Stories from Thursday, February 25, 2010

1919 - 2010 LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Bonnie L. Premer, long-time Laramie resident, died Thursday (Feb. 18, 2010). Bonnie was born in McCook in 1919, to Robert and Hattie Boner and graduated from Red Willow High School in 1937. She married Leon Premer in 1938. They had two daughters, Garnet Holden of Grass Valley, Calif., and Gwen Tilling of Palm Springs, Calif...

Dec. 7, 1920 - Feb. 22, 2010 TRENTON -- Wanda Nelsen, 89, formerly of Curtis, died Monday (Feb. 22, 2010) at El Dorado Manor in Trenton. She was born Dec. 7, 1920 , to Giuseppe "Joseph" and Elena (Fulgari) Fratti at Pavulo, Italy. She and her mother joined her father in the United States in February, 1926.
She graduated from Pershing High School in Detroit, Mich., in 1939. Upon completing high school she did secretarial work in the Detroit area.
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NORTH PLATTE -- Tuition and fees will go up almost 5 percent for McCook Community College and other Mid Plains Community College campuses. Approved Wednesday, the new schedule increases resident tuition $3 and non resident tuition $4 per credit hour, and fees $1 per semester credit hour each...

No one has filed to fill the open seat available on Mid Plains Community College's Board of Governors, including the current office holder. Roger Wilson, the incumbent, did not file by the Feb. 16 deadline for the District 1 position. Non-incumbents have until 5 p.m. Monday, March 1, to file for the four-year seat. Candidates can fax their filing papers to the Secretary of State to make the deadline, confirmed Red Willow Country Clerk Pauletta Gerver...

The McCook Community College women were forced to try and dial up a long-distance victory against Otero Junior College Wednesday, Feb. 24. Unfortunately for the MCC women, they could not make a connection. The Indians dropped a 60-50 decision to the La Junta, Colo. squad in women's college basketball action at True Hall gym in McCook...

It's about priorities for Sen. Mark Christensen and whether state dollars should fund civic or state issues. That was the goal behind his bill LB 1052, which was heard in the Revenue Committee Feb. 19. The bill is similar to what the Legislature approved for the Omaha Qwest Center and would redirect state sales tax collected in a specific area in the Republican River Basin, back to natural resources districts in the region that would use the funds to manage water issues...

Passengers of United Flight 93 fought back when their airplane was highjacked on September 11, 2001, losing their lives but thwarting the terrorists' plans to do further damage in our nation's capital. Passengers in a more recent flight subdued a would-be suicide bomber, and nearly every day brings a story of ordinary people fighting back against those who would make a point with senseless violence...

EDITOR'S NOTE -- Ivan Schmid submitted the following account, written in the 1970s, of the origins of Santa Claus Lane in McCook: In 1948 Ed Petersen Jr., a local businessman, dropped in next door to visit with his business neighbor, W. K. Swanson, a sign maker. Swanson was putting the finishing touches on a tourist cabin sign...

There was much sadness at NASA this past week when it was announced that the plucky little "rover that could," Spirit, was hopelessly stuck in the soft sands of Mars. The determined little machine, which had stretched a 90-day mission into almost six years of exploring and finding new wonders on the red planet, is now stuck for good...

In Nebraska high school swimming and diving ranks, McCook might best be described as the little fish in a big pond. That small fish will try and make a splash at the 2010 Nebraska State High School Swimming and Diving Championships in Lincoln. The three-day state swimming and diving meet opened Thursday, Feb. ...