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Feb. 22, 2023
HARTINGTON — Carrie Jones was allegedly being verbally harassed by Gene Twiford for years. She wanted her husband, Jason, to take action. And if he didn’t, she would. “She makes it pretty clear that she had specific intent to kill him to get rid of the problem and the problem was Gene Twiford to stop harassing her verbally,” said Prosecutor Corey O’Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.
“Frankly the evidence seems to suggest, but for Carrie Jones and her grievance with Gene Twiford, Jason Jones had little reason to want to do anything to Gene Twiford. Does the crime even occur were it not for her encouragement, her provocation?” This potential motive and many other investigative details were revealed at a preliminary hearing in Cedar County Court Wednesday in which Carrie Jones, 43, faces charges related to the murder of Gene Twiford and her role in allegedly aiding and abetting, and tampering with evidence in the murders of Gene, and his wife, Janet, and their daughter, Dana, along with Michele Shankles-Ebeling, in Laurel Aug. 4, 2022. Jason Jones, 42, is accused of four counts of murder and four counts of arson along with numerous weapons charges.
Feb. 22, 2022
LAUREL — Two new principals have been hired but the search continues for other positions at Laurel-Concord-Coleridge School. The LCC School Board approved contracts for Keri Hart as the next elementary principal and Diane Hanel as the next high school principal. Current principals Paige Parsons and Ken Swanson are resigning. Hart currently serves as the school psychologist for Educational Service Unit 1, assigned to support Wakefield Community Schools for the past four yeas. She perviously worked for Norfolk Public Schools. Hanel will be joining LCC from Logan View Public School where she has worked as 7-12 guidance counselor for the past seven years. She also has experience teaching business courses at the high school and collegiate levels. There were nine applicants for the high school position and eight for the elementary position. Four finalists were selected and interviewed from each candidate pool, said Supt. Jeremy Christiansen. Mark Leonard remains Middle School principal. All three principals’ contracts were approved for the 2023-24 school year, each with a base salary of $85,500.
Feb. 22, 2023
COLERIDGE — After more than three years on a fundraising merry-goround, the Coleridge Area Foundation is sliding its way into new playground equipment at the city park next year. Updating the village’s park equipment has long been identified as a need and fundraising began November 2019, said Annette Sudbeck, chairwoman of the Coleridge Area Fund (CAF).
Feb. 22, 2023
LAUREL — Winners of the first annual LCC Spelling Bee were: Grant Brummels (3rd), Drake Jairam (2nd), Aizlynn Kossler (1st).
Feb. 22, 2023
OMAHA — A terrific high school wrestling career came to a close Friday at the State meet.
Two members of the Blaze boys team – Kolby Casey and Ajay Gubbels – made the trip to go for some glory in their last weekend in a Quad County Northeast uniform.
Casey finished 2-2 in the 220-pound bracket, winning his first match, and just missed a medal round appearance. He was defeated by the eventual champion in the quarterfinal.
March 1, 2023
LAUREL — From jewelry to signs and custom T-shirts, Laurel’s newest business has gadgets, gizmos, whozits and whatzits galore. W.W. Galore, a shortened name for the business name paying homage to the famous song in the animated movie “Little Mermaid,” officially opened in downtown Laurel Feb. 19, in the former Friendly Corner building at 102 E. Second St. “It just fits what we’re doing and what we have here,” said Jamie Anderson of the business name. “But it was too much, we had to shorten it.” Anderson, Wakefield, and Missi Cale, Dakota City, own and operate the store they describe as a hand-crafters’ boutique. About 25 artisans rent a booth, or business space, to feature their wares ranging from holiday gifts to home decor and everything in-between. The business began 22 years ago as Anderson’s Etsy shop where she specialized in scrapbooks.
March 1, 2023
BELDEN — The Belden village board hopes they’ve finally found a solution to their trash problem. In February, the Belden village board voted to contract with Waste Connections, based in Norfolk, with service starting March 1. They had been using Key Sanitation in Creighton for those services, but that arrangement has become problematic, as the trash is not being collected on a regular basis board members said. Others in Cedar and Knox counties who utilize Key Sanitation in Creighton for trash service report similar situations. Village of Belden residents were without trash pickup the whole month of December, said Village Clerk Melissa Campbell. The Village of Belden has been utilizing roll-off dumpsters for residents to dump their trash and they are on their fourth one. Having those roll-offs picked up has resulted in a bill “way more than expected,” Campbell said.
Waste Connections serves Knox, Cedar, Pierce, Wayne, Madison, Stanton in Nebraska and Yankton County in South Dakota. Its subsidiary, Art’s Garbage, in Crofton handle service for Cedar and Knox County customers. Rural trash service has become an issue in many area communities in the past few months.
DEATHS
Arlene Ruth Patefield, 90, died Feb, 23, 2023, at the Park View Haven Nursing Home, Coleridge Robert L. “Bob” Taylor, 85, Laurel, died Feb. 26, 2023, at Hillcrest Care Center, Laurel, March 1, 2023
HARTINGTON — Ponca’s secondhalf rally in last week’s C2-6 SubDistrict game put a premature end to the Bears boys basketball season. The Bears ended up falling 45-44 in a heartbreaker.
March 1, 2023
SEWARD — LCC alum Noah Schutte continues to make his mark in basketball even three years removed from leading the Bears to a state title. Schutte, a junior at Concordia University in Seward, has kept up his ability to impact a program as he recently became the program’s 34th player in history to reach the 1,000-point mark for a career after doing so against Doane earlier this month.
March 8, 2023
HARTINGTON — Cedar County has spent almost $125,000 in costs stemming from the Laurel quadruple murder cases. It’s been seven months since four people — Gene Twiford, Janet Twiford, Dana Twiford and Michele Shankles-Ebeling — tragically lost their lives on Aug. 4, 2022. While there can be no accounting for the cost of human life, only one tangible bill for more than $124,000 has been attributed so far to the apprehension and prosecution of Jason Jones, and his wife, Carrie, in the Laurel deaths.
March 8, 2023
LAUREL — Superintendent Jeremy Christiansen is keeping a close eye on legislative bills working their way through the Nebraska Legislature and their potential impact on Laurel-Concord- Coleridge School. He’s especially concerned about a bill that would seem to erode autonomy and control of locally elected school board officials from making informed local decisions. LB 589, identified as one of Gov. Jim Pillen’s priority bills, would place a three percent cap on property tax revenues that a school district receives. Although it’s a “soft cap” that a school board or voters can override, the bills seems to suggest there’s a spending problem with local school districts. That’s not the reality, Christiansen said. “A historical survey of our local school district general fund budgets would show limited and conservative budget growth from year to year that remains below the growth of the state government,” he said.
March 8, 2023
LAUREL — Veterans Dwayne Freeman, Shane Kinkaid, Bob Dickey and Regg Ward recently presented Harry Knudsen a Quilt of Valor. Knudsen served in the Army from 1953-54. The quilt was made by Mary Ann Christensen. March 8, 2023
KEARNEY — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge FCCLA Chapter joined more than 370 other Nebraska FCCLA members and advisers at the State Peer Education Conference held in Kearney Feb. 27.
FCCLA members and their sponsor attending the State Peer Education Conference from LCC were: Kennedy Hall, Emma Sohler, Skylar Swanson, Stella Kock, Gabbie Kock and Gaylene Hallman.
The theme of the meeting was “Channeling Your Inner Leader.” The State Peer Officer Team encouraged chapters to focus their leadership efforts at a local level through their Community Outreach Project.
March 8, 2023
WAYNE — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge speech team competed in C1-3 District competition at Wayne State College Monday, putting together an impressive third place finish and qualifiying eight individuals for next week’s State competition. The C1 State event will be held March 16 at Kearney. LCC students advancing to next week’s State Speech Meet in Kearney are: Madalynn Graham, Kennedy Hall, Izabella Kock, Samantha Pehrson, Ella Hartung, Sarah Karnes, Kolten Settje, and Delaney Hall.
March 15, 2023
HARTINGTON — Cedar County Transit will see quite a jump in its next budget compared to the current one. Transit Manager Nikki Pinkelman met with the board of commissioners Feb. 28 and presented a two-year budget proposal for the county to submit to the state of Nebraska for the public transportation system. “For the transit, we have to do a two-year budget,” Pinkelman said. “We used to just do a oneyear, so now we have to do a two-year.” The commissioners approved Cedar County Transit’s budget for the next two fiscal years with federal funds at $930,430, state funds at $313,385 and county funds at $313,385. The public transportation system’s new two-year budget will start in July for 2023-25. The commissioners also approved including in Cedar County Transit’s budget, the purchase of two new vans for the cost of $130,000, with the county’s share at $13,000, or $6,500 per van. The public transportation system’s estimated operating cost for its newest budget is $1,149,500, compared to $510,600 for 2021-23.
March 15, 2023
HARTINGTON — A Laurel man faces additional stalking and protection order violation charges after he allegedly interacted with a family against a court order and his bond conditions. Jackson Metheny, 26, Laurel, faces the new charges following an incident Sunday. According to court documents, Metheny sent a social media friend request to an individual who had a valid protection order against him. He also allegedly was sitting in a vehicle near the family’s residence which violated his bond conditions on other cases.
March 15, 2023
LAUREL — LCC FFA Chapter members recently competed in District competition. The local chapter had several students earn honors at the event and many chapter members qualifed to compete at the FFA State Convention in April.
March 22, 2023
COLERIDGE — Jeff and Carol Wolfe are still struggling with the grief over losing their son, Josh, to fentanyl poisoning on May 3, 2022.
But the Coleridge couple are finding strength and a renewed purpose in carrying his memory in their hearts and speaking out to others about the dangers associated with the drug. “If we can save one life, it’s worth it,” Carol said. “This is what Josh would want us to do.” The Wolfes will join Amy Holman, project coordinator at the Nebraska Pharmacists Association, for several upcoming talks at area schools — some geared toward students and others geared toward the public.
