Stories from Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The May meeting of the Buffalo Commons Storytellers will take place 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bieroc Cafe in downtown McCook. Admission is free. The topic for this month's stories will be "Horse Stories, from Ponys to Percherons." Everyone has a horse story. Come tell your horse story, and listen to those of your friends and neighbors. It promises to be a fun evening...

NORTH PLATTE -- Individuals who have completed their General Education Development (GED) testing will receive graduation certificates in a ceremony at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, in the McDonald-Belton Theater on the South Campus of North Platte Community College...

OBERLIN -- The Smith Center boys and the Norton girls captured the Oberlin Invite Tuesday at Oberlin.

Feb. 3, 1910 - May 3, 2009 TRENTON -- Vera M. (Carlson) Wray died Sunday, May 3, 2009, at El Dorado Nursing Home in Trenton. She was 99 years old. Vera was born Feb. 3, 1910, on the family farm south of Stratton to French and Lena M. (Kisling) Carlson. She attended a one-room country school through eighth grade...

Aug. 3, 1914 - May 4, 2009 NORCATUR, Kan. -- Marguerite M. Clark, 94, died Monday (May 4, 2009) in Oberlin. She was born Aug. 3, 1914, in Plattsburg, Mo., to Orville and Leona (McCoy) Wade. She grew up in the Long Brand District near Norcatur and attended the Norcatur Rural School System, graduating in 1932...

IMPERIAL -- Ronald Milner, 75, died Monday (May 4, 2009) at his home in Imperial. Survivors include his wife, Monna of Imperial; son, Jerry and wife, Susan of Grand Island; daughters, Becky Carman and husband, Doug of Imperial, Deborah Heskett and husband, Craig of York and Linda Graff and husband, Mark of McCook; brothers, Dean Milner and wife, Dorothy of Imperial, Delmer Milner and wife, Wilma of Champion and Leonard Milner and wife, Effie of San Jose, Calif.; sisters, Virginia Ridlen and husband, Carl of Fairview, Tenn., and Viola Bischoff and husband, Dale of Wauneta; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.. ...

Nov. 7, 1924 - May 5, 2009 William A. "Bill" Mesh, 84, died May 5, 2009, at Promise Regional Medical Center, ICU. He was born Nov. 7, 1924, in Kansas City, Kan., to John A. and M. Louise (Strotgen) Mesh. He graduated in 1941 from Bishop Ward High School, Kansas City, in 1943 from Finlay Engineering College and in 1953 from Wichita University with a degree in accounting. He received his CPA in 1958...

Angie Muhleisen, President & CEO of Union Bank & Trust Company and Janet Latimer, President & CEO of Horizon Bank jointly announced today that the McCook branch of Union Bank will become a part of Horizon Bank. Both Union Bank and Horizon Bank are owned by the Dunlaps, a long-time Nebraska banking family. ...

Pedestrians will have to wait a little longer for a sidewalk on U.S. Highway 6-34. Called the "inner loop" of the McCook Walking Trail, the sidewalk project is on hold until an environmental review is completed by the federal government. Environmental reviews must be done on projects that use federal funds, said Greg Wolford of W Design Associates, the engineering firm working on the inner loop...

"We held our breaths -- not just for seconds, minutes or even days -- but rather for weeks-nine to be exact," said Vicky Leibbrandt, the Employment Services Coordinator at Workforce Development Career Center in McCook. Nine weeks ago, a group of eight offenders from McCook's Work Ethic Camp began learning how to weld at MCC's new Center for Applied Science and Technology -- CAST -- located in east of downtown McCook. ...

TRENTON -- Friends of Chanta Vrbas Brown of rural Trenton plan fund raisers to help her in a battle against Lou Gehrig's disease. Chanta, the 29-year-old daughter of Gaylord and Rhonda Vrbas of rural Trenton, was diagnosed recently with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- ALS -- often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," and it appears to be progressing rapidly, causing breathing, mobility and dexterity difficulties...

The news story on the Red Willow County loan to the new High Plains Urgent Care PC clinic should have indicated that the McCook Economic Development Corp. does not oversee the county's loan program. Rex Nelson said in a clarification Tuesday that he serves as administrator, meaning he takes applications and presents them to the administrative board of the Red Willow County Regional Economic Development loan fund, which approves the loan, and he then takes that to the county commissioners...

The potential for a flu pandemic is nothing to be taken lightly. More cases of swine flu -- H1N1 -- are being reported in Nebraska, but the confirmed level is only six so far. Worldwide, about 1,500 cases have been reported, but the disease should be kept in perspective...

Hail piles up under a downspout in Trenton Tuesday evening. Pea- to marble-size haile fell for about 10 solid minutes in the storm, which mostly bypassed McCook.

NORTH PLATTE -- The Nebraska State Patrol Air Wing in conjunction with the Furnas County Sheriff's Office captured a Stamford, Nebraska man wanted in connection with a home burglary in rural Furnas County. On Sunday, the Furnas County Sheriff's Office received a report of a residential burglary that occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday, approximately 13 miles southeast of Beaver City...

Dreams die. It's a fact of life. A sad, distressing truth we each must come to terms with, sometimes many times, in our lifetimes. And it seems nothing less than heartbreak when it happens, however it happens. For some, it is the dream of motherhood. Many women have had to let that dream die, only to find it resurrected in unexpected ways. Others have to let that dream die because their own lives are cut short before the dream can be realized. I learned of one such mother last week...