Stories from Thursday, August 9, 2012

Since the opening ceremonies, NBC's coverage of the 2012 Olympics from London has taken something of a beating in the press and in social media circles. While there have been complaints about editing choices and the presence of one Ryan Seacrest, the loudest and harshest criticisms revolve around the fact that many of the biggest events are being held for NBC's primetime line-up, then broadcast on a tape-delay basis. ...

Harold C. Brauer May 31, 1925 - Aug. 2, 2012 WESTMINSTER, Colorado -- Harold C. Brauer, born May 31, 1925, passed away peacefully at home on Aug. 2, 2012 at the age of 87. He grew up in Eustis, Nebraska. He married Betty J. Burton, June 4, 1947, at McCook United Methodist Church...

This information is gathered at the McCook Public Safety Center, the McCook office of the Nebraska State Patrol, the Red Willow County Courthouse, the Red Willow County Sheriff's Office and the McCook Humane Society. Activity log These items are taken from reports filed by the McCook Police Department. The locations refer to block numbers, not specific addresses. If you have information about any of these reports, call the police department at (308) 345-3450...

Susan Doak SW Nebraska Genealogy Society I am a pen snob. The day I reached the grade in school where the teacher allowed us to use a pen rather than a #2 pencil, I was elated. I reached for my pen and never looked back! Genealogy charting and pens do not mix well! When you start your project if you are not doing it on the computer......buy a pencil with a good eraser. You will find that as you research and chart the information, nothing is written in stone (or ink)...

ServSafe Starters Food Safety Training Course will be offered on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at the Community Building, West 5th and O Streets, McCook, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with registration beginning at 1:15 p.m. The ServSafe Starters program is designed for kitchen employees including but not limited to cooks, dish machine operators, shipment receivers and employees who handle and prepare food in restaurants and other food service establishments. ServSafe Starters is the second level of the Nebraska Restaurant Association's Food Safety First Program. The first level is the ServSafe training program for restaurant owners and food service managers. Extension Educators, Andrea Nisley and Mary K Warner will teach the ServSafe Starters course sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. Register by September 5. Fifteen employees need to be preregistered to be able to offer the course. For further information contact these local Extension offices in McCook at 308-345-3390 or toll free at 877-674-6947.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) recently announced Board Member Mr. Douglas W. Skiles, CPA, McCook, Nebraska will join the NASBA Board of Directors. Skiles was selected by NASBA's Nominating Committee as the Central Regional Director and will report to several State Boards in the Midwest Region as the NASBA representative...

Larry and Bruce Peterson of Enders, Nebraska, "rent" their goats to the village of Wauneta in the community's effort to control brush along the Frenchman River that runs through town. The goats are "green," mechanical-free, chemical-free and less expensive than traditional weed control or burning, Bruce Peterson has said. Embedded among the goat herd are two Great Pyrenees dogs who protect them from natural predators...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The City of McCook property tax levy is set to remain at the same $0.319044 rate that it has since 2002. A three-year-review of actual revenues shows that even though the rate has remained the same, revenues have grown by an average $38,920 per year as a result of assessed valuation changes...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The McCook municipal swimming pool's last day of the season will be Monday, Aug. 13, 2012. Hours for the final days remain as usual. Thursday: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Monday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m Saturday and Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (weather permitting)...

Five-year-old Sage Bryan feeds his blue-ribbon calf, Lucy, following the pre-4-H'ers' bucket calf show at the Decatur County, Kansas, county fair Wednesday morning. "We're gonna keep her and grow her to be a cow," Sage said, very authoritatively telling onlookers, "She's an Angus-Gelbvieh cross." Sage is the son of Brandon and Laura Bryan of Oberlin. ...

I don't know why I try to fight it. It always happens and usually at the most inconvenient time. But for some reason, every time, I still get in a big fat tizzy because my all plans are chucked out the window. You'd think after 12 years I'd finally just accept the fact that kids get sick once in a while, but nope. I accept it about as well as I accept going to the dentist. I hate it but I deal with it...

Well, I waited to post this column until early Monday morning to see if the Mars Science Laboratory, AKA Curiosity, either made a safe landing on Mars using their "Rube Goldberg" landing system, or gave our sister planet a new crater. And they did, land safely that is. All of the equipment, systems, and procedures on a very complicated, very difficult mission worked and the rover landed safely Sunday evening...

Federal and local authorities plan to spend $43 million to clean up a dioxin-contaminated site, using the latest superfund techniques. They've already poured a 6-inch concrete slab over an area half the size of a football field, since dioxin is not water soluble, and only spreads when rainfall and runoff move contaminated mud...

Belva L. Aspedon ARAPAHOE, Nebraska -- Belva L. Aspedon, 87, of Arapahoe formerly of Beaver City, Nebraska died Thursday (Aug. 9, 2012), at C A Mues Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Arapahoe, Nebraska. Graveside services are Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, at 10 a.m. at Riverton Cemetery in Riverton, Iowa. Visitation is Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, at Wenburg Funeral Home in Beaver City, Nebraska from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m...