A nationally distributed magazine, American Hunter, paid tribute to Southwest Nebraska as a "Top Stop for Pheasants" in its October issue. The magazine, which is the official journal of the National Rifle Association, used glowing terms, like "oasis on the prairie" and "excellent winter habitat" to describe the pheasant hunting opportunities in the Golden Plains of Southwest Nebraska.

The American Hunter writer poin-ted to "timbered coulees, brushy hillsides and rolling grass swales" as favored hunting spots in the Southwest Nebraska region. To fully un-derstand what the writer meant, I pulled out the dictionary and found that coulees are deep gulchs and swales are low tracts of marshy or moist land. He was right on in describing the area hunting terrain, especially if he happened to visit after one of our occasional rains.

The article also made special mention of two McCook businesses: the Chief Motel and Taste of Texas BBQ.

Under the "Can't Miss" category, American Hunter complimented the Chief "for reasonable rates" and having "a welcome mat out for dogs." The magazine goes on to say, "You can fuel up at the Chief's complimentary breakfast (served next door at the Country Kitchen) ... and soak your tired bones in the spa after a day afield."

Then, the article compliments Taste of Texas: "Don your bib and head over to Taste of Texas on West B Street. Owners James and Robbie Arp tantalize your senses with a hunk of meat so scrumptious it won't bother you if you accidentally stain your ... upland shirt."

That's wonderful publicity ... for Southwest Nebraska and two McCook businesses. It would be interesting to know how many people read the nationally circulated article, but I bet the number reaches into the hundreds of thousands ... if not more. The article provides one more example that this area, although limited in population, is long in quality, service and recreational opportunities.

By Town, or Areawide?

This is not a 100 percent rule, but it's close. We, as human beings, don't like unexpected change. What I'm talking about is the kind of change that hits us out of the blue -- bam! -- like a low-hanging limb smacks a jogger.

Let me give you an example. Like many of you, I recently received my new DEX, which is the official telephone directory for Quest. For those of you who don't pay close attention to these kind of things, I'm talking about the yellow book, not the red book.

Well, anyway, the new yellow directory caught me off guard. After years of having separate listings for towns in Southwest Nebraska, DEX merged the area telephone listings for '06-'07 into one big center spread.

McCook, North Platte and Ogallala still have separate sections, but the listings for the other towns are all lumped together.

Why was the change made? To find out, I visited by phone with Jennifer Sherron, the corporate communications manager for the R.H. Donnelley Co., which is the publisher of DEX directories.

Jennifer, who is based in Cary, N.C., told me the change was made after national surveys showed telephone customers preferred areawide alphabetical listing of names, rather than listings by town. "That way," she said, "you can find the person's phone number even if you don't know the town where they live." Also, she said, it takes less paper to print areawide listings, which she called an "envionmentally friendly" action.

However, even after giving me the company line on the change, Jennifer admitted I'm not the only one from this area who prefers town, instead of areawide, listings. "We've had feedback," she said.

Familiarity is a big part of the reason listings by towns are preferred by many of us in this area. Another thing we like is that the town groupings show the value of communities as distinct places that are worthy of special consideration.

What's your opinion? You can make your feelings known by calling 1-877-2-GET-DEX. Cindy Ernst and other members of the call center staff in Columbus, Neb., will pass your opinions on to Jennifer and other members of the DEX team.

Who knows? If enough of us speak out, the directory firm might respond to our wishes.