“It was like something I’d never heard before. It’s indescribable. People asked me, and I’d try to tell them, but unless you heard it … .” — Doug Jones
I’m thinking about this quote today, pondering its specific and very strange meaning, and also how strangely universal it is to all our lives.
Doug Jones is talking about what happened in the pre-dawn hours of July 4, 1974, describing what he heard and his wife Linda Jones saw. It became the first of many sightings of this figure, this thing, that no one in Oakland, Nebraska, pop. 1,300, could identify — maybe a wild animal, a lost mountain lion, a rabid possum, a figment of many imaginations or…something else.
It earned a name: The Oakland Creature. And for months, through the summer of ‘74, this thing, or the idea of it, terrorized the small town while fascinating the state. Tim Trudell has the whole story, and I urge you to read it, because my gosh you should read it.
But back to that quote for a moment. Doug Jones is talking about hearing this thing that came to be known as the Oakland Creature. But he’s also talking about what happens when we catch a glimpse of the uncertain, the unknown, the seemingly impossible.
I have never glimpsed a terrifying unidentified figure that looks like a monster walking on two legs into a corn field. But I have had the experience of seeing something with my own two eyes — something amazing, or terrible or simply beyond my capacity to describe. And that’s when we most want to describe it, to pass it along to others, to be understood. But it’s so hard, because…well, because they didn’t see or hear what we did.
Which raises the question, the universally human question Doug Jones is asking in that quote. He’s asking: Do you believe me?
Restart those buses: Sometimes this job is the best.
Exhibit A: A few weeks ago, our new fellow, UNL student Evelyn Mejia, suggested she and we report on the bus situation in Norfolk. The buses had been shut down after the bus director allegedly stole up to $1 million and fled the country. Evelyn knew this because she’s from Norfolk. She knew this because she had loved ones who rode that bus to work, and now couldn’t.
So we did report it. We followed the fine daily reporting from the Norfolk Daily News and News Channel Nebraska. Evelyn and FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari dug up new public records, records that showed that the board overseeing the bus nonprofit didn’t know, until much belatedly, that the money they were supposed to be overseeing was simply…gone.
We told that important story to the state last Friday, including info about how local donors and governments were trying to raise funds to restart the buses.
And then a fantastic thing happened. Within hours of its publication, we heard from an Omaha donor who will remain nameless. This donor wanted the contact info of the bus nonprofit, to close the funding gap and…restart the buses.
Someday later this week, Evelyn Mejia’s loved ones will again be able to catch a bus to work. Thousands of Norfolk residents, including many senior citizens, those with disabilities, students and hardworking people, will be able to do likewise.
They will be able to do so, in part, because Evelyn Mejia told their story.
Like I said. Sometimes, it’s the best.
Thanks to our sponsor: This week it’s History Nebraska, which sponsors our coverage of Nebraska history stories like the one about the Oakland Creature that freelancer Tim Trudell told so well today.
We have worked with HN history experts and archivists many times now, on stories like mine about the myth and reality of Nebraska homesteading and a Japanese-American community that long ago fought to blossom in the Scottsbluff area.
As a lover of all things historical, I’m so glad we’re able to bring you important Nebraska history tales.
Our next event: If you are in the Norfolk area, join us March 14 for our panel on nitrate in drinking water. More info here. Since this was announced, we have added at least one additional panelist, a farmer. I’m moderating the panel, and am hopeful it’s gonna be a good, healthy discussion about the quality of the water that some Nebraskans drink, particularly those living in rural places.
Sincerely,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- We don’t cover Husker football, but we did like this story about a top Husker football recruit who is being celebrated for being…a good and kind human being in the face of serious adversity. Here’s CBS Sunday Morning’s story about Lincoln’s Malachi Coleman.
- By my count, at least three bills currently being considered by the Nebraska Legislature are tied directly or indirectly to Flatwater Free Press investigative journalism. There’s a bill dealing with the attendance of the parole board and a bill related to the regulation of high nitrate in drinking water . And there’s also this one, which Nebraska Examiner reporter Aaron Sanderford focused on this week. It mentions the $44,000 that the state of Nebraska tried to charge us for public records related to nitrate-in-water regulation.
At issue: Should it be easier and cheaper for the Nebraska public to access Nebraska public records? Or harder and more expensive? - A well-timed story from Nebraska Public Media’s Emma Krab, who noticed that fewer girls are playing basketball in Nebraska as the Nebraska State Girls’ Basketball tourney continues this weekend.
- Finally: The Reader’s Chris Bowling has been doing some amazing work on the intersection of mental health and criminal justice in Omaha. He’s showing how untreated mental health issues affect our prison system, our taxpayer dollars and, most of all, how they shatter families. His latest in this series is worth your time and attention.
