Stories from Thursday, October 19, 2006

McCook High School football coach Jeff Gross said the Nebraska Class B-5 district title could be on the line Friday night when the Dusters pay a visit to Weiland Field. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Both McCook and Holdrege enter the game with 2-0 records in district play...

By BILLIE COLE Gazette Writer KEARNEY -- Two area teams and ten individuals will travel to the State cross country meet in Kearney on Friday. The meet begins with the Girls Class D at noon at the Kearney Country Club. Eustis-Farnam's girls team qualified for the Class D part of the meet after their first place win in Ogallala last week...

LEXINGTON -- The McCook Junior High School seventh grade football team played its last game of the season at Lexington on Tuesday, coming out on the short end 26-6. "The score does not indicate the amount of improvement these kids made over the course of this season," said coach Barry Schaeffer. "The way the game started I felt we would have a better outcome than we did."...

SOUTHERN VALLEY -- Southern Valley will host an invitational volleyball tournament on Saturday. Area teams from Arapahoe, Bertrand, North Platte St. Pats and Wilcox/Hildreth will play in the event. The tournament will be played in a pool play format at Orleans and Southern Valley...

SOUTHWEST -- The annual Southwest Blowout Junior High Volleyball Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Southwest High School gymnasium. Entry fee is $75 for each team. Registration deadline is Thursday. Call Tanya at (308) 340-7831 for more information...

Career politicians ... Social Security ... the war in Iraq ... the farm bill ... Pete Ricketts, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from Nebraska, addressed these issues and more at a rally Wednesday morning in McCook. Ricketts told the 20-or-so gathered at Country Kitchen that he decided to run for the Senate seat after learning from a successful anti-gambling effort, "that bad things can happen if you don't get involved. And that you can make a tremendous impact if you do."...

In the final weeks of Nebraska's 3rd District Congressional race, Republican Adrian Smith will announce a series of endorsements from members of the Nebraska Legislature. "I received 16 to 17 endorsements from my legislative colleagues in the primary campaign, and we will be announcing another 10 in the days leading up to the election," said Smith, who entered the race for the U.S. House of Representatives after two terms in the Nebraska Legislature...

The Nebraska Lied Main Street Program welcomed McCook back into its folds with a ceremony Tuesday afternoon to unveil the community's four new highway signs. J.L. Schmidt, director of Nebraska Lied Main Street Program, told the 30-or-so gathered for the ceremony on a corner in downtown McCook, "It's wonderful to welcome McCook back into the Main Street Program."...

By CONNIE JO DISCOE Regional Editor Several years ago, it was terrorists' attacks on America that spurred Red Willow County officials to create a registry of local residents with special health and mobility concerns. Lessons learned from another disaster -- Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 -- have prompted coordinators of the project to update their files...

Voters appear to be left with one option --voting for the lesser of two evils.

Since leaving the Gazette to follow other pursuits, I have to admit I'm a little out of the loop on political issues, There are a few things I do know. Ben Nelson doesn't like Pete Ricketts, and Pete Ricketts has very little use for Ben Nelson. There are about 12 initiatives I should vote in favor of for one reason and the same 12 I should vote against for another. ...

April 30, 1945 - Oct. 16, 2006  BISMARCK, N.D. -- Judy Ann Wilcox, 61,  formerly of Stockville, died Monday (Oct. 16, 2006) at St. Alexis Medical Center in Bismarck, N.D., of cancer. She was born April 30, 1945, in Wichita, Kan., to Richard and Audrey (Cole) Malloy...

Sept. 15, 1928 - Oct. 17, 2006 ATWOOD -- Irene Elizabeth Reeh Withington, 78, died Tuesday (Oct. 17, 2006) at her home in Atwood. She was born Sept. 15, 1928, to Frank and Mary (Schwartz) Reeh. She grew up on the family farm north of Beardsley, Kan., and attended Forest Hill School. She was baptized at St. Cyril's Catholic Church...

VALENTINE -- Vera M. (Torbert) Fichtner Teel, 96, died Wednesday (Oct. 11, 2006) at Pine View Good Samaritan Center in Valentine. She was born southwest of Maywood to Ralph and Mamie Torbert. She married Chester "Chet" H. Fichtner. They lived on a farm and ranched west of Maywood, where she worked as a homemaker...

Jan. 11, 1920-Oct. 15, 2006   HAIGLER -- Lee S. "Stanley" Glegg, 86, died Sunday (Oct.15, 2006), at the Hillcrest Care Center in Wray, Colo. He was born Jan. 11, 1920, to Lee and Florence (White) Clegg five miles west of Haigler, in Dundy County. He attended school at Sanborn country school, and then attended Haigler Public Schools for the next 11 years.  He graduated from Haigler High School...

Aug. 31, 1914 -- Sept. 21, 2006   PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Les D. Stennette, 92, died Sept. 21, 2006, in Phoenix. He was born Aug. 31, 1914, in McCook to Charles and Myrta Stennette. He graduated from McCook Junior College and attended the University of Nebraska. He worked for the federal government following the 1935 flood in the Republican River Valley as a purchasing agent supplying the work camps that were established to rebuild. He continued with the government in Grand Island and Lincoln...