Nuckolls County News

It took four separate motions, but the Nuckolls County Board at Monday's regular meeting eventually approved a pay increase for approximately 30 county employees, excluding elected officials and their deputies.

The first motion, made by chairman Arnold Brown, was for a pay increase of $50 per month for the employees. It died for lack of a second. Commissioner Dan Corman made a motion for a $75 per month raise for the employees, but that one also died for lack of a second.

Brown introduced his earlier motion for a second time, but it died again without a second. Then Commissioner Mike Combs made a motion for a $100 per month raise, it was seconded by Corman and approved by a 2-1 vote, with Brown voting against.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Leo Adam Biga spent four days and three nights covering Lew Hunter's most recent Superior Screenwriting Colony, which wrapped June 27.

A welding accident that caused a methane explosion killed a 59-year-old man in south-central Nebraska.

Discussion continued on the proposed geographic information system (GIS) for the county assessor's office at Monday's regular meeting of the Nuckolls County Board.

Marcus Tooze, president of GIS Workshops in Lincoln, was present to answer questions from the board. Tooze's company was one of two to bid on the project; the other was Great Plains GIS Consulting in Ravenna. County assessor Janice Murray and the county's contracted appraiser, Darrel Stanard, were also present.

Board chairman Arnold Brown asked Tooze about ongoing costs associated with a GIS system installed by his company. Tooze said there is a flat fee for both internet and telephone support services and also an annual licensing fee for software. Tooze said he has five telephone lines and technicians available for telephone support for his customers.

I didn't know that. Per Superior Express the state has mandated GIS for all county assessors.

Bids were opened and reviewed for a proposed geographic information system (GIS) for the county assessor's office at Monday's regular meeting of the Nuckolls County Board.

Two bids were received for installation of the GIS system, which is being mandated by the state for all county assessors' offices.

GIS Workshop, Lincoln, bid $41,000 for services, tools, software, training and support. GIS Workshop offers payment options up to three years. Marcus Tooze, GIS Workshop president, made a presentation to the board in April about his company and services.

Acting as the Nuckolls County Board of Equalization, the commissioners heard valuation protests from two taxpayers at Monday's regular county board meeting, and visited the two properties in the afternoon.

The first protest was from Alvin Schott, owner of Schott Auto Sales in Nelson. Schott was accompanied to the meeting by his daughter, Sandra Schendt. The county has Schott's business property valued at $4,300 $160 for the land occupied by the building and $4,140 for the building.

Schott explained the 10 x 14 building was purchased from a car dealer in Hebron for $500 and placed on a concrete slab poured by Schott at a cost of about $1,000.

The Fourth Street entrance into Superior's Lincoln Park may be closed early next week while a contractor replaces the deck planks on the Lost Creek Bridge.

Members of the city council Monday evening approved an agreement with a bridge construction firm currently working for Nuckolls County to replace the planks on the historic bridge.

Two weeks ago a representative of the Superior Street Department and the county's bridge inspector examined the bridge. They found the bridge to be in remarkable shape considering its age. The wooden beams which carry the decking appear to have little rot or wear. However the deck planks are wearing badly.

Posted: Updated: [14 w 7007gwen jonson museum curator ^ [38 w 7007hubert simonsen chairman ^ [50 w 7007jane marquart collector's sister ^ [ You can see the history of Nuckolls County in over 10 buildings at the ...

FYI Nebraska female adoptee DOB 1868 named Emma Kelly adopted by William E and Sarah Taylor, living in Nora Precinct, Nuckolls County Nebraska Summer 1885. via Cousinconnect.com

“I don't want to put the village in a bind if they can't afford it, but that would be my preference”

The Nuckolls County Board at Monday's regular meeting observed a demonstration of the technology proposed for the future of the county assessor's office.

Marcus Tooze, president of GIS Workshop, Lincoln, presented a power point demonstration using actual imagery from other counties in Nebraska that are his customers.

Tooze said the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly the Soil Conservation Service) is no longer making soil books available and the only way to access the new soils is in a digital GIS format. This leaves counties currently without GIS technology no good way to start using the new soil maps. Read more

The 2008 Nuckolls County Health and Wellness Fair is scheduled for Saturday, April 5, from 9 a.m. to noon at Superior High School, according to Karen Tinkham, public relations director at Brodstone Memorial Hospital.

Blood draws are scheduled for the week before so that the results may be picked up at the fair. Blood draw will be done Tuesday, April 1, and Thursday, April 3, from 7 to 10 a.m. in the lab at Brodstone Memorial Hospital. Please call for an appointment.

Additionally, blood draws will be done Wednesday, April 2, from 7 to 9 a.m. at Nelson Family Medical Center, and Friday, April 4, from 8 to 9 a.m. at Edgar Medical Clinic. Read more

About 75 people from a handful of law enforcement and emergency agencies searched for a 21-year-old Nelson man after his wrecked pickup truck was discovered along a county road early last Thursday morning.

Karl Grueber was reportedly driving home from "The Mill," a restaurant and bar in Deweese, when he lost control of the 1990 Ford pickup he was driving and struck a tree. The accident occurred shortly after 1 a.m. just east of Deweese on the road separating Nuckolls and Clay counties.

About an hour later, The Mill's owner, Bridget Kenley, discovered the truck on her way home and called Karl's father, Brian, a teacher at Sandy Creek. Following a brief search in the vicinity of the truck with his wife and other son, Brian reportedly notified authorities that his son was missing. Read more

“I don't know how we can make recommendations to the board when we don't see the numbers until the day of the meeting”

Nuckolls County Board chairman Arnold Brown accused emergency manager Dan Jantzen of spending most of his time and energy in Thayer County, despite his being hired jointly by the two counties. Jantzen met with the commissioners during Monday's regular meeting at the courthouse in Nelson.

Looking back over his monthly activities report for December, Jantzen said, "I'll admit, December was a little heavy toward Thayer County."

"They all have been," Brown replied.

Brown said he believed there were still fire departments and emergency personnel in Nuckolls County Jantzen has not yet visited, and strongly urged him to rectify that situation. Read more

In what is probably a first for Nuckolls County, members of the county's Democratic Party have scheduled a presidential caucus for Saturday afternoon, Feb. 9, in the Nelson City Auditorium.

Nuckolls County residents who want to participate in the caucus are to register at the auditorium from 2 to 2:30 p.m. Shortly after 2:30 the caucus participants will be asked to divide into groups representing the various candidates seeking the party's nomination.

The number in each group will then be counted and that number of votes assigned to each candidate. For candidates dropping out or failing to get more than 15 percent of the caucus votes the rules allow party members to switch their allegiance or to become uncommitted votes prior to the party's convention scheduled for summer. Read more

Law enforcement officers representing four agencies from three counties and two states spread their dragnet across northern Superior Monday night and into Tuesday morning in an effort to apprehend and jail two suspects.

What was to be a long night for the officers began earlier in the day when the Nuckolls County Sheriff's Department was investigating a reported burglary at a Hardy residence.

About 6:30 p.m. officers became a suspicious when they encountered a man and woman in downtown Superior who were behaving suspiciously. Read more

“I don't know, but I'll check it out”

Tuesday the daily newspapers were reporting law enforcement officers weren't sure where a Lincoln Regional Center escapee spent Thursday night but a family with ties to Nuckolls County think they know. And for them the answer is pretty frightening.

Brandon and Tanya Lynch returned to their rural Hickman home late Thursday evening with their three-year-old son, Cannon. They had taken Brandon's mother, Brenda Lynch, a resident of the Nora community, to the Lincoln airport. It had been a full day and neither had listened to the news. Read more

“The hooves can't absorb that force when they're shod, especially with a rider”

Jay DeHart, who was born in Superior and raised in Nelson, was featured in an article last month in The Missoulian, the daily newspaper in Missoula, Mont. DeHart is the brother of Jean Stichka from the Nuckolls County Extension office.

According to the article, DeHart decided several years ago he wanted to learn how to shoe his own horses, so he signed up for classes with a certified farrier. Apparently, the more he learned, the less it made sense.

As he learned how nature intended horses' hooves to expand and contract to absorb weight as it moved, and that movement was vital for the circulatory system, confining the hoof within a metal shoe began to seem strange. DeHart spent 20 years as a mechanical engineer, so he was no stranger to energy conservation, physics and fluid dynamics. Read more