January 2017 – Page 27 – North Platte Post Archive

Ex-Hastings officer pleads in case of con job over medical expenses

Posted on January 14, 2017

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A former Hastings police detective has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor theft count for running a fraudulent fundraising site.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office says Jerry Esch entered the plea Friday in Adams County District Court.

Prosecutors say that in November 2015, Esch was an officer with the Hastings Police Department when he created a GoFundMe page, asking for money to cover medical expenses for cancer treatment. He raised more than $30,000.

Officials say that while Esch did have cancer, he did not have the medical bills he claimed to have incurred.

Esch has been ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution. He is no longer employed by the Hastings department.

100-year-plus sentence for fatal Omaha shootings upheld

Posted on January 14, 2017

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the more than 100-year sentence of a man convicted in a string of shootings that killed two and injured another.

Juan Castaneda was 15 when he and two other teens carried out a spate of street robberies the night of Nov. 12, 2008. They shot three people in separate attacks in the span of 30 minutes, killing Tari Glinsmann and Luis Fernando Silva and injuring another man.

Castaneda was convicted of first-degree murder and other counts in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison. But a resentencing was ordered following a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found it’s unconstitutional sentence juveniles to life without parole. He was resentenced last year to 105 to 125 years.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected Castaneda’s claim that his new sentence is excessive.

Director leaving Nebraska rural development post, she says

Posted on January 14, 2017

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The director of the U.S. Agriculture Department Rural Development for Nebraska has announced she’s leaving her post.

Maxine Moul said in a news release that her exit is effective Jan. 20.

She was named to the position in June 2009 and managed a staff that ran more than 40 housing, business, electric, telecommunications, water and wastewater and community facility programs.

Moul served the state from 1991 to 1993 as lieutenant governor for Ben Nelson, who was governor. She resigned in 1993 to become the director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Project aimed at easing Scotts Bluff County Jail crowding

Posted on January 14, 2017

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Scotts Bluff County commissioners tentatively have approved a more than $4 million project to help alleviate overcrowding at the county jail in Gering.

The plans discussed Thursday include a 10-bed medical unit and a relocation of the administrator offices that will provide room for eight inmate beds.

The project will be paid for with $1.1 million from the county capital improvement fund and a $3 million bond issue. The board had been considering an $11 million expansion project.

Omaha group plans $125M downtown development

Posted on January 14, 2017

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A group of Omaha’s civic leaders has drawn up plans for an estimated $125 million mixed-use development in the heart of north downtown.

The development will be on an 8-acre lot across from the CenturyLink Center. A committee has spent nearly a year studying the site, which will be transformed into restaurants, stores, apartments, open space and possibly a hotel.

A final report on the project was sent this week to the city and the group.

Leaders seem to have resolved the issue of parking which has been an obstacle to the long-imagined project. Plans call for a new garage and other replacement parking for the 850 stalls that currently exist on the site.

What are the odds? Mom, dad, son all share a birthday

Posted on January 14, 2017

Luke and Hillary Gardner never have a problem remembering each other’s birthday. They were born the same day. So was their infant son, 27 years later this past December.

Experts say the odds of that are about one in 133,000.

Luke Gardner, an assistant pastor at a Baptist church in northeast Mississippi, says he and his wife weren’t even aiming for a December birthday for son Cade Lee Gardner. It just happened.

Gardner joked that if he and Hillary Gardner decide to have more children, they may have to try for December.

Police arrest man suspected in Omaha parking lot shooting

Posted on January 14, 2017

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police have arrested a 19-year-old man suspected of shooting an employee in a parking lot of the Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Police said late Thursday that the man was jailed on suspicion of assault, robbery and other crimes. Online court records don’t show that he’s been formally charged.

Police say the man used a shotgun to shoot 37-year-old Jared Clawson early Wednesday and fire at two of Clawson’s co-workers. One of the co-workers says he dodged gunfire in the parking lot when someone drove through, firing more than a dozen shots.

Kansas making new guidelines for handling wildlife pets

Posted on January 14, 2017

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is working on new guidelines for how to handle situations where a wild animal is being kept as a pet after game wardens were criticized for shooting a family’s pet deer.

It is illegal in Kansas to keep a wild animal as a pet. Wildlife officials said they shot the Mark and Kim Mcgaughey family’s deer out of concern it could hurt people or spread disease.

Robin Jennison, secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, says the situation could have been handled better. He wants new policies for similar situations in place quickly.

NPCC Basketball Teams to Host Southeast

Posted on January 13, 2017

North Platte – The North Platte Community College Knights and Lady Knights basketball teams will host the Southeast Community College Storm on Saturday, January 14, at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on the South Campus of NPCC.

Both games will be Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference games.

The women’s game will be the first contest for both teams in Region IX Division II.

The Lady Storm is 1-12 overall and 0-1 in the NCCAC. Their only win was against Hesston College. The Lady Storm averages 59.6 points per game, while allowing 80.4 ppg for their opponents. Jay’la Brown leads the Lady Storm in scoring at 8.6 ppg and in rebounding at 6.6 rebounds per game.

The Lady Knights are 5-9 on the season. They average 63.9 ppg and allow 64.4 ppg. Thomesha Wilson leads the Lady Knights in scoring at 14.0 ppg and rebounding at 8.0 rpg.

The men’s game does not count in the Region IX standings.

The Storm are 8-8 overall and 0-1 in the NCCAC. The Storm score 82.9 ppg and defensively give up 77.6 ppg.

Bobby Parker leads the Storm in scoring at 15.1 ppg. Two other Storm players are averaging in double figures. Taylor Britt is averaging 11.5 ppg and Wesley Nosakhare is averaging 10.4 ppg. Parker and Jalen Wilkins-McCoy lead the Storm in rebounding at 5.5 rpg.

The Knights are 10-3 on the season and have not played an NCCAC game. The Knights are averaging 92.4 ppg and allow 69.8 ppg.

Diontae Champion leads the Knights in scoring at 18.5 ppg. Mike Amius is next on the team at 13.5 ppg. Amius also leads the Knights in rebounding at 6.2 rpg. Three other Knights are averaging in double figure scoring, Samuel Kearns at 11.5 ppg, Godfrey Rolle at 11.2 ppg, and Victor Lewis at 10.4 ppg.

The games will be broadcast on ESPN 1410 radio and on the Internet at www.northplattepost.com. They will also be livestreamed at www.npccknights.com.

Tip-off for the women’s game is at 2 pm CST, with the men’s game to follow at 4 pm CST.

Man accused of embezzling from vehicle dealership

Posted on January 13, 2017

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — A former car dealership employee in Scottsbluff has been accused of embezzling more than $113,000 while working there.

Court documents say 58-year-old Terry Weddle was arrested last week on a charge of felony theft. A phone listed for him is no longer in service. It’s unclear whether Weddle has an attorney who could comment for him.

The documents say the owner of Fremont Motor told police that Weddle had written and signed unauthorized checks from July 2014 through last month.