Stories from Friday, January 14, 2005

ARAPAHOE -- The Arapahoe High School girls basketball team handed Elwood a 63-54 defeat Thursday night at Arapahoe. The Arapahoe Warrior girls improved to 8-3. Arapahoe hosts Dundy County Friday night. Abbey Breining led the Warriors with 20 points. Cheryl Braithwait added 15. Alesa Paulsen and Kelsi Ervin each scored 8...

The McCook High School freshmen boys basketball A and B teams swept Ogallala Thursday at the MHS gymnasium. The Bison A team boys won 55-46 and the B team won 53-27. Eric Rippen and Cory Gaston led the Bison A team with 13 points each. Chance Unger scored 10, Brady Dame 8 and J.D. Stone 2...

Feb. 6, 1921-Jan. 12, 2005 CURTIS -- Melvin M. Towne, 83, of Curtis, died Wednesday (Jan. 12, 2005), at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. He was born Feb. 6, 1921, north of Maywood, to William and Jessie Barry Towne. He graduated from the Nebraska School of Agriculture in Curtis in 1940. He then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for two years. He worked as a welder during World War II in Oakland, Calif., in the shipyards...

Imagine, if you can, the horrible feeling of receiving a phone call from a child watching a fire destroy her family's farm crops -- a child who has no idea where she lives. Imagine, if you can, the devastation of hearing an asthma victim on the phone, gasping for breath, unable to even tell you how to get to him...

McCook businessman Mel Welp "never knew a stranger," according to long-time friends Ron Buck and Ardie Myers. Funeral services for Welp, who owned and operated "Mel's Marine" in McCook for 50 years, were this morning. Welp was 75. Mel's nephew, Curtis Garland, of St. ...

Usually at this time of year, news articles abound with lists about the best and biggest from the previous year. In case you haven't noticed by now, we're not usual here. Instead, I have news about the biggest and best from the first two weeks of this year and I think they'll stand the test of time or at least through the end of the month...

A Cornell University professor's study didn't tell us anything new in Southwest Nebraska. David Pimental concluded that farmers need to make every effort to reduce their use of water. According to his study, published in the October issue of BioScience, agriculture uses about 70 percent of the globe's fresh water every year...

Nov. 17, 1948-Jan. 12, 2005 Janice M. Renfro, 56, of Silver Lake, KS., died Tuesday, Jan. 12, 20205, at her home from brain cancer. She was born Nov. 17, 1948, in Hastings, the daughter of Kenneth Lytle and Evelyn Knosp Lytle. She graduated from Seaman High School in 1966...

July 9, 1911-Jan. 13, 2005 Ella Peterson, 93, died Thursday (Jan. 13, 2005) at Decatur County Good Samaritan Center in Oberlin. She was born July 9, 1911, to Oliver and Esther (Lundquist) Johnson in Lund, a community of Decatur County. She was raised on a farm in Lund and attended Swede Home School...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Kay Loren Reeves, 79, died Wednesday (Jan. 12, 2005) at the Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo. Services are Monday, 10 a.m., at the United Methodist Church in Atwood with the Rev. Terry McGuire officiating. Interment will be in the Atwood Fairview Cemetery with fraternal rites by the Masonic Lodge No. 164 AF and AM of Atwood and military honors by the American Legion, Sam Hubbard Post No. 46 of Atwood...

KEARNEY -- Dr. Kent P. Estes, 60, of Kearney, died Thursday (Jan. 13, 2005) at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. Services are Tuesday, 10:30 a.m., at First Baptist Church in Kearney with the Rev. Stan Murdoch will officiate. Interment will be in the Kearney Cemetery...

After falling behind early, the McCook boys basketball team couldn't close the gap against Class A North Platte. The Bison were handed a 74-44 loss at the hands of North Platte on Friday at the McCook Sr High Gymnasium. McCook and North Platte traded buckets early in the first quarter, leading to an early 7-7 tie...

ELWOOD -- Helped out by a team shooting percentage advantage of 47 percent to 25 percent in the first half, Arapahoe rolled to a convincing 67-49 victory over the Elwood Pirates. Arapahoe jumped all over Elwood from the opening tip, ending the first quarter with a 19-7 lead...

The McCook High School freshmen girls basketball team blasted Ogallala 53-34 Thursday at the MHS gym. The Bison were paced by Lindsay Hazlitt, who scored 10 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and added 4 steals. Austin Wilson had 7 points and 7 rebounds. Jessica Einspahr and Marissa Wallace each had 7 points...

They need razors and toothbrushes. They enjoy hot chocolate mix and hard candy. Some of them want Ramen noodles and some of them enjoy homebaked cookies. But when it comes to sending goodies to the troops stationed in Iraq, who would have thought of sending them ball caps and socks?...

Dec. 2, 1921-Jan. 14, 2005 John Eckhardt, 83, died Friday (Jan. 14, 2005) at Community Hospital of McCook. He was born Dec. 2, 1921, to Jacob and Katie (Heinbigner) Eckhardt in McCook. In 1926, the family moved to a farm near Culbertson where he grew up and graduated from Culbertson High School in 1938...

Jan. 8, 1923-Jan.13, 2005 Beatrice "Betty" Jean Burns died Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005, at McCook Community Hospital. She was 82 years old. Betty was born on Jan. 8, 1923, at Waterloo, Iowa, to James R. and Marguerite (Anderson) McMullen. She graduated from St. Mary High School in Waterloo and attended Loretta Heights College in Denver, Colo...