Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. Many-way meat balls. Heartbreak chili. Scotch eggs with sausage. Frito corn salad. Impossible pumpkin pie. Pawhuska cheesesteaks.

One year ago, discussions were taking place in some circles in and around Freeman about the idea of improving the youth baseball and softball experience for what has been a robust Summer Recreation Program.

To The Community Senior Citizens: The Senior Citizen Center has been going for more than 50 years. The membership at this time is very low. We need your participation to keep it going for the future. Dues are minimal and the coffee is always on. We play games and would be happy to learn new ones from new members. Bingo, potluck and birthday party with entertainment are also some of our activities. Choir will resume on Aug. 10. Come and enjoy singing together. Please consider becoming a part of the Senior Citizen Center. Marlene Herman

The fire trucks left before dark. They arrived back at 9:45/10 p.m. Time to go home: Oh, no! Everything has to be ready to go in case we need them again. Everything clean, put in place and used items replaced. Because there will always be a next time and maybe it will be right away. Freeman, we are so blessed to have such well-trained and willing volunteers who put their time and lives ahead of everything else in order to protect and serve us.

Thank you, Dennis Schrock, for addressing the issue of racism in your recent column. It’s time we all understand this is about much more than police brutality against people of color. For our entire history, there has been discrimination against people of color in every aspect of life: education, health, religion, sports, politics, the arts and law enforcement. We need to educate ourselves about systemic racism and how it affects each of our lives.

“It doesn’t get any better than this.”

It was neat to see how the three schools we cover — Freeman Academy, Freeman Public and Menno High School — pulled off graduation last weekend. Some districts didn’t even hold a commencement, so that our students got a chance to be recognized as scheduled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is noteworthy. Congratulations to the schools for pulling it off and the students for earning their high school diploma. It truly is one of life’s true mile markers.

The novel coronavirus has done plenty to disrupt lives around the world, from the relatively small inconvenience of not being able to gather in large social settings to the worst of it all — death from COVID-19, which as of Tuesday morning had claimed more than 171,000 lives worldwide, more than 43,000 in the United States and eight in South Dakota. To say our lives have been interrupted is an understatement.

Ordinarily, the Courier would be giving ample space in this week’s issue to Sunshine Week, the annual observance recognizing the vital role newspapers play in covering local government and holding our elected officials accountable.

Our opinion: There’s a lot we don’t know about the coronavirus outbreak, but using the new disease as a pawn on the political chessboard isn’t good for anybody. Everyone seems to be talking about coronavirus — COVID-19 — and with good reason. We’re all struggling to understand the impact on everything from an individual’s health to the global economy and everything in between.