Stories from Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Should parents who smoke while children are in their car be charged with child abuse? As overreaching as it may sound, the North Platte police chief actually is looking into the issue, and he isn't alone. And you can't escape the logic. According to a 670-page study released by the U.S. ...

Your piece about basic training sure hit the nail on the head ("Basic training will be nothing," Glory Daze; by Gloria Masoner [http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1159278.html]. When I talked to my oldest son when he got out of Navy Boot, he said that "it's like church camp, but the food's better. I didn't learn much except how to fold my clothes the Navy way."...

I admit it, I'm a sucker for the latest gizmo. Not that I actually rush out and buy it, at least while it's still "the latest gizmo." My "latest" purchase was a yogurt machine, bought for a buck at a weekend garage sale. The yogurt's waiting at home in the fridge, for me and the cats -- the only ones in the family who can stand fermented milk...

McCook water customers would save less than $200 a year if a half-cent sales tax was implemented, Utility Director Jesse Dutcher told City Council members at the Monday night budget workshop. What the sales tax would do, however, would limit rate increases, he said...

McCook Public Schools' board of education rejected a proposal Monday evening that would have stiffened the high school's grade requirements to participate in sports and activities. Board secretary Diane Lyons, who wrote the proposal, cast the lone "yes" vote on a motion to accept a new standards policy that would have required teachers to generate lists every Friday of all students with failing grades...

Saying the city is over-budgeted, Councilman Aaron Kircher proposed cutting $200 from various items to keep the spending plan from being inflated. "I understand that we budget for a leeway, but we budget way more to be safe," he said, citing actual costs last year that came in $1 million under projections...

HERNDON -- Residents of Herndon and Rawlins County and the owner of a new manufacturing business in Herndon share the same hopes and dreams -- to transform the former Herndon school into a successful business. Although Kenneth W. Hall Sr., president of Cencast Advanced Casting Technologies, doesn't know the exact role that the former school will play in his company, he does knows that Herndon and Rawlins County will play a significant part in his company's very near future...

Rumor last spring called it a "snack" period. Oh, the indignant cries: "How dare they use up part of the school day to allow kids to eat snacks." Then McCook High School Principal Jerry Smith said, no, it will be an intensive reading period. Well, from that reading focus idea has grown a full-fledged proposal to create a class time designed to concentrate on reading and literacy, yes, but also to develop positive relationships between students and teachers...

Brandon Crick, who will play college golf at Gonzaga University this fall, carded one of the best amateur scores ever turned in at Heritage Hills Golf Course over the weekend as he won the club championship. Crick's rounds of 68-66 would have put him within a stroke of tying pro Chris Wiemer's winning score in June's John Mullen Pro-Am at Heritage Hills...

May 10, 1932 - July 9, 2006 Beverly Ann Herron, age 74, died Sunday (July 9, 2006) at her home in McCook after a long battle with cancer.  She  was born May 10, 1932 to George and Gladys (Brewer) Brumfield at St. Joseph, Mo.  She graduated from Manual High School in Denver, Colo. in 1950. ...

January 1, 1927 - July 9, 2006 OBERLIN, Kan. -- Dorothy Knudson, 79, died Sunday (July 9, 2006) at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. She was born Jan. 1, 1927, at Hill City, Kan. to Ray A. and Gertrude (Brown) Cox. She grew up in Atwood, where she graduated from Atwood Public Schools...

March 11, 1931 - July 6, 2006 ATWOOD, Kan. -- Nelly Stiefel Matisek, 75, died Thursday (July 6, 2006) . She was born March 11, 1931 in Aarau, Switzerland, to Alfred and Hechwig (Meier) Stiefel. She was confirmed into the Christian faith. She completed her education in Aarau, including earning a degree from a local vocational college...