Opinion – Page 52 – Panhandle Post Archive

MISS CHADRON/MISS NORTHWEST PAGEANT THIS SUNDAY

Posted on October 19, 2012October 19, 2012

The 22nd annual Miss Chadron/Miss Northwest Scholarship Pageant is this Sunday afternoon at 2:00 in the Chadron High auditorium, the first time it hasn’t been held on a Saturday night.

Co-director Marleta Hastings says the change should be more convenient for contestants, judges, and audience members alike…just one reason she’s excited about the event, which has the theme Glitz and Glam as well as having Miss Nebraska Mariah Cook as co-MC

Hastings’ co-director is Renae Noble, who says this year’s pageant…their second…has even more of a family feel for her and Hastings because their daughters are the choreographers for the dance numbers featuring the contestants.

The winners of the two titles…Miss Chadron and Miss Northwest…not only advance to the Miss Nebraska Pageant and a possible shot at becoming Miss America, they receive one-year tuition waiver scholarships to Chadron State College. Contestant Chelsea Riggs of Bridgeport says that’s the primary reason she entered.

Allison Hooper, a CSC junior, is an example of another major reason for entering the pageant…getting encouraged to do so, in her case by a former contestant. Hooper says she tried the same tactic this year to get some of her friends to enter, but got a good-natured turn down from them.

The most successful of this year’s Miss Chadron and Miss Northwest contestants is Megan Dimmitt of Alliance, who already has two titles under her belt and is a former Box Butte County Fair Queen.

Again, the Miss Chadron/Miss Northwest Pageant moves this year to Sunday afternoon at 2:00, still at the Chadron High School Auditorium. Tickets are still $5 and will be available at the door.

Listen:

Marleta Hastings 12 pageant-1

Renae Noble 12 pageant-2

Chelsae Riggs 12 pageant-1

Allison Hooper 12 pageant-1

Allison Hooper 12 pageant-2

Megan Dimmitt 12 pageant

COLORADO-PUEBLO DOWNS CSC IN FIVE SETS

Posted on October 19, 2012October 19, 2012

CHADRON – Angela McAdams had 14 kills and Brianna Bryant added 10 more as the ThunderWolves withstood a spirited Chadron State squad to win a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match 25-17, 13-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11 Thursday evening in Chadron.

With the win, Pueblo improves to 12-11 overall and 3-9 in the RMAC.

Chadron State (4-16, 2-9 RMAC) will host Western State tonight (Friday) in a match designated as Pink Out. All fans are encouraged to wear pink to support breast cancer awareness and local breast cancer survivors will be acknowledged before the match. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

Although the Eagles came out flat in the opening set, they found their groove in the second and third frames. CSC had a team hitting percentage of .278 and .351 in those sets and the Eagles also dominated the play at the net with their intimidating front line block.

However, Pueblo managed to survive a fourth set that featured seven ties and three lead changes to force a fifth set. In the final set, the ThunderWolves hit .333 and Marissa Calvillo led the offense with three consecutive kills.

For the match, Jessica Jester and Mallory Irvine each had eight total blocks, Lexi Hoagland chipped in seven and Mollie Jones finished with five.

The Eagles had a big advantage in blocks, finsihing with 31 compared to 14 for Pueblo. The Eagles also registered more kills (58-51).

Irvine also finished with a match-high 18 kills and hit a whopping .421. Erika Roybal joined her in double digit kills with 11 and Hoagland had 10 more.

Additionally, Kristina Harter finished with a match-high 25 digs and Justine Ackie had 25 set assists and 13 digs.

EAGLE FOOTBALL TEAM TO BATTLE N.M. HIGHLANDS

Posted on October 19, 2012October 19, 2012

CHADRON – There’s a new challenger for supremacy in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this fall. It’s New Mexico Highlands, the team the Chadron State Eagles will play in Las Vegas on Saturday. Kickoff will be at 1 p.m.After more than a decade of not being competitive in the RMAC, the Cowboys are riding high this fall. They have a 6-1 overall record, losing only to Division I-AA Southern Utah 45-23 on Sept. 15, and racking up a 5-0 conference mark.

Highlands and Colorado State-Pueblo, the nation’s No. 1 ranked Division II team this week after previous leader Pittsburg State was knocked off Saturday, lead the RMAC with their perfect records in the conference.

Chadron State, which is 5-2 overall, is next with a 4-1 conference record.

Highlands opened the season by downing arch-rival Eastern New Mexico 42-14 and has defeated Fort Lewis 50-0, Colorado Mines 42-37, Colorado Mesa 40-36, Western State 31-17 and Adams State 34-20 in conference clashes.

“They’re very talented and very athletic,” CSC head coach Jay Long told the Eagles Booster Club on Monday. “They’re a very good football team. We’ll need to play very well to beat them.”

The Cowboys definitely have a high-powered offense, led by quarterback Emmanuel Lewis. A 6-foot-3, 190-pound senior from Bakersfield, Calif., Lewis is averaging 406.8 yards a game to lead Division II in total offense.

He’s completed 164 of 283 passes for 2,306 yards and 19 touchdowns. He’s thrown just four interceptions. He’s also run for 130 yards, despite losing 116 yards while being sacked.

“When he gets his feet set, he can throw darts,” said CSC defensive coordinator Jeff Larson. “He’s dangerous. We’ll give him some different looks and try to mix up our defenses against him, but he’ll give us some trouble, I’m sure.”

Like many RMAC teams, the Cowboys largely depend on the pass for their offense. Larson said Lewis spreads the ball around to several receivers and all of them appear to have excellent speed.

“We’ll have to do well with our coverages and do a good job of making tackles in the open field,” Larson added.

The top receiver is Darius Davis, who has 41 catches for 725 yards and eight touchdowns. Another major threat is Kevon Williams, who has 42 receptions for 574 yards and four TDs.

The leading rusher through seven games is Lavelle Peterson, who has 54 carries for 219 yards. He shares playing time with Wayne Jacobs, who has 46 totes for 131 yards.

The Cowboys have some kingpins on defense, too. Among them is senior linebacker Jordan Campbell, who was the RMAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and received this week’s RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honor after making 17 tackles, including 3.5 for lost yardage, against Adams State last Saturday.

Another standout is cornerback Abdul Kanneh, who leads the RMAC with six pass interceptions.

Highlands got off to a fast start last fall, winning its first four games. However, injuries wiped out three quarterbacks and the Cowboys lost their last seven games. Lewis led them to their first two victories and his successors were at the controls during victories the next two weeks.

But, by the time Highlands came to Chadron to play the Eagles on Oct. 15, Clint Barnard, a converted linebacker, was calling the signals. The Cowboys had eight turnovers in the game, including five fumbles that the Eagles recovered in the first quarter, when CSC built a 24-0 lead en route to a 42-12 triumph.

The Eagles have won 17 of the 20 games in the series. Highlands’ last win over CSC was in 1998 by a 31-28 score on a late field goal.

Williams, the wide receiver, and Toni Cognasi, a guard, are the only returning starters on the Highlands’ offense from a year ago when the Cowboys came to Chadron. Besides Campbell and Kanneh, just two others who start this year were in the starting defensive lineup a year ago against the Eagles.

Saturday’s game has some major implications for both teams. The winner has a good shot at making the Division II playoffs, particularly if it can win the remaining three games. However, the loser on Saturday could have a rough time reaching the postseason.

Left on the Eagles’ schedule after Saturday are Western New Mexico, Fort Lewis and Colorado Mines. The Cowboys will still have to play Black Hills State, CSU-Pueblo and Western New Mexico.

KCOW HONORED BY U OF NEBRASKA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

Posted on October 18, 2012

Kevin___Extension_Award__2 — KCOW’s Kevin Horn (2nd from left) accepts the 2012 Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association Media of the Year award in Grand Island. Presenting Horn with the award were (l-r): Chuck Hibberd, UNL Extension Dean; Jeanne Murray, Extension Educator in Box Butte County; Jim Crandall, Extension Educator in Phelps County (Crandall was Horn’s FFA Advisor at Raymond Central High School from 1974 to 1977), and Ann Fenton, NCEA President.

KCOW Radio and the station’s news director, Kevin Horn, were honored by the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association with the Nebraska Media of the Year award.

Extension Educator Jeanne Murray of the Box Butte County office in Alliance submitted the nomination, with extension educators from across the state voting KCOW and Horn as their top choice.

During the awards ceremony Wednesday night in Grand Island, Saunders County Extension Educator Karna Daum, who served as the event’s awards chairman, told the large crowd that KCOW was honored for several reasons.

“Not only has Horn aired several extension news releases, but he also has conducted numerous interviews and broadcast live from the 4-H building during the Box Butte County Fair.”

It was also noted that former KCOW Manager Mike Garwood served on the local extension board for six years, and Horn currently serves on the 4-H Council.

The station and Horn received a large plaque as a thank you gift from the state extension association.

Kevin___Extension_Award — Horn with U of N Extension Dean Chuck Hibberd and NCEA President Ann Fenton

CELEBRATE “LIGHTS ON AFTERSCHOOL”

Posted on October 18, 2012October 18, 2012

A million people are expected to be taking part in Lights On Afterschool events around the country this week. This is the 13th year for the program of the Afterschool Alliance…which works to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs.

The Chadron Public Schools has afterschool programs…Just For Kids at Chadron Primary, CIA – Chadron Intermediate Afterschool and Chadron Middle School After School.

School district After School Program Director Lorna Eliason says the Primary and Middle schools are celebrating Lights On Afterschool today, while the Intermediate School got a jump on things last Thursday with an afternoon of family engineering activities.

Eliason says those activities included building a cantilever structure at the Domino Diving Board, designing shoes for specific activities and conditions at Happy Feet, and Mining for Chocolate, where students designed a process for mining chocolate chip cookies to get the most chocolate chips out while causing the least amount of damage to the cookie.

Eliason says afterschool programs are intended to not only keep kids safe and help working families, but also to inspire academic success by giving children the opportunity to discover hidden talents as they grow academically and socially.

Eliason also says that while afterschool programs in virtually all districts need financial support…especially in the face cuts in government funding…they also need people, with parents, older students, and anyone with time and a commitment to helping children succeed all invited to lend a hand.

WENTY’S TWO CENTS: WHO’S MOVING MY CHEESE?

Posted on October 17, 2012October 18, 2012

WENTY’S TWO CENTS
The caffeine-addled ramblings of KCOW “Wakeup Show” host Jason Wentworth

October 17, 2012

I have a friend named Mark who is crazy about motivational books…one that he recommended quite highly was “Who Moved My Cheese?”

From Amazon.com:

Who Moved My Cheese? takes the fear and anxiety out of managing the future and shows people a simple way to successfully deal with the changing times, providing them with a method for moving ahead with their work and lives safely and effectively.

Don’t worry…I’m not gonna get all deep and thoughtful on you. That’s for Terri (as in “Thoughts From”). I just think it’s a good time to talk about the Big Change going on here at KCOW. For the most part, this isn’t an on-air change–we’re not going all-polka or anything. Unless nobody’s told me.

The change is in this building–we’re basically doing a switcheroo. All of the sales offices are going to the front of the building, and all of the on-air studios and production facilities are going to the back.

Now, just as an abstract thought, that doesn’t seem like too big a deal. But the pounding, whirring, and other harrowing sounds coming from the next room beg to differ. It’s not so much “Who Moved My Cheese?” as it is “Who ripped my cheese into crumbly bits, melted it in the microwave, cooled it on the counter, shredded it and put it on a pizza?”

This is all good, of course. Our sales team, John and Helen, get nice new offices and meeting rooms that are conveniently located up front. And my radio pals Kevin Horn and Mike Glesinger are as happy as I am at the thought of new equipment; a brand new layout that keeps the studios isolated and soundproofed; and a whole new on air control room from which I can sit and play Beatles records and make semi-humorous remarks.

But what of the room that I sit in and do those things now? Now that’s moving the cheese! I did some very sketchy math and I think it’s safe to say that since 1998, I have spent more than 25,000 hours in our current AM control room. That’s a lot of Paul Harvey introductions, Harris Sales commercials and discussions with Kevin Horn about seemingly every topic imaginable.

I do feel some nostalgia as I host my final months of Wakeup Shows in the existing control room. But, like The Jeffersons, we’re a’movin’ on up!