May 2016 – Page 3 – North Platte Post Archive

Lincoln police say homicide victim died of blows to head

Posted on May 29, 2016May 30, 2016

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police say a man whose body was found in a Lincoln mobile home died of blows to the head.

Police on Saturday identified the victim as 35-year-old Robert Leazer. An autopsy completed Friday shows he died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Police were called to the Contempo Lincoln Mobile Home Park about noon Thursday to check on reports that Trenton Reiner was breaking the windows of his car.

When officers arrived, they received consent from Reiner to enter the home, where they found Leazer’s body.

Officers charged Reiner with first-degree murder. His arraignment is set for Tuesday.

The death was Lincoln’s seventh suspected homicide of the year.

Lincoln saves money, aids environment by mowing less

Posted on May 29, 2016

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Parks workers in Lincoln are taking a more artistic approach to mowing to differentiate between short- and long-grass areas.

The work is an effort to aid the environment and save the city money, as workers reduce mowing in parts of a number of parks.

Crews began reducing mowing more than a decade ago. That led to complaints from residents, so officials hope the new more artful mowing will better set off the distinction between more manicured and natural areas.

But allowing long grass on about 850 acres of parkland, the city saves an estimated $422,000 annually.

The longer grass also stabilizes areas near streams and reduces pollution.

The city now is planning to plant more native grasses in long-grass areas.

Former Hastings brewery will be converted into housing

Posted on May 29, 2016

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Construction will begin soon to transform a 109-year-old former brewery in Hastings into housing.

The Hastings Brewery Building will be converted into 35 apartments called Brewery Lofts.

The work is part of an $8 million project that also includes the construction of senior housing in an adjacent empty lot.

The Hastings Planning Commission has recommended approval of the proposals.

Community Redevelopment Authority executive director Randy Chick says the project should meet a demand for downtown housing.

The brick brewery is known for its large smoke stack, which will be retained.

Although it began operation as a brewery in 1908, that use ceased with the passage of prohibition in Adams County in May 1917. Since then, it has had a variety of uses.

Wallace man charged in stabbing near Hershey

Posted on May 29, 2016May 29, 2016

A man is in custody following a stabbing at a family party on Saturday night.

At around 10:45 p.m., deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office were informed that a man had been stabbed several times during an altercation at a residence at 29522 South Hershey Dickens Road, south of Hershey. It was reported that a female was driving the victim to Great Plains Health in North Platte.

Deputies met with the male victim who stated that he had been at a family party at the residence when he got into an argument with another male, identified as 24-year-old Miguel Zapata-Munoz, of Wallace.

The victim said that during the argument, Zapata-Munoz struck him in the head with a beer bottle then stabbed him several times, before leaving the scene.

Authorities say the victim was stabbed five times in the chest and torso.

Deputies and troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol were able to locate Zapata-Munoz in Wallace and take him into custody.

He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center and charged with felony first-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony.

According to investigators, the victim’s injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

The investigation is ongoing.

Teenage rodeo performer trampled to death by horse

Posted on May 29, 2016

WOODSTOWN, N.J. (AP) — State police say a rider taking part in a rodeo in New Jersey has died from injuries he received in an accident.

Nineteen-year-old bareback rider Coy Lutz was trampled during his performance Saturday night at the Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown, about 35 miles southwest of Philadelphia. The Howard, Pennsylvania, resident died a short time later at a hospital.

Further details on the accident were not immediately available Sunday.

Cowtown touts itself as the oldest weekly running rodeo in the U.S. It opened in 1929.

No other injuries were reported.

Man dies when pickup enters ditch, rolls near Holdrege

Posted on May 29, 2016

HOLDREGE, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a 35-year-old man died in a crash in south-central Nebraska.

Joshua Odell was pronounced dead at the scene of the single-vehicle crash early Saturday southeast of Holdrege.

The state patrol says Odell was alone in a pickup truck headed west on County Road 727 about 2:45 a.m. when the vehicle entered a ditch and rolled several times.

Odell wasn’t wearing a safety belt.

Plans for Nebraska 150 celebration starting to take shape

Posted on May 29, 2016

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s Capitol will have a new look by the time the state celebrates its 150th birthday next year, and party planners hope to bring the festivities to as many residents as possible.

With less than a year until the March 1 anniversary of Nebraska’s statehood, crews are showing progress on construction projects to spruce up the Capitol and the surrounding area. For those who live far from Lincoln, organizers of the sesquicentennial are planning a series of events and programs that will take place throughout the state.

The Capitol is expected to have four new fountains in place before the celebration begins. A celebration is also planned in the newly renovated Centennial Mall in Lincoln.

Police ID man killed in Omaha’s latest shooting

Posted on May 28, 2016

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have identified a man killed in an overnight shooting in a north Omaha neighborhood.

Officers were called at 2:30 a.m. Saturday to 2019 Lake Street to investigate a shooting. When they arrived, officers found the body of 40-year-old Carlos Alonzo.

No arrests had been reported by midday Saturday.

Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Omaha Police Department’s homicide unit or Omaha Crime Stoppers.

115-plus Omaha police officers to soon wear body cameras

Posted on May 28, 2016

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police officials say more than 115 police body cameras will be in use in the department within the next few weeks.

Since Monday, 22 officers and nine supervisors from the northwest precinct and gang unit have received daylong body camera training. Many began using a camera on patrol following the training.

About 25 cameras will be given to each of the four precincts and others will go to the gang unit. Both rookie and veteran officers are using the cameras.

Deputy Police Chief Greg Gonzalez says the goal is for all of the department’s roughly 400 patrol officers to be wearing body cameras in the next few years.

Lawsuit in Nebraska guard’s strangulation death dismissed

Posted on May 28, 2016May 28, 2016

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Scotts Bluff County filed by the mother of a jail guard strangled by a 15-year-old inmate.

Julie Baszler filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in North Platte a year ago after efforts to reach a settlement with the county failed.

Baszler’s daughter, Amanda Baker, was 24 when she was strangled by then-15-year-old Dylan Cardeilhac in 2014.

Baszler’s lawsuit points to inaction by Baker’s supervisor to try to resuscitate her after finding her unconscious. The supervisor was later fired.

In dismissing the lawsuit Tuesday, Chief U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp said the Constitution doesn’t guarantee government employees minimal levels of safety or security in the workplace or against wrongful conduct of private actors.