Stories from Thursday, October 26, 2006

CURTIS -- The NCTA Aggies Volleyball team finished the season in style as they won the final two matches of the season. On Monday night, the Aggies easily defeated the North Platte Clubhouse Team and had a more difficult time winning their finale as they were able to beat a competitive UNK Club Team...

GRAND ISLAND -- The McCook YMCA swim team competed in their first meet of the 2006-07 winter season on Saturday, Oct. 21. The meet was in Grand Island, with approximately 100 swimmers from Kearney, Hastings, Grand Island and McCook all competing in this event...

March 12, 1934 - Oct. 25, 2006 James B. Ahrens 72, died Wednesday (Oct. 25, 2006) at Community Hospital in McCook.  He was born on March 12, 1934, at McCook to Frances Henry and Minnie T. (Herron) Ahrens.  He attended McCook schools. On Jan. 9, 1954, he married Delores F. Fisher at Goodland, Kan. They made their home in McCook where he was a carpenter and worked for the North Platte Lumber Company. ...

As a free community event, McCook Balloon Fest Sponsors invite everyone to join us for amazing, early morning lift-offs, when colorful hot air balloons launch and spread out to cover the Southwest Nebraskan sky this weekend. Sponsors have made it possible to bring in balloons from across the country to fly at this special event, so everyone's sure to experience an excellent show...

McCook Public Schools will hire a consultant to examine the elementary reading program that has had some mothers in tears and parents in an uproar at board meetings. During a special meeting Wednesday evening, board members hired an education specialist from Kearney to examine the school district's Reading First, Walk to Read and Reading Mastery language arts programs. ...

Planning moved cautiously ahead for the Event Center McCook Community College has proposed, as the Mid Plains Community College Board of Governors gave its final approval to the concept Wednesday night. The plan will now be submitted to the Coordinating Commission for Post Secondary Education for their review and approval...

NORTH PLATTE -- Mid-Plains Community College is reporting a slight increase in the total number of students attending the college but a slight decrease in overall Fall '06 enrollment credit hours. The report was provided to the Mid-Plains Community College Board of Governors at a regular meeting on Wednesday night. ...

After a number of years without a keno outlet -- due in part to the use illegal video slots that were subject of a major State Patrol raid -- McCook is back in the keno business just in time for a major change in the system. A week from next Tuesday, voters will be asked to approve Initiative 421, which supporters say will offer communities the opportunity to modernize and improve keno with an electronic self-serve version of the game...

In response to Larry (Harvey's) repeat of the never-ending onslaught of slander ... you've got to be kidding! ["Distracted leaders" (http:// www.mccookgazette.com/story/1174347.html] Democrats are throwing a fit over their idea of "legalized torture" (interrogating terrorists who were arrested for firing weapons at American soldiers). ...

If memory serves me -- sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't -- I remember how much I used to enjoy our summer family camping trips. There was nothing fancy about the way we camped. The six of us would pile into one big tent for sleeping. If we were lucky, we were camped close enough to the outhouse so we could get to it in time to use it -- if not, we figured out how it was done before outhouses were invented...