Stories from Friday, October 18, 2002

Encouraged by the success of the Work Ethic Camp concept, civic leaders in McCook are looking into the possibility of hosting a Correctional Services Conference. The purpose of the event would be to showcase the camp's positive impact and its potential for changing the behaviors of criminal offenders...

Thank God for Jessica Wang. Someone finally had enough guts to question the veracity of King George's ascension to the throne and his motive for the hurry up push toward Iraq. Long live Jessica!

Dear Editor, I am writing this not in defense of the 10/14/02 letter or in denial of the 10/15/02 letter, but to express my opinion on a couple of things. First of all, no one is condeming the fireman who gave so willingly to fight this fire. I do not know anyone who does not appreciate all they do. I do not feel that the people who have offered clothing, food, etc., are at fault at all...

No matter how you slice it, hunting is big business in Nebraska. Figures from a survey by the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies reports that nationally hunters spent nearly $31 billion dollars for hunting trips and equipment in 2001...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Chris and Crystal (Ashley) Smith of Manhattan, Kan., announce the birth of a son, Derek Owen, born Friday (Oct. 4, 2002). He weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce. Grandparents are Bill and Shirley Ashley of Culbertson and Randy and Sandy Smith of Fredonia, Kan. Great-grandparents are William and Elva Mae Boicourt and O'Neal and Wilma Smith all of Fredonia. Great-great-grandparents are Lewis and Mildred Cline of Fredonia...

OMAHA -- Cory and Amber (Bauer) Murphy of Omaha announce the birth of a son, Owen Charles, born Monday (Oct. 14, 2002). He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces. Grandparents are Jerry and Annette Bauer of McCook and Bill and Mary Murphy of Holdrege. Great-grandmother is Mae Karp of McCook...

LINCOLN -- Ryan and Jami Wilcox of McCook, announce the birth of their daughter, Kailee Nicole, Wednesday (Sept. 25, 2002) at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln. She weighed 2 pounds and 15 ounces. She has an older brother named Braden, who is 4 years-old...

Upset by plans to change the name of McCook Community College, the members of the McCook College Foundation board will meet Monday night "to consider our options." The meeting will be at Walsh-Brady Hall beginning at 7 p.m. "The name should be McCook Community College/Mid-Plains Area," said Dr. Mike Owens, president of the foundation board. "Any other title is unacceptable."...

The Kugler Co. balloon, Aerial Wizard, floats over a farm in a view from a second balloon, Independence, owned by Bob Ross of Colorado Springs, Colo., in a warmup for this weekend's Freedom Flight II. Launches are set for 8:15 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 5:30 p.m., weather permitting, at the McCook Municipal Airport. ...

It was the dry, dirty '30s on America's parched plains. Clouds of gnawing grasshoppers ... clouds of blowing dirt. "Mom and Dad were so poor, they didn't have a camera," said Royal Miller of Hastings. That explains why Royal's parents have no pictures of the house they lived in in the early 1930s -- an historic two-story log cabin hidden behind traditional house siding...

Lisa Friehe delivers a pitch against Ralston in opening round state softball action, where McCook came up on the short end, 2-1. Shortstop Jillian Bryant (right) watches the swing. Friehe pitched two more winning games, however, as the Bison defeated Lexington 7-0 and Firth-Norris 3-1. The girls were in consolation bracket action against No. 1 seed Beatrice at noon today, and the winner of that game will play the winner of the Lincoln Pius X-Ralston game...

IMPERIAL -- Wind power will be blended into Imperial utility customers' supply starting next year. The Imperial Republican reports that 65 percent of Imperial residents who returned a survey supported supplementing the community's power supply with that generated at a wind farm near Kimball...

A McCook Public Safety Center dispatcher's job well done helped find a Hitchcock County woman early this morning. "The dispatcher did an excellent job connecting information and working with the Hitchcock County Sheriff's Department to get the woman to safety," said Chief of McCook Police Ike Brown...

Once again, I missed it. The "it" this time is the point at which you switch from dreaming in awe of our future to remembering in awe about your past. I was never one to carefully plot out my future. The basics were covered -- attend college, get married, have kids, retire, go to Disney World, skydive...

I'm a Jayhawker and I'm proud of it. Every time something happened at the University of Nebraska, I had a different view of it being from Kansas. There is a tradition of consistent success with Cornhusker athletics, particularly the football program...