1954: Widespread ice storm knocks out power, communications
March 16, 1939
WAUSA — A move is on foot in Cedar County as well as Knox County to secure a shelterbelt planting for two rural country school sites. There are a number of schools to the east of Wausa in Cedar County which would be greatly improved with the addition of a shelterbelt planting. Would it be assuming too much to suggest to some of the school boards of these schools that they get in touch with the Federated Woman’s Club of Cedar County and make application for one of the shelterbelt plantings.
March 16, 1944
WAUSA — The third nationwide test for candidates who wish to be considered for the army specialized training program on the Navy College Program V-12, was given at the Wausa high school on Wednesday morning, March 15. Ten people took the qualifying test. They were Elton Greenwall, Donald Pearson, Albur Peters, and Ronald Swanson, seniors in the Wausa high school and Vaughn Erickson, Melvin Koehler, Donley Mainquist, Dale Moline, Marlind Nelson and Eugene Nelson of last years graduating class. The test, which required two hours to take, consisted of three parts. The first part consisted of 60 items in word study and vocabulary, the second part consisted of a group of questions dealing mostly with the fields of physics and general science, and the third part was a 60 part test in mathematics. All questions were of the multiple-choice type in which five possible results were given and the person taking the test was to select the correct answer.
March 18, 1954
WAUSA — Wausa and many other communities of the midwest area awoke Friday morning to find one of the most destructive ice storms on record had descended during the night, leaving them without outside communications and electrical power, and in a morass of muddy ice and dirty snow. It was an unusual scene which presented itself that morning. Red dust from Kansas and Oklahoma was cleared from the skies by rain during the night and froze into a dirty, brown clinging mass, which covered everything in sight. During the morning the rain changed to sleet and then to snow, which winds in gusts up to 65 mph built up to blizzard proportions from noon throughout the day. Nearly six inches of snow was reported to have fallen.
March 12, 1964
WAUSA — Four persons guessed the correct weight of a hog displayed at Carlson Home and Auto Supply store during Firestone Farmer Days open house Friday and Saturday. The hog weighed 214 pounds which was the exact weight estimated by Floyd Thorell Jr., Betty Prather, Verlyn Lind and Norman Jensen, with Mr. Thorell as the winner. Six hundred fifty names were registered for the event. Lunch was served using 13 pounds of coffee, 40 dozen of doughnuts and 40 dozen of cookies.
March 13, 1969
WAUSA — The Nebraska School Activity association basketball committee met Sunday morning to determine first round pairings for the four state cage tournaments which open in Lincoln Thursday morning. The Wausa Vikings were seeded third behind Hastings St. Cecilia which has the same win and loss record as the local team. The latter team has played, says the association, a tough schedule facing larger Class B schools in 13 of their 24 games. Wausa meets the Stanton Mustangs in the first game of Class C play at 12:00 noon in Lincoln’s Pershing auditorium. Cambridge, with a 24-1 record was the No. 1 seeded team by virtue of their season’s record. Returning class C title holder, Grant, was given fourth place spot. Stanton, a Class C title holder in 1964, won the right to state play by a 59-57 win over Homer. Gordon Miller who had 19 points in that vital game is Stanton’s most reliable scorer. The Mustangs who muster a stubborn defense number Rich Vranicar, Gayle Dahlkotter, Randy Brooks, Bill Dillion and Jack Podall as others who see most of the action. Wausa Public School will not be in session on Thursday and Friday of this week because parents and students will be attending the State basketball tournament. Hastings St. Cecilia clashes with Osceola at 1:45; Elkhorn and Grant at 7:00 p.m. and Cambridge and Hebron at 8:45 p.m. to complete Thursday’s Class C play.
March 16, 1989
WAUSA — When cars, trucks and trailers on US Highway 81 start detouring on NE 121 through Wausa early in April, painted crosswalks, signs and flashing lights will protect pedestrians at two crossings. After a Tuesday morning visit, the engineer wrote to Lind announcing the crosswalks. He said they cannot be painted until the weather is warmer. The pedestrian lines will cross the state highway, McCarthy wrote. One set will be at Broadway and Hampton Street, the bank corner and the other at Vivian Street, between McKinley and Norris, by the rear school yard entrance.
March 17, 2004
WAUSA — The Wausa Speech Team qualified three students for state competition in four events at District Speech in Elgin. Qualifying for state are Cody Lange, second in Humorous; Erin Hennings, third in Extemp and fourth in Informative; and Ben Rodenborg, fourth in Entertainment. Wausa competed against 14 other schools. Overall the Wausa Speech Team placed fourth. State competition will be in Kearney. Coaches are Marge Nelson and Ann Pfeil.
