Stories from Tuesday, February 14, 2006

June 3, 1918--Feb. 9, 2006 LINCOLN -- James "Don" Donald Keeler passed away Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, at Haven Manor in Lincoln. He was 87 years old. He was born June 3, 1918, in Fairmont to James B. and Hannah A. (Davis) Keeler. He attended a country school in Filmore County and then graduated from Fairmont High in 1935...

MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J. -- Ruth A. (Imbody) Hosea, 78, of Monmouth Junction, N.J., died peacefully on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 11, 2006, in Princeton Hospital after long battles with cancer and finally failure of several bodily organs. She was the beloved wife of George L. Hosea, the loving mother of Debbie and Sandy and an inspiration and loyal friend to other family members and many friends...

March 28, 1917--Feb. 11, 2006 Alfred Glaves Jr., 88, died Saturday (Feb. 11, 2006) at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. He was born on March 28, 1917, in Sheffield, England, to Alfred and Selina (Twibelle) Glaves Sr. At the age of 13, he and his parents came to the United States and settled on the East Coast. They later moved to the Chicago, Ill., area. Alfred received his high school education through North America Correspondence...

The new "Southwest Weed Management Area" created to cover Red Willow and Hitchcock counties may help improve the flow of water in the Republican River. Bill Elliott, Red Willow County's weed superintendent, told county commissioners Monday morning that the new management area and an existing management area in Southcentral Nebraska will share a $200,000 grant to address, among other problems, stubborn infestations of salt cedar trees that are notorious for gulping tremendous amounts of ground water.. ...

By LORRI SUGHROUE McCook Daily Gazette The requests by a Colorado wireless company for special exceptions concerning the construction of two cellular towers were approved Monday night by the McCook Planning Commission, but not without several residents expressing their concern about the location of the towers...

By CONNIE JO DISCOE McCook Daily Gazette McCook Public Schools' board of education members decided at their regular February meeting Monday evening to sell the district's three modular classrooms and not to buy a bus. Board members authorized Superintendent Dr. Don Marchant to "find something to do with the modulars," meaning they won't be used elsewhere in the district and Dr. Marchant can look for buyers...

Red Willow County commissioners, during their regular meeting Monday morning, hired the Omaha firm of Kirkpatrick Pettis as the county's bond underwriter if voters approve the construction of a new county jail. Commissioners and jail task force coordinator Reuben Hoff Jr. listened to a presentation by Kerstin Wadell, representing Smith Hayes Financial Services Corp. of Lincoln, but voted afterward to hire the bonding firm that gave its presentation two weeks ago...

Can something good come out of the Republican River dispute with Kansas? We won't go that far, but it is true that adversity can make one stronger, whether it's as an individual or as a society as a whole. One of the popular Nebraska arguments against the settlement favoring Kansas is that conditions are vastly different today than they were back in 1943 when the Republican River Compact was drawn up...

Mr. Hendricks, I commend you for addressing this topic honestly. As an African American male I hear so many comments regarding racism as though its over with or really doesn't exist. Well you know personally from your interaction with people in various social settings that it is alive and well in Red Willow County and it's the same way across America...

Nice question (Stan Garretson) on the ethanol issue.  Here's what I found out.  Using NEV (Net Energy Valve) on a weighted average basis (both wet-mill and dry-mill processes), the energy input value to the Btu output value of ethanol has a net energy gain of 182,676 Btu for every bushel or corn used in the production of ethanol.  Thus, from a liquid fuel utilization perspective, ethanol can extend U.S. domestic crude reserves by a factor of 7 or similarly reduce U.S. imports by the same...

Poor Mike Hendricks, like a street-corner Freud, is constantly obsessing over women, their cheating, flirtatious ways, and how they can best relate to men to form ideal "relationships." This all sounds like the soulful lyrics of a typical country ditty...

HASTINGS -- All three McCook High School divers medaled Friday afternoon at the diving portion of the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference swim meet in Hastings. Alyssa Cook took first place and qualified for the state meet in Lincoln, with a score of 313.15. Matt Hall also took first place, breaking his own 11 dive record set earlier this season with a score of 330.00. Rebecca Rawlings gave a valiant effort coming from behind to place third with a score of 262.75...

GNAC Championships for Cook and Hall

A Kansas Highway Patrolman takes notes at the scene of a truck driver's bad day Monday. Tor Olson said he, Matt Sehnert and Dale Dueland were returning from a folk music festival in Texas when they came upon the scene of the accident about 5:50 p.m. The track hoe, being pulled down Interstate 70, was too high to clear a bridge, and once it was caught, the arm was pulled through the deck of the bridge. The accident closed the interstate highway for a time. (Tor Olson/Olson's Photography)...

LINCOLN -- The Nebraska Legislature passed LB111, effective September 4, 2005, which created the Missing Persons Information Clearinghouse. One of the mandates of this statute is to distribute missing person's notifications to media outlets across the state of Nebraska...