Stories from Tuesday, October 23, 2007

McCook High School freshman Connor Larson, who placed second in No. 1 singles at the Nebraska Class B boys state tournament last week, was named to the first team on the Nebraska All-State Tennis Team. Class B Boys All-State Tennis Teams 2007 First Team...

The McCook Community College volleyball team will wrap up its regular season schedule this week with three tough matches. The MCC schedule starts tonight at home at True Hall Gymnasium against Dodge City (Kan.) Community College at 6 p.m. MCC travels to Colby to play a very good Colby team at 7 p.m. Thursday and finishes the regular season at home at 7 p.m. Friday against Central Community College, the No. 16-ranked team in NJCAA Division II...

CAMBRIDGE -- In August 2006, a freshman starting setter for the Cambridge high school varsity volleyball team went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee during the first day of two-a-day practices. Bailey Soucie was out for the rest of the volleyball season before the season even got started...

SOUTHWEST -- The McCook High School sophomore volleyball team finished its season Tuesday by splitting matches with Chase County and Southwest at the Southwest gymnasium. McCook defeated Chase County 25-10, 25-8 and lost to Southwest 25-22, 19-25, 15-7...

BENKELMAN -- The McCook freshman volleyball team went 2-1 at the Dundy County-Stratton quadrangular on Saturday. The freshman downed Imperial in the first match 25-10, 25-16. “The girls played very strong with aggressive serving and limited errors,” said McCook coach Jon Graff. “Nichole Eisenach really did a nice job of serving with 11 aces in the match. Kasha Messersmith led the offense with 5 kills, Jordin Rathe added 3, and Nichole got 2.”...

Matt Bair, from left and Darren Pollmann fasten down the new sign at the McCook Christian Church on West Fifth and B Saturday morning. The sign was Bair's Eagle Scout project and was designed by Mark Beideck of BoMac Inc. Plasma Cutting. Doak Construction donated the use of their crane to lower the metal sign onto the steel posts set in concrete. In the near future, the sign will be wired for back lighting and a berm will be installed at the base...

We’ve had our share of rough weather over the last year or two in Southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas. We had a major ice storm that left our neighbors in the cold at the beginning of the year. The drought has eased somewhat over much of the region, but the folks near Hayes Center, Imperial and many other places could have done without the downpours that caused flash flooding and road damage that will take years and many dollars to repair...

We in Nebraska have shot ourselves in the foot. In our quest to be the best we can, we felt it was OK to give up character building and Christian principles to build men who were also committed football players to hire a professional football coach who has no experience with college athletics and only knows what to do with players who are already developed...

A lawsuit filed today in the Nebraska Supreme Court challenges the constitutionality of the funding mechanisms of LB701, the legislative bill that taxes home and property owners in the Republican River Basin. “Friends of the River” filed the lawsuit and contend that the real estate property tax provisions of LB701 violate Nebraska’s constitution...

BEAVER CITY -- The Holbrook-Grant man charged with the death of a 28-year-old Arapahoe mother of two girls was transferred from Furnas County jail in Beaver City to Richard Young Hospital in Kearney Saturday. Herchel Huff, facing charges of motor vehicle homicide in the death of Kasey Jo Warner, was committed on an emergency protection order to the Kearney hospital. A mental health board hearing is scheduled Wednesday, according to Furnas County Attorney Tom Patterson...

March 1, 1943 - Oct. 22, 2007 Marvin L. Lieske of McCook died Monday, Oct. 22, 2007, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  He was 64 years old.  On March 1, 1943, he was born in Minden to Carl and Sophie (Pollmann) Lieske.  He married Sherry Hansen on Aug. 31, 1963.  To this union were born two children, Nicky and Ryan...

A little history was commemorated recently, but unless you were paying attention you may have missed it. Oct. 4, 2007, was the 50th anniversary of the launch by the Soviet Union of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. I guess it is a sign of advancing age when there are events such as this remembered as history, but I remember the launching of Sput-nik. It is one of the events that sent me off on a study of “outer space.”...