Stories from Monday, September 20, 2004

LEXINGTON -- The McCook High School boys tennis team captured the Lexington Invitational championship Saturday with 32 points, edging out Alliance by 2 points. Scottsbluff finished third with 18, followed by Holdrege and Kearney Catholic 16, Lincoln Christian 8 and Lexington 6...

Chase County defeated Sidney in the championship match of the McCook Invitational volleyball tournament Saturday. The tournament was played at the McCook High and Junior High School gymnasiums. In opening round action, Chase County won over Cambridge 25-17, 25-21. The Longhorns came into the weekend unbeaten...

NORTH PLATTE -- The McCook Bison softball team lost two of three games on Saturday at the North Platte tournament. McCook defeated Lincoln North Star, then lost to Norfolk and Lexington. McCook 7, Lincoln North Star 4 After going scoreless in the first two innings, McCook scored five in the third. Lindsey Lawson walked and Natalie Brooks got a base hit to get McCook started...

Liess' 76-yard interception return sparks McCook's rout You could not tell it by the score, but the McCook High School football team was less than perfect Friday night against Ogallala. The Bison fumbled seven times and lost four, and quarterback Tony Purvis tossed an interception...

AMHERST -- The Cambridge High School football team dodged a bullet Friday night when the Trojans escaped Amherst with a 8-6 win. The Cambridge offense sputtered throughout the game. The Trojans received the opening kick off and managed just three plays before punting to Amherst...

STRATTON -- Wheatland fought back from down a set to defeat Hitchcock County 24-26, 25-12, 21-25, 12-25, 15-12 in Friday night high school volleyball action. For Hitchcock County, Katie Voss tallied four kills and 11 blocks. Laken Cook had 57 sets and 40 digs. Laci Brennan had three kills, three blocks and 23 digs...

Nov. 12, 1944-Sept. 18, 2004 ARAPAHOE -- Gerald Dean Utterback, 59, died Saturday (Sept. 18, 2004) at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. He was born Nov. 12, 1944, to J. Thomas and Gladys (Reitz) Utterback in Arapahoe. He grew up on a farm south of Arapahoe and attended rural school. He graduated from Arapahoe High School in 1963. After school he farmed with his family...

Nov. 29, 1918-Sept. 17, 2004 IMPERIAL -- Margaret M. Trautman, 85, died Friday (Sept. 17, 2004) at Chase County Hospital in Imperial. She was born Nov. 29, 1918, to Carl and Marie (Kurtenbach) Smith in Eskridge, Kan. She moved with her family to Imperial and attended Imperial Grade School. She graduate from Imperial High School in 1938...

April 2, 1920-Sept. 17, 2004 McDONALD -- Hazel Bell Hartman, 84, died Friday (Sept. 17, 2004) at the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo. She was born April 2, 1920, in McDonald. She was a homemaker. Survivors include her son, Donald Raymond and wife, Janica of Loxley, Ala., Ronald John and wife, Judy of Lakin, Kan., and Jack Stanley and wife, Judy of Ringold, Ga.; one daughter, Doris Elaine Campbell of Spring Texas; and brother, Everett Conners of Long Beach, Calif...

June 6, 1927-Sept. 18, 2004 CAMBRIDGE -- Harlan L. Stewart, 77, died Saturday (Sept. 18, 2004) at Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge. He was born June 6, 1927, to Everett and Ethel (Beeson) Stewart in Kansas City, Mo. He grew up in Bartley and graduated from Bartley High School in 1944...

Jessie Greene passed away Sept. 17, 2004 at the Cheyenne Health Care Nursing Home in Cheyenne, Wyo., after being a life long resident of McCook. She was born May 28, 1914. Jessie's career consisted of being a school teacher at District 8 and an employee of Red Willow County and McCook National Bank, as well as a homemaker, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was a member of the hospital auxiliary, Federated Women's Club and Memorial United Methodist Church...

Aug. 12, 1920-Sept. 19, 2004 BEAVER CITY -- Nellie (Schamp-Krewson) Scheibel, 84, died Sunday (Sept. 19, 2004) at the Beaver City Manor in Beaver City. She was born Aug. 12, 1920, to Schuyler and Mae (Herron) Schamp in Erickson. She grew up in the Erickson area and attended the public schools...

Nov. 30, 1920-Sept. 17, 2004 McDONALD -- Zelda Ilene Knapp, 83, died Friday (Sept. 17, 2004) at her home in rural McDonald. She was born Nov. 30, 1920, in St. Francis. She was a homemaker. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Howard in 1945; and her second husband, Orville in 2000...

Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon said this morning his officers did not find their suspect when they searched a McCook residence Saturday morning. Mahon said officers were looking for Jose Cruz Cepeda-Lopez, 24, who is charged with theft and burglary, and the first-degree sexual assault and false imprisonment of a teenage girl at her rural McCook home Aug. 31...

Sabrina Sample of Arthur races for the endzone during Friday's mud football game that wrapped up Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture's first homecoming activities. Other activities at the Curtis school included cowboy poetry by graduate R.P. Smith, water balloon fight, street dance, ice cream social, hay rack ride, picnic, Aggie Triathlon, and dressup days featuring pajamas, jerseys, camouflage, opposite sex dress, bums, jerseys and caps, hillbilly and patriotic spirit. (NCTA)...

In 1946 Bob Daugherty was a 24-year old ex-Marine, without a job. He had served in the South Pacific, and had seriously considered staying in the service, but on a visit to his hometown of Valley, Neb., an uncle mentioned that another Valley native, Sam McCleneghan, might consider selling part of his machine shop. Bob and Sam talked, with the result that for $5000 (his wartime savings) Bob became Sam's partner...

Weiland Field reached the fullness of its glory Friday night during the McCook Bison's 2004 homecoming celebration. Oh, what a night! Oh, what a sight! With an outpouring of fans filling the grandstands on both sides of the field, the undefeated and top-ranked Bison continued their winning ways, rolling past a spirited, but overmatched team of Ogallala Indians...

By the time you read this, we will be in the Middle East. To be honest, I can't imagine going with a better group of men. To begin with, reservists have an amazing collection of skills and experience. We can all shoot a rifle with deadly accuracy, and we can do much more. When the battalion commander mentioned that we needed to harden the firm base to protect it from the near daily mortar attacks, Marines with construction and engineering experience were quick to offer suggestions...

**Dear Editor, By now, most everyone has heard about the terrorist takeover of the Russian school, where many people were injured and many killed, a lot of them children. There was a huge outcry. People demanding something be done to stop these kinds of events from happening. About the same time, a judge in Lincoln, Neb., ruled the law banning partial birth abortion was unconstitutional because it failed to protect the health of the mother...