[ CLAY COUNTY INTHE REARVIEW MIRROR
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2001 – 25YEARS AGO
Billboard’s top song this month was “I’m Real” by Jennifer Lopez and featuring Ja Rule.
Representative Tom Osborne visited the Meat Animal Research Center to meet with the new director, Steven Kappes. He held a news conference where he discussed the Farm Bill for 2002 which was under consideration by the House Agriculture Committee. Osborne stopped in Hastings, Franklin, and Red Cloud on the visit.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission issued a report that listed the state’s second largest telephone company, Alltel, as providing substandard service. The report followed a public hearing in June regarding the Little Rock, AK, company. The report called for monthly monitoring and permanent improvements.
Long-time Clay Center residents Dee and Dixie Wilkerson purchased the Twin Oaks Motel in Clay Center. Dee Wilkerson had been a police officer in the county for 29 years, including Chief of the Clay Center Police for the past 22 years. Dixie had managed the motel for 12 years.
Carol Van Kirk was one of 2,000 delegates to the 81st annual American Legion Auxiliary convention in San Antonio. She had been the Community Service Chairman and was appointed the national Education Chairman for the next year. She was a member of Sutton’s Argonne Unit 61.
Vicki Kraal, CEO of Sutton State Bank, was spearheading an effort to preserve the antique buildings in downtown Sutton. Her interest was heightened when the bank purchased the building north of the bank. The building had housed the Sutton lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including the lodge’s ballroom, which was once used to host community dances and events.
Cleo Peterson retired after 35 years at the Trumbull Post Office. She was promoted to postmaster in September 1977.
Featured business: Beck’s Farm &; Auto Parts service center in Edgar.
Death notices this week included Ella M. Graneman, 82, Glenvil; Warren Peter, 80, Wichita (Sutton); and Bernece F. (Dunkle) (Mrs. Jesse) Barnes, 86, Clay Center.
Scott Schmer of Sutton was named director of the Hansen Leadership Program at Doane College, where he would oversee the college’s Speakers Assembly and leadership programs. He was a Doane graduate and taught at Henderson and Schuyler for eight years.
Lawrence-Nelson won their first game of the season and their first game as an 11-man team defeating Sandy Creek 31-0. Blake Hoffman carried 16 times for 55 yards to lead the Cougars.
Sutton defeated Class C-2’s eighthranked Ravenna Blue Jays, 14-3. Cornelio Trejo got the Mustangs off to a great start by taking the opening kickoff 63 yards and scoring a few plays later. Trejo ended the game with 46 yards on 10 carries.
Clay Center Wildcats opened their season with a 59-12 win over Giltner. Joel Livgren ran for 76 yards on only seven carries. Chris Anderson’s seven carries netted 41 yards.
Harvard Cardinals’ introduction to eight-man football was a 26-16 loss inflicted by Exeter/Milligan. Harvard trailed 20-0 after three quarters before finding the end zone twice.
Harvard’s Lady Cardinals dropped their volleyball match with Red Cloud 3-15, 15-12, 14-16. Amanda Owens led with 14 kills.
Sandy Creek Lady Cougars hosted a triangular meet with Wilbur-Clatonia and Heartland and dropped both of their matches in two sets.
Sutton Fillies were 1-2, finishing fourth in a Minden tournament. Their win came against Kearney’s J.V.’s 15-5, 15-6, led by Carrie Nuss with five kills.
Fox News Channel terminated Paula Zahn for breach of contract.
Barry Bonds (SF Giants) became the fifth player in the majors to hit 60 home runs in a season. eBay Inc. was found not liable for copyright infringement after bootleg copies of a Charles Manson documentary had been sold on their site.
1976 – 50YEARS AGO
The Bee Gees were on top of the charts with “You Should Be Dancing.”
Dr. Robert D. Madden and his wife, dental hygienist Phyllis Madden, opened their new dental office in Clay Center. Dr. Madden, a native of Hastings, had been practicing in Des Moines before deciding to move to Clay Center, where he had visited relatives as a child. His father had been the sports editor for the Hastings Tribune before the family moved to Scottsbluff in 1955.
Nearly 70 fertilizer and equipment dealers from Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri met in Sutton for the demonstration of U.S. Steel’s new COLD FLO anhydrous ammonia system that applied ammonia in liquid form rather than gaseous. George Brothers Propane and Fertilizer was the local host of the demonstration.
The Game and Parks Commission offered farmers and ranchers trees and shrub seedlings and sweet clover seeds at no cost for developing wildlife habitat.
The Fairfield Community Club completed construction of their tennis courts. The courts were immediately popular. The courts were to be dedicated in late September with a community picnic, East Side-West Side tournament, and horseshoe competition planned, so far.
The Sutton Gun Club held its annual Fall Barbecue at the Gun Club site a mile west of Sutton.
Featured business: Sutton Feed Service with Gooch Feeds.
District 10 of the American Legion and Auxiliary held their annual picnic at the Veterans Hospital in Grand Island. Attending were posts from Glenvil, Hastings, Holstein, Minden, Orleans, Sutton, Kenesaw, and Juniata.
A comparison observation plot of seven major brands and 23 varieties of corn was open for inspection by area farmers this week at the Ralph Glantz farm south of Harvard.
Death notices this week included Ada (Hyde) (Mrs. Frank) Williamson, 82, Clay Center and Dr. Harold G. Patterson, 79, York (Sutton and Shickley).
Rodney Wiles of Harvard was promoted to Marine Lance Corporal at his station in Hawaii.
Sutton had 19 blocks of streets scheduled for new blacktop including the southern half mile of Saunders and Maltby Street.
Diane Mahoney was the new volleyball coach at Sandy Creek after coaching at Hershey the prior year.
Coach Ted Classen was looking to improve Sandy Creek’s football record from its 5-5 showing in 2000 when they won the Southern Nebraska Conference trophy.
Trumbull coaches this year were Jan Schmadeke, volleyball, and David Scribner, football.
Head coaches at Harvard were Robert Wetjen, football, and Eileen Dennis, volleyball.
Clay Center football coach Marshall Hingst was entering his third year with an 11-7 record at Clay Center and 17-9-1 including his record at Elwood.
The U.S. spacecraft “Viking 2” landed on Mars. The unmanned craft took the first close-up color photos of the surface of the planet.
1951 - 75YEARS AGO
Rosemary Clooney was ending a six-week run with “Come On-a My House” as No. 1 in sales, played by jockeys, and in jukeboxes.
Editor Madeline Sorensen issued Volume 1, No. 1 of The Davenport News this week, giving Davenport its first newspaper in nine years. The previous paper was The Davenport Peoples Journal.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved more than five billion dollars for expansion of facilities across the nation including twenty million for the Naval Ammunition Depot and 29 million for the Lincoln Air Base.
Albert Hultine & Sons of Saronville showed the champion Polled Shorthorn bull at the Iowa State Fair. Clyde Frank of Clayview Farm near Stockham had the reserve grand champion Berkshire Boar and the reserve junior champion gilt.
Featured business: Burdick’s Dry Goods in Edgar with Ladies’, Girls’, and Children’s Coats, Sno (sic) Suits, Etc. And they gave Green Stamps.
Shirley Ochsner, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. H. J. Ochsner of Sutton, was one of the new university coeds featured in the Sunday Lincoln Journal and Star.
Rural teachers of Clay County and others across the county swore they were loyal Americans at a meeting with County Clerk Oakley in Clay Center. All signed loyalty oaths, a new state requirement assuring no “reds” were teaching us kids.
The school building at District 60 west of Fairfield sold at auction for $555.
James Stevens of Sutton returned home after being released from the Army Air Forces. He served as a baker at Keesler AFB, a major training base in Biloxi, MS, on the Gulf Coast. Corporal Roberta A. Buddecke of Sutton was a clerk typist stationed at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. Her prior assignment was as a radio operator at Larson AFB, Washington.
The U.S. Soil Conservation Service distributed an illustrated book about soil conservation that was added to the curriculum of rural schools in Clay County.
Death notices this week included John Walter Lee, 70, Fulton, MO (Fairfield).
The Lyric Theater in Edgar was showing “Union Pacific” starring William Holden and Nancy Olson. The Sutton Lyric had “Along the Great Divide” with Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, and John Agar. The Center Theater had Van Heflin in “Tomahawk.”
Sutton defeated Seward 5-0 in the opening game of the Cornhusker League play-offs. Sutton’s pitcher Bob Shepard had four of the team’s 11 hits. Seward collected seven hits off him.
Coach Bill Glassford split his Cornhusker football squad, naming 25 men to the offense and the balance to the defensive platoon. Neil Hoppens of Harvard was on the squad. Bill Lovercheck of Clay Center and Demas Griess of Sutton were among the 22 freshmen training with the varsity at Curtis.
The Big Eight High School Football Conference elected Clay Center Superintendent W.T. Classen as president, Harvard Coach Walter W. Parks as vice president, and Hebron Superintendent Lester Reed as secretary- treasurer.
The Game Commission announced a pheasant hunting season of 31 days beginning on Oct. 26. Twenty-eight counties would not have a pheasant season, mostly in northwestern Nebraska as far east as Wheeler County. Quail season was from Nov. 1 to the 25 for 29 counties plus parts of six more, all south of Highway 30.
“Search for Tomorrow” debuted on CBS-TV.
President Truman’s opening speech before the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was carried on the first live coastto- coast TV broadcast. The treaty between Japan and 48 countries ended America’s post-WWII occupation of Japan.
1926 – 100YEARS AGO
The Harvard Courier newspaper claimed a commanding lead in subscriptions among county newspapers following a six-week subscription campaign that featured a 1926 Chevrolet Landau Sedan as the grand prize in the contest for new and renewing subscribers. Alice Myer of Inland drove away in first prize.
Mr. Louis Rathrock joined Carney’s hardware store as their furnace and sheet metal worker. Mr. Rathrock was an expert tinner with experience with copper and sheet iron.
The Church of God in Glenvil broadcast an evening service on radio station KMMJ. The service included ten musical numbers by local talent.
The Cotton Blossom Singers, a group of six “colored” young people from the Piney Woods School at Braxton, MS, gave a concert at the Sutton City Park Pavilion to a “good-sized audience” that “listened in rapt attention.” The group was touring to acquaint northerners with the role of their school to provide an education for poorer southern children.
Featured business: “Soles and Heels” at the Nelson Shoe Shop in Fairfield.
The Lyric Theater in Edgar was showing “Go West” starring Buster Keaton.
Surprise business: Jacob Bender &; Son, Sutton, Buick dealer with the 1927 model, “The Greatest Buick Ever Built.” We knew they sold John Deere products. Did not know about the Buicks.
Death notices this week included Frances “Fanny” (Wells) (Mrs. Charles) Dinsmoor, 92, Fairfield; Nellie (Martin) (Mrs. Joseph) Haines, 52, Harvard (third child born in the Harvard vicinity); John Buttell, 69, Sutton; and Florence Pearl (MacDonald) (Mrs. Arthur) Cundall, 41, Sutton.
Mr. Coleman of Clay Center was the winner of a Clay Center golf tournament that drew 40 golfers from Sutton, Hastings, Harvard, Kenesaw, Nelson, Superior, and Clay Center.
1901 – 125YEARS AGO
A new switchboard was installed in the Harvard telephone system. There were 70 subscribers on the local system. The new switchboard had a capacity of 100.
Featured business: W.E. Moger, Contractor & Builder in Harvard – Brick and Stone Work a Specialty.
Rural mail routes included one south of Sutton, four out of Glenvil( le), one between Clay Center and Harvard, and one out of Edgar.
A company threshing machine owned by several farmers living south of Fairfield was destroyed by fire while working in Nuckolls County.
Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair titled “National Duties,” said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far.”
The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues was formed in Chicago, becoming the governing body for minor league baseball.
China and the Eight-Nation Alliance signed an agreement ending the Boxer Rebellion.
1876 – 150YEARS AGO
The James-Younger gang attempted a daytime robbery of the First National Bank in Northfield, MN. Five men galloped through town causing a diversion while three men went into the bank. Citizens surrounded that bank, shooting two of the bandits and wounding all three Younger brothers. Jesse and Frank James escaped to Nashville where they rebuilt their enterprise.
1776 – 250YEARS AGO
A fellow in the submersible craft “Turtle” attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Howe’s flagship “Eagle” in New York Harbor. The tide pushed him away and he was unable to attach the bomb. It was the first submarine used in warfare.
0476 – 1,550YEARS AGO
Odoacer, a Germanic soldier, deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman emperor, and declared himself king of Italy. Historians traditionally see this event as the end of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages.
THISWEEK’S PHOTO
I took this week’s photo about 63 years ago. In August 1963, Dick Fuehrer and I went to Lincoln to find our residence for the school year. We stumbled onto a mansion at 3530 J Street that had recently been purchased by a Lincoln policeman. The property was run down, and he paid $25,000 for it.
He wanted to rent the upstairs to eight college men. Dick and I laughed at that but soon found five prospective roommates. We returned, took the place, found an eighth roommate, and were the basis of renters for the next few years. Our rent was $32.50 a month each. The cop’s wife, Ro, cooked for us five nights a week for fifty cents apiece. We provided unskilled labor for yard work and repair/restoration of the property. Besides Dick and me, Paul Woller and later Bill Bottorf from Sutton and Allen Nejezchleb from Fairfield were the Clay County roommates. Friends from Nelson, Morrill, Ord, and Arnold joined us. For a time, grad student Ronald Ross, our English teacher at Sutton High, lived there.
The downstairs cop was B. Dean Leitner, who became head of the night traffic division and would serve as Chief of Police from 1979 to 1988. A later roommate, a cadet cop, introduced me to Rita Hutsell, my 1966 bride. As a measure of how comfortable it was living there, the Leitners’ daughter was the flower girl at our wedding. Neighborhood folklore claimed the home was built in 1930 for $87,000 using stone blocks from the Nebraska Territorial Capitol building in Omaha.
