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GoogleThe Nebraska Supreme Court ruled last year that the state's use of the electric chair was unconstitutional because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Some people in McCook -- population just under 8,000 -- think "Old Sparky" could be a tourist attraction and have offered to take it off the state's hands.
Fifteen men were executed in the chair, which is housed about 210 miles east of McCook at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
"If it's sitting somewhere collecting dust, we have a place for it," said Duane Tappe, who said the chair could bring thousands of tourists to the town every year.
"My wife thinks it's a little -- what's the word -- macabre," said Tappe, who's involved in the city's Rotary Club and chamber of commerce. "But I would drive up the road to see it. I mean, I drove all the way to Cawker City, Kan., to see the (world's largest) ball of twine."
Corrections department spokeswoman Connie Nemec says there are no immediate plans to move the chair, although she wasn't ruling out the possibility. It's still in the death chamber at the penitentiary.
The electric chair became the state's sole means of execution in 1913, replacing hanging. Now, lethal injection appears poised to replace the chair, if a bill being considered by a legislative committee is approved.
Eleven men are on the state's death row. The state's last execution was in 1997.
Tappe floated the idea of bringing the chair to McCook to state Sen. Mike Christensen of Imperial, whose district includes McCook. Christensen is asking the state for the chair.
"You're going to have people that think this is gross or disgusting, but fact is, it's been part of Nebraska history, and you've got to preserve history," Christensen said.
Lynne Ireland, deputy director of the Nebraska State Historical Society, agrees.
"We can't pick and choose," she said. "We can't merely do happy history just because it makes everyone feel good."
Texas' electric chair - where 361 inmates died - is on display in Huntsville at the Texas Prison Museum. And the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C., displays a guillotine, gas chamber and electric chair.
What's important, Ireland said, is to ensure such "challenging materials" are displayed in a factual manner and not sensationalized
"It really depends on the purpose of the museum and what its intention is and what its audience is," she said.
Tappe's idea is to display the chair at a yet-to-be-built museum planned to honor George Norris, a Nebraska U.S. senator from 1913 until 1943.
Norris was the primary force behind the Rural Electrification Act, which brought electric service to rural areas across the country.
Tappe said he sees the chair as "one of the uses for electricity, whether that's good or bad."
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I think the people of McCook should flat out refuse to have this display in thier city. As I stated in the last article about this, I support the death penalty, and I am not concerned about how it is done. The people that are sentenced to death, earned it.
I grew up in McCook. When I think of McCook, I get a good feeling of the people I knew, and all the things I enjoyed as a kid. Alot of people I know that have been there, have good things to say about McCook, not all of them, but alot of them.
I support the death penalty, and I would rather just keep using ole sparky to carry it out. I have seen the electric chair, and I have put my hands on the chair. I get very heavy hearted when I think about living in a world that makes such a device, or such a punishment necessary. That is not the feeling I want to feel when I think about my home town, nor do I want others to remember McCook as the place they went to see the chair that was used to kill people. Not even if it makes alot of money to have it there.
And This is going to help the city how
The stink of hair and skin not fun to look at ohh
i get it . little boy seeing the chair ...
... look mom whats that on the arm of it ..
can i take it to show and tell at school...
:( just some thing to wonder :(
Norris pushed for rural elecrification. He didn't push for a tool of death to be displayed. If you think it will bring tourism to McCook, then good for you. McCook didn't make the electric chair. Someone from Kansas, in Cawker City, made that ball of twine. Someone in that town!! Find something that is important to McCook and not to others.
If you think it is so good, display it in your own garage. Or even better, in the yet to be renovated Keystone to draw people to it. That might take a while and get costly. And now a new museum?? What is wrong with the one we already have? Not fancy enough??? When do the words "stop the spending" ever sink into your thick heads.
That is the most morbid, cruel, stupid idea that I ever heard. We have enough bad crap in this town. Crap that is trying to be done away with by good people fighting to clean up this city. And you want to put more in it??? And just because a Senator says it is a good idea doesn't mean it is. I have never met a politician that had much sense. Most of their words are sugar coated.
Come on now! Get some real ideas! There is more history in this state than a stupid electric chair. By the way, take the blinders off so you can see what is going on around you and not just in front of you.
Also think of the things to happen when it is displayed in our city. When the families of people who have been executed find out where it is, you can bet there will be trouble. Vandalism, property destruction, and other various things to happen. Have you even give that a thought?????People don't want to even see it or even know it is available to the public. I don't want this city to be torn up by others. We have enough trouble already.
DO ANY OF YOU THINK WITH YOUR BRAIN????????
What Next? Leave it where it belongs----in the
Nebraska State Pen. in Lincoln.
Can't McCook find something better for attracting tourists???? Maybe people should get a job and put their brain to better use.
Who is going to pay the electric bill???
I got it!! Let's rename the McCook Chamber of Commerce to McCook chamber of Horrors and Norris Ave. to Nowhere Ave.
The elecric chair is a part of history. So was hanging by a rope. You sure don't see a rope in trees around the city with a noose on the end of it.
Just a reader; "who is going to pay the electric bill" ???? what??? do you think they are going to set it up so it works? If you guys don't like what others come up with to bring in tourists then start coming up with your own ideas and submit them. It seems that there are a few of you that want to complain about everything done and said in McCook but you never want to suggest anything logical to help out. As far as families of those electrocuted in the chair, do you really think they will drive to McCook with the sole intention of committing vandalism? Maybe you need to find a hobby other than putting down others that are at least trying to come up with ideas, right or wrong.
Been there, suggested ideas, talked about it, and never heard another word. People on the council came up with several ideas that were said in the past and they took the credit for it. How can you change people who don't listen to the general public. Others had this happen too. Don't want the credit for it. Just want to be heard.
@rod
Two mistakes:
1) A lack of examples to justify your silly counter-jumping down people's throats.
2) Making the assumption that any idea > no idea. I'm not convinced that's true. It's more likely that tourists will go "Meh, who cares about an electric chair display" and not come anyway, or those who might've come going "Eww what kind of town would put an electric chair on display" and not come, than more tourists coming to see the electric chair.
An amusement park or something akin to Pioneer Village would have more benefit to tourism than an instrument of death. Sadly, things close to that have died out here.
The funny thing about everyone upset with the city or the council is that they have nothing to do with this whole thing. Duane Tappe made the comment and last time I checked, he wasn't a council member and he wasn't speaking for any agency that was ran by the city of McCook. The council has no say whether the chair comes here or not. Maybe you should get facts then speak.