Stories from Wednesday, July 6, 2005

GOTHENBURG -- Going into the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday night at Gothenburg, the McCook National Bank American Legion Seniors had a comfortable 7-1 lead. With the 1-2-3 hitters coming up, the Seniors' lead had the chance of being shaken. A lead-off single followed by a home run shifted momentum to the other side of the field, but only for a few minutes as Jared Muehlenkamp slammed the door...

GOTHENBURG -- The First Central Bank American Legion Juniors were riding high with a five-run lead going into the final half inning of play, but destruction occurred. Base hits and errors handcuffed the Juniors as they dropped the game against Gothenburg Tuesday night 9-8...

March 4, 1925-July 5, 2005 R. G. "Riney"Loose, 80, died Tuesday, July 5, 2005, at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook. He was born March 4, 1925, in Brush, Colo., to George and Pauline (Kauffman) Loose. He grew up and attended school in Brush and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1942-1945...

Sept. 7, 1925-July 4, 2005 BISMARCK, Ark. -- Vance James Bond, 79, died Monday (July 4, 2005) at the National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs, Ark. He was born Sept. 7, 1925, in Wetumka, Okla., to Joseph and Clara (Bonner) Bond. He serviced in the U.S. Army during World War II...

The chairman of the Red Willow County Commissioners said he is having a hard time being heard by the McCook City Council. Earl McNutt, chairman of the county board, lodged his complaint before a shorthanded council Tuesday night, with Mayor Dennis Berry and Councilman Jim Kenny absent from the regular meeting...

Wendell Peters of P&G Excavating moves dirt around the rubble of a house at 1112 E. Fourth in McCook, the site of a new parking lot for McCook Community college. The college cleared two lots -- the second across the alley west, at 1111 E. Third -- to create 28 parking stalls south of McMillen Hall and von Riesen Library. ...

Sen. Chuck Hagel was born in North Platte, but his independent political DNA seems to have originated in the same pool as McCook's own Sen. George W. Norris. It takes a healthy dose of independent thinking, not to mention other attributes, to call on the Republican Party to return to the days of Barry Goldwater...

**Dear Editor, I am one of the "legalization lobbyists" letter writer Owen McPhillips rails against. I am not paid. This is a labor of love for me because I am interested in liberty for all no matter where they live on the planet.  I am a Canadian. With my cannabis criminal record I will never be able to cross the border and visit McCook. American support of drug prohibition has these types of profound ramifications all over the world...

One of the first admonitions given to me when I first starting working at the Gazette was to avoid, whenever possible, the phrase, "A good time was had by all." The phrase is often overused and so has become trite, and it is nearly always unverifiable...