Stories from Friday, December 19, 2008

The McCook High School junior varsity wrestling team hosted a freshman/sophomore meet Thursday night at the MHS gymnasium. Among the first-place winners for the Bison were John Scott, Jake Fahrenbruch, Tyler Rogers, Keldon Osterman, Keegan Haarberg and Derek Chancellor...

TRENTON -- The Hitchcock County boys basketball team dropped to 1-5 on the season with a 78-53 loss to Brady Thursday at home. "Brady came out shooting very well," said coach Mike Tines. "They hit five 3-points in the first quarter and we were playing catch up the rest of the game. The boys played very hard and were competitive the whole game. We just need to shoot a little better percentage and we will be right in these type of games."...

OMAHA -- Defending champion Penn State and Stanford set up a rematch in the NCAA women's volleyball title match with five-set victories Thursday night. Nicole Fawcett had 24 kills, Megan Hodge added 23 and top-seeded and unbeaten Penn State beat No. 4 Nebraska 25-17, 25-18, 15-25, 22-25, 15-11...

The Holbrook/Grant man accused of killing a young Arapahoe mother more than a year ago faces a variety of charges in other counties as well. Herchel Huff, 35, has pleaded not guilty to charges of motor vehicle homicide, tampering with a witness and refusal to submit to a chemical test in the death of Kasey Jo Warner, who died Oct. 3, 2007, when she pushed her young daughter out of the path of Huff's car on a county road southwest of Arapahoe. The little girl lived, but Kasey did not...

Christmas shoppers may have the hearts of St. Nicholas, but they're carrying the pocketbooks of Bob Cratchit. Retailers are still reporting fairly brisk Christmas-season shopping, and can identify what many shoppers are looking for. The kids want Wii, Mom wants a slow cooker and Dad wants a chain saw. Other than the traditional toys and games for the children, shoppers appear to be trying to be practical -- "It's something we need or would like anyway -- we'll call it a Christmas gift."...

If you're like a lot of us, you may have already accumulated a box of old cellular telephones. While many people sign up for tw0-year contracts, experts say the average person hangs on to a cell phone for about 18 months before upgrading or perhaps losing or breaking it...

Have you ever noticed that the best deals always go to the new customers? Loyal customers get a Christmas card every year, but no deals. So, to continue getting the good deals on TV, Internet and telephone, my husband has made a solemn vow to never be a "loyal" customer. (I wasn't there when this went down.)...

Aug. 31, 1945-Dec. 18, 2008 Dr. Gary L. Nielsen of McCook, died Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008, at Community Hospital after a short courageous battle with inoperable pancreatic cancer. He was 63 years old. He was born on Aug. 31, 1945, at Tacoma, Wash., to Richard Andrew and Verna Pauline (Lohr) Nielsen. ...

The McCook High School girls basketball team was overpowered Friday night at home against North Platte. The Class A Bulldogs rolled to a 68-18 victory after building leads of 22-7 after one quarter and 37-10 at halftime. Three Bison girls cracked the scoring column for the Bison. Brianna Watkins led McCook with 9 points, Joanna Bryant had 8 and Sydney Jumps 1...

HOXIE -- The Rawlins County boys go into the Holiday break undefeated (6-0) with a 54-40 win over Hoxie Friday. Drew Basgall scored 16 points to lead the Buffaloes. Elijah Kastens added 15 points. Matt Weiss put 12 points on the board for Hoxie. Rawlins County: Basgall 16, Grafel 6, Cahoj 11, Kastens 15, Holub 6...

HOXIE -- The Hoxie High School wrestling team edged Rawlins County-Atwood 48-36 in a dual Friday at Hoxie. Results 103 -- Drew Jones H def. Dustin Vap RC. 112 -- Kollyn Schippers H open. 119 -- Garth Griffith RC def. Chris Heim H. 125 -- Donovan Schamberger open...

Most people will light off fireworks or shout "Happy New Year" to celebrate 2009. But Irene and Patrick Macumber will ring in the new year literally this year, by clanging the steeple bells located in the 88-year-old church they recently purchased in McCook...

Some observers contended early that President-elect Barack Obama would be more of a disappointment to his liberal supporters than to his conservative opponents, and at least one of his decisions proved that to be true. Obama's pick of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration is the case in point. ...

It's been a quick December, hasn't it? Here we are, less than a week until Christmas, and another week beyond that will be the start of a brand new year. Between fulfilling my duties here at the paper and finishing my Christmas shopping and singing in the McCook choir a couple of weeks ago and -- well, sleeping -- I've had precious little time to keep myself caught up on my voluntary TV beat. ...

SANTA ASKED a group of McCook Junior High students at a high school girls' basketball game Friday night: What did you do bad this year, and what did you do good? ------ CODY WUDTKE, what did you do bad this year? "I yelled at my sister and told her to shut up."...