Stories from Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The McCook Junior B's American Legion baseball team was swept by the McCook City Team in a doubleheader Monday at Jaycees Sports Complex. The City Team won the opener 16-3 in three innings and the nightcap 17-4 in four innings. The McCook Junior B's finished the season with a 15-13 record...

July 21, 1920 -July 5, 2008 FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Merle O. Frasier, 87, formerly of Benkelman, died Saturday (July 5, 2008) at Lemay Avenue Health and Rehabilitation Center in Fort Collins, Colo. He was born July 21, 1920, in Dundy County, north of Benkelman, to Claude Oliver and Alma Charity (Bernard) Frasier. ...

July 2, 1927 - July 9, 2008 ARAPAHOE -- M. Donna Mollring, 81, of Holbrook, died Tuesday (July 9, 2008) at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. She was born July 2, 1927, at Oxford to W.H. and Edith M. (Coe) Quinn. She attended and graduated from Oxford High School in 1945. He worked for Bell Telephone Company in Oxford for several years...

Nov. 11, 1944 - July 7, 2008 OBERLIN -- William Dean Polivka, 63, died Monday (July 7, 2008) at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte. He was born Nov. 11, 1944, in Wahoo to Lod and Marie (Spicka) Polivka. He grew up in Wahoo, Camp Rule and Lakewood, Colo. He attended Jefferson School and graduated from Almeada High School in 1962...

Oct. 20, 1947 - July 7, 2008 William Jay Cotton died Monday, July 7, 2008, at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, Neb., at the age of 60. He was born Oct. 20, 1947, in McCook, Neb., the son of the late Thomas and Anne (Dillon) Cotton. Bill attended school in McCook and graduated from McCook High School in 1966...

Mary (Wasia) Howerter of Cambridge will celebrate her 75th birthday. She was born July 11, 1933. Cards of congratulations will reach her at 626 Park Ave., Cambridge NE 69022.

We knew something had to be done. Those of us who waited in gasoline lines during the OPEC oil embargo of the early 1970s realized it would be foolish to allow foreign producers the power to pull down the American economy again. But what happened? Thirty-five years later, we're in the same position, or even worse...

Officials and offenders at McCook's Work Ethic Camp say they're proudly marking another milestone. Since the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services facility opened in 2001, WEC's Offender Road Crews have logged more than 250,000 hours of work in the community, providing free labor to county, state and local governmental agencies and non-profit organizations...

By LORRI SUGHROUE City Editor A new administrative assistant position is needed at the McCook Police Department to keep up with extensive paperwork and to help out dispatchers, the McCook City Council was told Monday night. The new position, at $24,000, is included in the proposed 2008-09 budget for the department...

The McCook City Fire Department is hoping for a grant that will cover 95 percent of costs for breathing equipment for the department. The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be $142,310, with the city's five percent match of $7,540...

There's more building activity going on in the city than meets the eye, according to inspection fees collected by the city. City Manager Kurt Fritsch told the McCook City Council at the budget meeting Monday night that building inspection fees are expected to climb to $15,000-16,000 for next year, compared to the $5,000 estimated for last years' budget...

A combine makes another round, bringing in the wheat in advance of an approaching thunderstorm. While wet conditions in western Nebraska have put the harvest a week or more behind schedule in Nebraska, harvest is almost complete in Northwest Kansas.

It was an ordinary Friday in February 1986. Danny had just returned to the swing shift at the quarry where he headed the maintenance crew, winter repair finished for another year. He had already left for work that afternoon when my brother called. "No one is answering the phone at Mom and Dad's," he said, "and no one answered yesterday either."...