Letter from home

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Hello from Falls City, Nebraska. By the the time you read this, I’ll be sitting at my Home Sweet Desk up on the third floor of the World Head-quarters of the Reno News & Review, but for now, I’m in the brand spanking new library of my home town.

Falls City usually looks a little worn, but this visit, many of the stores that were closed last time I was home are open with unfamiliar businesses. Lots of excitement, though: some mystery man has come into town and bought a bunch of old buildings for renovation, including a hotel, the old library, a gym and a theater—and the new high school band director was cruelly murdered (or something) mere days after she got to town.

There is also an unfortunate decline in the number of bars in town. I don’t know what year they started the town ordinance against drinking on Sunday nights, but it’s a sad state of affairs for yours truly. Despite the adversity, I have gotten out among them.

I feel sad for Falls Cityans. Not a single Home Depot or Lowes. No Taco Bell. How do they survive with no less than three independent hardware stores? I wish you could have seen the Norman Rockwell moment yesterday when a sculpture was installed in front of the library. Monsignor Roh, Mayor Vandeberg, and members of the library board (including Mimi Cowles from high school) posed for a portrait, which I’m sure will grace the pages of the locally owned, family run newspaper, the Falls City Journal. I can’t wait to read all the salacious details in Tuesday’s edition.

It’s funny how this conservative little town, which drove me crazy as a young man, has experienced an uptick in the face of all the national economic upheavals. Somehow, I’m guessing the Richardson County Bank wasn’t offering unreasonable lines of credit to its community members.