Stories from Tuesday, April 20, 2004

The Medicine Valley boys golf team captured its home invitational Monday at Heritage Hills Golf Course in McCook. The Raiders fired a 372 score and edged out second-place Chase County by three strokes. Dundy County finished third with a 386 score, followed by Wauneta-Palisade 399, Lakeside Central 424, Maywood 430 and Southwest 435...

Oct. 7, 1918-April 13, 2004 NORTH PLATTE -- Madeline May Hartman died Tuesday, April 13, 2004, at the Linden Court Care Center in North Platte at the age of 85. She was born October 7, 1918, in Logan County, the daughter of the late Clarence S. and Maggie May (Whipple) Chesley. Madeline grew up on a family homestead southwest of Dunning, where she graduated from rural school...

Dec. 2, 1928-April 19, 2004 KEARNEY -- LaVeda "Maxine" Meissner, 75, died Monday (April 19, 2004) at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. She was born Dec. 2, 1928, in Stockville to Delva DeWayne and Wilma Dee (Blake) Smith. On June 14, 1946, she married Robert Simmerman Meissner in Oberlin, Kan. They made their home south of McCook. To this union one daughter, Marilyn, was born...

April 13, 1942 - April 16, 2004 Bill was born in McCook to Rue W. and Vera M. Troester. He was a graduate of McCook High School in 1960. He then received his business degree from Metropolitan College of Denver. Written by Daniel Troester in memory of Bill Troester...

Emotions ran high at the McCook City Council meeting Monday night as one council member threatened to resign and another challenged his colleagues to change their position and once again look to the north for a water solution. Ultimately, the council decided 4-1 to allow city staff to obtain an appraisal for property for an additional 2 wells, begin land negotiations and start testing the site for up to two wells...

Members of the McCook Public Schools board of education accepted the resignation and retirement of senior high math teacher and head boys track coach John Gumb at their regular meeting Monday. Board Secretary Mike Gonzales asked, "Have we ever turned one of these down?" after President Greg Larsen read Gumb's letter announcing his retirement after 27 years in the McCook school system...

Red Willow County commissioners and Assessor Sandra Kotschwar discussed the courthouse's "overloaded, almost unsafe upstairs" during the commissioners' regular meeting Monday morning. Kotschwar told commissioners her office has state regulations decreeing what records she can throw out and what she has to keep forever. What she must keep forever can be sent to Lincoln for storage by the Nebraska Records Management Division, Kotschwar said...

McCook Public Schools board of education members discussed the school calendar for the next couple years and addressed parents' and students' concerns about seven-period days during their meeting Monday. A proposed perpetual calendar has school starting for students the third Thursday of August, and following a heat schedule through Labor Day...

Community Hospital of McCook is offering blood tests on April 20, 21 and 22 from 7 to 9 a.m. in the Community Hospital meeting rooms in celebration of their 30th anniversary and upcoming National Hospital Week. Blood chemistry profiles and cholesterol profiles will be offered for $32 for both tests. ...

McCook Public Schools board of education accepted a $420,000+ reading grant during its regular meeting Monday. McCook's "Reading First"grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, will fund $220,000 in its first year and $200,000 in its second year. The grant amount for the third year will be determined at the end of the second year, according to elementary principal Kathy Latta...

Families are invited to participate in the annual Family Fun Night Thursday, April 22 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Fairboard Community Building, West 5th and O Streets in McCook. The Family Fun Night is a free educational event for families being held during the "Week of the Young Child". It is sponsored by the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension and the Southwest Nebraska Early Childhood Coalition...

Aug. 27, 1931-April 18, 2004 Dolores "Dee" Faye Reyes died at her home in McCook on Sunday, April 18, 2004. She was 72 years old. Dee was born on Aug. 27, 1931, in Wayne to Otto Clause and Thelma (Nichols) Rosacker. She attended school in Wayne. She married Duane Herfel at Sioux City, Iowa. To this union one daughter, Debra, was born...

High, hard-hitting winds whipped across the Great Plains Sunday, reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile in places and causing a 17-car pileup on Interstate 70 about 10 miles east of Burlington, Colo. The winds were scary in their intensity, and, for several hours, the people on the Plains could sense what their grandparents went through -- for weeks on end -- during the Dirty '30s...

**Dear Editor, The week of April 18-24 is being observed nationally as the Week of the Young Child. It is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It was first observed in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8) lay the foundation for children's success in school and later life...

The Southwest Nebraska Early Childhood Coalition invites area residents to celebrate the Week of the Young Child, which is observed this year during the week of April 18-24. It is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. ...

Prairie Plains CASA and the McCook Area Sertoma Club are sponsering a light of hope ceremony on Friday at 6pm on Norris Avenue. The ceremony is to honor National Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month (April). The McCook Community College baseball team and men's and women's basketball teams will be participating in the lighting of candles at the ceremony...

Once the financing is worked out, the city of McCook will build a new recycling center and transfer station with grant money and city sales tax revenues. The McCook City Council agreed 4-1, Monday to finance the project through grants received from the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in the amount of $253,000...

The city of McCook could be eligible for a three year extension of time to meet uranium and arsenice rulings by the Environmental Protection Agency if it can meet each of four different criteria. Two representatives from the Nebraska Department of Health and a third from Region 7 of the U.S. ...

CAMBRIDGE -- The Cambridge Volunteer Fire Department plans a fund-raiser 18-hole two-man scramble golf tournament Sunday, at 10 a.m., at Cross Creek Golf Course in Cambridge. The entry fee of $100 includes 18 holes, range balls, lunch and prizes. Carts and beverages will be available...

TORRINGTON, Wyo. -- The McCook Community College golf team finished fourth at the five-tean Eastern Wyoming Invite Friday and Saturday at Torrington, Wyo. The Indians posted a two-day score of 612, followed by the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture-Curtis in fifth place with a 633...

EDITOR'S NOTE -- The following comment was received via e-mail in response to the weekend editorial "Poppers need to go beyond the obvious." Having read the Gazette's editorial regarding the Poppers, I am left with a variety of questions. First and foremost, has the writer ever bothered to read the Poppers' initial article titled "The Great Plains: From Dust to Dust" where the Buffalo Commons metaphor was first introduced? If so, why the inaccurate statement that the Poppers' premise was "it might be best to turn the land back to habitat for large buffalo herds"?. ...

Information is the key to the newspaper business, and it's rewarding to connect the people who want to know something with the people who know it. Last week, while I was bemoaning the loss of a valuable source of historical information, Linda Hein, I mentioned that one Cliff Like (719) 346-7610, wondered if anyone remembered the coal gas plant in McCook...