Mavis Lorraine (Railsback) Ohlson, age 94, passed away Saturday, December 19, 2020 at Arapahoe Good Samaritan Nursing Home. Mavis was born on October 1, 1926 on a farm in Norton County Kansas 1/2 mile from the Nebraska line to John “Lloyd” and Leona C. (Palmer) Railsback. Mavis attended country school in Norton County through eighth grade. Since there was no local high school, she then lived with her paternal Aunt Grace and her husband Lyle Young for four years while she completed her high school years in Joes, Colorado. She graduated from high school in 1944 and then attended college in Greeley, Colorado where she received her teaching certificate. She then applied for and obtained her Kansas State Teaching Certificate. She taught for one year in the Country school in Lyle, Kansas.

Donna F. Wier, age 94, passed away at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook on December 20, 2020. She was born in Furnas County near Cambridge on November 27, 1926 to Orva B. and Josephine (Heitmann) Trosper. Donna was united in marriage to George Wier in Norton, KS on July 6, 1946. George preceded her in death on May 9, 1988.

PLEASANTON - Both the Cambridge boys and girls basketball teams went 0-2 at the Pleasanton Holiday Tournament last week. The Cambridge girls fell to Ravenna, 47-31, on Monday, then dropped a 58-21 decision to Anselmo-Merna on Tuesday.

Both the Bob Braithwait Holiday Tournament in Arapahoe and the South Platte Holiday Tournament in BIg Springs were postponed to a winter storm that hit the state on Monday and Tuesday. Each tournament was postponed to Wednesday and Thursday.

SOUTHERN VALLEY - The Southern Valley basketball teams took both ends of a girls/boys varsity doubleheader at The Nest last Tuesday. The Southern Valley girls pulled down a 39-25 win.

ARAPAHOE - The Arapahoe boys and girls basketball teams each dropped their first round games in the Bob Braithwait Holiday Tournament.

The girls had a difficult time getting much going offensively, particularly in the first half, against Blue Hill.

The Bobcats’ 2-3 zone stymied the Warriors in the first half as the visitors led 11-0 after a quarter and 23-3 at halftime.

Arapahoe (1-7) actually outscored the Bobcats in the second half, but shot just 18 percent from the field for the game and had 23 turnovers as they fell 43-24.

BIG SPRINGS - The Cambridge girls basketball team ended a five-game losing streak with a 48-41 victory over conference-rival Dundy County-Stratton at the South Platte Holiday Tournament Wednesday afternoon.

The Trojans, now 4-5, will likely battle South Platte in Thursday's championship game at 4:30 p.m. 

The Southwest Public Schools Foundation has had a very eventful year, in spite of the Coronavirus limitations. The biggest challenge was just that — a fundraising challenge by an anonymous donor.

Each year, the Arapahoe/Holbrook school hosts a Scholastic Book Fair. At the conclusion of the fair, they get to select free books and supplies for their school. Due to COVID this year, the book fair was online. However, they still had lots of fun and will get to add new books to the school. In an effort to promote the fair, Principal Perez, agreed to be duct taped to the wall if they reached their goal of $1000 in sales! Well, they reached their goal! On Friday, December 18th, students in grades K-6 got to duct tape Mr. Perez to the wall! Perez stated “In year’s past, it wouldn’t have taken this much tape.”

ARAPAHOE - The Arapahoe-Holbrook Board of Education met Tuesday to discuss its superintendent search with personnel from the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association - Cynthia Huff and Jack Moles.