Stories from Tuesday, January 8, 2008

OBERLIN -- The Norton girls basketball team improved to 4-3 with a 69-46 win over Oberlin Monday. Hayli Bozarth led Norton with 26 points. Laura Lee Baird added 11. Adrienne Pauls led the Red Devils with 15 points. The Norton boys defeated the Oberlin boys 74-41...

LINCOLN -- Nebraska Head Football Coach Bo Pelini has announced that Tim Beck will serve as the Huskers' running backs coach. Beck joined the Huskers on Monday after completing his third season as an assistant coach at Kansas in the Orange Bowl last Thursday...

Feb. 21, 1920-Dec. 31, 2007 CHAMPION -- Darlean R. Moreland, 87, died Dec. 31, 2007, in Lincoln. She was born Feb. 21, 1920, to Luther and Emily Barns. She was married to George Moreland. She was a member of the Chase County Historical Society, the Joys and Blisters Garden Club and the Champion Women's Club...

The McCook City Council has decided to purchase the former West Ward Elementary school building from D. Jon Morrison for $100,000. The council reconvened from a closed session Monday night at its regular meeting and Councilman/vice chair Aaron Kircher announced the purchase. The council will meet again Thursday night at 7 p.m., at City Council Chambers, to vote on authorizing City Manager Kurt Fritsch to provide a $3,000 earnest money deposit for an option on West Ward...

Sen. Mark Christensen, author of the controversial LB701, defended the bill while two of the property owners who filed a lawsuit against it, Claude Cappel and Angus Garey, disputed his claims, at the council meeting Monday night. Christensen asked the council to consider the "unintended consequences" if LB701 were repealed. ...

A "Friend of the Court" brief has not yet been filed by the City of McCook on behalf of a lawsuit challenging the property tax provisions in LB701, McCook City Council members learned Monday night. City Attorney Nate Schneider said council members will authorize the document at a council meeting in the near future...

By CONNIE JO DISCOE Regional editor Two people remained hospitalized this morning after a three-vehicle accident Monday evening at the Perry elevator four miles west of McCook. Dallas and Maxine Godsey of Wray, Colo., are listed in stable condition at Community Hospital of McCook, where they were transported after their car struck an SUV driven by Christi Evans, 46, of rural McCook. Evans was also taken to the McCook hospital, where she was treated for head and lower back trauma and released...

Get drunk and kill someone, then claim you didn't know what you were doing, and get off by pleading "not guilty by reason of insanity." Some legal experts say that's not really what happened in a recent case, but Attorney General Jon Bruning wants to make sure it doesn't happen, ever...

The fourth grade class at Aviston Elementary, located in southern Illinois, is learning about the United States and the different environments, climates, resources and highlights found in each region. The kids in the class think it would be fun to receive postcards, souvenirs, resources or any information about our great country from each of the United States...

Read your opinion in 1-7-08 (Kearney) Hub. Keep up the good work. The State signed (the Republican River Compact) and it should be the State's responsiblity. They have done too little, too late. I was of the opinion that we were over-using water years ago; where was the State then before the matter got way out of hand?...

I hope you didn't miss the conjunction of the moon and Mars on Dec. 23. It was an awesome sight. The brilliance of the almost-full moon and the brightness of Mars seemingly a hairs width off to the side made for a lovely pair. In binoculars it was even more awe inspiring. The moon took on an almost three dimensional aspect. With blazing red Mars nearby it was a tremendous sight...

By CONNIE JO DISCOE Regional Editor Red Willow County commissioners approved the county's contribution of $10,000 to the McCook Economic Development Corp., but not without some reservations. "We appreciate your partnership," MEDC director Rex Nelson told commissioners during their weekly meeting Monday morning, after commissioners unanimously approved the 2007-08 contribution, which is the same as it was in 2006-07...

Red Willow County commissioners tabled any decision Monday morning, but agreed to look at a 5,000-square-foot metal building that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has for sale in McCook. Moving the building from the 1700 block of West Third to the county fairgrounds or to the county's District 3 shop in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of West Fifth would be a short trip, as far as moving buildings is concerned, said Commission Chairman Earl McNutt. ...

Red Willow County has no bridges that demand immediate attention, and very few that require repairs. The county's roads supervisor, Gary Dicenta, told commissioners during their meeting Monday morning that none of the county's 48 bridges "are in that bad of shape."...

Red Willow County commissioners reappointed their leader to his eighth year as chairman. Earl McNutt, of McCook, was unanimously reappointed to the chairman's position Monday morning, during the commissioners' first meeting of 2008. Leigh Hoyt will continue as vice chairman of the board of commissioners, and was re-appointed to his second year as chairman of the county's board of equalization. McNutt will serve as vice chairman of the equalization board...