Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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I’ll confess to being in a slight state of the doldrums. What does that mean? According to the Oxford Languages, it is “a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or depression.” If you go to NOAA, it’s a nautical term for the equatorial belt where the winds don’t blow and so sailing ships get “stuck.” Merriam Webster says the meaning is “a spell of listlessness or despondency.” I’m at the stage of inactivity or listlessness, at least as far as it pertains to getting a column written! I’m sure, if you regularly read my scribblings, you’ve n...
Like most Americans, you will probably take on debt at some point in your life. And by managing debt wisely, you can potentially improve your saving and spending habits – and even your ability to invest for the future. Let’s look at some of the common options available for borrowing and using credit: • Credit card – When used carefully – and not over-used – a credit card can be a valuable tool, especially if you travel frequently. Many people tend to stick with the same credit card without exploring what else is out there. Try to find a card...
When drawing up your estate plans, you might find it useful to create a revocable or irrevocable trust, either of which can help your estate avoid probate court and give you significant control over how and when your assets are distributed. But who should oversee your trust? As the person who established the trust — known as the “grantor” or “settlor” — you can also namea yourself as trustee. However, this may not be the best move, particularly if the trust is irrevocable. An irrevocable trust protects the assets in the trust from creditors a...
Temperatures at Lustre were in the upper 90’s this week, and thankfully cooled down in the evening somewhat. Sunsets were beautiful. A farewell service was held by the Lustre Community Bible on Sunday morning, July 7, for Dan and Melissa Marasco and their family. They have been part of Lustre for 14 years and Dan served as chairman of the board for Beacon Bible Camp, was a Bible teacher the past 14 years and music teacher for both schools this past year. His Bible teaching was akin to being able to attend Bible College, and very much a...
Vacation Bible School was held at the Opheim Community Church on July 10-12. The theme for the Bible School was "I Am A Friend of God." The children have learned about ordinary men who were friends with the King of the Universe! This was an Inspiration for their "everyday" lives. An "ice cream social" climaxed the event on Friday afternoon....
You can’t predict financial emergencies — but you can prepare for them. To do that, you can build an emergency fund to pay for unexpected expenses, some of which may be sizable. Without one, you might be forced to dip into your investments, possibly including your retirement accounts, such as your IRA or 401(k). If this happens, you might have to pay taxes and penalties, and you’d be withdrawing dollars that could otherwise be growing over time to help pay for your retirement. In thinking about such a fund, consider these questions: • How muc...
Beacon Bible Camp had 70 students (45 girls and 25 guys) for Junior High Camp July 23-28. Speakers were Brad Spalding and Dan Hovestal of Oak Hills Christian College in Bemidji, Minn. Their messages were on "seeing the world clearly, judging the world accurately and retaking areas as needed. Brad Spalding works with the camp program at Oak Hills Christian College and Dan Hovestal and his wife are parents of eight, including five foster children. Melissa Marasco led the girls' Bible Studies and...
It doesn’t pay to leave your garden for two weeks at the end of June. The weeds thought to act like mice do when the cat’s away. They’ve run riot out there. I’m sorry to see the plants I wanted to grow seem to not have that same desire to thrive. Don’t get me wrong: they’re all still growing, but… There’s a reason we have the saying “growing like a weed.” I missed out on seeing all my purple iris in full bloom. The Shasta daisies on the north side of the house are vigorously blooming, but the ones to the east of the yard (mostly volunteers)...
The Beacon Bible Camp Annual Meeting was held on June 16, at 4:30 p.m., followed by a Father’s Day Barbecue. Dan Marasco, Camp Board chairman read the Apostle Paul’s parting words from Acts 20, imploring the community to “be on guard for the flock lest savage wolves from among you draw you away.” Last week, there were 41 campers registered for Senior High camp, 23 boys and 18 girls according to Camp Director Seth Runner. 2023 Camp directors, Dawson Olfert Dan Marasco gave reports as did Clayton Zerbe, secretary, and Marilyn Hilkemann, treasurer...
If you’ve retired, you may have thought you closed the book on one chapter of your life. But what happens if you need to “reverse” your retirement? Due to higher inflation and rising interest rates, many retirees are taking out more money from their retirement accounts than they had originally anticipated. As a result, some are headed back to the workforce. If you’re thinking of joining them, you’ll need to consider some factors that may affect your finances. First, if you’ve been taking Social Security, be aware that you could lose some o...
By the time you reach retirement age, you may have accumulated a 401(k), IRA and other investment accounts, along with insurance policies and physical properties. You’ll use some of these assets to support your retirement, but the rest may end up in your estate — which is why an estate plan is so important. So, to leave a legacy for your family and those philanthropic groups you support, you need a comprehensive estate plan — and you need to avoid making mistakes. Here are some of the most common ones: • Procrastinating – Estate planning,...
Fiber Optic service is due to be connected in Lustre in a couple of months for those who do not yet have it. TCH Construction of Glasgow has been working to install piping to prepare for the installation of fiber optics on Wallstreet road this week. It will provide an internet, telephone and cable all in one service, with a reliability that is not affected by weather. They will be in the area all summer, working from east to west. It will be activated by Nemont when finished. Beacon Bible Camp had its annual meeting June 16, at 4 p.m. followed...
I was just wondering how many of you had the experience of getting to take a bath in a tin wash tub. Remember those old square tubs that were used for washing clothes in the days of conventional washing machines? Many of us got our weekly bath in one of those and yes, the same water was used for more than one bather. Most of you have heard of the old saying “don’t throw the baby out with the wash water.” That was probably when that saying came about. I will admit I was one of those lucky ones, however we usually got to use an oblong galva...
The garden is almost fully planted. Of course I'm also counting on a lot of volunteer plants out there. Those are mostly flowers from the edible flower seed packet I bought a few years ago when the school had that as a fundraiser. But there's also volunteer cilantro and dill (you only ever need to purchase those once!), husk cherries (you can find their fruit in the store now as golden berries), and moon flowers. Oh, and some asparagus. I'll move a lot of those volunteers into rows and always...
Losing a spouse is one of the most painful experiences anyone can have. Unfortunately, widows and widowers have to deal with more than just the emotional trauma — they also must consider a range of financial issues. If you’ve recently been widowed, what financial moves should you consider? For starters, don’t rush into any major decisions. If you’re still in the grieving process, you are unlikely to be in the best shape to make significant choices affecting your finances and your life. But once you feel ready to look at your situation objecti...
We are thankful for several nice rains to help the crops. One week we had 3" of rain. Beacon Bible Camp Clean up day was June 1. The Senior High Camp (incoming grades ninth through 12th graders) is being held June 9-14. The Junior High Camp (incoming grades seventh through ninth) is June 16-21 with Mr. Arlen Lundberg, chalk artist. Junior Camp (incoming grades fourth through sixth) is scheduled June 23-28. Each camp runs Sunday at 4 p.m. until Friday at 11 a.m. Their website is...
While I've had the garden space tilled for quite a while, I hadn't actually planted anything until May 31. After tilling, I procrastinated setting up the drip system for far too long, but finally got that done. Then I procrastinated some more. In fact, I did that procrastinating so well, I have to hand-weed each row before putting any seed into the ground. I find procrastination often leads to more work. May 31 dawned fair, with little wind (a minor miracle), so I hustled out there to put...
Summertime is almost here — and for many people that means it’s time to hit the road. But even if you decide to take a vacation, you’ll want other areas of your life to keep working — especially your investments. So, how can you prevent your investments, and your overall financial strategy, from going on “vacation”? Here are a few suggestions: • Check your progress. You want your investments to be working hard for you, so you’ll need to check on their performance periodically — but be careful about how you evaluate results. Don’t compare you...
If you own a business and you offer a 401(k) or similar retirement plan to your employees, you’ll want to stay current on the various changes affecting these types of accounts. And in 2024, you may find some interesting new developments to consider. These changes are part of the SECURE 2.0 Act, enacted at the end of 2022. And while some parts of the law went into effect in 2023 — such as the new tax credit for employer contributions to start-up retirement plans with 100 or fewer employees —others were only enacted this year. Here are some...
Graduation was held at Lustre High School on Sunday, May 19, at 3 p.m. The processional was played by Mrs. Meridith Reddig and Pastor Justin Byers opened in prayer. The class verse was Psalms 145:13 "For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule throughout all generations." Honor Attendants were Mason Hilkemann and Abby Olfert. The five grads who wore white stoles and blue cords were in National Honor Society. They wore gold cords if their grade point average was 3.5 and above. Cayden...
The Lustre Grade School held its graduation on Wednesday, May 22, with the largest class in years of 14 students. John Dubois welcomed the large crowd and expressed gratitude for watching these students grow from fourth through eighth graders, these four years being the best in his life. Mrs. Jenny Mattyser emceed, introducing graduate Ashtyn Traeholt, teacher Mr. Agbisit and Mr. Don Traeholt who sang a trio called “One day At A Time.” Kimberly Klatt was chosen by the students to be the speaker. She presented her thoughts in poetry form. A few...
Once you’re retired, you will likely need to draw on several types of income for your living expenses. You’ll need to know where these funds are coming from and how much you can count on, but you should also be aware of how this money is taxed — because this knowledge can help you plan and budget for your retirement years. Here’s the basic tax information on some key sources of retirement income: • Social Security – Many people don’t realize they may have to pay taxes on their Social Security benefits. Whether your benefits will be taxed depe...
The Lustre Grade School held its spring concert on May 9, at 1 p.m. The program began with a piece by the teachers, joined consecutively by the classes scattered around the auditorium. It was energetic! The bands and choirs were under the excellent leadership of Mr. Dan Marasco. The young but good fifth-sixth grade band played "Sousa Spectacular," "March of the Royal Guard" with solos on clarinet by Hannah Pancratz and alto sax by Justin Schiller. Mr. Marasco explained the piece was too easy...
While in town last week, as I was letting myself be pampered with both a manicure and a pedicure, the marvelous lady in the next chair remarked that I should keep putting recipes in my column. I thank her for her comment as I sometimes wonder how much they are appreciated. I know they do pertain to gardening as we need to know what to do with our produce. Spring, of course, is prime rhubarb season. I have a couple new ways to prepare this delectable vegetable that we treat as a fruit. Oat and Brown Sugar Rhubarb Crisp Filling: Scant 5 C...
When you’re creating your estate plan and thinking of where you want your assets to go, you also may be thinking about how to be fair to your loved ones — but is that the same as treating everyone equally? In estate planning, “equal” doesn’t always mean “fair.” If you have grown children with different financial needs, you might think it’s unfair to leave them the same amounts. Or if you have a family business, and one of your children is ready to assume control, you might want to leave the business to that child and compensate the other sibli...
