.

If you want a good, inexpensive lunch in addition to the birthday cake, stop over a little before noon and get a plate from the center. For $7 you get a main course, salad, vegetables, rolls, dessert and a drink.

Think about that. You’d have to spend seven bucks at the convenience store for a pop and a candy bar, let alone a full meal. It’s such a deal all of us should take advantage of it several times a week.

**************** Has anyone noticed the progress being made on the Blaine County Jail? It is moving right along. That’s a good thing.

But something the new jail won’t address is courthouse security. I’ve been in these parts for about five years off and on, and that whole time there has been discussion about making the courthouse more secure.

Sad to say, but it is time, folks. The building needs to have one entrance and exit – the east side near the sheriff's office so that elevator/ handicap access is covered.

There needs to be a state-of-the art metal detector that everyone passes through. All the farmers are going to be mad for years because they have to take their pliers back to the pickup truck just because they want to pay their tax bill.

I don’t want it to come to this. I don’t want to have to go back to the truck to drop off the pocketknife I forgot was in my britches.

But it is necessary to protect people who are in those offices, offices that were built back before things were constructed with employee safety in mind. They are like rabbit warrens, one opening off another, only one way in or out. It’s enough to scare the stuffing out of someone.

Improvements have been made, but more needs to be done. It is hoped the modifications will never be put to the test. But they need to be made before Blaine County is in the headlines, in a bad way.