Stories from Thursday, April 26, 2012

Herman H. Hinkle Jan. 19, 1932 - April 24, 2012 LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Herman H. Hinkle, age 80, went to heaven April 24, 2012, in Lincoln. He was born in Almeria, Nebraska, on Jan. 19, 1932, to the Rev. William and Mary Hinkle. He attended Cozad High School and received Bachelors and Masters degrees from Kearney State College. He served in the U.S. Military from 1953-54, in Germany...

Violet Mae Phifer BENKELMAN, Nebraska -- Mae Phifer, 84, a longtime resident of Benkelman, died Sunday (April 22, 2012), at the Sarah Ann Hester Memorial Home in Benkelman. Survivors include sons, Jerry and wife, Brenda Sanford of Holdrege, Nebraska, Steve and wife, Ricca Sanford of Lewellen, Nebraska; daughter, Jane and husband, John Ohrman of Benkelman; 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren...

Jess Henry Petsch Jan. 6, 1931 - April 23, 2012 HASTINGS, Nebraska -- Jess Henry Petsch was born on Jan. 6, 1931, to Jess and Mable Carmen (Hill) Petsch in Hitchcock County, Nebraska. He departed this world on April 23, 2012 at Mary Lanning Memorial HealthCare in Hastings, Nebraska at the age of 81 years, three months and 17 days...

Irene Elizabeth Wilson June 21, 1926 - April 21, 2012 LITTLETON, Colorado -- Irene Elizabeth Wilson, 85, of Littleton, Colorado, died April 21, 2012. She was born June 21, 1926, to Fred and Emilia Williamson in Trenton, Nebraska. She graduated from Trenton High School in 1944. She married Harry Wilson Jan. 28, 1945. They moved to Denver, Colorado where they raised their family...

Patrick R. Mortimore April 10, 1934 - April 24, 2012 TORRINGTON, Wyoming -- Patrick R. Mortimore, 78, died Tuesday (April 24, 2012), at his home in Torrington. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, April 27, at the United Methodist Church with Reverend Ora Dailey officiating. Burial will follow at Valley View Cemetery in Torrington...

A new, 70-foot by 125-foot warm up arena is going up on the Red Willow County Fairgrounds, made possible by a donation by Tom Kiplinger as well as his neighbors, Marty Sis and Rick Wilcox, which will enable the main Kiplinger Arena to attract larger events as well as hold more inside during the winter. ...

Hector, a Colombian, married an American lady from Reno and became a citizen. One evening on the way home from a party they were pulled over. "Just a routine check, sir," the officer explained, "For Driving Under the Influence. Hector walked the line, no problem. For the next test, as Hector understood it, was to '...take a blow' on the back of the officer's hand...

Those who live in glass houses should throw no stones. That's especially true if everything that keeps the "house" running depends on its integrity, and, if the owner is throwing the stones at someone who lives in a mud hut. The United States is in that situation against Iran, which has been spending heavily to recruit hackers and buy technology to give it the capacity to play havoc with the Internet that we are growing more and more dependant on...

In case you haven't noticed, daylight is lasting much longer in the evening, and it is getting light earlier in the day. We have passed the equinox and the sun is traveling further north on the horizon toward the point of the summer solstice where it will appear to stop moving for a while and then start south again...

Welcome to spring time, eh? Of course with the weather like it's been lately, it's hard to determine if its spring or summer, depends on the day. Anyways, I love spring time and all that comes with it, but with spring time in our house also comes the dreaded ... MUD!...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A McCook woman received probation after being convicted of attempted felony arson in both Red Willow and Frontier counties earlier this month. The woman, 32-year-old Angela R. Schwarz of 302 East Second Street, was sentenced in Red Willow County District Court, April 2, to serve 24 months probation and pay $1,000 in restitution to Jerry Larson. ...

CRETE, Nebraska -- Doane College junior and Wauneta-Palisade High School graduate Cody Fanning has died of injuries he suffered when he fell out the back of a moving pickup early Wednesday morning. The driver of the pickup, Cody Barnes, another Doane junior, has been charged with driving while intoxicated and was taken to the Saline County jail. Five other young adults were present at the time of the accident, according to the Doane College newspaper...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- During the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast, Thursday morning, Sen. Mark Christensen recapped his progress during the 2012 session and shared his thoughts on what he believed to be the legislative body's biggest accomplishment and disappointment...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A special VIP night drew a crowd to the new McDonald's on North Highway 83 in McCook Wednesday evening. Richard and Jane Stull, the owners of this location of the internationally-famous restaurant franchise, along with members of their crew and management, greeted guests curious to glimpse the inside of the virtually complete structure...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Community Hospital Board members were "very impressed" with the progress of the Phase 2 addition and remodel as they toured the surgery wing following the Board of Directors meeting on April 18, according to Jim Ulrich, Community Hospital President and CEO. ...

This week, I was pleased to host business and government leaders from our region for the fourth and final national summit on entrepreneurship and innovation in Omaha. As Chair of the National Governors Association, my initiative, Growing State Economies, has focused on ways states can encourage job creation and improve state economies through encouraging and fostering entrepreneurship and business innovation...

Paul Ryan has a plan to save Medicare and Medicaid so it will be there for our children and grandchildren. The Republicans have submitted a number of budgets to prevent us from drowning in a sea of indebtedness, but Democrats shot them down. Democrats don't have a plan to save Medicare and Medicaid, and yet they accuse Republicans of pushing granny off a cliff or sending children to bed hungry. ...

I was saddened at hearing about the passing of Dick Clark at the age of 82 last week -- and even a little surprised at how saddened I was. Perhaps the depth of feeling came from the fact that Clark's "American Bandstand" was a regular fixture on Saturdays in my formative years, or that in recent months I've found myself devouring multi-hour blocks of "$25,000 / $100,000 Pyramid" episodes on GSN, or even that I have long admired his show business acumen and consummate professionalism. ...