Stories from Monday, December 22, 2008

Dale Malleck and Kelly Barnett of Nashville, Tenn., will be married Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008 in McCook, at the 4-H Building at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds. Dale's parents, Gene and Marge Malleck and family are hosting a reception immediately following the vows. Relatives and friends are invited to come...

The family and friends of Clarence Lorentz of Herndon are requesting a card shower in honor of his 80th birthday on Dec. 31, 2008. Cards will reach him at 802 Sunfield, Herndon, Kan. 67739,

Aug. 18, 1925 - Dec. 19, 2008 OBERLIN -- Velda Ward, 83, died Friday (Dec. 19, 2008) at Cedar Living Center in Oberlin. She was born Aug. 18, 1925, on a farm in Norton County, Kan., to Hiram and Bertha (Crabill) Fullerton. She grew up in rural Norcatur, Kan., and attended Long Branch Country School. She graduated in 1943, from Norcatur High School...

July 20, 1908 - Dec. 19, 2008 ST. FRANCIS -- Florence M. (Van Vleet) Moyer, 100, died Friday (Dec. 16, 2008) at Cheyenne County Hospital in St. Francis. She was born July 20, 1908, in Danbury. She married Orville Moyer. She was a homemaker. She was preceded in death by her husband, Orville in 1988 and son, Dale Moyer in 1996...

Dec. 4, 1916 - Dec. 20, 2008 CAMBRIDGE -- Mildred Mousel Reeves, 92, died Saturday (Dec. 20, 2008) at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. She was born Dec. 4, 1916, in Cambridge to Aaron and Hazel (Downey) Mousel. She graduated from Cambridge High School in 1934...

Movie Review - Yes Man Starring Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. Rated PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity. Yes Man is an interesting flick for me. I am about tired of Jim Carrey as an actor having enjoyed his first movies like Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, and Liar Liar, however started to hate some of his other flicks like The Majestic and The Number 23. ...

MARKSVILLE, La. -- McCook Community College men's basketball player Myron Mingo was shot and killed in a bar incident in Marksville, La., early Sunday morning. The time of the shooting was listed as 1:11 a.m. Mingo, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard who started some games for the MCC Indians, was an innocent bystander, according to Garland Foreman, a reporter for the Bunkie (La.) Record...

BARTLEY -- A rural Bartley homeowner prevented the loss of his home by battling a fire in Saturday morning's single-digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chill with a garden hose. Bartley fire chief Jimmy Morris said this morning that if Tom Carpenter had been able to immediately find a garden hose that wasn't frozen, he may have been able to extinguish the flames licking at the west side of his home himself...

And the Winner Is: The Gazette asked readers to pick their favorite Santa Claus Lane scene, and the overwhelming majority chose the Bethlehem scene. Some reader comments left online and on our telephone voting hotline include: Santa Claus Lane has been around more than 50 years. ...

EUSTIS -- An autopsy has been ordered on the body of an elderly man who died in a house fire in Eustis early this morning. Frontier County Sheriff Dan Rupp declined to release the man's identity until his relatives are notified. Sheriff Rupp said the fire was reported at 1:53 a.m., in the 200 block of East Cameron Street. The Cozad fire department provided mutual aid for Eustis Fire and Rescue, whose firefighters arrived to find the residence fully engulfed in flames...

Saturday night's presentation of "A Night in Bethlehem" at McCook Christian Church hearkened back 2,000 years to the crowded streets of Bethlehem. Stalls for the butchers, the bakers, pottery makers and more lined the path taken by Joseph and Mary as they sought refuge for the coming night. ...

McCook Public Schools' fourth, eighth and 11th grades showed improvement in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading, math and writing on statewide standardized student performance tests taken in 2007-2008. Superintendent Dave Schley said Wednesday that McCook's students' writing scores indicate a "nice improvement" at grades four and eight, and "great improvement" at grade 11...

As I walk down East Fifth Street most every day, I see Robucks' horses along Kelley Creek. Maybe we could rent a horse from them and ride on the dead run past the dangerous mud slide area. Alternate No. 2: Remember Omaha? They built the bridge. Maybe we could build a bridge from Fifth to Norris, save the trees, bypass the mud slide and have a wonderful view of the creek...

We hate to draw too many comparisons between the current state of affairs and the Great Depression. Although there is certainly potential for just as much suffering as there was in those years, we hope our nation can avoid it this time around. Still, there are parallels to be drawn, especially in what is now called "consumer confidence."...

For many years the name Kelly was synonymous with good music in McCook. Leo (Pop) Kelly replaced music legend, Col. H.P. Sutton (who also had the famed Burlington Band) as the director of the McCook High School Band in the 1920s. His son, Bill, took his place in 1948, continuing the tradition of quality bands in McCook for ten years, when he took a position as Band Director at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo...