by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Five Cueball thoughts for Nov. 25, 2012, with an assist from my daughter Allison…

1. Former Wellington coaches…

Someone pointed out to me this weekend that two former Wellington coaches were winning state championships in football Saturday.

Scott Moshier, the head football coach at Wellington during the 1994 and 1995 seasons, led Meade to a Class 2-1A State Championship with a 28-25 victory over Centralia.

Glenn O’Neil, the head basketball coach at Wellington during the 1995-96 season, led Scott City to a 28-12 state championship victory over Silver Lake in Class 3A.

I knew both coaches well during my first stint as a sports editor at the Wellington Daily News. Moshier, who started his career not so successfully in Oxford, came over to Wellington to be an assistant under Bob Fuller for two seasons. He always wore shorts no matter how cold it got, because the one time he wore long pants, the Crusaders lost.

He took over as head coach when Fuller took a job at McCook, Neb. and had two successful seasons, going undefeated in the regular season during the 1994 campaign. That season ironically ended against Scott City, the team O’Neil now coaches.

Moshier eventually left for Hoxie in western Kansas and was replaced by Linn Hibbs at WHS. He eventually came back in this area and spent a few years coaching at Belle Plaine before heading back west where he adopted Conway Springs’ single wing offense and has done quite well with it at Meade.

O’Neil is both the football and basketball coach at Scott City, and his son, Brett, led the Beavers to the state championship as a quarterback. Brett was born while his family was living here. O’Neil’s Wellington boys basketball team finished above .500 and lost in a heartbreaker in the first round to Andale. That was before Wellington started to hate Andale. The O’Neil’s left for Scott City when the Wellington school district failed to hire his wife for a teaching position. This was a classic case of letting a big fish get away.

 

2. Oh, that federal money…

I’m having a hard time understanding why people would be opposed to the city of Wellington receiving a $250,000 federal grant to build more than three miles of sidewalks in a “Safe Routes to Schools” program (see story here).

First, these are sidewalks that come at basically no expense to the local taxpayers. Also, why would you not want to go after money that designates sidewalks for our elementary children walking to and from school? Not to get graphic, but do you really think having kids walking on the street where they can get hit by a car is a good thing?

But one facet of the argument I really don’t understand is from those who think the city of Wellington is not entitled to the federal money – like it is part of a socialistic conspiracy. Are you nuts? My wife and I had to take a loan out last April to pay our taxes. Are you saying that for all that money we contribute to the U.S. Government, we aren’t entitled to a little federal money in return if it is available?

Now if you want to dissolve this federal program in attempt to reduce the size of our government, that’s a different story. But in the meantime, if there is federal money to be had, let’s bring it this way. Obtaining federal grants to help Wellington become a better community is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s stupid not to do so.

Keep up the good work city of Wellington.

 

3. J.R. Ewing….

I’m not much for soap operas, but I loved the television show Dallas. Correct that. I loved J.R. Ewing, who was the best character on television in the 1980s.

It wasn’t so much that J.R. was a unscrupulous villain. For the most part, TV bad guys are pretty much bores. But J.R. was played by Larry Hagman, who made the character hilariously bad. You couldn’t wait to hear what he said next.

Hagman died this week and with him will go perhaps TVs most memorable characters – a role he was still playing up until his death.

Here’s a little video montage of J.R. Ewing I found on the Internet. I really couldn’t stop laughing when viewing this. RIP Mr. Larry Hagman …

 

4. Shout out of the week…

To all the holiday shoppers out there who are spending some money here in Wellington for their Christmas gift giving.

 

5. Allison’s thoughts…

My kids are such a thoughtful group. After a couple of weeks of Quinn’s thoughts, Allison, my daughter, wants to share a few thoughts of her own.

Just a reminder if you want to do “five thought” as a guest editorialist you are more than welcome to do so. Just send me your thoughts at sumnernewscow@gmail.com.

Ok, here’s Ally…

 

Allison’s thoughts

 

Hey y’all! Im taking over NewsCow on this very fine Sunday afternoon!

 

Quinn is very upset with me right now, because he informed me that the reason people log on to NewsCow is because they want to read his thoughts, and they know him like the back of their own hand. (not true, but whatever.)

 

So I would just like to introduce myself very quickly:

My name is Allison McCue, and my dad runs this website. Currently I am 14 years old and a freshman at WHS. My favorite thing to do is dance and I love the colors pink and glitter.

 

1. Another broken foot for the win. On Tuesday (Nov. 20th) I was at a friends house, and broke my foot/two of my toes. I was trying to be cool and i jumped off a few stairs trying to land on the ground, I jammed my foot into the ground and broke my foot. I guess that’s my punishment for being a “Dare Devil”

 

2. Phone cases. I have 21 phone cases and counting.. They are just so addicting. Im pretty sure I have enough to start my own business.

 

3. The Justin Bieber concert. So long story short; my mom bought fake tickets as my birthday present, and we ended up getting front row tickets and Justin touched my hand twice, filmed me fist pumping, and even sang to me. That’s true love right there.

 

4. Quinn is a little drama queen (note to all the viewers that think he is a pure, innocent boy.) He also just hit me.

 

5. I’m going to be famous, without a doubt. Mark my words.

 

6. Sorry to anyone who was expecting to see ‘Quinn’s Thoughts’ pop up on their screen today. You got me instead! Which is much better if you ask me :). I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!