A candidate with a big key

Ken Newton’s interesting article about visits to St. Joseph by vice-presidential candidates brought to mind an incident from 1960.

Lyndon B. Johnson, as John F. Kennedy’s running mate, spoke at the Electric Theater on Edmond Street. The late Arthur J. Meers, then mayor, presented him with the ceremonial key to the city — a key about 3 feet long.

Johnson, perhaps accustomed to everything being big in Texas, apparently thought the key was his to keep. Unbeknownst to city officials, a Johnson staffer exited the theater with the key and took it to Rosecrans Field and aboard the campaign plane.

Fortunately, city officials learned of this before the plane departed. The late Dick Hartigan — father of the school district executive and then a city hall deputy — was dispatched to Rosecrans. He explained to a Johnson staff member that LBJ had been given a smaller key to keep, but the larger key was a ceremonial one that would be used many more times in the future.

Dick successfully retrieved the key, and the city still uses it on special occasions.

Bob Slater

St. Joseph

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Get God back in control

Everyone is talking about how bad of shape the United States is in with our debt to other countries and all the disasters that have been happening to this country. Most people don’t understand why this is happening to such a great country. It is because of the Amercian Civil Liberties Union, our Supreme Court justices and a lot of our politicians.

It began when they took prayer out of schools and have tried to take God out of everything. A vast amount of people in this country have turned their backs on God and don’t believe in him. A great amount of people who call themselves Christian don’t read or follow his word and live as lost sinners. God is looking down on the United States with sadness in his heart over how the United States has changed over the last 50 to 55 years.

If you want to get this country back to what and how it used to be, there is only one way. Get God back in charge of this country and let his word be the standard this country is run by. This country was founded on God’s word and the Bible was the standard this country was run by. God’s Bible is truth. We must get rid of abortion and same-sex marriage and get Satan back out of control of the USA.

If we get God back in control, then he will start blessing the United States again and this country will be great once again. Jesus Christ Lord God Almighty is the only choice this country has, and if we don’t get this country back to God, this once great country will continue to decay and fall apart.

Bobby Despain

St. Joseph