Today's Opinions

In the relentless campaign to bring the most predatory form of gambling to the Commonwealth, it appears the gambling lobby has traded horse racing for the more brutal sport of kings — bear-baiting.

The malicious bloodsport, popular in England during the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, pitted well-trained hunting dogs against a bear chained to a post, often with his teeth and claws removed. The nobility cheered on the dogs and jeered at the “vicious” bear trying to defend himself.

Fellow Christians: Please join us in one hour of prayer, Oct. 24, for nursing homes, various types of care centers and their residents around the world. This is the hour we can all come together as a like-minded body of believers. Though we are far apart in location, we can become united in spirit.

The time for this prayer will be at 7 p.m. Other locales around the country and world will be different in time, but will coincide with our time.

Pray, also, for people to feel the desire to volunteer services.

The 2009 Lincoln Days Parade was easily the largest since I have been working on the parade and perhaps the largest in Lincoln Days’ history, with an almost 50 percent increase in participation. With such growth, I was anxious that the volunteers might be overwhelmed. Instead, this parade was the best I have experienced as a worker anywhere.