1969: Ground blizzard closes highway and causes delays
Jan. 5, 1939
WAUSA — Miss Terry, teacher in the Harold Johnson school southwest of Wausa, met up with quite an experience on Monday evening of this week. School had been dismissed and Miss Terry was out bringing in some coal for the next morning. As she entered the hallway of the school house, a man loomed up in front of her and slammed the door shut and ordered her to turn over all her money to him. It so happened that she had twelve dollars in her possession which she had brought with her from her home at Newman Grove, where she had spent Christmas, with which she expected to pay her board upon getting back to Johnson’s, not having stopped at the boarding place in the morning upon arriving. She turned over the twelve dollars to him and he also made her give him her wrist watch. Coal has been taken from this same school house and as the hold up man left he had told her she would even never know who had taken the coal, which indicated that he was either the guilty party himself or was connected with the party or parties who did. Only a slight suspicion who the fellow might have been is entertained.
Jan. 3, 1944
WAUSA — The Wausa High School Vikings will play their next two games of basketball on the home floor. On Friday evening, January 7, they will meet the Randolph high school quintets in a double header, the first game starting at 7:30 p.m. On Tuesday evening, January 11, the Hartington high school teams will meet the Vikings on the Community Auditorium floor. The Wausa quintets have been steadily improving and are determined to come through with victories in each of these games. All home games are played on the Community Auditorium floor and start at 7:30. Prices of admission are 30 cents for adults, 20 cents for high school pupils, and 15 cents for grade school pupils. The above prices include the federal tax on admission.
Jan. 7, 1954
WAUSA — A new 1953 GMC semi-trailer unit owned by Don Skalberg, was wrecked Thursday morning, Dec. 31st, when the driver, Merle Koenig, dozed at the wheel and struck the bridge 3 miles south of Wausa on Highway 81. The tractor flipped over on its top after climbing the bridge rail and the trailer lay on its side blocking the road. The driver was pinned in the cab until help came 45 minutes later. He was unhurt except for bruises. Property damage of nearly $6000 was sustained, $5500 of which was borne by the completely demolished tractor.
Jan. 2, 1964
WAUSA — Unless postal patrons move quickly to use ZIP code numbers in all correspondence, there will be a delay in the transition to an improved and speedier postal service. The ZIP code is a five digit number placed after the state in an address. It is used by postal workers to direct the letter to its proper destination. The ZIP code for Wausa, Nebr. 68786. The ZIP, (Zoning Improvement Plan) code is designed to be used when machines, which are being developed, take over the sorting of letters to the 552 distribution centers which comprises the entire United States. Unless the public accelerates the use of this code, mechanization will be delayed. Postmaster General John A. Gronouski announced recently that contracts exceeding $1,250,000 were awarded to three firms to develop scanning machines which will read 17,500 addresses an hour. This compares to the manual sorting hour of 1,000 to 1,500 by humans.
Jan. 2, 1969
WAUSA — A ground blizzard Sunday and Sunday night filled in the canyon like cuts in the drifts and closed all highways north of U.S. Highway 20 again on Monday. Another inch of snow was also added. Roads had been blocked until late Saturday afternoon and mail and grocery trucks have been operating under sever handicaps. Mail was delivered at 4:00 p.m. Saturday and again Sunday morning. Grocery shelves have been emptied of perishable items, bread, yeast and flour. City daily papers may be delivered as many as three at a time. The northwest winds that drifted the snow Sunday night forced temperatures to an official 13 below at Norfolk with a wind chill index of 64 below. The five-day forecast, including New Year’s Day call for temperatures 12- 16 degrees below normal.
Church school programs were held Sunday evening in the United Methodist and Mission Covenant churches. The upper grades at Thabor Lutheran Church held their program December 12th but the program for small children up to the third grade has been canceled. Travel during the holidays has been extremely hazardous. Most streets and highways were open for one-way traffic but were slippery and snow-packed. Drifting snow caused low visibility adding to the danger of vehicles meeting in cuts, especially on hilltops.
Jan. 5, 1989
WAUSA — Saturday, Dec. 31, ended the long tenure of Wausan Don Pfeil on the Board of Governors of Northeast Community College, 16 years that saw the Norfolk institution expand in facilities, courses and enrollment. Appointed in February 1972 when J. Alan Kramer of Wayne moved to the State College Board of Trustees, Pfeil was re-elected ever since to two and four-year terms. He never had an opponent on the ballot. Before the Nov. 8 election he decided to retire. DeMarus Carlson of Crofton was elected, unopposed, to succeed Pfeil as the governor for District 2 - Knox, Boyd, Holt, Keya Paha and Rock Counties.
Jan. 7, 2004
WAUSA — Twenty members of the Community Club met at the Countryside Villa Dec. 30. Reed Stolpe said the new Wausa hats and visors are in and can be purchased at Penny’s Salon for $12 for the hats and $10 for the visors. They may also be available at home basketball games. They are being sold by the FBLA group. The insurance was brought up again and a decision was made to leave purchasing insurance for the Viking Ship and trailer up to the Viking Ship Committee itself. It was also decided to have the Labor Day Committee purchase extra insurance to cover high-risk activities at the event.
