Stories from Monday, March 29, 2004

KEARNEY -- Amanda Rae Carroll and Christopher Joe Barth, both of Oberlin, were united in marriage Dec. 27, 2003, in the Delphinium Ballroom of the Ramada Inn in Kearney with the Rev. Duke Johnson of the Elm Creek Christian Church officiating. Parents of the couple are Donna Merklin of McCook, Lodge Carroll of Crete and Mick and Rhonda Barth of Oberlin...

Karen Hock of Culbertson and Luke Bortner of McCook announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Bernard and Carol Hock of Culbertson and Robert and Barbara Bortner of McCook. The bride-to-be is a 2002 graduate of McCook Senior High School. ...

The family of Marvin Potthoff is hosting a card shower in honor of his 70th birthday, April 2. Cards of congratulations will reach him at 123 West O, McCook, NE 69001.

The family of John Weskamp is hosting a card shower in honor of his 80th birthday April 3. His family includes his wife, Mildred; and their two children, Tom Weskamp, of Ft. Worth, Texas, and Kathy Housley and husband, Gary of rural Bartley. Cards of congratulations will reach him at 805 East Seventh Street, McCook, NE, 69001...

Trojans lead All-Area boys basketball team While a "Team of the Year" category doesn't exist in the McCook Daily Gazette's 2004 edition of the Gazetteland All-Area Boys Basketball Team, Cambridge virtually grabbed the position. Cambridge racked up four players on the First and Second Teams, including Player of the Year Waid Vontz and Trojan coach Del Schoenfish being crowned Coach of the Year...

In the words of her coach Dennis Troester, Republican Valley's Jaime Coolidge may not be flashy, but she does everything well. Coolidge's all-around play was a key factor in the Republican Valley girls basketball team's 14-8 campaign in 2003-04. For her efforts, Coolidge, a 5-foot-7 senior guard, was selected as the McCook Daily Gazette's All-Area Girls Player of the Year...

BOYS Player of the Year -- Waid Vontz, Cambridge. Coach of the Year -- Del Schoenfish, Cambridge FIRST TEAM Arapahoe -- Tony Braithwait, 6-0, so. Cambridge -- Waid Vontz, 6-0, so. Cambridge -- Marcus Vontz, 6-1, sr. Cambridge -- Matt Depperschmidt, 6-2, sr...

The McCook boys beat North Platte, while the Bison girls fell to the Bulldogs in track action Friday afternoon at the McCook High School track. In team scoring, the McCook boys finished with 78 points to 63 for North Platte. On the girls' side, North Platte edged McCook, 73 to 62...

NORTH PLATTE -- The McCook Bison boys golf team opened defense of their Nebraska Class B state title with a first-place finish at the North Platte Invitational Friday. McCook posted a 315 score, edging out Kearney by five strokes. North Platte and Grand Island Central Catholic tied for third at 323, followed by Broken Bow 333, Lexington 337, Gering 339, Scottsbluff 341, Gothenburg 351, North Platte JV 357, Ogallala 364, Grand Island 365 and Hastings 376...

Sept. 17, 1921-March 26, 2004 Evelyn Marie Fahnholz, 82, died Friday (March 26, 2004) at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook. She was born Sept. 17, 1921, to Homer D. and Ethel (Walburn) Smith in Wray, Colo. She grew up in Wray and graduated from high school in Wray...

Aug. 1, 1944-March 26, 2004 James Reid McMullen, 59, died Friday (March 26, 2004) at Community Hospital in McCook. He was born Aug. 1, 1944, to Ernest and Evelyn (Smith) McMullen in Seattle, Wash. In 1945, the family moved to McCook, where he grew up. He graduated from McCook High School in 1962. He began working as a cook and spent his life cooking in many of McCook's restaurants until he retired in 1982, due to ill health...

1928-2004 Dale Jerome Potts of Manassas, better known to friends as "Pottsy" passed away March 21, 2004. He was born in 1928, in Indianola, the son of Clarence and Rozella Hall Potts. Throughout his life, Dale was know for bending the rules; in high school, at a time when typing was considered strictly a female occupation, he enrolled as the only boy in a typing class in order to meet girls, this was a decision that affected the rest of his life...

SCOTTSBLUFF -- Carter Joseph Ryan was born Feb. 18, 2004, at Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, to Erin and Vincent Ryan of Scottsbluff. He weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz., and measured 20 inches long. He has one brother, two-year-old Tate. Carter's grandparents are Nellie Ryan of Cambridge and Dan and Lora O'Brien of McCook. His great-grandmothers are Mary O'Brien of McCook and Mary Mullanix of Imperial...

INDIANOLA -- Indianola lost its only grocery store and its city office and city shop Sunday morning in a fire that crept first above the suspended ceiling of the grocery store. Fire Chief Tom Davidson blamed the fire on an overheated ballast in a ceiling light fixture in the Countryside Market grocery store. The roof of the store was involved when someone spotted flames from the Rocket Inn, half-a-block south of the grocery store on Main Street, at 11:20 p.m., Saturday...

We have grown up saying the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag. It first came into being in 1892. We began saying the Pledge in grade school, to begin our classes, and later, as adults, we have said the Pledge to begin club meetings. After the tragedy of 9/11, 76,000 people joined in the Pledge of Allegiance at a Cornhusker football game...

Whenever there's an emergency, the people of Southwest Nebraska respond in awesome fashion. That was shown again Saturday and Sunday, when neighboring fire departments and hometown volunteers joined to battle the raging blaze on Indianola's Main Street...

**Dear Editor, Thank you for printing this article ("Book recalls days of North Platte Canteen" June 5, 2002). I stumbled upon this book when I mentioned McCook to a neighbor. I told her of my experience at the McCook Railroad station during World War II as I was taking a group of recruits to Wyoming...