Stories from Wednesday, September 25, 2013

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...

BENKELMAN, Nebraska -- Michael Liewer of Liewer Funeral Home of Imperial and Wauneta has purchased Forch Funeral Home in Benkelman, Nebraska, according to a story by Luke Folk in Benkelman Post. Larry Forch and his family first purchased the Jones' Funeral home in 1999 and re-named as Forch Funeral Home. It offered services to Benklelman and other towns in Dundy County...

Windmills dot the Nebraska landscape. These were captured by photographer Roxy Lang of Wilsonville, Nebraska, south of Wilsonville. She used these settings: f/9, 1/320, iso320, 130mm. The McCook Gazette would love to showcase your weather photos. Readers can contribute to our daily weather page, subject to space and color availability, by emailing photos to editor2@ocsmccook.com or bringing them into the Gazette offices at West First and E Streets. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Last spring, St. Patrick's Catholic Schools' third graders helped McCook 4-H'er Greg Gaston name his Ak-Sar-Ben "Lamb Challenge" lamb. They selected "Si," after the lovable but curmudgeonly uncle on the A&E television show, "Duck Dynasty."...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The Red Willow Western Rural firefighters have extended their Heritage Days challenge to include a Kid's Challenge on Saturday immediately following the annual RWWR Fire Department Challenge. Registration for children 5-12 years of age begins at 2 p.m. Contestants will guide a ball through the goal using a fire hose. The fee is $3, with proceeds going to local non-profit charities. Parents will be required to sign a liability waiver...

Drivers on Highway 83 north of McCook should add additional travel time to allow for traffic stops along an 8-mile construction project from McCook to the Willow Creek Bridge. The project includes milling the existing surface and applying new armor coating. Traffic control will be maintained with a pilot vehicle and reduced speed zones in the work area. Sta-Bilt Construction of Harlan, Iowa, is the contractor...

CURTIS, Nebraska -- She was shy as a child, and being an auctioneer wasn't a childhood dream. All grown up, Regina Andrijeski would never be considered shy, and she's not only an auctioneer, but a champion auctioneer. Nebraska's first female champion auctioneer at that...

If it looks illegal, but really isn't, should we ban it anyway? That's one of the questions we're facing with the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes. The problem is, while smoking has been banned in most public places, including inside work places, "vaping" with an e-cigarette has not...

A colleague once said that Nebraska football is what happens between sessions of the Legislature. Note that I didn't distinguish college football. Perhaps some of that and a lot of political football as well. With the opening of Lincoln's new sports and entertainment venue -- The Pinnacle Bank Arena -- there are a number of common threads adding to the entertainment that football and politics have to offer...

The comet is still coming. Comet ISON that is. Officially designated Comet C/2013 S1, it is basically a hunk of frozen water and rock with small gravel or grain-of-sand-sized bits with perhaps some carbon dioxide thrown in for good measure. After its initial discovery in January of this year, there was some hope that ISON could perhaps put on a great show in November becoming a very bright comet. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Providing psychiatric care for geriatric patients can be difficult to do in rural areas, when the nearest psychiatrist can be more than 100 miles away. That's where the Internet and webcams can make a huge difference. Hillcrest Nursing Home administrator Colina Nappa told the Board of Trustees at the regular meeting Tuesday morning of the opportunity of using telepsychiatry at the facility, where psychiatrists can communication and assess patients through video conferencing.. ...

Dennis 'Lee' Foley May 21, 1940 -Sept.25, 2013 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Dennis "Lee" Foley of McCook passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, at Decatur County Good Samaritan Center in Oberlin, Kansas. Lee was born on May 21, 1940, in Oberlin, Kansas to Helen Marie (Johnson) and Loyd Manford Foley. ...