Stories from Tuesday, August 7, 2007

OAKU, Hawaii -- McKenzie Messersmith recently competed in the 10th annual Hawaii Classic Volleyball Tournament in Oaku, Hawaii. She was selected to play in the tournament by Craig Songster of Utica. While playing, Messersmith was selected by her coach and other teammates to compete in the setter competition where she was 10 for 10 in back-setting and 9 of 10 in front setting. She won first place for her efforts...

Dec. 31, 1911-Aug. 3, 2007 WILSONVILLE -- Robert Lyle Harding, 95, died Friday (Aug. 3, 2007), at Beaver City Assisted Living in Beaver City. He was born Dec. 31, 1911, on a farm northwest of Wilsonville to Edward and Maude (McComb) Harding. He graduated from Wilsonville High School in 1930...

July 11, 1930-Aug. 5, 2007 OBERLIN -- Bonnie Wurm, 77, died Sunday (Aug. 5, 2007), at Decatur County Hospital in Oberlin. She was born July 11, 1930, at Prairie View, Kan., to Bert and Nellie (DeYoung) VanDeWege. She was raised on a Prairie View farm and attended Prairie View country schools and Almena High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in education at Fort Hays State University...

April 25, 1937-Aug. 5, 2007 ARAPAHOE -- Verna Fae Stagemeyer, 70, died Sunday (Aug. 5, 2007) at Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge. She was born April 25, 1937, in Gosper County, to Charles and Louise (Silbermann) Rader. She grew up in Gosper County and attended Arapahoe High School, graduating with the class of 1955...

Obituary Harold A. Blume April 16, 1926-May 31, 2007 Harold A. Blume died Thursday, May 31, 2007, at his home in Indianola. He was 81 years old. Harold was born on April 16, 1926, at Slaton, Texas, to Theodore J. and Elizabeth (Kitten) Blume. He moved to Nebraska at an early age with his family...

Farming is expensive in Nebraska, according to a national report, but at least one state official wonders if it's really as bad as a recent study indicates. The study, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, said Nebraska production costs per farm were up 9 percent from 2005 to 2006, nearly $250,000 per farm. In addition, input costs like fertilizer, fuel, feed and others were more than double the national average...

Got your dark sky place picked out for the Perseid Meteor shower? The Perseids are one of the best showers of the year to observe. I recall several years ago I was attending the Nebraska Star Party in north central Nebraska when the Perseids were in full force. There were oohhs and aahhs from all over the observing field and we all temporarily forgot our eyepieces to observe the entire sky for the bright, short-lived meteors...

McCook Elementary tea-chers explained the proposed assessment system and elementary reading curriculum and a senior high teacher asked that the board retain the senior high's "seminar period," during an informative, no-comment/no-action special school board meeting Monday evening...

The city doesn't need to accumulate any extra money, a member of the public told the McCook City Council. But council members maintained that increasing the restricted funds limit by 1 percent is simply to provide a cushion in case of an emergency and voted unanimously to increase the limit from 2.5 to 3.5 percent...

The new cable television provider in the city will know where McCook is, unlike other out-of-state cable companies, promised a representative of Great Plains Television. Based in Blair, Great Plains is in negotiations with Charter Communications to take over as the cable television franchise in McCook. Council approval was needed as part of the new franchise agreement...

Pawnee Aviation owner Ron Willocks said his company brought home a number of orders for its helicopter kit, and he hopes to obtain federal permission to use a type of welding to enable him to hire a number of local welders to put it into full production...

A last-minute budget request from the McCook Police Department was approved by the McCook City Council at its regular meeting Monday night. The council voted unanimously to amend the budget to incorporate the request of $5,000 made by Police Chief Ike Brown. The amount will cover the added expense of reclassifying a patrol position to that of a supervising sergeant...