Stories from Friday, June 6, 2003

HOLDREGE and COZAD -- McCook National Bank American Legion Seniors baseball coach Tye Hallowell must be salivating over his mound corps' potential. Matt Beckenhauer pitched a five-hit shutout Wednesday night at Holdrege as the Seniors blanked Holdrege 4-0...

Bernard J. "Rusty" Schilz, 83, died Thursday (June 5, 2003) at Community Hospital of McCook. He was born Sept. 9, 1919, at McCook, to Jacob Anthony and Nellie Edith (Spurgin) Schilz. He grew up on a farm in Red Willow County. He went to Zion Hill School and attended Parochial school in McCook...

Sometimes it's a good idea to give yourself some time before deciding on the worth of an experience. Sometimes, as a friend once wrote in a song, it's best to "make the heart look back with eyes grown cold." So, it has been a week since my trip to western Nebraska in general and to McCook in particular, and to the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival...

In the past few weeks, residents of this region have learned that a software project with breakthrough potential is poised to come to McCook. We began to sense something big was on the horizon upon hearing the name of the company spearheading the project. It's 21st Century Systems, a firm which started in New York, and is home-based in Omaha. The firm also has offices in Washington, D.C.; Bremerton, Wash.; and Honolulu, Hawaii...

There are the haves and have-nots; the smokers and non-smokers, the cooked seafood eaters and the keep-that-stuff-away-from-me uncooked seafood people. Add to that list campers and non-campers. My husband was someone who rarely spent the night out under the stars, while the best sleep I get is dozing to the quiet rustle of cottonwood leaves and the soft patter of rain on the tent...

Only a year has passed, but the links-style Heritage Hills Golf Course in McCook is playing vastly different than it did during the 2002 John Mullen Pro-Am. "It's scary this year," said Course Superintendent Bill Bieck, who has watched the native grasses explode in the course's rough areas. "Except for when the course first opened in 1980 and 1981, this is the most severe the rough has ever been," Bieck said...

With rain-laden clouds floating overhead, a farmer discs a field on the Nebraska-Kansas border south of Trenton. Although most of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas remains in drought conditions, rain and cooler spring conditions are a vast improvement over the past few years. More rain was forecast for tonight and Saturday...

Once it is bronzed, this dramatic interpretation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, by sculptor Sondra Jonson of Cambridge, will hang at Immaculate Conception Church in Perry, Fla. The pastor of the church is the Rev. Francis Bagan, whose brother, Jerry, lives in McCook...

The Nebraska Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee honored two Red Willow County sheriff's deputies during its annual conference May 22. Lt. Alan Kotschwar and Sgt. Burke Curl received two of the seven awards presented to law enforcement officers for "advancing justice and cooperation in Nebraska law enforcement."...

The city of McCook will receive a $100,000 grant from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality's Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grants Program. According to City Manager John Bingham, the funds will be used to help finance the construction of a new building that will house the city's transfer station and recycling center...

Cindy Wilcox's sixth grade class at Central Elementary in McCook gather on the front porch of Maxine and Pat Ele, who live across the street northwest of Central. The class named the Eles "good neighbors" and presented them with a gift certificate to Sehnert's Bieroc Cafe. ...

TRENTON -- Something positive came of drug money and illicit property when drug funds from Hitchcock and Chase counties purchased a bite-resistant dog training suit for the Nebraska State Patrol. The $1,634 bite suit was presented Wednesday by members of the two counties' Drug Law Enforcement and Education Fund boards...

TRENTON -- Trenton ethanol plant supporters encourage the public to attend groundbreaking ceremonies for the new 30-million gallon plant Tuesday, June 17. Corporate sponsors and state officials will attend the ceremony scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the plant location east of Trenton on the south side of Highway 34...

We are all a bunch of big stinkin' cheaters. I think that qualifies as a sweeping generalization. Here is the reason why: Since we are all born to die, we cheat death every day by living. It's getting deep in here. So in the vast scheme that is life, what Chicago Cubs' slugger Sammy Sosa did by corking his bat is small potatoes. It is but a teaspoon of spit in the ocean...

OMAHA WORLD HERALD SPORTS OMAHA -- Finalists for the Omaha World Herald Nebraska high school athlete of the year awards were announced this week. Cambridge High School standout Christina Houghtelling was named as one of the finalists. The winners will be announced Sunday in the World Herald sports section...

WAUNETA -- Wayne Morehead, 47, of rural Wauneta, died Wednesday (June 4, 2003) as the result of a two-vehicle accident in rural Hayes County. He was born March 3, 1956, in Grant, to Maynard and Ruth (Hahn) Morehead. He grew up in rural Hayes County, attending school in Hayes Center and later Wauneta High School where he graduated in 1974...