Four Antelope County students from three different schools won Outstanding Merit ribbons at the ESU 8 K-12 Art Show going on through Sunday at the Antelope County Fairgrounds.
Taylor Bolling, a junior at Clearwater Public Schools, received an Outstanding Merit ribbon for two pieces, her scratchboard and acrylic. Brie Magdefrau, a senior at Elkhorn Valley, received an Outstanding Merit ribbon her her portrait. Neligh-Oakdale senior Haley Kerkman earned an Outstanding Merit ribbon for her piece in the miscellaneous category. Madi Grosserode, also a senior at Neligh-Oakdale, took home two Outstanding Merit ribbons for her oil painting and her miscellaneous piece. Participating schools at the show are Atkinson St. Joseph, Battle Creek, Boyd County, Central Learning Center South-Neligh, Central Learning Center West-Neligh Clearwater, Eastern Learning Center-Norfolk, Elgin Public, Elgin Pope John, Elkhorn Valley, Ewing, Lutheran High Northeast, Neligh-Oakdale, Newman Grove, Norfolk Bel Air, Norfolk Grant, Norfolk Jefferson, Norfolk Lincoln, Norfolk Senior High, Norfolk Washington, Norfolk Westside, Norfolk Woodland Park, Norfolk Junior High, Norfolk Middle, Norfolk Sacred Heart, O'Neill, O'Neill St. Mary's, Orchard, Osmond, Plainview, Verdigre, West Holt and Western Learning Center-O'Neill. The show will be open tot he public from Friday, April 12, through Sunday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Steph Wanek is the ESU 8 art consultant. Christina Swantek is the K-8 judge and Teri Schacht is the high school judge. Antelope County has been approved to receive individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the historic flood wreaked havoc last month.
Individuals in Antelope, Boyd, Burt, Cuming, Hall, Howard, Madison, Nance, Pierce, Platte, Saline and Stanton are now eligible to apply for housing assistance. Households in 15 previously designated counties and the Santee Sioux Nation have already received some $13.7 million in federal assistance since President Donald Trump signed the federal disaster declaration on March 21. Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday extended the state disaster declaration through May 15, which will keep the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency in place in assisting recovering counties. Ricketts said FEMA and NEMA will continue their assessments to see if more counties should be included in the federal disaster declaration. If you have FEMA questions, you may go online to DisasterAssistance.gov; call the disaster assistance helpline at 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585 (TTY); or visit a disaster recovery center. To find center locations and hours, go online to FEMA.gov/DRC or download the FEMA mobile app. Antelope County has issued a travel advisory in preparation for a dangerous storm moving into the area this evening.
Antelope County Emergency Manager Bob Moore and Road Superintendent Casey Dittrich issued the statement Wednesday, asking residents to not only stay off rural roads, but also warning them that a travel ban is possible if roads deteriorate and become too dangerous. The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Warning for Antelope County from 1 a.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Snow accumulation is now 3-11 inches. "With impending weather, Antelope County is issuing a travel advisory due to extreme moisture moving into the area. Even though many roads have been repaired, a base has not been established and could quickly become dangerous. If travel is not necessary, we do not advise travel for the next four to five days, beginning Wednesday evening. "Currently, Antelope County is asking for compliance with the travel advisory with the hopes of not having to issue a travel ban if people do not adhere to the warning. If a travel ban is implemented, it could be for several days. Staying off rural roads will help the situation. "Weather predictions show Antelope County is on the edge between snow and rain with amounts varying at this time. Any moisture will lead to detrimental conditions and create unsafe driving conditions. Snow covered roads may appear safe, but the fresh dirt will be dangerous. Residents are asked to consider stocking up on essentials, including medications, before the storm hits tonight. Antelope County will update residents when the travel advisory is lifted," the statement read. The story begins in Neligh on Sept. 10, 2005.
Seated at a table in the center of the former Daddy’s Cafe, the waitress served two hot plates of food. Just then, the sheriff’s pager lit up, “Animals loose at Royal Zoo.” Nebraska State Trooper Brian Detlefsen and then-Antelope County Sheriff Darrell Hamilton were forced to cut their lunches short. Hamilton put on his hat and left. A few minutes later, Detlefsen got a call from his dispatcher and drove to the zoo as well. A Neligh native, Detlefsen had been to the nearby zoo many times during his childhood. But nothing prepared the young trooper for what he saw when he arrived at the scene. Chimpanzees had escaped from their enclosure and were running free as a man chased them in a white golf cart, firing a revolver. “They hadn’t covered this at the academy,” author Carson Vaughan wrote, relaying Detlefsen’s thoughts. It is the story of “Zoo Nebraska: The Dismantling of an American Dream,” the first book ever written by the 31-year-old, Chicago-based author. Vaughan’s idea for the book came from a car conversation with his girlfriend 10 years ago. Melissa Dohmen—a Plainview native who is now his wife—pointed out the window as they drove down Highway 20 and said nonchalantly, “That’s where Reuben got shot.” He was instantly intrigued. “At that point I was still mostly unfamiliar with northeast Nebraska and Antelope County, and I knew absolutely nothing about Royal,” the Broken Bow native said. “So of course, when she said that, I had a few questions.” Vaughan said his first question was, “Who’s Reuben?” “When the answer was that Reuben was the star chimpanzee of Antelope County, all those words made no sense to me,” he said. Vaughan wasn’t familiar with the roadside zoo or the chimpanzee escape in 2005, which ultimately led to the demise of Zoo Nebraska. On that fateful September day, a padlock was not completely closed after the cage was cleaned and four chimps escaped from their enclosure, running amok in Royal. After attempts to tranquilize the animals failed, Reuben, Jimmy Joe and Tyler were shot and killed. Only Ripley returned to his cage. The zoo’s operators eventually lost their license and the zoo closed. Although many may remember stories of the escape, Vaughan said that wasn’t the only story he wanted to tell about the zoo. “If I were merely interested in the novelty of a chimpanzee escape in rural Nebraska, I would have perhaps limited the scope of my reporting to a magazine piece,” he said. “But from day one, I was always more interested in how the town itself helped give rise to the zoo, and also with how the town and county reacted to its ultimate demise.” Vaughan’s newfound interest in the story led him to attend the zoo’s final auction in 2009. “The more folks I talked to from Royal and Antelope County, the more interested in both the zoo and the community I became,” he said. “I spent the next decade off and on digging further into the origins of the town, and the community of Royal, and trying my very best to piece together the whole saga of Zoo Nebraska.” After conducting “well over 100 interviews,” one of those key pieces fell into place. After nearly 8 years of refusals, the zoo’s founder, Dick Haskin, finally agreed to talk. Vaughan said Haskin became his biggest resource. “He was incredibly generous with his time, and very candid about his entire experience founding and running the zoo,” he said. “It’s really been an honor for me to get to know him.” Not wanting to speculate, Vaughan said he wasn’t sure what changed Haskin’s mind about the interview. “When I finally went to him that very last time, I told him I had sold the book to a publisher and I really wanted to include his perspective,” he said. “I think maybe something clicked a little bit for him, ‘Either I get to represent myself or I leave it to chance.’ Like most people, he didn’t want to leave it to chance.” Throughout their “day-long, marathon interviews,” Vaughan said it became clear that Haskin would become the central character of his book. “Obviously it was great that he ended up saying I could talk with him, but I immediately knew, ‘Well, now I have to rewrite more than half the book,’” Vaughan said. “I rewrote 50 to 60 percent of it. I was very happy though that nothing that I had already written was incorrect, it was just that Dick gave me so much more to work with. I did a lot of rewriting, but I felt like the bones of the narrative were still in place.” His “long-form journalism or narrative non-fiction” book features a true life cast of characters in which everyone’s name remains unchanged. Since the book’s release and its official publication on April 1, he said the reviews from general readers and book critics “have been overwhelmingly positive.” “Which is of course a great relief, given how much of my life I spent putting it all together,” Vaughan said. “Though it was exhilarating to get early blurbs from writers I’ve long admired like Susan Orlean and Buzz Bissinger, I think the most rewarding review came from Dick Haskin himself, who—though admitting it was painful for him to read—ultimately called the book, ‘A fantastic piece of American literature that in my opinion rivals such noted Nebraska authors like Sandoz and Neihardt.’” Fighting through moments of frustration and later celebrating his success, the author said the “whole journey has been a roller coaster.” After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a journalism degree, Vaughan decided to write the zoo’s story as his master’s thesis at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. “As soon as I graduated with my master’s degree, I took the whole book and whittled it down into a proposal that was about 50 pages long and then I took that and shopped around for an agent,” he said. Once he secured an agent, Vaughan struggled to get interested publishing houses to commit. He went on with his life as a freelance writer, until his agent called a couple years later. An editor had seen Vaughan’s proposal at a New York publishing house, but couldn’t get others in the company on board. When she took the job at Little A, she remembered the story and it was the first acquisition she looked into. “That’s good because your editor is someone you end up having a pretty close relationship with, and it was nice to know that she remembered my book and was ready to champion it,” Vaughan said. He said the cover photo is actually one he took himself during one of his first trips to Royal about 10 years ago. A designer at the publishing house did the rest. “We went back and forth for a long time, kicking around ideas,” Vaughan said. “I sent them a bunch of old photos, whatever I could scrounge up. and they ended up liking one of the photos I had given them.” Inside the cover, after the title page, is his simple dedication, “For Mel.” “I thought there may be a few brownie points,” he said with a chuckle. Vaughan said dedicating the book to his wife “made sense for a lot of reasons.” “I had never really explored Northeast Nebraska at all prior to starting to date Mel,” he said. “The whole book, in a strange way, is all wrapped up in the origin with my relationship with Mel. She also reads all of my work, and she’s kind of my first reader all of the time. It just felt right.” When the first copies of his book were delivered, Vaughan said it was almost surreal. “My whole writing career I had hoped and dreamed that one day I would have a book, so when it actually showed up on my doorstep and I could touch it and know that it was for real, I felt relief and excitement. On the heels of that, you go, ‘Oh my God, it’s real. Now people are going to read it.’ So it was both exciting and terrifying.” He said the entire process has taught him lessons in patience and empathy. “When I first started writing it, I thought, ‘Well, this is a book that I should be able to write in a year or two,’” Vaughan said. “I was a young, naive reporter. Maybe I got a little angry and got a little annoyed, but I learned over 10 years sometimes you can’t rush things like that. You have to give your sources time. I think I’ve become more patient and more empathetic along the way.” In retrospect, the delays he faced may have helped with the timing of his book. “I do think maybe the timing is better now than it would’ve been had I been able to sell it years ago,” Vaughan said. “It gave everybody in town just a little bit more time to come to grips with everything.” “Zoo Nebraska” is now available in area bookstores and through Amazon. Currently, the author said he has several book events lined up—Lincoln (April 13), Omaha (April 14), Broken Bow (April 16), and Kearney (April 25)—and “would love to” set up some in Northeast Nebraska. Check out the Easter egg hunts happening in our Antelope County communities. Please email news@myantelopecountynews.com with details of other hunts.
Oakdale: Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m. in the Oakdale Park, ages 0-10 Elgin: Saturday, April 13 at 11 a.m. in the Elgin City Park Tilden: Friday, April 19 at 3 p.m. at Prairie View Assisted Living Neligh: Sunday, April 14 at 2 p.m. in the Neligh Legion, ages 0-8. Prior to the Easter Egg Hunt, the Neligh Young Men's Club is hosting a pancake feed from 8 a.m. to noon in the Neligh Legion. Clearwater: Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m. in the City Park, ages 0-8. If weather is bad, it will be moved to the school gym. The Clearwater Library will also be sponsoring games for the kids to have a chance to win a free book immediately after the egg hunt. (It will be held at the school also if the hunt is moved.) Brunswick: Saturday, April 20 at 10 a.m. at the Brunswick Community Room/Park. The Brunswick Library Foundation will host a bake sale during the event. Orchard: Saturday, April 20 at 1 p.m. at the football field, ages 0-3, 4-6 and 7+. The Antelope County News not only repeated as the top weekly newspaper in Nebraska, but also won the inaugural award for best in digital as well.
Awards were presented over the weekend at the annual Nebraska Press Association convention, where the ACN swept top honors for both print and digital with nearly 40 awards. Another eight awards were given to its sister newspaper, the Knox County News. “There are many outstanding newspapers in Nebraska, so to sweep the top awards is surreal,” said publisher Carrie Pitzer. “We’ve always been outside the box for digital and social media, so to combine the top digital media award with the top print award really makes a statement. To be named the top weekly print newspaper for the second year really means the world to us.” The ACN will again display the Loral Johnson Community Weekly Sweepstakes Award for one year, after winning 13 first-place awards, six second place and four thirds best awards for 244 points in the print newspaper category. Thee ACN beat out the second place Seward Independent by 46 points. The ACN also won the Class B division in print. The ACN also became the first weekly newspaper to win the inaugural Edgecombe Family Community Newspaper Digital Sweepstakes Awards, finishing with three first-place awards, four second and one third for 68 total points. The ACN beat out second place Fairbury Journal-News by 16 points. Individually, managing editor Jenny Higgins won multiple awards, including first-place honors for breaking news of the turbine truck accident in Elgin, sports action photo of long jumper Brayden Effle and news writing of the Darryl Lierman trial. Sports editor Tyson Agler won first place for best sports page after state cross country and sports writing with the Pokorny tribute. Jessy Hilkemeier won first place with an ad for Big Red Motorsports and was second with a poker run ad for the Nebraska Legion Riders. In advertising, Rich Burgess’ work with Smeal to recognize local fire departments earned him first place as well. Pitzer was recognized with the advertisement of the year award, beating out all newspapers in the state with an ad for the Neligh-Oakdale Color Run. She also placed first and second with videos on Neligh-Oakdale’s heritage day and on the basketball team after a coaching change. Pitzer was first and second with a digital ad on Stealth Broadband and the Neligh Chamber of Commerce. On Friday, the ACN was recognized by the Omaha World-Herald with the prestigious Community Service Award for its stories on Nate and Darcy Metschke, the Neligh theater renovation project and the Neligh Care & Rehabilitation Center. Pitzer Digital LLC also owns the Bloomfield/Knox County News, which won eight awards over the weekend, including third place in Class B digital newspaper. The KCN had two first-place awards, one second and fourth third place. As a company, they won 46 awards. Awards Top Print Newspaper (all weekly newspapers) Top Digital Newspaper (all weekly newspapers) Top Class B Print Newspaper (division award) Top Class B Digital Newspaper (division award) Advertisement of the Year (all weekly and daily newspapers) Omaha World-Herald Community Service Award (division award) Antelope County News First place Community Promotion Advertisement: Building Respect, Rich Burgess & Carrie Pitzer Single Retail Advertising Idea - Color: Big Red Motorsports, Jessy Hilkemeier Sports Action Photo: Brayden Effle long jump, Jenny Higgins Sports Page: State Cross Country, Tyson Agler Sports Writing: Pokory Tribute, Tyson Agler Breaking News Photography: Turbine Overload, Jenny Higgins Use of Color: Bike Ride, Staff Personal Column: Nate Metschke, Carrie Pitzer News Writing: Darryl Lierman Trial, Carrie Pitzer & Jenny Higgins Best New Idea: Weather Coverage, Staff Headline Writing: Cash Crops & Queen of Diamonds, Carrie Pitzer General Excellence: All pages of the paper, Staff Youth Coverage: Staff Online Video: Heritage Day, Carrie Pitzer Best Social Media: Facebook Live, Staff Best Digital Ad: Stealth Broadband, Carrie Pitzer Second Place Small Ad - Under 1/4 page or less than 3 x 10 1/2: Poker Run, Jessy Hilkemeier Use of Color: Color Run, Carrie Pitzer & Jenny Higgins Computer Graphics: Detasseling 101, Carrie Pitzer Front Page: Lierman Guilty, Carrie Pitzer Special Single Issue: Antelope County Fair, Staff Website: Staff Online Video: Coaching Adversity, Carrie Pitzer Breaking News: ICE Raid, Carrie Pitzer Best Digital Ad: Neligh Chamber, Carrie Pitzer Third place Building Circulation: Subscription Combo, Carrie Pitzer Agricultural Advertisement: Two Rivers Irrigation, Carrie Pitzer Single Classified Advertising Idea - Black and White: School Search, Carrie Pitzer Best New Idea – Ads/Marketing: Fair & Breast Cancer Front Page Wrap, Carrie Pitzer & Jessy Hilkemeier Public Notice and Its Promotion: Spotlight, Carrie Pitzer News Writing: Jennifer Hickman meets mom at graduation, Carrie Pitzer Best Social Media: Homecoming coronation, Staff Bloomfield Awards Third, Class B Digital Newspaper First Photo Page: Desperado Days, Trisha Zach Online Breaking News: Santee Search, Dylan Widger Second News Photography: Fair, Trisha Zach Third Computer Graphics: Distracted Driving, Trisha Zach Breaking News: Santee Search, Carrie Pitzer Digital Ad: Moody Motors, Carrie Pitzer Website: Staff Despite a travel warning being issued about deteriorating roads, drivers have continued to take their chances on Antelope County roads, and they results haven’t been positive.
“These roads are painfully obvious that there should be no travel, but people are still on them. They’re digging into the mud and bottoming out,” said Antelope County Emergency Manager Bob Moore. “It’s hard for even wreckers to get to them.” On Thursday evening Moore and Road Superintendent Casey Dittrich issued the travel warning due to recent rain causing roads to deteriorate and some to the point of being impassable. But on Friday, there were even more reports of stuck vehicles. The warning asked for travel to be limited or alternative routes be chosen if possible. With more rain in the forecast, Moore said it’s time for drivers to use common sense and stay off the rural roads. “The bottom line is we have warned people, and they’re not listening,” Moore said. “The weather is not cooperating, so we need the public to start cooperating for not only their safety but the safety of our workers.” The annual ESU 8 K-12 art show will be at the Antelope County Fairgrounds Building in Neligh.
K-12 student artwork will be displayed from Antelope, Boyd, Holt, Madison, Pierce, Stanton and Wheeler Counties, all served by ESU 8. The show will be open to the public for viewing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, starting Friday, April 12, through Sunday, April 14, 2019. The show will represent approximately 30 schools and over 5,500 students in the seven county area. There is no fee to enjoy the art and everyone is welcome. The Antelope Country Club Fundraiser Dinner has been postponed to Saturday, April 27.
Originally scheduled for Saturday, April 6, due to road conditions out to the clubhouse, the course and clubhouse are closed. Crews are working hard to get the road done, but it needs time to dry out. If all goes well, the clubhouse will be open on Monday for lunch. Call the country club or email clubpro@antelopecountryclub.com with any questions. Antelope County landowners can now easily show state and federal officials how the flood impacted their property thanks to quick thinking by their county assessor.
With a click of their computer mouse — and from the convenience of their own computer or devices — the public can quickly compare the March 2019 flood to the July 2018 map, showing what property was under water on Monday, March 18. “I’m able to zoom in and measure everything off of those layers, so I can tell how many square foot of land was under water at that time,” Antelope County Assessor Kelly Mueller said. “We can also see how the route of the river has changed.” Mueller encouraged commissioners to approve aerial mapping during an emergency meeting on Thursday, March 14 — the morning after the county declared a disaster thanks to the historic flooding. By approving the $18,000 fee so quickly, Mueller was able to hire Cornerstone Mapping to fly over the county on Monday, March 18, to begin documenting the flood with aerial photographs that have since been plotted on the county’s GIS with exact points. The map is available on the county assessor’s GIS link online and are assessable under base layers. The public can click the 2019 flood to see the county on March 18. Mueller said it was vital for the county and its landowners to have immediate documentation of the flood to show the damage. “This is a benefit to our landowners,” said Road Superintendent Casey Dittrich. “This is huge for preventative planning. There is a deadline for farmers to say they’re not going to be able to get ground planted, and this will help them to show an act of nature will not allow them to farm this ground. It’s also helpful to show how boundaries have changed with the river shifting its route.” Mueller said the mapping will also impact assessment for 2020. She said land is assessed as of January 1, so the flood will not be considered for 2019. “If someone can’t farm their ground this year, the maps make it easy for me to measure all of the waste and the sand,” she said. “The next maps won’t be done until 2020, so having this allows me to properly assess the ground after the flood.” Mueller said she recommended the mapping to Commissioner Charlie Henery, who serves on the county’s emergency management team. She said Henery was the only commissioner on the board during the 2010 flood and saw the benefits of mapping then and pushed for immediate mapping after this flood. “This is about documenting the flood, including for FEMA, and helping landowners measure their waste, which will help them in the long run,” Mueller said. “If it’s not repairable before January 1 of next year, this is a great tool to measure from because without it, this would be a guessing game.” * * * To view the March 18 flood mapping, go to https://antelope.gworks.com and click on basemaps. |
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