Stories from Friday, April 11, 2014

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A local car thief, arrested in January after crashing a stolen sports car into a ditch south of McCook, was sentenced to prison time earlier this week. The offender, 22-year-old Nicholas R. Clapp of McCook, accepted a plea agreement admitting guilt to a felony offense of theft by unlawful taking and a misdemeanor offense for operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- School property may be leased to the city for a skate park, if approved by the McCook School Board. The board will be asked to approve Superintendent Grant Norgaard discussing a lease arrangement with city at the regular school board meeting, Monday, 6:30 p.m. at the junior high conference room...

If you read the editorial in this newspaper's April 3 edition, you should have cause for concern. Red Willow County has a population of 11,055 people with 7,144 of them being registered voters. Of that number, 2,826 of them are registered with a party affiliation other than Republican. ...

McCook Elementary Kindergarteners tell a story in song, "One Wide River," and sing loud and soft in "You Are My Sunshine," accompanied on guitar by Kathy Latta. Other tunes included "Free Little Bird," which demonstrates that music makes us happy; "The Wild Horseman," which demonstrates the ABA form and changes in music; the rondo form, ABACA, shown by "The Syncopated Clock;" and "Trepak" from "The Nutcraker Suite," which is an ABA form with an interlude and coda...

Friday morning, Darbe Dotson of Maywood, Nebraska, High School, paints a castle that will become part of her school's entry in McCook Community College's annual "Paint-In" competition. Throughout the morning, art students from 20 Nebraska and Kansas high schools painted their interpretation of the theme, "Fantasy City." Felicity Petty, of McCook, cut sun-struck "windows" from the roll of shiny gold tape tucked between her toes...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Students in a new after-school program at McCook Junior High have qualified for a national competition. The recently-formed Destination Imagination (DI) improv team of seventh and eighth graders -- calling themselves #teamfierce -- recently snagged first place at both the regional competition in Axtell, Nebraska, and at the state meet in Kearney, Nebraska...

The 2014 Legislative Session is all but wrapped up, except for the 60th Day next Thursday April 17. Next Thursday the 17th the Legislature will finish up bills on Final Reading and deal with any potential overrides. This week in the letter, I would like to touch on the final version of LB1098 that addresses water issues in the state...