Stories from Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Feb. 16, 1920-June 28, 2011 THORNTON, Colorado -- Lloyd Leslie Nokes, 91, died Tuesday (June 28, 2011) at Sunny Acres Villa Care Center in Thornton. He was born Feb. 16, 1920, in Danbury, Nebraska, the son of the late Leslie Earl and Notie E. (Thomas) Nokes. Lloyd grew up in Danbury and graduated from Danbury High School in 1938. He attended the University of Nebraska through his sophomore year. He began working construction on the dam in Ogallala, Nebraska...

Feb. 12, 1949-July 10, 2011 WAUNETA, Nebraska -- Lillian Elizabeth Wellman, 62, died July 10, 2011. She was born Feb. 12, 1949, the daughter of Roy and Margaret Barkman Trudell, in Keene Valley, New York. She was baptized on April 17, 1949, at Notre Dame Catholic Church in Malone, New York. She grew up in Saranac Lake, New York. She graduated from The College of St. Rose in Albany, New York with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in education...

Oct. 12, 1925-July 9, 2011 NORTH PLATTE, Nebraska -- David "Dave" Engbrecht, 85, died Saturday (July 9, 2011) at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte. He was born Oct. 12, 1925,, to David and Tena (Duerksen) Engbrecht at their homestead near Dolton, South Dakota. He attended school in Dolton...

GLOUCESTER, Virginia -- James Merlan Proud, 70, died at his home on Friday, July 1, 2011. He was born in Bartley, Nebraska and joined the U.S. Navy in 1958 after graduating from Bartley High School. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 1977, after 20 years of service...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook School Board vice president Larry Shields voted "No" on a negotiated package and pay raise for teachers and also on the 2011-12 compensation package for administrators. Shields said it isn't the 3.17 percent increase that bothers him so much as offering the same pay raise to teachers for whom administrators have written "improvement plans."...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The McCook, Nebraska, Public Schools board of education will interview applicants for a board vacancy at its monthly meeting in August. At their July meeting Monday evening, board members agreed upon a process to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Maury Green, who resigned his school board position June 13...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook school board members approved the 2011-12 junior/senior high handbook after high school principal Jerry Smith and activities director Darin Nichols explained that requiring all students involved in activities to purchase activity passes prevents students from sneaking into activities without paying and also encourages more students to attend activities...

POTTER, Nebraska -- The grandson of a McCook couple designed one of 11 mission patches flying aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its final supply run to the International Space Station before retiring. Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Friday, marking the end of the 30-year space shuttle program. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- City staff has proposed the construction of a $125,000 water slide at the McCook municipal pool in the coming 2011-12 city budget. The project could be an effective summer-time draw for the area and coupled with the McCook Community College Events Center, scheduled to be completed in March 2012, could make the summer of 2012 a highly anticipated one...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The McCook Humane Society asked for a budget increase of $3,000 annually, in addition to the $3,000 annual increase they received from council members in September 2010. The request came during the McCook City Council budget workshop Monday evening at council chambers, and would bring the 2011-12 budgeted amount from the city to $46,000...

Most of us live in rural America by choice. A slower pace of life, friendly people, a good place to raise our children and/or retire. We hear about big-city problems and troubles in foreign countries, but for the most part, it's just a story in the news...

I was reminded this week that my father had an interesting definition of the political term liberal. According to him, "A 'liberal' is one who wants to spend the money that a 'conservative' earns." We have all been following the current machinations in Washington involving the President, the House and the Senate trying to raise the debt ceiling by raising taxes or lowering spending or some combination thereof. ...