YORK, Neb. (AP) — A California couple who said the marijuana they were hauling through Nebraska was intended for Christmas gifts have been given probation and conditional jail time.
York County District Court records say 71-year-old Barbara and 80-year-old Patrick Jiron were sentenced Monday to three years’ probation. They’ll be supervised at their Clearlake Oaks, California, home by California authorities.
The judge also sentenced them to three 30-day jail stints that can be waived if they comply with probation terms.
When the Jirons were arrested Dec. 19, they said they didn’t know it was illegal to transport marijuana through Nebraska. They told authorities the 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of pot was intended as presents for family in Vermont and Massachusetts.
Each pleaded no contest to possession of more than a pound of marijuana.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 92-year-old woman has been buried in Nebraska with British military honors for a secret that she held for decades: her World War II service as a code breaker of German intelligence communications.
The Union Jack was draped over Jean Briggs Watters’ casket during her burial Monday, the Omaha World-Herald reported. Watters died Sept. 15.
The tribute honored Watters for her role decoding for a top-secret military program led by British mathematician Alan Turing, who was the subject of the 2014 Oscar-winning film “The Imitation Game .” Watters was among about 10,000 people, mostly women, who participated in the Allied effort to crack German communication codes throughout the war.
She operated an electro-mechanical machine , known as a “bombe,” to decipher signals the German armed forces sent out from its sophisticated Enigma encryption machines. The effort at Britain’s famed codebreaking center, Bletchley Park, saved lives and helped bring an end to the war. But it was kept classified until the 1970s.
“She never told anyone,” said Watters’ son, Robin Watters. “She was fully aware of the gravity of what she was doing. It was haunting to her, what might happen if she made a mistake.”
Jean Briggs Watters was 18 when she enlisted in the Women’s Royal Naval Service. She had attended an art school in Cambridge, England, before joining the Allied war cause.
She met her husband, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot named John Watters, during the war and they married soon after. She and her husband retired to the U.S. in 1969.
Watters was placed Monday in a burial plot next to her husband, who died in June at age 101.
“She had a seriousness, and a sense of duty,” Robin Watters said. “She was a really special lady. But she was tough. She did the hard things.”
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha City Council has voted to reduce the number of days fireworks can be sold and used leading up to Independence Day each year.
On Tuesday, the council voted to shorten the window to sell and buy fireworks in the city from 10 to seven days leading up to July 4. The window to light off fireworks will be even shorter, now allowed only July 2-4.
The council also voted to increase the penalty for first-time violators from $200 to $300. Second offenses could bring a $400 fine, and a third would result in a $500 fine.
Mayor Jean Stothert had earlier proposed reining in the number of days to sell and use fireworks following a glut of complaints over the last two Independence Day celebrations.
MACY, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska woman has been arrested on charges that she locked her 10-year-old foster son in a basement storage room.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports federal prosecutors charged 34-year-old Krista Parker, of Macy, with felony child abuse and kidnapping.
According to an affidavit, officers with Omaha Nation Law Enforcement Services went to Parker’s home Sept. 15 after receiving a call about 2:20 a.m. about a boy locked in a storage room
Officers found the boy locked in a dark room with no windows or ventilation. Officers arrested Parker, who they found in an upstairs bedroom.
File ImageLINCOLN, Neb. – Hunters have until Sept. 28 to apply for a 2019 mountain lion permit. Up to 640 permits will be issued via lottery by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, which has received 435 applications as of Sept. 23.
Hunting will be allowed only in the Pine Ridge Unit of northwestern Nebraska, which has an established population that can sustain a harvest. Hunters may apply for a permit in either of two subunits: the South Subunit (south of U.S. Hwy. 20) or the North Subunit (north of U.S. Hwy. 20). A person may not submit more than one application per calendar year for a mountain lion permit.
A drawing will allocate as many as 320 permits to each subunit, and only Nebraska residents can receive permits. As of Sept. 23, Game and Parks has accepted 242 applications in the South Subunit and 193 in the North Subunit.
Public land will be open to hunting in the South Subunit, but public land will be closed to hunting in the North Subunit. Landowners in the North Subunit are encouraged to apply in that area, and applicants who have not arranged opportunities to hunt on private land in the North Subunit are encouraged to apply in the South Subunit.
Mail applications must be received in Game and Parks’ Lincoln headquarters by 5 p.m. and online applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. CT on Sept. 28. Visit OutdoorNebraska.org to apply online or download an application at outdoornebraska.gov/mountainlionhunting. A $15 nonrefundable application fee must be submitted with each application.
Up to eight mountain lions may be harvested in 2019, with up to four of those being females. In each of the two subunits, once four mountain lions, or two females, have been harvested in that subunit, the season in that subunit will close.
Dogs may not be used during the mountain lion season, which will run Jan. 1 through Feb. 28, 2019. If the limits and/or sub-limits have not been reached in a subunit by Feb. 28, an auxiliary season, allowing the use of dogs, will occur.
A harvest will allow the mountain lion population to remain resilient and healthy, while halting growth or moderately reducing the population size. This will reduce the population density in the Pine Ridge to one similar to that of other states that allow mountain lion hunting.
To read more mountain lion hunting regulations, go to outdoornebraska.gov/mountainlionhunting.
PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — One person has died after a fire at a senior living apartment complex in eastern Nebraska.
The fire was reported around 9 p.m. Saturday at the South Park Apartments in Plattsmouth. Authorities say one woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and several other residents were treated for smoke inhalation. The woman’s name hasn’t been released.
The flames were contained to just one apartment at the end of the complex. Several of the occupants used walkers or wheelchairs as they fled to safety.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man paroled in June is suspected of killing an Omaha woman and dumping her body in a ravine near Fremont.
Omaha police say 39-year-old Jeremiah Connelly was arrested Friday after a foot chase that began when he ran from a stolen car he was driving.
Officers say he spoke to them about the death of a woman, and investigators later found the body of 22-year-old Jeanna Wilcoxen. She’d last been seen Sept. 17.
Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Connelly. He’d been serving time in prison for attempted kidnapping, robbery and other crimes before being released June 28.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — The Lake Ogallala angler access area located in the northwest corner of the lake will be closed starting Monday, Sept. 24 to undergo restoration.
The restoration project will address the existing shoreline protection structures and eroding sidewalks.
The project is slated to be complete next summer. Once finished, the project will complement the new 125-foot floating fishing bridge that was installed in 2017, along with enhancing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) amenities and angler access to the area.
Anglers wishing to utilize the area will still have access to the floating bridge from the north stairwell until early 2019.
The Keith County Visitor’s Committee, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission provided funding for this project.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver died and her passenger was injured when the vehicle they were in crashed off Interstate 80 in Lincoln.
The crash occurred just after 1 a.m. Sunday. Lincoln police Sgt. Jake Dilsaver says the woman was headed west when her vehicle struck a concrete median barrier and went out of control. The vehicle ran off the roadway and down an embankment, where it rammed into another structure.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, and her passenger was taken to a hospital. Authorities haven’t released the victims’ names.
YORK, Neb. (AP) — A California couple who said the marijuana they were hauling through Nebraska was intended for Christmas gifts have been given probation and conditional jail time.
