Stories from Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Never let it be said that we don't listen to requests from our readers. Having just finished a series of the Top Ten Objects visible from a dark-sky location, a reader asked about items visible from a city location where light pollution knocks out most observable objects...

Louise (Mathews) Harris Nov. 21, 1915 - April 18, 2016 GALLATIN, Mo. -- Louise (Mathews) Harris, 100, a long-time resident of McCook, Neb., passed away April 18, 2016, in Gallatin. For the past 12 years, she had made her home in Jameson, Mo., with her niece, Sue (James) Brodt...

Donna Hayes May 19, 1926 - Nov. 12, 2015 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Donna Elaine Hayes, 89, died Nov. 12, 2015 in the hospice unit at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. She was born to Richard Earl and Myrtle LaVerne (Polly) Christner on May 19, 1926, near Hamlet, Neb. She graduated from Wauneta High School in 1944 and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She married Larry Gene Hayes on Nov. 10, 1946, at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Wauneta...

Robert R. Colling Aug. 6, 1932 -April 17, 2016 KEARNEY, Neb. -- Robert R. Colling, 83, of Kearney, passed away on Sunday, April 17, 2016, at Good Samaritan Society Prairie View Gardens in Kearney. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 22, 2016, at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Kearney. ...

Frank David Redden INDIANOLA, Neb. -- Frank David Redden, 80, of Indianola, died on Friday (April 1, 2016), at Community Hospital in McCook. Memorial services will be Saturday, April 23, 2016, 1 p.m. at Herrmann-Jones Funeral Chapel in McCook with Jim Jones officiating. Inurnment will follow at the Haigler Cemetery, Haigler, Neb...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The Prostate Cancer Information Group will meet again on Thursday, April 21, at noon at the Pizza Hut on No. Hwy 83 in McCook. For more information, call Duane at (308) 345-7650.

McCOOK, Neb. -- Parents and family members flocked to Memorial Auditorium Monday evening to celebrate the DARE graduation of more than 100 McCook grade-schoolers. Just shy of 400 friends and families attended the graduation, honoring 107 McCook Public Schools 5th graders...

Sometimes smaller is better. That's especially true when it comes time to adapting to changing technology. The Mid Plains Community College system is proving that, according to the Center for Digital Education's annual survey. The survey, now in its 11th year, analyzes how community colleges improve services through innovative technology such as online courses and mobile environments, mobile apps, secure platforms and wireless networks...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Animal complaints, ranging from stray skunks, turkeys and barking dogs, often keep McCook police officers from working on higher priority items and city officials think a joint-effort with Red Willow County might be the solution. City leaders are looking into the idea of a county-wide animal control officer and plan to have a proposal put together this fall...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Twenty-one years ago, an old American elm tree in the parking lot of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla., seemed insignificant. The tree, while it provided the only shade spot in the parking lot, was still largely unappreciated...

Hope Rowe, from left, Jordan Larson and Monique Witt perform a section of the hit Broadway rap show, "Hamilton," at the Bieroc Cafe Friday night. The McCook High School students performed before the second opening act, Williams Lost, and headliners The Stray Birds. (Nate James/McCook Gazette)...

Kenneth 'Ken' David Chancellor Dec. 31, 1951 - April 19, 2016 SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Kenneth "Ken" David Chancellor, age 64 years, passed away Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at Mayo Clinic Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn. He was born Dec. 31, 1951, in McCook, Neb., to Theodore "Ted" and Darleene "Doll" (Beem) Chancellor...

Services are pending with Herrmann-Jones Funeral Home of McCook.

Deborah Lee Sines Jan. 9, 1955 - April 19, 2016 McCOOK, Neb. -- Deborah Lee Sines, 61, died Tuesday (April 19, 2016), at Community Hospital in McCook. Memorial services Saturday, April 23, 2016, 0:30 a.m. at Carpenter Breland Funeral Home with the Rev. Arun Peters officiating. Inurnment will be in Memorial Park Cemetery...