In Our Community

Hap Hazard was first heard on NBC July 1 1941, as a thirteen week summer replacement for Fibber McGee and Molly. It starred Ransom Sherman as Hap Hazard, harried proprietor of the Crestfallen Manor, a ramshackle hotel in the Stop-and-Flop chain.

Sherman, who also wrote the show, had built a solid reputation as host-writer of Club Matinee, a Chicago-based variety series of a few years earlier. Johnson Wax, impressed by the reviews on Hap Hazard, brought it for the regular Fall lineup.

But Sherman’s career on the air was hot and cold; he was one of the “in” comedians whose abilities were respected by those in the business, but never really made it big.

Hap Hazard was no exception. It disappeared soon after its Fall premiere. The situations revolved around Hap’s hotel and money. The floors creaked, the doors wouldn’t shut, the water taps dripped and the hotel slipped forever toward bankruptcy. 

Hap spent most of his time rescuing guests from problem situations. Billy Mills stayed through the summer as orchestra leader, then Felix Mills was brought in to wave the stick. Edna O’Dell was vocalist and  Harlow Wilcox announcer.

​While I do not have Hap Hazard in my Big Broadcast collection, you can pull up a series on the internet.

The VA OIG Strikes Again

I have the utmost respect for the VA Office of Inspector General and even more respect now. It appears they’ll go after anyone breaking the law, bending the rules, doing wrong ... even one of their own.

In this case it came to their attention that a senior OIG employee was still carrying an OIG-issued firearm and credentials after no longer being eligible to do so. Having been transferred out of one position into another one where carrying the firearm was not authorized, the individual should have turned the firearm in when he switched jobs. Didn’t happen. Further, others knew of this and didn’t speak up ... for six months.

Enter the OIG investigators. 

They unearthed a tangle of job classification language that revealed that nobody was reading the fine print nor filling out the correct forms, even the ones who should have done so. And nobody stepped forward to take the firearm away from the employee, even the ones who knew he wasn’t authorized to have it.

Eventually word reached two people in the organization who knew instantly that the employee was not authorized to carry an OIG-issued firearm and credentials, and acted pronto to retrieve both the firearm and the credentials. 

The end result is a thing of beauty. The employee in question retired. Two senior executives are no longer employed by the OIG, having resigned during the investigation. Another employee received a letter of reprimand. And the two employees who were in charge of the firearms program are no longer in charge of the firearms program.

If you suspect something is wrong in either the VA programs or operation, contact the VA OIG hotline at 800-488-8244. You also can go online to www.va.gov/oig/hotline. If you need to submit a complaint about violations, abuse, fraud, mismanagement or other problems, that’s where you do it. They don’t take regular email submissions. To see the OIG’s reports, go to www.va.gov/oig.

​© 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.

On Being Available

I like watching a television network news broadcast most evenings, which airs live at 6:30 in the eastern time zone. However, I either record it or watch it later on YouTube because I want to watch it when it’s convenient for me, which is usually not at 6:30. Our modern culture has spoiled me, offering so much on-demand, including a lot of TV shows and movies. The Cambridge on-line dictionary defines on-demand as “providing services when a customer wants or asks for them.”

Providing on-demand products or services is not only a successful business practice, it’s also an important concept in personal relationships, both with others and with God. It’s called being available.

A parent needs to be available for the child, a mate for their mate, a friend for a friend. Relationships, if they are truly loving and giving, mean that not everything happens on our schedule or when it’s most convenient for us. We have to bend, yield, make allowances, adapt, or often change our plans, adjusting our schedule to better meet the needs of the other person. We have to make ourselves available.

I recall seeing a statement on a yardstick that was a gift to a customer. The statement read something like this, “You are not an interruption to our business, you are the reason for our business.” Our business, both with others and God, is to be interruptible, to be available. Almost all of Jesus’ miracles resulted because He was interrupted by people who needed a miracle.

Much of the good we can do in life can’t be scheduled, the opportunities just show up. We can have the words of encouragement someone needs, the help someone could use, or just be the one to come alongside in a time of need, but if we don’t make ourselves available it won’t happen.

Being available isn’t only important in our human relationships, it’s also important in our relationship with God that we make ourselves available to Him. God doesn’t need us to be the smartest, most talented, or the most gifted person around. He doesn’t need the most qualified person; He will qualify the one He calls. We just have to be available!

​“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” (Matthew 9:9)

Hospice of Dubuque 
Identified as 5-Star Hospice
Rating from CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) in Patient Satisfaction

Hospice of Dubuque has been recognized as a five-star hospice, an achievement that places the organization among the top 10% of all hospices in the country. Only 195 hospices out of 2,026 hospices in the United States were awarded five stars, which is the highest quality rating available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The rating is based upon responses to the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Hospice Survey, which is completed by family members following the death of their loved one. The surveys, which are handled through an independent vendor, assess family satisfaction regarding communication with the hospice, timeliness of receiving assistance, respectful treatment while in hospice care, receipt of emotional and spiritual support, management of pain and other symptoms, and willingness to recommend the hospice to others. For more information, visit medicare.gov/care-compare/

​Lavonne Noel, Executive Director of Hospice of Dubuque states: “For nearly 40 years, Hospice of Dubuque has provided exceptional care to tri-state patients and families. The five-star rating from CMS, which is based upon responses from the families Hospice of Dubuque has been privileged to serve, validates the quality of our services. As the area’s only local nonprofit hospice, we are honored to journey with patients and families and to continue to make a difference in how tri-state residents live in the final chapter of life.”

The other day while channel surfing I caught a glimpse of a TV special about sharing healthy thinking and what it can do for you. I wasn’t exactly interested in such a deep subject at that time but because of the person doing the interviewing I was captivated.

A pretty woman, with long blond hair, seated herself on a high stool with arms. She greeted the guest speaker, also sitting on a high stool, with an outstretched hand, and a friendly smile. What actually got my attention was the beautiful, light pink blazer with a shine to it that spiked my interest. I love blazers. The interviewer had on a white blouse and was wearing a one-strand necklace of a darker shade of pink around her neck. She had on black slacks and the shoes she had chosen to wear that day were the 4” stilettos. She was indeed well groomed but did not have a look-at-me attitude. She was poised, but not showy.

The guest she was to interview wore a vivid blue suit, and a tie with matching stripes.

He had white hair combed neatly, and his smile complimented his whole appearance. I listened to the whole message and learned valuable facts about how to mingle with other people and make life better for you and also others.

But, now let me share more views on the blazer. I have always had several of them in my closet. I have had a red, unlined one for years but only wore it during Christmastime and Valentine’s day so it is very old. And even if styles have changed no one has ever insulted me about wearing it. I have thrown out some of the out dated ones but only because they wore out.

​As usual, I did some research on the blazer. The blazer started out as a double-breasted jacket, usually black or navy color. It was part of naval uniforms and has a college history. But I was more interested to learn the blazer made its first appearance in Vogue in June of 1893. At that time women become very fond of the blazer and how to wear it for many occasions. Then the blazer fad died out for a few years. But, when Giorgio Armani showed his first collection of the blazer in 1975, many men went crazy for it. It had sex appeal! And then around the late 2000s women’s fashion brought color into their blazer wardrobe. Thus the light, pink blazer with the shine dazzled me. I saw it. Wow! But, I don’t have one. Gosh! Maybe someday?

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