Memories from 1951 McCook Daily Gazette

I’ll bet everyone living in SW Nebraska has a pretty good idea how tall kochia weeds can grow in a two-week span, especially when the sun is beating the earth in to dry powder! I think the ones in my gardens were watching us pack to leave and doing a little kochia weed dance as we pulled out of town. To Sturgis, no less….and no, we didn’t get Covid because we went, but then again, we had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a while ago.

Which brings me to something that has been bothering me for a month or so. Remember when our first responders were denied knowledge of Covid positive people because the State agency in charge of reporting felt that privacy was more important than the safety of our officers and paramedics? This wasn’t a local decision per se, came down from the head honchos of our tobacco lawsuit funded state health conglomeration, but the real ironic twist is that their records “accidentally” got accessed by an unauthorized entity and all that privacy went out the window. We all got a real nice letter explaining that in simple terms….I hadn’t actually realized that my receiving the vaccine at Red Willow Health Department meant that they would in turn have to send that fact over to SW Nebraska Health Department which in turn would find that the Health Information Privacy Protection Act only works if your computer files are safe. I would have preferred, should I have been infected with Covid, that the first responders have that information.

Now I’ll get off my soapbox and share some 1951 memories with you from the McCook Daily Gazette!

“Flying Classroom Trip- was described by Mrs. Martha Watson Green Thursday evening when she was a guest speaker for the AAUW members at the Junior High library. Mrs. Green described her observations of the political and economic conditions of England, France, Switzerland, Italy, West Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Finland.

A screened group of sixty-five were selected from forty-three sates to take this trip last spring. She said that the Marshall Plan is very much appreciated in Europe. She also remarked that while Holland suffered the most bombing that the people of Holland have repaired their damage to some extent while the people of West Germany are still living in wrecked homes and buildings.

She was especially impressed with the sincere desire of the people of Finland to pay off their debt to the U.S.. The average person’s income is taxed 30 per cent. Mrs. Green is a former McCook teacher and is now teaching in Grand Island.”

“Hilltoppers were entertained Thursday evening by Leona Lutz, Dorothy Squires, Peggy Landercasper and Maxine McCarthy in the community building of the Victory Addition. (That was the apartment complex north of the auditorium, quite famous for all the people who lived there even briefly.) Marian Carter, Betty Hohn and Helen Lebsack were guests for the evening, completely 4 tables of pinochle. Prize for high score was awarded to Barbara Daniher and low was received by Elinor Fisher.”

I’m only going to provide part of this editorial written by Harry Strunk, but his tone of support for law enforcement and supplying them with appropriate equipment to do their job with is important. “ The sensational story of Fran Dolan, who was shot in the face with a riot gun as he attempted to apprehend one who had tried to steal an automobile in McCook a few minutes earlier Thursday morning is not creditable to law enforcing agencies of the Sate of Nebraska nor to the county which he represents as a deputy sheriff. Fran Dolan did a heroic job of trying to stop the McCook bandit, it was not a lack of courage or his responsibility to the job, but a lack of facilities. It is the opinion of the public that if Dolan had had a radio in his car, he could have chased the bandit into the hands of the law, but a 2 o’clock in the morning and alone some 9 miles north of McCook, he attempted, without facilities, other than a pistol, to overcome a criminal he described as “playing for keeps.” Apparently in 1951 Red Willow County deputies did not have any way of communicating because they had no radio in their units. (And, no, they couldn’t just pull out their cell phone!) Mr. Strunk in quite a lengthy editorial felt this needed to be rectified.

SWNGS library is open from 1-4 PM on Thursdays. We are located in the Temple building, second floor, Rooms 2-7. Everyone is welcome to use our facilities.