Stories from Thursday, December 20, 2007

LINCOLN -- Eleven McCook High School fall sports athletes were named to the Nebraska School Activities Association All-State Team, which was released Wednesday. To be considered for the award, student-athletes must be considered a "difference-maker" in an NSAA activity and must attain at least a 93 percent cumulative grade point average on a 100 percent scale...

The 17th annual MAC Attack youth basketball tournament will be in McCook on Jan. 19-20. The tournament is sponsored by the McCook Optimist Club. The grades for the tournament include fourth through eighth for both girls and boys. Divisions will be assigned based on availability...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Dana College women's basketball team lost to Northwood University 71-57 Tuesday in the Northwood Classic. Amanda Bryant had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Dana, while Tricia Trotter hit four threes en route to 14 points. Jillian Bryant and Nichol added 10 each...

Dec. 24, 1936 - Dec. 19, 2007 ARAPAHOE -- Janet Andrews, 70, of Cambridge, died Wednesday (Dec. 19, 2007) at C.A. Mues Good Samaritan Center in Arapahoe. She was born Dec. 24, 1936, in Springer, N.M., to George and Margaret (Miller) Laumbach. ...

Oct. 8, 1926 - Dec. 18, 2007 GRAND ISLAND -- Virginia Margaret Fisher, 81, of Grand Island died Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007, at Riverside Lodge. The family will be greeting friends at 10 a.m., Friday at Riverside Lodge in Grand Island. There will be no visitation. Private burial will be at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell...

June 15, 1947 - Dec. 16, 2007 KEARNEY -- Kirby S. Kennedy, 60, died Sunday (Dec. 16, 2007) at St. John's Good Samaritan Center in Kearney. She was born June 15, 1947, in Hastings to Bud and Betty (Carpenter) Harmon. She grew up in McCook and graduated from McCook High School...

Dec. 2, 1934 - Dec. 16, 2007 BENKELMAN -- Freedia Mae Spencer, was born in rural Dundy County on Dec. 2, 1934, to Leon and Jaunita (Rose) Stamm. She attended country school near her home until it was consolidated with Parks Public Schools, where she graduated in 1952, with honors as class valedictorian. The summer following graduation, Freedia attended classes in McCook where she earned her teaching degree. In the fall, she returned to Dundy County to teach...

NORTH PLATTE --Mid Plains Community College will receive $150,000 out of a Community Block Job Training grant to train workers for lucrative jobs in the ethanol industry, board members learned Wednesday. Bruce Dowse, area dean of outreach and training, reported on the grant at the MPCC Board of Governors' meeting Wednesday night at the North Platte Community College campus...

It has finally happened. After more than three years of concentrated effort, the McCook Economic Development Corp. has received an economic investment award of $1,578,500 for the purchase and renovation of the historic Keystone Hotel. The award will fund half of the cost of renovating the Keystone. The other half of the $3.1 million project will come from local bank financing, charitable contributions, tax increment financing and city funding...

Three days after his graduation from Southwest High School in 2005, William Dunn left for basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif. Leaving behind the rolling hills and open prairie of Southwest Nebraska, PFC Dunn now serves with 3rd Marine Division truck detachment, based in Okinawa, Japan. On April 20, his detachment departed for Ramadi, Iraq...

Republican River valley irrigators and property owners have just received the first bills related to the LB701 effort to comply with a 1943 compact, and even that effort faces a court challenge. But now dire predictions have come true. Nebraska's measures won't be enough to convince Kansas that it is receiving the water it has coming. ...

I returned home from Iraq just in time for Thanksgiving with the family. Now that Christmas is almost here, I'm reminded again how good it is to be home. The work in Iraq was rewarding -- building hospitals, providing clean water to those that need it -- but there comes a time to return home...

Back in August, I wrote in to introduce Gazette readers to a very different Presidential candidate, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. (I say "introduce" because, if you use the search function on the Gazette's Web site, you'll find that my letters are the only mention of him in the Gazette to date.)...