Stories from Friday, June 20, 2003

HASTINGS -- Republican Valley graduate Blake Shuler is a member of the West Team at the 26th annual Sertoma Eight-Man All-Star football game Saturday. The game kicks off at 1:30 p.m. at Lloyd Wilson Field-Osborne Family Complex on the Hastings College campus...

George Allen Lee, 83, died Thursday (June 19, 2003) at the Veteran's Hospital in Omaha. He was born Oct. 7, 1919, at Madrid, to Emery and Sadie Frances (Shuler) Lee. At the age of four, he and his family moved to Ogallala where he attended school. He worked for his father on the family farm and also helped work on the Kingsley Dam at Lake McConaughey. While living in Ogallala he managed the Veterans of Foreign Wars Club for a year...

Thanks to you, Van Stevens, Dennis Cain and the Work Ethic Camp workers for the well-maintained and manicured cemeteries this year. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and a deserved pat on the back goes to each of you. Also, thanks to Janet Fletcher and Mary Lou Drake for the directory, as many people are making use of it this year...

Starting this month -- a referendum petition is being circulated to call a special election. The question which the petition asks be placed before McCook voters is this: "Shall the City of McCook rescind the contracts for engineering services, not to exceed $682,000, incident to design and construction of a well field north of McCook, not including costs of testing, construction, or land acquisition."...

Studies have proven that people learn easier and quicker when they are young, because a child's brain is wired to constantly learn. I have a second theory that involves not only the desire to learn but the lack of fear found in most children. If you omit the monsters in the closet and the bogeymen under the bed, many children don't have a shred of fear in them...

HAMPTON, Mass. -- Sean and Melissa Gore announce the birth of a son, Bryce Collin, born Friday (April 4, 2003). Grandparents are Gene and Penny Nelson and Lynn Gore of Aurora, Colo., and Roger Gore of Springfield, Mass. Great-grandparents are James and Phyllis Ratzlaff of Wichita, Kan., and Leona Nelson of McCook...

FARNAM -- Donnie Kay Farr, 32, died Wednesday (June 18, 2003) as the result of a farm accident in Frontier County. She was born July 15, 1970, in Gothenburg, to Timothy and Mary F. (Lindsay) Axthelm. She graduated from North Platte High School in 1988. She received her degree as a licensed practical nurse from Mid-Plains Community College. She worked for a short time at the Sunset Haven Nursing Home in Curtis...

OMAHA -- Southwest Nebraska farm owners will receive 2003 Pioneer Farm Family awards presented by the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben and the Nebraska Fair Managers Association. Harvey Cole of Curtis, Elmer and Leola Alberts of Palisade, Donald and Phyllis Hanson of Smithfield and Ervin and Beata Petermann of Arapahoe are among 194 honorees whose families have owned parcels of land consecutively for at least 100 years...

Southwest Nebraska irrigators will learn more about the impact of the settlement of the Kansas-Nebraska Republican River lawsuit on their farming operations during public hearings Tuesday in Imperial and McCook. The hearing in Imperial starts at 9 a.m. MDT at Chase County High School. The McCook hearing is scheduled at 3 p.m. CDT, in the community building on the fairgrounds...

A wasp explores a Japanese iris in a McCook yard, an example of the abundant blooms bursting forth in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas. Vegetation of all types, from lawns and flowers to wheat fields, corn and grassland, are thriving thanks to recent rains after three long years of drought...

HERNDON -- The ornery, lopsided grin and the sparkling blue eyes. The infectious giggle that blossoms into a full-blown, toss-your-head-back belly laugh. Her love for her family, and her unfailing faith in God. The arms that reach out to hug the whole world...

Citing the philosophy that McCook citizens should act as watchdogs for the community, three McCook men are circulating a referendum petition to allow voters to block the McCook City Council from continuing with its plans to develop a new water well field...

Leigh Hoyt won the closest to the pin competition on the 15th hole and Dr. William Graves was the long drive champion on the eighth hole at the Howard Kool Motors Buick Challenge last Sunday at Heritage Hills Golf Course. Both received a free golf bag for winning the titles...

The McCook Rebels 14 and under girls fastpitch softball team swept a doubleheader from the Lexington Storm Wednesday night at Jaycees Sports Complex. The Rebels won the first game 5-1 and the second game 12-4. In the first game, Kirstie Hiatt pitched a no-hitter with three strikeouts and one walk...

NEBRASKA Sports Information LINCOLN -- Seventy-five Nebraska track and field athletes earned honors on the 2003 Big 12 Commissioner's Spring Honor Roll by earning grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher. McCook freshman high jumper Aaron Plas is one of the honorees...

The McCook Rebels 18 and under fastpitch softball team defeated the North Platte Belles 1-0 and the North Platte Twisters 14-4 Thursday at Jaycees Sports Complex. The Belles are an 18 and under team and the Twisters are a 16 and under squad. In the victory over the Belles, Erica Reitz and Lisa Friehe each hit two singles. Melissa Ankersen, Kaitlin Powell and Lindsay Dame each hit a single...

The McCook National Bank Seniors defeated the Imperial Seniors 13-3 Thursday night at the Jaycees Sports Complex in McCook. The McCook American Legion Juniors also defeated Imperial's Juniors by the same score. MNB coach Tye Hallowell started Jeff Holthus on the mound. He picked up his third win on the year...

Robert Bosley, 78, died Friday (June 20, 2003) at Community Hospital of McCook. He was born March 14, 1925, in Palisade, to Charles M. and Verna (Gruver) Bosley. He grew up at Palisade and graduated from Palisade High School in 1942. He attended the University of Nebraska before entering the U.S. ...