Stories from Thursday, October 13, 2011

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A SWAT team arrived at a McCook home about 1:30 p.m. to reinforce local officers involved in a standoff since mid morning. According to reports, officers were called to the home to check the welfare of a man living there, and after they entered the home, a single shot was fired. Officers have had the house surrounded since then, and McCook schools have been on a lockdown since before lunch. Parents were being asked to pick up their children from school...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A standoff with police and a SWAT team ended peacefully at about 6 p.m. when a man was removed from the house without injury. The incident began at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning, when police, sent to check on the welfare of the man, were greeted with a single gunshot, which did not hit anyone...

Donna Joyce Mather June 3, 1917 - Oct. 10, 2011 ARAPAHOE, Nebraska -- Donna Joyce Mather, 94, died Monday (Oct. 10, 2011), at the Phelps Memorial Hospital in Holdrege, Nebraska. She was born on June 30, 1917, in Gosper County, north of Holbrook, Nebraska to Clyde and Oma (Packwood) Vandruff...

Mary Louise (Eby) Brown Jan. 9, 1937 - Oct. 11, 2011 IMPERIAL, Nebraska -- Mary Louise (Eby) Brown, 74, of Imperial, Nebraska died Tuesday (Oct. 11, 2011) at Kearney Good Samaritan Hospital. She was born in Soldier, Kansas on Jan. 9, 1937. She was married to Anthon Brown on Nov. 24, 1954, seven children were born to this union: Rose, Anthony "Tony," Andrew "Andy," Timothy "Tim," Lori, Karen and Michael "Mike."...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Slave labor, sex trafficking, forced prostitution of minors -- we are not talking about issues facing some third world country, we are talking about criminal acts happening everyday, all around us, right here in Nebraska. Human rights advocates coordinated an education seminar at Memorial Auditorium in McCook Saturday, in an attempt to raise awareness of the issues and help find answers...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Break-ins to several U.S. Highway 83 buildings that occurred between Monday evening and Tuesday morning are believed to be related to several burglaries that occurred last week in the same area. Four County Feed, a neighboring car wash and storage buildings located on U.S.Highway 83 were broken into this week. The McCook Public Power District, Nebraska Public Power District and TJ's Family Fun Center were all broken into last week...

Ross Sis slices through rows of corn southeast of McCook. Nebraska, Wednesday afternoon. The field got hailed, Ross's granddad, Ron Sis, said; they'll be lucky to get 75 bushels an acre, instead of 150. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Nebraska farmers are making good progress with the soybean and corn harvests even though last week's rain slowed the work. ...

A McCook family didn't set out to be an illustration for National Fire Prevention Week, but that's what happened. The Stanley Cox family of 1201 West 12th will have to find other housing for a while as a result of a smoky fire late Monday evening, but thanks to working smoke detectors, they are alive. And, thanks to quick response for the McCook Fire and Rescue Squad, even their two dogs and a cat were brought out in time...

These wonderfully warmish, clear, October evenings have provided some excellent opportunities for some autumnal stargazing, and the earlier sunsets have given us earlier hours in the evening to do it. With the sun setting between 6 and 6:30 p.m. we don't have to wait so long into the evening for good, dark skies...

So ever since the older girls were toddlers, I have dressed them in a Halloween costume "theme" every year. It began as Husker cheerleaders and went on from there. As soon as the youngest daughter was born, then the fun really began. We'd sit down months ahead of time and start brainstorming themes that included three main characters. ...

There are a pair of sports movies playing in theaters right now, "Moneyball" and "Real Steel." The films couldn't be any more different: one of the films tells the fact-based story of how the general manager of the Oakland A's took a series of personal and professional risks in an effort to change the business of baseball, the other is a fantasy about a near-future America where human-commanded robots engage in vicious, limb-to-limb combat to satisfy a blood-thirsty crowd. ...