The latest gizmos of years gone by (07/11/06)
I admit it, I'm a sucker for the latest gizmo. Not that I actually rush out and buy it, at least while it's still "the latest gizmo." My "latest" purchase was a yogurt machine, bought for a buck at a weekend garage sale. The yogurt's waiting at home in the fridge, for me and the cats -- the only ones in the family who can stand fermented milk...

The hidden face in the photo (06/27/06)
A caller Wednesday may or may not have been serious. "I can see the face of Jesus in the picture on the front page," he said. I didn't talk to the caller, but he was referring to a photo of wheat pouring out of a combine in a field north of McCook. Someone else said they saw the face of the Devil, and I won't repeat what I said I thought I saw...

Bumping into doors with Capt. Kirk (06/20/06)
In Omaha while my daughter had some minor surgery, I kept thinking about an old Star Trek episode. You may recall the one I mean, where Spock (wearing a stocking cap over his ears), Captain Kirk & Co. found themselves in the 1960s. As I recall (hard-core Trekkers will certainly straighten me out if I'm wrong), Kirk kept bumping into doors which didn't automatically open themselves, like they did back on the Enterprise...

Locating a long, lost list (06/06/06)
Attention Washington politicians: Want to stay in office because the economy is running at full speed? Just declare a few more holidays. I've noticed Halloween is well ensconced in the No. 2 spot behind Christmas, or is it Valentine's Day? St. Patrick's Day has joined New Years Eve as a time for serious partyers, and Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July have to be in the running for days with the largest average consumption of calories...

Discovering a lost heritage (05/09/06)
As Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign chairman for my eighth grade class, it's amazing to watch the political process unfold in new ways. As a 1972 phone worker for CREEP -- The Committee To Re-Elect the President -- it's interesting to see how things stay the same...

Mercury, Minolta and Miss America (04/18/06)
No sooner had I thrown away a packet about the Mercury exhibit at the Strategic Air & Space Museum than I had questions it might have answered. I unexpectedly had a chance to view the exhibit -- while my wife and daughter waited in the van -- on the drive back from Omaha. It's not that they might not enjoy the exhibit, it's just that after I've drug them to the museum for the 40th time, the displays all start to look the same...

Another of the Greatest Generation gone (04/04/06)
It was a quick trip on short notice, but most funerals are. Kenneth White -- or Kenny, as my Dad, four years older, called him -- descended from some of the founding families of our home town, just as my family did. His wife held my mother's job as home economics teacher before Mom did, his son, Dad and I spent many a spring day working calves or hogs, and our families saw each other at church every weekend...

House cats work best in pairs (03/14/06)
There's a Seinfeld episode for everything, and one of my favorites is the one where J. Peterman pays Kramer $750 for his stories. At that rate, our cat is worth a couple of thousand. "Whiskers" was called "Honey" by his previous owner before he turned out to be a male, but like most cats, he answers to neither...

No, it's not April Fool's Day yet (03/07/06)
I came into the office today expecting the Kelley Park McCook Community College controversy to be the main topic of conversation. Instead, I found out from city editor Lorri Sughroue that our next city manager will be pretty familiar to anyone who remembers the last city manager...

Snowboarders will be snowboarders (02/21/06)
Let's hear it for Lindsey Jacobellis and the true spirit of sport. In case you missed it Friday (I did, I was at work) the U.S. star was way ahead in the new snowboard cross event at the Olympics when she did what any self-respecting snowboarder would do:...

Making memories in Mazatlan (02/07/06)
I guess it first hit me when I saw the girls coming home from school. Wearing white blouses and knee stockings, black shoes and matching skirts, and carrying their books, they walked into the compound as happy as any American schoolgirl. I couldn't help but compare them to the kids who walk past our home near North Ward -- make that McCook Elementary -- twice a day...

Where's my pneumatic tube? (11/29/05)
I remember seeing an old Saturday Evening Post cartoon showing a pair of commuters waiting at the bus stop. One says to the other something like "Remember when they said that by 1970 we'd be whisked to work through pneumatic tubes?" So, where's my pneumatic tube?...

Tornadoes and the state of technology (11/15/05)
A football game delay for a tornado? My sister and her family live north of Ames, Iowa, where Saturday's Iowa State-Colorado game was delayed by a sure-enough twister. I checked out a map, and sure enough, two towns that were devastated by tornadoes were near my sister's home at Gilbert. One was northwest of town and the other southeast, so I knew they probably had some bad weather...

The law of inverse atmospheric proportionalism (11/08/05)
With the recent hurricanes in the South, I've been enjoying a chance to get an historical perspective through a book recommended by a co-worker. Whenever newsroom discussion would turn to the storms, citizen and government response, Regional Editor Connie Jo Discoe would pipe up, "You've got to read 'Isaac's Storm.'"...

A few concrete thoughts (10/25/05)
I've heard about them, but I've never actually seen one. I heard someone advertising an infrared spotting camera used by hunters that might just help me capture an image of one. I'm not talking about BigFoot or the Loch Ness Monster. I'm talking about pedestrians who actually use the B Street crossings in downtown McCook...

Signs of change on the energy front (10/18/05)
I heard the manager of one of the convenience stores lament that money is so tight, lottery players who used to buy $5 worth of tickets are now dropping in only a buck. He cited the high cost of gasoline as the cause. Think of that. Lottery players will trade in one infinitesimal chance at $340 million for an even more infinitesimal chance and few gallons of gasoline...

Back to the future, part II (09/20/05)
No sooner did I finish up my second or third reading of "Lost Moon," Jim Lovell's book which was turned into the movie "Apollo 13," than NASA announced it was going to do it again. This time, I think they're doing it right. As someone who remembers listening to John Glenn's first flight via an AM radio on the window sill of my first grade classroom, I feel I have as much of a right to an opinion as any other taxpayer...

It's back to the future, again (09/13/05)
I've been expecting to see Christopher Lloyd and a DeLorean come around the corner any time. With all the sudden concern about gas prices, it's Back to the Future for those of us who remember the last energy crisis. Solar panels, gas-saving devices, lines at the fuel pumps, wind generators -- it brings back loads of memories from the late 1970s and early 1980s...

Ten codes a thing of the past? (08/23/05)
Ten codes on the way out? It appears that way, at least for any agencies that accept federal funding, which includes, well, all of them. For anyone who didn't grow up watching Dragnet, or CHIPS, or who never owned a CB radio or listened to a police scanner, 10-codes are left over from the early days of mobile radio...

Old newsprint and plastic sacks (08/09/05)
"If only this Gazette could tell us about its travels..." read a note on the back of a business card from Jackie Wayman Seward, Keene, Texas, listing her as "Texas Coordinator" for "the National Grassroots Organization of Republicans for Environmental Protection."...

Coffee, deck screws and Google (08/02/05)
How hot was it? It was so hot ... Boy, I miss Johnny Carson. But let me tell you how hot it was. Grabbing my black-painted stainless steel travel coffee mug and a camera, I drove across town to shoot a photo. When I got back to the office, the coffee was hotter than when I left...

How did we ever get along without ... (07/19/05)
You fill in the blank. I'm dating myself, but at one time, we used to fill the "How did we ever get along without ..." blank with "fax machines." It wasn't long until faxes were replaced with e-mail, but then came the invention of spam, and now we bemoan the time wasted deleting the 98 percent of e-mails we don't want...

New light on an old war (06/07/05)
Sixty years ago, my father was somewhere in the South Pacific, recovering from the mortar shell and hand grenade wounds he received a few days after being part of the seventh wave of troops invading the island of Okinawa. As the operator of a .30 cal., water cooled machine gun, he was a high priority target for the Japanese soldiers defending the island...

Just a twist of the wrist? (05/24/05)
Saturday's story about dowsing for graves brought back some memories. Way back in the day, my college years, that is, a buddy of mine used to work for a surveyor who swore by the dowsing method described in Connie Jo Discoe's story on the front page...

Dealing with 'but first ...' disease (05/17/05)
It was another attack of "but first" disease. You've read about that, haven't you? It started last fall, when our family was visiting my sister's family in Iowa, just about high school football championship time. There, across the alley from her house, was a forlorn-looking sailboat, complete with a dishwasher toward the stern ...

Can't get any better than this (03/22/05)
When my wife and I were new to town 20 years ago, one of the first civic activities we attended was a Southwest Community Theatre production of "The Music Man." It was a wonderful show and demonstrated to us newcomers just how much talent our new friends and neighbors possessed...

Osama bin Laden and Custer? (01/18/05)
I don't know when a PBS special, "Meeting Osama bin Laden" will be aired again, but anyone who wonders what might be behind the September 11 attacks should do their best to watch it. The only son of the 10th wife of the man who was builder to the Saudi royal family, Osama developed a deep hatred toward the United States after feeling slighted by the Saudis, and seeing their close relationship with America...

A winter escape into the deep (12/28/04)
Books are a great thing to get for Christmas. If your giver has chosen wisely, you'll have something to hold in your hands, get involved with, make a part of you. The downside is, if it's a great book, the experience is over much too quickly. That's the case in a book I re-ceived last Saturday...

Giving is humbling as it happens (12/14/04)
They say Christmas is a time for giving, and that's true. Nothing makes us feel better than seeing the surprise and joy of a friend or family member who enjoys our gift. But if you really want to be touched, try receiving. Some Gazette folks took shifts Sunday afternoon, ringing the bell at Wal-Mart for the Salvation Army...

Two weddings and three football games (11/23/04)
If you had to lose a football game, that was the way to do it. We all knew McCook's winning streak had to end sometime, but seeing two great teams battle it out to the end in Memorial Stadium must have been a thrill, even if the trophy said "runner up."...

One solution to the election problem (11/09/04)
Red-state public radio general managers must have blanched Saturday night when Garrison Keillor started his annual joke show. Let's hope right-wing public radio listeners have a sense of humor. Wait a minute -- you'd have to have a sense of humor to be a right-wing public radio listener, so I guess I'm being redundant...

A Sunday morning experience (10/19/04)
I went to my first hot air balloon rally 30 years ago, and I've never passed up a chance to attend one ever since. But that didn't make any difference Sunday. This time, it was me climbing into the basket. Thanks to scheduling conflicts and Saturday night's scrub, my wife, Candy, was able to join me for a Sunday morning flight as well...

Ready to invade the Netherlands (10/12/04)
I knew personal computers had a lot of potential when I saw my first one back in the '70s, but who would have guessed the things they would make possible. Just one example was illustrated by the chat I had with Don Schaaf the other day. Schaaf, who readers may recall as the author of the "Dondotcom" column that ran in this space during the early days of the Internet, told me he and a few buddies planned to invade the Netherlands...

New emergency service winning converts (08/17/04)
When we lived in Ainsworth, in north-central Nebraska, a friend was incredulous over one state official's plan for medical care. "Helicopters!" She scoffed. And I had to agree at the time. In that neck of the woods -- make that neck of the rolling, stubby-grass covered hills -- we used to drive an hour to get to the nearest discount store. And, it wasn't a super-megastore, either...

That's what special friends are like (08/10/04)
A financially struggling teacher and his wife had a 4-year old son when she gave birth to another child, who was promptly hospitalized with illness. In a state of post-partum depression, the young mother took her own life. "The gaping void in my life was complicated by the fact that our 4-year-old thought that his mom was coming back soon...

Cleaning is good, but don't overdo it (08/03/04)
Springtime is the traditional season for cleaning, but it feels good whenever you do it. There's even a piece of software called Spring Cleaning, designed to cleanse your hard drive of unneeded junk and make your computer run quicker. But that's another story...

A hot time in the old town (07/20/04)
Musicians and music lovers around the area will be glad to hear that Evie Caldwell in McCook was back at the keyboard for a few songs Sunday at Memorial United Methodist Church, and hopes to be at full speed in time for the start of school this August...

Escape at the secret clubhouse (07/13/04)
It's Saturday afternoon at 1 o'clock, and normally, on a day off, there would be a gravity field drawing me to the recliner for a nap. But my wife knows better. After 26 years of marriage (this Thursday) she knows what I'm going to say. "I'm going down to my secret clubhouse," I recite, checking her knowing eyes for a response. Approval? Not quite. Resignation? Maybe. Tolerance? I'll take that as a "yes."...

The secret? There's no secret (06/22/04)
OK, OK, I can hear the "I told you so's" already. My sister told me, probably 15 years ago, about this diet she was trying that seemed to be working. It involved cutting out carbohydrates, and she even gave me a book about it. She did lose weight on it, and the last time I saw her, she was keeping it off...

Rainmaker: Whatever it takes (06/15/04)
Well, you're welcome. You are thanking me for the rain, aren't you? Prior to leaving for Colorado a week and a half ago, we gave the lawn and flowers a good watering, in hopes they would survive. Sure enough, they were in good shape when we returned, thanks to the the rain McCook received while we were in Colorado, not to mention my wife's sister-in-law's green thumb and careful attention...

Reminders of the nature of war (05/25/04)
I've written before about a bit of wisdom I received from my father many years ago as we sat in front of our black-and-white television set back on the farm on the banks of the South Platte River. Oohing and aaahing one of the war movies popular back in the 1960s, I was taken aback by a dose of reality from my father:...

The difference of a few years, miles (05/18/04)
Did you ever Google yourself? It might not be what you think, although I've been given similar advice by certain unkind individuals. Because our publication is online as well as hard-copy, going to google.com and typing in "Bruce Crosby" usually brings up several links to previous editions of this column...

Gowing bowling for the cat (05/04/04)
My wife was out shopping the other day, when she got to the item marked "cat bowl" on her shopping list. Now I consider a cat lucky if he doesn't have to live in the barn and hunt mice for a living, so our 22-pound Maine Coon-cross was quite an adjustment when he began jumping (Whoomp!) onto the bed in the middle of the night, or hopping (umph!) into the middle of my chest when I'm home alone at noon, taking a nap...

Lend the school committee your ear (04/27/04)
At the risk of being politically incorrect, I have to admit being as Scotch as they come, at least about a lot of things. It's especially true this week, when we find ourselves ready to pay our real estate taxes in time to beat the May 1 deadline. I have to admit being a little tight when it comes to voting for more taxes. The prospect of adding to the burden is not something I enjoy. We all have things we need, yet do without, just because we can't afford them...

Sometimes history is a gas (04/20/04)
Information is the key to the newspaper business, and it's rewarding to connect the people who want to know something with the people who know it. Last week, while I was bemoaning the loss of a valuable source of historical information, Linda Hein, I mentioned that one Cliff Like (719) 346-7610, wondered if anyone remembered the coal gas plant in McCook...

When it comes to history, who you gonna call? (04/13/04)
Where will we turn when we need to know? When it comes to McCook history, the answer is, "I don't know." In case you missed it, last weekend's "On Main Street" was the last one. Linda Hein and her mother are moving to Lincoln to join Linda's husband, Rick, who has opened a new automotive service business in Lincoln...

Time for some spring cleaning? (03/30/04)
Time for some spring cleaning? It seems to be. We had big plans for a project on the house, but the weather was lousy with rain predicted so we moved inside. So much for the rain. Our friends to the north, east and other surrounding areas reported a third of an inch or so, but we only saw a few drops of rain on the deck all day Saturday...

Random thoughts on 'The Passion' (03/23/04)
Not much more can be said about Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" that hasn't been said or written already. But after a failed attempt to view the film earlier (it was sold out), I found the time to go Monday night. A few random thoughts: No matter what the story, the film was definitely a Mel Gibson movie. For the same reason my wife won't see "Braveheart" again, I doubt if she goes to see "The Passion." You won't find a more dedicated believer, but gore is not her thing. We'll see...

Heaping more troubles on the pile (03/16/04)
That big thump you heard the other night was the sound of the other shoe falling. Two of them, in fact. First, there is the prospect of $37,000 a day in fines, for the last four years and continuing, concerning ammonia generated by McCook's wastewater treatment plant...

A chance encounter with history (03/02/04)
Thanks to the help of some special people, my wife and I were able to get out of town by ourselves over the weekend, stay overnight in Kearney and take in a community theater production of "Nunsense II." The route to Kearney has been a source of debate over the years, as I favor the direct route through Holdrege, Axtell and Funk, while my wife usually chooses to get on the Interstate at the earliest possible moment...

Sometimes the inspiration is too much (02/17/04)
Someone once said, inside of every reporter, there's a novel. And it should stay there. But sometimes the inspiration is just too much. Take for instance, last Saturday, as we were working on an overdue homework assignment. Asked to come up with a sentence using a particular word, my son wrote:...

A guy who spent his time well (02/10/04)
Scott Hoffman took his two sons, Christian, 9, and Stephen, 6, sledding Sunday afternoon. He went to the grocery store for his wife, Darcey, and carried the food into the kitchen. "I guess I'll take the dogs for a run," he said, heading out the door with their three pets...

Will it snow? Let's not jinx it (02/03/04)
Have you ever heard so many people saying they wished it would snow? I'm right there with them. Of course, the snowblower is sitting there in the shed, rarin' to charge the driveway. It was all I could do to leave ol' red parked during this weekend's dusting, and use the noisy aluminum shovel to clear what little snow got in the way...

Let's keep Carlin's list in context (01/20/04)
Remember when you couldn't drink coffee? Man did it look and smell good. All the grown-ups did it, so it must be cool. "No, you can't have any," you were told. "It will stunt your growth." Checking the scale, I wish I would have started drinking it sooner...

Great nights for a good book (01/06/04)
If there ever were a time to curl up with a good book, now is it. Any excuse to stay home is a good one, when the weather drops below zero. Besides, how many episodes of Average Joe or Fear Factor can you watch? For some reason, I have always been interested in the workings of the human brain, even before becoming the parent of a special needs child...

An adventurer to keep an eye on (12/30/03)
It's hard to believe that we're ready to turn the calendar to the fourth year of the new millennium already. Or, if you're one of those sticklers who insisted that the year 2000 was actually the end of the 20th century and not the beginning of the 21st, we're ready for the third year of the new century...

When the chips are down, get out of town (12/23/03)
I didn't have a flight suit or a band waiting, but I don't think a "Mission Accomplished" banner would have been out of place when I arrived home Sunday. Thanks to dogged determination and more than a week of searching, our son will now have his favorite Christmas candy -- chocolate cherry mash...

Learning a lesson on priorities (12/16/03)
Saddam Hussein has been captured. The stock market is back up over 10,000 -- or at least it was at closing yesterday. But something's missing. Make that someone. One thing about the late Roger Schmidt, he was never at a loss for an opinion. "You screwed up the stock market again," he used to tell associated editor Dawn Cribbs...

The long road to Lincoln -- and back (11/25/03)
What a game! And to think we almost missed it. Keeping an eye on the weather, I determined Friday night that there was no way we were going to risk a drive all the way to Lincoln, sit in rainy Memorial Stadium, and then risk life and limb again to return home on icy roads...

Deer of one kind or another (11/18/03)
Hunters had a good opening weekend for the deer season, judging from the bucks hanging in trees and hauled around in the back of pickup trucks. I used to hunt ducks, pheasants and quail back on the farm (that was before the time of dove hunting), but never went after a deer. When you raise beef, what's the use of eating a wild animal?...

Many made sacrifices for freedom (11/11/03)
"War isn't pretty." Dad wasn't trying to spoil my enjoyment of the movie we were watching on our old black-and-white television way back in the 1960s. He was just speaking from experience. While I was reacting to the Hollywood explosions and celluloid-sanitized shooting in the way any 10-year-old might, Dad must have been remembering the reality of his time in the South Pacific in the waning months of World War II...

Finding the keys to education (11/04/03)
We have just gone through one tradition with Halloween and it's already time to start on another one or two. My wife has just returned from a shopping trip she makes every year, and although none of her purchases will end up under our tree, it's one of our happiest traditions...

It's all about teamwork (10/28/03)
Thanks to John Kugler, the McCook Chamber of Commerce, all the sponsors and the balloonists who shared their weekend with us for the annual High Plains Freedom Flight. It's really a kick to see those giant, colorful cloth globes floating against the blue sky and puffy white clouds, over the golden corn and wheatfields and multi-hued fall foliage...

Balloonist remembers another passenger (10/21/03)
"You are so wrong!" Most newspaper editors are used to calls that start that way, but this one was different. John Kugler was taking issue with my contention that he probably didn't remember the Ainsworth Centennial, 20 years ago, when he and the big green Kugler balloon were one of the highlights...

Get ready for an aerial spectacle (10/14/03)
Buy a few more rolls of film, or at least some new batteries for your digital camera; -- you're going to need them. Officials are expecting a dozen or so hot air balloons for the High Plains Freedom Flight 2003, set next weekend, Oct. 24-26 in McCook...

Learning some lessons on Sunday afternoon (10/07/03)
If you haven't checked out our new Web page, you should. We get e-mails daily asking why we don't update the page more often, and the answer is, we do. The problem is, the old page is still up. When you go online, make sure you end up at a site with the URL...

A Rocky Mountain time machine (09/09/03)
I remember watching a movie version of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" back in the 1960s, and the remake a couple of years ago. I enjoyed the movies, and the idea of a time machine is intriguing -- except perhaps for the part in the '60s version, where the world was destroyed in a nuclear war in 1966. ...

Buzzards don't know everything (09/02/03)
I don't listen to Dr. Laura all that often, but I understand she has taken up sailing. She often mentions the challenges and life lessons that can be gleaned by using the wind to propel your craft. I'm no Dr. Laura, but I've learned a few life lessons from my limited time on the water...

Black flies no longer par for the course (08/26/03)
Think of the hazards of golf, and you're likely to think of sand traps, water, trees and weeds -- and that's just for the players...

Today's horror will haunt us for many years (09/12/01)
As long as we live, this day shall haunt us and horrify us. Murderous suicide attacks -- taking an immeasurable toll in death, injury and destruction -- left us numb with grief and aghast with anger. Here in McCook -- as in villages and cities all across the world -- good, normal, caring people gathered to witness the atrocities as they flashed non-stop across our television screens...