Training burn

Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette

Black smoke pours from a house that Culbertson firefighters burned in a training session Saturday morning. Culbertson native Randy Weaver of Las Vegas purchased the house and eight 50x100-foot lots from Jesse Dutcher, whose parents once lived in the house, and plans to sell four 100x100-foot lots. "These lots are the original plotted lots of Culbertson, and should be generating taxes," Weaver said. The aging house at the corner of Wildmar and Ivey streets had been empty and vandalized inside and out -- "It's prettier on fire," said Randy's wife, Kelly, as she watched bright-orange-and-yellow flames dance in and out of broken window panes. "More intriguing, at least," Randy replied. Heat from the dying fire distorts a picture of Weaver as he visited with Marlys Binderup, who lives just south of the burned house. "Her view just improved," he said. Randy and Kelly, and their son, Blaise, served hotdogs -- not roasted over the house fire -- to firefighters as the flames died down. Enjoying lunch were firefighters Tom Ferneau (left) and Todd Rippen.