Stories from Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Sidney native played at Peetz, Colo., HS McCook Community College volleyball coach Gary Payne Monday signed Tara Long, a 5-foot-11 setter out of Peetz High School in Peetz, Colo., who lives in Sidney. Long has been honorable mention all-state her junior and senior years and All-Conference her junior and senior years...

Southern Valley boys squad bows out Southern Valley and Perkins County's boys finished the C1-6 and C2-6 district finals Monday. The Southern Valley Eagles' season ended after coming up short to Chadron 52-48. Perkins County moves into the state tournament next week after blasting Creek Valley 52-26...

KEARNEY -- The 2006-07 season came to an end for the McCook High School boys basketball team with a 48-44 loss to Grand Island Northwest Monday night in the semifinals of the Nebraska Class B-5 district tournament. The University of Nebraska-Kearney Health & Sports Center is the site for the B-5 district tournament...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Jill Smolczyk, a junior from Omaha, dominated the diving competition at the North Central Conference meet last week in Grand Forks, N.D. Already qualified for the NCAA Division II nationals, Smolczyk won her first two NCC titles at the 2007 meet, basically dominating the competition...

By CONNIE?JO?DISCOE Regional Editor A $10,000 loan from Red Willow County's reusable loan fund will help a McCook man open a photography studio in downtown McCook. During their weekly meeting Monday morning, commissioners approved a loan application from "ap images," owned and operated by Adam Powers who wants to expand his home-based photography business into a store front in the 300 block of Norris Avenue...

An audit of Red Willow County's 2005-06 budget indicates that disbursements were down and assets up, and that all departments stayed within their budgets. Donald D. Wilson, CPA, of McCook, told commissioners during their weekly meeting Monday morning that he found no reportable instances of noncompliance with government auditing standards...

Aug. 21, 1918 - Feb. 25, 2007 BEAVER CITY -- Bonnie Bess Hunt, 88, died Sunday (Feb. 25, 2007) at the Beaver City Manor. She was born Aug. 21, 1918, at Beaver City to Dieder and Frieda (Meliner) Winter. She was a life long resident of Furnas County. She graduated from Beaver City High School with the class of 1936. She attended Kearney State College in 1936...

Southwest Nebraska native Ginger ten Bensel has written a wonderful tune about her home state. "I Love Nebraska" mentions wildlife, birds, wheat and corn, our glorious sunsets, horses, railroads and, of course, Cornhusker football. It's a country tune, naturally, since Ginger is a country musician who spent time in Nashville before taking her current gig with a Hastings television station...

Monstrous vats and barrels of honey tower around us. We are visiting a honey factory, one of the largest in the region, and our tour is now taking us back to the packaging process. The thing that has surprised me the most about India is the affordability of labor. ...

There are a lot of ideas regarding how to solve the water problems. It seems like everyone you talk to has an idea of what shouldn't be done. There are more ideas on what not to do than ideas on how to solve the problem. The way I look at it, there are three options that are formed well enough they can be implemented in the timeframe we have. ...

Way to go, Robert ["Child-free zones" (http://www. mccookgazette.com/story/1190795.html)]. I feel the same way. I would much rather go to a diner full of smokers than a room full of tots screaming and yelling, causing one to have a nervous breakdown...

What is snow worth? After a decade of a river that seemed more like a dry gulch than the once-proud river we learned to swim and fish in. Well, snow brought it back if for a little while, and everyone in the valley should do all we can to make every drop count so that it can flow year round...

BENKELMAN -- It took two years of paperwork and reviews, signatures and approvals -- repeated once because the paperwork got lost -- but C-Clear Ice of Benkelman is now delivering ice to the Wal-Mart SuperCenter in McCook. C-Clear owner Chris Crossett is excited about the opportunity to enhance the business he started two years ago in a former bowling alley at the top of the hill in Benkelman...