News

For the past 50 years, the bulletins and newsletters for the Harvard United Christian Church have been done by Elaine Scheil.

Shortly after she and her family moved to Harvard, they joined the church and it wasn’t too long before the then-council president Brunel Aspegren came knocking on her door asking if she’d like to be their church secretary.

At the time, the minister’s wife had been serving as the secretary, but as they were moving, the church was going to need a new one.

“They didn’t know if I could type, if I could spell, if I could do anything, but that’s how I came to be the secretary,” Scheil said.

When she first took over, Scheil typed on a mimeograph machine, “which took forever to get those stencils, make those corrections...you’d get that toner and be covered in ink from head to toe.”

Harvard’s 17th annual car show and day of activities kicked off Saturday, July 30, with a 5K/One-Mile race, before the parade (seen above and below right). The event brought in hundreds of attendees and several vehicles to the car show. ASHLEY D. SWANSON | CLAY COUNTY NEWS

ABOVE: Vehicles of all makes, models, color and size could be viewed at the car show, which packed the city park. TORY DUNCAN & ASHLEY D. SWANSON | CLAY COUNTY NEWS

Concerns over climate change are fueling new ideas in many companies.

Tallgrass Energy, which owns more than 9,000 miles of crude oil and natural gas pipeline, has plans to convert one pipeline that crosses Clay County into a carrier of carbon dioxide bound for sequestration in the Rocky Mountains.

So reported Ryan Nance, project manager at 76 Group, a public affairs firm hired by Tallgrass, during the Clay County Board of Supervisors during the board’s regular meeting on July 26 at the courthouse in Clay Center. Nance spoke via phone conference.

Trailblazer is a 36-inch natural gas pipeline that stretches 450 miles from Beatrice to Cheyenne, WY.

“So a very solid piece of infrastructure that’s already in the ground,” Nance said.

Twenty-eight students gathered for the annual Allegro Wolf Broadway Academy, welcoming back some familiar faces with both students and staff.

After the academy was forced to take a virtual stance in 2020 due to the pandemic, and then was canceled halfway through last year due to COVID issues, being able to work together throughout the week (July 17-24) and perform together was an exciting moment.

This year’s theme, “Be Bold, Be Brave, Be You,” was showcased in a two-day student performance, where students’ talents shown bright through song and dance.

Of the 28 students, four were from Clay County, including Evianna Mendez (sang “My Own Place in the Pantheon”), Gray Eastin (sang “I Put a Spell on You”), Shea Eggers (sang “Mixtape”), and Neomi Craig (sang “Lamest Place in the World”).

Students came from various parts of eastern Nebraska, including Aurora, York, Lincoln, Greeley, and Schuyler.

Five cases of the Monkeypox virus have been reported in Nebraska, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, is rarely fatal, and is not related to chickenpox.

Symptoms of monkeypox can include a fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and exhaustion, as well as a rash that occasionally looks like blisters.

This rash can appear on the face, inside the mouth, on the hands and feet, chest, and private areas.

The rash may also be painful, painless or itchy. There are different stages the rash will go through before healing completely, typically lasting between two to four weeks.

Spreading of monkeypox is done through direct contact with infectious rashes, scabs or body fluids.

Members of the Sutton Scouts and Sutton American Legion retired 100 flags with an official flag burning ceremony July 4. Those helping included Jason Ekeler and Billy Meyer (seen above), Demitri Ekeler, Athina Ekeler, Rexx Meyer, Thomas Fogle, and Rusty Grab.

A week after the Clay County Fair, recently-graduated Sandy Creek senior Jenna Kempf turned her attention from showing rabbits to showing dogs. The two shows couldn’t be more different.

Where a rabbit sits on the table until it is handled by the judge, a dog is constantly moving. The handler is asked to walk slow, walk fast, turn this way and that, and even to leave their dog alone in the arena for up to five minutes, just to see if the dog will sit still for that long.

Kempf was at the Adams County Fair on Saturday, where she showed her dogs, Ella, a white Labrador who she’s been showing for 10 years, and Elsa, a black Labrador/German Shepherd mix who she’s been showing for two years.

A severe thunderstorm warning Saturday, July 16, quickly turned into a tornado warning over the county and surrounding areas. The National Weather Service in Hastings reported wind speeds up to 39 mph, with wind gusts reaching 58 mph. These strong winds damaged area trees, such as this one near the former Fairfield school. By morning, 2.15 inches of rain had been recorded by NeRain. MELISSA WHITEFOOT | CLAY COUNTY NEWS

The individual school boards of Sandy Creek and Lawrence-Nelson are moving toward not continuing unification of their public school districts.

SC, based near Fairfield, and LN have been operating under a unification agreement since 2010, renewed in 2017. Together, SC and LN’s unified district is known as the South Central Nebraska Unified School District #5.

The current unification agreement expires in May 2024, but the decision of whether to renew the agreement must be made in advance to allow enough time for each school district to prepare for changes as needed. It has been anticipated that SC and LN would decide this summer.

SC and LN school boards have been considering four options in the reunification decision: Renewing the unification agreement as is, renewing the agreement with modifications, merging the two school districts, or not renewing the unification.