Stories from Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ralph E. Polson, Jr. CASA GRANDE, Arizona -- Ralph E Polson, Jr., 77, of Casa Grande, formally of Springfield, Nebraska, lost his battle with cancer Oct. 26, 2012. He was born and raised in Stratton Nebraska. He served in the U.S. Navy and was in K-Mart management until he retired...

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. Police activity Activity log...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- U.S. Senate candidate and Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer stopped by the Gazette Tuesday afternoon, as part of her final week of campaigning for Tuesday's election. Sen. Fischer said her success as a Nebraska senator would carry over to the U.S. Senate seat and spoke candidly about her disgust with attack ads that attempted to paint her as a bad neighbor...

CURTIS, Nebraska -- Her mother called it a journey. Twelve-year-old Rachel Lashley and her father called it "the unbending of Rachel." With a spine curving in three different directions, Rachel was nine when she was first diagnosed with scoliosis. Trying to fix that took Rachel from her peaceful farm outside of Curtis to the surgery ward at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha...

If your morning commute is a walk across the farmyard to do the chores, you've probably found morbid satisfaction in watching New York commuters spending hours, creeping along bumper-to-bumper to try to get to work in their cars instead of using an inoperable train or subway...

While there were no "celestial spooks" in the sky last night, there were many of the earthly variety wandering from house to house seeking treats. I hope you were generous, even though you may have wanted the leftovers in the bowl for yourself. Another thing that wasn't in the sky, at least for the early goblin crowd, was the moon. The just-past-full moon didn't rise over the eastern horizon until around 8 p.m. local time...

McCook Area Chamber of Commerce members gathered to celebrate the re-grand opening and a combined 27 years of service for the McCook McDonald's restaurant, Wednesday morning. Owners Richard and Jane Stull were thanked by various area leaders for their generous community support and employment opportunities. The Stulls, in-turn, thanked the community for its support, saying it has been a pleasure to be here the last 12 to 13 years, "I can't imagine a better place to be," said Richard Stull...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook Economic Development Corporation will present the next homebuyer education workshop Tuesday and Thursday, Nov. 6 and 8. Class is at Keystone Business Center at 402 Norris Avenue, in the 3rd floor training room. Class coordinator is Mary Kircher, Housing Development Director of MEDC. ...

The dedication ceremony for the new veterans memorial in front of the Hitchcock County Courthouse in Trenton, Nebraska, is Veterans' Day, Sunday, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m. According to Barry Corder, veterans service officer for Hitchcock County, donations of more than $20,000 were collected over five months time, to pay for the illuminated memorial...

Arapahoe kept its perfect record intact, and Chase County watched its season come to an end in area high school state football playoff action Wednesday, Oct. 31. Arapahoe improved to 10-0 with a strong defensive effort and a 16-0 win at Maxwell in the second round of the Class D-1 (eight-man) state playoffs...

CURTIS, Neb. -- Prep football fans in Curtis Wednesday evening probably didn't need much time to figure there were offensive fireworks ahead in the Medicine Valley-Garden County playoff contest. Host Med Valley used a strong first half to key a 64-42 victory in a Class D-2 (eight-man) second-round playoff battle of unbeaten squads...

McCook Community College head volleyball coach Natalie Alred has been telling anyone that will listen that her Lady Indians team is getting better. Bet the Otero (Colo.) Junior College squad believes it. MCC upset Otero in five sets in opening-round action at the Region IX South Division tournament Thursday evening, Nov. 1. The tournament is being held at the new MCC Events Center in McCook...

My wife and I are in the late stages of a move from the apartment we've lived in for the last 2-plus years to a very nice house here in McCook. Those of you who have moved in your lives (which means most of you) know the hiccups and headaches that come with each stage of the process, early on or most of the way through or anywhere in the middle...

REGION IX SOUTH DIVISION VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 1-3 At MCC Events Center, McCook Community College Double-Elimination All Times Central Daylight Time (Team's tournament seed, won-loss record in parenthesis) Thursday, Nov. 1 Results...