May 2013 – Page 52 – North Platte Post Archive

NE Lawmakers Pass Juvenile Sentencing Bill

Posted on May 2, 2013

Lawmakers have passed a new sentencing range of 40 years to life for murders that were committed by a juvenile.

The bill won final approval on Thursday, 38-1.

The measure was introduced by Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles unconstitutional.

The proposal represented a compromise between lawmakers who supported 30-year minimum sentence, and others who pushed for at least 60 years.

It also allows judges to consider mitigating factors in a case, including a juvenile’s maturity and efforts toward rehabilitation.

The bill now goes to Gov. Dave Heineman.

Maryland Governor Signs Bill to Repeal Death Penalty

Posted on May 2, 2013

(AP) — Maryland has become the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to abolish the death penalty in more than 50 years.

Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the measure at a crowded ceremony on Thursday. Attending was one-time Maryland death row inmate Kirk Bloodsworth. He is the first person in the U.S. freed because of DNA evidence after being convicted in a death penalty case.

West Virginia did away with capital punishment in 1965.

The bill will not apply to the five men the state has on death row, but the governor can commute their sentences to life without parole. O’Malley has said he will consider them on a case-by-case basis.

The state’s last execution was in 2005.

Supporters of the death penalty could still try to petition the bill to the ballot.

Slayer Guitarist and Co-Founder, Jeff Hanneman, Dead at 49

Posted on May 2, 2013May 4, 2013

Jeff Hanneman, a founding member of the heavy metal band Slayer, has died. He was 49.

Slayer spokeswoman Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says Hanneman died Thursday morning of liver failure at a Los Angeles hospital with his wife, Kathy, by his side.

The guitarist had recently begun writing songs with the band in anticipation of recording a new album later this year. He had been slowly recovering from what was believed to be a spider bite that nearly cost him his arm after he failed to seek immediate treatment.

Robinson-Fitzgerald says it’s believed the bite contributed to the failure of his liver, but it is unclear whether an autopsy will be scheduled. No funeral arrangements have been made.

Hanneman co-founded the thrash metal pioneers in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 1982.

Gothenburg Man Charged with Lincoln County Theft

Posted on May 2, 2013

A Gothenburg man has been jailed on suspicion of a theft in Lincoln County.

On April 25, 2013, Deputies with Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area of Wahlgren Road and Banner Road southeast of Brady. A victim reported that a trencher he owned was missing parts. The victim also told Deputies that about 600 feet of spooled wire was also missing.

Deputies located a Nebraska License at the scene of the theft which belonged to 37-year-old Edwin Imler of Gothenburg. The victim stated that he did not know who Mr. Imler was.

On May 1, the North Platte Police Department arrested Imler on a Dawson County Warrant.

Deputies then conducted an interview with Imler regarding the theft near Brady. Imler told Investigators that he did not remember taking the items, but did admit he was in the area at the time of the crime.

Deputies found probably cause to arrest Imler and charge him with Felony Theft.

He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.

NE Law Enforcement Discusses Security During Keystone XL Construction

Posted on May 2, 2013

Nebraska law officers are already discussing security arrangements for construction of an oil pipeline, even though the pipeline hasn’t been given a final federal blessing.

The Nebraska State Patrol invited county sheriffs and prosecutors along the pipeline’s path through Nebraska to a meeting in Grand Island last week.

Nance County Sheriff Dave Moore says the law officers are anticipating Nebraska protests that would echo those occurring during construction of the pipeline leg between Cushing, Okla., and refineries on the Gulf Coast in Texas.

Pipeline opponent Jane Kleeb says there likely would be acts of civil disobedience in Nebraska but no violence.

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would deliver 830,000 barrels of U.S. and Canadian crude oil per day to the refineries.

Lincoln County Commissioners Approve LCCVB Name Change

Posted on May 2, 2013

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners has approved shortening the name of the local visitors bureau.

The word “convention” will be removed and the agency will be known as the North Platte/Lincoln County Visitors Bureau.

Executive director Lisa Burke says the term is starting to fade out in the industry.

She says similar agencies across Nebraska have omitted the word from their titles. And she says the shortened name will allow easier marketing and better name recognition.

May 2

Posted on May 2, 2013

Actor Theodore Bikel is 89
Singer Englebert Humperdinck is 77
Actress and political activist Bianca Jagger is 68
Country singer R.C. Bannon is 68
Singer Lesley Gore is 67
Country singer Larry Gatlin is 65
Singer Lou Gramm (Foreigner) is 63
Actress Christine Baranski is 61
Singer Angela Bofill is 59
Actress Elizabeth Berridge (“The John Larroquette Show”) is 51
Country singer Ty Herndon is 51
Wrestler-actor Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is 41
Actress Jenna Von Oy (“Blossom”) is 36
Actress Ellie Kemper (“The Office”) is 33
Actor Robert Buckley (“One Tree Hill”) is 32
Singer Lily Allen is 28
Guitarist Jim Almgren of Carolina Liar is 27
Actress Kay Panabaker (“No Ordinary Family,” ”Summerland”) is 23.

May 2 Entertainment History

Posted on May 2, 2013

On May second, 1957, Elvis Presley recorded the song “Jailhouse Rock,” the title song to his next movie. In the film, Elvis choreographed the dance sequence that accompanied the song.

In 1960, Ben E. King left The Drifters to go solo.

In 1967, Capitol Records announced that The Beach Boys had abandoned their “Smile” album project.

In 1979, “Quadrophenia,” the film based on The Who’s album of the same name, opened in London. On the same day, The Who played its first concert with new drummer Kenney Jones, who replaced the late Keith Moon.

In 1980, the South African government banned the Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two).” The song, which includes children chanting the chorus, “We don’t need no education,” had been adopted as the anthem for black children who boycotted schools because of inferior education standards.

In 1982, Adam and the Ants disbanded after singer Stuart Goddard decided to go solo rather than find replacements for his departed bassist and drummer. Goddard then became known as Adam Ant.

In 2010, the stage at the Grand Ole Opry was submerged after record rains and flooding hit Nashville.

Lucille Alice Hunter

Posted on May 2, 2013

Lucille Alice Hunter, 94, of North Platte, NE, passed away Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at the Sutherland Care Center in Sutherland, NE.

Lucille was born February 28, 1919, to Henry Francis and Lucy Alice Johnson Staples at North Platte where she grew up and attended school.

On March 15, 1945, Lucille married Robert “Bob” Francis Hunter in Kansas. They made their home in North Platte where Lucille was a stay at home mother to her daughter, Karen.

When Lucille was young, she and her father were involved with the Salvation Army and she played in their band. Lucille enjoyed music, playing the piano, sewing, gardening and dancing. She also loved to travel with her husband.

Lucille was a member of the First Baptist Church and taught Sunday school for many years.

Survivors included her daughter, Karen Hunter Holmes, and granddaughter, Tami Jo (Dewain) Coleman, all of North Platte; two great-grandchildren, Taylar Rae Coleman, of North Platte and Samuel Holmes Johnson, of Harvard, NE; several nieces and nephews including Lawrence Knolles, Jim (Pam) McKinney and Harriet Sims, all of North Platte; several great nieces and nephews including Kenneth (Sue) Knolles and their family, of North Platte; and other family and friends including Paul Reilly, of Lincoln, NE and Ed Sughroue, of Alliance, NE.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; a son-in-law, Timothy Holmes; her parents, Henry and Lucy Staples; three sisters, Maude McKinney, Mary Knolles and Edna Knolles; and two brothers, Clyde and Clarence Staples.

Graveside funeral service will be 2 p.m. Friday, May 3, 2013, in the North Platte Cemetery. Visitation will be 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at Odean Colonial Chapel At C & Sycamore. Condolences may also be shared at odeanchapel.com. The family has established a memorial. Odean Colonial Chapel At C & Sycamore is in charge of arrangements.

Beatrice Man Sentenced to Jail in Hit-and-Run Case

Posted on May 2, 2013

A 23-year-old Beatrice man has been given a year behind bars for leaving the scene of an accident in Beatrice last year.

Andrew Drent was sentenced in Gage County District Court on Wednesday. He’d pleaded no contest to attempted failure to stop and render aid after making a deal with prosecutors, who lowered the charge.

Investigators say Drent’s car ran into a bicyclist on July 21, 2012. Drent continued driving and then left his vehicle in a parking lot. He was arrested after he was contacted at his home.

Defense and prosecution lawyers had jointly recommended two years of probation for Drent, but Judge Paul Korslund told Drent he was giving him the year’s sentence as “a wake-up call.”