Julie L. Besler age 66 of Cambridge, passed away at the St. Anthony North Hospital in Westchester, CO on February 7, 2022. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 12, 2022, at 10:30 AM at the Calvary Baptist Church in Cambridge with Dr. Geoffrey Plummer and Johnny Walker officiating. Interment will be in the Fairview Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Friday, February 11, 2022, from 10:00 AM till 6:00 PM. Friends may leave on-line condolences at lockenourfh. com. Memorials may be left in Julie’s name at the Lockenour Jones Mortuary. Lockenour Jones Mortuary entrusted with arrangements.

Dorothy M. Deterding, known affectionately to her family and friends as “Dotty”, passed away peacefully at her Longmont, Colorado home on Thursday, December 30, 2021.

Irene Rose Wasenius, age 77, of Oxford, Nebraska passed away on Saturday, February 5, 2022, at Kearney Regional Medical Center surrounded by her family. Irene was born in Carrol, Nebraska on September 24, 1944, the oldest of eight children, to Herbert Ernest and Florence Emiline (Shufelt) Coughtry. She grew up in Northeastern Nebraska and graduated from Norfolk High School in 1962. After high school, Irene attended Norfolk Junior College for two years, graduated from Kearney State College with her teaching certificate, and then began teaching 2 grade at Eustis Elementary School. During her pursuit of higher education, Irene was united in marriage to Allen L. Whitney on August 22, 1965. Irene would mourn the loss of her first husband, who passed away on July 14, 1968.

Charles Eugene Talbott, 67, of Morrison passed away Wednesday, February 2, 2022, at Stillwater Medical Center in Stillwater. Funeral services have been entrusted to the care of Dighton-Marler Funeral Home of Stillwater. Charles was born January 13, 1955, in Kansas City, Missouri to Charles and Hilda May (Charles) Talbott. He grew up in Missouri in his early years and then moved to Beaver City, Nebraska where he attended high school and met the love of his life, Rebecca Bishop. They married on June 1, 1977, while in Beaver City. He and Becky moved to Morrison in 1989 to make their home where he remained until his passing.

Monta Rae (Pywell) Fuller, daughter of Lowell (Sam) Pywell and Velma Pywell (Dillon) was born at their farm northwest of Norton, KS on January 28 , 1934. She departed from this life at her home of 65 years in Bloomington, CA on February 3 , 2022 at the age of 88.

When you watch a medical drama on television the main characters are generally doctors, nurses, and patients. We rarely learn about the many extras in the background. In an actual hospital, patients are cared for by their doctors and nurses, along with a large supporting cast and crew. Many of these people on stage and behind the scenes rarely get their name in lights. I would like to introduce them now.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Those are wise words and good advice. I wish I had read them before Tuesday morning.

Each session of the legislature is complicated, but I feel this session may be more so than most. The state has excess revenue and also has ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) funds available. Nebraska was projected to receive about $6 billion in total funds. Over 80% of that money flowed directly through existing programs or funding mechanisms which dictated where that money would go. The state’s allocation is $1.04 billion. The federal government has laid out what are eligible expenditures and we must be careful to stay within the guidelines or we could be required to pay back that money. Eligible expenditures are; responding to a public health emergency, replacing public sector revenue premium pay for essential workers, and also infrastructure, including water, sewer and broadband. There were over 100 bills introduced that would utilize these funds, we will have to wait and see what ideas make it out of the Appropriations Committee and onto the floor.

CAMBRIDGE - Thursday evening, Jeff Woods' family was preparing the birthday supper for his son's 16th birthday. Some family friends were over to celebrate and one of them, Mike Smith, went to the basement and discovered some sparks coming from an outlet.

On February 6, 2022 Running 4 Heroes came to Furnas County to present equipment to the Furnas County Sheriff's Office for K9 Nikkia. The grant was applied for and the Sheriff's Office was selected as a recipient. Part of Running for Heroes is a 1 mile run that is done in support of fallen K9s. The run took place at the Arapahoe School track at noon on Sunday and was open to the public. People came out to show support and observe the run which was made by Theresa Ann Babcock, a 9 year-old-girl from Las Vegas, NV. She presented Deputy Colin Rogers with a K9 harness for Nikkia and a first aid kit. Nikkia officially joined the force as Deputy Colin Rogers’ K9 partner in 2021. (Left Photos) Theresa Ann is running along with Deputy Seth Gustafson and she is shown here handing the first aid kit and harness to Deputy Rogers.