Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 351 - 375 of 383
The Orchard advisory and original boards of education reorganized for the upcoming months, when they met in joint session last Monday, Jan. 6, at the school. Advisory board members Candace Hoke, DeAnna Clifton, Nathan Schwager and Kristi Schutt voted to retain the current officers for the remaining months, until the Summerland consolidation takes effect. Hoke will continue as president; with Schutt as vice president; Clifton, secretary; and Schwager, treasurer. Board committee members will also remain the same, including Clifton and Hoke on...
The Holt County supervisors addressed cyber security at their final 2019 meeting. The leaders met Dec. 31 at the courthouse in O'Neill. Steve Anson with Anson Insurance Services was invited, by chairman Bill Tielke, to present information about insuring the county against "hacking" of county computers. Tielke indicated cyber security concerns were raised at a recent convention he had attended. "I don't think it's a matter that we can keep beating around the bush and not doing something about,"...
By Dale Martin | Superintendent I thought I would take some time to provide an update to what is currently happening with the Summerland District and the new school building project. There has been a lot of behind-the-scenes activity since the three communities all passed the bond measure. The State Reorganization Board officially approved the Summerland Public School consolidation plan on an 8-0 vote. This plan sets June 5 as the date for the dissolution of Clearwater District 02-0006, Ewing...
The Holt County supervisors met Monday, Dec. 16, in front of a crowd of concerned citizens. Agenda items regarding a TC Energy road-haul agreement and some township road concerns drew the visitors. The supervisors heard an update on a bronze statue planned for the courthouse lawn by the “Finian Women.” They are a group headed by daughters of longtime Holt County resident, Doc Cook, who referred to himself as a Finian, according to county clerk Cathy Pavel. Natalie Cook Butterfield addressed the leaders regarding fundraising and planned placemen...
The Antelope County commissioners postponed action on an agenda item requested by Andy Frey, Elm Township road closures follow-up, sending a half-dozen county residents away without resolution. The commissioners held public hearings Sept. 3 on proposals to close two segments of county road. Both closure requests, one mile of 848 Road, from one-half mile east of 529 Avenue to one-half mile east of 530; and one-half mile of 847 Road, were petitioned by Frey. Brian McDonald, county engineer,...
Antelope County Commissioners adopted a new snow removal policy when they met last Tuesday at the courthouse in Neligh. Casey Dittrich, road superintendent, presented the policy that he and road foreman Aaron Boggs have been drafting over the past few weeks, with input from Tim Baxter from the Nebraska Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency, the county’s liability-insurance carrier. Input also came from road crew members and, according to Dittrich, has the “blessing” of county attorney Joe Abler. The policy establishes protocol for the order...
Candice Hoke of Orchard will join Nate Schwager to represent Orchard on the board of education for the new Summerland school district. The boards of education from Orchard, Clearwater and Ewing each voted for two members for the new board of education that will convene in June. Orchard board members selected Schwager, but three votes for the second member each resulted in a tie between Terri Hergert of Royal and Kristi Schutt of Orchard, and selection of the second member was delayed until Monday night’s board meeting at the Orchard school. S...
The Holt County supervisors addressed a recent article submitted to area media when they met at the courthouse Monday, Nov. 18. According to the letter submitted by Holt County attorney Brent Kelly, published in the Nov. 20 edition of the Advocate and online at SummerlandAdvocate.com, and by other area news media, his purpose was to explain some of the issues county residents and elected officials will face as TC Energy proceeds with its effort to build a pipeline. Chairman Bill Tielke turned...
Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard school boards covered a long list of agenda items, Nov. 20, during a three and one-half hour meeting, in Ewing. Discussion focused on the new Summerland school district, which will take effect June 6, 2020. While a chunk of the meeting was spent discussing staffing and administration timeline, other topics included the new district's reorganization petition, selection of Summerland school board members, policies, curriculum and sales of assets. Steve Williams,... Full story
With a full board seated at the table, the Antelope County commissioners addressed dust issues on a county road for the second week in a row. Commissioners Carolyn Pedersen and Regina Krebs, who were appointed to fill vacancies the week prior, were sworn into office by Linda Mitchell, Antelope County court magistrate, prior to the nearly six-hour meeting at the courthouse in Neligh last Tuesday, Nov. 12. Tension appeared as issues arose regarding timing of agenda disbursement to commissioners,...
Two rural Clearwater women have been appointed to fill vacancies on the Antelope County Board of Commissioners. Regina Krebs and Carolyn Pedersen fill board vacancies created by the Oct. 15 recall of commissioners Tom Borer and Allen Bentley, who were elected to the board last November. Pedersen will represent District Five and Krebs, District Three. A panel of Antelope County officials, clerk Lisa Payne, attorney Joe Abler and treasurer Deb Branstiter, interviewed seven potential commissioners...
The final item of business handled by the Holt County supervisors last Thursday afternoon at the courthouse in O'Neill caused some disunity among the leaders. As the supervisors passed time waiting to address an agenda item regarding outside counsel to handle a road-haul agreement with TC Energy, the meeting room filled with about two dozen county residents, many who are facing eminent domain proceedings for pipeline right-of-way easements across their land. While three of those citizens, Bryan...
When I submitted my column this past month, I presented the piece to one of my education professors to receive her input. As luck had it, the dissertation she spent three years researching and writing for her doctoral program focused on the transition from high school to college. Furthermore, her research focused on college freshman not being legitimately prepared for the academic struggles college presents. As she read through my article, she circled questions I presented in my writing that...
An Antelope County commissioner will face a jury of his peers in the county courtroom in January, more than a year after the alleged theft of county property. Eli Jacob, 66, of Clearwater, who is accused of taking a furnace from the Orchard county barn last January, faced the Honorable Donna Taylor last Wednesday for a pretrial hearing in the case. Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith, as special prosecutor for Antelope County, told Taylor he anticipates a two-day trial, possibly three days,...
The Antelope County Commissioners worked through their agenda in short order Oct. 8, at the Neligh courthouse, authorizing claims and payroll before hearing Casey Dittrich's road report and a complaint that had been posted on social media. "We had some complaints about south of Clearwater, grinding up the road," Dittrich said. "I reached out to some of the people who started a post on Facebook that's gained a lot of attraction," he said. The road in question is 846 Road, from the bridge...
Approximately 120 individuals attended an informal gathering at Summerland Golf Course, Oct. 6, to learn facts and figures associated with the Summerland school building project. Tobin Buchanan, a bond analyst with First National Capital Markets, said the Summerland project, when compared to others he has worked with, is unique. Most bond projects involve a rural community, often with a 100-year-old, three-tier building "that's outlived its usefulness." "(With that scenario) you're not... Full story
A special mail-in election, underway in Antelope County, will close next Tuesday, Oct. 15. County Clerk Lisa Payne has hired a receiving/counting board to help process ballots that day. County voters in two of the county's five commissioner districts received ballots through the United States Postal Service last week. The ballots ask voters if elected officials, Allan Bentley and Tom Borer, should be removed from their positions as county commissioners. "When a ballot is returned, it is logged...
It's National Newspaper Week. Normally, I would write about the week's theme and how it relates to you, the reading public, and me, as a journalist. Think F1rst - the 2019 theme - resonates with us because it forms the backbone of our democratic society. The first amendment is important, maybe now more than ever, as we the people hold governmental entities accountable. Limits to the five freedoms - religion, speech, press, assembly and right to petition - exist. Harmful speech is not protected....
Why are the Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard school boards calling a special bond election November 12th? For several years, the three school boards have been working to find the best solution to address needs each district faces when it comes to operational efficiency, enrollment limitations, aging facilities and limited program offerings for students and families in their communities. Following a rigorous process of identifying the urgent needs, utilizing community engagement to determine an effe...
Antelope County commissioners, after hearing comments from several constituents and county officials at a pair of public hearings Sept. 17, adopted the budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The $19,155,429 budget includes asking for $6,114,213 from taxpayers next year through a county levy of .246195. In order to balance all components of the budget, the levy computed by County Clerk Lisa Payne is about one-fourth cent more than the 2.5-cent increase proposed by commissioners in early...
Attendees at the Sept. 10 Antelope County Commissioners' meeting at Neligh's courthouse found new accommodations for hearing county business. A new sound system, including microphones in front of each commissioner, County Clerk Lisa Payne and at the witness table, had been installed. Commissioner Dean Smith acknowledged Invenergy officials for the donation. "I think it is much needed, I have always felt that it was. I appreciated you doing that for the county," he said. "I think it will be a...
County leaders spent about an hour mulling six “options” for managing Antelope County’s finances in the coming year, when they met last week at the courthouse in Neligh. Lisa Payne, county clerk, presented the commissioners with six scenarios for the annual budget, ranging from what she called the “golden egg” with its seven-cent levy increase, to one that called for no change in the county’s slice of a taxpayer’s pie. She cautioned that the figures were “very preliminary,” intended to give the commissioners a picture to work from. The high en...
A new PK-12 cornfield school came one step closer to reality Aug. 21, when Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard boards of education unanimously approved entering into a purchase agreement for approximately 40 acres of land near the intersection of 513 Avenue and 857 Road, contingent on passage of a bond issue in all three communities. According to Clearwater and Orchard Superintendent Dale Martin, the site "is about as centrally located as we could get," sitting six miles south of Orchard, seven miles...
The atmosphere in the supervisors’ room at the Antelope County courthouse in Neligh became a bit explosive for a while last Thursday morning. A special Aug. 22 meeting of the county commissioners had been set, exclusively, for budget discussion. However, an item for setting the date of a special recall election was added to the agenda by Lisa Payne, county clerk. As the meeting began, Tom Borer, commission chairman, asked for a motion to remove the item from the agenda. Dean Smith complied, offering the motion. “I think we should wait for the c...
Two residents of the Royal community faced the Antelope County commissioners at their Aug. 13 meeting, asking the county leaders to intercede in the case of a dog running at large. Marlowe Jensen and Justin Jensen came to the meeting armed with copies of state statutes dealing with dangerous dogs, claiming the documents required the county sheriff to bring charges against the dog’s owner. “I was harassed by a dog,” Marlowe Jensen said, adding “It chased a deputy into Justin’s house.” “It’s the only dog in town that’s running loose,” his son s...
