Stories from Wednesday, April 16, 2003

McCook Community College will present "Murder at the Vicarage", an Agatha Christie mystery, beginning next Thursday, April 24, 7:30 p.m. at the Tipton Mini-Theater on the McCook Community College campus. Mayhem intrudes on the quaint little village of St. ...

Tension mounted Tuesday afternoon while late afternoon clouds churned and went black and hail-green, and explosives experts very gently carried a jar of potentially explosive crystals from a lab at the college in McCook. The "Boom!" caused by the controlled destruction of the crystallized picric acid, about 8 p.m., would have been lost in the thunder if the storm hadn't subsided just a bit as the technicians imploded the crystallized acid onto itself in a ball of fire...

McCook had the state high of 89 on Tuesday, but a storm that rolled into the region later in the day brought unconfirmed reports of rainfall of three inches or more along the Kansas-Nebraska border. Hayes Center canceled school today, Oberlin buses were running storm routes, and McCook Community College's baseball games were postponed today...

The director of physical plant at McCook Community College said this morning he was extremely impressed with the people and resources who removed a potentially-explosive jug of crystals from a lab at the college Tuesday. Jon Burkey said, "Today, we've got a safer campus."...

The McCook Art Guild's Vault artist for April is Jan Korell of McCook. Korrel moved to McCook with her husband, Van, in 1992 and has been involved in the McCook art community since that time. She studied art at Hastings College, the University of Nebraska and McCook Community College. She has worked with art most of her adult life and in various mediums. She has spent more time and energy on her art since her children grew up...

Kurt and Cindy Van Den Hemel of North Platte announce the birth of their daughter, Chloe Nichole, on Wednesday (March 26, 2003) at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte. She weighed seven pounds and six ounces. Her grandparents are Bill and Lorie Crocker of Indianola and Francis and Barbara Van Den Hemel of Lincoln. Her great-grandparents are Jane Blume of Indianola, Robert and Polly Hitman of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Dennis and Leona Vogel of Montrose, South Dakota...

On the wide open Plains, storms are a scary thing. We see the damaging effects every spring, as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes strike with slashing power throughout Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas. Usually, the most devastating storms hit in May and June, but this year the turbulence is starting earlier than normal. This was brought home to us Tuesday night -- April 15 -- when tornado watches were issued for many parts of the Golden Plains...

Dear Editor, On Sunday afternoon, my two granddaughters, ages 4 and 5, rode their bikes part way to their grandma's. they decided to leave their bikes in their pasture and walk the rest of the way. (Their mother was with them and they do this a lot for exercise). ...

I think we must be born with a natural penchant for arrogance. It seems to be part and parcel of the human condition, and no one it seems is immune. Arrogance can show itself in many different ways, depending upon the unique situations of life. There is the arrogant of the superior attitude, prevalent among the privileged class. People with more money and more possessions can sometimes lord their prosperity over those who have less...