By Deanna Anderson

Cedar County News

HARTINGTON — The areas newest veterans have a new view of Memorial Day this year.

After spending a year in Iraq, members of the Nebraska National Guard 189th Transportation Company have been back in the U.S. close to seven months.

Mike Olsen said adjusting to life back home in Coleridge after being gone for a year was fairly easy.

By Deanna Anderson

Cedar County News

HARTINGTON — The local ambulance squad was in the spotlight last week during Emergency Services Week in Nebraska.

Emergency services have seen a huge change here in the last 50 years.

Wintz Funeral Home provided the ambulance service to the Hartington community from 1947 until 1967.

“It was basically a transport service,” said Jim Wintz, who remembers the ambulance calls his father made through the years. “The ambulance had a cot and oxygen back then. There was little medical service provided”

By Deanna Anderson

Cedar County News

HARTINGTON — Over a dozen descendents of the first medical doctor in Cedar County arrived in St. James to attend the town’s birthday party Sunday.

Dr. Homer Edward McKenzie, who lived in St. James for over 40 years, graduated from the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical College in Ohio Feb. 4, 1862.

Veterinarian Dr. Kenneth Homer McKenzie, who is the great grandson of the St. James doctor, started investigating his family’s history after retiring five years ago.

HARTINGTON — The local VFW will honor area veterans with several special events here Monday.

At 7 a.m. Monday, special Memorial Day services will be held at Paragan Cemetery north of Hartington. The Color Guard presentation moves to the Fordyce Cemetery at 9 .m.

A special program with the Color Guard will be held at the Cedar County Courthouse monument at 10 a.m.

HARTINGTON — When Becky Lauer left Hartington 30 years ago she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.

Little did this 1977 graduate of Hartington Public High School know when she packed up and headed for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a shy small-town girl that she would be beginning an adventure to take her all over the country in search for her true calling.

HARTINGTON — After wrestling with the decision for quite some time, Alice Pommer has resigned from her position on the Hartington City Council.

“It was something I enjoyed doing,” Pommer said. “But I decided I could not serve the community the way I want to when we will be gone for such a long period.”

She and her husband, Larry, left the second week in May and will be gone for at least 10 weeks.

HARTINGTON — The Hartington City Council approved a motion Monday to set the gears in motion on a new city sales tax.

A copy of Ordinance 790 outlining the newly approved one percent sales and use tax must be presented to the state Tax Commissioner by June 3.

In addition, a certified map of the city, copy of the election results and documentation stating the issue has not been voted on in the last 23 months are also to be submitted.

HARTINGTON — The Cedar County Fair will again have a beer garden this year, Cedar County Commissioners decided on a 2-1 vote Tuesday.

The decision allows the Cedar County Ag Society to obtain the Special Designated Liquor License needed to sell alcohol on the grounds during the event.

Despite some concern about underage drinking, Ag Society member Betsy Bobenmoyer said the goal of the beer garden is to eradicate underage drinking, while giving adults the option.

HARTINGTON — A lengthy discussion was held at Monday’s Hartington School Board meeting on revisions for the school’s tobacco, alcohol and drug policy.

School board members were concerned with how the policy should affect students who had not used alcohol and drugs themselves but had been caught with a group of kids where it was available.