Stories from Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Nov. 24, 1934 - Feb. 5, 2010 OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Howard Allen Petracek, 75, passed away on Friday (Feb. 5, 2010). Howard was born on Nov. 24, 1934, in Oberlin, Kan. He worked for United Airlines for 12 years, Frontier Airlines for eight years, and served five years in the Army National Guard. Howard also farmed in Jennings, Kan., for 20 years. He enjoyed traveling all over the world...

June 3, 1936 - Feb. 8, 2010 INDIANOLA -- Ardis Faye Brown went to be with her Lord on Monday (Feb. 8, 2010) at the Cambridge Hospital. She was 73 years old. She was born in Furnas County on June 3, 1936, to Albert Francis and Madeline Jean (Dolph) Gutzman. She attended Sunny Hillside Rural School and Cambridge High School...

April 7, 1927-Feb. 7, 2010 FARIBAULT, Minn. -- Lawrence "Rex" Welborn, 82, died Sunday (Feb. 7, 2010), at Pleasant Manor Nursing Home, in Faribault, Minn. He was born April 7, 1927, at Lebanon, to Lawrence and Auretta (Daffer) Welborn. He attended Lebanon schools and enlisted in the U.S. Navy upon graduation from high school...

80th birthday The family of Elmore Grafel is requesting a card shower in honor of his 80th birthday Feb. 12. His family includes his wife, Beverly; three children, Scott Grafel, Tina Aschoff and her husband, Alan; and the late Tim Grafel. He has two grandchildren. Cards of congratulation will reach him at 70367 Driftwood Dr., Culbertson, NE 69024...

The Car Talk guys on public radio had a point when they wrote the book, "Why You Should Never Listen to Your Father When it Comes to Cars," noting that things like electronic ignition, fuel injection, anti-lock brakes and a myriad of computer-related issues have changed everything since old Dad learned how to change the oil on his '57 Chevy...

I was amazed and dismayed to read the Open Forum letter from Eldon Moore in support of President Barack Hussein Obama. Because our nation was founded as a Christian nation, we have enjoyed wonderful blessings and tremendous success from the Lord. People from other nations have flocked to the U.S. and are still standing in line to come here, because it's still the land of opportunity and freedom...

Past councils have supported preservation of the former YMCA, Keystone Hotel, bathhouse, bandshell, passed a resolution and provided letters of support in preservation of historic buildings at McCook Army Air Base. The Nebraska Historical Society recommends rehabilitation of West Ward School and the High Plains Museum board also voted in favor of saving the building...

First a quiz. What is the enterprise generating the most economic impact in the City of McCook? If you said agriculture you are right on. Second question. Name a facility that provides good, wholesome, family friendly, free entertainment 200 days each year right here in Southwest Nebraska? You answered the Kiplinger Arena at the Red Willow County fairgrounds and you are correct again...

James Taylor, of Soucie Trucking, Cambridge, picks up about 400 health kits for delivery to earthquake-shaken Haiti. Helping Taylor load his morning at Memorial United Methodist Church in McCook were the Rev. Lance Clay, Shanon Williams, left, and Sarah Jenkins. ...

HASTINGS -- McCook High School's swimming and diving teams competed at a triangular meet with host Hastings and North Platte Friday, Feb. 5. Senior Whitney Korgan continued her outstanding season, as Korgan set a new school record in the girls 200-yard freestyle. Korgan had the fastest time in the event at Hastings with her mark of 2 minutes, 4.47 to best the old McCook school mark held by Tracy Flaska...

Fifth grader Kyli Scott distributes her pennies among penny boxes designated for each of five fifth grade classrooms at Central Elementary in McCook. Kyli and her fellow students have raised money for earthquake relief to Haiti by trying NOT to be the classroom with the most money. ...

With the health care debate simmering on the back burner, much of the focus has been on the release of the President's annual budget. The budget proposes funding for the programs and agencies throughout the federal government. Yet I am troubled by what is now becoming a pattern for the Obama Administration: record-setting deficits, a ballooning debt, and no indication of reining in our out-of-control spending any time in the near future. ...

Don't expect alternative energy to be a cash cow any time soon, but a bill that would tap in to wind power, generated on school lands, has merit. LB1014, introduced by Sen. Ken Haar of Lincoln, would create a fund with money from wind-energy leases on land owned by the Board of Educational Lands and Funds, which would then be paid out to teachers who were performing well...

The legacy of Otto Nilsson -- a man committed to service with a sale and fair, friendly treatment of everyone -- continues into the second half-century of the automotive business that the Swedish immigrant started in McCook in 1950. Annette Nilsson Irwin, Otto's daughter, assumed ownership and control of Automotive Sales and Service in August 2009, moving from Omaha to McCook last summer...