Local News

AREA NEWS DIGEST

Taken from the news columns of area newspapers

November 24, 2007

Lex school approves athletic trainer position

LEXINGTON—A wish list of items for Lexington Public Schools recently got the go-ahead from the Board of Education. Two major items on that list were a new hire and the purchase of land. Board members approved a new full-time, year-round position of athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coordinator with the objective to find ways of keeping kids healthy and rehab them when injured. Lexington Public Schools will also pay $17,578.25 to purchase land adjacent to Sandoz Elementary School, in particular to help with drainage issues.—taken from the Clipper-Herald.

McGinnis honored for housing authority service

COZAD—The Cozad Housing Authority Board of Commissioners recently honored and recognized Howard McGinnis of Service Drug in Cozad, for 30 years of dedicated service to the Cozad Housing Authority. McGinnis first was appointed to the Board of Commissioners in 1977 by Mayor Svoboda. Since that time, he has supported the agency through many changes which included the building of the Cozad Housing units, the implementation of the Certificate Program, management of Eustis and Farnam Housing Agencies and the purchase of the East Village Court.—taken from the Tri-City Trib.

Students collaborate to fight cancer

BROKEN BOW—A group of Broken Bow preschoolers recently teamed up with high school students to raise funds to fight a form of childhood cancer. The effort began when the students at Tappan Valley Preschool learned about Charli Priester, a toddler whose cousin, Ryan Haines, attends the preschool. Priester, who is just more than a year old, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer. The students assembled “Lunch for Life” bags. The bags contained a homemade cookie and materials from the foundation. Printing on the outside encouraged people to donate their lunch money for a day to fight the disease.—taken from the Custer County Chief.

Arsonist sought for business fire, burglary

OGALLALA—A recent early morning fire in the lower level of the Cobb Realty building caused major disruptions to the building’s tenants, Cobb Realty and the Ogallala Counseling. The fire was determined to be arson, and according to Keith County Attorney Blake Edwards, the building was also burglarized. The blaze took more than 100 firefighters from a dozen fire departments and 35 pieces of firefighting equipment to get under control. As the fire and burglary are still being investigated, the owners were working to find alternate sites so both could continue conducting business.—taken from the Keith County News.

Creatures great and small get blessing

CURTIS—The Rev. Kevin Burkhardt recently held a “Blessing of the Animals” service at the Garden Prairie UMC and at Mill Park in Curtis as well. The Rev. Burkhardt stated that the purpose of the service is to witness to God’s and the church’s love, care and concern for creation and to recognize our mutual interdependence with God’s creatures. Between the two locations, two cows, two horses and more than 12 dogs were blessed.—taken from the Frontier County Enterprise.

Lego hobby house featured in tour

ARNOLD—Four homes and a local resident’s hobby house were lined up for the Arnold Housing Tour recently. One home, currently on the market, was the Arnold Economic Development’s spec home, located on North Carroll Street. The project, financed by a group of private investors, was taken on to spur new construction of family homes. A fun addition to the tour was the Lego hobby house of Harvey Foran, who’s trailer house has literally hundreds of assembled Lego sets, and has been featured on national news as well.—taken from the Arnold Sentinel.

Scheduling practices a challenge for schools

CALLAWAY—Cooping with Arnold for junior high football went well during the past season, however, scheduling for practices remains a challenge as Arnold’s junior high football players were missing 20 minutes of classroom time every practice day for travel to Callaway. Suggestions are being discussed including moving the overall daily schedule back 10 minutes at Arnold and Callaway to move its schedule ahead 10 minutes. With casual talk of eventually cooping with Arnold for high school football as well, officials at both schools need to consider alternatives to seek solutions.—taken from the Callaway Courier.