Stories from Friday, March 29, 2002

CAMBRIDGE -- James J. and Ramona (Hinton) Sughroue of Indianola announce the birth of their daughter, Johanna Pauline, Monday (March 25, 2002) at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 5.25 ounces and has three brothers, Daniel, James and Patrick...

Bobby and Crystal Vette of McCook announce the birth of their son, Lane Ryan and their daughter, Kelcie Jade on Tuesday (March 26, 2002). He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces, and she weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces. Grandparents are Chuck and Betty Vette of Wauneta and Jim Nolan of St. Joseph, Mo. and the late Alberta Nolan. Great-grandparents are Mary Vette of Ft. Wayne, Ind. and Phyllis Wineinger of Palisade...

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. -- Chris and Sharon DeVries of Ponte Vedra, Fla., announce the birth of their twins on Saturday (March 16, 2002). Their son, Nicklas Christopher, weighed five pounds and 13 ounces and their daughter, Josephine Nicole, weighed five pounds and 10 ounces. They have a sister, Caitlin, who is five years-old, and a brother, Jack, who is three years-old. Grandparents are Mary F. Colling of McCook and the late Francis J. Colling and Paul and Sharon DeVries of Lincoln...

On a sunny and breezy day in late March, a crowd of close to 500 people filled the First United Methodist Church in Imperial Thursday to bid an earthly farewell to one of Nebraska's most respected community newspaper publishers. Loral Johnson, who was associated with the Imperial Republican for half a century, earned the respect not only of his community, but the journalism profession on the state and national levels as well...

It's a road, not a street. There is a difference between a cow and a bull. And those brown piles are not necessarily ant hills. With a recent move, I've had to learn how to talk the talk and walk the walk of someone who now lives on a dirt road (not a dirt street) and it's been a quick learning process. Most of the education has come from my encounters with animals, both wild and domesticated...

The NCAA Men's and Women's Final Fours take place this weekend. The men's semifinals and championship are taking place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and the women are battling out in the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. Despite some major hiccups along the way, three of my four picks for the men's Final Four made it to the semifinals -- Kansas, Maryland and Oklahoma...