Stories from Monday, February 13, 2017

Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili hardly had the credentials of someone who would become a world leader when he was born in Gori, Georgia ((then a part of the Russian Empire) in 1878. He was the single child of a hardworking laundress. His father was an alcoholic shoemaker, who regularly beat the boy and generally made life hard for Josef and his mother. ...

J. Eldon Smith Oct. 29, 1919 - Feb. 12, 2017 OBERLIN, Kan. -- J. Eldon Smith, 97, died Sunday (Feb. 12, 2017), at Decatur Health Systems in Oberlin. He was born Oct. 29, 1919, in Oberlin to John A. and Nena M. (Jones) Smith. He graduated from Decatur County High School in 1937. He joined the U.S. Army Airforce...

Eleanor Jean Boyle July 18, 1938 - July 18, 1938 OBERLIN, Kan.. -- Eleanor Jean Boyle, 78, died Tuesday (Feb. 7, 2017), at Monroe, Wash. She was born July 18, 1938, in Iowa City, Iowa, to Glen and Jeanette (Boyde) Snyder. She lived in Bedford and Elwood, Neb., before moving to Oberlin in 2007...

A recap of Friday night boys basketball: Tigers edge Eagles BENKELMAN, Neb. -- Dundy County beat Southern Valley 61-59 with scoring 20 points in the second quarter and 18 in the third. Southern Valley's Drake Shearer scored 20 points: six three-pointers and two free throws...

Friday was a busy night for girls area basketball. Tigers stay unbeaten Southern Valley played Dundy County-Stratton. Final score was 71-48 with Dundy County in the lead. Kami Porter, a sophomore at Dundy County scored 25 points in Fridays game. She made four three-pointers, four two-pointers and five free throws...

GERING, Neb. -- McCook High's girls led streaking Gering for better than a half before the Bulldogs rallied to win 48-39. "That was a really good defensive effort," coach Scott Leisy said on his radio interview after the game. "We forced them into some bad shots, some tough shots and that goes to our defense. The kind of defense that can get you to Lincon (for the state tournament)."...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A team boasting plenty of Class B playoff power points couldn't match the McCook Bison boys Friday night. When senior Kyle Geisler powered past the Gering Bulldogs to score and make it 6-4, McCook never trailed again en route to a 62-58 East-West Shootout home victory...

Southwest's six state qualifiers won a close area race to see which school would send the most wrestlers into Omaha this week. Heavyweight champion Logan Kircher (37-9 record) led the Roughriders to third place among 18 D-1 district teams competing at Howells-Dodge High School. All results today are from trackwrestling.com...

McCOOK, Neb. -- All McCook district results from the B-4 wrestling meet in McCook's Peter & Dolores Graff Events Center: 106 pounds: Carson Richards (30-9 record) placed second, scored 18 points and qualified for state. Richards pinned P. Houser, Sidney (25-22) in 4:11; won 7-6 over T. Obermiller, Adams Central (37-14) and was pinned in :53 by A. Rojas, Lex (38-5)...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Who can say football linemen aren't fast after watching the McCook Bison clinch their state wrestling spots on Saturday? Senior Eric Langan certainly didn't let a near late hit and head-first bump into the wall both him for long. Langan lost that semifinal match to Cozad's Zeke Derr...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Project Empty Bowl has become an annual signature fundraising event for the Saint Patrick School Art Program. The premise of the Empty Bowls Project is simple, the 6th, 7th and 8th Grade students at Saint Patrick's work together to create a variety of handcrafted pottery bowls or glass art pieces...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The base salary for teachers at the McCook School District will increase by $450, under a the negotiated agreement up for approval tonight at the regular McCook Board of Education meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the junior high conference room...

California officials have their fingers crossed as they keep an eye on the nation's highest dam, where erosion damaged one spillway and threatened to wash out an emergency spillway, sending a 30-foot wall of water toward the homes of at least 188,000 people...