Stories from Monday, March 20, 2006

KEARNEY -- McCook and Eustis-Farnam represented the area at the University of Nebraska-Kearney High School Indoor Track and Field Meet this weekend. The meet took place at UNK's Cushing Fieldhouse. The McCook girls finished third and the Bison boys fourth in Class B competition Friday with 46.5 and 48 points...

July 20, 1928 - March 17, 2006 OBERLIN - Darlene F. Black, 77, of Oberlin, died Friday (March 17, 2006) at the Decatur County Good Samaritan Hospital in Oberlin. She was born July 20, 1928, in St. Francis, to Frank and Florence (Arrants) Larson. She was raised in St. Francis and received her education at St. Francis schools...

Harley Jolene Jones, infant, was stillborn at Newton Medical Center, Newton, Kan., Wednesday, March 15, 2006. She was born to Toby T. Jones and Angela D. (Holton) Yowell of Canton, Kan. She is survived by her parents; and eight siblings, Ashley, Paige, Cody, Courtney, Brandon, Shelby, Kian and Ali; and grandparents, Vaughn and Rose Holton of Canton, Jolene and Jerry Cruise of McPherson, Kan., and Jess and Linda Jones of Palisade...

March 12, 1912 - March 18, 2006 Frances F. Carpenter, 94, died at the Cambridge Manor Saturday (March 18, 2006). She was born in Morrill on March 12, 1912, to Oscar and Lillie (Untiedt) Lohr. At age 3 her family moved to Wyoming to homestead. Her father was killed by a lightening strike, so her mother returned to Bartley to be with family and raise her and her brother. Frances attended school in Bartley, graduating from Bartley High School in 1930...

The family of Dale McNutt is requesting a card shower in honor of his 80th birthday. He was born March 30, 1926. Cards of congratualations will reach him at 718 West 14th, McCook, NE 69001

Chris and Tammy Schaffert of Culbertson announce the birth of their son Matthew. He weighed seven pounds 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. He has two sisters, Elizabeth and Danielle. Grandparents are leo and Betty Rouselle of Culbertson and Bonnie Clinesmith of Plattsmouth...

Despite the snow storm shutting down virtually the entire town, members of the McCook City Council decide to have their regular meeting Monday night. Council members came to the consensus Monday morning, and cited the importance of getting the bid out for the deep well injection process...

CAMBRIDGE -- The drivers of two vehicles lost their lives in an accident blamed on slush on the highway east of Cambridge Sunday afternoon. Nebraska State Patrol Trooper Doug Petty reports that Shirley Grabast, 72, of Palisade, and Allan Heiden, 55, of Hampton, died at Cambridge Memorial Hospital following the accident at 2:54 p.m., about four miles east of Cambridge on U.S. Highways 6-34...

Virtually everything was cancelled in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas as the second of this winter's "bookend blizzards" rolled through the Golden Plains. While today's storm marked the first day of spring, the last major snowstorm was in late November...

Recently, on a cruise out of San Diego, we got to witness a rare occurrence. One morning we were off the coast of Mexico, but well out of sight of land, and the sea was quite choppy. About 8 a.m. the ship's loudspeaker came to life, with the message, "This is your Captain speaking...

Some folks might be upset about a first day of spring that looks like today. Virtually everything has ground to a halt with the heavy snowfall -- and you may even be reading this a day or too late, thanks to the difficulty of delivering the newspaper over the Gazette's wide circulation area...

Whether we've lived here for years or just arrived, we take the Great Plains for granted. After all, our surroundings are so plain ... devoid of the spectacular mountains, towering trees and ocean waves which identify other areas. Yet -- for those who take the trouble to look closely, the Plains can have a subtle, serene and soothing quality. ...

We give our support to the citizens of McCook who believe that John Bingham should not be rehired as City Manager. We had planned on building five duplexes on East 7th and H Street. This development would have increased the tax base by over a million dollars. However, we suffered hassles and delays and ill-health brought on by stress over what we felt were broken promises and misinterpretation of laws...

Enough is enough! For heaven's sake, every time you open the newspaper to the opinion page there is something about John Bingham. Well you as citizens know he came back, you know when he came back, and you know why he came back. I see many of you writing in and complaining. Well, for heaven's sake, instead of complaining, do something about it don't just sit there...

If I read the paper correctly, when Mr. Bingham left here, he was leaving a salary of $78,000. Again, the news was, he is returning for $82,179. Now it has been rounded up to $83,000. Where does this COLA apply? Social Security recipients didn't get such a percentage of a raise...

An Arabian stallion, "Comet," endures the blowing snow in Southwest Nebraska this morning.

Red Willow County commissioners approved a request Monday morning for a conditional use permit that would allow a proposed ethanol plant at the Perry Elevator site west of McCook to increase its capacity from 40 million gallons a year to 120 million gallons a year...