our town 2013 part 1

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OUR TOWND2 SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013 THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

By ANDREW [email protected]

The early 1970s were atime of a great change forthe city of North Platte.

From 1968 to 1976,North Platte’s populationgrew from 16,000 to 24,000.

“When you grow 50 per-cent in eight years, youhave some challenges todeal with,” Bob Phares,the mayor from 1968-76,said.

Between 1960 and 1974,the federal governmentwas in the process of con-structing Interstate 80,which would shift growthin North Platte to thesouth. Union Pacific wasexpanding Bailey Yard towhere it ultimately wouldbecome the largest railclassification yard in thecountry.

That left the city withchallenges, from zoningand housing to sewer andstreets. The first placecity officials had to start,Phares said, was with acomprehensive plan.

“We didn’t have a com-prehensive plan, so we gotone pretty early on,” hesaid.

The first step in ex-panding city services wasmoving the police depart-ment out of its old facilityon East Eighth Street,which wasn’t adequateanymore to house prison-ers or an expanding po-lice force.

Phares said he called awork session of the NorthPlatte City Council,loaded the council up in avan and drove from CityHall to the police station.

“We marched them allback [into the jail] andsaid ‘this is the focus ofthe work session,’” hesaid.

Likewise, City Hall wasin need of expansion. Atthe time, the building thattoday houses only the Mu-nicipal Light and WaterDepartment along NorthVine Street housed thelight and water depart-ment, as well as adminis-tration.

The city clerk’s officeand council chamberswere along a back corri-dor. The mayor’s officewas tucked into a closet,which included the fur-nace for the building.

“It was so noisy whenthat unit kicked on, Icouldn’t talk on thephone,” Phares said.

The council agreed toexpand the building tothe west, creating the cur-rent administration andzoning offices. However,at the time, the police de-partment moved into thewest end of the building.

In 1976, the police andfire department made themove to the Public SafetyBuilding at 715 S. Jeffers,situated between Jeffers

and Dewey streets. Thefire department movedfrom previous location atVine and Front streets,which was a brick build-ing that still stands today.

“It was a good move,”Phares said. “It got [thepolice and fire depart-ments] in a lot better loca-tion. I knew [city admin-istration] could flow intothe rest of that space. It

solved several problems.”That location was closer

to the center of the ex-panding city. Much of thegrowth, with the inter-state being constructed,was south of Philip Av-enue.

“It was obvious that thegrowth was south andsouthwest,” he said. “Itmade enormous sense tomove southward.”

With the expandingcity, staff also had to con-trol and develop streetsand infrastructure suchas sewer and water, andstill maintain services forthe older parts of thecommunity. Phares saidit was also a challengemaking sure that the po-lice and fire departmentshad the proper equip-ment and manpower tohandle the extra load.

“Every place youlooked, there was a chal-lenge of some sort,”Phares said. “It was aninteresting time at CityHall. You didn’t lack forchallenges and opportu-nities. We had a good citycouncil at that time.”

Phares credited a num-ber of citizen committeesthat helped drive thechanging landscape, in-cluding one that helpedbuild Great Plains Re-gional Medical Center,and another that helpedbuild the North PlatteRecreation Center in

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INTERNAL MEDICINERonald Asher, MD 500 W. Leota, Suite 150 532-3022Mark Nielsen, MD 611 W. Francis, Suite 100 534-2532Susan Schuckert, MD 209 McNeel Lane 534-2532Eric Schwartzkopf, MD 500 W. Leota, Suite 150 532-3022

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OTOLARYNGOLOGYElaine Fitzpatrick, MD 801 William Avenue 532-3330Philip Fitzpatrick, MD 801 William Avenue 532-3330

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PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATIONCaroline Sorenson, MD 601 S. Dewey, Suite 1 534-9100

PODIATRYAlicia Ericksen, DPM 815 South Maple 532-3600Richard Raska, DPM 815 South Maple 532-3600Justin Raatz, DPM 815 South Maple 532-3600Clinton Schafer, DPM 815 South Maple 532-3600

UROLOGYMichael Gallentine, MD 611 West Francis, Suite 230 696-8740

Boom town: NP’s time of growthI-80, Bailey Yard expansionled to extraordinary period ofdevelopment for North Platte

OurWelcome to Our

Town, the Telegraph’sannual look at progressthroughout North Platte.

We’ve chosen thisyear to investigate thechanges in a variety ofareas over the past 50years. In today’s install-ment of Our Town, wetake a look at how enti-ties throughout NorthPlatte have evolved,from the city’s growthand changes in law en-forcement to construc-tion of new facilities forboth North Platte PublicSchools and theCatholic schools.

In the next issue ofOur Town later thismonth, stories will out-line additions to thechurch community, dra-matic developments inhealth care andchanges that Nebraska-land Days has takenover the years.

Plus, there are allkinds of historical tidbitsabout the last fivedecades.

So take a few minutesfor a sentimental jour-ney through North Platte’s history over thepast 50 years.

The North Platte City Council voted to expand the current City Hall to the west in the1970s. The expansion added what is now the administrative side of the building.

Andrew Bottrell / The North Platte Telegraph

The Fire and Rescue Department moved into the south side of the Public SafetyBuilding, also known as Fire Station 1, at 715 S. Jeffers in 1976 as they outgrew previ-ous facilities. The department remains in the building today.


Please see BBOOOOMM, Page D3

Town

OUR TOWN SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013 D3THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

I-80 & US Highway 83 • North Platte, NE 69101308-532-2500

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Bill SummersBill Summers

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On the northeast corner of theFourth and Vine intersection inNorth Platte, there is a reminderof police work in the past.

A red light,which sometimescomes on, sits be-low the street-light. In the 1960sand 1970s, beforethe police cruis-ers had full two-way radios, thoselights would sig-nify to officers ifthe dispatcherswere receiving a call that neededattention.

“We would see [the red lightsflashing on light poles] and stopat a payphone and call the sta-tion,” current Police Chief MikeSwain said.

Swain started with the NorthPlatte police force in 1975, a yearbefore the department movedinto the Public Safety Building.

Deputy Chief Jim Agler startedin 1977.

North Platte’s original policestation was at the corner of EastEighth Street and Walnut.

“At that time it was a policestation that had a jail in it, and ac o u r t r o o m , ”Swain said. “Itwas a beautifulbuilding.”

Swain andAgler said that in-mates housed atthe county jailwould wash thepolice cruisers tohelp keep thingsclean.

After that police station closed,the department moved into new-ly-built City Hall for a few yearsbefore the Public Safety Buildingwas ready in 1976 for both theNorth Platte Fire and Rescue andthe police department.

“We outgrew City Hall,” Swainsaid.

At the time, the police forcewas eight to 10 officers. Todaythe force is 64. That, Swain said,is because of the growth of thecommunity, which in the ’70s be-gan to expand southward withthe construction of Interstate 80.

“Philip [Avenue] was the edgeof town,” he said. “There wasn’tmuch south of town.”

During the 1970s, no restau-rants in city limits were open all

night, which made meals andgetting an extra cup of Joe diffi-cult for the night shift. So, Aglersaid, the officers would go out toTomahawk Truck Stop by BaileyYard, which at the time was sev-eral miles out of town.

“They would let us go out thereto eat,” Agler said.

The west part of City Hall,which is today the planning andpermit portion of the city’s oper-ation, was the police station forseveral years. Gone was the cityjail, as well as the courtroom. Ithad just one holding cell, whichcity staff uses for document stor-age today.

“We couldn’t keep anyonethere for a long time,” Swainsaid.

Technology has also changedlaw enforcement, Swain andAgler said. Write-ups of inci-dents were filed on index cards,and then put in a binder.

“Our communication centerwas the size of this room,”Swain said. “There was a book. Ifyou answered a call, you wouldcome back [to the station] and en-tered in what happened. Thatwas our system.”

The current Public SafetyBuilding was originally one ofthe city’s hospitals, before thetwo hospitals consolidated intoGreat Plains Regional MedicalCenter at its current location.

Shortly after the police movedinto the new station, teletypewas installed, which could relaymessages from town to town onalert bulletins.

“Just to send a message fromLincoln to here, that was prettyincredible,” Swain said.

Later, the department hadmanual typewriters and taperecording machines. Swain not-ed that only the captain and thedispatchers received electrictypewriters at first.

“We dictated reports on a tapemachine,” Agler said.

Training regimens have alsoincreased heavily, they said.Training was not as standard-ized as it is today, and in the 1970sofficers were required to trainfor four to eight weeks. Today,they are trained 16 weeks.

“The cops back then, for whatthey had back then, were damngood,” Swain said. “They taughtus very well.”

Technology also moves faster.In the 1970s and 1980s, whilemore and more computer tech-nology was beginning to inte-grate itself into police work,Swain and Agler said they wouldhave the same system for years ata time. Now, things have changed.

“Things are changing on amonthly basis,” Swain said.“What’s working this year is out-dated next year.”

The personalcomputer

The personal com-puter (PC), a micro-computer designed tobe used by one per-son, was first devel-oped for business usein the early 1970s.Digital EquipmentCorporation devel-oped the PDP-8,which was predomi-nately used in scientif-ic laboratories.

The credit for devel-opment of a computerfor home use goes toSteve Wozniak andSteve Jobs, collegedropouts who found-ed Apple Computer in1976. They spent sixmonths working out ofa garage, developingthe crude prototypefor Apple I, which wasbought by some 600hobbyists — who hadto know how to wire,program, and set upthe machine.

The machine’s suc-cessor, Apple II, wasintroduced in 1977 asthe first fully assem-bled, programmablemicrocomputer, but itstill required cus-tomers to use their tel-evisions as screensand to use audio cas-settes for data stor-age. It retailed for justless than $1,300.

That same yearCommodore andTandy introduced af-fordable personalcomputers. In 1984Apple Computer intro-duced the Macintosh(Mac), which becamethe first widely usedcomputer with agraphical user inter-face (GUI).

By this time, Interna-tional Business Ma-chines (IBM) had in-troduced its PC(1981), which quicklyovertook the Mac, inspite of the fact thatIBM was behind in de-veloping a user-friend-ly graphical interface.

Police ChiefMike Swain

Deputy ChiefJim Agler

Police force moves with the timesLongtime NorthPlatte cops haveseen departmentgrow with its city

At left, this un-dated photo ofthe North PlattePolice Depart-ment, taken byCliff Kirk, wassnapped in frontof the city's oldpolice station onthe southwestcorner of Willowand Eighthstreets.

1976. He also noted thatthe participation from thecommunity on the initial

comprehensive plan wasan important aspect.

“We could have discour-aged a lot of the thingsthat happened and still beat 16,000 [people],” he said.“I think we did the right

things and the rightthings happened becauseof it.”

Because housing was anissue, Phares said the citystarted the Autumn Parkpublic housing area on

East Philip Avenue, butalso expanded a scatteredlow-income housing plan.Both the North PlatteHousing Authority andthe Lincoln County Com-munity Development Cor-

poration continue thoseprojects today.

To combat housingneeds a number of otherprivate housing ventureswere also built, includingBuffalo Bill Manor.

BOOMfrom Page D2

Courtesy photo

For a short time in the ear-ly 1970s, the North PlattePolice Station was wherethe North Platte Develop-ment Department is now

housed on the far west endof City Hall. Now, the North

Platte Police Departmentoperates out of the the

Public Safety Building at715 S. Jeffers, as seen in

the photo at right.


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By DIANE [email protected]

In 1963, the North Platte HighSchool football team, under thedirection of Coach GeorgeCrump Redding, was undefeatedand delivered a state champi-onship.

That year was a tumultuousone for education on the nationalstage. Think of Alabama Gov.George Wallace’s “segregationnow, segregation forever” speechin the school door way at the Uni-versity of Alabama.

In North Platte in 1963, educa-tion in town took a step forwardwhen voters approved the largestbond issue in the history of theschool district, a whopping $1.98million to connect the formerjunior high school to the 1930shigh school building. It would bethe last time the voters wouldvote for improvements at thehigh school for 37 years.

During the 1990s, the schooldistrict put three different bondissues in front of voters, but allwere defeated.

“I think the big reason thebond issues failed was becausewe still owed for the bonds wetook out to pay for Adams MiddleSchool,” said former superinten-dent of schools Paul Brochtrup.Brochtrup was associate super-intendent at the time the fourthand final attempt at passing abond issue was put before thepublic. “To some it seemed likebuying a new car before the oldone was paid for.”

But something needed to bedone.

“The infrastructure at the oldschool was not as solid as peoplethought,” Brochtrup said. “Itwas three buildings pieced to-gether and the heat couldn’t becontrolled. Some rooms were sohot in the middle of winter theyhad the windows open.”

The sprawling school wasthree blocks long, with one hallfor 1,400 students to passthrough.

“If you had to travel betweenthe 1950s building and the 1930sbuilding between classes, it wasa long walk,” he said.

The school was not handi-capped accessible, until “wethought we were going to besued,” he said. The district spent$350,000 on elevators to comply.

On April 4, 2000, a new $29 mil-lion bond issue passed to build anew high school.

“We tried to do things a littledifferently,” said current highschool teacher and former North

Platte Public Schools FoundationDirector Lori Brouillette, talkingabout the bond issue that passed.“We tried to involve the commu-nity as much as we could. We hadpublic meetings before any de-signs were done and took theirsuggestions into account. We re-ally wanted the community tofeel this was their building.”

Current school board memberand former district administra-tion official Jack Price said thatthe fourth time was the charmbecause of cost and location.

“We had made a fairly modestproposal in terms of what wecould have asked,” he said. “Wealso agreed to keep it centrallylocated and not move it out to theedge of town.”

James Merritt was superinten-dent at the time.

“It was his responsibility to getthe bond issue passed and minewas to build a high school,”Brochtrup said. “He was verygood at organizing.”

Supporters of the bond issueworked to get the word out to the

community about the impor-tance of a new school.

“We tried to keep it personaland positive,” Brouillette said.“We went around to communityorganizations and talked abouthow it was a community build-ing project.”

This year marks the 10th yearof the new school’s operation.

“It is really an honor to teachin the school I helped build,”Brouillette said. “I am reallyhonored that the community didthis for us and our students.”

Building a better high schoolIt took 37 years andfour bond issues, butin 2000 voters finallyOKed a new building

The current North Platte High School building is seen in this recent photo. This year marks the 10-year an-niversary of the new building’s construction.

Sage Merritt / The North Platte Telegraph

The portablecomputer (orlaptop)

The IBM 5100 is thefirst portable comput-er, which was releasedin September 1975.The computerweighed 55 poundsand had a five inchCRT display, tapedrive, 1.9MHz PALMprocessor, and 64KBof RAM. In the pictureto the right, is an ad ofthe IBM 5100 takenfrom a November1975 issue of Scientif-ic America.

The first trulyportable computer orlaptop is consideredto be the Osborne I,which was releasedon April 1981 and de-veloped by Adam Os-borne. The Osborne Iweighed 24.5 pounds,had a 5-inch display,64 KB of memory, two5 ¼ inch floppy drives,ran the CP/M 2.2 op-erating system, includ-ed a modem, and costUS$179.

The IBM PC Division(PCD) later releasedthe IBM portable in1984, it's first portablecomputer thatweighed in at 30pounds. Later in 1986,IBM PCD announcedit's first laptop comput-er, the PC Convertible,weighing 12 pounds.Finally, in 1994, IBMintroduced the IBMThinkPad 775CD, thefirst notebook with anintegrated CD-ROM.

Other majorcomputer companyfirsts

Compaq — InMarch 1983, Compaqreleased its first com-puter and the first 100percent IBM compati-ble computer the“Compaq Portable.”

Dell — In 1985, Dellintroduced its firstcomputer, the “TurboPC.”

Hewlett Packard —In 1966, HewlettPackard released itsfirst general computer,the “HP-2115.”

NEC — In 1958,NEC builds its firstcomputer the “NEAC1101.”

Toshiba — In1954, Toshiba intro-duces its first com-puter, the “TAC” digi-tal computer.

Firstsin the

last 50years

The old North Platte High School building is seen in this 2003 file photo. The building was torn down aftera successful bond issue, paving the way for a new high school building.

Courtesy photo

The old NorthPlatte HighSchool buidling isseen here in 2003,in the process ofbeing torn down.

Courtesy photo


By DIANE WETZEL [email protected]

North Platte CatholicSchools have offered an alter-native to public education inNorth Platte since 1891. OnSept. 8 of that year, the Sis-ters of St. Joseph of Concor-dia, Kan., opened NativityConvent School on the cor-ner of Fourth and Walnutstreets. Among the first stu-dents was Irma Cody, daugh-ter of William “Buffalo Bill”Cody. Five young womenwere the first graduates in1895. One year later, the firstboy to graduate was ThomasJeffers.

After several years of fitsand starts, Father PatrickMcDaid arrived in NorthPlatte in 1910 and with thebishop’s encouragement, themembers of St. Patrick’sparish agreed to build a newschool. Work on St. PatrickSchool, later known as Mc-Daid Elementary, was com-pleted in 1916 for a cost of$52,000.

The first graduating classfrom the new school was theClass of 1920. According toschool history, from 1916 tothe mid-1930s, graduatingclasses were small, with 5-11members each. It was duringthis era that earning a highschool education became anexpectation, not a rarity foryoung people.

The 1960s was a financial-ly turbulent time for Catholiceducation in North Platte.

A North Platte Telegraphheadline dated Dec. 2, 1969,reads, “Catholic Schools facefinancial bind; may considera cutback.”

“The prospect of possiblyclosing part or all of the St.Patrick’s school systemshould adequate financialsupport fail is being studiedby parish officials here,” thestory read.

Twenty-two days later, theTelegraph announced, “St.Pat’s school budget ap-proved.”

Financial struggles contin-ued into the 1970s.

Bill McGahan arrived atSt. Patrick school in 1966 toteach music and English.Named principal at the ele-mentary school in 1968, Mc-Gahan served as superinten-dent until his retirement in2011.

In 1975, McGahan told theTelegraph that “this year’s[financial crisis] is real, butnot a bit different from the1969 situation or any previ-ous to that. Every few yearswe have a gathering of mo-mentum and have to regroupthe troops. But there is thewherewithal in the Catholiccommunity of North Platteto support the school sys-tem.”

That support remains asstrong as ever in 2013, McGa-han said.

“Catholic schools neverhave an over-abundance ofmoney,” McGahan said dur-ing a recent interview.“They have no source of rev-enue except the generosity ofpeople and the tuition we areable to set.”

In 1977, a group of con-cerned parents decided to do

something to help stabilizethe funding for the schoolsystem.

Bill Ramaekers, Ward Lin-go, Jim Schneider and BillMcCormick established theNorth Platte CatholicSchools Endowment-Trust,Inc. The men were “visionar-ies,” McGahan said.

“They decided we neededto do something about find-ing sustainable funding,” hesaid. “We would not be heretoday but for the endow-ment.”

Today the endowment isresponsible for generatingone-third of the Catholicschools budget. Anotherthird is generated by tuition,and the remaining amountcomes from 60 percent ofSunday collections at St.Patrick’s and Holy Spiritchurches.

“It wasn’t that the othertwo legs of the fundingwouldn’t have continued,”McGahan said. “But wewould have had to raise tuition to the point where

North Platte Catholic Schools:The past 50 years

I962: Eight rooms wereadded to the high school,(built in 1955). The elemen-tary school was remodeledand the junior high programbegan.

1965: Father Thomas Mul-lowney became the first full-time superintendent and thefirst school board was or-ganized.

The 1960s also saw the or-ganization of the ActivitiesAssociation. In 1966 and1967 the St. Pat’s Irish hadback to back undefeatedfootball seasons.

1973: St. Patrick’s Parish isdivided and ground brokenon the new Holy SpiritParish.

1974: Bill McGahan namedsuperintendent of schools.

In 1978, the first kinder-garten class was enrolled atMcDaid Elementary.

2000: Project 2000, a planto build a new elementaryschool and competition-sizegymnasium, resulted in theopening of the new McDaidElementary School.

The old St. Patrick School/McDaid Elementary on EastFourth Street will be demol-ished in the summer of2013, part of a capital cam-paign to build a new FamilyLife Center at St. Patrick’sChurch and make improve-ments to the church and sur-rounding grounds.

NP’s Catholicschools blaze a learning trailSt. Pat’s, McDaidplay a significantrole in city history

Please see CCAATTHHOOLLIICC, Page D6

The current St. Patrick High School building, built in 1955, was expanded in 1962.

Diane Wetzel / The North Platte Telegraph


people couldn’t afford it.One of our standing expec-tations is that anyone whocould not afford tuitionwould not be turned away.”

The endowment’s por-tion of the general operat-ing budget has been be-tween $600,000 and $700,000for the past three years,said endowment directorWendy Dodson.

“This is an incredibleamount of money to raisein one year,” she said. “It issolely the endowment’scommitment to the schoolbudget, keeping the lightson, paying the teachers.Anything extra has tocome on top of that initialtotal. That is why we con-duct an annual fund appealevery year, to hopefullymeet that base goal andthen do many other eventsand activities of top ofthat.”

The continued success ofCatholic education inNorth Platte comes from astrong and deep commit-ment from the people ofthe St. Patrick’s and HolySpirit parishes, McGahansaid.

Enrollment in theCatholic school system hasremained steady at around425 in recent years.

“In the mid-1970s, we hadmore than 600 kids,” Mc-Gahan said. “We don’t haveas many as we did. But wedo have as many or morefamilies sending their kidsto our school.”

In today’s world, familiesare smaller, he said. In-stead of six or seven mem-bers of a family, there aretwo or maybe three.

“I don’t have anythingagainst public schools,”McGahan said. “But thereare some issues that aresignificant. There is noprovision in public schoolsfor any kind of faith exam-ination or examination ofreligious traditions. Obvi-ously those are falling bythe wayside in our country.We are basically nondis-criminatory. We acceptchildren from every faith.And we respond to parents’needs.

“Parent need is the otherleg of why we are impor-tant. They send their chil-dren here simply for thediscipline we provide, dis-cipline that is not possiblefor public schools becauseof various civil rights. Wedo not ignore student’s civ-il rights, but we do havesome structure and expec-tations they have to live upto. I think that’s important,so they learn. The world re-quires a little personal dis-cipline.”

CATHOLICfrom Page D5


In 1972, a survey helped NorthPlatte recognize a need for an in-door recreational and swimmingfacility.

Mayor Bob Phares formed an11-member advisory committeeto get that accomplished and vot-ers approved the construction ofa facility two years later.

The North Platte RecreationCenter celebrated its 35th an-niversary in 2011.

Jim Conley Sr. served as thechairman for the advisory com-mittee from 1972-76.

“I was a racquetball player,and I didn’t find any facility forthat. Obviously, we didn’t haveany indoor swimming facilitieseither,” he said. “The swimmingpool was the main crux of that.We’ve got kind of an unusual sit-uation there with the dome. Thatis so open, that’s a beautifulplace.”

The committee determinedthat an indoor gym for basket-ball and other activities was aneed, as were racquetball courtsand an indoor pool. A weight

room was also part of the initialplan.

“We thought the need wasthere,” Conley said. “I spent a lotof hours with a description anda show board, and I talked toevery PTA and a lot of peoplearound the community about theadvantages of this.”

In February 1974, the commit-tee recommended that the citymove ahead with a bond initia-tive and the North Platte CityCouncil approved the ballot issueon April 2. On May 14, 1974, themeasure passed by a 2-1 margin.

Construction costs for the fa-cility were $948,000, $665,000 ofwhich came from a federal grantand the remaining $283,000 fromthe bond issue approved in May1974.

The center officially opened onApril 3, 1976.

The swimming pool was reno-vated in 1986, and in 1989 citizensused the facility for more than200,000 hours. User hours peakedin 1996 with 320,000 hours for theyear.

Newburn funds contributed awhirlpool, a new gym floor, anew meeting room floor and anew exercise room in the 1990s.A sauna was added in 1991, andin 1994 the 117-foot waterslidewas added to the swimming pool.

In the 2000s, a dance room wasadded and the weight room wasextended.

“The city has been blessed. Ihear that over and over,” Conley

said. “I’ve had a number of peo-ple voice their approval of theplace and how lucky we are, frompeople out of town who comehere. Especially newcomers tothe city.”

Daily fees when the Rec Centerwas built were $1 per day foradults, $2 per day for a family

and $0.50 for children, while fam-ily memberships were $40 for sixmonths and single adult mem-berships were $20. Today, a daypass for an adult is $5.50, $3.50 foryouth under 18 and $15 for a fam-ily. Six-month memberships forfamilies are $257 and $118 for sin-gle adults.

An indoor swimming pool was a primary goal for North Platte as the community constructed the North Platte Recreation Center in 1976. Thewaterslide was added to the facility in 1994.


Construction ofRecreation Centergave North Plattea place for fitness

The North Platte Recreation Center’s signature dome over the swim-ming facility was completed in 1976, after the community recognizedthe need in a survey in 1972.


37 years of wellness

Cell phonesOn April 3, 1973,

from a Manhattanstreet corner, 6th Ave.between 53rd and54th, Motorola's Mar-tin Cooper placed theworld's first mobilephone call. To his rival,no less.

The prototype ver-sion that would be-come the MotorolaDynaTAC 8000xweighed 2.5 pounds,had a single-line, text-only LED screen. Itwould take a decadebefore Motorola's Dy-naTAC finally reachedconsumer hands.

On September 21,1983, Motorola madehistory when the FCCapproved the 8000X,the world's first com-mercial portable cellphone. It cost con-sumers a whopping$3,995 at the time.

Digital cameraIn 1975, Steve Sas-

son invented the digi-tal camera using amishmash of lenses, avariety of computerparts, and an old su-per eight-movie cam-era. The camera took23 seconds in order tocapture a picture, andthen was able to dis-play it onto a televi-sion.

When Sasson re-leased his invention tothe public, it was re-jected. People wereconfused how youwould store your digi-tal pictures, and whypeople would want tosee their pictures ontelevision.

Sasson tried to ar-gue with consumers,as well as Kodak, say-ing that digital tech-nology was going tobe the direction thatphotography will headin. Unfortunately, no-body listened, and hisinvention forgotten fordecades.

It's strange to thinkthat the company thatwas responsible for in-venting the digitalcamera, actually fellbehind in the techno-logical world becauseit didn't crossover todigital technology andinsisted on using film!

Firstsin the

last 50years

www.nptelegraph.com


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YOUR SOURCE since 1881w w w . n p t e l e g r a p h . c o m

By STEVE [email protected]

With origins dating backto the time of the Great De-pression, Lake MaloneyState Park remains a keyattraction for the NorthPlatte area, as well as animportant component ofthe local ecosystem.

According to the Nebras-ka Game and Parks Com-mission website, Lake Mal-oney Dam was constructedin 1935 and holds 7.09 bil-lion gallons of water. Witha circumference of 9 miles,and covering 1,650 acres,the main purpose of LakeMaloney is to regulate theflow of water for generat-ing electricity at the hydrofacility. The lake is 44 feetdeep at its maximum point.

Located approximately 5miles south of North Platte,the lake was built byrancher/farmer civil engi-neer Charles H. Morrill,who called is his profes-sional pride. It was namedafter William R. Maloney,an undertaker, civic leaderand original director, or-ganizer and vice-presidentof the Platte Valley PublicPower and Irrigation Dis-trict.

“Water from the NorthPlatte and South Platterivers is diverted by dams,stored in the reservoirsand released to serve theneeds for NPPD’s electricand irrigation customers,”said Nebraska Public Pow-er District spokesmanMark Becker. “In the late1970’s, NPPD built GeraldGentleman Station at

Sutherland Reservoir,where there is a source ofwater for use in the gener-ation of electricity [steamdrives the turbines thatcreate the electricity] andbegan operation of the fa-cility in the early 1980s.Canal water return andseepage enhance streamflows, assist wetlands andrecharge the Ogallalaaquifer. The hydropowersystem provides habitatfor wildlife and recreation-al opportunities for peo-ple, including the use ofLake Maloney for recre-ation.”

NPPD began leasingland to cabin dwellers inthe 1950s. At that time,they issued 99-year leases.There are currently 15homeowners that stillhave a 99-year lease.

The campground has132 acres. Facilities in-clude 56 camping padswith 30-amp hookups, aswell as 200 non-pad siteswithout electricity, showerfacility, dump station, wa-ter, boat ramps, swimmingbeach, picnic tables, grillsand fish cleaning station.

Camping is offered on afirst-come, first-serve.

The Lake Maloney GolfClub is another key attrac-tion.

“It was founded in 1958as a nine-hole sand greencourse — when it went to18 holes no one seems toknow or remember, somesay in or around 1961,”said General Manager RonNewton. “The front nineholes was converted tograss in 1991 and the backnine holes in 1992.”

For more informationvisit outdoornebraska.ne.gov/parks/guides/park-search/showpark.asp?Area_No112.

A place to play(and a way to generate power)

Quickfact

In 1960, thefirst split-screentelevisionbroadcast occured — a debate between presi-dential candi-dates Kennedyand Nixon.

Lake Maloney, picturedabove, offers a wealth ofrecreation opportunities, in-cluding boating, swimming,camping and fishing.

Lake Maloney GolfCourse, pictured at left, offers 18 holes of golf justadjacent to the lake.

Photos by Sage Merritt / The North Platte Telegraph


By DIANE WETZEL [email protected]

The last 50 years have been in-credibly eventful, both in NorthPlatte and around the world.

In 1963, gas was 21 cents a gal-lon, and the average income was$5,807. A loaf of bread was 22cents, and the lava lamp was in-vented. Inflation was 1.7 percentand the unemployment rate was5.5 percent nationwide. A firstclass stamp was 4 cents, and agallon of milk cost 49 cents.

President John F. Kennedywas shot in Dallas, and Alcatrazpenitentiary closed. Members ofthe Klu Klux Klan bombed aBaptist church in Birmingham,killing four young girls. Thefirst state lottery begans in NewHampshire, and Martin LutherKing gave his “I Have a Dream”speech in Washington, D.C. TheBeatles released their first al-bum and State Mutual Life In-surance invented the “smileyface.”

By 1973, Richard Nixon waspresident and the cost of a firstclass stamp had doubled to 8cents. Gas was 39 cents a gallon,and the average income had al-most doubled to $10,512. Infla-tion was 7.6 percent and a gallonof milk was $1.31.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruledon Roe vs. Wade and the World

Trade Center in New York be-came the tallest building in theworld. Watergate hearings beginin Washington, D.C., and Nixontold the world, “I am not acrook.”

Billie Jean King beat BobbyRiggs in “the battle of the sexes”tennis match and more than 1billion television watchersaround the world saw Elvis Pres-ley’s “Aloha from Hawaii” televi-sion special.

In 1983, Ronald Reagan waspresident and unemploymentwas 9.7 percent. A stamp cost 20cents, and gasoline was $1.24 agallon. Inflation was 7.6 percent,and the average income was$20,885. A gallon of milk was$2.24.

Unemployment was the high-est it had been since 1941, with12 million out of work. MotorolaCompany introduced the firstmobile phones. Sally Ride be-comes the first Americanwoman in space on the spaceshuttle Challenger. PresidentReagan proposed the Star Warsdefense program and MargaretThatcher won a landslide victo-ry in Great Britain. MicrosoftWord was introduced. The finalepisode of “M*A*S*H” airedwith an audience of 125 million.Cabbage Patch dolls arrived.

Bill Clinton was president in

1993, and unemployment in theUnited States was 7.5 percent.Inflation was 2.9 percent. Astamp cost 29 cents and a gallonof gas averaged $1.11. The aver-age household income was$31,241, and a gallon of milk was$2.86.

Intel introduced the Pentiumprocessor and Beanie Babies be-came popular. The Brady Bill,requiring background checksfor purchasers of handguns,was signed into law.

Islamic fundamentalistsbombed the World Trade Centerin New York. Federal agents

raided a compound in Waco,Texas.

The North American FreeTrade Agreement was signedinto law. Two former police offi-cers are convicted of violatingthe civil rights of Rodney King.The U.S. dropped the Star Warsinitiative. The World Wide Webwas born and the World HealthOrganization estimated that 14million people worldwide wereinfected with the AIDS virus.

In 2003, George W. Bush waspresident and a gallon of gascost $1.83. The average incomewas $45,016.

The U.S. Department ofHomeland Security officially be-gan operations, and the U.S.planned to invade Iraq becauseof a threat from weapons ofmass destruction. Saddam Hus-sein, former president of Iraq,was captured in Tikrit. A majorweather outbreak created moretornados in any one week in U.S.history.

Lance Armstrong won hisfifth Tour de France title. TheSpace Shuttle Columbia disinte-grated during reentry, killing allseven people onboard. ArnoldSwartzenegger was elected gov-ernor of California. Applelaunched iTunes. A white tigerattacked Roy Horn of “Siegfriedand Roy.”

In 2013, Barack Obama wasinaugurated for a second termas president. Alabama beatNotre Dame in the BCS Champi-onship. Two bombs explodednear the finish line at the BostonMarathon, killing three and in-juring many. During a shootout,one suspect, Tamerlan Tsar-naev, 26, was killed. The othersuspect, his brother Dzhokhar,19, remains at large, triggering amassice manhunt. He was cap-tured alive but seriously injuredhiding in a boat in a house inWatertown. A fertilizer plant inWest, Texas, exploded, killing 12and injuring around 200 others.

1963-2013: An eventful 50 years

Five of the seven U.S. presidents from the last 50 years gathered to-gether recently for the dedication of the George W. Bush PresidentialCenter on April 25 in Dallas. Pictured are President Barack Obamaand former presidents, from second from left, George W. Bush, BillClinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

The Associated Press

our town 2013 part 1

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