Stories from Thursday, August 20, 2009

The gym and racquetball courts will remain closed at the YMCA until Thursday, Aug. 20. The rest of the YMCA will open as scheduled on Monday, Aug. 17, at 5 a.m.

Shown above is action from the Bison competition drill. The exercise has two defensive players start on the right and left field foul lines and both have to touch the ball to stop the clock before a base runner clears the bases. The Bison softball team will have a sports drink scrimmage this Saturday at 12 noon at the Jaycee Sports Complex. Their season begins at Hastings. Thursday, Aug. 27 with a doubleheader against Omaha Gross at 4:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with Omaha Skutt at 6:15...

The family Richard and Marjorie (Shields) McMurtry, formerly of McCook of Lincoln is hosting an open house and card shower in honor of the couple's 50th wedding anniversary. They were married Aug. 23, 1959, in McCook. Children of the couple are Clark and wife, Monica McMurtry of Brookshire, Texas, Cheryl McMurtry of Lincoln, Keith and wife, Becky McMurtry of LaVista and Lori and husband, Don Hilligoss of Olathe, Kan. ...

The 4oth anniversary of "three days of peace and music" passed last weekend with the usual documentaries and reminiscences, and with good reason. Nothing before or since has frozen a culture in time as much Woodstock, or forced a transition from the innocence of the early hippie days to the reality of mud and the results of debauchery...

According to an article in the Gazette on July 28, Gary Dicenta informed the Red Willow County Commissioners that Hitchcock County residents who lost a road recently quickly adapted to the change. I don't know where he got his information or what road he was talking about...

At an early age, someone scolded me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" I remember thinking they were full of beans. Haunted by that advice every now and then I try and say something nice. With City Manager Fritch's guidance, the City Council made the Keystone project possible and is bringing the new National Guard facility to McCook. ...

We recently had an opportunity to visit McCook and Red Willow Reservoir. What a wonderful city and state recreational area. The lake areas were extremely clean and well-groomed. Around 50 of our family members gathered at the lake and spent an eventful weekend...

The city's solid waste enterprise fund is teetering on the negative, but the McCook City Council approved actions Monday night to trim costs and boost revenue. First, the council awarded the contract to haul city waste to the Ogallala landfill to Fritz Trucking, a move that will save the city an estimated $25,000...

The 72nd Civil Support Team -- Weapons of Mass Destruction (CST-WMD) and the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department and Hazardous Materials Response Team will be working together on a mock disaster on Saturday at the National Guard Armory in McCook. The real-life situation will begin at 6 a.m., first responders arriving on scene to a hazardous chemical emergency involving real-life victims, chemicals and response equipment...

COLUMBUS -- More wind energy is expected to be added to Nebraska Public Power District's energy portfolio in the near future. Friday, NPPD's Board of Directors authorized entering into power purchase agreement (PPA) negotiations with Midwest Wind Energy/Edison Mission Midwest. NPPD will seek an agreement for 80 megawatts of wind-powered generation from a site near Petersburg...

Nothing makes me happier than watching the launch of the space shuttle. To see the massive, billowing clouds of the exhaust plume from the zillion gallons of liquid fuel in the brown external tank along with the two solid rocket boosters as they hurl the shuttle assembly from a standing start to several thousand miles an hour and orbit in just a few minutes...