Stories from Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Steve Nicholson resigned his duties as head boys basketball coach at McCook High School effective immediately. MHS athletic director Rick Haney made the announcement Tuesday morning. Nicholson resigned because of personal reasons, said Haney. Nicholson was head coach for the 2004-05 season, and the Bison boys posted a 7-18 record...

June 20, 1961-March 11, 2005 BARTLEY -- Bonnie J. Mowry, 43, of Bartley, died Friday (March 11, 2005) at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge. She was born in Lebanon, Ore., on June 20, 1961, to Marion and Grace (Whiteis) Teter. The family moved to Bartley where she went to school and graduated from Bartley High School in 1979...

Verlyn Dewayne "Solly" Saladen died Sunday, March 6, 2005, at his home in Santa Fe, N.M., after a long illness with complications of cancer. He was born March 25, 1932, in McCook to Calvin A. Saladen and Fannie Bivens Saladen. He graduated from Culbertson High School in 1949 and attended McCook Junior College where he played football and was a Little "All American" Halfback...

Jeremy and Roni (Gonzales) Thompson of Phoenix, Ariz., announce the birth of their daughter, Ava Delaney Thompson, Dec. 29, 2004, at the Arrowhead Community Hospital in Phoenix. She weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Grandparents are Len and Penny Gonzales, Greg Thompson, both of McCook, and Harriet Thompson of Kearney. Great-grandparents are Raymond Gonzales Sr., Freda Clapp of McCook and Iris Thompson, formerly of McCook...

Citing safety concerns and disruptions from tardy students, McCook Junior High officials have imposed a closed campus, at least on a trial basis. The administration and staff is "one hundred percent supportive" of keeping junior high students on campus over the lunch hour, Principal Dennis Berry told the McCook board of education Monday night...

Red Willow County commissioners traded three older-model backhoes for a 2001 New Holland LB75B backhoe during their weekly meeting Monday morning. The new backhoe will cost $8,000. "One machine's sufficient for county use," said Commission Chairman Earl McNutt. McNutt said he feels the three road districts can share one backhoe because neither district uses its machine frequently...

INDIANOLA -- Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon imagined there were some very nervous people in Indianola on Monday evening, as a group of concerned citizens met to discuss what they can do about what they see as a drug problem in their community...

How do you let your representative know what you think about an issue that's important to you? First and most importantly of all, there is your vote. We can pay close attention to the issues, find out which candidate fits the best with our views, then try to help send him or her to office...

**Dear Editor, Sir, Just reading my hometown paper from Cincinnati and seeing your column for the first time [Mike at Night, "A culture of violence"(http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1088861.html)]. I like your style and what you have to say, may not agree with it all; but it is interesting. Keep up the good work...

**Dear Editor, I enjoy Mr. Hendricks writing because he writes the way it is ["The person people love to hate" (http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1091316.html)]. This country is in danger of being controlled by a media that is controlled by a small group. If we want to continue to be free we need more Mr. Hendricks. Great Job Mr. Hendricks...

**Dear Editor, I read the Gazette nearly every morning, but don't think I have ever read Mike Hendrick's articles. He sounds like a person I would certainly agree with. I would like to ask him if he thinks there is a difference between being educated and having an education. I think you are educated after graduating from college, or at least high school, and it just gives you a license to go forward and make progress in getting an education...

**Dear Editor, I identify closely with Mr. Hendricks in his admission that he loves to write about things that are "unforgiving" and "in your face." I am a regular contributor to the editorial page in Lincoln and Omaha newspapers and I also like to be confrontational and, yes, a bit arrogant when it comes to pointing out injustices and challenging the status quo...

Aug. 4, 1921-March 12, 2005 IMPERIAL -- Violet May (Corey) Beard, 83, died Saturday (March 12, 2005) at the Imperial Manor Nursing Home in Imperial. She was born Aug. 4, 1921, to Roy and Sylvia Corey at the family home north of Wauneta. She attended country school and high school in Casper, Wyo...