News

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

Bartell shared that 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 auxilary post. In all, Bartell shared that there are 386 veterans buried in the Sutton cemetery.

You can contact Bartell at 402-460-0234, or email her at: suttonlegionauxiliary@gmail.com, if you would like to donate to the program.

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;

• Walking Taco’s will be served by the Sutton Federated Church youth group;

Mike Johnson, owner of Eagle Pointe Insurance, LLC of Sutton, announced his new affiliation with Cornerstone Bank’s group of insurance agencies. The agency’s new name will be “Cornerstone Insurance Group”. The purchase will be finalized Jan. 10, 2024.

“We are excited about joining the bank’s growing insurance group”, Johnson said. “The bank’s insurance expertise, additional insurance markets and financial resources should equip our office to offer more insurance products, competitive prices and a high level of customer service.”

Cornerstone Insurance Group currently has 18 other insurance locations in Nebraska. The resources and purchasing power of Cornerstone typically allows their local offices to provide more of a selection of insurance products and prices than they would on their own. Cornerstone Bank is one of the largest banks in Nebraska with assets of $2.5 billion.

The old addage of “build it, and they will come,” turned into more of a “help us so we can move forward, so they will come” plea from business and building owners of the damaged North Saunders Ave., business district in Sutton. The meeting was in light of a July 29 tornado that left more that a dozen buildings on the west and east sides of the street in distress.

Little communication has been received from the City of Sutton leaders, outside of a few emails and calls in the aftermath of the storm that left the business district, at best, crippled, with all but two businesses on the west side relying on the outstanding support of other Sutton businesses lending a hand, by offering open spaces for those affected by the storm to work out of.

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 office, Cornerstone Bank’s downtown locoation, Brown’s Grocery Store, CPI, Sutton Pharmacy, and the Sutton Library.

Additionally, Quality Healthcare, Therapeutic Massage and Salon, as well as 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;

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

• 101 Dalmatians by the Sutton FFA;

• Walking tacos will be served by the Sutton Federated Church youth group;

On Monday, Nov. 6, City of Sutton staff, Gary Nuss, Jaden Nuss and Brett Gibson, along with Sutton Police Chief, Tracey Landenberger opened up Saunders Ave., that had been closed since the July 29 EF-1 tornado blew through downtown Sutton, leaving a path of damage to each business along the north side of the downtown business district. The street is now opened halfway through the street for traffic to pass through. 

The Clay County Giving Tree, which started over 35 years ago in the basement of the former Christian Church in Clay Center by Ed and Judy Barnes began small, but little did the Barnes’ know at the time, but the annual event has grown leaps and bounds, as we fast forward to the 2023 Giving Tree wrapping event, slated to be Wednesday, Dec. 20, at the Clay County Fairgrounds Activities Building.

According to current organizers of the current Giving Tree event, the Barnes’ had a couple of families who were really “on their hearts” as the holiday season drew near and they wanted to help them in any way they could.

Along with a couple of other folks, they gathered together and made “care packages” to help brighten their spirits.

Each year, according to Tina Buckhalter, the daughter of the Barnes’, more and more families or individuals were “on their hearts”.

Veterans Day programs throughout Clay County will be Friday, Nov. 10, this year, with the annual program at Sandy Creek High School scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., while programs at Harvard and Sutton will both begin at 10 a.m.

SANDY CREEK-8:30 A.M.

Sandy Creek’s program will be highlighted by special speaker, Jesse Cunningham, a 2000 graduate of Sandy Creek High School. The presentation of the colors will be made by Cub Scout members in the fourth through 12th grades to open the ceremony at 8:30 a.m.

Musical performances will also be a part of the program, with the fourth and fifth grade choir singing “Because of You” by Teresa Jennings, while the high school and middle school combined choirs are set to sing “Rights of Our Nation,” by Joseph Compello.

Jeremy Borer and his Digital Media Class will have a special video presentation, with the middle school choir performing “Sacrifices Made” by Mike Wilson.

In 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming Nov. 11 as Veterans Day, calling on the nation to “solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting and enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.”

In the nearly seven decades since, millions more Americans, including residents of Clay County, have bravely taken up the call to protect and serve.

This Nov. 11, we will come together as a nation on Veterans Day to honor and celebrate these brave individuals who have served our country in uniform.

Now more than ever, our veterans and their families need our support. In a time when our country is divided on so many issues, we can all agree that these public servants who risked everything to protect our country and our way of life deserve our support and gratitude.

“A refreshed look” is what Doug George said he and his family, along with the employees of George Bros., and more specifically, George’s 66 Easy Stop convenience mart are going after when they “pull the trigger” on giving the store and fuel station a face lift.

“We’re not sure when this will all begin yet,” shared George.

“We’re still waiting on some bids, and a few things that we’re thinking about adding to the station, but one day soon, there will be changes made to the station.”

George noted that we’ll move the mens and womens bathrooms to where the old video center was, when we rented movies, and the current restrooms will be remodeled to hold a pop fountain station, and an oval dispensary for sandwiches and other snacks.