Stories from Wednesday, July 7, 2004

McCook squad loses at North Platte NORTH PLATTE -- The McCook National Bank Seniors American Legion baseball team blasted Holdrege 15-3 in five innings Saturday at Holdrege. The second game was rained out. Tuesday, the Seniors lost to North Platte 15-4...

It was the mid-60s and things were not going well at home. We lived south of Denver in the then-tiny community of Castle Rock. I was still pretty young and oblivious to the tensions between my folks, but it must have been very serious. Mom sat us down one day and told us to be ready to go on a train trip back home to Iowa. ...

**Dear Editor, I read with interest the article about a name for our soon-coming new school. The names mentioned were Brooks, Morrison, Norris and Nelson. I would like to suggest Ben Nelson first. He was born and raised in McCook and has kept his "roots" around McCook, even when climbing the ladder of success. Right now, he is working hard for Nebraska...

**Dear Editor, Every columnist realizes that whatever they write about is "open season" from those who disagree with them. This is as it should be. The wonderful thing about being an American is the privilege of having free thought and free speech and to live in a country where both are protected...

As he signs the papers today to conclude the purchase the West Ward school property, Jon Morrison is turning to citizens of the McCook area for ideas about how best to utilize the square block of property and the 15,000 square feet of building space...

How much is water worth, if you don't have any? How much is a house worth, if it doesn't have water? Robert Parsons told Red Willow County commissioners Thursday morning, "You don't realize how valuable water is, until you don't have any." Parsons and his wife, Colletta, asked commissioners, during a property valuation protest hearing July 1, to refigure the value of their rural-McCook home -- because the water well has run dry...

The McCook City Council agreed 4-1 Monday night to move ahead with a plan to begin looking for at least one additional well site to meet Environmental Protection Agency mandates on arsenic, uranium and nitrates. Councilman Jerry Reitz cast the lone dissenting vote, citing a handout he distributed which showed a decline in the annual streamflow of the Republican River...

It's a knot. It's a nut. It's a furry-tailed squirrel. No, it's a face in the tree. Mischievous neighbor Bob Stensvad nailed a resin funny-face on the tree of his next-door-neighbors, Roger and Rita Helfin, of McCook and Littleton, Colo. Stensvad lives at 510 W. First; the Helfins are at 508 W. First...

Sept. 20, 1920-July 6, 2004 BEAVER CITY -- Velma V. Wederski, 83, died Tuesday (July 6, 2004) at the Beaver City Manor in Beaver City. She was born Sept. 20, 1920, to Ray and Ruth (Callahan) Tracy in Bird City. She was raised southeast of Bird City near South Beaver Creek and attended Central School and Center Church near her home...