Alva Review-Courier -

Remember, fathers come in all descriptions: single mothers, grandfathers, preachers, stable significant others, stepfathers, or anyone willing to be a role model and help guide young people down the walk of life. Thanks to my dad, James Scribner, for guiding my brothers and I into productive citizens. He is so special I think I will haul him to a casino somewhere today.

Thursday was free food with the Democrats, almost. Anne went with me, so to celebrate her first political endeavor in the United States we had supper as we listened to Lennie Reed, the speaker. There was free food, too, so I left happy. We discussed State Question 788, the medical marijuana law. One of the loopholes in the bill has to do with who will be allowed to prescribe the drug. Legislators have sworn on a stack of Playboys (as close to a Bible as most of these guys ever get) that it will be addressed as soon as the bill passes. Another concern is what will happen to the money generated from legalization. In theory, much of it will go to education. Remember the lottery? As soon as the legislators figured out how much of it would go to education, they immediately lowered education funding by nearly that exact amount. Strange how that worked. I would like to say history won't repeat itself but the snake pit has the same kind of rattlers as before so don't be surprised if education gets bit again. Oh yes, I am in favor of legal medical marijuana, because the negatives are greatly outweighed by the benefits it gives sick people.

Dad, Anne, Cleo and I went to Dodge City last Sunday to the casino. There was a pretty good crowd there. Anne had been to Dodge City when she was young. We went riding around, sightseeing and promoting the economy with a couple of discount store stops.

When I was little, the Isenbart family reunions were held at the park in Dodge City. I had never driven through the park before and it was quite impressive. Wright Park has a zoo, amphitheater, lots of picnic areas and a 27,000 square foot water park second to none. Jack and I have driven around several times in Dodge City and every time I do a tour there is still more to look at.

On the return trip we visited Mullenville, the town with all the wind chimes. I had never driven downtown and sure enough there were home-built cannons with more sayings on them sitting around and, as we went east on Highway 54, more wind chimes. On the way to Dodge City we met multitudes of bicycle riders of all ages. The name of the event we saw was “Biking Across Kansas.” From June 9 to June 16, 800 bicyclers rode 558 miles across southern Kansas. They started at the Colorado border west of Johnson City and finished up at Fort Scott. We were fortunate enough to be meeting them, so got to look at the groups and not have to dodge any.

Breaking News: Triple Crown winner Justify has just turned down an invitation to visit the White House. When asked why, the Triple Crown winner said, “If I wanted to see a horse's patoot, I would've finished second.”