Archives June 2026

by I. B. Lyon

There is a bizarre missing person case in Valley City right now. Ruffel Fethers is considered a missing person as of yesterday morning. Fethers is a self-employed lawn care specialist. He’s known around The Valley for his provocative social media posts. He seems to thrive on stirring the pot and riling people up on social media. The interesting thing about Fethers’ case is that many feel he announced or foretold his disappearance.

The Valley City police think the genesis of Fethers’ disappearance is his Facebook post about Buc-ee’s. If you don’t know about Buc-ee’s, you’ve been living under a rock and definitely don’t get out much! Everyone loves Buc-ee’s including all the foreigners visiting the U.S. for the World Cup. Many foreigners visiting America for the first time have prioritized visiting Buc-ee’s, and they love it. Many have posted videos praising Buc-ee’s that have gone viral on social media. Well, Mr. Fethers had a much different view about Buc-ee’s than just about everyone in the U.S. and the world.

On Monday, Fethers posted on Facebook, “BUC-EE’S SUCKS! Yep, I said it.” Many of Fethers’ 2,300 followers immediately started commenting and blasting him. People started sharing his post, and it went mega viral. 99.73% of the comments did not agree with Fethers. They all heaped praise on the American institution of Buc-ee’s. As of writing this article, the post has over 1.7 million views.

Fethers made a post the following day, Tuesday, and it obviously had a cryptic message. Fethers posted, “Adios Amigos!” No one has had contact with Fethers since Tuesday, and no one knows his whereabouts. I reached out to his family, and they said they haven’t talked with him since Tuesday morning. He talked with his mom briefly, and they discussed his viral post. He told his mom he loved her. His mom said, “He’s obviously turned his phone off or he’s deleted Life360. I have no idea where he is. If anyone has any info, please reach out to the Valley City Police or Valley County Sheriff’s Dept.”

Fethers’ friend who wanted to remain anonymous said, “Ruffel can be pretty compulsive and spontaneous, so you never know what he may do. I think he’s probably fine. He’s probably in Mexico somewhere drinking a Corona or margarita. But, he obviously didn’t expect that much blow back from his dumb, un-American post. He obviously couldn’t take the heat, so he fled the kitchen.”

One Facebook commenter said, “This may be the largest self-inflicted wound in history. You DO NOT criticize or demean Buc-ee’s. Buc-ee’s is by far the best thing since sliced bread. I bet this guy went to a FBI office and begged to get put into the witness protection program. He’s probably already in Idaho in the wilderness right now hanging out with Epstein and Jimmy Hoffa. He can’t come back from this. No way!”

This is considered a missing person case now, and if you have any information about Fethers’ whereabouts, please contact the Valley County Sheriff’s Dept., Valley City Police, MBI, or the FBI. Fethers’ green Ford Fiesta is missing, so it’s assumed he’s driving it. His family is anxious to locate him, and his customers need their grass to be cut.

by Heeza de Seaver

Today, generally both mom and dad work, so many parents need a babysitter during the summer. Many parents use teenage girls to babysit their kids during the summer. Most of the time, the teenage babysitter is a relative, family friend, or fellow church member of the family needing a babysitter. Also, the babysitter is paid cash or with Venmo or Cashapp. It’s a pretty informal agreement, and it’s generally a pretty easy job for the babysitters. But, things have just gotten more complicated for some families in The Valley using babysitters.

Five teenage girls have formed the Professional Childcare Union of The Valley (PCUV) to push for higher wages and better benefits. PCUV was formed by Ariana Greadie, a 17 year old babysitter from Valley City. So far, Greadie has 4 other young ladies that have joined the union, but she plans to have many more before the end of the summer.

Greadie said, “I’ve always been an advocate for those that are oppressed and taken advantage of, and I felt it was time for us young babysitters to organize, rise up, and get what is rightfully ours. PCUV is just getting started, but we’re going to be a force pretty soon. Many people think I’m greedy and ungrateful, and they think my parents need to step in. But, I’m here to fight for the rights of young babysitters in The Valley. Hopefully, PCUV will grow beyond The Valley real soon.”

PCUV has some demands for the parents they work for. They include: minimum $20/hour pay, no more pay by the day or week, payments must be by cash, Venmo, or Cashapp, tips are strongly encouraged, wifi (withholding passwords is not allowed), free access to a pool within 2 miles of parents’ house, mandatory naps of 1 hour or longer for kids age 5 and under, no cooking, babysitting sessions of 5 hours or less must pay $25/hour. Many parents are concerned about the PCUV.

One mom said, “Our babysitter informed us a couple days ago that she had joined PCUV. She’s demanding $20/hour, access to a pool, and no more cooking. We’ve been paying her $50/day so far this summer, and she ain’t worth that. And, now you can’t cook little Ethan a grilled cheese? Really? I don’t think her parents even know she’s joined this “union.” Anyway, we’ll be looking for a non-union babysitter now.”

One dad added, “This has to be a joke right? Did this girl’s mom put her up to this? I thought we messed up when hired our babysitter, and I know we messed up now. She had blue hair and Kamala and Bernie Sanders bumper stickers, and now she told us she’s joining the PCUV. She’s got a bunch of insane demands. I informed her yesterday that it was her last day. I don’t know what we’re gonna do. All the daycares I’ve called are full. I guess Bella Grace may have to stay home by herself until we find someone. I know she’s only 8, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

It will be interesting to see if the PCUV continues to grow this summer. It appears families are not too pleased with them. But, will they a choice but to deal with the PCUV?

by Emma Embellischer

Everyone is on social media these days. We all spend way too much time scrolling through social media wasting our lives away. But, many people are making money on social media. These so-called influencers are all over social media, and more and more people are wanting to learn how to monetize their social media profiles. The Valley Technology Institute (Valley Tech) has decided to offer a 3 week course this summer to help these folks out.

For a small community college, Valley Tech is on the cutting edge. We’ve written about an innovative course they’ve offered before. Valley Tech’s President Dr. Mark Boyce said, “We’re here to help our community, and we always try to listen to the community. We’ve gotten multiple requests to form a social media class. We’ve never offered anything like that, but I said if we got 10 people to sign up that we’d do it. Well, we got 14 people to sign up, so we’re going to offer the class- Social Media Influencer 101. The class will begin on June 15th, and it will last for 3 weeks.”

The course will cover the items below.

Week 1: Defining Your Niche, Platform Selection, Profile Optimization

Week 2: Production Basics, Editing & Aesthetics, Anatomy of a Viral Hook, Building a Content Calendar

Week 3: Algorithm Optimization, Audience Engagement, Brand Pitching, Ethics

The course will be taught by psychology instructor Benji Rush, and it will cost $150. Rush said, “I’m excited to teach this course. My cat, Obi-Wan, and I have managed to get a following on social media, and it’ll be fun to pass on the knowledge that I’ve gained on my social media journey. One thing I’ll say now is that it really helps to incorporate animals, because I’m not really that interesting. But, people love Obi-Wan and his crazy antics.”

I was able to talk with a couple of the students that signed up for the course. Mary Sue Stewart, a 68 year old grandmother said, “I can’t wait to take this course. My husband said it was retarded, but he thinks just about everything these days is retarded. I’ve told my kids and grandkids about it, and they think I’ve lost my mind. But, I think I’m a good cook, and I think I’m funny. So, why shouldn’t I be able to build a social media following? I’m gonna give it a go and see what happens.”

A young lady said, “I’m really hoping this course will help me. I’ve been trying hard to build a brand and following on social media, but it’s so hard. I only have 111 followers on my Instagram page, and I only have 126 followers on Tiktok. Do I need to cut my hair? Is it my voice? Do I need to edit by videos better? Do I need to do a BlueSky or Threads profile? I’m hoping to find the answers to these questions. I’d really like to quit my job and be a full-time influencer. We’ll see what happens.”

A young man in the corporate world said, “I’m gonna give this course a try. I’ve been an assistant manager for 3 years now, and I really want to move up the corporate ladder. I think LinkedIn could really help with that. So, I’m looking to optimize my LinkedIn profile, and hopefully find new opportunities.”

Dr. Boyce said that they may offer the course a second time in July if the demand is there. Call 1-800-530-7665 or email Mr. Rush ([email protected]) for more info.

by Ima Phibber

Summer is here, and that means Vacation Bible School (VBS) season is here as well. Many parents send their kids to multiple VBS sessions at different churches. Valley County Baptist Association (VCBA) has decided to create an award or contest for kids that attend VBS at multiple churches in Valley County. They have named it the VBS Quest Award.

VCBA Missions Director Chuck Spurgeon said, “VBS is one the most important things us Southern Baptists do. Thousands of believers have been saved over the years through VBS. We wanted to encourage the kids and parents in Valley County to attend as many VBS sessions as possible this summer, so that’s why we created the VBS Quest Award. We hope to hear multiple stories of kids coming to Jesus with this award being the catalyst for those conversion stories.”

The VBS Quest Award will be awarded to a child or children (K4- 6th grade) that attend the most days of VBS this summer. They have to attend VBS at least 8 different churches to be eligible. As of now, there are 23 churches in the VCBA that are having VBS this summer, so visiting 8 shouldn’t be that difficult. If there is a tie, the award will be given to multiple kids. VCBA will use the honor system to tally the total days and churches visited. VCBA will have an awards ceremony at their August meeting to recognize the winners with a nice dinner, trophies, and social media fame. Valley County residents have mixed feelings about the award.

One mom said, “My son wants to try to win this award, but it’s going to be impossible. There’s like 15 churches in the county that are having VBS this week and next week. All the churches want to front run it and get it over in early June now. My husband and I have to work, so we can’t drive him around. Plus, my 16 year old babysitter is a horrible driver, and I don’t really trust her to drive Timmy around the county. Maybe we can use Husl to get him around, but that’ll cost an arm and a leg. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Another mom added, “My daughter is dead set that she’s going to win this award. But, I worry about people cheating to win it. Some parents will probably drive their kid around and hit like 10 churches in one day. They’ll probably just show up for rec, Kool-Aid and cookies, and then leave for the next church. You know there’s no way some of the busy baseball and softball kids can do this, but they like to win at all costs. I’m just worried that people are going to cheat, and my poor baby will get cheated out of the award.”

It will be interesting to see how the VBS season plays out. We’ll be at the August VCBA meeting to cover the awards ceremony. Have a great summer and VBS season.