Stories from Thursday, February 3, 2005

Jan. 19, 1961-Jan. 29, 2005 ATWOOD -- Williams C. "Bill" Weishapl, 44, died Saturday (Jan. 29, 2005) at his home of natural causes. He was born Jan. 19, 1961, to Linus and Rosemary (Simminger) Weishapl. He graduated from Atwood High School in 1979. In 1984, he enlisted in the U. ...

Feb. 5, 1920-Feb. 1, 2005 BENKELMAN -- Margurete B. Donohue, 84, died Tuesday (Feb. 1, 2005) at Sarah Ann Hester Memorial Home in Benkelman. She was born Feb. 5, 1920, in Dundy County to Fay and Della (Gagnon) Louch and attended school near her home...

McCook school board member Jim Coady remains concerned about a proposed law that would take junk food out of schools. "If you pass LB285, you need to add an amendment that will allow no more than one Happy Meal per child, per family, per week and one that will require adult supervision of anyone under 21 years of age playing video games," he wryly told Sen. Tom Baker...

Employees with the City of McCook work to keep a burning pile of brush and trash under control. Crews gather rubbish from the city's three parks periodically and uses the open spaces at Barnett Park to dispose of it.

Nebraska in general and Southwest Nebraska in particular should have reason for optimism following President Bush's State of the Union address Wednesday night. With former Nebraska governor and new Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns looking on from near the front of the audience, Bush made a commitment that should be music to the local economy's ears...

**Dear Editor, I can sympathize with Kevin Dunn's concern over the ponds located at Barnett Park. There is not a soul among us who doesn't regret any loss of life. But I am a firm believer in personal responsibility. It's amazing to me that the last three incidents that I am aware of concerned adults falling through the ice...

It seems that Martha Stewart will be hosting the next season of The Apprentice. It should be an interesting reality series. The winning contestant will receive a $250,000 salary for a one-year contract. What the Associated Press news release failed to mention is whether the new apprentice will have to pay the legal fees when they learn about illegal stock trading...

Bison 9th boys fall to Holdrege HOLDREGE -- Holdredge's freshmen boys basketball teams took both the A and B games against McCook Tuesday for the boys. The final scores were 49-34 and 37-13. The McCook boys A team was led by Chance Unger who scored 11 points and was the lone player in double figures...

April 30, 1923-Feb. 1, 2005 Agnes Louise Real, 81, of McCook, died Tuesday evening (Feb. 1, 2005) at McCook Community Hospital. She was born April 30, 1923, to Milton Reed and Gladys Viola (White) Witt in Cedar Bluffs, Kan. She grew up on the family farm near Cedar Bluffs. She graduated from Decatur County High School in Oberlin in 1940 and did post graduate work in business. She then moved to Denver where she worked for the National Biscuit Company...