Stories from Monday, March 4, 2002

Rylee June Ogg and Jeremy Allen Shaw of McCook announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Sid and Teresa Peterson of Bushnell and Gene and Linda Shaw of Hastings. The bride-to-be is employed at Farm Credit Services of America and the prospective bridegroom is employed at W Design Associates. The couple is planning an April 27 ceremony at St. Cecilia's Catholic Church in Hastings...

The family of Tony and Lavone Rozmiarek are hosting a card shower in honor of the couples 25th anniversary, on March 2. Cards of congratulations can reach the couple at HC 30, McCook, NE 69001.

Jody McFarland of Lincoln and Travis Lawson of Portland, Ore., announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Robert and Roselyn McFarland of Maxwell and Gaylord and Deb Lawson of Hayes Center. The bride-to-be is a 1998 graduate of North Platte High School and is currently attending the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and majoring in business administration. ...

Marla Earlley of Wilsonville and Dan Brown of Beaver City announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Elden and Marianne Earlley of Wilsonville and David and Nancy Brown of Beaver City. The bride-to-be is a 1997 graduated from Southern Valley High School and received her associate of arts degree from McCook Community College in 1999. ...

Lisa Hale of Hicksville, Ohio, and Troy Schade of Denison, Texas, announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are June Hale and the late James Hale of Hicksville, and Donald and Bernadine Schade of Grand Island. The bride-to-be is a graduate of Fairview High School in Sherwood, Ohio and is employed as the office manager at Britenriker Construction in Stryker, Ohio. ...

Connie Jo Discoe and John G. Brown of McCook and Barbara J. and Dale D. Bird of Hastings announce the engagement and upcoming wedding of their children, Shannon Diane and Craig Alan. Shannon studies auto body technology at Central Community College in Hastings and will graduate in May. Craig is a mechanic and front end alignment specialist at Firestone C&F in Hastings. The couple plans a June 15 wedding in Hastings...

I don't know how many of you watch Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO but if you don't, you should. Whether you're a sports enthusiast or not, Gumbel's team of reporters produce stories beyond the actual sport itself that deals with the human condition, and that affects all of us...

The first advertisement in a summer series sponsored by Schmidt's City Club beer appeared in the McCook Daily Gazette June 3, 1942. It was being reintroduced to the region through the distribution of Stevens-Dr. Pepper Co. in McCook, located in the building just south of the present J.C. Penney store...

BROKEN BOW -- Dale Henry Young, 89, died Saturday (March 2, 2002) at the Jennie Melham Memorial Hospital in Broken Bow. He was born Oct. 12, 1912, to George Almer and Flora (Ford) Young at their home north of the Lillian Church. He graduated from Gates school in 1930...

BENKELMAN -- David Harvey Hofer, 67, died Sunday (March 03, 2002) at the Dundy County Hospital in Benkelman. He was born April 19, 1934, to Harvey and Alice (Bunning) Hofer in Pine River, Minn.  He attended a rural school east of Benkelman, and graduated from high school at the Platte Valley Church School in Shelton in 1952...

CULBERTSON -- Kenneth D. Ruppert, 80, died Sunday (March 3, 2002) at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge. He was born June 20, 1021 to Earl and Florence (Bussard) Ruppert in the Quick Community in Frontier County. He graduated from Curtis High School and the University of Nebraska School of Agriculture at Curtis...

LARAMIE, Wyo. --  Arthur A. Lauer, fondly known as "Archie", died at age 81, Feb.19, 2002, at his son's home at Laramie, Wyo., with his wife, Rema, and his family by his side. Archie was the youngest of 15 children. He was born to Edward and Magdeline (Vollmer) Lauer, April 26, 1920, at Merna, Neb. ...

Recently there was a story in the paper about The Tennessee Valley Authority awarding a contract worth some $100 million to Valmont lndustries. It was very satisfying, to see the TVA, the brainchild of Nebraska's George Norris, supporting a Nebraska in-dustry, to supply vital steel electrical transmission poles. These TVA transmission poles are tall, standing 120 feet in the air...

Let's hear it for the snow! No, we don't especially enjoy the hard work it takes to clear our sidewalks, nor do we like the slippery streets and highways that make travel dangerous or impossible. But no one can say we don't appreciate the moisture...

On Mike Hendricks and dodge ball: I just want to say physical education has changed, even in the last 20 years. Now P.E. is just what it stands for. Physical education is exactly what teachers are striving for; physical participation that is equal for all students. In dodge ball, if you're the last one chosen or the first one out, you don't get the physical exercise that everyone else does...

Hey, the light bulb just came on. Now I know why the Legislature doesn't want to raise sales or property taxes -- because it's an election year. Wait until after next year's budget is prepared -- We'll be hit with a double whammy in our property taxes and sales taxes to make up for their shortfalls...

If the Legislature gets the cigarette tax through, that's fine. But don't think for one little minute that the Legislature won't come right back around and say we've got to raise property taxes or sales taxes (with Johann's push), because the cigarette smoke tax (excuse the pun) went up in smoke...

Contrary to what the owner of Buddy said in court, he was in fine shape and running the neighborhood when she said he was in bad shape. He was running the neighborhood when he first arrived at her home.

Dear Editor, Congratulations to the McCook Community College mens basketball team for winning the conference and sub-region during the regular season. We will sure miss the sophomores and our coach, Lance Creech. Good luck to all of them and the ladies team members who will be leaving us. I really enjoyed the sophomore player sendoff after the last home game and hope it becomes a tradition...

Dear Editor, Friends, McCookites, countrymen, lend me your ears. The high volume of forum letters regarding the race track is a fact. The huge variety of opinion is deafening. But only sound reasoning will produce any conclusion. This requires philosophical training. Everything is a matter of personal taste. What is proper to one person may be wrong to another. Who is to say? I like oranges, another prefers apples...

It took until the last day to complete the field, but McCook and Red Willow County finally have a selection of candidates for both the City Council and County Commission races. Seven candidates filed for openings in both contests. One of the most hotly contested races in years is developing on the county level, where Earl McNutt, the incumbent, and Dean Geihsler, have filed for the Republican nomination in District 1, and Wayne Stewart, a former commissioner, has filed as a Democratic candidate...

CAMBRIDGE -- Ervin Nelson Lang died Saturday (March 2, 2002) at the Cambridge Manor. He was born June 14, 1913, near Holstein, to Niels and Sine (Holtze) Lang. When he was two years old the family returned to the farm, southeast of Wilsonville. His parents were born in Denmark and the family grew up speaking Danish and English. He graduated from the eighth grade at the Good Hope Country School where all the children, two boys and six girls, attended school and Sunday school...