Stories from Saturday, February 17, 2007

Despite the efforts of four fringe crazies from Kansas, Friday's funeral for Sgt. Randy Matheny was what it should have been. It was a time for family, friends and the community to mourn and honor a hometown boy who gave his life in the service of his country...

The boss releases the brakes; I recheck the throttles wide open. Air speed 100, lift the nose, attain a positive rate of climb, retract the landing gear, yaw dampener on, climbing at 120 and within seconds visibility is zero in clouds. Our brains command us to pitch nose down but we disregard the sensation because training taught that forward acceleration confuses the balance system in our inner ear. ...

Friday should have been a solemn day for the people of McCook. Sgt. Randy Matheny was memorialized at the City Memorial Auditorium for having lost his life in the service of his country. Unfortunately and tragically, this memorial was upstaged and overshadowed by the antics of four fools and demagogues in the persons of Pastor Fred Phelps and three others, coming to McCook from their home in Topeka, Kan., where he is the pastor and leader of the independent Westboro Baptist Church...

War is a failure of peace. Since we pay the United Nations to keep the peace to the tune of $150 billion a year, and they failed, only out of those funds going to the United Nations, 10 million dollars should go tax-free to the families of every military person killed outside of our borders...

Almost two weeks ago, thousands of miles away in the searing Iraqi desert, the hearts and lives of Randy Matheny's family were shattered ... changed forever. "The hardest thing for a parent to do is to bury a child," Col. Rod Armon told those gathered for the funeral of Sgt. Randy Jay Matheny, a soldier from McCook killed Feb. 4 in Baghdad, Iraq, during "Operation Iraqi Freedom," in the service of his country...

GRAND ISLAND -- It was Chance Unger's night at Grand Island Northwest. Unger, a 5-foot-10 junior, was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 2.7 seconds left and cashed in all three of his free attempts to give the McCook High School varsity boys basketball team a 53-51 victory over the host Vikings...