Editorial
Sports figures, role models and the Bible
By: John Suhr
This past NFL football season saw something that was remarkable. Drew Brees and my favorite, Aaron Rogers and the passing yards and quarterback rating these two set.
Many young people and, for that matter, adults see professional athletes as someone to look up to or give them inspiration.
These two players took quarterbacking to a new level, and were a new level of inspiration. Yet there was another – Tim Tebow.
Tebow made headlines and grabbed the attention of sports and non-sports enthusiasts alike, many times overshadowing the passing yards of Brees, the quarterback rating of Rogers.
It was not for his passing yards or quarterback rating. It was for something he did after a touchdown or a game. It became know as Tebowing.
Thanking God.
It was like the media had never seen this before. I have seen players many times sign the cross or take a knee, but nothing like Tim Tebow.
Tebow took it to another level. While a number of players in football wear black stripes under their eyes to help with sun reflection (I actually think to make them look tougher) Tebow took it one step further.
In his college days the black stripes read Rom. 1:16, Isaiah 40:31, Eph. 2:8-10, John 3:16... For those who do not follow football, these are not plays to be called on the field, but plays Tebow follows in life. They are Bible verses.
The South Dakota House and Senate passed non-binding resolutions encouraging South Dakota schools to provide academic instruction into the Bible.
While I’m not a Broncos fan, maybe Tim Tebow has done something to get this country and our state thinking.
I imagine after Tebow made media attention the internet was bombarded with what those verses meant. Some people may have even dusted off their Bibles to look up the verses.
It certainly will not hurt our students to learn more about the Bible. It can be taught in our schools without violating any First Amendment rights and give our young people a stronger foundation in life.
It is a step in the right direction. The Bible is a history book and a book of our future.
Column
By: LeAnn Suhr
Diet did what it said it would
Several months ago I went on the first diet of my life. It wasn’t so much for the extra weight that’s been slowly building up as it was the other health benefits promised by the e-mail that made its way to my inbox.
It sounded intriguing but I had some doubts. I was training for a half marathon and most people increase their carb intake for that. Maybe the timing was wrong. I ate my birthday cake in September, then dove in anyway.
For the first two months carbohydrates were the enemy. Five grams every five hours. That’s not much.
I had no idea how to eat without breads, potatoes and fruit. Even some vegetables were banned. What can possibly be made without flour and sugar?
The book said that after four days cravings would stop and my mood would improve. In fact, it said something to the effect that people might comment about how pleasant I was to be around. Let’s just say that never happened. But after a week or two things leveled off.
There is no way around it, those first two months were tough. I’ve never eaten so many nuts, eggs, meats and salads in my life. Home was one thing but going out to eat was a nightmare. On vacation I ordered a club sandwich without the bread. The waiter managed to come through and it was pretty good. During this phase of the diet I found out that if you put a slice of cheese on parchment paper in the microwave for 60 seconds it turns into something very much like a cracker. So it wasn’t all bad.
By this time the history on our computer was filled with low carb recipe sites. (I was thinking of food all the time!) I picked up a sampling of all the low carb ingredients available locally and had some others ordered in. It turns out there are even dessert recipes out there.
Toward the end of the two months it was time to move to phase two and reintroduce some carbs. I had lost enough weight to feel good and sometimes felt deprived of food. thanksgiving and Christmas both were in phase two. No mashed potatoes and dressing, but half a sweet potato was allowed.
Phase three has added quite a few more grams of carbohydrates. In fact, it’s rare for me to eat my daily quota. This phase can last indefinitely. I’m cooking with chemicals way down in the fine print on an ingredient label, but it’s not bad. John even likes most of it!
So in this diet the weight loss happened and I really do feel better than I have in years. There may be some occasional cheats, but at this point there doesn’t seem to be any good reason to go back.
By George!
She had a real need for speed
By George Thompson
Donna Richmond got pulled over as she was trying to rush her daughter to a hospital when a highway patrol trooper clocked her going 90 mph.
About that time daughter Debbie Richmond screamed from the front passenger seat, “I'm in labor.”
The trooper let them go with the warning. But the delay from the traffic stop kept them from reaching the hospital in time, so Debbie gave birth to a baby girl in her mother's Hyundai.
Baby daddy Randall Altman said he was in the back seat “freaking out.”
by george
A 19-year-old college student accused of swiping a doughnut in Powell, WY will pay a pretty penny for that pastry.
Zach O'Dell has agreed to pay a $200 fine, $10 in court costs plus 79 cents to cover the cost of the doughnut.
On Nov. 28 O'Dell ate the treat and left the market without paying and was subsequently charged with shoplifting.
Attorney Sandra kitch-en deferred the prosecution, and the charge will be dismissed in six months if O'Dell keeps his nose clean.
O'Dell, a Northwest College student studying criminal justice, declined to comment.
by george
A York, PA middle schooler got an up-close lesson in wildlife biology from a four-legged visitor without a hall pass.
Officials at Red Lion Area Junior High School say the eighth-grade boy and a startled deer ended up on the ground after it brushed through the school's main entrance around dismissal time.
Principal Kevin Peters and a teacher were able to trap the deer in a foyer as other students got out of the way. The deer eventually crashed back out apparently unhurt. The student was taken to a hospital as a precaution but released later.
Superintendent Scott Deisley says another deer was caught on a surveillance camera ramming a door last June when school wasn't in session at the time.
bye george
