Stories from Thursday, May 3, 2007

OMAHA -- University of Nebraska at Omaha head women's basketball coach Patty Patton Shearer announced Wednesday that six junior college players have signed national letters of intent to attend UNO next fall and play for the Mavericks. "This group is a very gifted and competitive group of young women," Shearer said...

GOTHENBURG -- The McCook Community College men's golf team finished the 2006-07 season with a 10th-place finish at the NJCAA Division I District III Championship. The 54-hole tournament took place Monday and Tuesday on the par-72 Wild Horse Golf Club in Gothenburg...

McCook Community College catcher Tyler Johnson signed a letter of intent to play baseball next year at Division I Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Va. Johnson, a product of Laramie Wyoming, said he took a recruiting visit to Virginia over the Christmas break and is excited for the opportunity to not only receive the offer to play Division I baseball, but to play right away next year...

OBERLIN -- Decatur Community (Oberlin) hosted several Kansas teams in the Oberlin invitational Wednesday. Oberlin's girls won the event and the boys were seventh. Norton's girls took second, Rawlins County finished third and Oakley was fourth. St. Francis ended the day in sixth behind Smith Center and Hoxie was ninth...

COZAD -- Eustis-Farnam's golfers competed in the Cozad invitational Monday. "The boys golf team had a good experience participating in the Cozad invite," said Knights Coach Bobby Johnson. "It gave them an opportunity to compare their talents to some other beginning golfers...

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- St. Cloud State University junior golfer Bobby Gaulke will compete for the Huskies in the 2007 NCAA Division II Super Regional May 6-9 at the Fox Hollow Golf Course in Lakewood, Colo. This is the fourth straight year that SCSU has qualified for the NCAA tournament and fourth in the history of the program...

NORTH PLATTE -- The Rebels traveled to North Platte for the first tournament of the season to take first place. Saturday in pool play the Rebels ended up with one tie, one win and one loss to end up with third seed for the tournament. Sunday the Rebels won their first game to advance to the championship game to capture the win and take first...

Execution in Nebraska needs to be eliminated or modified, constituents told Sen. Mark Christensen today at the Chamber Legislative conference call. Christensen said some senators "behind the scenes" have discussed changing the execution method to lethal injection, but no one this session has sponsored a bill about this. The two bills introduced this year, asked to repeal the death penalty and to make it harder to implement, failed to advance...

Water from the rains two weeks ago is still standing in McCook's Barnett Park, leaving some of the playground equipment unusable -- at least for children who want to remain dry.

We overcame the odds to establish a thriving community on the Plains where hundreds of others failed. We survived the Depression and Dust Bowl years, recovered from the Flood of 1935 and more than did our part during World War II. We made it through the turbulent 1960s, the oil booms and busts, plus bad times and good in the farm economy...

The Legislature adopted a long and ponderous process May 1 to establish a Class I school. (LB 658) If that bill stands as the answer to the 2006 statewide referendum and repeal of the law that dissolved the 200 Class I districts, it is a sham. It kills local elementary education and grassroots influence of education for which Nebraska is noted and respected. And, it scoffs at the voters...

Congratulations to the McCook High School Band and Mrs. Priebe for earning a superior rating at District Music Contest. And, thanks to the young musicians who have stuck with the program. A very small Class A band with a very unbalanced instrumentation had to play very well to earn that rating. ...

I've lived here 51 years. I don't know Dick C. Trail. Most of my thoughts and feelings were previously expressed in Gloria Masoner and Kirt Matson's letters. I still have questions, like, when did God die and leave Dick C. Trail in charge of judging my customers? I've been there three years; can't remember him coming in to visit with people. Who is Dick C. Trail? And please come and have a nice cold lemonade with us ... unless Dick, the middle initial stands for "chicken" .....

Jess Wolf's recent letter to the editor (4-19) contending that federal assistance to combat the dropout crisis "no longer exists" is -- there's no other way to say it -- simply misleading. We know that dropouts often fall behind academically at a young age. So President Bush has proposed investing nearly $25 billion -- a 41 percent increase since 2001 -- in the No Child Left Behind Act to ensure that all young students (grades 3-8) can read and do math at grade level or better...

Like most parents with graduating seniors, I have been thinking about Jeremy's graduation for the last month or so. All the invitations have been sent, plans are made for the after-graduation reception and, it seems, in less than two weeks, my youngest son will be graduating high school, no matter how hard I try to postpone the in-evitable...

Sept. 18, 1928 - May 1, 2007 ARAPAHOE?-- James Floyd Ziems, 79, died Tuesday (May 1, 2007) at his home in Arapahoe. He was born on Sept. 18, 1928, at Elwood to Henry and Mary (Graf) Ziems. He was raised on a farm near Elwood. In 1952, he entered the U.S. Army and served until 1954. After his military service, he moved to Arapahoe. He worked as an auto mechanic and bridge construction worker for several years. He also worked at the Arapahoe Co-op Elevator...

March 7, 1916 - May 1, 2007 IMPERIAL -- Ethel Mae Mueller, 91, died Tuesday (May 1, 2007) at Imperial Manor Nursing Home. She was born March 7, 1916, in Richardson County, to Worthy and Nellie (Crouch) Bacon. She attended Pleasant Valley Country School southwest of Dawson...

Sept. 13, 1911 - May 1, 2007 Charles Irven Groves died Tuesday (May 1, 2007) at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook, at the age of 95. He was born Sept.13, 1911, in Frontier County, the son of the late Fred and Carrie (Anderson) Groves. He grew up in the Quick Community in Frontier County and graduated from District 91 rural school. He began farming on the family farm where he also raised livestock...