News

You will not want to miss this Saturday, Feb. 24, in Fairfield, for the annual Fairfield Volunteer Fire and Rescue pancake feed. Those going, can go in the morning for breakfast and check out our lineup of impressive silent auction items, live auction items, and our raffles that the department has this year.

Patrons, in the afternoon, can return for the department’s annual pork supper and live auction and meet former, and current Husker players, get autographs, and take pictures with them, and have a question and answer with a couple of the players.

This years lineup of players are outstanding with a couple Husker football legends. The first being a three-time national champion, two-time big eight champion, one big twelve champion, and firstround draft pick in the 1998 NFL draft, defensive lineman Jason Peter.

About two miles west of Inland, on the county line, are the fields where Hoagland Homestead grows the vegetables that the family will sell at area farmers markets this summer. This market garden is an important part of Adam and Amy Hoagland’s diversified farm.

On the other side of the county, south of Edgar, is where Harvard’s Ken Lockling contracts with local landowners to place his honey bee colonies in pastures during his business’s off-season from pollinating West Coast blueberries.

While registering their farms and bee foraging sites on the online FieldWatch map is no guarantee of protection from pesticide drift from neighboring commercial crop fields, it is a good start.

Monday nights February council meeting at the Sutton City Hall presented more discussions and decisions related to the developing Schwab Ground housing development, going on in southeast Sutton, adacent to the Fox Hollow Golf Course.

The project development phase, estimated at a cost of just over $4 million to construct and install infrastructure to the housing development continued covenant discussions, mostly related to loosening the requirements of what future home construction requirements will have to go through, and related to the time-frame in which a potential home owner will face while building a home on the new site.

The biggest concern, register by councilman Jeff Schelkopf included his suggestion to remove certain front facade requirements that a home must have, which in the eyes of Schelkopf only adds to the cost of building a home.

When discussion first began about Harvard’s City Hall moving out of the library basement, the initial option was to build a new community room onto the new fire hall.

After fundraising efforts began, the city realized there wasn’t enough money to do that, so the city started looking for new options.

Cornerstone Bank originally reached out to the city to see if they’d want to purchase the former Cornerstone Insurance building, as that office was being moved into the bank’s location down the street.

Years later, and after some extra discussions, the city eventually purchased the former insurance building and began making plans to move.

Harvard’s maintenance department did all of the remodeling of the building, and the city staff was excited to move in when they finished.

“I am excited to have a new building that doesn’t have stairs, so all of the residents have access to the clerk’s office,” Cherri Walker, Harvard’s City Clerk, said.

Although one measure that Clay County News is following has advanced out of committee to the floor of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, most proposed law changes introduced this session—which began in early January—are sitting in committees, awaiting hearings or post-hearing decisions.

All introduced legislation is sorted into a committee where the bills have their first hearings. Public comments, whether in person or submitted in writing, weigh especially heavy in the committee hearings where listening senators are deciding which measures should advance in the lawmaking process.

There is an easy online process to submit comments: Go to https://nebraskalegislature. gov/bills/ and search for the bill of interest by number in the top righthand corner of the webpage, which will bring up the specific bill’s informational page; click on the “Submit Comments Online” button positioned under the bill’s history.

Every year, Nebraska 4-H month brings thousands of young people, parents, volunteers, and alumni together to celebrate all the ways in which 4-H helps youth find a place where they belong.

Across the state, Nebraska 4-H invites community members to celebrate the state’s largest youth organization.

Empowering nearly 140,000 youth across the state with the skills to lead for a lifetime.

With the support of 12,000 volunteers, Nebraska 4-H helps youth develop and practice life skills through clubs, camps, school enrichment, afterschool, and special interest programs.

4-H is a community of young people, ages 5-19 across America who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills.

4-H empowers youth to reach their full potential by working and learning in partnership with caring adults. 4-H is education for life that uses a learn-by-doing approach.

Area farmers can learn about the USDA Farm Bill’s revenue and price support options for 2024 during a workshop scheduled from 1-4 p.m. on Feb. 14, at the Adams County Extension Office located at 2975 S. Baltimore Ave, just south of Hastings.

Anastasia Meyer, an Extension Educator with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Ag-ricul-tural Profitability, and local Nebraska Farm Service Agency (FSA) representatives will be discussing the USDA safety-net programs that help farmers weather fluctuations in either revenue or price for certain crops.

Farmers who attend the workshop will have the opportunity to learn about the pros and cons of their choices for program enrollment.

The Nebraska Unicameral Legislature has begun holding committee hearings on legislation introduced earlier this month.

Some measures propose new laws while others are changes to existing state law. All introduced legislation is sorted into a committee where the bills have their first hearings. Public comments, whether in person or submitted in writing, weigh heavily in the committee hearings where listening senators are deciding which measures should advance in the lawmaking process.

There is an easy online process to submit comments: Go to https://nebraskalegislature. gov/bills/ and search for the bill of interest by number in the top-right hand corner of the webpage, which will bring up the specific bill’s informational page; click on the “Submit Comments Online” button positioned under the bill’s history.

Months-long rumors and accusations of unethical decision-making came to a head this week during a Clay County Health Department report to the County Board of Supervisors.

The county board met for its regular session Jan. 23 at the courthouse in Clay Center.

Laurie Kohmetscher, of Fairfield, opened discussion on the health department’s future during the public input portion of Tuesday’s county board meeting. As president of the health department board, she requested that the county board include her board in decision-making about the Health Department.

“That’s why we’re here,” Kohmetscher said, “so we can keep airways open.”

Hearsay has circulated around Clay Center and social media, speculating that the county board has been moving toward closing the health department without discussing this in its public meetings and without the express knowledge of the health department board.