Special to the Times Vedette
Guthrie County Deputy Sheriff Blake Michelsen reported a single-vehicle collision occurring on March 17 at 5:40 p.m. on Highway 141 and Herndon Road. Ashley Lynn Gallagher, 36, of Schleswig, was driving a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox LT and went off the roadway to avoid rear-ending a vehicle in front of her that stopped suddenly. The vehicle collided with an embankment and sustained an estimated $6,000 in damage.
1958-2025
Johnny “Mac” McNeley, 66, passed away suddenly on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, with his wife by his side. He was born Feb. 16, 1958, in Omaha, Nebraska, and lived in Iowa. He was a member of the wrestling team from Guthrie Center High School, a treasurer of the local FFA chapter, and a dairy judge. After graduating in 1976, he joined the Navy and was honorably discharged in 2002 as a Senior Chief Petty Officer, Damage Controlman, after proudly serving for 26 years. His last duty assignment was NAVMAC Millington, Tennessee. Upon discharge from the Navy, he attended horseshoeing school in Oklahoma, becoming a farrier.
Johnny was known to his friends in the South as Mac. He worked for Steel Warehouse of Memphis for 22-plus years in maintenance, retiring Oct. 31, 2024. In his off time when the grandchildren were young, he loved to have them spend the weekend at the farm with the menagerie of horses, goats, pigs, chickens and turkeys. Easter on the farm was always a fun time with easter egg hunts for the kids and “special” egg hunts for the grown-ups. He enjoyed the outdoors and was an avid hunter, as well as a fisherman on the ponds at his farm. He loved to participate in retriever hunt tests as a handler, judge and worker. He was an active member of Southern Flight HRC and a Started judge for HRC/UKC. He was also an active member and on the board of directors for Mid-South Hunting Retriever Club where he judged AKC Junior and Senior retriever hunt tests.
Johnny “Mac” lived in Holly Springs, Mississippi, with his wife, Janice. He is pre-deceased by his father, Billy McNeley, and a brother, Francis McNeley. Surviving family members are his mother, Shirley McNeley (Chichester), and two brothers, Roger and Terry McNeley, all still in Iowa, and his sister, Peggy Williams (McNeley) in Maryland. He has two adult children, Timothy McNeley in Millington, Tennessee, and Sarah Gaynor (husband Ryan) in Spanish Fort, Alabama. He has five grandchildren whom he loved dearly and bragged on whenever the chance arose: Dylan and Presley Gaynor; Drake, Mason “Cash” and Waylon McNeley. He also had two stepchildren, Samantha Poole (Williamson) in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Chris Williamson in Clearwater, Florida.
Johnny’s remains will be interred at the Van Meter Veterans Cemetery, 34024 Veterans Memorial Drive, Van Meter Township on Friday, June 20, 2025, at 11 a.m. with full military honors. A Celebration of Life will immediately follow at the adjacent American Legion from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Special to the Times Vedette
A total of eight players participated on March 21. Rhonda Titus got a 24 and a 22, Dick Ellis had a 16 and a 21, and Lela Schwartz also got a 24.
A total of 13 players participated on March 24. Dave Kading got a 16, Sum Mozingo got a 16 and a 17, Kay Phippen got an 18, Joanne Zieser got two 20s, Sandy Rumelhart got a 20 and Wayne Nickel got a 20.
The Guthrie Center cribbage players generally meet at Guthrie Center Library on Mondays at 8 a.m., at the New Homestead independent living rec room at 8 a.m. on Wednesdays, and at the Guthrie Center Activity Center at 1 p.m. on Fridays. Organizers say there is always room for more, and they will be glad to teach you how to play. They play for quarters on Wednesday and Friday.
Do you ever notice how so many products today are challenging to use because of their packaging? Some have improved, like Band-Aids. Many of you remember the old system with the red string that you had to pull to open the package, which almost always yanked out. Other products could use improvements as well — like plastic gallon milk jugs. Sure, the cap is easy to screw off, but that seal with the tiny tab on the protective film that rips off in my hand is more than irritating.
Garbage sacks are another challenge. It’s like those things are ironed together. I carefully attempt to open them, only to realize that I am working from the wrong end. You may have similar problems with the bags in the produce aisle at the grocery store. Uggh.
How about starting a new roll of cellophane or packing tape? Worse yet, when the roll rips off, and you try to restart it? I struggle to get under the tape, and when I do it inevitably tears off sideways to the edge, and I have to start all over again.
If you take any over-the-counter medications wrapped in foil packages, you likely know the effort it takes to get those tiny pills out. And if you are not careful, you get a foil cut on your fingertips. Ouch.
Hot dog packaging drives me crazy, too. I am not fond of hot dogs to begin with, but trying to open a package without a knife or scissors results in hot dogs on the kitchen floor, packaging water on my shirt, and an empty wrapper in my hands.
When our kids were young, they were fans of juice boxes. If I was fortunate enough to find a box with a straw attached to it, I then had the task of inserting the straw into the tiny hole without cracking it and making it unusable. I was glad when the kids learned to do this on their own.
I continue to struggle with anything that deals with plastic wrap used in the kitchen. I can’t seem to get it to stick to the bowl, but it most certainly sticks to my hands and to itself, leaving me with numerous rolled balls of plastic to dispose of.
Unwrapping items sealed in hard plastic takes the cake. Of course, a sturdy scissors is required, but one must then carefully avoid the newly created sharp plastic edges that are sure to draw blood — and require some of those handy Band-Aids.
How about you? What products have packages that leave you in fits? Send me a note and let me know.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707