03.21.08 Friday

A young mother was horrified when her child was brought home from day care yesterday. The child had suffered 3 broken limbs, bit to the face and fluid built up on the lungs requiring him to be put on a ventilator. The mother noticed the bruises on the 8 month olds face and a leg “sticking out” and called the day care provider who told the mother “Didn’t nobody do nothing to your baby. Nothing happened to him.”

Investigators say the provider first picked up the boy and took him to a home child care near 125th and Spencer, where he should have been taken. However later she took him to one of her other day cares at 30th and Emmett where she left him in the care of an unapproved staffer for at least 40 minutes. Children interviewed said they saw an 8 year old injuring the baby and no adults in the room at the time. The unapproved staffer said she heard the baby scream and saw the 8 year old holding it. She also observed swelling and injury but neither her nor the day care provider told the mother about it.

Health and Human Services has issued an Emergency License Suspension for the day care.

How do you not inform the mother of the child injuries? And lets hope someone is looking into the 8 year old. Sounds like he has a few marbles out of the bag rolling around.

Ameristar officials say a smoking ban that included casinos would derail a $100 million expansion project at the Council Bluffs Casino. Studies show such a ban has a marked drop off in casino business.  The project would double the gaming floor at Ameristar and provide 150 jobs not to mention the construction jobs building the facility.

A chunk of concrete has falling off a bridge over the trail at 84th and Grover and City Parks Officials have closed the trail till a Bridge Rehabilitation Project has been completed. Bridge Rehab? Do they have to take it to O’Neil for that?

Public Works Director Bob Stubbe said “The bridge is 30 years old and needs a new deck and beams but it is safe to drive on.” New deck and beams? So what safe part are we driving on there Bob. Re-bar and Rivet’s? 39,000 cars cross the bridge daily.

Police have cited a man for groping a woman at a Papillion Wal-Mart. Tips led police to a 57 year old Omaha man who was ticketed for disturbing the peace.

And so far Omaha is looking great in it’s first hosting of NCAA regional games in 30 years. Fellow Hockey Dad and Creighton Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Sarver is the NCAA Tourney Events Manager. Great working Kevin, hope you get some sleep soon.

Today is the off day for games, show the visiting folks a good time around town today.

More later………………..

Bugs Manderson

03.20.08 March Madness in the Metro

Another chance for Omaha to put it’s best foot forward, March Madness strikes at 11:30. With fans pouring in from around the country it is another chance for us to shed our country bumpkin image and put on a show. The NCAA makes the inside of the arena generic but we can make everyone feel welcome and give that extra effort to show them what a great little city we live in.

So much for our PSA message. The Huskers dumped Charlotte 67-48 last night in first round NIT action at the Devaney Center. Next up they get Ole Miss. Creighton will pair up against Florida on Friday.

A woman shopping at the 72nd and Giles Wal-Mart around 11 p.m. was inappropriately touched by some pervert wandering the aisles. The woman said she was looking at some items when the man pressed p against her from behind and asked her if she was “looking for a good time tonight”. The woman ran to a clerk for help who then put out a store alert but the man managed to sneak past the 150 year old door greeter and exited the building.

Warren Buffett has lowered himself to a low point once again. He is scheduled to appear on ABC’s All My Children in May. According to the press release Buffet plays himself and the story line has him being enlisted to come to Pine Valley to help get Erika Kane out of jail and out of some fraud charges. Erika, after the charges are dismissed, moves to Omaha and runs for Mayor. Ok we made that part up but with the soap opera down at city hall it was plausible.

The recent shooting of a known gang member who drew a gun and pointed it at a police officer has brought something to light once agian. We have mad comment on the how fast the friends and family of the thug who was shot claim he was an innocent victim. One disturbing thing is how certain media outlets stir up the controversy and maybe place the officers life in danger in the future by just the tone of their headlines.

KMTV Channel 3 used the headline “Deadly Officer Involved in Shooting”. Was the term deadly really necessary or did they just to to incite the residents of the Officers District. The Officer works in the most dangerous area of the Metro and is up against gang members daily. Lets keep in mind that the first person he shot had shot and killed a fellow officer. This gang banger was pointing a gun at another one.

Maybe KMTV can run the headline “Family of Gang Member Failed to Raise Child in an Environment with Discipline to Keep Him Out of Harms Way”.

That’s all for now, slow news day which is a good thing with all the company we have in town.

More later…………………….

Bugs Manderson

03.19.08 Wednesday

Say what you want about the NIT, say it was an off year for the Blue Jay’s but last nights game was one fantastic event to watch. Shame on you people who left when the Jay’s were down by 17. Never count Dana Altman out. Creighton came roaring back and beat Rhode Island 74-73 on a Cavel Witter 3 pointer with 3 seconds left.

An accidental shooting at a home near 42nd and Burdette has left on youth in the hospital and the other at the Juvenile Detention Facility. Apparently on of the youths was playing with a loaded gun and shot the other one. He was booked for felony assault and possession of a stolen firearm.

A window was shot out of a room in the Kiewit  Residence Hall at Creighton. It appears to be a random act of stupidity as a call came in about shot fired near 31st and Dodge around the same time. With the poor aim of our cities gang members its a wonder more innocent people don’t get shot a half a mile away.

HUD has given the Omaha Housing Authority permission to demolish the Pleasantview Apartments at 30th and Parker. If you read the news you know this is pretty close to ground zero in the NO-K Coral with it being the location of several shootings.

Residents will re relocated to a HUD house near you in an effort to spread the shootings around town and throw off the crime stats.

Family members of the man shot by police after he pointed a gun at them claim he wasn’t a gang member. Apparently he and his 2 other friends were out delivering milk and cookies to the elderly when their car was pulled over.

The City Council is on board for the demolition of the former Pinnacle Foods Plant at 10th and Capitol. The plant has been shuttered for some time and the City purchased the property for 2.5 million after a private party put in a bid and the City feared they would tear down the plant and build a parking lot. The city now plans to build a parking lot to make up for the lost stalls at the location of the new baseball stadium.

Several Council Members said that this in no way means they will vote in favor of the new stadium but that the plant needs to be torn down as it is a safety hazard and an eyesore.

Also the Council voted unanimously to deny a permit for a social club at 28th and Sprague to a Motorcycle Club that calls itself the 402 Boyz. A club representative said they wanted to use the building for meetings, social functions, and charity work however police have said that the 402’s have been the source of the problem at the location and at a previous location. Must be the pick up spot for the milk and cookies for the elderly.

And a study shows that worker productivity dips during March Madness as workers pour over bracket sheets and attempt to watch games secretly on the Internet.

In keeping with the study and the fact that there are games here in town, let it be known that our productivity here will be limited the next few days as some of us, not to brag, will be attending the games. Mongo has offered to keep an eye on things for us when he isn’t out keying our cars in the parking garage. We tried to explain we didn’t know him when we purchased the tickets or we would have included him.

More later ……………………………

Bugs Manderson

03.02.08 Weekend Edition

Police were called to help clear the street at 13th and Martha after an act scheduled to perform at the Sokol Underground canceled and the crowd got pissed. As patron left a ticket booth was pulled from the wall but nobody was injured. No word on why “lil Boosie” didn’t show but Boots interviewed some people on the street who’s account went something like”Dat punk azz bitch no show”.

The graffiti problem in town is getting way out of hand but the other day it went way to far. A statue at Heartland of America Park honoring our WWII vets was defaced with black spray paint all around the base. Police are investigating but unless you have video how do you solve these types of crime.

A Lincoln woman with a history of mental health problems parked her car along I-80 at 13th, got out and stepped in front of an oncoming Semi-Trailer truck. She had left a not in the car saying she was killing herself.

The driver of the truck is said to be so shaken up that his wife is flying in to town to take him home and he doubts he will be able to drive over the road again.

Creighton held off Bradley for a 111-110 double over time thriller at the Qwest Center Omaha.

The Lancers dropped a 3-1 contest at Tri-City.

UNO has drawn Alaska as it’s First round opponent in the best of 3 series. Thursday-Saturday-Sunday are the days.

I’d like to thank Mongo for filling in all last week while I was sicker than I have ever been in my life that I can remember. Thanks for all the email well wishes. I am still not 100% but I am planning on going back to work this week and at least getting the rest of these guys off the hook for a little bit. I picked a hell of a week to get sick.

 Guess we should thank the hockey crowd for this one but we posted out best day, week, month and passed the 100,000 hit count in record time. We got alot of new readers but I am sure the hit number was due to a few people hitting the refresh button for hours on end. Thanks anyway and welcome aboard new readers.

Everyone enjoy your Sunday. More later……………………

Bugs Manderson

02.28.08 Thursday in Doughnutland

Finally the Ballpark plan is unveiled to the public and now we know why the NCAA told Muppet Mike he needs to get more community support.

First, this thing will never go to a public vote. If you want to voice yourself, contact your City Councilman because they will have to sign off on it.

To build it they must come, or agree to come for at least 20 years. That’s the length of NCAA contract for the CWS needed to make this even begin to work.

Creighton and the Royals must sign on as well.

The cost including paying off the Rosenblatt bonds 140 million.

42.95 million in private donations

37.6 million from Stadium revenues that include

Premium Seats (say good bye to your good CWS seats folks, Corporate Omaha just got the go ahead to buy you out of them)

Naming rights ( So long Johnny Rosenblatt make way for Peter Kewitt Park)

Parking (Watch it go from $6 to $10)

Per Seat tax for baseball tickets (So long last 300 Royals season ticket holders)

1% increase in the Hotel Tax (The Muppet claims nobody will notice. Till they read their bill.)

$2 car rental tax increase (Watch em set up shop in Carter Lake with Shuttle Service)

2.13 million in Keno Revenue (till the smoking ban takes place and all the gamblers that smoke head across the river) This includes cutting the County out of the Keno money so watch your County taxes increase.

What you will get is 24,000 non removable seats.

28 Private Boxes ( The Muppet and his cronies need to be seen)

And the bill for the parking garage that isn’t included in the bid.

Anyone notice the smile on Ken Stinsons face. That’s because he is looking at a $140 million dollar project right in the Kewitt back yard.

Legendary Musician Buddy Miles has passed away at age 60. Miles, an Omaha native, played with the late Jimi Hendrix and wrote the classic “Them Changes”. If you ever had the chance to catch Buddy sitting in with the local talent it was a special experience. Buddy you will be greatly missed in the music world.

Ralston High has started a new lock out tardy policy. This policy has the teachers lock their doors when the bell rings. If a student is not in the room at that time they are required to go to a study hall in the cafeteria and the teacher must call the parents.

Sounds good on the surface but lets ask these questions.

Sure it is important to be on time but it is also important to be in class not study hall.

Isn’t locking an exit door during school hours a little against the fire code?

There has to be a better solution than this however Ralston plans on adding it to the Student Handbook next year.

The Iraq War vet and his family have settled with the landlord that tried to evict them upon his return from duty. The two parties reached and agreement where the landlord will let them out of their lease 6 months early without penalty and they can move by March 31st.

The Vet said in his suit that the managers of the apartment complex were rude and unreceptive to offer a resolution and the last thing they wanted to do was live in a Robert Hancock managed property now. Don’t blame them after watching this story unfold. Best of luck to you.

And the mom who exposed her 4 year old daughter to pot smoking has temporary lost her parental rights and the girl and her 2 year old brother have been placed with the biological father who is angry at the entire situation.

The kids don’t know why mom was tossed in the slammer and she is not allowed to tell them in her monitored phone conversations. She is also unable to post 10% of her $25,000 bail. Must have smoked it.

Her lawyer said she is willing to do whatever it takes to get her kids back and is attending parenting classed in the Douglas County Corrections Center. Great, lets make sure we do our best to reunite them all as soon as possible so the children won’t miss crack class in their home schooling. That came right after “How to handle a shotgun on the couch, and Bath day is Saturday” class.

Good thing the dad was a stand up guy and came to the rescue.

And how do the Huskers beat Oklahoma 63-45 the same night Creighton falls to Illinois State 68-54.

Looks like the boys in Red woke up about the right time in the season.

That’s it for me…play nice today

Mongo Torrey

02.24.08 Weekend Edition

Armed with a laptop, a bottle of cough syrup, prescription antibiotics and my favorite blanket, I will attempt to put together something worth reading.

The story on the news of the 4 year old girl who has show police how she smokes pot with her mom and mom’s boyfriend just made me vomit even more.

Police were called to the house after reports of the 4 year old girl and 2 year old boy filthy dirty and within reach of drug paraphernalia. The little girl demonstrated for investigators how she smoked joints used a pipe and a bong and how her mom’s friends laughed when she did it.

25 year old Lisa Schuchard faces felony child abuse charges and could get up to 6 years in prison. How someone can do this to their own child just sickens me.

2 shootings were reported early Saturday making it sound like the NO-K coral is business as usual.

2 males , one 19 the other 23, were victims in a drive by at 27th and Fort.

And a 26 year old male was shot at 37th and Saratoga after an SUV chased the vehicle he was driving and shot him. Can’t wait for the weather to warm up and this stuff to get totally out of control again.

Look like DiAnna Schimik is at it again with her “Government Knows Best” nonsense.

Her bill, LB1141, would require home schooled students to take state mandated tests or have school work assessed by an outside evaluator. If the student should fall short they would be sent to a private or public school, even though home schooled children test at or above their private/public schooled counterparts on a regular basis. HMMMMM…. Oh did we mention DiAnna’s husband is a lobbyist for the Teachers Union.

DiAnna if there were a real problem this might make sense but when the home schooled kids are scoring higher than others on the ACT and SAT’s, well somebody is doing something right and it isn’t you and Brad Ashford trying to make the state the parents for every child.

The Governor said he will veto this if it should happen to make it to his desk.

And while we are on the school issue, LB1135 would blur the lines between club and high school programs when it comes to sports.

Right now a student-athlete is not allowed to participate in and outside activities in the same sport during the active season.

Jim “I don’t care if it’s a Blizzard, drive the bus to Lincoln anyway” Tenopir says it regulates the kids time and keeps the playing field even. Mediocre but even.

I loved the example by one parent, “So does that mean a kid shouldn’t be allowed to take extra math lessons on the side, or work?” Good point. At what time is the child’s time belong to the parent and when did the NSAA get parental rights.

My favorite quote came from Kelley Hood.”People have got to trust that those of us who work in education, we know what seems to be best for kids.”

Translate that to mean “Parents we will tell you what’s best for your kids and you will like it”.  Better living through Bigger Government.

The Lancers are pulling away from the pack in the USHL. Last nights win in Des Moines 8-2 coupled with Friday nights win over Sioux City 3-2 has them playing their best hockey of the year.

UNO on the other hand has dropped 3 in a row and got swept at Northern Michigan, losing 6-4 on Friday and 4-3 in overtime on Saturday after entering the 3rd leading 3-1.

Creighton won it’s bracket buster game over Oral Roberts Saturday on a 3 pointer at the buzzer and the earth is still standing still as Nebraska beat it’s second ranked opponent in 2 games.

That’s all I have the strength to muster up at this point.

Bugs Manderson

02.20.08 Wednesday

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Muppet Mike held a show with the Metropolitan Hospitality Association to talk about his plans for the new downtown ball park. He was still quiet on most details however he brazenly told the attendees that he “Highly doubted the amount of hotel tax in Omaha is going to scare anyone away.” The Hotel and Motel managers told him the were not in favor of a room tax increase.

Folks, do you really think he cares?

If you thought you were having a bad day be glad you were not the 25 year old woman who hit an object at 102nd and West Maple Road at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. That object was a State Patrol Car that had pulled over another driver. Yep you guessed it, DUI and on top of that,open container.  The officer escaped injury.

Attorney General John Bruning has asked the State Supreme Court to reconsider it’s ruling on the electric chair. In his letter the AG listed 5 errors in the ruling one of which states that the Nebraska Constitution now offers criminals more protection than the U.S. Constitution.

No word on if a new hearing will be granted and yes Ernest is attempting to stick his nose in it. Be sure to watch for the release of the new blockbuster “Ernest didn’t take the Bar Exam”.

The vote for dumbass of the day goes out to the 31 year old man who was arrested for attempting to rob the Creighton Federal Credit Union for the third time this month. Police had the facility staked out and apprehended the man as he exited with an undetermined amount of cash.

Chrissy Edwards as he is now known in prison, wants a new trial. Edwards was convicted of the death of Jessica O’Grady and sentenced to 100 years in jail. Her body was never found but large amounts of her blood were discovered all over Edwards bedroom and 0n a Bankok Battle Sword in his closet.

Edwards claims he is entitled to a new trial because he was not allowed to bring up relationships with other men that O’Grady had. Guess they would only matter is the men had access to your bedroom now wouldn’t it Chris. Be a stand up guy and let her family know what you did with her body.

Delayno Shackelford was given 6 more years in prison after pleading no contest to manslaughter of an unborn child. Delayno kicked his 8 month pregnant girlfriend 2 years ago causing the child to die.

Creighton bounced back from a loosing streak to beat Missouri State last night at the Qwest 88-67. Senator Ben Nelson delivered a pre-game pep talk to the team (Win or I’m taxing your scholarship)

And the Lancers beat Lincoln 3-2 in overtime at the Ice Box. Barry Almeida got the game winner.

Late Update: FedEx just stopped by with a copy of an incident report. After reading Goober’s version of what happened last Saturday we, well I, have come to the conclusion that this was a stupid incident involving irrational hot heads and even as much fun as I or we could have poking fun of the situation, we are going to let it be. (In other words I know someone involved and frankly it would be to easy ).

However reading the version that I was provided I still wonder how long it took Bubba the town cop to write it out in crayon. No wonder details are sketchy, I believe this report contains stick figure pictures of what happened though they are listed as “artist rendition”in the evidence column.

Now you can all stop emailing me, I did not throw anyone under the bus, but I could leave a copy for Mongo if you want me to.

More later…………………….

Bugs Manderson

02.17.08 Sunday

The Lancers posted a 7-0 win at Sioux Falls making Mike Hastings the winingest Coach in USHL history. The win also keeps the team 2 points in front of Indiana for the overall lead.

Last nights trip to the civic ended in disappointment as Bowling Green topped the Mav’s 3-1 on the back of the BG Goalie,Eno, who was blistered throughout the night but turned everything but one shot away.

A little over 7,000 was there with us and made us wish that many had come to watch the Knights with us on a regular basis. That is still a great place to watch a hockey game.

Creighton took another shot to the head yesterday in Peoria, falling to Bradley 87-59. Creighton has 4 regular season games left.

So much for our Sports Extra Update….

Patches Castelar

02.06.08 Wednesday

Heather Henning is appealing her sentence  as excessive in the DUI accident that took the life of Douglas County Deputy Shad Nicks.

Henning could be released from jail on a $30,000 appeal bond, which by the way is not mandatory but granted by the Sarpy County District Judge. (Remember, we told you anything can happen over there).

Henning must meet 5 conditions for her release. She must be monitored,surrender her drivers license and not apply for another,not operate a motor vehicle, not leave Nebraska and not posses nor consume alcoholic beverages. (There went Mardi Gras for her).

Her Attorney,Steve Pivovar, said she apologized to the Nicks family after pleading no contest to lesser charges and that she didn’t deserve the max sentence.

Guess again Steve, if it hadn’t had been for the State Trooper screwing up the evidence she would have got alot more.

On the brighter side, the Nebraska Court of Appeals ruled that the sentence handed out to 6 time Drunk Driving offender Greg Hatt was to lenient and he will be re-sentenced. Hatt collided with an Omaha Police cruiser back in 2006, breaking the officers back and causing him to retire. Hatt was originally given  10 days, 20 years probation, $1000 fine and 15 year license suspension. He now could face 20-60 months in jail and his license pulled for 30 years.

Are you listening Heather?

A 20 year old man was arrested for felony child abuse after the baby’s mother took the infant to the hospital after she noticed the child was not eating well.

Doctors discovered several broken ribs and a broken leg and alerted police who were led to the boyfriend.

How the hell do you beat up a baby?

Police are tight lipped about two bodies discovered in a duplex off South 16th Street. 2 males were discovered and investigators were in the house well into the evening. Police will only say the deaths look suspicious in nature.

Another pervert is discovered in the coaching ranks. Federal authorities arrested 52 year old Craig Crowell and charged him with receipt and possession of child porn.

Crowell is a former Little League coach and umpire in Elkhorn, and former Hockey coach.

He is due in court today.

Creighton thumped Northern Iowa last night in front of 14,000+ at the Qwest. Final score was 74-50.

And unfortunately we are having to monitor comments closer again after someone using the UNO computer system found it necessary to send in some threats and vulgar comments over the past week.

This may delay some of your postings and we apologize, however we can’t publish the things this person feels necessary to say and because they have been using multiple units it is impossible to block their I.P. address. We can however continue to report it to UNO.

Have a good day everyone….more later…..

Bugs Manderson

Monday 11.19.07

The owner of Brew Burgers at 108th and L has been ordered by the State to remove a $10,000 landscaping project because it lies on State property.

The project, which was designed to beautify a slope from the parking lot contains the logos of UNO, UNL and Creighton.

District Engineer Tim Weander tagged the project despite a letter from a County Commissioner asking that the project be allowed to stay. At no cost to the State is made the once weed covered corner look more appealing however the unreasonable Weander said if they allowed it one time they would have to allow it for everyone. Right Tim.

We will put a bunch of sewer pipe in Memorial Park and call it art but construct something that looks nice and an overzealous State worker has to make sure everyone knows he has a job with no appeal process.

It isn’t like the guy was building a sign with his business name on it, rather promoting 3 of the states fine educational schools. Sometime we just sit here and shake our heads trying to understand our state employees.

Be sure to buckle up as several law enforcement agency’s will start the CLICK IT or TICKET campaign for the holidays.

And we are still looking for people to take the lead and give updates on their Hockey teams. Were starting to see why the O.M.A.H.A. web site only has one team reporting results, it seems that everyone wants to complain but nobody but one person wants to take the time to type it out. Funny how we prove some points around here.

If you wish to take the time (about 1 minute if you type fast) to send us information and updates about your teams progress, email us at HockeyHighlights@hotmail.com and we will create a page for your team. No negative comments will be posted.

And speaking of hockey, don’t forget the Board of Directors meeting tonight at the Moylan Ice Complex. Here is your chance to stay informed and ask questions directly.

Over the weekend I had the chance to spend some time with some “hockey people” and quietly listened to some discussion about the youth hockey scene and some peoples perception about us. I am working on an Editorial on the subject for later posting.

Have a great morning everyone, enjoy the short work week.

Bugs Manderson

Around Omaha

Its looks as if we got through the long holiday weekend un blemished. So far it doesn’t appear as if there were any shootings down in the NO-K Coral and aside from a few minor setbacks it seems like a pretty quiet weekend.

The Huskers won big Saturday, and hated Michigan lost to two old ladies on Hoverounds and we think a blind guy. We remeber when the Huskers fell from grace a few years back but at least someone remembered to pull the cord on the chute. Thank you Mr. Petersen for not letting our program get to the point that Michigan’s just did. Keep your AP trophy from 97 Blue fans, its the last one your going to see in a long long time. Two weeks USC. Time for the Back to the Big Time upset game we hope.

Will someone find an overhead picture of Rosenblatt and put it next to that cardboard cut-out the World Herald had in Sundays Edition of the new downtown ball stadium. And we are trying to lure the CWS to stay for 10 years with that ? I think there might be a few high school fields that looked bigger and better. We can see a new Costner movie in the future, Field of Stupid Ideas. Tag line, “If you build it smaller, they will leave.” Lets make sure this stadium idea has to go to a vote of the people. We would rather see the 50 million go into Rosenblatt. For 50 million we can maybe get a deal on some cardboard people cut-outs for the Royals to put in the seats so they can feel like somebodys watching. Better yet, shoot the 2 million off the 50 and see if they can hire some better marketing people to get some people down there. Its not a bad product people, they just don’t know how to sell it.

Thats all we have for now, back later if something breaks….