From our Early Files
Seventy Years Ago
Enrolled in summer classes and representing Superior at the University of Nebraska this summer are Ruby Bargen, Rose Rathbun, Bernetha Lake, Mildred Alexander, Virginia Harvey, Clayton Phillips and Lois Sanders. Attending from Hardy are Anna Jensen, Helen Hess, Franklin Walters and Charlotte Peckham.
Grace Douglas has announced her candidacy for the nomination for county superintendent of schools.
Heavy winds have blown over a garage in Cadams, took the cupola from the schoolhouse in the Highland district, toppled windmills on the Louie Honeycutt and the Herman Meyers farms. There was severe damage to trees too.
John Rice was elected superintendent of schools for Superior at a board of education meeting.
Fifty Years Ago
Attending the ground-breaking ceremonies near Hallam for the atomic energy plant, as guests of Consumers Public Power were Mrs. H. C. Hanna, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Bowes and H. M. Crilly.
Minor Baird and Ira Adams tied for first place in top flight at the golf tourney played by 49 golfers at Superior, Sunday.
The Alban 4-H Club will observe it's 40th anniversary at a party in Superior Saturday evening. The club organized in 1918 and is thought to be the oldest club in Nebraska.
Marriage licenses were issued to Kent McCartney and Willa Williams and Charles Mumma and Janet Genung.
Deaths listed were those of Mathilde Tophigh, Mrs. Arthur Nielsen, Clarence Brown, Mrs. Otto Semke and George Epley.
John Andersen and Bill Christensen went to Sioux Lockout, Ontario, Canada, for three weeks.
Attending a ballgame in Kansas City were Lee Williams, Herbert Bruns, Leonard Williams, Carl Dahlgren and Dennis Latham.
Forty Years Ago
Dedication of the new Nuckolls County Hospital will be July 14, with U.S. Sen. Carl Curtis as speaker.
Doug Anderson is summer sports editor of the Hastings Tribune.
The Nelson housing units of 20 three-room apartments is taking form east of the courthouse.
Laura Lake has been named a Peace Corps volunteer after completing 14 weeks training at Los Angeles. She has been assigned to the Dominican Republic.
Wheat harvest is in full swing and newer been better but the price is not right at $1.18 a bushel Wednesday.
Thirty Years Ago
The Farmers Union Cooperative Association has sold its Ruskin lumber yard to Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Meyer.
Lynn Bargen has been named the postmaster at Bonner Ferry, Idaho.
A Burr Oak farmer, Gene Ahrens, was critically burned when the propane-fueled combine he was operating exploded. The accident happened in a wheat field eight miles northeast of Burr Oak.
The high temperature for the week was 101 with the low of 65. Almost 17 inches of rain have been recorded for the year.
Mr. and Mrs. Darold Hiatt have sold the Kurly Kone to Mr. and Mrs.Larry Striggow.
Twenty Years Ago
A circus is to headline the 113th Nuckolls County Fair.
The J. C. Penney Company announced plan to close the Superior store.
Funerals were held for Irene Willett, Lola Skinner, Orland Erickson and Ted Lewis.
A public showing of Brodstone Memorial Nuckolls County Hospital's new mammography unit is included in the special activities associated with the Lady Vestey Ice Cream Social.
Ten Years Ago
The wheat harvest is going so good it may be over by July 4th.
Members of the Superior Economic Development Council and the Kottmeyer family have reached an agreement for the development of approximately 30 acres of land located east of Hartley street.
Rory Andreasen, Ryan Butler and Brad Hayes, members of Boy Scout Troop 97, became Eagle Scouts at a special ceremony Sunday.
Gary Wockenfuss is the new head football coach at Superior High School. He comes here from Wymore.
Bryce Miller won the saddle bronc competition at the Nebraska State High School Rodeo held at Valentine.
Five Years Ago
Jan. 1, 1977, Melvin and Marie Menke became the owners of Chard Drug Store. Tuesday they passed the ownership of the business to fellow pharmacist, Lane Hawley, and his wife, Anna. Lane had worked there 13 years. Menke will continue working full time.
Nine teams are preparing for the Relay for Life to be held in Nelson this year.
At the Guide Rock antique tractor pull, there were 61 hooks and 20 weight classes. Ten-year-old Natasha Wehrman, Nelson, was the youngest person to pull.
One Year Ago
High humidity and rains have slowed wheat harvest.
Bob and Sue Trapp returned recently from a trip to New York City. They purchased a U.S. "Flag of Honor," and it is displayed at Ace Hardware.
A survey team contracted by the City of Superior is placing pink flags this week to mark property lines. The project will assist in the replacement of the city's gas lines.
Dan Ferrell is a new employee at the Oregon Trail Equipment, Superior.

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Courthouse News - Nuckolls County
Nuckolls County Court
Traffic Misdemeanors and Speeding
Eric V. Engelkes, Superior, $25.
County Court
Richard O. Hansen, Superior, bound over to District Court, Failure to register as a Sex Offender.
Civil Department
Credit Bureau Services, Inc., vs. Rod Duester, Tami Duester, Lawrence, judgment entered.
Credit Bureau of Hastings, Inc. vs. Terry Hyde and Jamie Hyde, Nelson, judgment entered.
Credit Management Services, Inc., vs. Joe Zumwalt, Trisha Zumwalt, Hardy, judgment entered.
Credit Bureau of Hastings, Inc. vs. William Baker, Ruskin, judgment entered.
Credit Management Services vs. Warren Fuller, Hardy, judgment entered.
Real Estate Transfers
David G. Hess to Barry Foster, Rachel Foster, Lot 27, 28, Wilson's Addition of Superior
Timothy J. Elledge, Cheryl Elledge to Stanley L. Elledge, Kay M. Elledge, Lot 5 and Part Lot 4, 6 in Block 22, O. T. Superior.
Curt J. Kohmetscher to Anthony R. Peters, Lot 7, 8 in Block 12, O. T. of Lawrence.
Farmers and Merchants Bank, Trustee, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Beneficiary to Farmers and Merchants Bank, Part Lot 14, 15 in Block 29, O. T. of Superior.
Michael Roy Honeycutt, Patricia Louise Honeycutt to Carrie J. Heikkinen, Michael J. Heikkinen, Part Lot 10, 11 in Block 17, O. T. of Nelson.
E.A.M.P., LLC, Fredrick Porter, Manager, Fredrick Porter, Member; Thomas R. Porter, member, Elizabeth A. Bezzerides, Member of Fredrick Porter, SE 1/4 NW 1/4 16-4-5; NE 1/4 16-4-5 N 1/2 SE 1/4 16-4-5.

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Fundraiser held for Hubbell family who lost home in storm

A fundraiser for the David Kyker family was held at St. Paul Lutheran Church,Gilead, on Sunday. The family lost their home in the May 29 tornado that struck Hubbell.
David, his wife, Tina, and 14-year-old son, John, were at home in the basement of the new addition to their home east of Hubbell at around 10:30 p.m. the night of the storm. They have two older children who attend Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Linda reportedly received a call on her cell phone saying a tornado was headed their way. The family was huddled under the basement steps when the wind came up.
Dean said it was terrifying. He heard the picture window on the floor above them break, then the sound of ripping lumber.
"There goes the house," Dean remembers saying.
When the storm arrived in all its fury, he grabbed hold of his wife, who had hold of their son. Tina said she repeated "The Lord's Prayer" one and a half times before the storm ended. John remembers everything being black during that time and he handed his father his flashlight. After the storm they went upstairs where all that remained of the new addition was the floor. Dean remembers it was raining on him.
Part of the older house was intact so they were able to salvage some clothing, but everything else on the farmstead was destroyed, including all four vehicles and every out-building.
Tina enjoys scrapbooking and said she regrets losing many of those memories, some of which are mixed with other debris in their windbreak. The family hopes to rebuild their home.

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Harvest report -- 2008
By Rita Blauvelt

"They say good yields and high prices only come twice a man's life time," a neighbor said after a day of moving from field to field looking for dry wheat to cut.
"You know a rain will drop the test weight a couple of points," another said.
And so, in the normal state of near frenzy, wheat harvest started in the Cheyenne Valley, southeast of Osborne, Tuesday, June 24, the day of our 19th wedding anniversary.
The call came at 4 p.m. Dad had gone to the field with the combine to make a test cut. Moisture was 13 percent. Ideal! He planned to cut until the truck was full, the grain cart full and the combine full. Mother thought that would take the rest of the day.
By 9 a.m. the next morning, I was in the field. Besides cutting wheat, I had two goals: an accident free harvest and no piles of wheat on the ground. (For each of the past several years, we've managed to have to scoop: a slow tedious task, for which I'm not tough enough.)
We pulled in behind the combine with a tank of diesel on the pickup. Fueled, greased and checked the machine. All looked good. Dad gave the signal, with a sense of anticipation, I climbed into the combine, eased it into gear, engaged its innards, then the header and turned into the wheat, not realizing the back guard clipped the diesel tank, broke a stake and scraped the pickup cab. I believe it is the first year, I had an accident before I started cutting.
The sight of sickle cutting 24-feet of wheat and the header batons pulling the wheat into the feeder never ceases to amaze me. I was cutting in the same field I started in as a teenager.
In spite of my poor start, I doubt Dad was as nervous as he was when I started operating the combine 40 plus years ago. I don't think it was a job he ever really planned for me to do. Operating a the combine was man's work.
Prior to our self-propelled combine, I remember Grandpa driving the tractor to power a pull-type machine in which Dad and my uncle rode to move levers and a wheel which raised and lowered the header and did others things I didn't understand.
Occasionally, mother would get stuck with taking a pickup load of wheat to town. Something she did not like to do. I remember being with her as we waited in a long line of pickups at the elevator after dark. When it was our turn we pulled onto a lift inside the elevator house. We had to get out and some men operated a machine which raise the pickup to dump the wheat.
Later, Dad purchased a used self-propelled combine. At first he operated it without a cab. To ride along, I had to wear goggles. I don't know how he managed to see without them. Even with goggles, I usually got chaff in my eyes.
Finally he added a cab. It was water cooled. I could see, but it miserable: noisy, temperamental and still hot: unbearable when the fan did not work.
Dad wanted me to haul wheat, but he needed to bin it and the auger was powered by a gasoline engine, which I could not start. Since, he had no other help, he'd open up in the middle of the wheat field away from terraces and barb wire fence. There I cut wheat while he hurried to unload. He'd rush back to the field to assist. Little by little my skills and understanding grew.
This year, as I glided around in his now "old" 7720 John Deere with a 24-foot header, I marveled as I watched the wheat flow into the machine from my perch inside an air conditioned, nearly dirt free cab.
The wheat stood tall and straight, a joy to cut. Around noon we traded jobs, Dad cut, I hauled. The combine ran through lunch. After all, rain can mean lots more than just a drop in test weight. When wheat is ripe, it no longer takes moisture, nor does it effectively shade the ground, so little weeds rapidly turn into big weeds which make threshing tedious. I could see foxtail and kocha just starting.
Dad still bins much of his grain. Now the auger is powered by a tractor driven power-take-off (PTO) and hydraulic system. The hardest part of unloading is backing a full farm truck up hill and lining up with the dump pit. The auger system is turn key. However, doing things in the right order is exceedingly important.
The PTO starts first. It powers a long auger which moves the grain into the bin. Hydraulics then start the dump pit auger. Then the truck box gate can be opened. Getting mixed up can mean a pile of grain on the ground or worse yet a broken or plugged auger. Hydraulics raise the grain box so I simply make sure everything is working and try to stay out of the dust. (This year, I was just in the middle stage of a head cold when harvest started.)
Wednesday, July 25, the equipment worked great. Dad had left written instructions for the grain cart in the tractor cab. (It has a similar system using PTO and hydraulics which must be done in the right order or one dumps grain onto the ground or something breaks.) He could dump a bin load onto the grain wagon and have another ready as I arrived with the truck, so both the combine and truck ran continuously.
By night fall, we'd cut 92 acres of 45 bushel per acre wheat from the hill tops. It had been productive day and the forecast for Thursday was dry - the promise of another good harvest day.
But weather on the plains is hard to predict. A cloud in the sky sends adrenaline flowing. Seldom does a harvest day pass without clouds, especially toward evening.
Dad had hoped we'd work with the neighbors, as in previous years, but they had been hunting for dry wheat of their own. Plus, they'd added a combine and have enough family help this year not to need our aid.
Thursday noon, help arrived. It was good news! Three combines, a small semi and the straight truck I drove, moved tirelessly through the wheat. The machines responded well to 90 degree weather.
Then came the clouds: a rather furious looking thunder bump in the northeast, but generally storms move east, so I gave it little thought. But there was a smaller one in the west. It seemed to build and then recede. I knew someone was getting rain.
As I coasted to a stop just north of Luray, I heard a burst of air. I suspected I'd soon have a flat tire. I poked down the last bit of road to the elevator, dumped and was ready to head home. The sun was just ready to go down. Everything was closed.
"Is it raining north of town," the gal at the elevator said as she handed me the ticket.
"Only had two sprinkle hit my windshield on the way to town," I responded.
"Well, the radar shows its raining north of Luray," she said.
Within a mile, big drops began to strike the windshield, but I pushed on a fast as I could. A few drops didn't mean it was raining at the field.
Each field I passed, harvesters were scurrying to get grain covered and equipment out of the field. A combine pulled onto the county road behind me headed north. Over the hill, I met two combines headed south. I don't know how they shared the road.
I arrived at the field with the rain, just in time to unload a grain cart, tarp and move another grain cart and move a combine. Dad decided it best to dump wheat onto the truck in spite of the fact one dual was flat.
It was a small cloud, surely it was just a welcome summer shower and we'd cut again on Friday.
By midnight, I was standing with my camera pointing out my parent's living room picture window overlooking the creek. Lightning provided uneven, but nearly continuous light. The creek was the highest I had seen it in years. I guess the whole family was awake. At breakfast, we had various tales to share of our night watch. We had 2.25 inches.
Then the neighbor began to call or come. Near the remaining wheat needing cut, they'd had 4.5 inches of rain, on north 5 inches and to the south 3.5 inches.
My task for the morning was to clean the wet grain from the combine auger, while Dad took the truck to town to get the tire fixed.
It was a new task for me, bigger than I anticipated, but things seem to go well. We greased, fueled, checked the machine, had long naps and I mowed the yard.
Saturday morning it sprinkled. We were to have guests Sunday, so I cleaned the house. Sunday, we attended church and enjoyed company.
I was counting on Monday being a good harvest day. Bill had reported he was eating bologna and ice cream most meals and we were short of help at The Express.
A heavy dew and little wind kept us out of the field until 3 p.m. In spite of the rain, the wheat was still standing. It promised to be the best wheat we'd cut. Dad cut a bin load. I pulled into unload, walked around the truck and wheat was pouring onto the ground. The hole under the combine auger was only about the size of my hand. The clean-out plate had fallen out. I had been so sure I had it tight, what had happened.
An so it was, harvest this year started with an accident and ended with a pile of wheat on the ground. In spite of some obstacles, we finished Monday evening.

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