News March 8

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Join in the festivities at Rush Center on Saturday.

Birthdays: March 8, Stacy Scheetz; March 9, June Bell, Kelly Pfannenstiel, Jan Showalter; March 10, Kyle Schwindt, Quintin Elias, Janett Rogers; March 11, Joy Petz, Melanie Albright, Pat Showalter; March 12, Taylor Yohe, Delores Petz, Mathew Wetzel, Sierra Shelit; March 13, Leanne Miller, Deanne Heier, Reggie Irvin, Kelly Shelit, Tony Schlitter; March 14, Floyd Norlin.

Anniversaries: March 10, Ted and Shawna North; March 12, Rick and Rosemarie Schwindt, Stuart and Brenda Clancy; March 13, Arlyn and Jan North, Jeff and Billie Crawshaw; March 14, Lee and Donna Hansen.

The Jail/Museum has received a box of Life magazines and collector newspapers.

Mike and Susan Keith and Carolyn Thompson were in Manhattan on Saturday to see the KSU-Texas Tech basketball game and Senior Day. Shannon joined them for shopping and supper.

Lynn Kochenower spent all day Saturday at the Western Kansas Classic Wrestling Tournament with Casey and Shannon Shaw and their kids. Also attending were the Fockes of Colby and the Shaws of Selden. Participants were Preston and Paxton Shaw. They went to Freddies for burgers and ice cream.

Monday brought extreme wind to our area and as a result many fires started burning west of McCracken at Ransom and Brownell.  There are reports that some houses in Ransom were burned.  The Hays Daily News had a video of the fire east of the elevator at Brownell. 

May your neighbors respect you, Trouble neglect you, The Angels protect you, And heaven accept you.

Jean and Shelley Oelkers motored to Kansas City to spend the week end with family. Dyan Suppes and Tony Axman were hosts for the family which included Galen who was in KC to attend a business meeting. The group visited Union Station and one of the local breweries.

Due to a request by our Irish members, we have moved the time of the MCC Annual Golf meeting from 10 AM to 9 AM on Saturday, March 11. Evidently there is an Irish/St. Patrick’s celebration that same day in Rush Center that some want to get too early. As my dad used to say, “Better not to get between a dog and his bone if you can help it.” So wear your green and bring a wee bit of Irish whisky for your coffee and we will see you at 9 AM Saturday, March 11, 2017 for our meeting. We will try to get this new time posted on the community service channel and the McCracken message board on the highway, also.

Received a lovely birthday card from Sister Martina, she said enjoys the Rush County News very much, she can pick up the “old time flavor of her youth”. What a dear friend.

Had a nice phone call from Bob Thompson this Monday. He plans on coming to the rodeo this year. There were some great basketball games being played this past week-end. Hope you fans all enjoyed!!

History: 1969

Larry Oborny, graduate student of zoology at Ft. Hays, killed eleven prairie rattlesnakes in a pasture north of McCracken. The longest was 43 inches with 12 rattles. The snakes were used by the Herpetology class. MHS basketball team members: Donnie Schuckman, Bill Wetzel, Jim Brack, Kirby Wendler, Dave Davenport, Jim Conrad, Kenny Foster, Rich Higgins, Lance Morgan, Tommy Tomlinson and Kent Bible. Glenn Conner, coach. McCracken Colts A & B Team members: Danny McFarren, David Wetzel, John Rourke, Lonnie Irvin, Daryl Casey, Roger Legleiter, Danny Conner, Randy Taylor, Johnny Elmore, Ray Wierman, David Derr, Ivan Janke, Jerald Grumbein, Don Johnston, John Irvin and Tom Moran. Elmer Baus Jr., graduated from the Kansas Technical Institute in Salina. New Teachers in the Alexander-McCracken schools are Joyce Bromlow, Pansy Fryman, Peggy Crawford, Arlene Gilbert, Philena Baus, Lorraine Norlin.

------------

Patricia Petz wrote:

What started out to be a very simple week, turned out to be a very busy and challenging week.  I enjoyed Monday morning as I traveled to Mc Cracken to meet with my Bible Study group.  It had been several weeks since I had met with the Mc Cracken ladies.  Those in attendance beside myself were Carolyn Thompson, Twila Higgins, Jean Schutte, Jeanette McCormick and Shirley Higgins.  Along with reading several passages in the Bible, we prayed for several people that were sick in our community, and then we wished Shirley a Happy Birthday! 

Most of the day on Tuesday was spent with the fifth and sixth grade students as I subbed for La Crosse Elementary.  The students worked on reading several different novels, studied about the Southwestern Ancient Civilizations, worked on ratios, and experimented with molds.  It was a very interesting day!

After I had supper with my mom, I headed to Mc Cracken to play BUNCO.  I believe that this was the largest number of people who had attended BUNCO for awhile.   Unfortunately, I did not win the final games, but I sure did have a lot of fun playing the game and visiting with everyone.  

Wednesday was a very busy day.  I helped out in the Resource Room at La Crosse Elementary, so throughout the day I was in many different rooms.  That evening mom and I met Ardis Viegra, Debbie Haas, Maggie Dechant, and Phyliis Manhart at Tracy's for supper.  I had to leave early to attend a Liturgy Meeting at the Parish Center.  After that meeting, I met with several ladies so that we could make rosaries.  Those in attendance were Mary Steitz, Debbie Haas, Phyllis Manhart, Rita Oborny, Mary Ann Legleiter, Ardis Viegra, and myself.  We always have a good time visiting as we are making the rosaries for those that are requesting them.  

Unfortunately, when a teacher has a child that is sick and running a fever, a substitute must be found to help with their classes.  So, I found myself helping out on Thursday and Friday for the Resource Room.  Since it was the end of the nine week period, classes were dismissed early on Friday afternoon.  That really helped me out as I needed to set up in Great Bend at the Expo Complex for the Home and Garden Show.  Mom decided to help me set up, but we ended up having a terrible experience. Several miles out of Great Bend, I discovered that I only had about 10 miles left before I was out of gas.  We knew that it was going to be impossible to make it back to La Crosse so the only alternative was to turn around and head back to Great Bend. This time when we arrived, I only had less than one mile left in my gas tank.  My mom informed me that if we ran out of gas, I was the one walking!!!  I'm certainly glad that we made it, as it was very chilly Friday evening.  

When Mom and I reached LaCrosse we had a little time to spare before we went to St. Michael's Church for the Stations of the Cross.  Father Kumi had asked if I would give a short presentation after the Stations.  I decided to share some information about the Blessed Virgin Mary and how she always believed and trusted in the Lord.  After church, mom and I went to Tracy's and had the shrimp dinner.  De.Wayne and Vicky Foos came in and we finished our meal with them as we visited.  

Mom had planned on helping me at the Central Kansas Spring Expo but because of the cold weather, I thought that it would be best if she was not exposed to the coldness.  It was a good thing that she didn't go along with me because there was no heat in the building.  Even though I had triple layers on, I was super cold throughout the day.  After, I was finished at the show, I drove to Bison where I attended the sixth birthday party for my great-nephew, Rennick Dalton.  Rennick is the son of Robert and Jendee Dalton.  Jendee was able to complete the evening with a surprise 40th birthday party for Bob. There was a large attendance at the party and Jendee did a fantastic job of preparing a wide variety of snacks that she served. They were delicious! Happy Birthday, Rennick and Bob!

Unfortunately, our family found out that Kirby Petz passed away Saturday morning.  Kirby leaves behind his wife Joy, his mother, Dolores, two brothers, Darrell and Chris, and a sister Sherry, many other family members, and a host of friends.  His memorial service will be on Thursday at 10:30 at the Janousek Funeral Home in LaCrosse.  Rest in peace, Kirby.

Did you all remember to reset your clocks and "fall back" an hour on Sunday?  In the United States, "Fast Time" as it was called when it was introduced in 1918, was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson to support the effort during WWI.  The initiative was sparked by Robert Garland, a Pittsburgh industrialist who had encountered the idea in the UN.  Today, he is often called the " Father of Daylight Saving."  The DST is used to save energy and make better use of daylight.  It starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.  Many changes have been made throughout the years, however, the current schedule was introduced in 2007.  In the United States, all states use the DST except most of Arizona and Hawaii.  

Because of the time change, Sunday morning came a little bit earlier than I had expected.  Once again, I headed to Great Bend for the final day of the Spring Expo at Great Bend.  It was still very cold in the building and of course, I'm sure that the snow didn't help matters any. We definitely needed the moisture, however, I was disappointed in the overall attendance. I don't really blame anyone, as I would have enjoyed staying at home as well.

After picking up a few things in Great Bend, I stopped in to see how my mom, Mary Steitz, was doing and then head to Mc Cracken to visit with my mother-in-law, Dolores.  This has been a very busy week, hopefully next week will slow down a little. Have a nice week and remember to be kind to all!