Stories from Friday, December 19, 2003

Hayes Center revenged a 47-28 loss to Rep. Valley one week ago with 40-39 win over the Mustangs in the semifinals of the Cattle Trail Invite. The Cardinals held off the Mustangs in the fourth quarter when Rep. Valley outscored Hayes Center 8-3. The Cardinals got 10 points each from Mary Gohl and Sara Richter. Kayla Laird added 8 points and Amy Cox 6 points...

ATWOOD -- Raymond Leonard Vrbas, 76, of Hays, Kan., died Wednesday (Dec. 17, 2003) at the Good Samaritan Center in Atwood. He was born Sept. 9, 1927, to Frank J. and Mary M. (Bartosovsky) Vrbas in Stratton. He attended country school at Forest Hill Grade School northwest of Atwood...

CAMBRIDGE -- Opal Belle Mousel, 92, died Thursday (Dec. 18, 2003) at Cambridge Manor in Cambridge. She was born Nov. 25, 1911, in Rankin, Okla., to Arthur and Harriet Gaines. She attended school in Cheyenne and Blackwell, Okla. She moved to Geneva with her family. She graduated from Geneva High School and later attended Peru State Teacher's College. She taught school in Rising City and McCook...

NORTH PLATTE -- Lee E. Peters, 88, died Thursday (Dec. 18, 2003) at Linden Court Care Center in North Platte. He was born Oct. 25, 1915, to Lloyd and Anna (Reiter) Peters in Indianola. He grew up on a farm north of Indianola and attended the Indianola School System...

Many of the recommendations presented to Gov. Mike Johanns Thursday by the Water Policy Task Force will have little immediate impact on the Republican River Basin. This is due to the integrated plan already in place as part of the Republican River Compact litigation settlement with Kansas...

Will Santa bring jewelry or a big screen TV this year?

Tony Larsen (right) and Richard Thiede listen to the speaker as the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture celebrates its winter commencement Thursday. Seven students left campus to either continue their education or enter the workforce. Thiede, of Springview, and Larsen, of Ericson, walked in the traditional graduation ceremony. July Bruntz of Friend, Monte Hueftle of Brady, Audrey Van Landingham of Aurora, Brian Mattison of Republican City and Aimee McClain of Almena, Kan., all graduated as well.

The city of McCook has moved forward with its plans to challenge the petition to rescind the contracts for engineers working on the city's proposed water well field. At the direction of the McCook City Council, City Attorney Daylene Bennett has filed a request for declaratory judgement in Red Willow County District Court...

Water recommendations, funding remain to be decided.

Ten items or less * For some people, they must see the fire or the smoke before they'll heed the alarms. The YMCA recently finished the installation of its new elevator. The fire alarm installer was working on it earlier this week and testing the alarms. ...

**Dear Editor, I'm ashamed to say I didn't react to this sooner. However, I was ridiculed by several people for calling the paper in the first place regarding Dudley. They said "you're just going to open a can of worms." Well, now those same people are saying "I told you so." So, regardless of them I will set the story straight...

IMPERIAL -- The Chase County-Imperial boys basketball team overcame a slow start to post an decisive 60-46 win over Yuma, Colo., at home Thursday night. The Longhorns and Yuma combined for just 11 points in the first quarter. Chase County outscored Yuma 22-10 in the second quarter and 21-13 in the third to pull out to a 48-29 lead...

OBERLIN -- Bertha Frances Brock, 105, died Thursday (Dec. 18, 2003) at Cedar Living Center in Oberlin. She was born Nov. 8, 1898 at rural Kanona, Kan., to Theodore and Mary (Pracejl) Tacha. She was raised on a farm at Prairie Dog Creek near Jennings, Kan...

Officials from Trenton Agri Products hope to have a manager in place and begin the hiring process for the ethanol plant by Jan. 15. Charles Wilson, President of Trenton Agri Products said the plant should be operational by mid-March and the company will have hired 30 employees by that time. The company will hire operation and maintenance positions, loading and unloading personnel, lab technicians and office personnel. The plant will run four shifts over a 24-hour period...

MADRID -- The Hayes Center girls defeated Wheatland 44-33 Friday night at Madrid. Information from the game was not available until today. Hayes Center outscored Wheatland 20-11 in the fourth quarter to break open a close game. Sara Richter led the voctorious Cardinals with 15 points. Mary Gohl also reached double digits with 10...