Stories from Thursday, February 5, 2004

McCook sporting events rescheduled The McCook High Shool varsity and junior varsity basketball games at Gothenburg have been rescheduled for Saturday because of the heavy snow. The Bison varsity and JV boys games had already been slated for Saturday...

Greetings to all. What an exciting week. The Patriots won the Super Bowl on a game winning field goal. Shaquille O'Neal defeated LeBron James in their first NBA matchup. The Super Tuesday primaries were very revealing. Maybe not as revealing as say, Janet Jackson, but how about that John Kerry!...

ALMA -- James R. Harper, 77, of Beaver City, died Wednesday (Jan. 28, 2004) at Harlan County Hospital of Alma. He was born Dec. 28, 1926, in Beaver City to Leo and Mabel (Thompson) Harper. He grew up in Beaver City and graduated with the class of 1944 from Beaver City High School...

MAYWOOD -- Josephine Schmelzer, 91, died Wednesday (Feb. 4, 2004) at her home in rural Maywood. She was born June 5, 1912, to John Henry and Wilhelmenia Dorothea Henerika Emma (Duhrkopf) Schmelzer in Hayes County near White. She attended school at District No. ...

INDIANOLA -- Pauline B. Fossen, 83, died Tuesday (Feb. 3, 2004) at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook. She was born March 30, 1920, to John and Anna (Lalley) Stritt in Indianola. She graduated from Indianola High School in 1936 and attended Kearney State Teachers College. She taught in Red Willow rural schools for many years. She also worked in the prisoner of war camps...

The snowy weather Wednesday morning did not deter fans of the McCook United Way and its benefit agencies from participating in the first ever United Way Super Market Sweep. Agency representatives, spectators, Wal-Mart employees and United Way board members gathered at the McCook Super Wal-Mart for an abridged version of "Super Market Sweep" the tie-breaker for the United Way incentive package winners...

Red Willow County Clerk Pauletta Gerver said Wednesday three officials in McCook and Red Willow County have filed for re-election. Incumbents have until Feb. 17 to file for office, while others have until March 1. Gerver said there hasn't been much activity in the clerk's office by incumbents or prospective candidates for the primary election May 11...

Local supporters of Class I schools attended legislative hearings this week on a proposed bill that could possibly close rural schools. Ron Fritz, Virgina Brown, and Stacey Matson joined an estimated crowd of 200 at the State Capitol on Tuesday, in opposition to bill LB1048, which would give the decision to close Class I schools to the affiliated K-12 school system...

As the Golden Plains digs out from the gloriously wet mid-winter snowstorm, let's take a tour through the pages of the area's weekly newspapers. So what's happening as 2004 rolls into the second month? Chris Cagle coming to Chase Fair Let's start with Chase County, which has announced that the headline performer for the 2004 Chase County Fair will be Chris Cagle. He will be appearing Friday night, Aug. 20, in front of the large grandstand at the fairgrounds in Imperial...

A Legislative Bill, 1025, coming up on the agenda for the Revenue Committee of the Nebraska Legislature would increase sales taxes on several services. One of the services included in the list is lobbying -- which could be a great break for Nebraska taxpayers...

**Dear Editor, You own the land to the middle of the road next to your property. So when it snows, take the snow blower and start in the middle of the road and blow all the snow working back to your yard. White hard water is still moisture and every flake counts. Snow fences and screens found in the trash dumpsters can hang onto snow and make drifts instead of letting this asset go. Water is too important not to be a sport...

**Dear Editor, Since we haven't found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq yet, a lot of the anti-war, anti-Bush crowd is claiming that the Bush administration lied about Iraq's WMD. They story being floated around now is that Saddam had no WMD (or almost none) and that the Bush administration didn't tell the the truth about the WMD threat...