Stories from Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Edna Christensen WAUNETA, Nebraska -- Edna Christensen, 99, died Friday (Dec. 20, 2013), at the Sunrise Heights Nursing Home in Wauneta. Survivors include sons, Richard and wife, Judith, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, Alvin and wife, Joyce, of Lincoln, Nebraska and Neil and wife, Diane, of Brighton, Colorado; eight grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and two great-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...

OMAHA, Nebraska -- Diplomas were conferred on University of Nebraska Medical Center students during ceremonies on Friday, Dec. 20, in Omaha. The ceremony was for students graduating from the Colleges of Nursing, Public Health, School of Allied Health Professions and the Graduate College on Friday in the Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Concert Hall...

Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette Students in Abbey Misfeldt's and Kathy Latta's Central Elementary fourth and fifth grade choirs rock out to Christmas songs during the school's "A Central Christmas" program Dec. 10 in the high school auditorium in McCook, Nebraska. Dressed in their holiday finest are, from left, fourth graders Isaac Hinz, Tessa Dobbertin, Gwyneth Davis and Jenna Sterling...

KEARNEY, Nebraska -- 32 individuals from 17 Gazette-area communities were among the more than 400 graduate and undergraduate degrees were conferred at the University of Nebraska at Kearney winter commencement exercises Friday, Dec. 20, at the Health and Sports Center...

HASTINGS, Nebraska -- When Ashley Beall of Benkelman talks about the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI) she attended this fall in Washington, D.C., her eyes light up and her enthusiasm is evident. She loved everything from the sessions to the popular tourist sites to meeting people from across the United States. "I learned a lot about how to be a stronger leader," she said...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- For the sixth consecutive Olympic Games competition, a McCook businessman will join his older brother, who also is originally from McCook, to take responsibility for broadcasting video and data services for Olympics' rights-holders in the United States...

Perhaps the simple decorations on a tree in a road ditch at the Massacre Canyon Monument near Trenton, Nebraska, impart the true, uncomplicated meaning of Christmas. Like cartoon icon Charlie Brown's bedraggled Christmas tree inspired his friend Linus to recite from Luke 2: 1-20: "And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ...

Red Willow County deputies, along with several concerned citizens, recovered 14 dogs Saturday night that were discovered on a county road in rural McCook. The small breed, severely matted dogs, including terrier mixes, Shih Tzu, Yorkies and bichon mixes, are estimated to be under six years old, said Lorie Prestes of the McCook Humane Society. ...

Janssen Auto Group of McCook, North Platte and Holdrege have announced they will be offering free rides home again this New Years Eve to any one needing a safe ride home. "This is our fifth year of offering this service and are pleased to be able to offer it again this year" said Dave Janssen of Janssen Auto group. "While we don't want to encourage any one to over indulge this New Years Eve we do want to make sure that everyone makes it home safely" continued Janssen...

BENKELMAN, Nebraska -- It's simple. They give away free of charge what has been given to them. There are no price tags on the food items on the shelves or the clothing hanging from racks at "Shared Abundance," a thrift shop and food pantry in downtown Benkelman, Nebraska...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The holiday season should be full of joy and hope for everyone, but sadly, it can be a particularly difficult time for people struggling with loneliness or financial burdens. In order to spread some good cheer, St. Patrick Catholic Church has announced its Ninth Annual Community Christmas Dinner on Sunday, Jan. ...

While most of us were doing last-minute shopping or baking, local law enforcement and McCook Humane Society officials and volunteers were dealing with a tragic Southwest Nebraska event that's unfortunately turning into a tradition. In a repeat of an incident that occurred a year ago, someone has abandoned more than a dozen small dogs in rural Southwest Nebraska...

Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Christ. Christmas it is for Christians a happy time a time of expectation a time to build family memories. Attempting to mine my own memory of the earliest Christmas experienced I was led to the old Stone Church. Extant today it sits alongside Highway 17 some 15 miles south of Culbertson. ...

EDITOR'S NOTE -- The following was written by Gene O. Morris on Dec. 24, 1975, when he was managing editor of the McCook Daily Gazette. He went on to be publisher of the Benkelman Post and McCook Daily Gazette and is now marketing consultant for this newspaper...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Pastor Rick Stapp of McCook First Church of the Nazarene has announced that the church will be hosting an all night prayer vigil for a local man suffering from cancer. "We are asking God for the healing of Carlos Hernandez," Stapp said. "Donations will also be accepted to help the Hernandez family with expenses."...

McCOOK, NEBRASKA -- Law enforcement officers' initial estimate was 20 dogs dumped in a rural Red Willow County road ditch Saturday night. Then they counted a total of 14. However, on Christmas Eve afternoon, Lorie Prestes, acting director of the McCook Humane Society, and a shelter volunteer made a closer examination of each of the 14 dogs, and discovered, to their dismay, that the first estimate won't be so far off: two of the females are definitely pregnant and a third is possibly expecting...