Crimestoppers cone project helps keep people safe

Standing beside several of the safety cones purchased by McCook Area Crime Stoppers, are, from left, Crime Stoppers treasurer Jim O'Dea; Crime Dog; Red Willow County Sheriff's Deputy Amber Hiatt, Crime Stoppers' Red Willow County coordinator; Crime Stoppers secretary Angela Ebert; and McCook Police Department Det. Kevin Hodgson. Other Crime Stopper members are president Nancy Willers, vice president Jim Dusatko, Hitchcock County coordinator Bob Brown, McCook City Manager Kurt Fritsch, McCook Police Chief Ike Brown, Red Willow County Attorney Paul Wood, Laura Ford and Gene E. Morris. The new cones made their premier at the 2010 Heritage Days parade in McCook in September. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook, Nebraska, Area Crime Stoppers has purchased 50 bright yellow safety cones and will loan them out to other organizations to help keep the public safe.

Crime Stoppers strung the new cones with equally-bright yellow rope and premiered them at the 2010 Heritage Days parade in McCook in September.

Crime Stoppers president Nancy Willers of McCook said the group's cone project addressed a need for a barricade system designed to keep pedestrian and vehicle traffic separated during large public events. Large-scale emergencies and natural disasters can also create situations during which boundaries need to be clearly defined, Willers said.

Kevin Hodgson, who is the Crime Stoppers coordinator for the McCook Police Department, said the cones appear "friendlier" and are easier to set up and move than construction barrels, which are often used as barrier markers during events. "The cones look less like we're doing a road or street job," he said.

Each safety-yellow cone is 42 inches tall; its black solid-rubber base weighs 16 pounds. Creative Lines of McCook applied silver/gray fluorescent tape and orange/red lettering to each.

Crime Stoppers conducted a fund-raiser to purchase the cones, each of which costs, with reflective tape and identification added, $38.40. The group will continue to accept donations which they will earmark for repairs, maintenance and the purchase of replacement/additional cones.

Hodgson and Amber Hiatt, who is Crime Stoppers' Red Willow County coordinator, are in charge of the cone-loan program. The cones will be available to government agencies for emergencies, public events or county fairs; or to organizations such as chambers of commerce, church groups or organizers of other public events where public safety is a concern. Willers emphasized the "Area" in the Crime Stoppers name, and encourages organizations outside of McCook to also utilize the new cones.

Contact Hodgson at (308) 345-3450, or Hiatt at (308) 345-1850, to reserve cones and to complete cone-loan paperwork. Hodgson said he is working on a cone-loan link to the Crime Stoppers web site at www.crimestoppers.swnebr.com

Willers said response to the cone project fund-raiser was "unbelievable. We truly appreciate the generosity of our donors," which include Golight Inc. of Culbertson, and, of McCook, the Graff Charitable Foundation, MNB Financial Group, Biekers Quality Collision and Service, Kurt Fritsch, Red Willow Aviation, McCook Fraternal Order of Police, Western Tire, Ron Friehe and First Central Bank.

Donations can be mailed to McCook Area Crime Stoppers, Attention Jim O'Dea, P.O Box 1447, McCook, NE 69001.