Stories from Tuesday, November 20, 2007

HASTINGS -- Hastings was the site for the second meet of the season for the McCook YMCA Devil Ray Swim Team. Competitors from Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings and McCook attended this meet Nov. 10. The Gazette got results from the meet on Monday. Thirty-five swimmers from McCook participated in the meet, some for their first meet ever. Ana Miller and Kelsey Schwab swam in a meet for the first time...

LINCOLN -- Area officials worked the Nebraska Class C-1 football final Saturday at Lincoln between Bishop Neumann and Pierce. The crew consisted of referee Ron Smith, McCook; umpire Darren Esch, Indianola; linesman Brad Edgerton, Cambridge; line judge: Paul Wood, McCook; and back judge Brian Esch, McCook...

Feb. 15, 1917-Nov. 19, 2007 CAMBRIDGE -- Ruth J. Warnock, 90, died Monday (Nov. 19, 2007), at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital. She was born Feb. 15, 1917, near Freedom, to Charles and Maude (Campbell) Pickel. She was married to Vernon O. Warnock. He preceded in death on Sept. 16, 1986...

Movie Review - Beowulf Starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich Running Time: 1 Hour 54 Minutes Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material, and nudity. Let's start the review by saying that this is not a straight adaptation of the poem that it was based on, but rather loosely based on it. ...

The sun sets and the moon climbs into the sky -- simultaneously in Hayes County Monday. Although McCook hit a record 80 degrees Monday -- shattering the old 75 degree record -- temperatures turned to a more seasonable level today. Monday was the sixth high record set so far this year, with the thermometer reading 82 on March 13, breaking the old 78; 84 on March 18 (81), 88 on April 29 (tying 88), 97 on Oct. ...

By LORRI SUGHROUE McCook Daily Gazette Legislative Bill 701 was a way for rural communities to avoid economic disaster, a state official said Monday, but Red Willow County Commissioners and others disputed his claim. Chief Deputy Attorney General David Cookson attended the regular meeting of Red Willow County Commissioners and was peppered with comments about LB701, the state law that grants additional taxing authority to Natural Resources Districts...

Councilman Jack Rogers was the lone hold-out concerning a proposed ordinance that would allow owners of businesses that sell keno, and their employees, to play the computerized lottery game after work at their own location. The ordinance, up for a second hearing, was approved by 4 to 1 with no discussion. It will have one more hearing before the council before it goes into effect...

Construction scheduled for West J could include widening streets to include left hand turning lanes. The McCook City Council unanimously approved all consent items at its regular meeting Monday night, including one concerning the selection of W Design as the engineering firm for the West J project...

With only a very few, very specific exceptions, animal feeding operations in Nebraska are not allowed to discharge their livestock waste. Dennis Heitmann of the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality told Red Willow Willow commissioners Monday morning, "Animal feeding operations are not allowed to discharge. I can't say it any clearer."...

Conservative government has paid off for Nebraska, with the state on track to have a record $542 million-plus in reserves by late June. It's no wonder, then, that 100 farmers who were promised $9 million earlier this month -- payment for water they had the rights to but didn't use -- would like a piece of that pie...

Comet 17/P Holmes is still making an appreciable showing in the northeast in the early evening hours. It does not look like what is normally expected of a comet, that is with a long, flowing tail. The tail is not visible because the comet is moving away from us here on the Earth and any tail is extending in the direction of travel, away from the Earth...

Actions by Friends of the River are not necessarily "friendly" to the people of the basin. Payments for irrigators in three irrigation districts were due to be paid at the beginning of this month, but were not paid because of uncertainty caused by a lawsuit filed to challenge the constitutionality of a property tax mechanism in LB701. ...

As an outsider looking in, I continue to be amazed by the string of great seasons the McCook Bison football program has put together. There are, no doubt, thousands of other Nebraskans who are equally impressed. Yet another trip to the state finals in 2007, a great game against Crete High School, and another show of class and sportsmanship demonstrated by Coach Jeff Gross and his team...

It was a great ballgame and great defensive effort by both teams, MHS and CHS. Like getting three games in one, each team starting fresh and even three times. It was also great to see all the McCook people in Lincoln Saturday. Many old classmates showed up and we did stay out late and reminisced about the game and the past 40 some years, a great time. ...