Stories from Tuesday, January 21, 2003

Despite a plea from McCook Fire Chief Marc Harpham and Police Chief Ike Brown, a request for an exhaust ventilation system for the fire station garage bay was rejected 3-2 by the McCook City Council Monday night. Harpham told the council the exhaust system was needed for the safety of both police and fire personnel...

Dear Editor, I just had to jot a note to tell (Gloria Masoner) how neat and very intelligent (her) "Glory Daze" article "Let the dogs out" was in the Thursday issue of the Gazette. Boy, how true! The Legislature has a big problem before them and I don't know how we got such a huge deficit so quickly -- I didn't do much research at this point, but we must have goofed someplace!...

Dear Editor, I have taken note of the fact that two highly celebrated holidays in our country are the birthdays of Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King -- both of whom condemned violence as a solution to human problems. While worshiping at the shrine of these two apostles of peace, we follow the lead of "a popular president" who advocates war (a form of terrorism) against a country which has never attacked the United States and does not now nor ever has had any weapon of mass destruction which we do not have.. ...

They say when life deals you a lemon, make lemonade. The longer we live, the more stories we hear about those who have overcome diversity in some way. A recent news broadcast, for example, concerned a Kansas beef packing plant which had recently been purchased out of bankruptcy, and which planned to reopen...

Dear Editor, Why? Why? Why? Why is Iraq going to be totally destroyed? Jeremiah 50:25 says, "The Lord has opened up His armory and has brought forth (the nations who unknowingly are) the weapons of His indignation and wrath, for the Lord God of hosts has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans (Iraq)." So its the Lord that will bring about the destruction of Babylon...

Jarrod Schmoker of McCook says goodbye to his wife, Kerri, and 31/2-month-old son, Mason, at the National Guard Armory this morning. Schmoker and 10 fellow guardsmen from the McCook unit are included in the deployment of Nebraska's 1057th Light/Medium Transportation Co. ...

Marcy Rodriguez (left), the mother of the 2003 McCook Daily Gazette's New Year's Baby, holds her new daughter, Analise Crystal Hernandez, while she accepts a package of gifts from Donna Houghtelling of the McCook Daily Gazette. Looking on is Analise's older sister, Olivia (center), and her cousin, Esperanza. ...

The Harlem Ambassadors will be rolling into town Friday for what promises to be a fun-filled family night of great basketball, half-time high jinks and an important message for the younger generation. The Ambassadors will arrive in McCook Friday and plan to take their anti-drug message to McCook Public Schools Friday at 10:30 p.m. St. Pat's students will then hear the message at 2 p.m...

Reginald Halsey Jr. explained Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech to McCook kindergartners and first graders Monday. "Basically, it means loving each other, no matter what color they are on the outside," Halsey said. "What counts is on the inside."...

COZAD -- Eleanor M. Seberger, 89, of rural Cozad, died Sunday (Jan. 19, 2003) at her home. She was born Feb. 4, 1913, to George and Mary Prentice at Hebron. Her grade-school years were spent in Pondera County, Mont., on a homestead her parents bought in 1917. The family moved to Lincoln in 1926, and she attended Cathedral High School there. She was a 1933 graduate of the University of Nebraska School of Journalism and worked for three Lincoln newspapers, and in a farm loan office...

CAMPBELL -- Elsie I. Collison, 97, died Monday (Jan. 20, 2003) at the Grandview Manor Nursing Home in Campbell. She was born April 12, 1905, in McCook, to John and Marie (Lawitson) Fredrickson. She graduated from McCook High School. She attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and graduated with a teachers certificate in May 1927. She taught for two years at Wymore and then Ord...

CAMBRIDGE -- Clarence Sandman, 88, died Monday (Jan. 20, 2003) at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge. He was born July 21, 1914, to Ralph and Gertrude (Richards) Sandman near Harvine. On Aug. 1, 1937, he married Onna Stock in Wauneta. They made their home in the Wauneta area until they moved to Cambridge in 1942. They then farmed and ranched north of Cambridge until 1975, when they retired from the farm and moved into Cambridge...