An Alliance man accused of setting on fire the house in which he resided has pleaded not guilty.

40-year-old Isaac Gonzalez is charged with felony third degree arson, which alleges that during the early morning hours of December 13, he ignited a fire in the basement of the house.

The property, located at 1107 Grand Avenue, is owned by Barry Harris.

The fire caused a reported $100,000 damage to the home and its contents.

Alliance police discovered Gonzalez in the basement of the house and pulled him through a window to escape the flames and smoke.

Gonzalez was hospitalized in Scottsbuff and turned himself into police on January 8.

Wednesday morning, Box Butte County District Court Judge Travis O’Gorman set a pre-trial hearing for April 1.

Gonzalez is free after posting 10 percent of a $25,000 bond.

Winter illnesses continue around the region, and due to the ongoing respiratory issues in particular, Box Butte General Hospital is still restricting visitors to its facility.

No children under 18 are allowed to visit the hospital at this time. Children are allowed if they need medical treatment or testing.

“If you are sick, please do not visit the hospital other than to receive medical treatment or testing,” said Special Services Director Mary Mockerman, RN-CIC, CSW. “This includes having a sore throat, cough, fever, nasal congestion, cold or flu symptoms, vomiting or diarrhea.”

Ms. Mockerman urges the public to stay well by washing hands frequently to lessen exposure to sick people and staying home and away from public places if sick.

The public will be informed when the restriction is lifted.

The wife of Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Famer Jason Robinson says he remains exhausted, but is “right on track” after undergoing a stem cell transplant a week ago at the Mayo Clinic in the Phoenix area.

A CT scan in 4-to-6 weeks will give doctors a clear idea of how the procedure is working.

Tresha Robinson, also a Chadron State graduate, says the biggest concern short-term is a virus or infection since her husband’s immune system was wiped out by 6 straight days of chemotherapy to prepare him for the transplant of stem cells from his younger brother Jeremy.

Doctors tell the Robinsons it will be about two weeks before they know if the donated stem cells have been “engrafted” by Jason’s system, but remain confident the transplant will work since Jeremy tested as a perfect match. They also have medicines in reserve that encourage acceptance of transplants.

Tresha Robinson says the family believes that God is going to heal her husband, but is still asking that everyone keep praying. She says they definitely felt the power of prayer when Jason had the transplant…receiving some 600-million stem cells collected from his brother the previous day in a 6-hour procedure.

Jason Robinson was diagnosed with lymphoma…a cancer of the blood…two years ago and has lost 30 pounds from his already-lean frame. The hope is that the stem cells received in the transplant will develop into healthy blood and marrow cells.

The three Robinson brothers…Josh, Jason and Jeremy…came to Chadron State from Thompson Valley High School in Loveland, Colo….one every two years from 1988 to 1992. In their combined 12 seasons, they scored 5,081 points and grabbed 2,128 rebounds…making them one of the most successful brother trios in college

There was at least one Robinson in the Eagles’ starting lineup for 8 straight seasons and two of them starting for 6 of those seasons. All three brothers, who were recruited and played for Bob Wood, are in the CSC career top 10 in both scoring and rebounding, and are all in the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame.

Josh, the oldest, is CSC all-time leading scorer and holds the single-game scoring record with 51. He’s now  head boys’ basketball coach at his high school alma mater, Thompson Valley High

Jeremy, the youngest and a 2012 inductee into the Hall of Fame…coaches the girls’ team at Liberty High School at Joes, Colo.

The 6-3 Jason was a 2-time All-State selection in basketball,  a 1-time All-Stater as a wide receiver, and a 46-foot triple jumper at Thompson Valley. At CSC, he was an Omaha World-Herald All-State College selection as a junior and senior, graduating with 1,581 points and 560 rebounds.

Jason…who is a farrier…Tresha…a veterinarian…and their 3 children live in Queen Creek, Arizona, about 50 miles southeast of Phoenix. Coincidentally, all 3 brothers have 3 children.

 

 

Alliance High Band Instructor Dave Rischling (left) will retire at the end of the current school year.

Rischling presented his letter of resignation at Monday night’s school board meeting.

He has been involved with the Alliance Public Schools Music Department for over 20 years.  He and his brother, Dick Rischling, along with their wives Shawna and Gretchen, were named Heritage Days grand marshals in 2004 in honor of the outstanding band programs they had built in Alliance … including the organization of the band’s trip to Washington, DC and New York City every four years, which began in 1988.

Rischling started teaching in Alliance in August of 1992, after his father, Bill Rischling, retired as the middle school band director.  Dave took the high school band in the fall, 2010,  after Dick’s retirement.

Rischling’s first teaching job was band and HS choir for Perkins County High School in Grant from 1979-1984,  then Bridgeport Public Schools band from 1984-1992.

“My future plans are to keep working,” he said.  “I would like to spend more time working as an insurance claims adjuster during storm seasons.  During the winter months I plan on spending time in my shop working on wood projects.  I also hope to find some time to go fishing again.”

Rischling says it has been a privilege to teach band for APS.

“Our students are the best,” he said.  “The support the band receives from the school and community makes Alliance a great place to teach band.”

Pictured above: Dave, Shawna, Gretchen, and Dick Rischling, honored as Heritage Days Grand Marshals in 2004.

LINCOLN, Neb. – Justin Haag will join the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission as a public information officer for the Panhandle beginning Jan. 28.

Haag’s duties include community and media relations, public information, and photography and writing for NEBRASKAland Magazine and all agency media. Haag, a lifetime resident of western Nebraska, comes to Game and Parks after 12 years at Chadron State College, where he was a communications coordinator for seven years and then media and public relations coordinator the past five. He served a leading role in advertising as well as communications.

Before joining the Chadron State staff, Haag was associate editor at the McCook Daily Gazette from 1998-2000 and a news and sports reporter at the Chadron Record from 1996-1998. He also was active on the Chadron State student newspaper staff before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1996.

Haag was attracted to northwest Nebraska as a college student largely because of its outdoor recreational opportunities. When not on campus, he often journeyed the northern Panhandle countryside to capture photos of the region’s wildlife. In addition to photography, his passions include fishing by ice and kayak, hunting upland birds and waterfowl, and mountain biking.

“Justin brings solid writing, photography and media experience to our staff, and he will be a great addition to our communications team,” said Christy Rasmussen, administrator for Game and Parks’ Information and Education Division.

Haag grew up in southwest Nebraska, graduating from Beaver Valley High School in Lebanon. He lives in Chadron with his wife, Cricket, and two children.

Contact Haag at [email protected].

The Chadron City Council Monday night put off action on a professional services contract with the consultant picked to design and help sell to voters a joint project with Chadron State College to enclose the city’s outdoor swimming pool as a replacement for CSC’s demolished Armstrong pool.

Council member Paris Fisher says it’s a matter of timing and information…with the council already looking to whether to go ahead with a $4-million dollar upgrade of the city’s storm water drainage system and an extension of the expiring LB-840 economic development sales tax to fund it.

Fisher emphasizes that the council members aren’t opposed to the pool project, they just want to know more about it first and don’t feel they’ll have a chance to do that until the decisions are made on the drainage project and LB-840 vote.

That position frustrates city manager Wayne Anderson because the proposed consultant’s contract with Burbach Aquatics doesn’t ask council members to take any position on the pool idea and has no cost to the city unless the voters were to approve the pool plan in a referendum.

Instead, the contract simply allows Burbach to start preparing the pool proposal that will go to the voters…setting in it what works from an economic standpoint, what it will cost, and what funding mechanism would be used.

Anderson says waiting for the sales tax and storm sewer decisions just pushes back getting the information on the pool completed while perpetuating what he insists is the erroneous idea that the two projects are somehow related.

He says the storm sewer project and enclosing the swimming pool…if the voters were to give their ok…are separate needs that would have separate funding mechanisms.

Fisher says the delay on the pool consultant’s contract will be minimal since the city council is aiming for a vote on renewing the half-cent LB-840 tax in late March or April, but Anderson is worried that even a 2-month delay might prove fatal to the college’s participation.

He doesn’t know when CSC must make a firm decision on going with the joint project using the city pool or move ahead with its own new, but much smaller pool, but says waiting until April or May just to let Burbach start putting the project together means it would be fall at the earliest before a referendum election could be held.

Anderson hopes to set up a meeting between Burbach and the council in the next week or two to ease council fears and get the contract signed so the planning and design work can begin.