IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Nebraska town abuzz over electric-chair idea

Residents of a small southwest Nebraska town have a question for state officials: You're not doing anything with that old electric chair, are you?
Image: Nebraska's electric chair
Some residents of the city of McCook, with a population of just under 8,000, have offered to take the electric chair off the Nebraska Department of Corrections' hands and place it in a museum.Nati Harnik / AP file
/ Source: The Associated Press

Residents of a small southwest Nebraska town have a question for state officials: You're not doing anything with that old electric chair, are you?

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled last year that the state's use of the electric chair was unconstitutional. Some people in McCook — population just under 8,000 — think "Old Sparky" could be a tourist attraction and have offered to take it off the state's hands.

Fifteen men were executed in the chair, which is about 210 miles east of McCook at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

Corrections department spokeswoman Connie Nemec says there are no immediate plans to move the chair.