Stories from Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Shirley A. Littrel WAUNETA, Nebraska -- Shirley Ann Littrel, 75, a longtime resident of Wauneta, died Monday(March 12, 2012), at the Dundy County Hospital, Benkelman, Nebraska. Survivors include her husband, Roy Littrel of Wauneta; sons, Jamie and wife, Elizabeth of Lincoln, Nebraska, Jerry and wife, Sharon of Davenport, Nebraska, Brent of Hastings, Nebaska and Troy of Wauneta; brother, Lloyd and wife, Gloria Sinner of Wauneta; sister, Dorothy and husband, Leonard Frecks of Elkhorn, Nebraska; brother-in-law, Virgil and wife Connie Littrel of Palisade, Nebraska; sisters-in-law, Rosemary Darsa of Rockville, Maryland and Virginia and husband, Dale Krausnick of Benkelman, Nebraska; eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.. ...

Anthony 'Tony' Blake Eschliman Oct. 21, 1980 - March 9, 2012 JUNCTION CITY, Kansas -- Anthony "Tony" Blake Eschliman, 31, of Junction City, died on Friday, March 9, 2012, in Junction City. A funeral service will be held on Friday, March 16, 2012, at 2 p.m. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Academic requirements concerning students who participate in school activities will become a little stricter, with a new policy McCook School Board members are working on. The Activities Committee, comprised of McCook School Board members Larry Shield, chair, Diane Lyons and Sandy Krysl, is tightening academic standards for students involved in school-sanctioned organizations...

Former Gazette publisher Gene Morris, right, gets an autographed copy of the book: "Prairie Blitz: High School Football on America's 50-Yard Line" from author Dave Almany during the book's local debut Tuesday evening at McCook Senior High School. Almany wrote the chronicle of the 2011 McCook Bison football and two other prep teams in North Dakota and Texas...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The Red Willow County Commissioners unanimously voted to allow county departments to sign up for a credit card service program provided by the Nebraska.gov website. The decision Monday will give county entities the ability to accept credit or debit cards for payment of services...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Kids and guns don't mix, especially in Nebraska where guns are in almost every household, said McCook School Resource Officer John Smith Monday night. Smith, who is also a McCook Police Officer, spoke to the McCook School Board Monday night at the regular meeting and asked that a gun safety program be implemented for first and third graders...

City of McCook, Nebraska, employee Mike Jonasen, right, digs a hole in the dirt using the high-pressure water wand on the sewer department's vacuum truck, helping water crews repair a water line on an island in the 600 block of Norris Avenue Tuesday morning. ...

The fence-building crew of, right to left, Brandon Kotschwar, Jeremy Best and Leland Kleckner of Ninemire Fence Construction of Hill City, Kansas, sets steel posts at the McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport east of McCook, Nebraska, Tuesday afternoon. The team will set more than 250 posts a day...

The daffodils are in full bloom, people are rummaging for their spring and summer clothes and it's still almost a month until Easter. If you aren't getting outside to enjoy this week's 80-degree weather, you should do so. We're also enjoying the lack of wind, something that's a treat in Southwest Nebraska...

LINCOLN -- Tom Pristow has to know his new command is the social services equivalent of taking charge of Pearl Harbor on December 8. Pristow also must be a guy who lives for a challenge. He is going to work for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services...

Watching the world unwrap another day this week, we took a brief trip through time and circumstance, retracing the unusual places and people that we encountered along the way. Those who live where they grew up enjoy many benefits from that reality. Since time out of mind, up until the last century or so, where you were born was where you died, after living many fruitful years traveling the same highways and byways as you unwrapped your days...