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The Neighbor the Census Invented

The 2020 census counted two people in Monowi, Nebraska. The arithmetic surprised the only one of them. Elsie Eiler has lived alone in the village since her husband Rudy died in 2004. She is the mayor, the clerk, the treasurer, the librarian, and the keeper of the Monowi Tavern, the last business open in a town of 0.21 square miles on the far northern edge of the state. When the new census figures came out in August 2021 and showed Monowi’s population doubled, she gave the Lincoln Journal Star the only answer a competent count of one allows. “Well, then someone’s been hiding from me, and there’s nowhere to live but my house. But if you find out who he is, let me know?”

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Nobody Sent It

The comment arrived yesterday morning under my August article about Ord, Nebraska, and it opened like a neighbor at the fence. “The other end of that geography: I walked Monowi, in Boyd County, on street view. Population one. Elsie Eiler is the mayor, the tavern keeper, and the librarian. She writes the town’s tax levy and pays it to herself. A town that stayed after everyone left.” Then the whole performance in four words: “Wrote the walk up:” and a link.

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Sacrificing UK Privacy for Profit or Security?

Jamie Grace wrote this article.

What do you think of under-age drinking? What about social menacing or unavoidable rite-of-passage for teens? Are you concerned about illegal immigration or the threat of terrorism? Or is growing anti-social behaviour in your neighborhood more of an immediate concern?

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