Stories from Wednesday, January 9, 2013

David M. Salisbury March 12, 1950 - Dec. 28, 2012 BUCKEYE, Arizona -- David M. Salisbury, 62 of Buckeye, Arizona, passed away Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Dave was born March 12, 1950, in McCook, Nebraska, to Frank M. and Martha C (Hubbard). Woody, as he was known throughout school, graduated from McCook High School in 1968...

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...

Bruce Baker/McCook Daily Gazette McCook Police Chief Ike Brown, far right, shows McCook Mayor Dennis Berry, left, and councilmen Mike Gonzales and Jerry Calvin the new conference room for police, at the new Municipal Facility on West Fifth. The McCook City Council toured the new facility Monday night. The building will house city police and fire departments, as well as city offices and was funded primarily with city sales tax dollars at $4.6 million...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- James Mitnik of McCook claimed first place during Friday Night Magic at Game On. Tyler Richardson of McCook placed second, Justin Kennicut of Colby, Kansas, won third and Brandon Washa of McCook finished in fourth place. Friday Night Magic events are typically free to participate and usually revolve around the "Standard" format of play. All events take place at Game On in McCook and include both competitive and casual play...

CAMBRIDGE, Nebraska -- Nebraska Corn Processing, LLC, an ethanol producer in Cambridge, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of up to $12,000 for violating its Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality permit, resulting from an emissions test conducted in June of 2010...

Bill Donze of McCook found a tomato cage could also make a safe place for sparrows to wait for their turn at a wintertime bird feeder. "Seems like I feed 100 sparrows every winter, but they lack a places to perch, close to my feeding and heated water station," he wrote in submitting this photo. "By accident, I had a tomato cage near and they used it, so, what the heck, I set it up higher to protect (them) from the 100 wild kitties in the trailer court and birds thank me with a show every day."...

No, it wasn't your imagination: 2012 was a hot, dry year. Nebraska and Wyoming broke state records last year, according to the State of the Climate Report issued Tuesday. Nebraska had an average temperature of 58.4 degrees January-November, breaking the old record of 57.9 degrees set in 1934...

The headline caught my eye: "The Blessings of Atheism." What could those blessings be? I wondered as I clicked on the link and proceeded to read the op-ed piece from the New York Times written by Susan Jacoby, author of the forthcoming book "The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought."...

Nebraska is one of those mostly square states out west that most people couldn't find on an unmarked map ... and we like it that way. I've said that before to colleagues from the densely populated and pseudo sophisticated East and from the "we're the only ones here" South. I am Nebraska- born and reared and have spent my entire life in the state, save for a 7-year stint in Illinois. I love this place, but I am also realistic about Nebraska's future...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- They're smiling, and giggling. Hey, piling our school desks and chairs in front of the classroom door is fun. It's only seven degrees outside -- "Do we actually have to go outside?" Acting scared isn't easy to pull off. But if the circumstances were real -- if an armed intruder were really stalking the hallways of one of McCook Public Schools' buildings -- there would be no smiling, no giggling. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The City of McCook and the Downtown Planning Steering Committee is inviting everyone interested in downtown McCook to attend a presentation and provide comment of the proposed downtown plan at 6 p.m. Thursday at Heritage Senior Center, 1400 W. Fifth...

It took a little while for the McCook Community College women's basketball to shake off the rust Tuesday, Jan. 8, from a long holiday layoff. The Lady Indians finally caught stride in the second half and beat the Grace University junior varsity, 79-68, in action at the MCC Events Center...

Leah Clair Sughroue May 3, 1935 - Jan. 8, 2013 INDIANOLA, Nebraska -- Leah Clair Sughroue of Indianola passed away Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney due to injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on Christmas Day. She was 77 years old...