[ CLAY COUNTY INTHE REARVIEW MIRROR
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2000 – 25YEARS AGO Our source for news at the end of 2000 was the Clay County News with Don and Linda Russell, Publishers; Bill Brown, Editor; Brian Johnson, Sports Writer; Annette Yost, Receptionist; Diane Thompson, Typesetter; Deb Osterhaus, Typesetter; Christy Olin, Darkroom Technician; Erica Griess, Production; and Echo Kirk, Production.
Edgar businessman, Carl “Burt” Saathoff was honored on his 80th birthday at the Edgar Legion Hall. Saathoff farmed for 70 years, was one of the owners of Saathoff Hardware for 24 years, and one-time owner of Carl’s Rec Room. He worked for Shuck Drilling and Edgar Grain. He was a county supervisor for eight years.
Katherine Baldridge opened Accents of Elegance in Harvard, a flower and gift shop with a stock of Husker items.
The county fair board began a fund drive for a new exhibition hall.
Featured business: Clay County News with a send and receive FAX service.
Death notices this week included: Emma M. (Scheierman) (Mrs. Dorsey) Labart, Sutton; Byron C. Avers, Edgar; Lucille V. (Oswald) (Mrs. Vance) Ulmer, Aurora (Bixby); Mervyn Monson, Sutton; Loretta J. (Schreiter) (Mrs. George) Petr, Deweese; Helen Louise (Harwig) (Mrs. Ernest) Volkmer, Sutton; and Eileen (Joyce) (Mrs. Duane) Sigrist, Harvard.
Sandy Creek girls’ basketball team took a 21-9 start towards an 80-42 win over Wilbur. Taryn Ninemire had 27 points.
Kearney Catholic’s 6’3” center and her three 5’10” teammates were too much for the Sutton Fillies in their 58-48 loss.
Sutton Mustangs Beat Kearney Catholic 69-63 led by Mike Jones with 20 points.
Harvard Lady Cardinals beat Burwell 58-41 and Sutton Fillies thumped Wymore Southern 72-47 in the opening round of Sutton’s Holiday Tournament. Sutton beat Harvard for the second time this season 59-55 to take the tourney title. Jami Lipker had 35 points in Harvard’s losing effort in the finals. Julie Fixemer paced the Fillies in both games with 20 and 15 points.
Sandy Creek’s Lady Cougars made easy work of their tournament beating Cozad 40-19 and Minden 70-24. Taryn Ninemire led in both games with 15 and 33 points.
Clay Center Lady Cats beat High Plains 37-25 in the opening game of the Clay Center Holiday Tournament but fell to Shickley 47-43 in the final game. Brandice Studnicka and Amy Parnell led the scoring with 14 and 18 points.
Clay Center boys won their Holiday Tournament beating High Plains 69-41 and Shickley 44-42. Nathan Karnatz had 24 points in the first game; Jed Senff tallied 12 in the second.
Sutton boys won their tournament beating Burwell 70-48 and Wymore Southern 72-47. Tyler Lemkau with 24 points and Mike Jones with 15 led the Mustangs. Wymore reached the finals on a putback buzzer beater to defeat Harvard 49-48. Harvard lost the consolation game to Burwell 44-32. Zach Stutzman led Harvard in both games with 10 and 15 points.
Sandy Creek reached the finals of their Holiday tournament beating Cozad 70-40 but lost to Minden 61-56 in the final game. Bronsen Schliep led the Cougars in both games with 21 and 23 points.
Harvard wrestlers were off to a good start winning two tournaments and placing second in another.
Tom Osborne was sworn in as Nebraska’s Third District Congressman on January 3, 2001.
Vice President Al Gore presided over a joint session of Congress that certified George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 election over VP Gore. The winner was declared more than five weeks after the election after a 5-4 Supreme Court decision halted Florida’s manual recount. Al Gore became the third Presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election in the Electoral College. It happened in 1876 and 1888, and it has happened since then.
1975 – 50YEARS AGO The Clay County News was published by Charles Spearman with Edwin I. Wach as Editor in 1976. The team of Spearman and Wach also published The Edgar Sun and The Harvard Courier which are also available on newspapers.com and provide material for this column. We rely on hard copies for The Clay County News. That team also published The Clay County Sun for Clay Center, but that newspaper and The Clay County News are not available on newspapers. com. At the end of 1976, The Edgar Sun was merged with The Clay County Sun and The Harvard courier merged with The Clay County News with the issues of Dec. 30, 1976.
The National Foundation- March of Dimes announced that reported cases of rubella (German measles) had dropped by 75 percent since the vaccine was introduced six years earlier. The virus caused minor illness in adults, but women infected during early pregnancy risked having a baby with severe birth defects.
Jeff Hunzeker of Sutton was on a broadcasting tour sponsored by the university’s School of Journalism. The tour began in Paris continuing to Rome, Venice, Budapest, Munich, and Geneva.
Employees of Leverage Tools, Inc. of Glenvil and Image, Inc. of Hastings held their annual Christmas party at the National Guard Armory in Hastings.
Death notices this week included Joseph C. Brehm, Edgar (Harvard).
The President of the Nebraska Medical Association and individual physicians called for legislation to reform professional liability insurance in the state. The cost of physician’s liability insurance had risen impacting overall health care costs.
Featured business: Friesen’s Chevrolet, Inc. in Sutton with the 1976 Chevette Sport Coupe and its four-cylinder engine good for 39 mph highway and 30 in the city.
A faltering third quarter was the only blemish on Sandy Creek’s best game of the season in their 66-57 win over St. Cecilia. Mike Davenport had 19 points and Jim Engel added 18 including eight free throws.
The Northeast College “Blackhawks” of Norfolk completed the first semester basketball schedule with a 7-0 record and were the 5th-rated team, nationally, in their division. The team was led by five freshmen and one sophomore including Mark Olsen of Hampton and Kenny Vjraska of Sutton.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot announced a new constitution and changed the name of Cambodia to Kampuchea.
1950 - 75YEARS AGO Our source material for the 1951 section of this column includes The Edgar Sun, Otto W. Wolf, Editor and Dora M. Wolf, Associate Editor; The Clay County News, Editors and Publishers were Howard C. King, Burlin B. King, and Roy M. King; The Harvard Courier, Lisle Hanna, Editor; The Clay County Sun in Clay Center with William B Jones, Plant Foreman and Alma Smith, Reporter; and The Fairfield Auxiliary, Lester H. Vaughan, Editor.
The Lincoln Daily Star headlined Sutton’s 8-inch snowfall as the most in the state.
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Vanderslice received a letter from their son Ray, Jr. informing them “I got out safe and well” after he was part of the First Marine Division that had to fight its way out of a trap set by Chinese Communist forces on the west bank of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea.
Matt Billesbach, recent Clay Center jeweler, informed friends he was headed for overseas duty, not stating when or where.
Approximately 200 4-H members, parents, and friends attended the annual Achievement Award program at the Fairfield Community building. Former County Agent Deon Axthelm was the master of ceremonies. The awards were presented by County Agent Dwyer Albert.
Roy M. King of the King family publishers of county newspapers was returning to active duty with his rank of Staff Sargeant. Jack Nolde accompanied Mr. King to his reporting station at Fort Sheridan near Chicago. The Old Man, H.C. King faced an increased workload putting out the papers.
Featured business: Farmer’s Mutual Insurance Company, Paul V. Echternacht, agent at P&J Service Station in Clay Center.
Orville Bieck of Harvard, Vaughn Ochsner of Trumbull, Lawrence Hoyt of Fairfield, and James Powers of Ong were scheduled for induction into the Army on January 15th. Nine other county men were to take their physical exams on the 17th.
Edgar’s Lyric had Samuel Goldwyn’s “Our Very Own” with Farley Granger, Jane Wyatt, and Ann Blyth. The Sutton Lyric was showing “Bright Leaf” starring Lauren Becall and Jack Carson. “Annie Get Your Gun” was playing at the Center Theater starring Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, and Keenan Wynn.
Death notices this week included: Eva Pearl (Beam) (Mrs. Wesley) Welch, Deweese; Wylie Francis George, Ong & Edgar; and Louis H. Traudt, Saronville.
Harvard handed Clay Center its first defeat of the season 42-38 led by Fagler’s 27 points.
Kentucky beat Oklahoma 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day snapping the Sooners’ 31 game winning streak.
NBC-TV debuted “Dragnet.”
North Korean and Communist China forces captured the city of Seoul.
1925 – 100YEARS AGO Our 1926 section of the column draws on the newspaper. com website for the following newspapers: The Edgar Sun, F.M. Gettys, Editor, Agnes Gettys, Associate Editor; The Sutton News; The Sutton Register, C.M. Brown, Editor and Publisher; The Harvard Courier, C.N. Harris, Editor and Manager, Fern Chandler, Local Editor; The Clay County Sun (Clay Center), Fred B. Howard, Owner; and The Fairfield Auxiliary, Irvin Hogue, Publisher.
Recent storms left a solid snow cover as temperatures dipped to negative territory.
The largest fire among several reported this week was a blaze that destroyed all the businesses on the east side of the street in downtown Lushton. The fire began about midnight, and the chemical brought to fight the fire was frozen and ineffective.
Mr. L.B. Sharp and his family arrived in Clay Center from Michigan where he had been with the Portwood Co. Mr. Sharp and his partner Mr. Frank Castle were establishing a new general store in the property owned by Mrs. S.E. Burlingame. The store was to feature groceries, clothing, shoes, and dry goods.
Dr. R.T. Jones, Edgar physician, returned from four and a half months studying in Vienna, Austria with emphasis on the pathology of women’s care.
The Edgar newspaper carried accounts of performances by Edgar composer and musician Paul Alhteuse in Modesto and Ceres, California before his engagements in Los Angeles.
The Ochsner & Mehlhaf store moved to the Odd Fellows’ building on the South Side in Sutton. They remodeled the store front with new windows and replaced fixtures in the interior. E.A. Ochsner returned from several months in Paris, Illinois to take part in the business.
The exodus from the county accelerated over the past few weeks as cold weather and threat of colder had the usual suspect boarding the train, a few for the gulf coast, but California was by far the most common destination. The migration happened every year with accounts listing various relatives and previous neighbors as the recipients of these annual visits. (Sometimes wonder how these annual occurrences were viewed on the other end.)
R.F. and Ed Engelhardt purchased the Charles Keller filling station in Harvard. Mr. Keller built the station three years earlier and built it into one of the busiest in the city.
Featured business: Sutton Chevrolet Sales Co., C.J. Pankau, Manager featuring the Chevrolet Touring Car in this week’s ad.
Death notices this week included: Commercial Stata Bank in Clay Center, H.E. McDowell, President; H.H. Johnson, Vice President; H.B. Campbell, Cashier; and G.M. Buchtel, Assistant Cashier.
The Rose Bowl was carried on network radio for the first time.
1900 – 125YEARS AGO Our newspaper sources in early 1901, all at newspapers. com, are: The Edgar Post, James McNally, Publisher; The Advertiser-News (Sutton), G.J. & H.G. Thomas, Publishers; The Sutton Register, F.M. Brown, Editor; The Harvard Courier, G.H. & H.G. Thomas Publishers; The Clay County Patriot (Clay Center), Jessup Bros., Editors and Proprietors; The Sun (Clay Center), W.L. Palmer, Editor; and The Fairfield News-Herald, G.A. Hobson, Publisher. Intermittent issues of The Fairfield Messenger and The True Light, also in Fairfield, appear on the newspapers. com site from this era.
Newspapers noted the beginning of a new century in the first week of 1901. Culturally, the 20th Century had 99 years.
An outbreak of smallpox in the area spawned a flurry of visits to doctors for vaccinations.
The Edgar gun club’s planned pigeon shoot on New Years Day had to be called off. The birds missed their appointment.
Sutton’s law firm of Scott & Loving dissolved and the new firm of Hairgrove & Loving began business with the new year.
George P. Schwab was elected President of the Clay County Agricultural Society for the coming year. There were a dozen county officers plus directors representing each township.
The Sure Hatch Incubator Company in Clay Center distributed their third annual catalogue. The office staff of the company moved out of the factory into the north Dickson building.
Fred Unterseher, a young farm worker on the Burlingame farm south of Sutton, held the winning ticket for a piano at the Malm store’s annual New Years drawing.
The new officers for Harvard Lodge No. 70, I.O.O.F. were N.H. Lewis, noble grand; S.M. Risley, vice grand; W.E. Canfield, secretary; and Peter H. Green, treasurer. Most county towns had robust Odd Fellows lodges until the 1950’s or so.
Two visiting lady preachers were holding meetings in Verona’s west church.
This recurring notice in Clay Center newspapers is worth a chuckle, every time, “Dr. M.L. Ong, dentist of Edgar will be in Clay Center each Wednesday.” Or is it just me?
Featured business: S.J. Price & Co., lumber yard in Harvard offering Canon City and Rock Springs coal and “all kinds of building material.”
Death notices this week included the infant son of Nick Krager, Eldorado.
Emory W. Grossman, a member of Company H, First Nebraska who was wounded in action in the Philippines, was granted a pension. He was the first of Company H to get a pension.
The Commonwealth of Australia was founded.
1800 – 1225YEARS AGO Giuseppe Piazzi, Catholic priest and Italian astronomer at the observatory in Palermo, became the first person to discover an asteroid. He named it Ceres after the Roman and Sicilian goddess of grain. Ceres is the largest asteroid and is today called a dwarf planet.
This week’s photo was among the many photos received from Roger and Betty Sheridan. Art Elder is listed in the 1920 Sutton census as a grocery clerk.
