Stories from Thursday, January 8, 2004

June Marie (Zlomke) Eschliman, 66, died Wednesday (Jan. 7, 2004) at Community Hospital of McCook. She was born July 10, 1937, to Ralph and Evelyn (Quick) Zlomke at Omaha. She attended school in St. Paul and Central City, and later received her GED in McCook...

The recent snowfall may have irritated a few people and inconvenienced a few others, but it did help reduce the six-year precipitation deficit experienced in Southwest Nebraska a little -- and as we all know, every little bit counts. Precipitation in 2003 fell 2.95 inches below the normal of 21.61 inches. Combined with the previous five years, the McCook area is 24.28 inches below normal...

**Dear Editor, And McCook City Council: I hope that while you were computing the cost of getting water from Frontier County for the city of McCook that you figured in the loss of revenue from the citizens of Frontier County who used to do business in your city...

**Dear Editor, And Concerned Citizens: The way the City Council and city manager propose the water site north of town, it will fail drastically in comparison to the old Army Air Base project. A group of at least 30 farmers shared information about how far their wells are dropping off in water production. From June through August, most wells deplete at least 200 gallons or more per minute...

As he drives back and forth from the legislative halls in Lincoln to his home in Trenton, State Sen. Tom Baker feels like he's standing still when drivers whiz by him at high speeds. And, even when drivers do get ticketed for exceeding the speed limit, Baker says their fines are not high enough to shock the drivers into slowing down...

The other day Brad and I were heading out to the grocery store. As I approached the door, I reached down and turned the lock, effectively keeping us from leaving the house. "That's not going to get us anywhere," Brad kindly informed me. We both had a good laugh over the whole thing -- after all, most of the time I forget to lock the door when I leave...

Gavin Harsh of McCook kicks his way through a powdered-sugar drift of snow. Warmer temperatures are expected to make the drifts disappear quickly over the next few days, with no more snow in for forecast. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

CURTIS -- The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture-Curtis men's basketball team will host the NCTA Classic Saturday and Sunday in Curtis. Schools competing in the round robin tournament are NCTA, Eastern College (Willburton, Okla.), Kansas City Bible College and Barclay College (Haviland, Kan.)...

Greetings to all. I am a 19-year old that goes by the name of Tyler Bieck. Before you jump to the conclusion that I am too young to be writing in this fine newspaper, let me make a point. And then you can decide that my writing abilities are bunk. My claim for maturity: I am older than two of the biggest "superstars" in the National Basketball Association. This wouldn't seem so strange if I were 24 or even 22-years old...