News

Harvest is winding down—not as quickly as last year, but most local farmers should be done by Thanksgiving.

Many fields across Clay County have been combined and surplus grain piles are growing at local grain elevators, reflecting locally what has been happening statewide.

According to the Nov. 1 edition of the Nebraska Crop Progress and Condition report, published by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 72 percent of the state’s corn crop has been harvested. This is a little behind the 85 percent that was done last year at this time, but ahead of the five-year average of 62 percent.

A total of 91 percent of the state’s soybeans have been harvested, which matches the average, although this behind last year’s 100 percent completed at this time.

Harvard Public School hosted a community engagement meeting Nov. 3 to get an insight from parents, community members and other stakeholders on a variety of areas, as the school board prepares to set goals to improve education in the district.

The meeting, moderated by Marcia Herring, Nebraska Association of School Boards, had about 20 people in attendance split up into four groups.

Herring encouraged each group to discuss three areas and then had one member of each group present their answers.

PROMPTS AND GROUP RESPONSES

Identify the knowledge and skills a student should possess as a graduate of this school district:

• Good math skills. • Have strong critical think

• Have strong critical thinking skills.

• Communication skills in front of people/public speaking.

• Well-rounded knowledge.

• Emotional knowledge.

• Finance skills.

• Work ethic.

Nebraska’s rural residents are more likely to trust their local governments and news sources than state or federal government and national news sources.

This is according to the Nov. 4 release of a report analyzing data from the 2021 Nebraska Rural Poll, the 26th annual survey used to inform state policy on what matters most to rural Nebraskans.

The study is conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Agricultural Economics, Rural Prosperity Nebraska, and Nebraska Extension. Key findings compared rural residents’ responses according to demographic information as well as trends since the 2017 Nebraska Rural Poll, which featured similar questions:

BY TORY DUNCAN

Following a brief introduction from Clay County Sherriff candidate Chris Slocum, who is running for the office in 2022, members of the Sutton City Council dove into a rather light agenda Monday night, hearing from Sutton resident Rick Rath about his desire to put a bid in on ground near Sutton’s DLD Park.

Rath shared his interest in the ground, located just east of the entrance road into the baseball complex in northwest Sutton. Rath quickly spoke of his desire to enter a bid on the ground, all the while, realizing that council members would first have to declare the ground as surplus property and open it up for others to submit sealed bids on the ground.

Council members unanimously moved to declare the property as surplus in order to prepare and begin publishing paperwork for others to submit bids on the ground.

For as long as he can remember, Mason Hinrichs has loved working with technology.

The son of a farmer and a travel agent, with two older sisters, the Fairfield teen remembers spending his childhood taking apart and tinkering with electronics. He even rebuilt a laptop when he was 9 years old.

At some point, Sandy Creek teacher Jeremy Borer—whom Hinrichs describes as a second dad—took notice. When Hinrichs was in sixth grade, Borer asked him to help with livestreaming Cougar sports events.

“I thought it’d be an interesting thing to do and tried it out and fell in love with it,” said Hinrichs, who is now a sophomore.

This is his fifth year of helping to man the cameras, sound equipment, and computer dashboard at every boys and girls basketball game, as well as the home games for volleyball and football—ensuring that community members unable to attend games in person get in on cheering the Cougars through their wins and losses via Striv livestreaming.

Kids and their parents were busy last weekend with the many trunk or treats happening throughout the county. ABOVE LEFT: Dressed as firefighters, Tom and Emily Batterman go through the line of Edgar’s Trunk or Treat with their daughter, Evelyn. ABOVE RIGHT: Dressed as a dinosaur, Blayden Porter receives candy from BettyLou Siemonite while trick or treating at the Harvard Rest Haven.

Fairfield and Clay Center also hosted trunk or treats on Halloween. ABOVE LEFT: Josh and Christina Dittmer, and their son, Colton, have a family circus set up in Fairfield. ABOVE RIGHT: Dressed as the Hulk, Jacob Wetzel slides down a bouncy house at the Clay Center Christian Church’s Trunk or Treat event.

Governor Pete Ricketts signed Executive Order 21-16: Federal Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Interference in State Government Operations on Oct. 28, barring state agencies from enforcing coronavirus vaccine mandates on state teammates.

“President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate is a stunning violation of personal freedom and abuse of the federal government’s power,” he said. “While we have encouraged Nebraskans to get vaccinated, this is a personal health decision, and not one that should be coerced. We’ve already made the decision that state teammates at the State of Nebraska won’t be forced to take the vaccine.

“This order takes the next step and bars cabinet state agencies from complying with coronavirus vaccine mandates from the federal government or other parties.”

Stated within the order includes four main items listed by the governor:

Having an idea of a career to go into after high school can be a big step to saving time, money, and energy.

To help students understand the process of picking out a job, how to pay for college, and what degree they’d need for their chosen career, Nebraska Extension hosted Connect the Dots for sophomores from Sandy Creek, Lawrence-Nelson, and Blue Hill.

Prior to attending the event at Central Community College’s campus in Hastings, students had to take a career assessment which put them in a specific career path, Clay County Extension Educator Holli Alley said.

During Connect the Dots, students are then given a card telling them if they have a high school diploma, GED or neither. From there they talk to businesses and colleges to see what they need to do to get a job or further their education.

Sutton hosted the county’s first trunk or treat of the Halloween season Saturday, with vehicles parked in the parking lot of the Sutton Community Home. With trunks decked out in various spooky and fun decorations, kids and their parents moved in a line trick or treating. Here, Maryah Friesen picks up her son, Graham, so he can grab a piece of candy and a glow stick. ASHLEY D. SWANSON | CLAY COUNTY NEWS

The cause of an early-morning fire in Harvard Saturday, Oct. 23 is still undetermined.

Owners of a home near downtown Harvard were ntified by a passerby of their garage on fire, Harvard Fire Chief Clint Schwenk said.

Harvard Fire and Rescue responded to the call at 7:01 a.m. and called Clay Center for mutual aid. The detached garage was a total loss, Schwenk said.

Despite reports of a person being in the garage prior to the fire, there were no injuries and no persons found within the structure when firefighters went through it.

The fire is being investigated by a fire marshal.