Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 651 - 675 of 762
The Honorable Kale Burdick sentenced four Holt County residents when he presided over the Holt County court last Tuesday, March 10. Harold A. Rockford, 61, of Chambers was sentenced to concurrent terms of 30 and two days in the county jail, respectively, for convictions of first-degree criminal trespass, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, less than $500, a Class 3 misdemeanor. The sentences were ordered consecutive to a jail sentence ordered in a Holt County district court case. He was also ordered to pay $52 costs and $40 restitutio...
A Chambers man was sentenced by the Honorable Mark Kozisek last week in the Holt County district courtroom. Harold A. Rockford, 61, was handed a 30-day jail sentence, with credit for six days previously served, on a count of resisting arrest. He was also taxed $147 costs of prosecution. Rockford pleaded guilty to the Class 1 misdemeanor Jan. 13, after reaching a plea agreement with Knox County prosecutor Brent Kelly. In return, Kelly dropped a Class 3A felony count of assaulting an officer and a trespassing charge in another county court case,...
Antelope County commissioners met March 3 in their meeting room at the courthouse in Neligh, with consideration of six driveway permits for the new Summerland school included on the meeting agenda. Steve Thiele of Clearwater was present, representing both the school district and the builder, Hausmann Construction. The county leaders gave unanimous approval for two of the applications, as temporary construction driveways and passed a motion to require a traffic study as part of the requirement for consideration of permanent permits. A 30-foot...
An Antelope County commissioner, who was set to face a jury of his peers in the Antelope County courtroom later this month, more than a year after an alleged theft of county property, pleaded no contest to an amended complaint when he faced the Honorable Donna Taylor last Wednesday. Eli Jacob, 66, of Clearwater, who is accused of taking a heating unit from the Orchard county barn Jan. 1, 2019, appeared March 4 for a pretrial hearing in the case. Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith, as special prosecutor for Antelope County, told Taylor a plea...
William M. Zohner, 63, of Norfolk appeared in Antelope County court March 4, facing the Honorable Donna Taylor for a pretrial hearing on three counts, driving under the influence, aggravated, a Class W misdemeanor, and two infractions, driving left of center and exceeding the speed limit 6-10 mph. A plea deal was announced. In exchange for Zohner’s guilty plea on Count I, the two infractions were dismissed by Antelope County attorney Joe Abler and there was a joint recommendation for a probation sentence. The DUI charge was enhanced due to a b...
Six members of the Orchard original and advisory boards of education, meeting jointly at the high school last Tuesday evening, heard that five compressors in the Trane HVAC system had failed the previous month. A timeline for replacement was not available. Principal Cathy Cooper said the compressors will be covered under warranty and administration is hopeful an estimated $12,900 in labor and the cost to rent electric heaters will be covered by the school’s insurance company. A Trane company representative was also asked to estimate the cost o...
Six Holt County supervisors listened as nearly 50 citizens presented testimony last Friday afternoon. A public hearing regarding TC Energy's application for a pipeline construction permit was held in the district courtroom at the Holt County courthouse. Pipeline opponents, from elementary students to 90-year-old grandparents, packed the courtroom, filling approximately 100 seats, and spilled out to the second-floor hallway. Speakers were called in order of sign-up, which had begun in the morning...
Christofer N. Carstens, 21, of Oakdale was found guilty of felony child abuse last Wednesday when he appeared before the Honorable Mark Johnson in the Antelope County district court in Neligh. A plea agreement was reached, resulting in Carstens pleading no contest to the crime in exchange for prosecutor, Joe Abler’s agreement to file no further charges in the case and to recommend no more than 20 years imprisonment at sentencing, which is set April 29. Johnson ordered a presentence investigation report. Accused of injuring his infant d...
Joey Crooker, 37, of Ainsworth, formerly of Page, was sentenced by the Honorable Mark Johnson in the Antelope County district courtroom last Wednesday, Feb. 26. Crooker, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of sexual assault pursuant to a plea agreement reached in December, has a previous sexual assault conviction, in 2002. He was questioned by the judge prior to passing sentence regarding his understanding of his previous sentence. "I understood," Crooker replied. "I just lost my head."...
Jeremy J. Mathrole, 40, appeared in Antelope County court last week for arraignment on two violations of the Sex Offender Registration Act. Due to previous violation convictions, the allegations are Class 3A felonies. Mathrole requested court-appointed counsel. Presiding judge Donna Taylor found him indigent and appointed Carney, setting a preliminary hearing March 4. He reappeared later in the day with Carney, who requested bond be reduced from $10,000, 10%, and conditions amended to allow Mathrole to travel to Kentucky where he previously...
Benjamin Parks, 22, of O’Neill appeared in Holt County court last Tuesday, Feb. 18, for a preliminary hearing on two charges filed by chief deputy Nebraska Attorney General David Bydalek last November, Count I, tampering with a witness, a Class 4 felony committed May 6, 2019, and procuring alcohol for a minor, a Class 1 misdemeanor. A plea deal was struck with prosecutor Mariah J. Nickel, assistant attorney general, and Parks attorney, Allison Rockey Mason of Norfolk. In exchange for a no contest plea to Count II, Nickel dismissed Count I. T...
The Antelope County commissioners were faced with issues arising from two recent road decisions when they met last Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the courthouse in Neligh. Working through the agenda, commissioners examined and approved payroll and vendor claims, all with an eye on the clock, completing their work before noon. A quorum for the afternoon was at risk, due to two commissioners indicating afternoon obligations elsewhere and commissioner Regina Krebs' absence. Casey Dittrich, who has served as Antelope County road boss for the last four...
The Honorable Kale Burdick presided over Holt County court last Tuesday, Feb. 11, handing down four sentences. Conrad A Lurz, 29, of Ellington, Missouri, formerly of O’Neill, faced Burdick for sentencing on two counts, second-degree false imprisonment, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and disturbing the peace, a Class 3 misdemeanor. He was sentenced to concurrent sentences of 30 days and five days in the county jail, respectively, and $60 costs of prosecution. Lurz was given credit for 10 days previously served for the May 4, 2019, offenses. Lurz changed...
The Holt County supervisors spent nearly two hours at a meeting last week, reviewing a road-haul agreement brought to the table by TC Energy representatives last October, paragraph by paragraph, despite having a new agreement drafted by Dave Domina in hand. The scrutiny came after Holt County attorney Brent Kelly presented a preliminary agreement drafted by the Omaha attorney who was hired by the county officials on a 4-2 vote Oct. 31, 2019, to negotiate a road-haul agreement with TC Energy. At Kelly’s suggestion, the supervisors held an execut...
Budd D. Sholes, 40, of Norfolk was sentenced last week in Holt County district court for December 2018 and January 2019 crimes committed in Holt County. The Honorable Mark Kozicek ordered Sholes to serve four terms in a facility under jurisdiction of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. If he loses none of his good time, Sholes must serve 15 months, less five days credited for time served in the county jail, before becoming eligible for parole, and 60 months (five years), less five days, before mandatory release. Sholes pleaded...
An Oakdale man has removed his case from the Antelope County court, at least temporarily. Garrett Hill, 23, was scheduled for sentencing on two misdemeanor traffic counts last Wednesday, Feb. 5. He filed documents to appeal his conviction to the Nebraska Supreme Court on Jan. 29, along with several other writs. The Honorable Donna Taylor denied his application to proceed informa pauperis with the appeal, ruling it is procedurally frivolous. She then informed Hill he had 30 days to come up with the $126 filing fee. Hill confirmed it was his...
Darrel Timm of Neligh and Julie Krause of Brunswick were appointed to the Antelope County Extension Board by the county commissioners, when the county leaders met last week at the Neligh courthouse. Local extension educator Brittany Spieker proposed the appointments of Timm and Krause to replace Gayle Wortman and Derek Zuhlke, who had each completed two terms on the board. The new board members were affirmed on 4-0 votes of the commissioners. Commissioner Eli Jacob was absent. Spieker also presented the annual extension office report. She...
The Honorable Kale Burdick, in Holt County court last week, sentenced Joshua A. Boettcher, 28, to serve 30 days in the Holt County Jail for a Class 2 misdemeanor count of theft, less than $500. The complaint, filed in June 2019, stated Boettcher took movable property of another between Jan. 9, 2018, and Jan. 9, 2019. Boettcher will serve a 45-day sentence at the same time on a conviction of second-degree forgery, a Class 2 misdemeanor committed Oct. 27, 2018, included in the same complaint. As part of a plea agreement entered in October 2019,...
A Neligh man was sent to jail by the Honorable Donna Taylor last Wednesday for repeatedly circumventing an ignition interlock device ordered in a Pierce County sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol. Kasey Swyear, 28, was convicted in three Antelope County cases, after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutor Joe Abler. In the first case, Swyear changed his not guilty pleas to guilty on two counts committed Aug. 24, driving a vehicle without an interlock, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and speeding, 82 miles per hour in a 65-mph zone, an...
Orchard school board members took no official action, other than consent agenda items when they met in the high school business room Wednesday, Feb. 4. Orchard principal Cathy Cooper told board members negotiations with the teachers’ association had been completed, with the 2020-2021 base salary for Summerland teachers set at $35,000. Currently Unified teacher base is $34,700 and Ewing’s is $35,000. Cooper said it would basically be a raise for everybody. “The base went up or the salary schedule percentages increased,” she said. “One item that...
Holt County citizens filled the county supervisors’ meeting room in the courthouse last Friday morning as the county leaders took care of business. Bryan Steskal of Steskal read a letter penned by his wife, Diana Steskal, who was unable to attend the meeting. In the letter, Steskal wrote the Holt County zoning board members denied TransCanada’s conditional use permit until two conditions are met, including one that requires obtaining easements. Many, she said will most likely be appealed. She also cited three federal court cases filed aga...
The Honorable Mark Johnson, one of two judges who serve the seventh judicial district of Nebraska, took the bench in the Antelope County courtroom last Wednesday, Jan. 29. Johnson and the Honorable James Kube alternate annually as presiding judges in the Antelope County district court. Johnson sentenced a Pierce County woman to three consecutive jail terms for felony convictions. Karen R. Stewart, 46, of Osmond will spend 120 days in the Antelope County Jail, providing she loses no good time. She was sentenced to 180 days for a conviction of...
The O'Neill Volunteer Fire Department, its chief and two community members were recognized by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts last week for service performed during the March 2019 floods. Ricketts made a stop in Holt County on Friday to present fire chief Terry Miles and members of the fire department with a flood hero proclamation. The award commemorates the department's rescue of a rural resident who was stranded in his home by the flood waters, as well as the volunteers' efforts in helping...
Bobbi Riser, Region 11 emergency manager, addressed the Antelope County commissioners at their Jan. 14 meeting. She said the Region 11 board had voted at their Dec. 12 meeting to cover the insurance cost for the NRIN equipment, leaving electricity to the tower being the only expense to the county. NRIN is a statewide communication system for law enforcement agencies, with cost of equipment and installation covered by the state. Riser also told the commissioners the county had been awarded a $1,000 grant through Emergency Preparedness program....
Michael Braband, 25, of Elgin faced the Honorable Kale Burdick Jan. 21, in the Holt County courtroom in O’Neill on a Class 2 misdemeanor count of issuing a bad check, less than $500. He entered a guilty plea per terms of a plea agreement reached with prosecutor Brent Kelly. Burdick sentenced Braband to pay a $50 fine, $34.01 restitution to First Stop in Atkinson and $50 costs. Braband wrote the check Sept. 4, 2019. Rowdy J. Berger, 26, of O’Neill entered an amended plea of guilty to a Class 3 misdemeanor count of driving under suspension aft...
