A Cheyenne man charged in the fatal rollover that Scottsbluff teenagers Alexis Wheeler and Hallie Anderson will face trial in Goshen County District Court Friday morning.

22-year-old Ethan Kaufman was bound over to district court by Circuit Court Judge Randall Arp on four felonies regarding the June 9th accident following a one hour preliminary hearing in Torrington.

KNEB Radio in Scottsbluff reports that Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Anthony Badura was the only person to testify, telling the court five people, including two passengers, two people in a car behind Kaufman’s vehicle and a bystander, confirmed he was the driver of the vehicle. Badura said one of the bystanders, Brandi Green, told him Kaufman was crying and told her he was driving and he was “in trouble”.

Goshen County Attorney Pat Korell emphasized in his closing statement Kaufman was legally intoxicated according to a blood alcohol test two hours after the accident, adding the alcohol contributed to his reckless behavior and lack of reaction when the vehicle went off the road. Badura testified a device in the vehicle showed Kaufman was driving at 99 miles per hour went he lost control of the pickup and 57 miles per hour when it hit an embankment 600 feet from the highway.

Badura also testified passengers Stetson Allen, who had a broken leg, and Tyler Hill, who was in a coma for several days and can’t walk without assistance, have severe injuries that will result in a prolonged recovery. Kaufman is charged with two counts of aggravated homicide by a vehicle in the deaths of the two women and drunk driving causing serious bodily injury regarding the injuries to Hill and Allen.

No trial date has been set.

Keep Alliance Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) was awarded two grants recently from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

The first grant is in the amount of $34,590 for Public Education and the second grant is for $44,755 for Recycling. The grant program provides funds annually to Nebraska projects in three areas: public education cleanup, and recycling. The funds awarded to KAB through Public Education and Recycling will be used to help maintain the office, personnel, and recycling center that KAB has become well known for in Alliance and Box Butte County.

Other funding has to be raised locally and through other grants.

Hod Kosman, President and CEO of Platte Valley Companies, presented a check for $25,000 to the Bridgeport High School FFA program to assistin the building of an Ag classroom. 

FFA Advisor Alissa Neitenbach, along with several students and community committee members, were on hand to accept the donation at the Platte Valley Bank in Bridgeport. 

Bridgeport has not had an active FFA program since the 1970s. And this year, thanks to the vision and support of the Bridgeport community, the school has restored that program. Kosman says Platte Valley Companies is proud to be a part of that vision and growth. 

Construction on the additional space will begin this spring in hopes that the classroom will be finished in time for school to start in August. There are approximately 50 students in the program this year.

A former Hemingford police chief charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl while he was chief had his bond reduction request denied during his initial court appearance Thursday.

52-year-old Mark Lindburg continues to be held on $100,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing this coming Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Lindburg is accused of first-degree sexual assault and child abuse between January and September 2010.

Lindburg served as Hemingford’s police chief from November 2006 until he resigned without explanation in November 2011.

Lindburg also worked as a Box Butte County Deputy Sheriff for seven years and helped start a youth center in Hemingford in 2008.

The Alliance High FFA Chapter competed at District Contests at Gordon-Rushville High School on Wednesday, February 6.

Denny Garza won the Ag Mechanics Machinery area. The Ag Mechanics contest is designed to help students develop their technical skills and knowledge, and their ability to work with others to solve complex problems. There are four system areas all students compete in Environmental, Energy, Structures and Machinery. Denny also placed 8th overall in the contest. The Alliance FFA Ag Mechanics team consisting of Denny, Drew Carter, Trevor Leisy and Brent Thomas placed 5th.

The Alliance FFA Vet Science team, which includes Ashtyn Shrewsbury, Whitney Hall, Krista Carter, and Chase Dye, placed 2nd. Individually, Chapter President Ashtyn Shrewsbury placed 2nd. This is the first year Nebraska FFA will be hosting a state contest in Vet Science, and Alliance and Hemingford teams will represent the panhandle at the competition in Lincoln in April.

The FFA Food Science team of Cheryl Aby, Tess Benham, Shelbie Bolinger, Chris Wright and Amanda Lower placed 7th.

Individually, Cheryl Aby placed 4th.

An Illinois truck driver charged in the death of a Maryland family traveling through Nebraska last fall has pleaded not guilty.

KSID Radio in Sidney reports 36-year-old Josef Slezak stood mute in Cheyenne County District Court Thursday morning to nine felony charges.

The court accepted Slezak’s decision to stand mute, entering pleas of not guilty to all charges.  A status hearing has been set for April 3.

Slezak is accused of exceeding federal regulations on rest for truckers, driving from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Sidney without taking a break, falling asleep at the wheel and slamming his rig into the back of stopped traffic on I-80.  The crash killed a family of four, including a pregnant woman, who were moving from Maryland to California during the early morning hours of September 9, 2012.

This Thursday evening will be a big night for the fine arts at Chadron State College with the next event in the Galaxy Series…renowned countertenor Terry Barber…and the opening of the school’s next theater production…the Vampire Cowboy Trilogy.

Barber will perform in the Memorial Hall Auditorium at 7:00 while the play will be upstairs in Memorial Hall in the Black Box Theater at 7:30. The play also runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.

Terry Barber has performed around the world…offering what the Los Angeles Times calls “performances of great vitality and verve” of both performing classical and popular favorites. He’s also been a member of the multiple Grammy-winning ensemble Chanticleer, earning critical praise as “the jewel in Chanticleer’s crown.”

Vampire Cowboy Trilogy is part of the modern theater genre called “geek”…which incorporates a high level of physical action and comedy. Director Scott Cavin says it’s a fast-paced parody of westerns, detectives, superheroes, and the supernatural.

The entire production runs just 90 minutes with filmed scenes between vampires and cowboys shot around Dawes County leading into 3 short one-act plays.

The first is Jake Misco, Outerborough Detective…a paranormal ghost-hunting hard-boiled detective. That’s followed by The Adventures of Captain Justice and Lady Liberty, which Cavin compares to the old Saturday morning Batman and Superman serials with a touch of the 1960’s spy show The Avengers.

The final mini-play is Tina, Teenage Warrior Princess…which Cavin calls Xenia meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Glee.

Cavin says one of the biggest challenges facing any cast in a spoof or parody is to play it straight and he’s pleased his do just that, although he says they had trouble keeping straight faces at times in early rehearsals.

Again, Vampire Cowboy Trilogy runs tonight-Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:00 in the Black Box Theater, while Terry Barber’s Galaxy Series concert is tonight at 7:00 in the Memorial Hall Auditorium.

     Opponents of the proposed Powertech USA uranium mine north of Edgemont turned out in force last month for public meeting in Hot Springs.

Now backers are hoping for a big turnout of their own Thursday night for what they’ve calling an information meeting and what the opponents have dubbed a propaganda meeting.

The 6:30 meeting at the Mueller Center is being hosted by the Southern Hills Economic Development Corporation. Director Cindy Turner says it’s important for the public to understand the Powertech project in context of state environmental laws, federal environmental laws, and its potential economic impact.

She says Southern Hills set up the meeting to provide more information on the Powertech proposal and to clarify what she considers to be misinformation…emphasizing that there will NOT be any question-and-answer session.

State and federal environmental officials, representatives of Powertech, and area economic development leaders are all scheduled to speak at the 6:30 meeting in the Mueller Center Theater.

Among those scheduled to speak are U-S Geological Survey hydrologist Raymond Johnson, Minerals and Mining Program engineering manager Mike Cepak of the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Greater Rapid City Area Economic Development Corporation pressident Benjamin Snow.