Stories from Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Area track teams competed in the Medicine Valley invitational Monday in McCook. Cambridge won the girls division with Medicine Valley taking second and Dundy County third. Southwest took the fourth spot, Maywood was fifth and Arapahoe was sixth. McCook's junior varsity finished seventh, Stapleton was eighth and Hayes Center was ninth...

Hitchcock County hosted area golfers at the Hitchcock County invitational golf meet in McCook Monday. The tournament took place at Heritage Hills Golf Course. Elwood won the invite with Hitchcock County taking second. Southwest finished third, Wauneta-Palisade was fourth and Dundy County was fifth...

Senior citizens were vocal and defensive Monday night in their opposition to alcohol being served at the Heritage Senior Center. At issue was a special liquor license requested by a caterer for a state art club convention dinner at the center July 13...

City Council members agreed to close down three of the largest yard waste collection sites in McCook, although one councilman said he was not convinced it will help. "It won't fix the problem but I'd love to be proved wrong," said Councilman Aaron Kircher, who voted against it. Those voting for it were Mayor Dennis Berry along with Councilmen Lonnie Anderson and Marty Conroy...

Brandon Reichert, right, grills some hotdogs while his friends, from left, Lindsey Hartman, Crystal Zwickle, Toshi Birch and Miquel Gonzales get comfortable in a recliner sofa at the Jaycees Complex. The McCook Community College Indians lost a softball double header to Western Nebraska Community College on Monday afternoon...

Earl and Dorothy (Wickizer) Gummere will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on April 20. They were married in 1957, at the United Methodist Church in Stratton. Cards of congratulations will reach the couple at HC 1 Box 11A Stratton, NE 69043.

Under the headling "Political winds shifting on the prairie?", a Los Angeles Times reporter did a good job defining the unusual political property staked out by Nebraska in general and McCook in particular. The headliner did well to include the question mark, however, as our political wind has been blowing the unusual course guided by "prairie populism" since the times of William Jennings Bryan and before...

There are thousands of Christians in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas who do not believe the lie of evolution. We believe the Bible when it says in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (and that includes all things in it and on it). Also John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus Christ) and the Word was with God and the Word was God. ALL things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made."...

I would like to say AMEN to Tom Kiplinger's letter. First, I do not think that just people from Southwest Nebraska signed the original water compact. I believe it was signed in Lincoln as an official policy of the State of Nebraska. Why does it now become Southwest Nebraska's financial problem? It is a state compact; the entire state should bear the burden. We pay our fair share of taxes for the costs of issues that arise in the eastern part of Nebraska...

I have just been reading about you online from an article in the LA Times. I learnt of the sad loss of Randy Matheny and the honourable actions of your two senators -- Hagel and Nelson. I just wanted to send some empathy from here in England. The situation in Iraq has claimed enough lives and there is no clear end in sight. ...

We come now to one of the last of the spring constellations, the great hero, Hercules. Alas, for this is another of the large constellations (fifth largest in the sky) with dim stars, second and third magnitude, making it difficult, but not impossible to find from backyards in town. To find Hercules a trip to a dark sky place is advised...

Down the road, local businesses could get a break when bidding on city vehicles or other items. As a way to do business locally, Mayor Dennis Berry directed city staff to look into the possibility of it being legal to give some kind of incentive to local businesses when the city lets bids for new or used items...

Yes, I wrote this for the paper many years back, but is it not worth repeating? If you have kids, any age. YOU need not put fear in them, but just as you give them information on drugs, and burning buildings, Give them the information to survive shootings...