Thanks for adult prom
     The Seward Youth Center would like to thank and send its appreciation to the Seward VFW for hosting the very first adult prom, "Time to Cut Loose and Footloose."
     We also would like to thank and give appreciation to the following people, as well-Sharyl Hofpar (photographer) who donated her time and proceeds to the Youth Center, Music Linc for the musical entertainment, Levy Voehl, Amber Hardy and Tara Hofpar and Ashley Fosler for coming up with the event and decorating.
     Most importantly we would like to thank the couples that attended the prom. Thank you so very much for supporting our Youth Center and we hope that you enjoyed the event.
    Travis Powers
    Youth Center director
    
    Prepare for flag displays
     As Memorial Day approaches, it is time to update our Avenue of Flags display for the cemeteries.
     We are writing this to ask that any family who has not paid Zabka Funeral Home or Volzke Funeral Home for a flag in the Avenue of Flags and who wants one for their beloved who died in the past year to contact us to arrange to have a flag prepared for display this year.
     Flags of those deceased in the last year will be displayed in the vicinity of the Veterans Memorial from Friday evening, May 23, until Monday evening, May 26. Other flags will be in the normal Avenue of Flags.
     If you have already paid either funeral home for a flag, your loved one's name should be on our list, but feel free to contact us to make sure.
     The Avenue of Flags is truly an inspiring sight throughout the weekend and we want to be sure your loved one's flag is displayed.
     Likewise, if you notice that a small flag is not on a veteran's grave, please contact one of us so we can get a flag on the grave.
    Jim Ehlers, Legion Post 33
    Trevor Smith, VFW Post 4755
    Avenue of Flags chairmen
    
    Writer had it wrong
     This is in response to Alan Tiemann's opinion page articled titled "Oil vs. corn, a difference in agenda."
     Tiemann, along with about 95 percent of the US population, castigates the so-called evil, rich big oil companies for making a profit on oil within the past few years.
     He complains about paying $3 to $4 per gallon for gas at the pump and also blames "big oil" for all the other high prices of consumer items especially groceries. Everything in Tiemann's article is a result of misinformation, false allegations and dirty liberal democrat politics. Many factors come into play which completely dispel all of Tiemann's rhetoric.
     To begin with, $3 to $4 per gallon for gasoline is not out of line when adjusted for inflation. In the late 1970s and early 80s, gas was about $1 per gallon and you had to stand in line for hours to get it, thanks to the policies of the democrat Carter administration. The value of the 1970s dollar was more than three times the value of the dollar today.
     During the 1980s when Republican Ronald Reagan was president and due to his energy policies the supply of oil was once again very abundant. This huge supply of oil brought the price of crude down to ridiculously low levels of about $10 to $15 per barrel. Americans enjoyed and wallowed around in cheap energy prices while the cost of almost everything else started creeping up in price, especially the cost of cars, housing, health care and many luxury items.
     At the $10 to $15 per barrel of crude oil, most of the big oil companies were losing money and consequently they stopped exploring for new oil fields. Many oil wells in this country were capped and abandoned because they were losing money. It was much cheaper for the oil refiners to import oil from foreign countries instead of using domestic supply.
     Over the past 10 to 15 years, however, the cheap oil and energy situation has done a complete reversal due to several factors.
     Factor 1-Due to the insatiable and wasteful appetite for oil and energy in the U.S., much of the available supply of oil was used up. The U.S., which comprises six percent of the total world's population, consumes 25 percent of the world's oil output. Most of the major foreign oil fields are experiencing vast production declines. They couldn't increase the oil output even if they wanted to.
     Factor 2-While the available supply of oil in the world is diminishing, world demand or oil is exploding. Along the Pacific Rim where about half the world's population exists which includes the countries of China, India, Indonesian and most of the Far East countries, the demand for oil has escalated. The people in these countries have been experiencing an industrial revolution whereby hundreds of millions of people are demanding a much higher standard of living which is more in line with the standards of the U.S. For the first time in history people in China and India have access to electricity, running water and many other so-called necessities of life which Americans have taken for granted over the past century. All this consumes a great amount of oil and energy. The bottom line is that there is a lot of competition in the world for the dwindling supply of oil.
     Most of the easy-to-find, easy-to-pump oil in the world has already been found. An example of this is whereby the major oil companies in the past two ears have spent about $8 billion in exploration for new oil fields but they found only about $4 billion worth of oil.
     Many volumes could be written about the oil and energy situation in the world with various groups and factions like Tiemann and the overindulgent American people who blame big oil companies for the alleged negative American economy are themselves the ones to blame for the so-called high cost of gas. For most of recent years the oil companies have had to endure the restrictions in oil exploration imposed by the liberal, socialist, Democrats in Congress who are in lockstep with all the environmental wackos who lobby Congress to forbid drilling for oil in offshore areas and up in Alaska where there are huge amounts of oil. It's all dirty politics with the liberal Democrats to blame for all of it. Also Tiemann's article points out and laments the fact that no new oil refineries have been built for the past two decades. Whose fault is this? None other than the Democrat-supported "greens" and "environmentalists" who protest the building of new refineries.
     While 35,000 people per day starve to death (yes, 35,000 per day) and more than half the world's population doesn't have electricity or decent staples of life, Tiemann and the rest of the energy price whiners still wallow in relatively cheap food and energy in this country. Anyone can be in the oil business. All you need to do is establish a brokerage account with a broker which costs nothing and buy some stocks in the evil rich oil company. Then watch the money roll in like the big oil companies do. The truth is that big oil companies are owned by millions of stock holders who were losing money on their stock purchases over the past several decades. Only now in the past few years have the stock holders recouped some of their losses.
    Bert Hrnicek
    Seward