Stories from Friday, June 24, 2005

A former professional softball player has been named as McCook Community College's new softball coach. College officials have announced that Della S. Mitchel of Chandler, Ariz., will take over the head coaching responsibilities immediately at MCC. Mitchel has been an assistant softball coach, recruiter and fundraising coordinator for Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Ariz., for the past two years...

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the First Central Bank American Legion Juniors were in a breath taking situation with a one run lead. Cozad had a runner on third as Coyler Henry smacked a hard hit ball to Sam Frazier on the mound. Frazier made the throw to first and completed the 8-7 win for First Central...

OVERTON -- To play to the maximum potential on a consistent basis can be a difficult accomplishment for many ball clubs. The McCook Midgets experienced that on Tuesday night at Overton, as they cruised to a 16-8 victory and were handed a 17-2 defeat...

McCook Elks/ Sports Shoppe baseball tourney this weekend The McCook Elks/Sports Shoppe 12 and under baseball will host the second annual tournament Saturday and Sunday at Felling Field. The tournament will be played at the Jaycees Sports Complex. Games start at 10 a.m. both days...

ATWOOD -- The McCook YMCA Devil Rays Swim Team -- along with Indianola, Hitchcock County and Bird City swim teams -- traveled to Atwood June 18. Competition was tough, as many races had only tenths of seconds between first and second places, said McCook coach Tracy Flaska...

A stand of wheat basks in the afternoon heat east of Stratton waiting for harvest. The Kansas wheat harvest has started and is returning anywhere from 15 to 50 bushels an acre said Jan Mahon of Frenchman Valley Co-Op. She expects the harvest in Nebraska to begin mid-week next week. "Due to the late frost and the rains, among other things, I think we'll see a little bit of everything as far as yield. It depends on where it comes from," Mahon said...

By TYLER BIECK McCook Daily Gazette Growing up at the pool at the McCook City Pool is a way of life for the Crocker family, the aquatic protectors of the city pool. Lifeguard Joe Crocker is the son of pool manager Jody Crocker, and Joe's grandmother, Elva Backer, served as pool manager for 25 years...

Officials at Community Hospital of McCook look forward to fiscal year 2006, with improved reimbursements from Medicare and a budget closely aligned to a new strategic plan. Troy Bruntz, CPA, chief financial officer at the hospital, told the hospital's board of directors Wednesday that cost-based reimbursements for Medicare inpatients will mean approximately $1.3 million to Community Hospital in 2006...

Insight into business ownership offers a clue to economic development.

Dear Editor: Wherein does responsibility lie? During Memorial weekend I had again stopped at my son's gravesite, needless to say, I admit, I was coping with tears...but another two steps backward I would have fallen into an open grave. My car was nearby, but my family would have just assumed I'd left with someone else. There were little plastic flags around the excavation, but there should have been a sheet of plywood to cover or a grate of some kind until interment.(1-2 days)...

Dear Editor; Yesterday, June 23, 2005, was another sad day in the history of our liberal judicial system. The Supreme Court ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development. In other words your land, your house, your private property just got placed on the auction block for the highest bidder. ...

Dear Editor; I will be inclined to believe Mike (Michael) Hendrick's (Russellville, Ark.) letter to the editor of 6-22 A.D. 2005, when the liberals whine, nag, and bellyache about the Democrats the same way they whine, nag and bellyache about the Republicans...

Others are enjoying the memories of 'Days Gone By.'

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Bruce Crosby, the editor of this newspaper, informing me of a retired police detective's ride across America on a horse to protest this countr's war on drugs. At the time, it was believed he was coming through McCook and Bruce asked if I would be interested in sitting down and talking to this guy. ...

Oct. 29, 1927-June 22, 2005 ARAPAHOE -- Rolland George Westerbeck, 77, died Wednesday (June 22, 2005), at the Grand Island Veterans Home in Grand Island. He was born Oct. 29, 1927, in Melrose Park, Ill., to John J. and Anna Leona (McCollam) Westerbeck...

CHAMPION -- Lloyd Meeske, 62, a longtime resident of the Champion area, died Wednesday (June 22, 2005) at his home south of Champion. Survivors include his father, Henry, of Imperial; his daughter, Gina Blocher of Columbia Falls, Mont.; his sons, Lloyd and wife, Lynette, Galeen, and Karl and wife, Karra, all of Champion; 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; his brother, Kenneth Meeske and wife, Ruby, of Paris, Texas; and his sister, Alisa Rindels and husband, Dean, of Scottsbluff...

Sept. 13, 1928-June 18, 2005 AUBURN, Ill. -- Clarence LeRoy Kamer, 76, died Saturday, June 18, 2005, in Auburn, Ill., after battling diabetes and Alzheimer's. He was born Sept. 13,1928. He moved to McCook in 1972 where he worked for Hulcher's Emergency Railroad Service...

June 12, 1929-June 20, 2005 Memorial services for Richard "Dick" Schneider, age 76, of Norfolk, formerly of Beemer, will be Saturday, June 25, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Beemer with Fr. Timothy Podraza celebrating mass. Burial of the cremains will be in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Beemer. Visitation will be Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Holy Cross Catholic Church with a Vigil Service at 7:30 p.m. Kuzelka-Minnick Funeral Home in Beemer is in charge of arrangements...