Stories from Saturday, February 24, 2007

If you have the flu or a cold, but are not really sick, you probably know what to do. Increase your intake of healthy fluids, use a cool mist vaporizer or saline nasal spray to relieve congestion, sooth your throat with ice chips, sore throat spray or lozenges, and take an over-the-counter medication recommended your pharmacist to relieve symptoms. (And don't give children aspirin, because it can cause Reye's Syndrome, which can be fatal.)...

Ah, the joys of airline travel! As I write Ann, Mike and I are sitting at the departure gate, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, with a reported 20 minute delay. I suspect the delay will be more than 20 minutes because there is no airplane parked at the end of our jetway. We passengers have been through the indignity of TSA screening: remove your shoes, belt buckles, pocket change, pens and pencils, cell phones and anything else that might cause a "beep" at the people scanner...

Practically everyone who owns or has access to a computer have received urgent email messages advising us either of some great "scam" being worked on the public and telling us what to do to avoid it OR telling us how we can make some quick easy money with little effort required on our part at all...

All about money Regardless of what some people claim, LB395 is not about health. It's all about money. When big towns ban smoking, they see some of their customers going to the smaller towns. They are not willing to tolerate this. If we want to be reasonable, the proprietors could make the rules and people can vote with their patronage...

Last Friday, we had a funeral in McCook. A native son gave his life for his country. Several malcontents came to town to disrupt the funeral services. Due to some patriotic citizens and law officers they were kept from doing damage at the funeral, but in their display of disrespect for sons and daughters who have given their lives for this country, they dragged our flag in the dirt. The flag that so many have fought to preserve and died for...

By DAWN CRIBBS Associate Editor The matter of inside -- outside was the focal point of the Rev. Dr. Jeff Thurman's homily at the first of seven Community Lenten lessons Friday afternoon at the First Congregational Church. The theme of this year's Lenten series concerns the seven ins-and-outs of Jesus' trial, explained Thurman, who is the pastor at Memorial United Methodist Church...

Most are familiar with McCook's own Ben Nelson as 'Senator Ben -- the maker of laws in the Senate.' But Senator Ben Nelson is getting quite a bit of attention these days for his recording of "Western Town"! He is one of the "singing celebrities" on the new "Nebraska Celebrities Sing for Sight" CD -- a fundraiser for the Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children (NFVIC) -- helping children with visual impairments...