Stories from Wednesday, October 27, 2004

It's the Nebraska high school football equivalent of a heavyweight boxing match. The No. 2 Holdrege Dusters host the No. 1 McCook Bison Thursday night in a game that was billed in the preseason as the No. 1 game in the state by Huskerland Prep Report...

TRENTON -- The Golden Plains Activities Conference volleyball tournament wrapped up in Trenton last night, with Wauneta-Palisade taking first place. The Broncos defeated Hayes Center in the semifinals 25-18, 26-24. Janae Harris had eight kills to lead Wauneta-Palisade. Stephanie Padilla had nine assists...

Benjamin M. Torres, 37, died Sunday (Oct. 24, 2004) in Lincoln. He served in the Army during Desert Storm. After that he served with the Army Guard and the Nebraska Air National Guard. On Aug. 30, 1997, he married Lori Fisher in McCook. He has been an electrician for Snell's of North Platte...

Stacy and Heidi Winters of Omaha announce the birth of their son, Matthew James Winters, Sept. 24, 2004, at Bergan Mercy Hospital in Omaha. He weighed 9 pounds, 3.5 ounces and was 21 inches long. Grandparents are Richard and Carla Winters of McCook and Jim and Barb Waldschmidt of North Platte. Great-grandparents are Avery and Evelyn Winters of Indianola, Maxine Myers of McCook, Adair Myers of McCook and Reiny and Martha Burback of North Platte...

YORK -- Troy and Stacie VanPelt of York announce the birth of their son, Carter Douglas VanPelt, Oct. 6, 2004, at York Hospital in York. He weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. He has one brother, Matthew Allen, two-years-old. Grandparents are Charles and Jannelle Van Pelt of Indianola and Douglas and Kaye Liner of Hendley...

A number of local candidates had the last opportunity of this election year to publically make their opinions known during a candidates forum sponsored by Swnebr.net and the McCook Radio Group Tuesday night. Candidates for Red Willow County Commissioner, Mc-Cook City Council, McCook Public Schools Board of Education, and Mid Plains Board of Governors were given the opportunity to address im-portant issues...

NORCATUR -- Two Norcatur residents ended up in the hospital in Norton after a bridge northwest of Norcatur, over the Sappa Creek, collapsed some time Thursday evening. The Oberlin Herald reported that Kenny Cozad of Norcatur suffered facial injuries when his pickup either collapsed the bridge or fell through the bridge that was already partially collapsed. The pickup fell 20 feet into the creek bed...

Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon announced this morning that the reward for information leading to the conviction of the man wanted for a sexual assault northeast of McCook in August has increased by another $2,000. The reward for information about 24-year-old Jose Cruz Cepeda-Lopez now stands at $12,000...

Beware, Nebraska voters! Don't be fooled by Initiatives 417, 418, 419 and 420, the Initiative Petition proposals which are attempting to bring legalized gambling to Nebraska. The trouble with the proposals is that they are not written for the benefit of the citizens or the state. Rather, through convoluted language and contrived rules, they attempt to serve special interest organizations such as large casinos, vending machine suppliers and keno operations...

**Dear Editor, Regarding the story about the lawsuit between the city and I in Saturday's paper, there are a lot of things that weren't said. I thought this should be between just us, but since they opened this can of worms, I might as well empty the can...

The summer of 1979 found us on an extended camping trip in the Colorado high country. Well, we weren't really camping, except we were living in a tent, in the great outdoors, cooking al fresco and washing dishes in water heated over a propane stove...

**Dear Editor, Concerning a letter that was in the open forum on Oct. 15. I was told I had to sign my name, address and telephone number for a letter to be printed in Open Forum. There was no way the person that had signed this particular letter could have done so. Is there a double standard at the Gazette?...