Stories from Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Nancy M. Johnson June 16, 1929 - Nov. 20, 2013 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Nancy M. Johnson, 84, of McCook died today (Nov. 20, 2013), at Hillcrest Nursing Home. She was born Grand Island, Nebraska, on June 16, 1929, to William and Anna Goodman. She graduated from Lincoln High School...

Edward (Alan) Sandman BENKELMAN, Nebraska -- Edward (Alan) Sandman, 64, former resident of Benkelman, died Friday (Nov. 15, 2013), at St. Francis Hospital in Grand Island, Nebraska. Memorial services are Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013, 1:30 p.m. at the Benkelman Community Building in Benkelman with Melody Newman officiating. Inurnment will follow at the Benkelman Cemetery...

Lyle Hoffman BENKELMAN, Nebraska -- Lyle Hoffman, 91, a longtime resident of the Benkelman and Haigler communities, died Saturday (Nov. 16, 2013), at the Hester Home in Benkelman. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Fern, of Benkelman; children, Randy and wife, Theresa, of Kersey, Colorado, and Jann and husband, Mike Clark of Benkelman; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Don and Agnes Cox of Omaha, Nebraska; sister-in-law, Pearle Hart of Denver, Colorado; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.. ...

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 -- American Legion District 9 had its High School Oratorical Scholarship Program, "A Constitutional Speech Contest," on Sunday, Nov. 17, at the Evangelical Free Church in McCook. This annual event was won by Devin Hastings, a senior at Arapahoe High School, sponsored by American Legion Post No. 343 of Edison, Nebraska. Second place went to Kyla Monie, also a senior at Arapahoe High School, sponsored by American Legion Post No. 96, of Arapahoe...

LINCOLN -- The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) recognized 76 hospital workers Friday for their excellence in service, including several from Southwest Nebraska, by bestowing them with the NHA's prestigious "Caring Kind" award. For more than 30 years, the Caring Kind award has been given to Nebraska's most caring hospital workers. ...

McCook, Neb.--Emergency Responders Stacey Aguilar and Dari Olson, from Community Hospital, completed training in May by the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), in Anniston, Ala. and then brought the training back to Community Hospital staff. The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation...

What's the matter with kids today? It's a common question, asked about our children and grandchildren. Our parents asked it about us, and their parents asked it about them. But there is more to the story than traditional generational despair, according to a new study led by Grant Tomkinson, an exercise physiologist at the University of South Australia, and reported by The Associated Press...

Please join me in expressing appreciation to Dr. Mike Nielsen for the thoughtful suggestion he presented in the Open Forum section of the Monday, Nov. 19 issue of the McCook Gazette. I totally agree with Dr. Nielsen that a large memorial to our veterans would be an excellent part of the Eternal Light Display planned as a lasting tribute site in McCook...

A few weeks ago, I shared some ideas from the former director of one of the state's most philanthropic private foundations who urged Nebraska lawmakers to dip into the state's $679 million cash reserve fund to invest in community development to make the state even more attractive to outsiders...

This is the week the rubber meets the road, so to speak, for Comet ISON. The icy ball of rock, dust, and frozen gas has been hurtling toward the inner solar system for about a million years now -- no exaggeration intended -- and will make a turn around the Sun and head back out to the icy depths on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon this morning praises his department's K-9 officer, R.C., for her part in the discovery of a number of drugs and a large amount of cash during a traffic stop of a Colorado SUV on a rural county road about 1:30 a.m. Mahon said his deputies took two subjects into custody; they've been lodged in jail...

Stabbing suspect arrested, victim treated on scene McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook police officers and paramedics responded to a stabbing on West 11th Street earlier this month and ended up detaining a suspect at gunpoint while attempting to administer medical treatment to the victim...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- This is the wheat that the farmers grew. This is the mill that ground the wheat. This is the flour that the mill produced with the wheat that the farmers grew. This is the stollen bread, and the granola bars, and the cookies and the banana bread that bakers baked with the flour that the mill produced with the wheat that the farmers grew...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Several people were bit by a local dog before it directed its aggression at a responding police officer and was ultimately shot during an incident on East Sixth Street last Wednesday. The McCook Police Department was contacted by several residents just after three in the afternoon, reporting two vicious dogs attacking a woman and a small dog near the intersection of East Sixth and H Street. ...

Perhaps last Friday night's tough loss to Omaha Skutt Catholic will be an omen for better things to come for the McCook High School football program. The Bison were eliminated from the 2013 Nebraska Class B State Football Playoffs with a 24-7 semifinal loss at Skutt Catholic. McCook finished the season with a 10-2 record -- including a 10-game win streak after opening the 2013 campaign with a 22-7 loss to Aurora at Weiland Field Aug. 30...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County, Nebraska, commissioners voted 2-1 Monday morning to sell land donated to the county by McCook-area rancher-farmer Tom Kiplinger. After coming out of a 30-minute public hearing, commissioner Vesta Dack cast the lone vote against selling the quarter section of canal-irrigated crop land southwest of McCook. Dack said she agreed with several callers she had who said, "If you have land, you keep it."...

Doris Eileen (Tompkins) Thielbar June 5, 1931 - Nov. 17, 2013 LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Doris Eileen (Tompkins) Thielbar of Lincoln, NE, passed away peacefully Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013, at the age of 82. Doris was born June 5, 1931, in Livingston, Montana,, to Leroy and Ethel (Slagle) Tompkins. ...