Stories from Friday, January 18, 2008

HERSHEY -- The McCook Bison Blitz basketball team took second place in the Hershey tournament on Jan. 13. The Blitz beat Hershey 36-23 and Ogallala 32-23. The final game against North Platte Knights was a nail-biter. Hunter Felker made two free throws in the last 30 seconds to tie the game, but the Knights came back to score a three-point shot at the buzzer...

SUMNER -- Southwest's wrestler took a second-place finish in the Sumner-Eddyville-Miller Invitational Jan. 11. The Roughriders had seven wrestlers take first, second and third place finishes in the event. Heath Teel, Nate Herrman, Kyle Teel and Matt Oltmer captured first place in their weight divisions...

OBERLIN -- The Oberlin girls basketball squad and Hoxie's boys and girls reached the semifinals of the Oberlin Invitational. Oberlin's girls advanced after blasting James Irwin 67-23. Lacey Ream and Jori Dreher led the Red Devils with 12 points each...

McCook basketball teams to play in consolation games COLBY -- The McCook High School boys and girls basketball teams both dropped their first round games Thursday at the 23rd annual Paul Wintz Orange and Black Classic at Colby. The McCook boys lost to Wichita South 64-36 and the girls lost to Wichita South 53-37...

OGALLALA -- The McCook Junior High School seventh grade boys basketball teams split their season-opening games at Ogallala Thursday. The A team won 44-15 and the B team lost 16-13. Jake Schlager led the Bison A team with 6 points and Marcus Gonzalez added 4...

The McCook Bison wrestling team got clipped by Hastings 34-29 Thursday at the MHS gymnasium. "We had our chances in this dual but just let a few matches slip away from us," said McCook wrestling coach Nick Umscheid. "In a dual it usually comes down to who is going to score the most bonus points in pins and major decisions. That was the case Thursday night. We just gave them too many points that we couldn't afford to give up and be able to come back from...

Airfares to Omaha have tripled, but McCook Regional Airport officials aren't warm to the idea of dropping the route. The recent tripling of airline rates for flights out of McCook Regional Airport was Mesa's reaction to financial issues, said City Manager/Airport Manager Kurt Fritsch...

CURTIS -- Dr Weldon Sleight, Dean at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, didn't need to sugarcoat the facts for a full house attending a seminar outlining the 100-Beef Cow Ownership Program on Tuesday. However, despite the realities rural Nebraska is dealing with in terms of population loss, many attendees walked away with a sense that this new program represents a tangible way to boost Nebraska's cattle industry and bring young people back home...

By LORRI SUGHROUE City Editor The McCook City Council unanimously voted Thursday night to authorize John Hanson, acting as City Attorney, to file a "Friend of the Court" brief in support of a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of LB 701...

Two mountain climbers owe their lives to a popular treasure-hunting game. Matthew Pitts and Justin Votos ran into whiteout conditions and got lost, winding up far from where they expected to be on Monday. A cell phone call got through to one of the men's phones Tuesday morning, and they were able to tell searchers they had spent the night in a snow cave, but still didn't know where they were...

I have, for the last several years, watched the commercials for prescription drugs and have come to the same conclusion that many other people have: Drug manufacturers are out of their collective minds. Have you ever seen a commercial about a prescription drug that touts "Absolutely no side effects!"? That's the drug I'm looking for. Instead they keep making drugs that have side effects that are worse than the ailment you want the drug to alleviate...

I look at the empty countryside around our farm and can't help but wish it were as thick with people as when my grandparents made a living here. Until recently, though, the kindest name the rest of the world had for this wish was "nostalgia." Back then, leaving the farm made sense. ...

Oct. 21, 1941-Jan. 18, 2008 MEADE, Kan. -- Earl Schneider went to be with his Lord on Jan. 18, 2008 at the District Hospital in Meade, Kan. Earl was born at Brewster Hospital in Holdrege, Neb., to Dean and Margaret Schneider of Funk, Neb., on Oct. 21, 1941, just a month and a half before the outbreak of World War II. He spent his early years there on the farm...

April 22, 1920 - Jan. 17, 2008 Pauline Mathilda Horacek died Thursday (Jan. 17, 2008), at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook, at the age of 87. She was born April 22, 1920, in Hitchcock County, the daughter of the late William and Mabel (Christensen) Frerichs. She attended Hitchcock County School and also Marion Nebraska High School...