Long Time Gone

There are scores of people who are infinitely more qualified than I am to write an article about Ruthanna Jacobs. I never had the opportunity to meet her or to to hear the way she spoke or to see h...

The Kiowa Healthmart Presents: Long Time Gone and The Good Son

There is no telling how a man named Percy R. Devereaux ended up on the High Plains of Colorado in the small town of Eads, which had only been actually an official town for 20 years when Percy arriv...

As more and more of the veterans of World War II fade into history, it becomes increasingly important to be cognizant of, and grateful for, the extraordinary things these soldiers accomplished in b...

Last Friday, a member of our community passed away at the age of 95. When viewed from a distance, the loss of someone so elderly should not come as a surprise. At least, not a total surprise. Not r...

In the midst of elections—both those that have just passed and those looming on the horizon—and investigations and legislation and political partisanship that has us at each other’s throats, there ...

For many years, scientists have been intrigued by the role the five senses play in the life of human beings. There were often long standing debates (of course there were, we’re talking about scient...

LONG TIME GONE: 33 Hours Frozen in TimeIt was early on a Thursday morning in late March. When the sun rose at 5:45, the temperature was already on the rise, ultimately reaching close to 60 degrees ...

Sometimes, on the High Plains of Eastern Colorado, it’s easy to forget that the first day of spring falls in the month of March. Anyone familiar with the region understands why this is so. It’s dur...

Leonard Sniff was one of the first friends I made when I moved to Eads. I’d initially met him a few different times in a few different places and could tell from the start he had “the gift of gab”,...

With all of the advances that have become just an accepted part of modern day life, all of the different accomplishments that have caused various members of our species to beat their chests and pro...

For those of us who are novices, searching through the common, every day records of history is, in many ways, similar to taking a journey half blind-folded. You have an idea, vague though it may be...

Located north of town, the cemetery at Sheridan Lake sits on the crest of the gentlest of slopes. The elevation is no more than perhaps a hundred feet higher than the land that surrounds it, yet it...

Recently, one of the readers of the Independent suggested a story he thought other readers might enjoy. It took place in 1872 and involved a group of individuals whose names are so well-known that ...

Somewhere, I learned that Eskimos have 24 different words for snow, each one reflecting some slight but key difference that is probably imperceptible to everyone except for those who inhabit the la...

There’s a certain kind of beauty to the plains that is, from what I can tell, truly unique to this country. Let a little bit of rain fall on these expansive acres, and the most extraordinary flower...