Stories from Wednesday, July 10, 2002

STAPLETON -- The Nebraska Highway 83 Trade and Travel Association - Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway was awarded a $2,000 tourism marketing grant from the Nebraska Division of Travel and Tourism. The grant will fund promotion of a Nebraska Sky video and guides project...

I believe the reason so many people feel it doesn't do a lot of good to go to the water council meeting is because people like the Concerned Citizens have met so much resistance. The city manager and city council will do what they want to anyway like they did when they raised all of our utilities...

Dear Editor: A few months ago, the McCook Humane Society ran a story and picture of a dog that died from pure neglect and cruelty. This story touched my heart as I am sure it did many others. My story is also of a dog, but totally opposite. It has taken me this long to be able to sit down and write this, but I felt I needed to...

I think its amazing that our postage stamps went up three cents and our service has suffered. I had two people send mail to me from two places in McCook and I still haven't received it. Why does our mail have to go to North Platte before it's delivered in McCook?...

Get your shopping shoes on! The biggest clearance sale of the year is about to unfold on the streets of McCook. Called "Crazy Days," the gigantic retail shopping extravaganza starts Thursday and continues through Saturday. This is the 40th year for the massive event, which features rock-bottom low prices on overstock, closeout and dealer discounted items...

David and Marcie (Shepard) Janssen of Papillion announce the birth of a son, Jacob Lee, born Thursday (June 27, 2002). He weighed 9 pounds. He has one brother, Nicholas, age 2, to welcome him home. Grandparents are Lee and Pat Janssen of McCook, Lynda Flynn and Ron and Marge Shepard all of Lincoln...

Kevin and Shauna Fischer of McCook announce the birth of their daughter, Allysha Sue Anne, on Thursday (July 4, 2002) at Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge. She weighed five pounds and 12 ounces. Grandparents are Clyde and Cathy Fischer of Cambridge and Leroy and Dianna Meissner of Culbertson. Great-grandmother is Golda Zwickle of McCook...

Gov. Mike Johanns will be in McCook, Thursday, 8 a.m. to present a $350,000 check to the McCook Heritage Senior Center as part of a $4 million community development block grant. In addition to the $350,000 grant to the senior center, Johanns will also present checks to representatives from Elwood, Eustis, Smithfield, Maxwell, Brady and Farnam. The city of Grant will receive a check for more than $500,000 for housing...

Every student has faced the same dilemma: too much to read ... and too little time to get it done. Not only must the students wade through textbooks -- often for several classes -- but they also must do scads of assigned reading as well. It's a daunting task, but -- thanks to Merrill Ream of McCook -- help is on the way...

A McCook man has been sentenced to probation and a term at the state's work ethic camp in McCook on meth charges, and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of his older brother on similar charges. Red Willow District Judge John Battershell sentenced Benjamin Farr, 18, on Monday, to 24 months probation for his involvement in an illegal methamphetamine lab that exploded and burned a small home in the 1300 block of East B in McCook in January...

Everything looks bleached by the sun throughout arid Southwest Nebraska. Even this herd in the hills between Trenton and Atwood are sun-bleached blonds. McCook recorded a record high temperature for July 9, with a reading of 105 degrees, the high for the state. Forecasters predict high temperatures in the 80's and 90's, and no moisture through next Tuesday...

Residents of Hitchcock, Red Willow and Furnas counties can buy their weather alert radios now, as transmitters are operating from towers southeast of Cambridge and north of Trenton. Red Willow County Commission Chairman Earl McNutt said Tuesday the 300-watt transmitters are functional and are in the middle of a 30-day test run...

The filing deadline for incumbents to to be placed on the ballots for election to non partisan seats is fast approaching for four offices in Red Willow County. Those incumbents wishing to file for one of three seats on boards for the Villages of Bartley, Danbury and two seats on the Lebanon board or one of three seats on the Twin Valley School District No. 0170 must do so by Monday. The deadline for non incmbents is Thursday, Aug, 1...

Modern technology is a wonder. I appreciate so many things about it. Email has made it possible for me to have daily communication with my best friend at a most reasonable cost. (Considering that we spent seven years in the same, two-person office together, daily emails are not a surprising development now that more than 200 miles separate us from any other form of daily contact.)...

IMPERIAL -- Helen Clara (Egle) Stahly, 91, died Sunday (July 7, 2002) at the Ambassador Care Center in Lincoln. She was born Feb. 28, 1911, to William and Judith (Schindler) Egle south of Stratton. During her childhood, the family moved to California, back to Nebraska and then to Berne, Ind. where she graduated from high school. She attended Taylor University at Fort Wayne, Ind. before returning to Nebraska...

IMPERIAL -- Retha Maxine Lakey, 82, died Monday (July 8, 2002) at the Chase County Hospital in Imperial. She was born Sept. 16, 1919, to Guy and Lena (Smith) Landis at Haddam, Kan. She graduated from Haddam High School in 1937. On Nov. 23, 1937, she married Russell Harold Lakey in Haddam, and the couple settled in Oregon for a short time. ...