A May trial date has been set for a Hot Springs man accused of killing his mother…who disappeared from Hot Springs 15 months ago.

27-year old Matthew Tornquist is charged with 1st-degree murder, an alternate count of 2nd-degree murder, and grand theft. He was indicted by a Fall River County grand jury last July and remains in custody.

Catherine Tornquist disappeared in October 2011 after getting several thousand dollars from the bank to go to Rapid City to purchase a camper. She never arrived at the camper dealership and has not been seen since.

Several extensive searches in the Hot Springs area at different times of the past 15 months have failed to turn up any sign of Catherine Tornquist or the money.

The grand jury that indicated Matthew Tornquist heard testimony from 14 witnesses before handing down the indictment. The 1st-degree murder charge alleges premeditation while the alternate count of 2nd-degree murder drops the allegation of premeditation.

1st-degree murder carries the death penalty or a mandatory life sentence, and Matt Brown of the South Dakota Attorney General’s office…who is prosecuting the case…has already said he won’t pursue the death penalty. 2nd-degree murder also carries a mandatory life sentence

An Alliance High Senior has been selected to attend an agriculture mission trip to Haiti.

18-year-old Ashtyn Shrewsbury, who serves as president the Alliance High FFA, and is also the reigning Box Butte County Fair Queen, is planning to travel to Haiti this summer to participate in the FFA to Haiti Project.

Shrewsbury is the daughter of Justin and Amy Shrewsbury of Alliance.

On January 12, 2010, Haiti endured a devastating earthquake at a catastrophic magnitude of 7.0. There were an estimated 300 thousand buildings destroyed in the earthquake, making one million people homeless within one day.

Brett Nelson, safety director and grain bin builder for Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield, Iowa, and his wife decided to design a shelter out of grain bin components. After seeing the destruction, and after contacting the Haiti Relief Fund for media help, the Sukup Safe-T-Home was born.

The Sukup Safe-T-Home is a highly-modified 18 foot steel grain bin. The system has a double roof system that functions as a heat shield, and rainfall collection system. It also has built in solar panels that power a set of LED lights. The anchor system uses three ballast boxes around the outside of the home. The boxes can also be used as a raised garden. The Safe-T-Home has been tested to endure up to 130 mile per hour winds, and has a zero seismic load making it practically earthquake proof. The cost for a standard 18 foot Safe-T-Home is $5,700 each with a life expectancy of over 75 years. Fourteen standard units can fit in one shipping container, and each unit can be assembled in about 10 hours with a team four people.

“I applied for it in December because it sounded like a wonderful opportunity to get out and truly make a difference,” Ashtyn said. “The dates I will be going will, hopefully, be June 24-July 2.  However, that’s still up in the air. While we are down there we will help build homes, deliver meals, and teach Haiti citizens about how they can utilize what little agricultural resources they have. I was informed of the trip by a friend in eastern Nebraska and once I started looking into I knew it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m so extremely excited to get the chance to go!”

The cost of the trip, including airfare, is estimated to be about $2,000. Shrewsbury says she is already working on coordinating fundraisers, which she will announce in the near future.

Shrewsbury also plays trumpet in the AHS band and was a member of the AHS golf team.

This a day of rest, of sorts, for the 53 young women competing in Las Vegas for the title of Miss America. The preliminary rounds of competition are over, the last rehearsal is tonight, and the finals are tomorrow night.

The contestants include Miss Nebraska Mariah Cook of Chadron, Miss Wyoming Lexie Madden of Torrington, and Miss South Dakota Calista Kirby…who was a cheerleader at the University of Nebraska.

They were in the same competition pool and last night faced off in Talent…Cook and Madden with piano solos and Kirby a tumbling routine.

Taking the preliminary Talent honors, though, was Miss North Dakota Rosie Sauvageau for her Vocal/Piano Solo performance “To Make You Feel My Love,” which brought her a $2,000 scholarship. Miss Washington Mandy Schendel was the preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness winner and receive a $1,000 scholarship.

There’s still time to go online and vote for your choice of contestant to automatically advance the semifinal round of 15. Each woman has a roughly 3:00 self-made video on the Miss America website in which she makes her case.

Mariah Cook used her video to confess that she’s a huge collector of rubber ducks, but is actually selling them off as a fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network…a partner of the Miss America Pageant…in honor of a young Nebraska girl…one of her Miss Nebraska Little Sisters…suffering from leukemia.

Cook…who postponed her student teaching-professional studies year at Chadron State to serve as Miss Nebraska…also used her video to praise her birth mother for the hard decision to give her up for adoption to have a better life and to praise the adopted parents who raised her. Cook’s birth and adopted families are both very active in her life today.

Tomorrow nights finals will be broadcast on ABC…live in the Eastern and Central time zones, tape-delayed to 8 pm in the Mountain Time Zone after the same lead-in show as the rest of the country: a special edition of 20/20 that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the pageant and contestants.

Pageant Confidential: The Road To Miss America saw film crews given exclusive, unfettered access to the 53 contestants over 6 months. The result was a series of what ABC calls “candid moments of their journeys as they are transformed from state beauty queens to the polished Miss America contenders seen on stage.”

Two Scottsbluff teenagers were killed shortly before midnight Wednesday in a single-vehicle rollover accident just over the state line in Wyoming. 4 others are hospitalized…one in critical condition.

Sergeant Stephen Townsend of the Wyoming Highway Patrol says 18-year old Alexis Wheeler was dead at the scene while 19 year old Hallie Anderson died at Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff about 1:00 Thursday afternoon.

Sgt Townsend says 22-year old Ethan Kaufman of Cheyenne was eastbound on Nebraska Highway 92 when his pickup drifted off the right side of the road and into a ditch. The pickup then hit the approach to a private driveway and flipped over several times before coming to rest on its side.

None of the 6 occupants was wearing a seat belt, but only two of the…Anderson and 19 year old Tyler Hill of Lyman…were ejected. They were flown to Regional West by Airlink helicopter ambulance, where Hill is listed in critical condition

Kaufman and the other two passengers…23 year old Stetson Allen of Morrill and 20 year old James Burford of Morrill…were taken to Community Hospital in Torrington, but then transferred to Regional West. Kaufman is in serious condition, while Burford and Allen are in stable condition.

Sgt Townsend says the initial investigation report indicates excessive speed and alcohol may be contributing factors in the accident. The Goshen County Attorney’s office will make a final determination on filing of any criminal charges.

The Alliance Chamber of Commerce, Box Butte Development Corporation, and Alliance Visitors Bureau have been housed under one roof since June, 2011, and the three entities are inviting the public to view their — relatively new — digs.

The building, located at 305 Box Butte, which once was the home of Elaine’s Art Gallery, is now known as Box Butte Central.

A committee selected the name to project an image of unity.

Box Butte Development services all of Box Butte County, and the Alliance Chamber and Alliance Visitors Bureau also worked to put the county in the forefront of promotions.

The building was remodeled in 2011 to feature a reception area, which has served as the anchor location for KCOW broadcasts during Heritage Days, as well as five offices and a meeting room.

Box Butte Central will host an open house on Thursday, January 24 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.   To christen the building’s new name a ribbon cutting will be held at 5 p.m.

Refreshments will also be served.