An Alliance man has been found guilty of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of using a weapon to commit a felony.

A six-man and six-woman jury deliberated the case of 26-year-old Dominick Dubray for two-and-a-half hours Monday afternoon before returning the verdict.

Dubray was convicted of stabbing to death 22-year-old Cathy Chavez of Alliance and her step-father, 42-year-old Michael Loutzenhiser of Scottsbluff, who were found dead in Dubray’s home near Eighth and Flack in Alliance during the early morning of February 11, 2012.

The trial began October 9 in Box Butte County District Court in Alliance.

During closing arguments Monday morning, Matt Lierman of the Nebraska Attorney General’s office, the lead prosecutor for the state, described the case as an act of rage that erupted from a domestic dispute between Dubray and Chevez, who had a child together.

Lierman stated that Dubray savagely stabbed Chevez 19 times and Loutzenhiser 22 times. He told the jury that Dubray grabbed a kitchen knife with a six-and-a-half inch blade and lunged it into his victims with such force that their wounds were up to eight inches deep.

Lierman also stated that Dubray’s knife wounds were self inflicted, and that he told friends shortly after the incident that he wanted to die and not go to prison.

Dubray was transported to a Denver hospital where he recovered from his wounds.

Defense counsel Thomas Sonntag of Scottsbluff told the jury that Dubray was acting in self defense. He stated that Dubray had been stabbed in the abdomen, neck and chest and was fighting back.

Dubray was the recipient of 17 stab wounds, which prosecutors say were self-inflicted and, for the most part, superficial.

The trio had been consuming alcohol prior to the deaths of Chavez and Loutzenhiser. Sonntag said the deceased parties had blood alcohol levels of roughly twice the legal limit and that Dubray’s was nearly three times that of the legal limit.

District Court Judge Travis O’Gorman set sentencing for Monday, December 10, at 9 a.m.

Dubray will remain in custody in the Box Butte County Jail.

There’s a Candidate Forum tonight at 6:30 in the Chadron State College Student Center Scottsbluff Room that will be telecast on Great Plains Cable 20 and streamed on the internet at ustream.tv/channel/csc-cable-channel-20

The forum will feature the candidates for Legislative District 43, the Chadron City Council and the Chadron School Board along with representative of or statements from the candidates in the U-S Senate and 3rd Congressional District races.

Questions will submitted to moderators who then ask the questions of the candidates. Some questions will have been submitted in advance, while others will be submitted tonight at the forum. Questions will also be taken by phone, but the phone number won’t be released until the start of the forum.

The schedule will begin at 6:30 with the representatives or statements from the U-S Senate candidates…Republican Deb Fischer and Democrat Bob Kerrey…followed at 6:45 by the representatives or statements of the House candidates…incumbent Republican Adrian Smith and Democrat Mark Sullivan.

The two survivors of the 7-candidate primary for the 43rd Legislative District…Al Davis of Hyannis and John Ravenscroft of Nenzel…will take the platform from 7-to-7:30. Ravenscroft and Davis took part in a similar candidates forum last night in Alliance.

There are 3 candidates for 2 positions on the Chadron City Council…Paris Fisher, former councilman John Gamby, and current councilman Jim Mapes. They will answer questions from 7:45 to 8:30.

Concluding the evening from 8:45 to 9:30 will be the four candidates for 3 spots on the Chadron School Board…incumbents Terri Haynes and Keith Drinkwalter and challengers Gary Hoffman and Andrew Spencer.

Box Butte General Hospital has expanded its health and wellness services available to men and women in its Medical Imaging Department with the addition of the Discovery QDR bone densitometry system from Hologic,” CEO Dan Griess said.  “This technology was made possible through a very generous anonymous donation to the Box Butte Health Foundation, allowing our hospital the opportunity to provide this valuable service full-time to our community.”

The imaging technology of the Discovery provides superb image quality incorporating computer-aided vertebral fracture assessment to quantify and display the degree of vertebral compression. This technology is also the best diagnostic tool to support early detection and treatment of osteoporosis. The Discovery is the single platform to support a broad spectrum of patients over a lifetime of care. Discovery enables new dimensions in care, including lumbar spine and proximal femur studies and many other clinical applications.

“The Medical Imaging Department at BBGH provides a comprehensive scope of services addressing the needs of our clients,” said department manager Carolyn Anglesey, RT (R)(M)(CT). “Each and every patient receives personalized care designed to meet that person’s individual needs. Our staff is highly trained and our equipment is state-of-the-art. We are committed to providing exceptional care to the people in our community.”

The Discovery system arrived at BBGH in March of 2012. “We had been offering bone health assessments for many years using a mobile unit prior to leasing the Discovery system,” Ms. Anglesey said, “but it was only here once every four weeks and then for just a four hour block. We very much wanted to be able to provide this service on a continual basis, making it more convenient for our patients. We can now schedule the exam at the patient’s convenience when referred to us by his or her provider.”

Using Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), the Discovery system produces x-ray beams with different energy levels aimed at a patient’s bones to measure Bone Mineral Density (BMD). Soft tissue absorption is subtracted, and the BMD is determined from the absorption of each beam by bone.

Bone density tests are not the same as bone scans. Bone scans require an injection beforehand and are usually used to detect fractures, cancer, infections and other abnormalities in the bone. Unlike bone scans, DXA bone density tests are non-invasive, with patients able to wear street clothes during the exam, as long as there isn’t any metal present.

“When doing a bone density test, we scan both hips, the spine, and if we can’t get one of those, the forearm,” explained Medical Imaging technologist Leslie Hulquist, RT (R)(M)(CT), one of three technologists trained on the Discovery system. Ms. Hulquist, Donna Ryan RT (R)(M) and Amber Smith, RT (R)(M) received hands on training on the Discovery unit from a Hologic applications specialist. The hospital provided additional training for the technologists in the form of local and regional conferences.

Asked how many exams have been conducted using the new unit, Ms. Smith said, “Providers have referred 58 patients to us since we received the system in March. Of those 58 exams, 24 have come back positive for osteopenia (lower than normal BMD) and 17 for osteoporosis, a serious condition that can result in severe pain with fractures.”

Risk factors for osteoporosis include aging, being female, low body weight, onset of menopause, smoking, and some medications. Although osteoporosis is more common in older women, men can also develop the condition.

Medical providers use bone density testing to:

— Identify decreases in bone density before fractures occur

— Determine risk of broken bones (fractures)

— Confirm a diagnosis of osteoporosis, if a patient has experienced broken bones

— Monitor osteoporosis treatment

“We often receive referrals from providers due to the types of medication a patient is using, such as steroids or other prescription medications,” Ms. Smith added. “Long term use of steroids such as prednisone can affect bone density. These treatments can have an effect on bone health, so it’s important to monitor BMD with long term use of such medication.”

As mentioned, age is also a risk factor for both men and women. “Monitoring bone health, especially when 75 or older, is important,” Ms. Smith concluded. “One of the statistics that stands out for me is the fact that people in risk of a hip fracture at that age have a mortality rate of 24 percent if that occurs. Monitoring bone health and following a lifestyle and diet plan that promotes bone health at that age is important.”

BBGH is a non-profit, county owned 25-bed Critical Access Hospital. The mission of BBGH is to lead and innovate in healthcare delivery and community wellness.

Sugar beet harvest is on track with past years with 44 percent of the crop harvested after the first week of full sugar beet harvest.

Western Sugar Cooperative Area Ag Manager Jerry Darnell tells KNEB Radio in Scottsbluff that growers are harvesting a high quality crop with a sugar average of 17.63%.

Since the hard freeze Darnell says the crop has come in at 18 percent sugar. Darnell says that shows the freeze locked in both the crop’s sugar content and tonnage.

With the high sugar content, Darnell says the three sugar factories in Scottsbluff, Torrington, Wyoming and Fort Morgan Colorado are running at capacity.

Western Sugar’s harvest in the north region is 78 percent complete while Colorado’s harvest is 42 percent complete.

The Chadron City Council has given its support to granting the Chadron-based Nebraska Northwestern Railroad an extra year to complete the upgrade and repair of its yard in Chadron and the rail line and bridges from Chadron to Crawford.

The project is being funded largely by a $4.9-million dollar federal TIGER-II grant. The city was the official recipient and administrator of the grant for Nebraska Northwestern

Railroad President Jack Nielsen of Alliance says the federal agency that issued the grant was the one that recommended requesting an extension from the end of this year to the end of next year because of problems in NNRR getting the rock needed for ballast to finish up the project.

Nielsen says the delaying completion won’t bring any penalties and is needed because there’s a good likelyhood the railroad couldn’t finish the ballast work in the next 3 months even if it had the rock.

The other major part of the renovation and repair project still to be finished is the switches between Chadron and Dakota Junction, and crews began installation of those this morning.

Nebraska Northwestern uses the Chadron yard to store cars for other railroads and companies, and to refurbish railroad equipment for sale.

It hopes to eventually expand to include locomotives, but the former Chicago and NorthWestern line linking the yard to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe at Crawford and the DM&E in Rapid City needed to be restored and upgraded to handle the weight of the engines.

A key part of that was upgrading the original wooden bridges, which Nielsen says gave him the most worry at first but went smoothly thanks to the work of general manager Roy Fitzgibbons and the railroad’s own crews…which did nearly all of the rail and yard repairs and upgrades.

The repair and upgrade project, even though not complete yet, helped lead Transportation Services Incorporated…one of the nation’s railcar maintenance and repair companies…to open a facility at the Chadron yard.

Nielsen says that’s good for both his company and the local economy, but wouldn’t have happened without the federal grant. TSI began operations in Chadron last month.

by Pete Mortaro, VSO Director

As more and more Veterans are getting older and headed towards retirement, anxiety is starting to set in. Do I have enough health insurance? Can I enroll in the VA Health Care System at such a late stage in my life? As a Veteran, when I pass away, are there any benefits for my spouse?

All good questions you need answers to now, not later. If you’re not currently enrolled in the VA Health Care System, there is an application process requirement you must meet. Currently, health care determinations are income and assets based. There are other circumstances where income and assets aren’t taken into consideration such as boots on the ground in Vietnam. These Veterans are automatically enrolled in Priority Group 6.

The only positive way to know is to fill out a 10-10 EZ form.

We assist with this application and know what it takes to be accepted. There have been several Veterans that have been given missinformation over the years, and are now enrolled in the VA Health Care System.

If you’re not accepted into the VA Health Care System after going through the application process, another way to get into the system is to be service connected for a service incurred injury or illness. We also assist in the process, but will take time for a determination to be made.

Again, we assist with filing these types of claims.

Veterans who are service connected and die as a result of a service related injury or disease, their eligible spouse qualifies for DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation) which will pay a monthly allotment to thespouse. Under certain conditions, the spouse will also qualify for CHAMPVA which is health insurance with a prescription drug plan. Please keep in mind when the Veteran passes away, their service connected compensation will end. Also, if the Veteran retired from the military and is drawing a pension, under certain circumstances, the pension will stop or be reduced to the spouse. If the Veteran and spouse have Tricare for life as their health care insurance, that will continue for the spouse. If the Veteran didn’t qualify for DIC, the spouse may be eligible for Survivors Death Pension Benefits. This is determined by many factors including the spouse’s income and assets and medical expenses.

I encourage all Veterans and their spouses to make an appointment to discuss this very important topic, especially those Veterans that are service connected and their death may be related to their service incurred injury or illness. I know it’s a morbid subject, but pre-planning will alleviate a lot of those headaches later on.

Veterans Day weekend celebration is moving along very well due to the numerous volunteers that stepped up to the plate. Saturday November 10, will be the First Veterans Day Parade. It will start at 10 am, and will take place on Box Butte Avenue. Thank you to everyone for their continued help and support for this event. You may have heard this already, but we have been approved for an F-16 fly over as long as the Fighter Wing at Buckley Air Field isn’t deployed.

Sunday November 11, at 3:00 PM will be Veterans Day Celebration at the Performing Arts Center. There will be several dignitaries speaking along with our special ceremony.