July 2013 – Page 34 – North Platte Post Archive

Hornets Name to Return to Charlotte

Posted on July 19, 2013

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Charlotte is the home of the Hornets again — starting after the 2013-14 season.

The NBA unanimously approved Charlotte’s nickname change from Bobcats to Hornets at the league’s Board of Governors meeting. The original Hornets built a supportive fan base in Charlotte from the time they entered the league in 1988 until they moved to New Orleans in 2002.

But the new owners in New Orleans have changed the team’s name to the Pelicans. That opened the door for owner Michael Jordan to bring the Hornets name back to Charlotte.

Dollie Faye Schroeder

Posted on July 19, 2013

Dollie Faye Schroeder, 94, of North Platte, NE, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at the North Platte Care Center.

Dollie was the fifth child born to Harry G. and Lena Zierlein Lamb on June 8, 1919, at Stapleton, NE. She grew up in North Platte and the Nebraska Sandhills area and spent a year with her grandparents in Santa Cruz, CA. Dollie graduated from McPherson County High School at Tryon, NE then earned a Business Degree from a college in Denver, CO.

On December 7, 1939, in Scottsbluff, NE, Dollie married Kenneth Schroeder and they made their home in the North Platte area. She was involved in PTA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. She enjoyed camping, flowers, crafts, sewing, china painting and loved to read. Dollie also liked music and dancing on Wednesday nights at the Senior Center. She was a faithful member of the Christian Science Church. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

She is survived by her son, Richard (Betty Ann) Schroeder, of North Platte; daughters, Deborah McElroy, of Maxwell, NE, Pamela (Francis, Jr.) Wever and Sylvia Schroeder, all of North Platte; a brother, Earl (Arlene) Lamb, of Emmit, ID; 12 grandchildren, Jean (Randy) Hinton, Janet Burbach, Krista (Roger) Cox, Barbara Schroeder, Dale (Jill) Schroeder, David (Krista) Arias, Kenny McElroy, Kevin McElroy and Sandi (Daniel) Benson, Pam (Doug) Schmidt, Blaine (Sharlene) Rodewald and Rochelle (Jim) Kemp; many great-grandchildren; her nieces, nephews and other family and friends whom Dollie so enjoyed.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth; her parents, Harry and Lena Lamb; four brothers, Charles (Helen), Fred (Nina), Harold and Jack; two sisters, Ruby (Barron) McIntosh and Rose (Nick) Ponticello; a daughter-in-law, Betty C. Schroeder; numerous cousins, nephews and nieces.

Funeral service will be 1 p.m. Monday, July 22, 2013, at Odean Colonial Chapel At C & Sycamore followed by a burial in the Loup Valley Cemetery. Visitation will be 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Odean Colonial Chapel At C & Sycamore. Condolences may also be shared at odeanchapel.com. Memorials are suggested to the Santa Cop Program. Odean Colonial Chapel At C & Sycamore is in charge of arrangements.

Family of Woman Killed by NE Prison Van Files Claim

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — The family of a woman killed in a crash with a Nebraska prison inmate has filed a legal claim against the state, saying officials need to be held responsible for theprisoner who was allowed to drive a state-owned van.

The claim is the first step toward a lawsuit for the death of Joyce R. Meeks, of Lincoln. Meeks was killed on June 25 when a van driven by inmate Jeremy Dobbe plowed into her minivan.

Meeks’ son, Martell Buchanan, says his family wants answers about why officials let Dobbe drive other inmates to and from work-release assignments. Dobbe is serving time for possession of methamphetamine, and has past convictions for DUI and reckless driving.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has allowed inmates to drive the vans since 1985.

Nebraska Man Injured in Iowa Cellphone Tower Fall

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — A Nebraska man has been injured in a fall from a cellphone tower he was helping erect in Iowa.

The accident occurred a little after noon on Wednesday at a site west of Dike.

The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office says 29-year-old Todd Hansel, of Sidney, Neb., was adjusting a ladder between 40 and 60 feet above the ground “when the ladder gave way and pulled Hansel off the tower.”

The office says Hansel was taken to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Fire Destroys Team’s Softball Equipment in Grand Island

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — A Grand Island warehouse fire has destroyed equipment used by several girls softball teams.

The fire was reported a little after 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The equipment was used by teams in the Central Nebraska Girls Softball Association’s Synergy program. Association President Mark Galvan says there was enough gear inside the warehouse to outfit 30 teams.

The teams stopped playing games on July 1 and stored their equipment in the warehouse, which sits just east of the association’s indoor practice facility.

Grand Island Fire Department Division Chief Tim Hiemer says the fire was listed as suspicious, the cause undetermined.

No injuries have been reported.

CDC: Life Expectancy Shorter in Southern States

Posted on July 18, 2013

If you’re 65 and living in Hawaii, here’s some good news: Odds are you’ll live another two decades. And for a good chunk of those years, you’ll likely be in pretty good health.

Hawaii tops the charts in the government’s first state-by-state look at how long Americans age 65 can expect to live and how many of those remaining years will be healthy ones.

Mississippi was worst, with about 17½ more years and nearly seven of them in poorer health.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the estimates Thursday.

South Dakota Man Killed In Nebraska Farming Accident

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — A Rapid City man has died in Nebraska after he was run over by a tractor.

66-year-old Daniel N. Grooms was performing maintenance on a tractor about 2 p.m. Tuesday when the equipment accidentally started and ran Grooms over.

Grooms called for help and was conscious and breathing when rescue personnel arrived. He was transported to Chadron Community Hospital, where he ultimately was pronounced dead.

Gering Couple Gets Jail for Sex In Park

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — Till jail do us part wasn’t included in their vows, but two western Nebraska newlyweds will be spending the next few weeks in separate cells.

They’d been caught having sex in Gering’s Oregon Trail Park on Tuesday evening, behind a tree but within view of pool swimmers several dozen yards away.

A Gering officer says he pulled his vehicle up to within three feet of the couple, who were so involved in each other they didn’t notice him. The officer says that when they finally stopped and got dressed, they told him they’d just gotten married.

The woman’s 5-year-old daughter was found in a nearby park shelter.

On Wednesday 31-year-old Miaya Smith and 23-year-old Saint Ramirez Jr. pleaded guilty to public indecency and were given 30 days in jail.

Wisconsin Toddler Dies After Becoming Trapped in Car Trunk

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — An investigator says he wishes searchers had thought earlier of forcing open the trunk of a car where a western Wisconsin toddler was found dead.

A deputy found the body of 2-year-old Isaiah Theis in the trunk of a car at his parents’ home near Centuria Wednesday night. The father repairs cars there and the car belonged to a customer.

Polk County Chief Deputy Steve Moe tells reporters investigators didn’t have access to keys to the cars. He says they had presumed the boy wandered off Tuesday night, which he had a tendency to do, and that all the customers’ cars were locked.

Moe declined to speculate how Isaiah ended up in the trunk. He says the autopsy is being expedited but he doesn’t expect results Thursday.

Rare Heatwave Moving Backward Across U.S.

Posted on July 18, 2013

(AP) — The oppressively hot weather in the Northeast has surprised meteorologists: It’s moving backward across America, something that rarely happens.

The operations chief at the National Weather Service’s prediction branch says the western Atlantic high pressure system behind the hot dry weather started moving east to west last week and by Tuesday was centered over lower Michigan.

Jon Gottschalck (GAHT’chawlk) said the high pressure was going the wrong way. Normally U.S. weather systems move west to east. He said the high pressure is about to return eastward, extending the Northeastern heat wave an extra day or so until the weekend.

He said there’s no evidence pointing at man-made climate change, but this is likely just natural chaos in the atmosphere.

Thursday, the heat index hit 106 degrees in Washington and Philadelphia.