Stories from Tuesday, October 26, 2010

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The Red Willow County Clerk has released the names of candidates who will run as write-ins for Indianola mayor and the Bartley village board on the Nov. 2 election. And, one candidate was inadvertently left off the McCook Public Power District board of directors in a sample ballot published last Friday...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A member of the board that drafted guidelines for the city sales tax said members had a building like the Nov. 2 proposal in mind at the time. Speaking at Monday night's town hall meeting at the Heritage Senior Center on the proposed municipal facility, Jerry Reitz said that when the additional one-cent sales tax was implemented in 2008, "The voters handcuffed the City Council with how they could spend the money."...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County, Nebraska, commissioners need more information before they can make any decision about renting the former beauty shop next door to the courthouse in McCook, Nebraska. Commission chairman Earl McNutt said during the commissioners' weekly meeting Monday morning that a counseling center in North Platte would like to move from its current McCook office and expand services, and is inquiring about renting the beauty shop building that the county purchased in early 2008 for courthouse expansion or additional office space or parking, or, according to conjecture at the time, land upon which to build a county jail.. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The generosity of residents of the Golden Plains never ceases to warm the hearts of those who volunteer for the "Coat Closet," a program designed to warm the bodies of everyone living through a winter in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The McCook Planning Commission talked about changes that would be needed to allow a jail to be built in the city limits, but decided no action was needed yet. McCook zoning ordinances state that the agricultural zone is the only zone where a jail facility can exist. The current Public Safety Center is exempt from the ordinance, as a pre-existing use, but the topic has arisen as a result of the proposed Municipal Facility, which voters will decide on with the Nov. 2 ballot...

Few issues have drawn more local interest than the current Natural Resources District election, but a few off-year elections have the potential for long-term affects everywhere around the country. Besides the battle for Congress, a local contest that is drawing national attention is California's Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for all uses, not just the medical purposes for which it has been legal since 1996...

It is interesting to sit back and watch the leaders of McCook wrestle with the people's priorities. The McCook Police Department's intention to move into a new public safety center and leave their jail (yeah I know it's a 48 hour holding facility) comes immediately to mind...

I am only one of numerous farmers along the river that is concerned. My views represent many of the irrigators that will be shut off, especially those who did not go around the intent of the legislature and the settlement requirements. I have data and documents for what I say and I do not try to distort or mislead. What is wrong with a sustainable aquifer?...

I read with great interest all the rhetoric that has been in the Forum the last few days about how to "MAKE KANSAS HAPPY." I did not see the foundational problem addressed that would provide an assured supply of water for future generations of Southwest Nebraska citizens. We simply cannot remove more water from either our ground water or surface water sources than nature provides and achieve that goal. Prudent management can achieve the goal of sustainable water usage...

Finding a solution to the Republican Basin problem that is as fair as possible to everyone is not an easy task; however that does not excuse haste, short-sightedness, and creating conflict among water users and other constituents. The current management plan was enacted on a 6-5 vote, with five of the "yes" votes coming from incumbents currently up for reelection. ...

EDITOR'S NOTE -- The McCook Professional Firefighters Association and McCook Professional Law Enforcement Officers Association Fraternal Order of Police lodge 57 have endorsed the proposal for a new building housing city offices and the fire and police departments. The following letters were delivered to the McCook City Council:...