Stories from Tuesday, May 7, 2019

LINCOLN, Neb. — They both roared into Memorial Stadium on Sunday with places Nebraska football teams would love to reach during upcoming championship races. McCook’s Ray Chmiel ran the full Lincoln Marathon to a top two finish in his age group while Troy Swartz represented his town with a No. 5 half-marathon placing...

James Eugene Steward March 15, 1938 - April 14, 2019 WESLACO, Texas - James Eugene Steward, 81, was born March 15, 1938, to Verna (Seibert) Steward and C. Gordon Steward in Lewellen, Neb. He passed away Sunday, April 14, 2019, at Valley Grande Manor in Weslaco, Texas...

Devonnabelle Reynolds Nov. 11, 1919 - May 6, 2019 TRENTON, Neb. — Devonnabelle Reynolds, 99, of Trenton, died Monday (May 6, 2019), at the El Dorado Manor. She born in Trenton on Nov. 11, 1919, to George P. and Beulah (Welsch) Towle. She graduated from Trenton High School in 1937...

OXFORD, Neb. — Southern Valley’s Brody Yant shot 84 and Carter Brown finished at 85 to lead the Eagle golfers’ Knipping Invitational team title on Thursday. The Eagle duo clearly took those top two individual spots with Alma’s Grant McQuay a distant third at 95...

McCOOK, Neb. — A doubleheader that was postponed three times by weather had a brief weather delay Friday but the North Platte and McCook college softball teams split a pair of games. MCC won the first game 6-4 and North Platte came up with a six-run fifth inning to win the second game 7-3...

STERLING, Colo. -- The McCook Community College baseball team wrapped up the season Monday with a 13-0 win over Northeastern Junior College to finish the season with a three-game sweep over the Plainsmen, a team that is advancing to the Region IX tournament as one of the top four teams in the Empire League...

McCOOK, Neb. — Felling Field baseball hit full speed with Bortner Pioneer Seeds starting fast and My Family Vision Clinic finishing strong Monday evening. Family Vision 3, Mac’s Drive-In 2 Mac’s Drive-In Marauders lost the lead late in a 3-2 defeat to The My Family Vision Clinic...

McCOOK, Neb. — Check out the Gazette area’s five best Nebraska boys in every varsity area track and field event entering state-qualifying district meets this week. McCook’s Corban Jernigan moved into the 100-meter dash led with senior Alec Bunger taking second following great Southwest Conference prelim r aces recently...

McCOOK, Neb. — A lifelong resident of Southwest Nebraska will be honored with the 2019 President’s Award from McCook Community College this week. Dr. Mike Owens will be recognized Friday during MCC’s commencement ceremony for his service to the college and the community as a whole. A Benkelman native, Owens graduated from Benkelman High School in 1968. He then spent a year at Chadron State College before transferring to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln where he obtained bachelor’s degrees in botany and chemistry. “After that, I decided I wanted to get a master’s degree in biochemistry,” Owens said. “But, I needed to eat, so I got a part time job at the university’s dental school compiling statistics for the professors’ research.” A year into the job, a couple of professors in the pediatric dentistry department, began encouraging Owens to apply to dental school. He initially pushed aside the thought because he was just about to finish his master’s degree. Ultimately, it was his wife, Candy, who convinced him to take the Dental Admission Test. “I passed, and the rest is history,” Mike said. Mike earned his dental degree in 1979 and moved back to Southwest Nebraska at the urging of Dr. Harlo “Mac” McKinty, a former McCook dentist, who had been teaching at the dental college. “I also had an offer for a job in Arizona at that time, but my wife and I chose McCook because it was close to home and a good place to raise kids,” Mike said. He went to work at Dr. Ray Langfeldt’s dental clinic, then opened his own practice a few years later at 521 Norris Ave. Mike remained there for 39 years – until his retirement last summer. “I always told my patients that McCook Community College is a good place to go to school,” Mike said. “Success starts here. I paid the banks for a long time, and it wasn’t easy. MCC is more affordable than a four-year college or university, and the education is just as good if not better because of the one-on-one instruction. You can’t beat MCC. You can’t beat Mid-Plains.” That passion for the college was what led him to join the MCC College Foundation in 1987. “At that time, the school was going through some growing pains,” Mike said. “The college’s accrediting body had told the college to centralize its administration, which was a big move because a lot of people thought the authority for McCook would be diluted and that McCook’s role in the Mid-Plains system would be more like that of a satellite location.” MCC was the first two-year college in Nebraska, and Mike and other foundation members wanted to make sure it stayed prominent in the system. They also wanted to see it grow and prosper, and they launched a beautification program to help make that happen. “When I moved to town, the campus was bare,” Mike said. “There weren’t many trees, so we got trees donated and had them planted all over. Then I was given the go-ahead to put a sitting area on the north side of McMillen Hall. After that, we bought lights from the city and put them down the center of the campus, lining the sidewalks. We must have moved those lights three or four times before we were done.” As a business owner, himself, Mike was keenly aware of the importance of creating a welcoming environment. “First impressions are important,” Mike said. “If you have a nice welcome mat out for people, it will attract them to your business, and the college is a business. It needs to attract people. That’s how I always looked at it.” Mike left the foundation 2010, but didn’t completely leave his work with the college behind. He joined the Mid-Plains Community College Board of Governors in 2011 at the urging of former board member Elizabeth Benjamin. One of his favorite projects while on the board was the creation of the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center in 2012. “An event center was in the back of everyone’s minds from the time I moved to McCook,” Mike said. “Looking back, that’s probably why I got on the board in the first place. McCook has always been a hub for Southwest Nebraska, and an event center was a definite need. It has really improved the college and the community.” Another proud moment Mike had as a board member was the hiring of current president Ryan Purdy. “Hiring Ryan was one of the best decisions we ever made,” Mike said. “McCook Community College is very important to the growth of this area, and I’m happy to see the emphasis that Ryan and his colleagues have put on it. He has been a good influence, and I think the school is definitely moving in the right direction.” Mike served eight years on the board of governors - until December of 2018. “I always told people I would have to quit if I ran out of jokes, and I guess I ran out of jokes,” Mike said. “The governors are a good group. There are a lot of dedicated people on the board who are all there because they want the best for the college. They want the college to grow, and we need the college to keep growing because it’s vital to our local economy. I miss the camaraderie already.” It couldn’t be more fitting then that Mike will receive the President’s Award in the same building he helped to establish, the Graff Events Center, surrounded by the board members he served with. The commencement ceremony is open to the public. It will begin at 10 a.m.

McCOOK, Neb. — The highest day of water usage last year in the City of McCook was June 11, when 4.5 million gallons was used. That’s about 3,100 gallons per minute, said Jesse Dutcher, City of McCook Utilities director. The city’s water treatment plant can handle 6 million gallons per day at full capacity...

Shelly and Matt Sehnert cross the stage in a livestream of the James Beard Award gala in Chicago on Monday, accepting national recognition considered the “Oscar” of the food world. McCook’s own Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Cafe was named one of only five “America’s Classics” restaurants, joining Pho 79 of Garden Grove, Calif.; Jim’s Steak & Spaghetti House in Hunting, W.Va., A&A Bakery & Double Roti Shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse in Washington, D.C. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — Several years removed from graduating from high school in St. Francis, Kan., Alyson Marin found herself a long ways away from where she thought she’d be – just working for paychecks. She’d gone to college for two years, even studied abroad, but still, her life was lacking… something...

McCOOK, Neb. — With two councillors absent, the McCook City Council briefly discussed moving up the meeting time of council meetings. Councilmen Jared Muhlenkmap and Gene Weeding were excused from Monday’s regular council meeting, with the rest of the council — Mayor Mike Gonzales and council members Jerry Calvin and Janet Hepp — taking up the topic as requested by Mayor Gonzales...

It is a treasure. Valuable to this larger community and well worth the effort to keep our Hillcrest Nursing Home open and financially healthy. That is the aim of a group of citizens, all volunteers, that has regularly been gathering to make plans for action, political action, here and now...

Like any large charity, the America Red Cross has received its share of criticism over the years, some of it deserved, most of it not. The sudden, unexpected snow and flooding of March created a massive need for relief, and fellow Nebraskans responded in admirable fashion, going above and beyond with food and supplies to help people and animals survive...

McCOOK, Neb. — Her path to McCook Community College was far from conventional, but sophomore Maysen Medeiros said it was the best possible path for her. A path that will lead her to the podium Friday when she delivers the student address at MCC’s Commencement ceremonies that will start at 10 a.m. at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center...