Stories from Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Aug. 30, 1930 - Dec. 17, 2007 NEBRASKA CITY -- Leonard Clayton Davis, 77, formerly of Stratton and Lincoln, died Monday (Dec. 17, 2007) at Golden Living Care Center in Nebraska City. He was born Aug. 30, 1930, in Trenton to Melvin O. and Jennie E. (Cozad) Davis. He attended the School of Visually Handicapped. He was a gift shop owner, rug weaver and musician...

Arapahoe teams place second, fourth at Pleasanton CAMBRIDGE -- The Cambridge High School girls basketball team placed first in the Cambridge Invitational Tuesday night with a victory against the Wauneta-Palisade Broncos 67-43. In the second quarter the Trojans picked up the intensity and outscored the Broncos 20-9, led by Frankie Petersen and Traci Keyser, who combined for 16 of the 20 points...

SUTHERLAND -- Southwest, Medicine Valley, Dundy County and Perkins County competed in the Sutherland Wrestling Invitational Saturday. Southwest finished in second in the team standings behind Gothenburg. Franklin took third, Maxwell was fourth and Medicine Valley rounded out the top five...

The McCook High School varsity girls basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak, no a four-game losing streak as reported the sports section of Tuesday's McCook Daily Gazette.

The McCook High School swim team hosted North Platte and Scottsbluff Friday in the first of three home meets. Nearly all Bison swimmers had improvements in times over last week's times. The highlight of the meet was sophomore Whitney Korgan making secondary state qualifying time in two individual events, the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly...

VALENTINE -- The McCook Bison wrestling team put together a very good performance Saturday at the always tough Valentine Tournament. With only 10 wrestlers competing for the Bison, McCook was still able to come away with a seventh-place finish and were 12 points away from placing in the top five. McCook placed four wrestlers...

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The McCook Community College women's basketball team ended the first semester on a winning note by posting a 97-88 victory over Fort Carson, Colo., Saturday at Fort Carson. Bridgette Riddick led four MCC players in double figures with 24 points. Kendra Knight scored 19, Shanice Johnson 18, and Ashley Foe 13...

SOUTHWEST -- Nichole Dickey put in 25 points to help Chase County blow past Southwest 54-28 Saturday. Tabith Russell added 13 points for the Longhorns. Jennifer Daffer led the Roughriders with 7 points and 6 rebounds. Lisa Lord had 13 rebounds and 5 points...

CURTIS -- Landowners have received their tax notice for 2007 which included an occupation tax statement. The occupation tax, imposed by the Lower, Middle and Upper Republican Natural Resources Districts, is intended to be used to pay for an agreement with the irrigation districts for their surface water leased during the past year...

Red Willow County commissioners traded off two old front-end loaders and purchased two used (new for the county, anyway) loaders during their weekly meeting Monday morning. Commissioners received bids from Murphy Tractor and Nebraska Machinery/Caterpillar, both of North Platte, and Klein's Motor and Electric of McCook when they decided to trade off the Caterpillar 926E loader (purchased used in the mid-90's) from the McCook shop and the 23-year-old International Harvester 530 loader (purchased new in '84) from the Indianola/Bartley shops.. ...

By CONNIE JO DISCOE Regional Editor In January, the Nebraska State Education Association will propose an initiative to the Nebraska Legislature to supplement teachers' salaries, in an effort to make the salaries of public school educators competitive with neighboring states...

Is our love affair with the big sport utility vehicle over? Are the light bulbs Edison invented going to go the way of the buggy whip? And, are all those new ethanol plants about to become a second-class technology? Those changes and more seem to be the aim of the new energy bill sent to the White House late Tuesday, but we're not convinced they'll be successful...

I have been blessed to hold many newborn babies in my arms. My own, of course, my grandchildren, three of whom I held within moments of their births, and the babies of friends, co-workers and extended family. (Rumor has it that at inner-city hospitals, they need baby-cuddlers for abandoned babies or those born with their mother's addiction. ...

Merry Christmas! It is that time of year when the schedule gets overcrowded with parties and events, and the budget gets pressed to the limit, but do not miss the wonderful message of the season. Our current culture does not like offending anyone and so it seems like Christmas has become watered-down to a "Happy Holiday," or a "Seasons Greetings." To me, these watered-down slogans beg the question, why? Why is everyone so happy, and what "holy day" are we celebrating? And, why is everyone sending greetings on one of the coldest darkest days of the year?. ...