Stories from Thursday, March 15, 2012

Max G. Ward March 15, 1920 - March 14, 2012 CLAYTON, Kansas -- Max G. Ward, 92, died Wednesday (March 14, 2012), at Decatur Health Systems in Oberlin, Kansas. He was born March 15, 1920,to Ross and Stella (Griffith) Ward, one mile west of Clayton, Kansas in his mother's home...

KEARNEY, Nebraska -- Good Samaritan Hospital officials in Kearney, Nebraska, list a McCook, Nebraska, woman in fair condition this morning after a motorcycle accident Wednesday evening. Berdena Kleckner was injured in the accident at 7:10 p.m., on U.S. Highway 6-34 near the former Republican Valley Junior/Senior High School between McCook and Indianola. She was transported to Community Hospital of McCook and then transferred to the hospital in Kearney...

WELLFLEET, Nebraska -- A Wellfleet, Nebraska, woman died Wednesday afternoon after the SUV she was driving rear-ended a school bus stopped at the railroad tracks on the south edge of Wellfleet. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department reports that Shaylynn M. Hagan, 31, of Wellfleet, her 3-year-old daughter and the bus driver were transported to Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte following the accident at 4:30 p.m. Hagan died of her injuries...

Time is running out and space is getting scarce for the Red Willow County Ministerial Manna MobilePack next week. Funding for 200,000 meals is in the bank, the final arrangements for the arrival of the semi load of bulk foodstuffs are in the works and organizers are tying up the myriad loose ends that are part and parcel of an undertaking of this size...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Usually when someone dies there are a lot of tears. And that was certainly true when Jim Henry passed away. But there were also a bunch of smiles as McCook remembered one of the most beloved cops in this community's history. Going around town in the past few days, I probably heard more than a hundred stories about Jim's goodness, grace and charm. Everyone I know loved him. He was just that kind of guy...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A Culbertson woman was sentenced on probation violations, March 5, in Red Willow County District Court. The woman, 26-year-old Raylene I. Johnston received an additional six months probation for the violations that stemmed from an arrest in December 2011. The December arrest came four months after she was convicted on five counts of forgery, three of which were Class IV felonies and two were Class I misdemeanors...

Enjoying the 70-degree temperatures and advertising Central Elementary's book fair are Sophia Burns, from left and Samantha Carfield. The girls were in front of the school Monday afternoon as parents came to pick their children.

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Nebraska's agricultural real estate values jumped 31 percent in the last year, the largest increase in the 34-year history of UNL's annual survey. The 2012 UNL Nebraska Farm Real Estate Survey "confirms what most people close to agriculture already knew -- agricultural land values across the state have shot upward in recent months," said Bruce Johnson, the UNL agricultural economist who conducts the survey...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Youth who will be entering grades 9 through 12 this fall are invited to participate in the Big Red Summer Academic Camps to be held June 10-15, 2012 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. These career exploration camps are an opportunity for youth to spend time investigating an interest or potential career while spending time on campus, states Mary K. Warner, Extension Educator...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Youth who are interesting in joining the 4-H program in Red Willow County are reminded to get their enrollment paper work completed by the Monday, April 2 deadline. Youth who are ages 8 to 19 by January 1, 2012 are eligible to join the 4-H program either through a traditional 4-H club or as an independent member. ...

After last year's impressive crabgrass presence, control was on the minds of many this spring. Recently an in-depth article on crabgrass control for professionals was posted at http://turf.unl.edu/pdfcaextpub/LCOProSe..., but we've had a number of questions on timing of preemergence herbicides...

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- If you're antsy to be gardening and you just can't stand it, you can scratch that itch with a late winter garden project. Make a seed tape. What is a seed tape? It's a perfectly spaced, pre-made seed product. Why make a seed tape? Two reasons. It ensures proper spacing of the veggie seeds in the row, and teaches children about math facts...

Oh, the joys of being a farm cat. The endless possibilities of places to play and investigate, to crawl over, and under, and into.

RAPID CITY, South Dakota -- The Ranch Horse Team of the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska, started its spring season at the Black Hills Stock Show Merck Animal Health Ranch Horse Competition Jan. 29 and 30, in Rapid City, South Dakota...

Dads Brad Lauer, Garrett Nokes and Travis Balderston, all of McCook, Nebraska, treat their kids to an early-morning breakfast of pancakes, sausage patties and eggs at the sixth annual "Ag Appreciation Breakfast" hosted by the Ag Task Force of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce the morning of March 13. ...

Let's go for a dip in the old mail bag again shall we. Well, not really the mail bag, someone on my Facebook page asked what has been causing all these planetary and planet/moon conjunctions that I have been talking about. Good question. There is an imaginary line that runs around Earth called the equator. It divides the northern and southern hemispheres...

I realized this last week that my audience is shrinking quickly. I'm down to only one kid who still pays attention to my antics and actually gets a kick out of it. For years I've been entertaining my girls by singing normal songs in an opera voice, dancing like a goob whenever the mood hits me, talking in exaggerated accents, and making some unbelievably ugly faces, just so they'll laugh. Heck, I've even been known to pull off quite the dinosaur imitation...

We can't help but wonder if there are parallels between the new "pink slime" controversy and the ongoing battle over the Keystone XL pipeline. We joined the call for safeguarding the Ogallala Aquifer, which is Nebraska's greatest natural resource, but once the Obama administration, backed into a corner by the Republicans, disapproved the route, the true nature of the opposition made itself apparent...

Dear Fellow Nebraskans: Today I want to remind Nebraskans that the severe weather season is beginning and all of us need to take steps to be ready. Last year our state suffered record flooding along the Platte and Missouri Rivers. Promoting preparedness for flooding and severe weather can help prevent serious injury and loss of life and property across our state...

BRUCE BAKER City Editor McCOOK, Nebraska -- Sen. Mark Christensen and members of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce discussed their concern, Thursday morning, with an advancing bill that they believed would funnel funds reserved for community event center projects to the University of Nebraska. ...