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Feb. 7, 2024
HARTINGTON — Area residents will get a chance next week to help decide the fate of a historic dance hall.
Hartington Mayor Mark Becker is planning a town hall forum Monday, Feb. 12, to get input on an idea to relocate the Skylon Ballroom and then use it as a community center.
Becker said he has scheduled the town hall meeting at the City Auditorium so Hartington City Council members can hear the community’s thoughts about relocating the ballroom.
Ferdie Peitz opened the facility in 1952 after he had Hoesing Brothers Construction move it from Homewood Park and locate it on a five-acre lot at the corner of Highways 84 and 57.
The Skylon, which has hosted dances from big band to hard rock music, was inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in 1996.
The facility isn’t only used for concerts, but also for wedding dances, banquets, craft fairs and for Sunday afternoon roller skating.
Feb. 7, 2024
HARTINGTON – A Laurel man has filed for a seat on the Cedar County Board of Commissioners.
Mike Meier filed his paperwork with the Cedar County Clerk’s Office Monday morning, seeking the seat representing District 2 including Randolph, Coleridge and Laurel.
Craig Bartels, Belden, currently holds the seat and withdrew his filing for re-election last week. Bartels’ seat is the only one with an expiring term on the three-person board.
Meier, a lifelong Cedar County resident, has owned and operated his own business, Laurel Welding, for the past 18 years and has a background in farming and trucking.
He has not held any public office previously.
“I’m willing to listen to and talk with the people to come up with the best solutions,” he said.
In other candidate filings, Roman Sudbeck filed for re-election onto the Hartington City Council. The other council incumbent Chris Bartling had not yet filed for re-election as of Monday morning.
Darrell Kathol filed for re-election to the Hartington Airport Authority. The other incumbent on that airport board, Gayle Hochstein, also filed for re-election.
Feb. 14, 2024
LAUREL – Grant Anderson has a job perk not many others can claim.
“My absolute favorite thing is when I run into someone and they say, ‘I knew your Grandpa Tom,’“ the Concord man said.
Grant joined Anderson & Anderson Insurance recently, representing the third generation of family who have owned and/or operated the business for nearly 100 years. The business has offices in Laurel, Hartington and Allen.
The founder of the agency, A.J. Lammers, is the great-great uncle of Peg Anderson, Grant’s mother. Grant’s maternal grandfather, Tom Tideman, began his ownership in 1973 under the business name Wirth-Tideman Insurance and the location was moved to Hartington.
Peg, a Hartington native, joined the agency in 1990, and she and her husband, Steve, a Laurel native, became stockholders in 1992. The business name was changed to Anderson & Anderson in 2013 — the same year Grant graduated high school.
Feb. 14, 2024
HARTINGTON — Hartington residents have been lucky, Mayor Mark Becker told a crowd of about 125 people Monday night.
The city of Hartington has had the use of a community center here for over 70 years now, without having to pay to maintain that facility, he said.
“Those days are about over,” he said at Monday’s Town Hall meeting.
The Skylon Ballroom held its last roller skating event Sunday. The facility will hold a final wedding dance in June.
The dance hall will be shut down after that, so it’s owner, Roger Wortmann of Plumbing and Electric, can expand his business operations.
The Hartington City Council has been working on an idea for the past 18 months to move the Skylon to the new Hartington business park, just west of where the dance hall currently sits.
Feb. 14, 2024
COLERIDGE – Jim Fish is a heart transplant warrior with the scars and shirt to prove it.
Wearing a T-shirt with those words bold on the front and a Donate Life armband, Fish is the proud recipient of the most loving of gifts – a heart.
The magnitude of the incredible gift is not lost on Jim or his wife, Barb, as this Valentine’s Day holiday takes on new meaning.
“It’s been a gift for us, but it’s been really difficult for us to think about the family who lost a loved one,” Barb said. “It’s not all peaches and cream for us because of that. It’s something that we were waiting in the hospital and hoping he’s improving, but they (donor’s family) were planning a funeral. That was hard to take and it still is.”
Doctors gave him a short time to live without any interventions.
February
Feb. 21, 2024
HARTINGTON — The building where the City of Hartington stores its trucks, street sweeper, construction equipment, snow removal equipment and other large equipment is far from adequate.
Current and former city utility crew members told a town hall meeting of about 120 people the building is long overdue to be replaced.
“The walls are being held together by cables,” said current City Utility Superintendent Corey Kramer. “The place is bat-infested, too.”
Besides the condition of the current building and its structural issues, the building is just too small and cramped for the needs of today.
“You’ve got to move four things out in order to get a fifth one that you need out the door,” said former City Utility Superintendent Pat Guy.
And getting through one of the overhead doors, isn’t easy, either.
“We’ve ruined a lot of stuff just trying to get through the door,” Kramer said.
City equipment is currently stored in three locations: the city shop, the old Fire Hall and an old horse barn.
The Hartington City Council is proposing the construction of a new 150-by-80-foot city maintenance building based on the design of the new Hartington Fire Hall.
Feb. 28, 2024
BLOOMFIELD – The Nebraska State Patrol arrested two individuals following a shooting on Feb. 20 that claimed the lives of two people.
The shooting victims were Curt Strom, 77, Bloomfield, and William Reffett, 49, Center.
Law enforcement officials – including State Patrol Capt. Dain Hicks and Knox County Sheriff Don Henery – held a press conference on Feb. 21 at the Bloomfield Community Center to provide an update on the investigation.
Hicks expressed condolences from law enforcement to the families of both shooting victims, as well as to the entire community of Bloomfield. “This would be a shocking event to any community, especially in a town as tight-knit as Bloomfield,” Hicks said.
Hicks said the investigation is ongoing.
At about 9:32 a.m. Feb. 20, the sheriff’s office received a report of a shooting at Curt’s Lanes and Dining – which Strom had been the owner of since 1973.
Feb. 28, 2024
HARTINGTON – Casey Schulte had quite the first day at her new job.
The 36-year-old started working as the full-time Hartington deputy city clerk Feb. 12, the same day the Hartington City Council held its regular monthly meeting and the city held a town hall gathering on the future of the Skylon Ballroom.
“My first day was quite the day,” Schulte said. “It was a long day, but very informative. It was a lot to soak in.”
She has continued the learning process as she settles in.
“It’s been good so far,” Schulte said. “I’m learning a lot and getting to see all the friendly faces.”
DEATHS: Feb. 7, 2024
Lawrence “Buddy” Peitz Agnes T. “Aggie” Hochstein Elaine Draghu James E. Kressig Carol Ann Becker Feb. 14, 2024 Jay F. Morford Don Blecha Vicki Lee Fisher
Feb. 21, 2024
Phyllis Jean Schwartz Terry Ray Huff
Feb. 28, 2024
Ellie Mae Rees Bruce Irvin Wiebelhaus Lyle W. Vawser
