Stories from Thursday, April 18, 2013

Val Edward Kotrous Oct. 25, 1946 - March 12, 2013 HOUSTON, Texas -- Val was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Duane and Hazel (Smith) Kotrous while his father served in the Civilian Core at Pearl Harbor Navel Yards. He grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, where he graduated from Omaha South High in 1964. He is survived by his wife, Monte (Wills), who is of Curtis, Nebraska...

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...

CURTIS, Nebraska -- Students from the University of Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA) at Curtis ranked high in contests recently held at Texas and South Dakota, announced NCTA's Scott Mickelsen, associate dean. NCTA teams garnered first and third places, along with several students ranking high individually in a national collegiate competition at Texas, and a Brush, Colorado cowboy won the bull riding at a South Dakota intercollegiate rodeo...

Lorri Sughroue/McCook Daily Gazette Riley Rambali, left, maneuvers a wheelbarrow full of sand, while Bryn Carriker and Colton Molcyk shovel sand from a pick up into wheelbarrows, at the Hillcrest Nursing Home daycare center Sunday. The McCook Evangelical Free Church youth mission team filled sandboxes for 10 families and the daycare at Hillcrest, hauling approximately 100-plus wheelbarrows full of sand. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Medicaid provisions dominated much of the discussion at the Nebraska State Capital Wednesday, according to Sen. Mark Christensen. Sen. Christensen told members of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce this morning, during their weekly legislative conference call, that the lengthy debate on the topic never even made it to a vote and he was surprised by the variety of groups on both sides of the topic...

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Senators continued debate Wednesday on a bill to expand Medicaid eligibility to some low-income adults under a provision of the federal Affordable Care Act. LB577, introduced by Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, would add adults ages 19-65 whose incomes are at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line -- about $15,000 a year for an individual -- to the list of groups eligible to receive Medicaid benefits. ...

McCOOK , Nebraska -- An eight-foot tall, 360-foot long replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. is coming to McCook in May. Presented by the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, the Wall is an 80 percent scale version of the memorial in Washington. Across its 360-foot length, the wall contains every single name etched on the original. It will be on display in McCook at Weiland field, from 12 p.m. on Thursday May 16 until 3 p.m. Sunday, May 19...

Spring has arrived this year in fits and starts -- and this morning, in a fit of left-over-winter snow and wind. At least the snow had some moisture in it. Many schools in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas started class a couple hours late, giving school crews and roads and street personnel a chance to clear sidewalks and roads. ...

BOSTON -- Among the thousands of runners participating in the Boston Marathon on Monday was Southeast Missouri State University provost Dr. Ron Rosati, who recently accepted the position of dean of the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska...

Evidently the camouflage works -- the Caterpillar targeted the big house and it's gone, but the tree house, with its bark-camo paint, appears to have successfully avoid the demolition. The demolition project will provide more playground space for St. Patrick's Catholic School and Little Knights Preschool in McCook, Nebraska...

Mary Pate of McCook reports that "it's not always windy in Nebraska," but that "the grandkids finally managed to get one kite up in the wild blue yonder Saturday (March 30), but only for a few minutes. Saturday sported a rare beautivul, calm day here in McCook." Pate took this shot west of McCook Junior High School using these settings: 1/250; 47mm, F/10.0; ISO 100. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport is closed as a Nebraska State Patrol explosive technician works to render a suspicious package safe. According to a release from the McCook Police Department, the suspicious package was observed on the outside wall of the fire station about 9:35 a.m. today...

There are no state laws requiring or mandating accuracy for variations or change of flow of water, type or size of water meter impellers. The current production of micrometer meters has close to a full impeller in accordance with the pipe size, with a stamped certification stating the pipe size and wall thickness, built as one unit that is gear-driven that can be sealed to insure no tampering are the type of meters that are accurate over a range of flow...

The last few days of this week will be a good opportunity to use our old friend, the moon, to help us find some astronomical objects. Let's start with tonight, Thursday, April 18. Tonight the moon is high in the southwest just below the constellation Cancer, the Crab...

Well, I have been formally introduced to Junior High track meets this week. Wow! I've been so excited to go watch a real track meet, not the elementary school kind with 3-legged races and softball throws, but the actual athletic contests of jumping and racing. Finally, this week, I got to experience it all firsthand. And, man, what an experience that was!...

"Let's be careful out there," Sgt. Esterhaus used to tell officers on the old "Hill Street Blues" television series. That was good advice then and it continues to be good advice, whether you're a police officer, paramedic or civilian. The problem is, sometimes it isn't good enough...

McCook Community College's men's golf squad improved across the board in the second day of the MCC Invitational meet. But the better scores still couldn't lift the Indians to the runner-up spot in the final team standings. The hosts finished third in the two-day tournament played Thursday and Friday, April 11-12, at the Heritage Hills Golf Course in McCook. ...

Southwest and Cambridge claimed team titles in the 2013 Medicine Valley Invitational high school track and field meet. The 10-team competition was held Friday, April 12, at the McCook High School stadium. Southwest triumphed in a tight girls division team race. The Roughriders scored 107 points, six more than runner-up Arapahoe. Dundy County-Stratton was third with 94 points...

MEDICINE VALLEY INVITATIONAL High School Track & Field Meet Friday, April 12 at McCook High School Top Six Finishers In Each Event GIRLS DIVISION Team Standings -- Southwest 107, Arapahoe 101, Dundy County-Stratton 94, Wauneta-Palisade 52, Cambridge 49, Maywood 46, Stapleton-McPherson County 30, Medicine Valley 21, McCook JV 16, Hayes Center 11...

GOTHENBURG, Neb. -- Mother Nature is not being very hospitable to area high school athletes so far this spring. McCook's boys and girls varsity teams competed Friday, April 12, at the annual Dutch Zorn Invitational at Gothenburg. The meet was held under cold temperatures at the Gothenburg High School complex...

DUTCH ZORN INVITATIONAL High School Track and Field Meet Friday, April 12 at Gothenburg High School Top Six Finishers In Each Event Plus Additional McCook Results GIRLS DIVISION Team Standings -- Holdrege 100, McCook 90, Sidney 81, Gothenburg 78, Kearney Catholic 77, Lexington 58, Kearney High JV 40, Ogallala 31...

LEXINGTON, Neb. -- The McCook High School boys golf team found a bunch of low scores Monday, APril 15, at the Lexington Invitational. The Bison placed five shooters in the top 15 individual standings to shoot a season-low score and bring home the team title. McCook carded an 18-hole total of 312 strokes to beat Broken Bow by eight shots in the competition at the Lakeside Country Club just south of Lexington...

A special night is planned Saturday, April 20, at the MCC Events Center. Nebraska Cornhusker football seniors from the 2012 season will put their roundball skills on display. So will a bunch of "veteran" athletes representing a long list of high schools in the Gazette area...

Some McCook Community College have been overheard in recent seasons complaining that the MCC men's basketball team doesn't have enough area athletes on the roster. That won't be a valid excuse next season. Head coach Brandon Lenhart and his staff have signed three area standouts to join the Indians' program starting next fall...