Stories from Tuesday, January 10, 2017

McCook has been an area trade center since before the time the Newsboy plied the skies of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas delivering the Gazette. Generations of area high school students have traveled to Nebraska's oldest two-year college for events like Band Days and Inter-High Day, many of them returning after high school graduation once they got a taste for the quality education it could offer on one of the most attractive campuses around...

Christmas is over and it is time to take down all your cheap phony decorations. You know, all those plastic santy-clauses, candy canes, colored bulbs and etcetera. No problem. You just put them inter boxes and consign them to the attic or basement till next year...

Maps provide us with valuable information. A map of Connecticut shows the Connecticut River cutting through the center of that state. It flows from the Long Island Sound to an outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. My Hancock ancestors lived in Farmington, Connecticut, on land they purchased from the Tunxis Indians in 1645. They were Puritans who lived near Weathersfield...

For all my childhood memory my folks kept a small herd of milk cows. The milk produced, most often separated into cream, was sold to local dairies to provide most of the grocery money that fed our family. One bright day, probably when I was about grade school age, I noted seeing a small embryo still enclosed in a placental sac lying in the corral. ...

It's been tough to like the Clemson Tigers since 1981, when "Refrigerator" Perry and their team knocked off Nebraska for its only national championship until Monday night. But this era's Clemson Tigers are fun from heroic quarterback DeShaun Watson to coach Dabo Swiney's down-home honesty...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --Deshaun Watson took the snap, rolled right and with one of the easiest throws he had to make all night, completed Clemson's journey to the top of college football. A frantic fourth quarter and a championship rematch between Clemson and Alabama was decided with 1 second left on a 2-yard touchdown toss to Hunter Renfrow...

David H. Noe June 7, 1940 - Jan. 9, 2017 McCOOK, Neb. -- David H. Noe, age 77, of McCook, passed away at his home on Jan. 9, 2017. He was born in Basin, Wyo., on June 7, 1940, to David A. and Kathleen (Richards) Noe. The family moved often with his father's employment. David finished school in Denver, Colo. He joined the U.S. Army and served his country until June 1962, when he was honorably discharged...

The Cambridge Trojans are now 8-1 and started 2017 with a big win which also begins today's weekend recap of area girls basketball games. Trojans top Roughriders BARTLEY, Neb. -- Tenacious Cambridge defense allowed more than four points in only one quarter of a 53-17 win over Southwest Friday evening...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Hitchcock, Hayes and Furnas counties in Southwest Nebraska will receive funding to help replace and/or repair bridges through Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts' 2016 Transportation Innovation Act signed in April 2016. Monday, the Nebraska Department of Roads announced proposals it selected for the first round of the "County Bridge Match Program" created in Ricketts' transportation act...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A new face on the McCook School Board will bring the perspective of healthcare to the district. Brad Hays was sworn in as the newest member of the McCook Board of Education Monday night at the regular meeting. He was elected in November 2016 when former member Diane Lyons declined to run again for her seat. Retaining their seats on the board by re-election and also sworn-in with Hays were Tom Bredvick and Teresa Thomas...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A preliminary draft of the school calendar for next year will be going back to the drawing board for some tweaking. The preliminary calendar, presented by Superintendent Grant Norgaard, prompted McCook School Board members Loretta Hauxwell and Teresa Thomas to request less of a gap between parent-teacher conferences, the first scheduled the last week in September and the second, six months later in mid-March. ...

McCook, Neb. -- Some things stayed the same and others -- not so much -- during the Red Willow County commissioners' first meeting of the new year at the courthouse Monday morning. Earl McNutt will remain chairman of the board of commissioners, Gary Dicenta will continue as the county's road supervisor and Carol Schlegel will still be the county's tourism director. ...

McCook, Nebraska--This year's Women's Winter Retreat features three speakers who will share how God is using them to reach the Muslim community in Lincoln, Nebraska. The retreat will encourage attendees to seek to grow their compassion for God's people of all nations and follow His calling in Matthew 28:19, "Go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples."...