Stories from Monday, November 11, 2013

Lois L. Messinger May 8, 1922 - Nov. 9, 2013 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Lois L. Messinger passed away Nov. 9, 2013, at McCook Community Hospital. She was born May 8, 1922, in rural Clatonia, Nebraska, to Kathryn (Williams) and Nelson Walker. Art was always a passion for Lois, but being from a Clatonia farm, there was no art education available. ...

Gerald J. 'Jerry' Vontz Sept. 18, 1946 - Nov 10, 2013 TRENTON, Nebraska -- Gerald J. "Jerry" Vontz, age 67, of Trenton, died at his home on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013. He was born in McCook, Nebraska, on Sept. 18, 1946, to Lawrence and Cornelia "Nellie" (Sughroue) Vontz. Jerry attended school in Indianola and graduated from Indianola High School in 1964. He served in the U. S. Army Reserves...

This information is gathered at the McCook Public Safety Center, the McCook office of the Nebraska State Patrol, the Red Willow County Courthouse, the Red Willow County Sheriff's Office and the McCook Humane Society. Police activity Activity log...

Courtesy photo St. Patrick School recently recognized students who have earned more than 30 Accelerated Reader points through the month of October. 
First row, from left, are top five readers Jackie Hinze, 116 points, Luke Roberts, 111 points, Dylan Lepper, 78 points, Raven Arasmith, 76 points and Maddy Hinze, 76 points. ...

Clifford Allan Gibson Aug. 4, 1943 - Nov. 5, 2013 SUN CITY WEST, Arizona -- Clifford Allan Gibson, 70 passed away Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, surrounded by his devoted family and close friends after a courageous battle with cancer. Cliff was born Aug. 4, 1943, to Ray Clifford Gibson and Irene Katherine (Heilers) Gibson in Fremont, Nebraska.. ...

New homeowners Connie Wilson, left, and Zachary Baker, right, each receive $250 checks from their real estate agent, Mary Kircher, broker/owner of Welcome Home Realty, LLC, last week at the Keystone Business Center. The funds were part of an incentive program through the Nebraska REALTORS® Association's Home Buyer's Assistance Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission to increase affordable, adequate, safe and decent housing in Nebraska...

Photographer Roxy Lang of Wilsonville, Nebraska, took this photo of a horned lark March 31, out in her pasture south and east of Wilsonville. She reports, "The horned lark likes open range land and is a ground bird. He walks and does not hop. This is an adult of the darker race with the yellow on his thoat. ...

Friends and family of Carlos Hernandez of McCook, Nebraska, plan a benefit dinner and fund-raising activities Saturday, Nov. 16, starting at 5:30 p.m., in the Community Building on the Red Willow County fairgrounds in the 1500 block of West Fifth in McCook. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A jury trial is set for April 14 in a case against a North Platte man charged with 30 felonies related to an extensive list of local burglaries. The accused, 38-year-old Timothy D. McMains, posted the required 10 percent of his $150,000 bond in October...

NORTH PLATTE, Nebraska -- Elizabeth Benjamin, Chair of the Mid-Plains Community College Board of Governors, received the Nebraska Community College Association's 2013 Governor's Award during ceremonies conducted during the NCCA's annual meeting Nov. 4-5 in North Platte...

Most of us have no trouble celebrating the major holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas (Hanakkah, Kwanzaa), Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. We might be a little neglegent in celebrating Arbor Day or President's Day, but it's not unusual to take in a Memorial Day service on our way to the lake or golf course...

(Note: McCook takes pride in the annual High School Bison trips through the Football playoffs, with good reason. But there was a time when a football game at McCook Junior College was the leading sports attraction on an autumn night in McCook -- none more so than 1965.)...

John Sines, left, on behalf of the McCook Panty, accepts a check for $301 from Ben Schow of Oz Tex Doughnuts in McCook. Throughout the month of October, customers at Oz Tex left their extra change and donations at the doughnut shop, hoping to reach the goal of $300 for the Pantry. ...