Stories from Monday, February 4, 2002

This region has a proud record of public service. Starting back in 1882, when McCook was founded, dedicated citizens have stepped forward to lead this community and this area through problem times as well as periods of progress and prosperity. But, lately, public service has often turned into a thankless task. As problems become more complex and money becomes more limited, elected leaders on the local level have found themselves the targets of criticism by frustrated citizens...

Dear Editor, This is to say you hit the mark in your article about Judge Wendell Cheney. Being a former McCook resident, I knew him very well and always made it a point to visit with him when I came back to McCook. I feel the community owes him a great deal of respect as he always had time to talk to people and offer a friendly hand and word in his conversations. I was deeply touched when I heard of his passing and know he is in the arms of the one we all want to meet...

Dear Editor, I've taken a look at some of the signs portrayed in the film "25 Messianic Signs" and found that the honorary Dr. Hutchings (false prophet for profit) is not always on the money as Paul Schneider's research indicates. The former (spring) and latter (late summer) rains will be restored -- Dan. ...

Dear Editor, Thank you Gazette for publishing the "Tobacco Free Nebraska" paper in the Tuesday, Jan. 29 edition. I had been talking to an 11 year old child this past week, that had just gotten a D.A.R.E. t-shirt. That child asked me if nicotine was a drug...

Dear Editor, After reading Merrill Reams account of the '47 Jr. College football team we felt compelled to set the record straight. First of all Gary Creasman, Jack Boyd and Junior Mollring were not members of the team. Yes, Dick "Night Train" Lane did play for the Scottsbluff Junior College team...

We have been involved in closing up my parents' home. This is the home where I grew up. Our family first moved into the house in 1934, so every nook and cranny was filled with barrels and boxes of nearly 70 years of "stuff." We had to sort all that "stuff." It was a terrible job, and I must say that I was not good at it. ...

I'm a week late but, as promised, here's a listing of concerts a little closer to home from now through the first of May. These listings include Denver and the surrounding area as well as Lincoln, Omaha, and Council Bluffs. I hope you can make it out to one or more of these shows because, as the Doobie Brothers sing, "Music is the Doctor of My Soul!...

Lenna 'Linnie' Ellen Donjon IMPERIAL -- Lenna "Linnie" Ellen Donjon, 92, died Friday (Feb. 1, 2002) at Prairie Vista Care Center in Holyoke, Colo. She was born Aug. 4, 1909, to Willis and Lora Mullanix in Putnam County, Mo. On Feb. 17, 1931, she married Louis Joseph Donjon in McCook. ...

Robert Charles Adams BENKELMAN -- Robert Charles Adams, 62, died Thursday (Jan. 31, 2002) at his home in Benkelman. He was born January 29, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pa., to Robert and Mary (Gibbons) Adams and grew up in the Philadelphia area. He served in the U.S. Navy...