McCook, Nebraska · Tuesday, March 16, 2010
[mccookgazette.com] Fair ~ 59°F  
Weather Sponsor Test
Poll
Do you favor allowing alcohol on city property?
 Yes.
 No.
 Don't care.

Forms
Strange News
  • Hurt dog shows up at New Mexico emergency room
    FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) -- The patient was only slightly injured when he limped into a hospital in the northwest New Mexico city of Farmington....
  • Helicopter rescues horse stranded on Ariz. sandbar
    BUCKEYE, Ariz. (AP) -- It's not every day you see a horse fly....
  • Green Bay's most stolen street sign? Mullet place
    GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- The most frequently stolen street sign in Green Bay isn't Lombardi Avenue, Reggie White Way or Brett Favre Pass. The distinction goes to a short street on the city's southwest side. Its name brings to mind the helmet-style haircut of the 1980s - the cut perhaps best personified by country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus....
  • Detroit city workers being warned to go scentsless
    DETROIT (AP) -- Change is in the air for Detroit city workers. City employees will be urged not to wear perfume, cologne or aftershave as a result of a settlement in a federal lawsuit....
  • Trooper makes 2 DUI arrests in one traffic stop
    FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska State Troopers needed just one traffic stop to make two arrests for drunken driving. Troopers said a highway patrol officer arrested a 42-year-old man for drunken driving after stopping him for speeding on Sunday. A short time later, a 29-year-old man arrived to take custody of the car. The officer determined he had driven to the scene while drunk....
  • Determined bulldog chews officer's tires, bumper
    CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- What happened to a Chattanooga police officer's car was certainly under the radar. A city police spokeswoman said Sunday that Officer Clayton Holmes had been checking traffic speeds with radar and stopped to fill out a report when he felt his car shaking. He found a bulldog chewing on the tires. After the dog attacked two passing cars and a second police car, officers used pepper spray and a Taser on it, but the animal wasn't deterred....
  • Swiss designer creates dinosaur dung watch
    GENEVA (AP) -- A Swiss watchmaker is hoping to raise a stink with an expensive timepiece that eschews the trade's standard gold, diamond or titanium fittings for a more earthy substance - dinosaur dung. Vesenaz, Switzerland-based company Artya says the watch set in fossilized feces will sell for 12,000 ($11,290) and comes with a strap made with skin from an American cane toad....
  • Woman allegedly hits sister with toilet tank lid
    IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa City police arrested a woman who allegedly attacked her sister with the lid of a toilet tank. Nitasha Johnson, of Iowa City, was arrested early Sunday and was charged with domestic abuse assault causing injury and interference with official acts. According to police, Johnson removed the lid and hit her sister during a fight. Authorities said the sister suffered an injured foot and finger....
  • Tapping of Mass. cemetery maple trees gets bad rap
    LANCASTER, Mass. (AP) -- Maple syrup producers are under fire for tapping maple trees in Central Massachusetts cemeteries. The Worcester Telegram reports Monday that at least two cemeteries in Lancaster and one in Petersham have sap buckets on trees that stand along side rows of tombstones. Athol Public Works Director Douglas Walsh said a recent investigation of tapped trees in Chestnut Hill Road Cemetery found that the culprits were neighborhood kids....
  • Milk or cider? NH House weighs in on state drink
    CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Apples are getting some competition from cows in the debate over what New Hampshire's state drink should be - cider or milk....
SWNCTA's 'Annie' shines (03/16/10)
The moment the overture for "Annie" started, the latest offering from the Southwest Nebraska Community Theater Association (SWNCTA), and I heard the beginning strains of "Tomorrow," I knew I was in the right place for a jolly good time. The plot of "Annie" is full of the kind of action that makes a musical fun to watch: it's 1934, FDR is in the White House, and orphanages are common-place. ...
Men arrested on theft of farm equipment (03/16/10)
HAYES CENTER -- The FBI has arrested a Hayes County man on suspicion of the theft of dozens of tractors and farm implements between November 2005 and April 2008. Ryan R. Hanzlick, 32, of rural Hayes Center and Matthew T. Jones, 21, of Colby, Kan., are charged with 12 counts of transporting goods and merchandise (knowing they were stolen, converted or taken by fraud), according to the FBI office in Kansas City and the North Platte Bulletin. Each man faces 120 years in federal prison...
Council OK with alcohol, uncertain on fees (03/16/10)
The McCook City Council seemed in favor that alcohol should be allowed at the city auditorium, but could not come to a consensus on what kind of fees should be charged. Currently, alcohol is not allowed on city property and city code would have to be amended to change that at the auditorium. ...
Council OKs block grant application (03/16/10)
The Community Development Block grant the city is applying for to benefit 21st Century Systems is different than the county's revolving loan fund. The McCook City Council unanimously approved Monday night at its regular meeting the application for a $505,000 CDBG grant, the Memorandum of Understanding and a resolution that allows the mayor to sign all grant related documents...
Town hall meeting to cover Frontier County wind potential (03/16/10)
STOCKVILLE -- Before wind energy can be developed, four key questions need to be answered: The Frontier County Board of commissioners has an interest in the economic development of the county and has chosen to address the above questions and issues...
County may be on the hook for helicopter storage costs (03/15/10)
Red Willow County may have to pay $7,758.70 in storage costs if commissioners want to collect the county's helicopter collateral in Colorado. County attorney Paul Wood and commissioners Monday morning talked to the manager of a Longmont, Colo. hangar owners' association in whose hangars Ron Willocks has stored the helicopter prototype that he developed with a $300,000 loan from Red Willow County's revolving loan fund. ...
Sentencing May 5 for driver in fatal pedestrian accident (03/15/10)
LEXINGTON -- The courtroom seemed to hold its breath as Dawson County district court clerk Sherry Warner read the verdict form handed to her by District Judge James Doyle IV at 2:30 p.m., Friday. Teary-eyed women held hands. Tough men -- law enforcement officers many of them -- leaned forward...
Lenten Lesson 4 -- The hallmark of a grateful man (03/12/10)
A grateful man is a giving man. "It is the hallmark of Christianity," said the Rev. Gary Brethour, pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, during the Community Lenten service Friday at Memorial United Methodist Church. "If we aren't people of gratitude our spiritual growth is hindered," he warned...
Software firm seeks city application for half-million-dollar grant (03/12/10)
The McCook City Council will be asked at its regular meeting Monday night to approve an application for a half-million-dollar grant on behalf of 21st Century Systems Inc., that the business will use to expand at the Keystone. The meeting will be 7:30 p.m., at the City Council Chambers in Memorial Auditorium...
Driver guilty of motor vehicle homicide (03/12/10)
LEXINGTON -- A 12-person jury deliberated three hours and 10 minutes before returning with a verdict of guilty of motor vehicle homicide for Herchel H. Huff Sr., and Furnas County District Court Judge James Doyle IV found him guilty of tampering with a witness and refusal to submit to a chemical test...
On to semi-finals (03/12/10)
Hayes Center fans celebrate a three-point score during the 53-48 Cardinal win over Class C2 defending champion Sterling. The Cardinals will face the No. 1 seed Hampton Hawks at 3:45 p.m. today at Pershing.
Census still recruiting workers (03/11/10)
With the 2010 census officially under way, workers are still needed in western Nebraska. About 700 are working in the 52 counties in this part of the state, said Vic Gentry of the North Platte Census office. Gentry said collectively across the state, 900 workers will be employed by the 2010 Census. For Red Willow County and parts of Frontier County, about 40-50 people are still needed, he said...
Questions persist on performance-based teacher pay funding plan (03/11/10)
Debate began this week on a bill that would provide funds for performance-based teach-er pay. Although no one disagreed with the concept, some senators are concerned how the funds will be managed, said Sen. Christensen this morning at the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative conference call...
Witness recalls comforting toddler at accident scene (03/11/10)
LEXINGTON -- A 3-year-old girl thrown out of the path of a speeding car 2 1⁄2 years ago wanted nothing more than the mother who sacrificed her own life to save her daughter's. One of the first people on the scene of the accident that killed Kasey Jo Warner of rural Arapahoe on Oct. ...
Witness testifies about afternoon woman was killed (03/10/10)
LEXINGTON -- A witness testified Tuesday afternoon that he and the man accused of killing a rural Arapahoe wife and mother of two little girls spent the afternoon of Oct. 3, 2007 -- the day that Kasey Jo Warner died -- drinking in Oxford. Ryan Markwartt, 24, of Holbrook told defense and prosecution attorneys that Herchel Huff, 37, also of Holbrook, had consumed many beers and Jagermeister-Red Bull mixed drinks between about 2 p.m., and approximately 6 p.m., before Huff drove his blueish-green Camaro on country roads heading to Holbrook.. ...
Experts see no reason for gasoline prices to keep climbing (03/10/10)
eks, but experts say there's no reason to expect $4 this summer. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is up to $2.75, or 81 cents higher than a year ago, but it's already over $3 in California, with its tighter emission standards. Why won't the climb continue?...
Nelson receives assurances on dam repairs (03/10/10)
WASHINGTON -- Responding to a question today from Sen. Ben Nelson, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar committed to making sure that concerns about cracks in the Red Willow Dam in Southwest Nebraska are addressed in a timely manner and that repairs will be made as soon as possible...
Sen. Greg Adams addresses community college funding formula dispute (03/09/10)
LINCOLN -- Sen. Greg Adams, Chairman of the Legislature's Education Committee, held a Press Conference earlier this afternoon, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, to discuss the progress that has been made toward resolving the current community college funding dispute. Sen. Adams provided the following statement:...
Wounded soldier faces long rehab (03/09/10)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The father of an American soldier injured in Afghanistan in February said Monday afternoon that his son's spirits are good, despite injuries that have required surgeries in Afghanistan and Germany, and hospitalization in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C...
County ponders trip to retrieve kit helicopters (03/09/10)
Red Willow County Attorney Paul Wood wants a time, date and location agreed upon and set in stone before county officials go to Colorado to retrieve a kit helicopter built with a loan from the county. Rex Nelson, administrator of the county's revolving loan program, told Red Willow County commissioners during their meeting Monday morning that Ron Willocks of Longmont, Colo., owner of the now-defunct Pawnee Aviation helicopter kit company, seems anxious and willing to get this matter settled. ...
Board OKs $389k for staff buyout (03/09/10)
McCook Public Schools board of education members at their monthly meeting Monday evening approved paying $389,000 in early retirement incentives to 10 teachers who represent 230 years of experience. The board offered the one-time early retirement program, called "Temporary Separation Incentive Policy," in January in anticipation of a reduction in state aid to McCook's school district. That reduction, Superintendent Grant Norgaard reported Monday evening, will be approximately $307,959...
Despite bankruptcy, gift shop owner vows to repay (03/09/10)
A downtown McCook gift shop has filed for bankruptcy protection, but its owner assured Red Willow County commissioners Monday morning that she intends to repay her loan from the county. Betty Kenner, owner of Accents Etc., told commissioners during their weekly meeting that Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow her to reorganize, stay in business and continue to liquidate inventory to pay her creditors. ...
College enrollment continues growth (03/09/10)
NORTH PLATTE -- Mid-Plains Community College is reporting that a recent "snapshot" of the Spring 2010 term indicated that students are enrolled in 11.19 percent more classes. It also states that there are more full-time students, but fewer part-time students attending college within the entire MPCC system...
Study: New wind power expensive to integrate (03/08/10)
LINCOLN -- Because it is variable and there is no way to store power in the grid, wind-generated electricity costs extra to integrate into the power system, according to a year-long, statewide study of the issue. The Nebraska Power Association's Board of Directors published the results last week, including various cost and operational impacts of adding large amounts of wind-powered generation to the state's electric power grid...
Structure fire (03/08/10)
Most Discussed
See Complete Calendar Listing


Submit an event for this calendar HERE
Gibbs loves newspapers!
State News