Stories from Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Feb. 11, 1935 - Aug. 21, 2006 BILLINGS, Mont. -- On August, 21, 2006, at the age of 71, Norm died while playing golf in Billing, Mont. He was born the son of Stephen Decatur and Velma (Keil) Sekavec on Feb. 11, 1935 in Brownell, Kan. In 1954, he was united in marriage to Rita Schreiber in Ransom, Kan. He retired from the U.S.P.S. in McCook. In 1984 they moved to Billings, where they have resided since...

July 29, 1986-Aug. 26, 2006 SIDNEY -- Mark J. Swayze, 20, died Saturday (Aug. 26, 2006) at his home in Sidney. He was born July 29, 1986, to John Swayze and Patricia A. (Myers) Swayze at Loveland, Colo..  He was raised in Sidney and graduated from Sidney High School with the Class of 2005.  He had been attending Central Community College, Hastings Campus studying Diesel Technology...

March 13, 1937-Aug. 27, 2006 Beverly Jean North, 69, died Sunday (Aug. 27, 2006) at Premier Estates Senior Living in North Platte, after a long battle with cancer. She was born March 13, 1937, to Lillian Maxine (Nelson) May at Alexis, Ill..  She graduated from Yates City (Illinois) High School in 1956. ...

A trial attorney from Lincoln, Jim Harris, will return to his hometown as the featured speaker at the 2006 Heritage Days Prayer Breakfast. The prayer breakfast, sponsored by the George W. Norris Foundation, will be Friday, Sept. 22, at the Heritage Senior Center in McCook. The event begins at 7 a.m...

Debra Petsch of P&G Excavating, McCook, runs a tractor and sheep's foot through drying mud, and her dad, Wendell Peters, dumps a load of fresh dirt on the location of new tennis courts at McCook Junior-Senior High. The new six-court complex north of the McCook YMCA will replace the three courts situated now between the junior and senior highs. ...

Smaller towns have many advantages, and one of them is the rarity of big-city problems like gangs and the graffiti they leave behind. Most residents are too proud to let spray-painted "turf" markings take over their buildings, and peer pressure eliminates the problem for most of the rest...

I got my first pair of eyeglasses in the seventh grade. My vision wasn't badly impaired; one strong eye compensated for the weaker one and I was able to navigate the world with ease. Nevertheless, the first time I saw bright, summer- green leaves with the corrective lenses in place, I was breathless. I'd had no idea the amount of detail I'd been missing with the soft focus lenses I'd been born with...