Electric chair could be added to proposed Nebraska museum

The plains and mountain states are filled with all kinds of neat little museums, such as Nebraska's Brown County Museum in Ainsworth, pictured on the left.

In McCook, on the southern end of the Cornhusker State, a presumably larger museum might be built devoted to rural electrification and Senator George W. Norris, the McCook native who spearheaded the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Norris, who died in 1944, is best known for the chapter on his Senate career in Ted Sorenen's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage.

The TVA and other hydroelectric projects brought electricity to rural areas, hence the idea for the museum in Norris' hometown. His views on capital punishment aren't known, but the Omaha World-Herald reported yesterday that McCook officials have requested Nebraska's no-longer-used electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky," so it can be put on display in their proposed museum.

A successful museum needs to have at least one attraction you can't find anywhere else.

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