Stories from Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Red Willow County commissioners approved a tax levy Tuesday that remained the same as a year ago, but will generate $75,000 more in property tax. Commissioners also discussed the fair board's request that the county borrow a full $300,000 for the construction of the Kiplinger Arena; and the county's participation in the federal government's flood plain management program...

Dear Editor, Todd McCarty was right about the rainfall in Israel. Todd E-mailed the Israeli government records bureau and got the records on rainfall for the past many years and their rainfall has not doubled, in spite of the vast reforestation program...

Dear Editor, I came across a 1941 Indianola Reporter. This small newspaper was owned by a Ralph Woolman. I presume he had very little help such as feature writers, advertising salesmen etc. But his little weekly paper was very interesting. He had a slogan at the top of his paper every week that fits our city, county, state and national government of today...

Dear Editor, I have a suggestion for Stan Garretson and anyone else who read and was disturbed by an article by Kathy Wilmot about the National Education Association's "Remember Sept. 11" Web site. The suggestion: Read in its entirety the essay she quoted from, and also spend some time examining the rest of the NEA site...

As we grow older we learn a valuable lesson -- death is an inevitable part of life. One year ago today, our children learned that lesson -- they learned it too soon. In today's edition of the McCook Daily Gazette, we gave area students and other area residents a chance to tell the world -- not only what they were doing that day, but how it made them feel, and how it changed their lives -- in a special section aptly titled "United We Stand."...

Kay Clesson of McCook is the McCook Art Guild Gallery's Vault Artist for September. Clesson has on display paintings, drawings and woodcarvings. She is a Nebraska native. She graduated from McCook High School and studied art at Hastings College and the University of Colorado. She works in many mediums, including oil, watercolor, acrylic and egg tempura...

The following are portions of the text of Sen. Ben Nelson's speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate in favor of drought aid for U.S. farmers. The Senate passed the bill, which would provide $6 billion in aid, despite opposition by President Bush. "This drought is a disaster -- it's been a disaster for agriculture and a disaster for rural communities, which depend so much on agriculture. ...

You wonder after Sunday's bizarre ending in Cleveland whether the Kansas City Chiefs have used up a whole season's worth of good luck in just one game. The Browns virtually had the game won 39-37 -- indeed there was no time left on the clock and the Kansas City ball carrier was running out of bounds. ...

OXFORD -- Quilt blocks made by Southern Valley students to commemorate the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against America will help raise funds for the families of the victims of those attacks. Family and consumer science teacher Nancy Brown's students sent a pile of quilt blocks to Country Home magazine for its "Show Your Colors, America!" 9/11 fund-raising and commemorative project...

Andrew Broadfoot and Corey Gaston, members of the Color Guard for Boy Scouts Troop 132 of McCook, enjoy a rousing performance of "Washington Post March" by the McCook High School band. The group made its presentation as part of the September 11 Memorial service sponsored by the McCook Wal-Mart. ...

Having been a sports writer for close to half my life, I have my own superstitions and habits. Either I've developed these things on my own or I've picked them up from being around ball players and watching athletes on television with bizarre rituals...

Today the pages of this newspaper re-tell and relate the shock, the horror, the anger and the fear that have come from the terrorist attacks of September 11. Some of the stories are reflections shared months after the fact, others are essays penned in the days immediately following the attack, while the skies above the United States remained crystal clear, with no contrails crisscrossing in the high reaches of the atmosphere because there were no jets to leave them...

DENVER, Colo. -- W. Thomas Cook, 69, died Wednesday (Sept. 4, 2002) at Aurora Regional Medical Center. W. Thomas Cook was born Oct. 5, 1932, in McCook, the son of William Lafayette and Carrie M. Cook, and the brother to Morris L. He received his education in the McCook schools, graduating in 1950. ...

ARAPAHOE -- Clyde E. Chambers, 73, died Monday (Sept. 9, 2002) at his home in Arapahoe. He was born Nov. 27, 1928, at Lyle, Kan. to Arthur L. and Mary A. (Warner) Chambers. He attended grade school through eighth grade at a country school. He graduated from Decatur County High School in 1946. After graduation, he started farming and ranching in the Wilsonville and Lebanon areas and also in Kansas. He retired for health reasons in 2001...