Stories from Wednesday, June 16, 2004

NORTH PLATTE -- The Nebraska Shockers 18 and under girls fastpitch softball team won the North Platte Buffalo Bill Tournament Saturday and Sunday with a 4-1-1 record. Shockers 2, NP Belles 1 The Shockers recorded eight hits in the game scoring one run in the first and one run in the fourth inning...

Rebels 12 Black squad 1-4 at Hastings HASTINGS -- The McCook Rebels Black 12 and under girls fastpitch softball team posted a 1-4 record at the Hastings Flames Tournament Friday through Sunday. The Rebels lost to the host Flames 9-7 Friday. Megan Carfield, Kristen Green, Brittini Bieker and Taylor Matson singled. Kelsey Gillen had three singles. Erin Premer singled and doubled...

McCook Devil Rays swimmers compete at Lexington meet LEXINGTON -- The McCook Devil Ray Swim Team attended a meet in Lexington on Saturday with more than 150 swimmers from surrounding towns. Lexington won the meet and McCook came in third. "We didn't have a full team there," said McCook coach Tracy Flaska. "The kids that went to the meet swam with a lot of heart. We had a lot of fun."...

By MARY TAYLOR Arvada, Colo. Special to the Gazette Don Taylor and Bob Thompson met in the 8th grade while attending McCook Junior High. Don was a native, and Bob had just moved with his family from Red Cloud. They quickly became good friends and spent their summer days doing what most kids do -- swimming, playing and riding their bikes all over town. ...

The McCook Public Schools board of education approved protocol for reacting to asthma attacks and allergic reactions, during the board's regular meeting Monday. "Asthma is a killer," said board member Jack Clark, "especially of young children." Clark and fellow board member Dawn Andersen stressed the importance of policy and protocol to follow and training to react to cases of life-threatening asthma attacks or allergic reactions...

There's a limited amounted of water in the Republican River basin, and Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado all want it. Kansas and Nebraska have settled a lawsuit, but now it's up to agencies like the Middle Republican Natural Resources to bring Nebraska into compliance with the agreement...

Reacting quickly to a safe, long-term investment opportunity, residents of Southwest Nebraska snapped up nearly $2 million worth of the bonds for McCook's $5.8 million grade school project. That's good news for the school, the community and the area, because, over the next 20 years, the bond purchases will pump close to $2 million in interest income into this area...

**Dear Editor, And the answer is: Bob Thayer said, "We all know President Bush is a draft dodger!" Bob, show us one official document that verifies this. If you can't, that makes you a liar. The president is a liar? That makes Kerry, Kennedy, Daschle and a host of Democrats liars from 1997-2001. Before Congress, they said Saddam had WMD. Your phony statements are absurd!...

**Dear Editor, We compliment Sheriff Gene Mahon and his staff, the McCook Police Department, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Red Willow Aviation staff and the alert citizens who are Crime Stoppers for their excellent work in tracking down the WEC offenders who throught they could escape from the Work Camp but failed, and also lost the trust of the people, both the citizens in charge and the citizens who will know who they are when they have served their time -- the future always looks bleak when you lose the faith of your fellow citizens!. ...

**Dear Editor, I was saddened, but not surprised, when I read on the front page of Tuesday's Gazette that our school board selected a Lincoln firm to be the architects for our new school project. The McCook firm of W Design was not selected, nor does it seem they were seriously considered for the project...

I do not like to fly. In the first place, I have an (un?)healthy fear of heights. This deep-seated fear is probably rooted in a buried memory of the time my older sister pushed me -- safely ensconced in a "baby-tenda" -- off the front porch of our home in Mesquite, Texas. I was too young to have any memory of the event, but still carry the tiniest scar under my left eyebrow from my landing. Family lore filled in the blanks...

Raymond Schow cuts wheat north of McCook, maybe a little earlier than normal because of the drying effects of the drought. Jan Mahon at Frenchman Valley Co-Op in McCook said she expects wheat to start coming in next week, although harvest may be delayed in areas that got rain. ...