Stories from Thursday, March 26, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mike Johanns today announced he signed on as a co-sponsor to the Congressional Accountability and Line-item Veto Act. This act would give the president the option of vetoing Congressional legislation line by line instead of rejecting the entire bill. The legislation was proposed by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) as well as Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI)...

July 29, 1915 - March 23, 2009 BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Robert S "Bob" Felton, 93, Beaverton, Ore, died on Monday, March 23, 2009. Bob was born on July 29, 1915, in Burns Wyo., to Harry and Melissa (Smith) Felton. He graduated from Cheyenne, Wyo., High School...

April 25, 1922 - March 25, 2009 Lois Virginia Wilcox died Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at Community Hospital in McCook at the age of 86. She was born April 25, 1922, in Hitchcock County, near Culbertson, Neb., the daughter of the late Edward P. and Elizabeth (Lenhart) Cook. Lois grew up at Culbertson and attended Culbertson High School...

May 7, 1919 - March 24, 2009 HASTINGS -- Dale E. Gill, 89, died Tuesday, March 24, 2009, at Perkins Pavilion, Good Samaritan Society, Hastings-Village. Services will be Saturday, March 28, 2009, at 10:30 a.m., at Brand-Wilson Chapel, Hastings, Neb., with Jim Pettitt officiating. Burial will be Saturday at 2 p.m., at Shelby Cemetery, Shelby, Neb...

NORTH PLATTE -- Students from neighboring states will pay the same as residents, but like all students, they won't be able to use tobacco anywhere on campus or in a Mid Plains Community College Area vehicle. After approving the tobacco-free campus policy on a 6-3 vote (with Chairwoman Elizabeth Benjamin and Roger Wilson of McCook and Glenda Hasenauer of Wallace voting no, the board of governors asked college president, Dr. ...

McCook's junior high school will be air conditioned this summer if the board of education proceeds with one of the two proposals made during a special board meeting Tuesday evening. Installing air conditioning in the 43-year-old building could cost as much as half a million dollars...

A bill that would refund property taxes found unconstitutional by a court ruling may be dead in the water. That's because senators in the committee hearing LB 681 want some kind of guarantee that the nearly $9 million the Republican River Basin natural resources borrowed last year will be paid back...

Whether the state's electric chair will be moved to McCook as a tourist attraction will ultimately be decided by the governor, said Sen. Mark Christensen this morning. Last week during a discussion with the senator about the death penalty, a McCook citizen requested the chair as a tourist attraction for the city. The request garnered plenty of media attention, Christensen said at the Government Affairs Legislative conference call...

Not all the winners of the young Hormel Family Foundation's business plan competition have been successful, but the rate certainly exceeds business start-ups in general. The foundation is able to point with pride to the Game On Games store, which already outgrew its downtown location at moved to the Westview Plaza. ...

I was stationed at McCook at the end of World War II. I had been flying a B-24 in Europe until the end of the war there. We returned to McCook and were transferred into the B-29. We took this to mean we were scheduled to go to the Pacific theater. We used the Norden in both planes, but the armed guard was usually the bombadier who had to sign the sight out for each mission. ...

The first original wheel was discovered by Prof. Smedley Q. Fungus of the University of Southern North Carolina. Several years later, the first known authentic Bible was reprinted at the tiny village of Vondervotittis in the Dutch Alps. It was copyrighted later by Martin Luther King Sr., around 1500 A.D...

I have been hearing about some people who happen to have a rather high opinion of themselves, who are attempting to rid the world of our creator God. As I imagine this, I picture someone with a peashooter attacking an aircraft carrier. Some people have to learn the hard way; some people never learn...

Dear Editor, We love the new fountains! We come to the park each week to feed the ducks and play and the fountains make the water glow and look clean and shiny. Thanks for making the park sparkle! Chloe and Sarah Dixon via e-mail

The time has come to say goodbye to our old friend Venus in the evening sky. However, it won't be a long goodbye. After passing between us and the sun on March 27, the bright planet re-emerges in the morning sky. In fact, it might be possible to see Venus in the evening sky just after sunset on one day and the next day see it in the morning sky just before sunrise...

The Legislature will keep its hands off of federal stimulus funding Nebraska will receive. Money the state is getting from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will go to state agencies to distribute, Sen. Mark Christensen said at the Government Affairs Legislature conference call this morning at the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce...