This is a hard time for Nebraska farmers.

For the fifth year in a row, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln survey has found that the state’s agricultural land values have declined—a continued reflection of increasingly tight profit margins.

Statewide, average farmland values have dropped approximately 20 percent since reaching a high of $3,314 per acre in 2014, according to the 2019 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey.

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Even though less than one inch of rain fell between March 28-30, heavy flooding is still apparent in some areas throughout the county. Here, a pond of water can be seen across County Road T, just south of Road 310. 

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The Sutton wrestling team opened the C-2 District meet on fire, having all but one of their nine wrestlers reach at least the consolation semifinal round, but a tough final two rounds would cut the number of Mustangs from eight possible qualifiers to a very strong group of six state meet qualifiers.

Led by senior Lee Carlson’s district title in the 126 pound class, Sutton would capture the fourth-place spot in the team race, scoring 117 team points. David City outscored second place Logan View 235.5-196.5, while Wood River finished 10 points ahead of the Mustangs.

The district title for Carlson at 126 didn’t come without a challenge, after a first round bye, Carlson disposed of Twin Rivers’ Beau Zoucha in 1:13, before having to deal with a pesky Daniel Escandon of Gibbon in the semifinal round.

A trio of South Central Red Raiders continued their wrestling seasons this past weekend with honors coming out of the C-1 District wrestling meet held in Battle Creek Feb. 8-9.

Freshman John Brodrick, along with seniors Jaekob Spitz and Chase DeVries, all earned individual hardware in Battle Creek, as the Red Raiders placed ninth as a team, scoring 65 points in the 16-team district.

The host Braves ran away with the team title, outscoring second place St. Paul, 181-125.5.

Brodrick and Spitz both claimed second-place honors in the meet, while DeVries earned fourth-place honors to advance to the state championship mat meet in Omaha.

Brodrick was the first to punch his ticket to Omaha as the freshman, following two byes in the 106 pound class, earned an 8-5 win over Josh Urlacher of Bishop Neumann to gain the bid for the individual title in his class.

VIEWS FROM VANDEWALLE INNOVATIVE YOUTH CORN CHALLENGE CONTEST 2018 RESULTS

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers are in high demand and will continue to be in future years. To engage youth in crop science based education, the Innovative Youth Corn Challenge (IYCC) was created as a partnership between the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Extension.

Since the Innovative Youth Corn Challenge program’s inception in 2012, 46 teams have participated in the program with 27 teams successfully harvesting and analysing their plot data.

A total of 138 youth have participated. This contest, open to 4-H members or FFA members, guided participants through all aspects of corn production, as well as agricultural careers related to corn production.

RAMBLES

Awhile ago, Loetta and I were discussing different date ideas. These ideas weren’t the typical dates people think of, such as going out for supper or only going to the movies and not speaking to each other much, and then heading home. Sounds kinda boring if you don’t get to enjoy a conversation with them.

Anyway, with Valentine’s here, I figured this would be a great opportunity to share some of our ideas. And maybe you’ll think they’re good and maybe you’ll think we’re crazy. Both options are perfectly OK with us.

BREAKFAST DATES

Why do all dates have to be in the evening? Why can’t they also be in the mornings?

Maybe people already do this, but personally, Loetta and I had never heard of someone going out on a date, but in the morning.

Time always heals a hurting heart, were the words of my father, upon the passing of his own father back in the early 80s. I’ll never forget him saying that to me, following Grandpa Duncan’s funeral in Minden.

Monday, Feb. 11, is yet another day that the heart hurts for the Leota Griess family, as Leota succumbed to cancer early Monday morning.

My first-ever meeting of Leota, as well as Ron, was back in 2009, prior to moving to Clay County, here on a visit to the area to make up my mind, whether or not I wanted to take this newspaper challenge on again.

It was a Friday night and time for dinner, so the Sutton Legion was the place to be that night.

Yep, I was that guy who walked into the legion and felt about 50-60 different sets of eyes looking at me, this 6-6 slightly gray haired man that nobody knew.

Despite groundhog Punxsutawney Phil not finding his shadow, which typically means we’re in for an early spring, the weather outside is still bitter and cold, and doesn’t seem to be rising in temperature this week.

Monday, a winter weather advisory left a thin layer of ice on Clay County and the surrounding areas. Mixed in with a 21-mph wind, the 28 degrees felt more in the teens.

Chilly and nightly-repeats of freezing temperatures brought with them wind speeds up to 21 mph and wind gusts reaching 33 mph.

There is an expectation of temperatures reaching 35 degrees Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Hastings, with Thursday night dipping below freezing to 10.

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A night of fun is planned by the Sutton American Legion Argonne Post #61 this Saturday evening, in an effort to help the post be able to better fund students that will attend the Cornhusker Boys State program locally, as well as assist with building maintenance and to help create a new permanent plaque in honor of military members of Argonne Post #61.

The evening of events is slated to begin at 5 p.m. with a social hour, followed by dinner at 6 p.m., where a prime rib dinner will be served for those that attend.

Casino night activities will run from 7-9 p.m., where games, such as: Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Texas Holdem’ Poker and Bingo will be open for the fundraising activities.

Each person that attends the fundraiser, will receive four tickets, which can be redeemed for 500 gaming tokens per ticket, or a total of 2,000 tokens for gaming purposes.

Members of the Sutton City Council announced the official hiring of a new police officer, Mitch Meyer, during it’s February monthly meeting, Monday night.

Meyer has signed an 18-month contract with the City of Sutton at a base salary of just over $32,000, with bonus incentives involved, including the completion of training to serve as Sutton’s new canine leader, with the city’s K-9 officer, Falco.

Meyer has been serving the Sutton department on an interim basis since Jan. 21, pending his official hiring Monday.

Meyer was also approved as a new member of the Sutton Volunteer Ambulance Service during Monday’s meeting.

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