April 2017 – Page 31 – North Platte Post Archive

2017 Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Class

Posted on April 4, 2017

The Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Foundation will induct 11 athletes, five coaches, one contributor and one official at its annual Induction Ceremony Oct. 1 at Lincoln East High School.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for K-12 students. Pre-kindergarten children are admitted for no charge.

The athlete group includes three former Husker football players and one Olympian. The five coaches have coached teams to 18 state championships.
The inductees are:

ATHLETES:
–Forrest “Frosty” Anderson, Scottsbluff (1969): Was an all-state selection in football, a 2-year starter in basketball and a contributor to the Bearcats’ state championship track team of 1968. A 3-year letterman for the Huskers, he played split end on the national championship teams of 1970, ‘71.

–Kim (Behrends) Buckendahl, Chappell (1997): The Lincoln Journal-Star Athlete of the Year in 1997, she led Chappell volleyball to a 55-match winning streak and back-to-back state championships, earning all-class all-state her junior and senior years. In basketball, she started for four years, scoring 1,384 points. At UNL, she averaged more than four kills per game for the 34-0 national champions of 2000.

–Leodis Flowers, Omaha Central (1987): A two-time all-state running back and Parade All-American was one of eight finalists for the Gatorade National Player of the Year after rushing for 1,200 yards and scoring 19 touchdowns in seven games his senior year. At Nebraska, he rushed for more than 1,600 yards in his 3-year career.

–Erin (Gudmundson) Haussermann, Kearney Catholic (2002): All-state in volleyball and basketball, she qualified for the state track meet in seven different events, winning the all-class gold medal in the high jump her senior season. A three-year volleyball All-American at UNK, she was the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 2005.

–Richard Knaub, Scottsbluff (1954): Won the all-class gold medal in the pole vault his sophomore and junior seasons at the state track meet and in the long jump his junior year. Slowed by injury his senior year, he went on to win a conference long jump title for UCLA and competed in the 1956 Olympic Trials.

–Laura (Pilakowski) Buttermore, Columbus (1999): Earned all-state honors in volleyball and basketball and qualified for the state track meet all four years of high school. A three-time All-Big 12 volleyball selection, she played on the Huskers’ national championship team of 2000 then finished her career playing on the Husker women’s basketball team.

–Barrett Ruud, Lincoln Southeast (2001): Became Lincoln Southeast’s all-time leading rusher with 2,988 yards and 54 touchdowns while helping the Knights to a 48-2 record and three state championships. A 4-year letterman at linebacker for the Huskers, he set a single-season record for tackles his junior year. He went on to play 8 years in the NFL.

–Renee Saunders, Omaha Marian (1995): Named to all-class all-state volleyball and basketball teams her junior and senior seasons, she went on to play basketball and volleyball for the Huskers. Currently the volleyball coach at Omaha Skutt, she was the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star Female Athlete of the Year in 1995.

–Anne Shadle, South Sioux City (2001): Won three Class B state cross country championships and three all-class gold medals at the state track meet. She went on to earn seven track and cross country letters at Nebraska, winning the mile run and 1,500-meter at the NCAA championships. She competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials.

–Daryl Stovall, Bellevue West (1978): Drafted by Major League Baseball and the NBA, he averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds as a senior at Bellevue West and was a two-time all-state baseball selection. At Creighton, he was a three-year starter in basketball and baseball, signing with the Chicago White Sox before his senior season.

–Scott Usher, Grand Island (2001): Found most of his success in the breaststroke, winning three gold medals at the state meet and being a five-time collegiate All-American and a qualifier for the Olympic finals in 2004.

COACHES:
–Rick Hesse, Clearwater/Valentine: Led Clearwater to four consecutive state basketball titles from 1984-87. He finished with 440 career wins and 12 state tournament appearances.

–Kathy Mettenbrink, Centura: Coached girls basketball at Centura for 34 years, winning 549 games, making 11 state tournament appearances and finishing as state runner-up twice.

–John Miller, Chambers/Southern Valley: Retired as the winningest basketball coach in Nebraska history with 709 total victories — 585 wins and five state titles coaching the Chambers girls and 124 wins and one state title with the Southern Valley boys.

–Carl Tesmer, Grand Island Central Catholic/Hastings St. Cecilia: Has coached football for 41 years, compiling a 339-89-2 record with two state titles, which ranks as the state’s best winning percentage among active coaches.

–Mark Wortman, Elkhorn: Has led Elkhorn football to five state championships, four other state finals and 28 playoff appearances in 36 years.

CONTRIBUTOR:
–Jerry Stine, Omaha: Retired from coaching and teaching at Wheeler Central and Bertrand, but continues to work for several organizations including the Hall of Fame. He is the creator, author and secretary of the Nebraska Coaches Association milestone awards that bear his name.

OFFICIAL:
–Larry Bornschlegl, Hastings: Officiated basketball in Nebraska for 20 years, working 10 state tournaments and eight state championships. He has been an NSAA observer of officials for 25 years.

HONOREES:
In addition to the inductees, the Hall of Fame honors individuals, teams and programs for their accomplishments. This year’s honorees are:
–Great Moment in High School Sports: Winnebago state championship team of 2015 that captured the attention of the state.

–Dominant Dynasties: Omaha Westside swimming, coached by Hall of Fame inductees Cal Bentz and Doug Krecklow, won 24 state championships (13 boys, 11 girls) between 1973 and 1988.

–Ron Gustafson Inspiration Award: Taleah Williams of Norfolk was born without a lower left arm but had an outstanding prep career in basketball and track. She competed in the long jump at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

–Fischer Family Award: Pat Novacek family of Gothenburg, including Jim Novacek, All-Pro tight end Jay Novacek and Jason Novacek, Nebraska’s first 16-foot pole vaulter.

–Golden Anniversary Team: Schuyler’s “Jolly Green Giants” state championship basketball team of 1968.

–Golden Anniversary Team; Scottsbluff state champion football, cross country, wrestling and boys track teams of 1967-68.

–Silver Anniversary Team: The undefeated state champion St. Paul girls basketball team of 1993.

–Silver Anniversary Team: Lincoln Southeast championship factory that won seven state titles — boys and girls cross country, football, girls basketball, girls gymnastics, boys swimming and boys golf in the 1992-93 school year.

Isla Faye (Clausen) Beman

Posted on April 4, 2017

Isla Faye (Clausen) Beman, our beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, lost her long struggle with Alzheimer’s on Sunday April 2, 2017 at the Broken Bow Care and Rehabilitation Center in Broken Bow, NE.

Isla was born on her father’s cotton farm at the “Big Four”, near Ralls, in Crosby County, TX, on New Year’s Eve, 1922. She was the 5^th child born to Claus and Petrea Marthena (Christensen) Clausen, Jr. In 1926, when Isla was just 3 years old, the Clausen family had to leave Texas and move back to Boelus, NE, when Isla’s mother, Petrea, underwent Escharotic treatment for cancer in Savannah, MO. When the family was reunited, Claus purchased a farm near Boelus. Isla grew up on that farm during those difficult hard times of the Great Depression and “Dust Bowl Dirty Thirties”. She told us of times when it was so dusty they had to tie wet bandannas over their nose and mouth to breathe, as they watched their crops wither and die, or be devoured by clouds of grasshoppers who even ate clothes hanging out to dry. Once in a while her mother could spare a nickel out of the egg money so Isla could pursue her lifelong love of the piano and take a few lessons from her Aunt Lydia. Isla attended Boelus Public Schools, graduating from high school on May 9, 1940. After graduation she moved to Grand Island, NE with her sister Ethel who was in nurses training at St. Francis Hospital. Isla helped her with her studies and then after she was capped, they both got work at The Old Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. It was there, in the spring of 1941, on a blind date, that she met and fell in love with Orval C. Beman. He was almost immediately drafted into the army on June 17^th and sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. While home on furlough, they eloped and were married in Aurora, NE on November 1, 1941. They were married for 59 wonderful years. While Orval was serving in the South Pacific during WWII, Isla lived with her mother and father-in-law, Eva and Abe Beman, on their farm at Cairo, NE. She and Abe worked in the Grand Island Ordinance Plant, which produced artillery shells. Orval was wounded on the Island of Luzon in the Philippines on January 25, 1945. He finally recovered and was discharged on October 21, 1945 at Ft. Lewis, WA. After the war, Isla and Orval moved to North Platte, NE where he resumed his job with the Union Pacific, taking a transfer into engine service as a fireman. He eventually was promoted to engineer. Isla was a homemaker, and also gave piano and accordion lesions, and was active in Cody School PTA. After the family was raised, she worked for Elsie McGovern’s Answering Service as a PBX operator, and then for many years as a sales clerk / florist at Leo’s Flowers. She and Orval retired in 1978. They enjoyed 22 happy, active years of retirement together, enjoying square dancing, bicycling, swimming, hiking, and most of all travel and camping in their 5^th wheeler. They spent winters in Texas and Arizona, and summers with their family in Nebraska. Among Isla’s many hobbies over the years, were fishing, skiing, music, sewing, reading, crossword puzzles, and Husker football. She was a member of the 1^st Evangelical Lutheran Church, and later West End Chapel. She was a life member, since 1946, of the Ladies Auxiliary of the V.F.W. Post 1504 North Platte, NE. In Arizona she volunteered as a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army.

Isla was preceded in death by her loving husband Orval; her parents Claus and Petrea Clausen; brother Clyde Elgin Clausen; and sisters Lorraine Marian Clausen Peppmiller, and Cathryn Fern Clausen Bernhagen.

She is survived by her 2 sons Kenneth (Susie) Beman, Sr. of North Platte, and Richard Beman of Omaha; sister Ethel Clausen Claus of Seattle, WA; grandson Kenneth Beman, Jr. of Charlotte, NC; granddaughter Shelly (Mike Robb) Beman of North Platte; great granddaughters Willow Kovanda of Omaha and Faith Beman of Charlotte, NC; as well as many cousins, nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

Memorials are suggested to Asera Care Hospice of Kearney, NE and online condolences may be shared at www.adamsswanson.com. Funeral services will be held 1:00 p.m. Friday April 7, 2017 at Adams and Swanson Funeral Home with Pastor Gary Smith officiating. Burial will follow at Ft. McPherson National Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. Thursday April 6, 2017 at Adams and Swanson Funeral Home which is in charge of arrangements.

Paula Newmyer Death Notice

Posted on April 4, 2017

Paula Newmyer, age 88 of North Platte, passed away Sunday April 2, 2017. Services are pending at Adams and Swanson Funeral Home.

North Platte Weather-April 4

Posted on April 4, 2017April 4, 2017

Today

A 20 percent chance of showers after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 53. Breezy, with a north wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.

Tonight

A 10 percent chance of showers before 7pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. North northwest wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Wednesday

Sunny, with a high near 56. North northwest wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.

Wednesday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 28. North northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable in the evening.

Thursday

Sunny, with a high near 62. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming south in the afternoon.

Thursday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 36.

Friday

Sunny, with a high near 69.

Friday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 43.

Saturday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 78.

Saturday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.

Sunday

A slight chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 69.

Sunday Night

A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39.

Monday

A chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.

Replica of Statue of Liberty to be installed in Lincoln

Posted on April 3, 2017

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A replica of the Statue of Liberty currently in storage is awaiting installation at a new Lincoln location after already being moved twice.

The refurbished, 290-pound copper statue will be installed at Antelope Park’s Veterans Memorial Garden.

The Boy Scouts of America Cornhusker Council purchased Lady Liberty and donated it to Lincoln in the summer of 1951. It was located on the corner of a busy intersection before being moved to Liberty Plaza in 1986.

Now, that location is being torn down as part of the Folsom Children’s Zoo’s expansion plans.

The Boy Scouts plan to be a part of the next dedication as they were in previous moves.

The city hopes to complete the move later this spring or early summer.

Teen admits plotting to kill Pope during Philadelphia trip

Posted on April 3, 2017

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey teenager has admitted plotting to kill Pope Francis when he visited Philadelphia in 2015.

Seventeen-year-old Santos Colon Jr. pleaded guilty as an adult to attempting to provide material support to terrorists. The Lindenwold resident faces up to 15 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say Colon admitted plotting the assassination during a nearly two-month period in the weeks leading up to the pope’s visit. The plot involved using a sniper to shoot the pope during a Mass and setting off explosive devices nearby.

Colon engaged someone he thought would be the sniper but was an undercover FBI employee. Prosecutors say Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to buy materials to make explosive devices.

Prosecutors haven’t identified a motive.

Sentencing hasn’t been scheduled.

Committee close to advancing Nebraska tax cut package

Posted on April 3, 2017

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska legislative committee is close to advancing a tax cut package, but some lawmakers are still objecting to the proposal.

Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion says the Legislature’s Revenue Committee could vote Tuesday on the legislation. The package would lower the state’s top individual and corporate tax rates, expand an earned income tax credit for low-income residents and change the way agricultural land is valued for tax purposes.

Smith says he wanted to wait at least a day before voting to give senators time to consider several new amendments.

Some senators say they’re not convinced the measure will help stimulate the economy, as supporters contend. The package is partially built on Gov. Pete Ricketts’ recommendations for lawmakers.

Governors from 4 marijuana states ask to be left alone

Posted on April 3, 2017

DENVER (AP) — Governors from the first four states to legalize recreational marijuana are asking the Trump administration to let the pot experiments continue.

The governors of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington say that marijuana legalization has expanded their economies.

The governors also say in Monday’s letter that legal weed can be regulated to protect public safety and that legalization reduces “inequitable incarceration,” or people of color being disproportionately jailed for pot crimes.

The letter was addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The governors say they opposed legalization at first, but warn that a federal pot crackdown now “would divert existing marijuana product into the black market.”

The governors also ask for the Treasury Department not to change instructions to banks for handling marijuana money.

Hearing on Nebraska border town’s beer stores to air live

Posted on April 3, 2017

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A hearing on whether to renew the liquor licenses of four Nebraska beer stores near South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation will air live online.

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications says it will provide a video web stream of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission’s hearing on Thursday. The hearing at the Capitol is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Central Time.

The commission hearing comes amid increased scrutiny on Whiteclay, a tiny Nebraska village on the reservation’s south border. Whiteclay’s four beer stores sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015 despite having only a dozen residents. Pine Ridge is plagued by alcoholism despite a tribal alcohol ban.

Nebraska Liquor Control Commission Executive Director Hobie Rupe says the hearing will focus on whether the village has adequate law enforcement.

Opposition grows to Iowa bill making many 911 calls secret

Posted on April 3, 2017

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Civil rights groups, media advocates and some lawmakers are opposing an Iowa bill that would end public access to many 911 calls.

The bill would declare that 911 calls involving emergencies in which people are injured are confidential “medical records” and exempt from Iowa’s open records law.

The measure says the secrecy would not be limited to 911 call recordings themselves — a clause that critics fear could apply to videos documenting the aftermath of officer-involved shootings. All calls made by minors or about minors would also become secret.

The bill passed the Iowa House with little debate, with backers saying it would protect medical privacy and the privacy of children. But a chorus of opposition has emerged as the Republican-controlled Senate considers whether to schedule it for a vote.