Stories from Wednesday, October 2, 2002

TRENTON -- The McCook doctor who examined a Palisade baby four days after his first birthday said the saucer-sized depression on the back of the baby's head horrified him. Four days earlier, another McCook doctor described the same baby, Jonathan Witt, as alert, happy, comfortable...

There are times consultants are worth the money ... and there are times when they are not. It all depends on the kind of decision that must be made. Take, for example, two current matters of concern confronting the Board of Governors of the Mid-Plains Community College Area...

Don Schaaf's photographic exhibit strives for viewers to exclaim "I remember that!" The exhibit, featured at the McCook Fine Arts Gallery, contains nineteen black and white photographs of a variety of places in McCook. The photos include a lonely and mournful gate at Memorial Park cemetery, a shadowy and lifeless Weiland Field and the majestic and joyful Fox Theater on Norris Avenue...

TRENTON -- A 20-year-old McCook man will spend the next 30 months on intensive supervised probation, with time at the Work Ethic Camp in McCook, after his sentencing Tuesday in Hitchcock County district court in Trenton. Judge John Battershell told Kenneth Farr he is "staring the penitentiary in the face," if he does not successfully complete the 30-month probation imposed on a charge of possession of methamphetamine...

LINCOLN -- The McCook Police Department has received six hand-held alcohol breath testing units from a traffic safety grant award. The units, valued at $275 each, were provided by the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety as part of the state's ongoing effort to prevent alcohol-related traffic crashes, injures and fatalities...

Allison Priddy, age 5, of McCook enjoys lunch at the annual Stratton Fall Festival on Saturday. Other activities include a horseshoe tournament, ugly truck contest, parade and street dance.

Opera Omaha in conjunction with the Heartland Opera Theater, will present Carmen: Chance Meets Choice, a condensed version of the opera "Carmen" on Thursday, 1 p.m., at the Fox Theater. The production will have the four key parts in the opera Carmen: Carmen the mezzo-soprano, Jose the tenor, Micaela the soprano and Zuniga the baritone...

When the call went out that Southwest Nebraska was looking for mature actors to audition for a dinner theater performance, Lester Webb decided to give it a try. Tonight, he'll make his acting debut -- at the age of 78. Webb is one of nine actors in the Southwest Nebraska Community Theatre's presentation of the comedy "Morning's At Seven."...

Back in the early '70s, when the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar took center stage in New York and "Jesus Freaks" were all the rage in Haight Ashbury, many young people broke from generations of tradition and sought a different approach to issues of a spiritual nature...

Every family has one. The "restacker." The person who opens the dishwasher and rearranges all the plates, cups and saucers because they aren't stacked "efficiently" enough. At family gatherings, restackers mastermind the assault on the dinner table. When the meal is over, they set up assembly lines for moving utensils and leftovers to the kitchen. Once there, they supervise the loading of the dishwasher...

BARSTOW, Calif. -- Eva Mae Ferrell, 79, died Friday (Sept. 27, 2002) at Victor Valley Community Hospital in Barstow, Calif. She was born on Jan. 30, 1923, at Edison, to Boyd and Inace Evans. She had been a resident of Barstow for 31 years, and was employed as a phone operator for Verizon for 35 years until her retirement...

CURTIS -- Kenneth Harwick, 90, died Monday (Sept. 30, 2002) at the Sunset Haven Nursing Home in Curtis. He was born Aug. 5, 1912, at Moorefield to Fayette and Ethel (Grange) Harwick. He graduated from Moorefield High School in 1930. On Nov. 3, 1934, he married Faye Craig at Broken Bow. They farmed near Ingham and later near Moorefield. After leaving the farm he was employed by the City of Curtis...

BENKELMAN -- Leon E. "Cy" Ketler, 94, died Monday (Sept. 30, 2002) at Dundy County Hospital in Benkelman. He was born June 9, 1908, to John Clyde and Ethel B. (Ballard) Ketler on their farm in Cheyenne County, Kan., and as a young boy, he attended country school near his home. ...