Stories from Friday, December 16, 2016

So my 16 year old has been going through a whole pot load of adversity this semester and facing new and difficult challenges almost every day. I don't know how she's surviving, to be quite honest, because these are battles I can't fight for her. Anyway, this morning I saw her slumped in the kitchen chair, barely eating her breakfast while watching her 9-year-old sister hop around the kitchen checking the lunch calendar and filling her backpack with her papers and rattling on-and-on about her upcoming Christmas program. ...

Dear Editor, I have family in the McCook and Cambridge vicinity. I was very pleased to listen to one of the Lincoln radio stations interview former Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman on Monday Dec. 12, asking his recollections about his first trade-mission to Cuba in the year 2005 when he met the former dictator (and President) of Cuba, the late Fidel Castro...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Plea agreements were reached earlier this month in Red Willow County District Court with a Bartley couple arrested on felony child abuse and drug charges. 54-year-old Kristy J. Kreiling and 51-year-old Michael W. Kreiling each accepted similar plea agreements admitting guilt to a Class 2A felony for attempted possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver...

Larry Williams of Parks, Neb., offers his solution to state legislators uncertain how to implement the death penalty in Nebraska.

Marshall Sides, second from the left, and fellow Troop 244 members present Marshall's Eagle Scout project to the McCook Humane Society. Marshall designed and built, with the help of (left to right) Mason Sides, Andrew Johnson and Richard Johnson, eight large dog beds and eight small dog/cat beds using PVC pipe and vinyl-coated nylon mesh. ...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. -- Plans are moving forward for Mid-Plains Community College to purchase real estate at 1109 E. Third in McCook, Neb. At the North Platte Community College campus, a public hearing was conducted Wednesday night to officially open a 30-day notice period required by state law, on the the college's possible entrance into a purchase agreement for a tract of real estate at 1109 East Third in McCook. It preceded the regular meeting of the Board of Governors...

McCOOK, Neb. -- She turned him down for a dance and after that, his invitation to a movie, but Bob McBride's persistence paid off and now, he and Velma will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary Dec. 21. "We hardly ever fight, we're just so similar," Velma said of their long marriage...

I'll be leaving later today for Arkansas to spend the Christmas season with my boys. Michael just had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and Will's is this Sunday so at least I'll get to be there for one of their birthdays. We didn't plan very well when we were starting a family all those years ago because both our boys were born in December, just a year and two weeks apart. ...

90th birthday The Morgan family invites the friends and family of Dr. Don Morgan to join us in the celebration of his 90th birthday. An open house will be held at the Red Willow County Community Building on the Red Willow County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, Dec. 20, from 4 to 6 p.m. Please bring your families and join us for a reminiscing stroll down memory lane. Cards of congratulations will reach him at 611 East K, McCook, NE 69001...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Lifelong friendships are a rare commodity. Time constrictions, distance, changing family dynamics, and simple inattention often cause friendships to simply fade into the past, a fond memory to be cherished by both parties. An occasional Christmas card or phone call may be exchanged, possibly even a short visit, but a true relationship over the course of many years is difficult to maintain...

50th Anniversary The family of Dan and Suzy (Balius) Mehringer of Holton, Kan., is requesting a card shower in honor of the couple's 50th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, Dec. 27. They were married at St. Patrick Catholic Church in McCook, Neb., in 1966. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- If you're looking for God ... for His love, and hope and acceptance, come here. If you're already God-fearing and God-believing, come here. The Assembly of God Church in McCook can be the place for all those looking for a church home...

Raegan Kisker, the 9-month-old daughter of Chandra and Brandon Kisker of McCook, isn't too thrilled by her visit with Santa Claus at the Museum of the High Plains in McCook recently. Other good little girls and boys can visit with the jolly man during his second stop at the museum, located at 413 Norris Ave. ...

McCOOK, Neb. --Because of the extreme windchill forecast for Saturday, the Reindeer Run and Predictor Challenge has been moved to Sunday at 2 p.m. at Barnett Park. Race-day sign-up will begin at 1:15 p.m. in the West Shelter House - where there will be coffee, hot chocolate, cookies and a fire pit. Call or text race director Ronda Graff at 340-3412 with questions...

80th birthday The family of Eleanor Skiles of McCook is requesting a card shower in honor of her 80th birthday on Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. Her family includes children, Debbie (Craig) Walker of Orange, Calif., Doug (Lori) Skiles of Murrieta, Calif., and Jay Skiles of McCook; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Cards of congratulations will reach her at 914 E. 7th, McCook, NE 69001...

Caleb Ramsey Harders Ramsey and Tammy Harders of Trenton, Neb., announce the birth of their son, Caleb Ramsey Harders, born Nov. 13, 2016, at Community Hospital in McCook. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 20 inches long. He has 2 sisters, Moriah, 5, and Julia, 3. Grandparents are Ron and Alana Hoyt of Culbertson, Neb., Dave Harders of Wahoo, Neb., and Garnet Harders of Wahoo. Great-grandma is Antonette Turner of Bladen, Neb...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Expenses budgeted for the street fund in McCook are up for approval by the McCook City Council at its regular meeting Monday, 6:30 p.m., at City Council Chambers. The item is one of six items on the consent agenda that can be approved in one motion by the entire council without comment. Items the council want to discuss can be pulled from the consent agenda and discussed and voted on individually...

This time of year always reminds me of Grandma's houses in Dalton. The country home which holds my earliest memories and the town home which reminds me that a bunch of pre-teens in a little house can think of a lot of things to get them in trouble! It was that way at Grandmas because there were actually two sets of cousins; the first group, which my sister belonged to and were nearly a generation older than the second group, which my brother and I belonged to. ...

CULBERTSON, Neb. -- A generous Christmas-time donation to the Hitchcock County Pantry meant that coordinators of the "Mobile Pantry" in Culbertson on Saturday, Dec. 10, could purchase hams to complement the foods delivered on the Mobile Pantry food truck...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Members of the McCook community will have the chance to learn about the Grow McCook 30 under 30 initiative thanks to a series of weekly presentations. Named '30 under 30 Thursday,' the public is invited to attend these once-a-week sessions at the Keystone in downtown McCook. Information on 30 under 30 projects, as well as updates on those currently in the works, will be provided during the hour-long assembly...

60th Anniversary The family of Jim and Gwen Lee of McCook is requesting a card shower in honor of the couple's 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. They were married in 1956 at the Danbury Presbyterian Church. Their family includes son, Darryl and Carolyn Lee, granddaughters, Jessica (Ken) Thomas; Angela Hitt, Christina Lee and Toby Hayden and eight great-grandchildren. Cards of congratulations will reach them at 607 West G, McCook, NE 69001...