Stories from Tuesday, January 4, 2005

McCook frosh basketball game ppd. to Thursday LEXINGTON -- The McCook High School freshmen boys and girls basketball games scheduled for Tuesday night at Lexington were postponed to Thursday. The freshmen A games will be played at 5 p.m., followed by the sophomore games at 6:30 p.m...

While not all the final details have been worked out, the McCook City Council approved an ordinance that would allow McCook to receive a loan for State Revolving Loan Fund money for the city's new water treatment facility. Two of the three concerns City Manager John Bingham expressed in the City Council agenda were addressed by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in a fax delivered Monday afternoon...

A lawsuit filed Thursday by the City of McCook against Red Willow County requires that the county remove the bleachers in the Kiplinger Arena on the county fairgrounds. City Attorney Rhonda Vetrovsky filed the lawsuit in Red Willow County District Court Thursday, Dec. 30, at 3:14 p.m. The city's lawsuit alleges the bleachers do not meet building codes and may present a safety hazard to people sitting on them...

April 24, 1923-Jan. 1, 2005 Valois "Val" Irene Pullen, 81, of McCook, died Saturday, Jan. 1, 2005, at Community Hospital. She was born April 24, 1923, in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Lewis W. and Anna A. (Weaver) Hall. Her elementary education was in Council Bluffs and Fairbury Public Schools. She graduated from Fairbury High School in 1941...

CULBERTSON -- Shane and Kelly Rippen's new baby girl -- who was in quite a hurry to make her appearance -- has been declared the Gazette's "New Year's Baby" of 2005. The Rippens' baby girl arrived just 51 minutes before a second contender, Hailey Rune Colby of McCook...

As the enormity of the tsunami disaster pierces the heart of humanity, the United States is rising up to render aid. It is appropriate that two former presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have agreed to lead the fund-raising effort. Their leadership shows that the U.S. is truly united in reaching out to the people and the nations struck by this most awful of tragedies...

Oct. 13, 1914-Dec. 31, 2004 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Ruth Evelyn Witte, 90, died Friday (Dec. 31, 2004) in Englewood, Colo. She was born Oct. 10, 1914, in Kennesaw to Walter and Louise Ernst. On Jan. 11, 1938, she married Gilbert Witte. The couple moved to Denver in 1938. She was a homemaker. She lived at the Meridian Retirement Community in Englewood for the last four years...

Traffic passes under Norris Avenue street lights softened by falling snow and freezing drizzle. A pedestrian carefully makes his way across an icy street as the snow begins to collect on the ground. A flag on Norris Avenue flies at half staff, a testimony to another dangerous weather phenomenon, the tsunami which struck southeast Asia and India. ...

March 15, 1931-Dec. 30, 2004 WAUNETA -- Marlies Sophia (Haarberg) Gauger, 73, died Thursday (Dec. 30, 2004) at Chase County Community Hospital in Imperial. She was born March 15, 1931, to Henry and Elise (Nordhausen) Haarberg in Chase County, near Wauneta. She attended school at St. Paul's Parochial School and graduated from Wauneta High School in 1949...

Sept. 2, 1932-Jan. 4, 2005 Carol Ann Schoup, 72, died today (Jan. 4, 2005) at Community Hospital of McCook. She was born Sept. 2, 1932, to Claude and Mamie (Hagerman) Klooz in Burlington, Colo. In 1944, the family move from Burlington to Stratton, where she graduated from Stratton High School in 1949. She attended college in Curtis. She began teaching school in rural Stratton and later at West Ward in McCook...