Stories from Wednesday, June 15, 2005

(April 7, 1931 - June 11, 2005) ALBERT LEA, Minn. -- Earl James Perry, 74, formerly of McCook, died Saturday (June 11, 2005), at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn. He was born April 7, 1931 in Northwood, Iowa, the son of Elmer and Crissy Jean (Brown) Perry. He attended elementary school in Northwood. He enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1947 and was honorably discharged in 1954. He worked for Water and Soil Conservation as a surveyor for 33 years in the Iowa and Nebraska area...

(May 30, 1916 - June 11, 2005) LEWELLEN -- Louis J. Krajewski, 89, of Lewellen, died Saturday (June 11, 2005), at the Garden County Nursing Home in Oshkosh. He was born May 30, 1916, in Ashton to John and Sophia (Bogus) Krajewski. He moved with his family to Keith County in 1920 where he attended rural school...

(Dec. 19, 1919-June 11, 2005) PARKS -- Ernest F. Graham, 85, died Saturday (June 11, 2005), at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte. He was born Dec. 19, 1919 on his family's farm north of Parks to Earl and Sadie (Phillips) Graham. He attended country school near his family's home in District 48 through the eighth grade, then engaged in farming with his father...

Midgets host Yuma, Colo. Thursday night at Jaycees Trailing 9-2 in the fourth inning, the McCook Midgets had their backs against the wall. The Midgets dug deep to battle back from the deficit and beat Alma 11-9 at the Jaycees Sports Complex. The Midgets scored six runs in the final two innings of the game for a dramatic finish Tuesday night...

In an Open Forum letter in the this past weekend's edition of the Gazette, Bill Frasier of McCook speaks in favor of a combined police station, sheriff's office, fire department and city-county jail facility. In doing so, Frasier downplayed the objection of McCook fire and police officials, who contended that a safety center location outside the city limits would raise McCook residents' insurance rates. ...

**Dear Editor, I am writing in response to last week's (Open Forum letters) by Kirt Matson and Gary Benson. First of all, Kirt, you missed one. Clinton also said "I did not have sex with that woman." One can only imagine how many lives that lie cost. I get your drift, though. The lies by Bill, Hillary, Gore and Allbright concerning the WMDs set Bush up...

**Dear Editor, I am so liberal I'd probably make Mr. Matson's ears ring and I find it revealing that he's only just found the talking points available in the right wing echosphere for weeks, if not months, now. I also find it revealing that he neglects to mention which of the people he quotes involved us in an ill-advised conflict which has cost us to date several hundred billions of dollars, the lives of 1,700 service members and numbers of Iraqis we seemingly cannot be bothered to count...

The "Soup to Nuts" cartoon in Tuesday's Gazette evoked memories of another day, one of only a few I have spent on the shorelines of this great continent. It was 1994, and we were in San Diego to witness our eldest son's graduation from Marine Corps Basic Training. ...

The McCook Public Power District board of directors will meet Tuesday to ponder the next move, now that a district judge has turned down an appeal of a ruling against a new communications tower. Red Willow County District Judge John Battershell denied a request to overturn a Board of Zoning Adjustment decision that denied MPPD permission to build a 370-foot tower within the three-mile buffer zone around the city's airport...

Opponents of the McCook Bison football team will no longer have to trek across East Third Street to find a locker room. Before the first snap at Weiland Field, the football facility will have a new structure in the northeast end that will house an opponent's dressing room, men's and women's restrooms and a large concessions stand...

Kaden Guerrero of McCook sits close to listen to "The Prairie Dogs," one of several bands that played at the first-ever "Willow Week Blues Festival" at the Lighthouse Marina on Hugh Butler Lake north of McCook Friday and Saturday. Band members are Tom Manker of Indianola (left), Andre LeFebvre and (not shown) Dwight Wood of McCook...

The family of Virginia Myers is hosting an open house, in honor of her 80th birthday, on Sunday from 3-4:30 p.m., at the Heritage Senior Center in McCook. Her children are Allen Myers of Lincoln and Gloria Veil of Atlanta, Ga.

The family of Elmo Sughroue is hosting an open house June 18 at the Bartley Community Building from 1:30 - 3 p.m. in honor of his 80th birthday. Cards of congratulations will reach him at 40430 Road 714, Bartley, NE, 69020.

The family of Mel and Nada Nokes is hosting a card shower in honor of the couple's 60th anniversary. They were married June 23, 1945. Cards of congratulations will reach them at 1007 West I Street, McCook, NE, 69001.

(Nov. 17, 1908 - May 20, 2005) ARIZONA -- Lois L. (Holmes) Lawritson, 96, died May 20, 2005, at her home in Glendale, Ariz. She was born Nov. 17, 1908, in Bloomington, Neb., to Leonard E. and Emma D. "Darly" (Morrison) Holmes. Her family moved to Trenton in 1913. She graduated from Trenton High School in 1927...