New York Life Insurance Company

New York Life has been one of the top insurance companies in the insurance world for 166 years. We were also the first company in the market place to offer dividends to their customers and we have given them dividends every year since. We also have the highest rating possible from A.M. Best and Standard and Poore’s.

I joined the New York Life team last July and I opened my doors to work for New York Life full time on January 1st 2008. I am looking forward to getting to know more business owners in the area as soon as possible. I am also very excited to learn all the ways that the Chamber helps the community.

Today’s insurance world is very complicated. There is so much that you need to know before you make a decision on what life insurance and financial planning is right for you and your family. That is where we can help, we have teams of experts who will help decide what is the best option for your family based on your specific time tables and your propensity for risk. The products and services that we offer are unlimited options for every person and situation.

We have also developed programs which allow us to work with other business owners in the community such as CPA’s, Property and Casualty agents, Banks and other professionals to make sure everyone can offer their clients the best solution for their individual situation. We also developed the “MAP” or Macro Asset Perspective. The “MAP” system allows us to break down where our clients are on a safe moderate and aggressive level along with the importance of watching where your money is on a pre-tax and after tax basis.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime if you have questions about any products and services of New York Life, I would be happy to sit down and talk.

Maggie Repass
New York Life Insurance Company
308-340-0256

Willow Creek Meats

Willow Creek Meats became a reality February 1, 2008. It brings to McCook and the surrounding area a federally inspected livestock processing plant and a retail meat counter second to none. Willow Creek Meats is located just three miles south of McCook on Highway 83. Owners Scott Carlin, Cal Siegfried and Leigh Hoyt purchased the business from Scott’s parents Harold and Theresa Carlin.

The new owners have a few ideas for the future of Willow Creek Meats. As most of you know they opened the retail meat counter with a full selection of prime and choice beef, pork, smoked meats and the best beef jerky and slim jims in the area. They also plan to double the cooler space. This will increase the number of head that can be processed thus cutting the wait time for customers to get their beef or pork processed. This will also benefit the customer by giving him the option to hang his animal up to 28 days. Willow Creek Meats is also planning something new for the holiday season. They are planning to put together several different priced Christmas baskets full of all types of meat items that can be delivered locally or shipped anywhere in the U.S.

Willow Creek also offers whole, half or quarter beef selections that are source and aged verified with NO added artificial hormones. These cattle come direct from Flatiron Feeders, a feedyard owned by Cal.

Stay tuned in to the local media for more customer pleasing options in the future! It’s hard telling what Cal and Leigh will come up with to make Scott shake his head…..again! They have been known to put together some crazy deals in the past!

For all your meat processing and purchasing needs please contact Willow Creek Meats at 308-345-5029 or visit them on the web at www.willowcreekmeats.com. Open five days a week and 8 to noon on Saturday.

Leigh Hoyt

Pinpoint’s Long Haul Network Benefits Southwest Nebraska

You may have read recently that Pinpoint Network Solutions (PPNS), an Omaha based division of Pinpoint, received the AIM Institute’s “Best Technology Company of the Year” award. The award, which was won last year by online brokerage company TD Ameritrade, is presented annually to a company that has “risen to the top of the technology industry by being creative, innovative and by having strong partnerships within the community at large.” According to AIM, relevant criteria include: innovative ideas or implementations, business revenue, product/project deployment, continuing education programs, community service and strategic partnerships with area firms and educational institutions.

PPNS was recognized, in part, for its approach to the creation of customized dark and lit fiber solutions for mid to large sized businesses. With fiber assets ranging from Denver to Chicago and a Chicago to New Orleans, PPNS offers fully redundant dark or lit fiber, allowing customers to move large amounts of data in a reliable and secure manner. For using those assets to address newly mandated security and storage requirements for financial and medical facilities, PPNS, a company conceived right here in southwest Nebraska, won the prestigious award.

It would be fair to ask, however, how does that affect Southwest Nebraska? More specifically, how does that benefit McCook? Actually, it does so in two very important ways.

First, the long haul fiber network that enables PPNS to serve Denver, Omaha and New Orleans, runs through Southwest Nebraska. PPNS uses Pinpoint’s southwest Nebraska connection with Level (3), one of the largest Internet backbones in the United States and Europe. Pinpoint’s Level (3) connection is one of only two in the state and enables what is called tier one service, meaning that it places the user only one ‘hop’ away from the main Internet backbone.

From an economic development standpoint, the availability of bandwidth of that magnitude allows any Internet-based company, e-entrepreneur or telecommuter in McCook to enjoy the same high-quality, broadband connection that they would have in any major city. Businesses with high bandwidth needs can move to McCook and enjoy our quality of life and our low cost of living without sacrificing connectivity.

Second, the PPNS brings real dollars back to Southwest Nebraska. While Pinpoint actively seeks customers from outside southwest Nebraska, it remains committed to keeping back-office and support functions based in McCook and Cambridge—an arrangement that allows outside dollars to flow into southwest Nebraska, rather than out. That influx also funds infrastructure upgrades to the local network that in many cases, are not matched by the legacy carrier.

At Pinpoint, we hope that the AIM award was only the first of many, and that our Network Solutions division continues to grow and expand into additional major markets. We hope, however, that our neighbors here in southwest Nebraska will both realize our continued commitment to this region and share in our victories.

Mike O'Dell