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Skylon, trials were the top news here in 2024
1 Skylon HARTINGTON – This year's Top 10 Cedar County News stories sound a bit like a broken record.
Several of the news items on this year's list also made last year's Top 10. A few will most likely make next year's list, as well. The top Cedar County News story of 2024 was the plight of the historic Skylon Ballroom. It was announced in late 2023 that the 74 year-old structure would be torn down unless a buyer stepped forward to purchase it and move it to a new location.
The Skylon has been used for years as Hartington's event center, holding large weddings, concerts, craft fairs and meetings. If the Skylon were torn down community leaders feared the community would lose a huge economic driver, as the facility brings in thousands of out-of-town dollars every year.
The Hartington City Council hosted two Town Hall meetings to discussa proposal to have the city buy the facilty and move it to a location in the new business park just west of Bomgaars.
Voters turned down the proposal to bond for the project at the May Primary Election.
Even though voters made it clear they did not want to take out a bond to pay for such a project, the idea didn't go away.
'Since the election, we've had quite a few people come up to us and ask how to save the Skylon,' Mayor Mark Becker said.
The City Council and Skylon owner Roger Wortmann agreed to have Wortmann move the facility on his own. After the completion of the move, the city agreed they would buy the facility on a lease-to-own basis, paying for it over several years.
The decision proved to be quite controversial, as many voters believed they had rejected the idea of having the city purchase the facility to use it as a community event center.
However, City Council members told the local residents they actually voted against the idea of having the city pay for the project through a bond, not the concept of having the city purchase the facility and move it.
Several community members expressed their displeassure to the Council, but that didn't stop the process.
On Oct. 24, after a month of preparations, the building was raised onto a series of wheels and was hauled a quarter mile to the west.
The quadruple murder in Laurel of Aug. 4, 2022 was still one of the top stories of the year here in 2024.
In September, 2024, Jason Jones was found guilty of shooting
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ter Dana, along with another Laurel woman, Michele Ebeling, and setting their homes on fire on Aug. 4, 2022.
The jury also found the crimes to be aggravated, making him eligible for the death penalty.
During the trial, a registered nurse involved in the treatment of a badly burned Jones at CHI Health St. Elizabeth, said he was in pain when she and a tech nurse were doing wound care, which required turning Jones over, causing him to groan in pain.
As Jones was turned over, she recalls him saying, “After what I did, a little torture is OK.”
The week-long trial was held in Dakota County in September.
After deliberating for more than six hours, a Dakota County jury found Jones guilty of four counts of first-degree murder.
In addition to the four counts of first-degree murder, the jury found Jones, 44, guilty of four counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of second-degree arson.
Jones broke into 503 Elm St. on the morning of Aug. 4, 2022, and shot Gene Twiford, 86, and his wife, Janet Twiford, 85; and their daughter, Dana Twiford, 55, before setting the Twiford home on fire. He also broke into the 209 Elm St. home of Michele Ebeling, 53, shot Ebeling and set her home ablaze.
The arson charges were reduced from firstdegree arson — the jury determining that the fires were started after the victims were dead.
Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty against Jones, meaning the jury was tasked with determining whether the murders entailed aggravating circumstances. The same jury listened to evidence Thursday to make their determination.
Jones’ wife, Carrie Jones, 45, is charged with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and being an accessory to murder.
She is accused of pushing her husband to kill Gene Twiford because of sexually charged statements Twiford would direct toward Carrie Jones over a multiple-year period.
It is also alleged that Carrie Jones harbored her husband after the killings and disposed of the clothes he was wearing at the time.
Carrie Jones is expected to stand trial in the summer of 2025. In December, it was decided a change of venue would also be needed for her trial. Her trial, which is expected to last three weeks, will be moved out of Cedar County and down to Madison Voters County.
3 approve new city shop
Hartington city employees should be working out of a new seven-bay city shop next year, voters decided during the May 14 primary election.
Local residents favored building a new city shop to replace the antiquated site by a 345239 vote, according to the unofficial results from the Cedar County Clerk’s Office.
Hartington Mayor Mark Becker said the city’s residents have spoken, and now the city needs to “sit down and figure out what comes next.”
The city held two town hall meetings this spring to inform people about its proposal to build a new shop and move the Skylon Ballroom and turn it into a community event center.
The Hartington-Newcastle School Board took possession of the new elemntary school addition in
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late summer.
■. r to the comp. le t Perdio start of school Supt. A.J.
Johnson said only a few final pieces needed to be completed on the new addition.
The concrete for the playground had been poured and the elementary school was able to use the new playground at the start of school. Students had been doing recess indoors and had to find alternative spots for outdoor recess during constuction. Fencing around the playground area still had to be installed, however, he added.
A few minor repairs or fixes needed to be made in the new addition, he said. One door needed to be replaced because it was damaged, even though it is still usable. Curtains for the stage had not been completely installed, either.
