Stories from Wednesday, August 13, 2008

LINCOLN -- Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini says the offensive line, which returns four starters from last year, is one of the team's strengths. "It's a good group," Pelini said. "I think it's one of the strengths of our football team. They're good, they're physical, they're playing well. Coach (Barney) Cotton is doing a good job with them. We're developing some depth there, so I feel pretty good about our o-line."...

Dustin Parde and Mark Nichols of McCook High School attended the Mid-American Basketball Camp on July 20-23, where they earned awards and all-star honors. Parde earned the Most Valuable Campers Award, the 3-point championship, was the scoring leader for the week and the nightly scoring leader...

KEARNEY -- The Nebraska Senior Games were in Kearney this past weekend. Rich Thompson of McCook competed in golf and bowling. In golf, Thompson shot a 90, good for third-place medal. A score of 79 or better qualified for nationals or a first place finish...

LINCOLN -- Former University of Nebraska volleyball standout Sarah Pavan earned an honor that literally took her breath away on Tuesday, as she was chosen as the 2007-08 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)...

Feb. 26, 1922 - Aug. 12, 2008 BARTLEY -- Miriam J. Smith, 86, of Bartley died Tuesday (Aug 12, 2008) at Cambridge Manor. She was born in Bartley on Feb 26, 1922, to Joseph H. and Viola M. (Smith) Smith. She attended and graduated from Bartley High School in 1939. She attended McCook College for one year and then graduated after one year at Lincoln School of Business...

In this case, yelling fire in a theater would have been encouraged. A speaker shorted out from behind one of the movie screens at Cinema 3 Theater in McCook Tuesday night and smoldered undetected, until flames shot out from the bottom corner of the screen...

It's not a boom but it's not a bust, either. At least $2 million worth of construction projects are underway in McCook, or slated to begin later this year. While that doesn't represent a huge surge in construction, it does show that building activity remains steady, according to McCook Mayor Dennis Berry...

To the casual observer, blond-haired, blue-eyed Nathaniel Schmidt looks like any other two-and-half year old boy, chasing his older sister or singing along to a TV show. And that's the problem. "He looks like a normal little boy and that makes it difficult when you try to explain he has a medical condition," said his mother, Misty Schmidt of McCook...

One of the early allures of the Internet was the chance to assume a new identity and inhabit a fantasy world. But, while role-playing games continue to be popular on the Web, the barrier between that innocent virtual world and the harsh, dangerous physical world was broken long ago...

We had a technical problem that prohibited us from taking another shot at the record on Saturday. So we did get the record on the 31st of 356.33 m.p.h., raising the record from 331 m.p.h. My wife Patricia and I were there in your wonderful town of McCook...

Parked behind the McCook fire hall, it looks like a low, streamlined golf cart hooked to a two-wheeled picnic table on wheels. It's actually the Solartaxi, the first solar powered vehicle to circumnavigate the world, pulling a trailer covered with solar cells...

A clever, tongue-in-cheek prayer has made its way through cyberspace for years. I really should commit it to memory. "Dear Lord, So far today I'm doing alright. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or self-indulgent...