Stories from Monday, November 9, 2015

We may dispense with the aspect of formal or material: Pope Francis and his cronies are heretics, period. We are beyond their scandalous alliance with the population control advocates and socialists who coauthored the sacrilegious encyclical, Laudato-Si ... ...

Arnaud 'Arnie' Legere Hoxsey Sept. 17, 1945 - Nov. 5, 2015 DENVER, Colo. -- Arnaud "Arnie"Legere Hoxsey, 70, was born Sept. 17, 1945, at the Benkelman, Nebraska, hospital and passed away Nov. 5, 2015, at the VA Hospital in Denver. Arnie's father named him after his 1st officer on a naval warship in World War I. Arnie was the last child of five born to Eric Lynton Hoxsey and Glenda May (Loker) Hoxsey...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The man involved in a tractor roll-over accident Thursday evening east of McCook said from his hospital bed in Kearney, Neb., this morning that the tractor belongs to his family. Austin Rawlings, of Howard, South Dakota, said the John Deere tractor has been in his family for five generations, having been purchased by his great-grandfather in 1968. "It has never been sold or ownership transferred," Rawlings said this morning...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Nebraska political leaders quickly denounced President Barack Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline application Friday and a member of the Public Service Commission said the decision left many questions unanswered. Gov. Pete Ricketts chided the decision as politically motivated in a press release issued in response...

Swanson Sign Co.'s crew -- Jake Niemeth, left, Marilyn O'Neil and, on the ladder, Josh O'Neil -- install the new sign at Mac's Drive-In on B Street in McCook, Nebraska, Friday. The cartoon couple in a convertible has been the logo for the drive-in since 1957, when Rea and Pearl McCarty and their son, Larry, moved their drive-through from 1006 West B to this location at 809 West B. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A 1937 McCook High School graduate who long-time career in public health and service work was recognized by the Georgia State Senate has been selected for the Bison Alumni Wall of Fame for 2015. Eleanor Randel Granum graduated from McCook Senior High School in 1937 and attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln before graduating from the School of Nursing at the Medical College in Omaha. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Of all the special days we celebrate in the United States of America, none hits home more personally and powerfully than Veterans Day. There are 25 million military veterans living today in America, including tens of thousands in the 12 counties of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas served by the McCook Gazette...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Move over, Chris Berman of ESPN: A new "Swami" has arrived on the scene. We're talking about Anita "Little Red" Lytle, the Gazette's premiere guest picker for Pigskin Picks' sponsors. She has won for the sponsors she picks for -- Samway Floor Covering & Furniture and Old Sarge's -- three weeks in a row...

A new Cobblestone Hotel is beginning to take shape next to the Gateway Civic Center in Oberlin, Kansas, Thursday afternoon. Builders anticipate the hotel be open in February or March, while a new Cobbletone Hotel in Quinter, Kansas, is projected to open in the coming weeks. Footings should be dug for the McCook location this week, according to Jeremy Griesbach with BriMark Builders...

A McCook, Nebraska man will portray a homeless U.S. veteran all day on Wednesday -- Veterans Day -- at the front door of Schmick's Market in Westview Plaza, to raise awareness of American veterans struggling with financial challenges. The man, a U.S. ...

It wasn't called post-traumatic stress following earlier wars and veterans received little treatment, but that doesn't mean today's vets should be expected to "just tough it out." The Wounded Warrior Project conducted a survey of more than 23,000 service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and found that more than three quarters of them are dealing with some sort of PTSD...

The Civil War had a profound effect on our nation. One effect that it had on the country was that it hastened settlement of the western United States. A good many of these early settlers were veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865. McCook, like many other western towns owed much to the Civil War vets, young men, who traded the excitement and adventure of the war for the new adventures (and untold hardships) of opening up a new country, Western Nebraska...

Catherine Anna Colling Blume Nov. 8, 1919 - Nov. 7, 2015 McCOOK, Neb. -- Catherine Anna Colling Blume passed away Nov. 7, 2015, at Community Hospital in McCook, hours short of her 96th birthday. Catherine was born Nov. 8, 1919, in Red Willow County, Nebraska, to Bernard and Helen (Kennedy) Colling. She graduated rural school in Red Willow County...

Merle H. Shirley Nov. 19, 1913 - Nov. 8, 2015 OBERLIN, Kan. -- Merle H. Shirley, 101, died Sunday (Nov. 8, 2015), at Decatur Health Systems in Oberlin. She was born Nov. 19, 1913, in Reager, Kansas, to Gary and Bessie (Venrick) Hix. She graduated from Norcatur High School in 1932. She lived in the Norcatur area for most of married life, then in Oberlin where she resided at the Cedar Living Center and Good Samaritan Society. She was a homemaker. She married Faye Shirley...

Two turkeys trotted up, down, across and "On the Bricks" of downtown McCook Saturday, delighting shoppers and store owners with their ambling antics. Mike Ford, owner of Knowlen & Yates and the originator of the "On the Bricks' nickname, recorded the turkey's historic journey for posterity, capturing this view as the tranquil turks sauntered down the sidewalk on the east side of Norris Avenue. ...

Maritta Louise VanPelt May 31, 1944 - Nov. 9, 2015 OBERLIN, Kan. -- Maritta Louise VanPelt was born May 31, 1944, in Norton, Kansas, the daughter of Glen LeRoy and Leanor Dee (Conard) Foight. She passed away Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, at the Norton County Hospital in Norton, Kansas, at the age of 71...