Stories from Friday, October 19, 2007

AMHERST -- The undefeated Cambridge Trojans football team swept Amherst 24-0 Thursday night at Amherst and will head to the Nebraska Class C-2 state playoffs next week. Cambridge, ranked fourth in Class C-2 by the Omaha World Herald, improved to 8-0...

TRENTON -- The Hitchcock County volleyball team completed an unbeaten home schedule by beating Brady 25-23, 25-7, 25-12 Thursday night. Lisa Faimon had 9 kills, 5 blocks and 4 ace serves. Ashley Garner had 10 kills and 3 blocks. Megan Cole had 4 kills, 2 blocks and 3 ace. Lexey Lewis had 12 digs and 3 ace serves...

By GENE O. MORRIS McCook Daily Gazette Thursday night will be remembered as a difference maker in McCook’s history. Thanks to the generosity of Lemoine and Geri Anderson, Don and Alice Harpst and a growing number of Founders, the McCook Community Foundation be-stowed more than $20,000 in gifts to community causes...

MAYWOOD -- Three trucks and three cars collided in dense fog north of the Maywood junction Wednes-day morning, sending five people for treatment at hospitals. A Curtis woman remains hospitalized at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. Nebraska State Patrol Sgt. ...

A Culbertson man who was pinned between a pole and a pulling unit Wednesday morning has been flown to Kearney. Steve Sughroue, 47, an employee of Berexco Inc., an oil drilling company with an office in Trenton, was working three miles outside of Trenton when the accident occurred, at about 11:30 a.m. The McCook City ambulance transported him to Community Hospital in McCook, after which he was flown to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney...

Firefighters battle a blaze that consumed a pole barn, metal farm building, hay bales and machinery on a farm about 4-1/2 miles southeast of Bartley Thursday night. Bartley Fire Chief Jim Morris preliminarily blamed the fire at the Doug Harsh farmstead on spontaneous combustion within the large square hay bales. ...

The homes of hunters start to smell of gun oil about this time every year. A successful hunt -- one that ends with a hunter's broad smile before a camera, one arm cradling his favorite shotgun and the other slung around his faithful dog, dead birds fanned out on ground before them -- depends greatly upon the care and maintenance given to a shotgun before ever firing that first shot in the field...

It’s estimated that a thousand World War II veterans pass away every day, but with thousands more veterans of Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan coming through the system, health care for veterans will continue to be a major concern for generations to come...

Halloween is such a strange holiday. I know the beginnings of this holiday as well as any 8-year old. But it has evolved. Halloween started with the celebration of the Catholic feast day, All Saints Day which is November 1. Saints cannot be canonized unless, of course, they are dead. I guess that keeps people honest. You dont want just anybody being saintly their whole life simply because they wanted the title. So, we wait until they are dead, that way we know for sure that they had no agenda...

March 9 - Oct. 18, 2007 Bruce Robert Minghelli, 79, died Thursday (Oct. 18, 2007), at his home in McCook. He was born March 9, 1928, in Los Angeles, Calif., to Alfonse and Inez (Maida) Minghelli. Bruce was raised in Baldwin Park, Calif. At age 14, he began working in the cement business with his father. He continued working as a masonry contractor until the age of 75...

Ken and Carla Murray of McCook will celebrate their 25th anniversary. They were married today in 1982, at the Methodist Church in McCook. Their daughter is Jessica Murray of Newman Grove. Cards of congratulations will reach the couple at 1006 East 3rd Street, McCook, NE 69001...

Nov. 11, 1932-Oct. 19, 2007 ARAPAHOE �" Melvin Lee Weber, 74, died Friday (Oct. 19, 2007), at his home north of Arapahoe. He was born Nov. 11, 1932, in Gosper County, to Herman and Marie (Ritschel) Weber. He was baptized, educated and confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church north of Arapahoe. He graduated from Arapahoe High School in 1950...

Community Hospital plans a renovation that will expand clinic space and enhance scheduling opportunities for existing and potential new visiting medical specialists. Hospital president and CEO Jim Ulrich said Wednesday afternoon that the “Nebraska Room,” the hospital's big multi-purpose meeting room at the north end of McCook Clinic, will be remodeled into nine additional exam rooms and three additional offices for visiting health-care providers...

A Red Willow Western grass rig crawls through a cornfield northwest of McCook late Friday afternoon, a firefighter hanging off the back dousing flames and hot spots. Corn stalk trash that collected on a combine caught fire, igniting stubble and some standing corn in a field being harvested by Dave Koetter. The blaze burned two to three acres of stubble and corn, said Red Willow Western fire chief Bill Elliott...

The Nebraska Respite contract for the southwest service area has been assumed by Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD) in McCook.  As of October 1st, SWNPHD will manage all aspects of the Nebraska Respite grant awarded to West Central District Health Department. ...

There will be plenty of good fishing at Barnett Park next summer, thanks to a truckload of fish that were transferred into the north pond Thursday evening. Gerald Coates of the Nebraska Games and Park Commission deposited about 1,000 rainbow trout from the Rock Creek Hatchery in Parks. The 10-inch fish are about a year old, he said...

McCook notches district title, playoff berth HOLDREGE -- The McCook Bison scored 28 second-quarter points and buried Holdrege 35-0 Friday night at Holdrege. The Bison, now 8-0, captured the Nebraska Class B-5 district title and earned a berth in the state playoffs...

KEARNEY -- Seven Southwest Nebraska runners placed in the top 15 of their races at the Nebraska state boys and girls cross country championships Friday and earned medals. The meet was hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney. In the Class D boys 5K race, Dundy County-Stratton’s Brandon Shirkey and Jared Shillington placed third and sixth with times of 17 minutes, 18.3 seconds and 17:27.86...

CHAPPELL -- The Dundy County-Stratton Tiger football team qualified for the Class D-1 state playoffs with a 58-14 win over Crawford Thursday night at Chappell. The D-1 playoffs start next Thursday. The Tigers will take a 5-3 record into the playoffs...