Stories from Thursday, June 9, 2011

Sept. 26, 1926-June 5, 2011 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Stanley R. Marr, 84, passed away Sunday, June 5, 2011, after a courageous battle with Parkinson's disease. Stanley was born Sept. 26, 1926, in Utica, Nebraska to Dewey and Ethel (Simonsen) Marr. Stanley graduated from Utica High School and attended two years of college at the University of Nebraska before enlisting in the U.S. Navy...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A grievance was fraudulently filed with the Counsel for Discipline of the Nebraska Supreme Court against local attorney Maurice Green this week. Details of the grievance are confidential; however representatives of the counsel provided a copy of the signature on the letter they received, as well as the handwritten envelope it was mailed in...

There is an old curse that says, "May you live in interesting times." I don't know if we are cursed or not, but there are some interesting things to look for this week. Let's start in the north. Our old friends the Big and Little Dippers can be found there. However, right now they are in an interesting configuration...

So when you become a mom, sometimes you have to give up some of your favorite extracurricular activities. It's not that you really want to, it's just either you don't have the time anymore or you don't have the energy. Then, as your little ones get older and more involved in their own activities, then you find that all your time is spent running them to practices, watching their games or whatever the case may be. Their extracurricular activities become your extracurricular activities...

My friend, Justin Evertson from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, sent this picture to me the other day along with some correspondence about trees for our area. The picture was taken near Bartley, most likely along the Republican River. It is a magnificent tree for certain. But I believe that it should also make us wonder about the validity of some statements that have been made about climate change, and specifically what our area looked like hundreds of years ago...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Two local individuals have successfully completed the educational requirements to become Master Gardeners. Tammy Solomon and Ted Bethell have participated in live and recorded trainings on horticulture related topics since early February. They are now engaging in community projects to fulfill their volunteer hours to complete their certification...

Electronic media aren't doing the job of local newspapers, according to a new report. And, no, it's not propaganda from a newspaper industry group, it's from the Federal Communications Commission, the agency charged with overseeing electronic media...

There are a trio of very good releases on DVD and Blu-ray this week; one is a top-flight re-imagining of a classic Western, while the other two are full-season sets of a pair of TV's most popular and acclaimed hour-long dramas. Any one of them would likely make an excellent choice for a Father's Day gift -- or even perhaps as a present to those gentlemen who are not yet fathers (hint, hint)...