Stories from Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Following three hours of discussion and a wide variety of ideas and suggestions, the McCook Water Advisory Committee voted to recommend treatment of the current water well-field as the best way to address McCook's long-term water woes. Members of the committee were give an opportunity to voice their concerns and their opinions on the solutions proposed throughout the last 18 months...

It doesn't look good for McCook Community College. Despite strong appeals from alumni and friends to restore the McCook Community College title, the interim president of the Mid-Plains Community College Area is recommending that the name of both the college and the area be changed...

The Museum of the High Plains Historical Society is featuring historical musical instruments during the month of October. The display includes the organ from the Fox Theater. This organ was able to produce various sounds during the showing of motion pictures such as horses trotting and so on. There are also pianos, organs and a piano-organ. The piano-organ works like an organ and sounds like an organ, but all the components fit in the body size of a regular piano...

Hundreds of people roamed the Decatur County Fairgrounds Oct. 5-6 for the 22nd Annual Mini Sappa Antique Thresher and Engine Show. Fifty-seven tractors and 45 cars were entered in the show, as well as 37 stationary machines, four mowers, two miscellaneous pieces of equipment and two teams of horses. This provided 19 more exhibits over last year...

The McCook Public Schools board of education late Tuesday afternoon approved a negotiated agreement with the McCook Education Association that increases teachers' base salary and insurance deductibles. Board members also reworded the district's policy regarding student trips and pondered the value of student activities passes...

LINCOLN -- Long-time McCook business and civic leader Ben F. Hormel, 88, died Tuesday at Bickford Cottage in Lincoln. Born Jan. 19, 1914 in Austin, Minn., Hormel received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937, and served in the U.S. Navy Reserves at the end of World War II...

Red Willow County commissioners purchased a New Holland road grader Tuesday afternoon, saving up to $48,559 over other bids and $56,859 off the $155,000 they budgeted for a new grader. Bids were received from: MURPHY EQUIPMENT, North Platte: - 2002 770CH Series II grader, $158,257; less trade-in (a 1988 John Deere grader) of $25,847; for a total of $132,410...

LINCOLN -- Felony manslaughter charges filed against a rural Wauneta man in the death of his father have been dropped. Ron Moravic of Lincoln, an attorney with Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenburg's office, said Tuesday afternoon the investigation into the death of Mardelle Dixon of rural Benkelman has been terminated, and charges against Dixon's son, Brad K., have been dropped...

A deer skull, leaning against a log in the Republican River valley near Benkelman, still sports a rack of antlers which would make any hunter proud. Hunters will have their chance at a good supply of live deer during next month's deer season.

North Platte -- Mid-Plains Community College governors will grapple with the name controversy at a work session today in North Platte. The work session, which will include no action on any issues, is set for the First National Bank, 201 N. Dewey in North Platte at 5:30 p.m...

My husband's father, Archie, was a long-distance truck driver. He leased his Kenworth cabover to Bekins Van Lines and made a comfortable, albeit lonely, living for himself and his family. From the time Danny was about five until the year his dad died, they would spend each summer on the road together with Danny safely ensconced in the sleeper, peeking through the seats down the highways and byways of the United States. ...

Evelyn B. Bunnell, 69, died Tuesday (Oct. 1, 2002) at Community Hospital of McCook. She was born Nov. 9, 1932, in Butler County, Mo., to Gifford and Opal (Rae) Hurt. She grew up at Adrian, Mo., where she attended high school. On April 30, 1949, she married Clinton Brown at Wauneta. They farmed at Wauneta until his death...

Florence J. Hedges, 82, died Monday (Oct. 14, 2002) at Community Hospital of McCook. She was born May 2, 1920, at North Loup to Thomas John and Ethel Mae (Clement) Hamer. She graduated from North Loup High School in 1937. She graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1942. She began teaching at Sargent...

BEAVER CITY -- Jean Bauer, 93, died Sunday, (Oct. 13, 2002) at the Beaver City Manor. She was born Feb. 16, 1909, at Beaver City to Earl E. and Selina (Smith) Hopping. She graduated from Beaver City High School with the class of 1927. Following graduation, she taught at County School at Edison. The following four years she attended and graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She then taught at Mullen and North Platte...

Justin Eric Peterson, 22, died Monday, (October 14, 2002) at Bryan LGH West in Lincoln. He was born Aug. 9, 1980, to Daniel E. and Cynthia M. (Crawford) Peterson in McCook. He graduated from McCook High School in 1998. He was a manager at the McCook Pizza Hut...