News

Sherrie Bartell, president of the Sutton Argone Legion Post #61 Auxilary has announced that a special ceremony will take place at the Sutton City Cemetery, weather pending on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10 a.m., in accordance to the National Wreaths Across American Day, that will feature over 3,700 ceremonies across the United States, Puerto Rico, and on foreign soil.

Bartell shared the Sutton Auxiliary originally planned to purchase 200 wreaths, but has since purchased a total of 400 wreaths to honor fallen veterans in Sutton’s public cemetery.

The cost to sponsor one of the wreaths is $17 each, with $5 of each wreath going to the local auxiliary post. In all, Bartell shared that there are 386 veterans buried in the Sutton cemetery.

Wreaths, according to Bartell, will be placed on headstones in the city cemetery following the Saturday morning ceremony. A lunch will be served afterward at the Legion for the volunteers.

Several holiday events will kick off the Christmas season this coming weekend, and early next week.

Events that have been shared with the Clay County News are as follows: THURSDAY, DEC. 14:

•Sutton Middle School, and High School Concert, begins at 7 p.m.

• Sandy Creek concert, grades 6-12 at 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, DEC. 16:

•The Harvard Modern Mrs. Club will be hosting their annual “Christmas For Kids” event at the Harvard Public Schools from 10-11 a.m.

MONDAY, DEC. 18:

•Sutton Christian School Christmas program at the Hope Reformed Church, beginning at 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 20:

•Clay County’s Giving Tree will host their annual Giving Tree wrapping event.

THURSDAY, DEC. 21:

•A Soup and Santa event, hosted by the Edgar Community Club and Edgar Fire Department from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Edgar Community Building. Santa will appear at 6 p.m. during the event.

Members of the Sutton City Council gathered for their monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 11, with several beginning point discussions centered around the Schwab Ground housing development, and the Hickory Street improvement project. Prior to talks centered around the housing development, council members approved, and reapproved several appointments to the council and leadership of Sutton’s city government.

Councilman Mike Newman will take over the presidency of the council for the first time during his tenure on the council.

Reappointments to the city included: Tracey Landenberger, as the chief of police; Kent Rauert, as the city attorney; and Marla Newman, as the city clerk and treasurer.

A large crowd lined South Saunders Avenue Monday night to take in the Sutton Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Parade of Lights festivities

The Christmas holiday season was made brighter with the Clay County Museum’s annual “Christmas at the Museum” event, Sunday, Dec. 3, in Clay Center. This shows the view as you enter the museum. The museum will also be hosting a “Tour of Trees” this Sunday from 1:30 to 4

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) is offering free nitrate sample kits and lab analyses to private drinking water well owners across the state. These kits are only available for a limited time until Jan. 31, 2024.

Well owners who participate will receive their sample results, and NDEE will use the data from this sampling effort in a statewide nitrate study that the agency is currently conducting. The study will include nitrate sampling data from public water systems and from private drinking water well owners who agree to participate. Well owners’ identifying information will not be used in the study.

Activities for the 2023 Sutton Parade of Lights holiday festival are starting to take shape for the upcoming event, set to take place Monday, Dec. 4.

Activities are slated to get underway at 4:30 p.m. with open house events set to be hosted by Judy Barnes’ State Farm Insurance, Cornerstone Bank’s downtown location, Brown’s Grocery Store, CPI, Astra Bank, The Flat River Bar, Sutton Pharmacy, Sutton Library, and the Sutton American Legion. Additionally, Quality Healthcare, Therapeutic Massage and Salon, and Farm Bureau Insurance will host open house events at the Sutton Community Center.

Throughout the evening, the Parade of Lights event, hosted by the Sutton Area Chamber of Commerce, will also feature the following activities at the Community Center:

• Draft horse sleigh rides, sponsored by A+ Contracting;

• Santa’s Workshop photos will be taken by Grace Schmer photography;

Several holiday events will kickoff the Christmas season this coming weekend, and early next week.

Events that have been shared with the Clay County News are as follows: SATURDAY, DEC. 2:

• Sutton Christian School’s annual Christmas Cookie bake sale, at the Sutton American Legion, starting at 9 a.m.;

• The Harvard Community Club will host its Christmas celebration beginning at 4 p.m. in downtown Harvard. Santa arrives at 4 p.m., with the holiday lights being turned on at 5 p.m.

• An event called “Cupcakes and Tiaras, a Princess Event,” will also be this Saturday at the Sutton Community Center, beginning at 2 p.m. Mrs. Nebraska, and “Anna and Olaf” will be paying a visit to the event.

SUNDAY, DEC. 3:

• “Christmas at the Museum,” at the Clay County Museum in Clay Center is slated for this Sunday, running from 1:30 to 4 p.m.

Mother Nature left her touch on Clay County this past weekend, with most of the county recieving a trace to one-inch of snow on Saturday and Sunday morning. The snow quickly melted away. In the picture above, employees of the Central Nebraska Wood Preservers work to load train cars with treated lumber, during some of the heaviest snowfall Saturday, Nov. 25. In the photo at the left, a fountain was found running in a pond in the Industrial Park area of northeast Sutton. According to the National Weather Service office in Hastings, much of the local area received less than one-inch of the white stuff, but strong winds during the Thanksgiving weekend left much of the area in a wind-driven cold snap, with wind chills dropping into single digits during the winter weather event.

The Edgar Fire and Rescue Department, following a two-year, three month wait, finally has in its possession their new Ford F-550 ambulance. The Edgar Department received a $150,000 grant to help with the cost of the $285,000 unit. After Hours Graphix of Aurora, owned by Sutton native Troy Hofmann, and his wife Kelsey, put the final touches on the rig adding the unique graphics to the exterior of the ambulance, shown in the top photo. At the right is a view of part of the interior of the ambulance.

The South Central Nebraska Unified District #5 voted at the September 2022 board meeting to not renew the current Unification Agreement. It is set to expire on Aug. 31, 2024.

In Jan. 2023, they hired me to oversee and help them navigate this de-unification and prepare both districts to be independent districts again, beginning with the 2024-25 school years. There are many things that need to be done to prepare for this.

Road Map-We have developed this Road Map for our work that must happen this school year. This Road Map is also meant to give everyone a visual that we can use to track our progress. As we are wrapping up our first quarter of the year, we are on track to accomplish the work we have before us. Here are a few updates on our progress:

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMING

Special Education is one of the most important aspects of our programming.