Stories from Monday, June 13, 2011

Aug. 27, 1919-June 10, 2011 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Mary Virginia (Schaaf) Forgue died Friday (June 10, 2011) at McCook Community Hospital following a fall earlier in the week. She was born Aug. 27, 1919, at the 1733 Ranch in Kearney, Nebraska to Albert and Rose Schaaf...

Nov. 11, 1923-May 24, 2011 OBERLIN, Kansas -- Harold A. Hill, 87, died May 24, 2011, at Cedar Living Center in Oberlin. He was born Nov. 11, 1923, in Piqua, Ohio, to George and Lillian (Reynolds) Hill. He was raised in Arkansas. He married Erma Jean Baslin and they lived in Oberlin...

July 29, 1927-June 11, 2011 TRENTON, Nebraska -- Martha Edith Marie Horinek Heble, 83, died Saturday (June 11, 2011) at Rawlins County Hospital in Atwood, Kansas. She was born July 29, 1927, a twin daughter to Mary (Kacirck) and Stanley J. Horinek on the family farm in Driftwood Township, Rawlins County, Kansas. ...

The family of Virginia (Cook) Scott of Culbertson, Nebraska is hosting a celebration and requesting a card shower in honor of her 80th birthday, June 11. She was born June 11, 1931, in Culbertson. Family includes children, Vickie and Tim McGinley of Chester, Nebraska, Darwin and Vicki Scott of McCook, Nebraska, and Sue and Dan Kunnemann of Imperial, Nebraska; 16 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren. ...

Matthew Nichols of McCook joins Theresa Shiers in an interactive reading of a children's book, Saturday morning at Norris Park. The Southwest Nebraska Reading Council enlisted the help of sponsors and volunteers to coordinate the event as part of the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival. Festival director Mary Dueland said the goal was get kids involved in story telling in a fun and creative way...

Cowboy poet R.P. Smith, top left, apologizes for wearing his cowboy hat in the McCook United Methodist Church, Saturday morning. Smith equated the hats importance to a pastor showing up without their Bible, saying that, "people begin to question your credentials." Members of the Diamond W Wranglers, a Western music band from Wichita, Kansas, perform in the Keystone lobby Friday night, top right, at the 2011 Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival. ...

I want to share an update on the flood situation that is threatening many communities across our state. Communities along the Missouri River, from Niobrara, to South Sioux City, Blair, Fort Calhoun, Omaha, Bellevue, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, all the way to Falls City and Rulo, are being affected...

Now that Osama bin Laden has been brought to justice it is time to take a fresh look at the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. That's why I have introduced a bill to establish benchmarks to measure progress toward the 2014 goal of the Afghan government leading and conducting all military operations in Afghanistan...