News

Sutton High School senior Megan Fehr, the daughter of Bruce and Karla Fehr, was named a 2019-20 Nebraska State FFA officer during the 91st annual Nebraska FFA State Convention, held in Lincoln, April 3-5.

Fehr is the first state officer from Sutton since 2007, when then senior Matt McElfresh served as an officer.

Each year seven students from across Nebraska’s 189 total FFA chapters are chosen serve as state officers. This year, joining Fehr as an officer is Kooper Jelinek of West Holt, president, Savannah Gerlach of Tri County, secretary, along with five vice-presidents.

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The staff of the Clay County News was honored with 11 awards during the Nebraska Press Association’s 145th annual convention held Friday and Saturday, April 5 and 6, at the Kearney Holiday Inn Convention Center.

The CCN staff, during the Better Newspaper Contest Saturday night in Kearney, had a strong showing, finishing in the top three for the first time since 2014, placing in a two-way tie for second place with the Neligh News & Leader, with the Aurora News Register winning the Class C division, which is the second largest class in the NPA membership.

Saturday evening, Edgar’s Fire and Rescue Departments gave thanks and honors to their members during the annual honors night banquet. At the left, Chris Tripe shakes hands with Gene Babcock after earning Firefighter of The Year. This year’s EMT of the Year was given to Brad Brennfoerder, show at the right, shaking hands with Darrell Beck, while Chantel Anderson claps.

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When the historic flood and blizzard hit Nebraska, leaving behind hundreds of miles of devastation, first responders and volunteers stepped up to help out.

Departments in Clay County wanted to help out also, prompting a meeting between the fire chiefs, assistant chiefs, and EMS captains from Clay Center, Edgar, Fairfield, Glenvil, Harvard, and Sutton, to find a way they could help their fellow first responders.

With each department donating money toward the cause, phone calls were made and eventually the departments found Lynch, a town of 296 people nestled in north central Nebraska.

Haley Roemmich, with the Clay Center Fire and Rescue Department, said they were told by neighboring departments that Lynch was hit hard by flood waters, but had little help.

After discussion with Lynch’s fire chief and his wife, it was determined that Lynch’s Department was in desperate need of chest waders and waterproof gloves.

The Clay County Board of Supervisors voted to force the resignation of Loren Uden as the current Clay County Emergency Manager during its regular meeting on March 26.

The termination goes into effect on April 1, and an advertisement to fill the position will commence shortly.

Uden began serving as the county’s emergency manager in March 2011, after serving in a consulting role near the end of the late Bob Rose’s contract as emergency manager.

The board’s decision is the culmination of evaluations of Uden’s job performance and working relationships with local volunteer fire and rescue departments dating back to 2017, reported Board Member L. Wayne Johnson of Clay Center, who spoke on behalf of the board committee appointed to look into the matter. The evaluation was originally spearheaded by former Board Member Todd Nuss of Sutton.

State speech proved successful for several students, as all six of Sutton’s state qualifiers went home with a medal and placed fifth overall, with 60 points.

March 21, Sutton competed in Class C1, with the following students earning a medal: OID consisting of Nate Andres, Megan Fehr, Ben Andres, Victoria Hofmann, and Jared Switzer, earned second; Karis Andres and Fehr, third, Duet; Karis, fourth, Entertainment Speaking; and Ben, fifth, Informative Speaking.

Overall, the team placed fifth behind Bishop Newman (62 pts), fourth; Aquinas Catholic (74 pts), third; David City (118 pts), second; and Omaha Brown Talbot (128 pts), first.

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The Sutton Volunteer Fire Department hosted their annual awards banquet Saturday, March 16 at the Sutton Community Center.

Former Sutton Fire Chief Pat Merrick devoted a few moments of time to those attending, as the departments guest speaker.

Merrick spoke from his perspective as a Nebraska State Fire Marshal and shared with department members the expressed need for safety, sharing that “in the past several weeks we’ve seen several accidents involving emergency equipment, with people hitting fire rigs and ambulances.”

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