Photo by Timothy Linscott/fairburyjournalnews.comLighting It Up Blue—A large blue puzzle piece representing autism awareness and blue lights can be seen at Heritage Care Center in Fairbury. Also, an ornate angle statue has been lit up in blue at night at Heritage giving a beautiful display for residents, staff and community members to enjoy on the chilly spring nights.

Photo by Trevor Gill/fairburyjournalnews.comReaching Out—Tristan Wills and his team from Midwest Carpet Pythons stopped by Fairbury on Thursday morning. Students from Central Elementary and Jefferson Inter-mediate were given a chance to get ‘hands on’ with the snakes.

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Tackling Drug Problem At The Source

Midwest Carpet Pythons Comes To Burkley Fine Arts Center

Joint Resolution Fire Dist. Territories

Hebron City Council Discuss LB840

District Court

“Let’s start at the ‘Start,’” Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock said. “I think it begins at the home.”When discussing

the stance the county takes on potential drug uses in Fair-bury, Schoenrock was passionate about tackling all potential issues at their source. He believes that with the right education in the homes and at school, drugs will have a deceased pres-ence in the commu-nity.“I am proud of the

many agencies we have at our disposal,” he commented.Schoenrock refer-

enced the boards he and his fellow com-missioners are part of and the relevance of two on this subject: Blue Valley Commu-nity Action and Public Health Solutions. Programs that both organizations provide are to educate and rehabilitate.Schoenrock stressed

that he believes that it is best to be proac-tive and not reactive. A preemptive attitude and dedication were his ideals of how to handle drugs in Fair-bury.Fellow commissioner

Michael Dux com-mented that although the county has no direct effect on the war on drugs, but they are adamantly against the drug us-age in the county. Schoenrock com-mended the work of the different agencies that are offered in the county that aid in combating illegal drug usage.“I am proud to say

I serve on some of those committees,” Schoenrock conclud-ed.Each month the

chairman of the commissioners signs off on claims for the county offices, in-cluding the sheriff office. Schoenrock, current chairman of the board, estimated the county spends

$150,000 per year in court costs, jail housing, and other expenses for Jefferson County inmates.“Now as far as what

percentage of inmates are drug related, I’d say a third or half,” Schoenrock said. “I’d be surprised if it was more than that.”The commissioners

get a break down of all the inhabitants at the jail from the sheriff every month. For the month of February, the jail had 18 new inmates booked at the Jeffer-son County Jail. On the break down sheet there was no cat-egory for drug related charges; however, alcohol had its own separate column.As the investiga-

tion into this possible drug epidemic con-tinues, Schoenrock stands behind the no-tion that the county is doing as much as they can with what they have to combat the universal issue.

At the Fairbury City Council meeting on Tuesday night, the board approved joint resolution #1063. The joint resolution is between

the City of Fairbury and the Fairbury Rural Fire District #8 to include within the Fairbury Rural Fire District the territory within the City of Fairbury. Additionally, the council ap-

proved resolution #1064. The resolution was to sell certain items of personal property at public auction. The auction will coincide with the public auction of items from the school district at the Jefferson County Fair-grounds through Kettelhut Real Estate and Auction Appraisals on June 9.

The Hebron City Council is spreading the word on LB840. At their April 2 meet-ing in the Hebron Secrest Library, the council discussed educating the com-munity on the issue and why they have voted to allow it on the ballot.The members of the

Hebron Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Develop-ment Committee were present at the meeting to discuss the promotion of vot-ing 'yes' for LB840. The committee has had yard signs com-missioned that will be available for dis-tribution.“These guys have

done a good job of helping get this to the point of votes know what's going on, so, thank you guys, Chamber and Economic Develop-ment,” said council-man Kurk Wiedel, “You have been very helpful in this pro-cess.”The city attorney,

Joseph Murray, advised that the council has every right to go out into the community to educate groups on

LB840; however, they cannot fund any advertisement for it with personal or city money.“You can certainly

go out and meet with these groups and answer their ques-tions and explain the things that led you to vote for it,” Mur-ray commented.Handouts have

been made by the Thayer Economic Development Com-mittee for local busi-nesses to display on their tables and yard signs will be available with the week for distribu-tion. The council will each take signs to be distributed in the community along with each council member having a specific group they will address on the issue.Also at the meeting,

the council voted to spend funds from the Park and Sink-ing Fund to aid in temporary funding for new playground equipment for Roo-sevelt Park. The council approved the spending of $25,217 for equipment that will be reimbursed plus an additional

$6,000 for fencing around the park.The signage, not

funded by the city, was also approved by the council. It was specifically designed to match the already existing signs in town.With the Cattle-

man's Ball around the corner, some fine details are be-ing ironed through. Randy Hergott pre-sented to the council plans for parking in the event of rain. He proposed using the outside lanes of 13th Street to paral-lel park should the weather turn.The only concern

that was raised was mail delivery for that Saturday and the vehicle obstruct-ing mailbox. After speaking to the post office, Hergott got re-assurance from the postal service that in the event of the additional parking being needed due to rain, the residents will be informed that their mail will be a day delayed.The council ap-

proved the emergen-cy rain parking for the Cattleman's Ball.

Light It Up Blue

Misty D. Clauson is set for her hearing on May 3 in the district court case of CR 17-59.Dalton J. Meyer had his proba-

tion revoked on April 5 in the case of CR 17-11. Originally, Meyer was sentenced to 36 months probation for second degree assault com-mitted on January 9, 2017. In December Meyer was arrested for breaking his probation.The state, represented by Jeff

Goltz, heavily advised that Meyer be sentenced to a lengthy term of incarceration. When asked what he had to say for himself, Meyer expressed regret and recognized his missed chance of mercy.

“You gave me a chance and I let you down,” he told the judge.Presiding over the case, was

Judge Rick Schreiner. He revoked Meyer's probation and took the advise of the state. After a moment of contemplation, Judge Schreiner sentenced Meyer to no less than three years incarcerated and a maximum of five years incarcer-ated with a credit of 218 days already served.Before adjourning on the mat-

ter, he had one last thing to say to Meyer.“Mr. Meyer, I am disappointed,”

Judge Schreiner said.

Your Community. Your Paper.

Page 2 The Fairbury Journal-News Sports Friday, April 6, 2018

By Nathan HeuerFairbury Journal-News

Area Teams Excel at Mustang Invite

A trifecta of top two finishes from Diller-Odell's Emily Swanson guided the Lady Griffins to a third place finish at the Meridian Mustang Invite on Wednes-day in Friend.

Swanson won the pole vault with a clearance of 9 feet 6 inches and took second place in both the 300 hurdles (51.10) and the high jump (4-10). The trio of top performances garnered 26 of her team's 55.33 points.

Haley Jones and the Diller-Odell girl's 400-meter relay also had a large hand in the Griffins success, as both claimed runner-up hon-ors. Jones crossed the finish line in 13:09.10 in the 3,200-meter run to finish in second place. The Lady Griffins 400 relay

edged Dorchester for second place with a time of 56.10 seconds. Dorchester fin-ished the race in a time of 56.50 sec-onds and Osceola closely followed (56.60) to take fourth place.

Diller-Odell's 1,600 and 3,200 relays both found ways to contrib-ute to their team's point total with fourth and fifth place finishes respectively. Their 1,600 relay took fourth in a time of 4:57.80 and the 3,200 relay came in fifth place (14:41.70).

Kyleigh Barnts placed fifth in the triple jump by leaping 28 feet and Mahaila En-gelman took sixth in the pole vault by clearing 7 feet 6 inches, capping the Griffins top six finishes at the meet.

The Lady Grif-fins finished 2/3

of a point behind McCool Junction for second place (56) and Giltner ran away with the team title in the girls division with 142 points. Friend finished 1/3 of a point behind Diller-Odell to take fourth place.

On the Diller-Odell boy's team, William McLaugh-lin was a near equivalent of what Swanson did for the Lady Griffins. McLaughlin domi-nated the 300 hurdles, clocking a time of 43 sec-onds to take first by 2 seconds. He added a third, fourth, and fifth place finish in three additional events. The junior took third in 400 (53.30), fourth in the 100-meter dash (11.43), and fifth in the 200 (23.60).

McLaughlin's four medals were accompanied by Armando Jones' two top five per-

formances. He ran 12:24.71 in the 3,200 to take fifth place and cleared 9 feet 6 inches in the pole vault to take fourth place.

Jacob Meyer rounded out the Diller-Odell boy placers with a sixth place fin-ish in the 1,600. He clocked a time of 5:34.30 in the race, beating out Rece Vaught of Giltner by just under five sec-onds to claim the final placing spot in the event.

Diller-Odell finished tied for eighth place with Dorchester in the boys division with 29 points.

Pribyl, Nunez lead way for Mustangs

Sophomore sen-sation Halle Pribyl made her pres-ence known for the Meridian girl's track team on Wednesday at the the team's home

invite. The return-ing state qualifier placed in three individual events; fifth in the 100 hurdles (18.10), fifth in the 200 hurdles (56.00) and second in the long jump (14-6).

She accounted for three of Me-ridian's four in-dividual medals. Andi Kort was the fourth individual to place. She took third in the pole vault with a clear-ance of 8 feet 6 inches.

The Merid-ian girl's added a fourth place finish in the 3,200 relay (12:04.80).

The results yield-ed the Lady Mus-tangs an eighth place finish as a team with 22 1/3 points at the 12-team meet.

Hector Nunez was the Meridian boy's lone placer. He came in sixth place in the long jump with a leap

of 16 feet 10 3/4 inches. The one point he earned left Meridian in 12th place in the boys division.

Team Scores

Girls

1. Giltner 142, 2. McCool Junc-tion 56, 3. Diller-Odell 55.33, 4. Friend 55, 5. Hampton 50, 6. Exeter-Milligan 49, 7. Sterling 29, 8. BDS 24, 9. Meridian 22.33, 10. Dorchester 20, 11. Osceola 16.33, 12. High Plains 8

Boys

1. Sterling 87, 2. Giltner 85, 3. McCool Junction 77, 4. Osceola 54, 5. Exeter-Milligan 51, 6. High Plains 33, 7. BDS 30, T8. Dorchester 29, T8. Diller-Odell 29, 10. Friend 28, 11. Hampton 23, 12. Meridian 1

Photos by Trevor Gill

Team Leaders—Left: Diller-Odell’s William McLaughlin races to finish of the 100M dash at the Mustang Invite. McLaughlin was fourth for the Griffins in the race. Right: Emily Swanson helped the Lady Griffins to a third place finish by winning the Pole Vault, and placing runner-up in both the 300M Hurdles and the High Jump.

Photos by Trevor Gill

Team Leaders—Left: Hector Nunez accounted for the only boys team points, placing sixth in the Long Jump. Above: Meridian’s Halle Pribyl leads the pack in the 100M Hurdles. Pribyl won three medals on the day, including fifth in the 100M Hurdles.

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Friday, April 6, 2018 Sports The Fairbury Journal-News Page 3

By Nathan HeuerFairbury Journal-News

Schweitzer Named Assistant Coach of the Year

Fairbury High School assistant wrestling coach Cory Schweitzer is no fan of the lime-light. He prefers to keep a low-profile and go about his business with a workman like at-titude.

The fact plays into characteristics that he embodies on a daily basis. Being unselfish, staying humble, and hav-ing a desire to help young men are just a few ways to describe what the wrestling coach is all about.

That mentality paid dividends for the award he will receive in June at the NSWCA Hall of Fame banquet. On Tuesday, Sch-weitzer was notified that he was select-ed as the assistant wrestling coach of year in the state of Nebraska.

While acknowl-edging that he was thrilled to read the letter that notified him he was receiv-ing the award, Sch-weitzer embraced his humble nature by iterating that the only reason he received the award because of the great coaches and wrestlers around him during his time in Fairbury. Specifically, the aid of head coach Derek Garfield and assistant Kam Len-hart.

“Having us three together it's been nothing but amaz-ing. I'm so blessed to be with both of those guys. I can't tell you how much, like I appreciate those guys more than anybody I know. I really do,” he said.

This past sea-son, Schweitzer embarked on his seventh year as a Fairbury High School wrestling coach and his

fourth year being an assistant under head coach Derek Garfield.

The 30-year-old coach described his relationship with Fairbury's head man as smooth and one where they have let each other em-brace their phi-losophies while not stepping on the others toes.

“I'd liked to say smooth. It prob-ably doesn't look like that especially when we're coach-ing. We know what were thinking. We get each other and we know it,” Schweitzer said of their relationship. “It's this unwritten rule of hard work. There's never a time that I would sit there with coach Garfield and be like I don't know coach. We both are on the same page and we're never not.”

Since joining the Jeffs wrestling pro-gram seven years ago, the Central City High School graduate has helped the team flourish to greater heights.

Prior to his ar-rival Fairbury was on a five to six year drought for state medalists and since his arrival there hasn't been a year without a medalist.

“We would not be where we are with-out him,” Garfield said. “First of all he is so great with the kids. He relates so well to the kids. He's my right hand man in every single thing that I do. The reason we've had any success that we've had it's him. He is a great technician, great motivator, and the reason I nomi-nated is I really wanted him to be recognized for the work that he does for our wrestling program cause he

deserves that.”

When talking about his climb to becoming the coach he is today, Schweitzer said that he understood at a young age what type of work ethic you needed to be successful in life. And he experi-enced the care and love that he shows his wrestlers now.

He observed it from his parents, Peg and Allen. His mom Peg worked two jobs and his dad, Allen was a truck driver that was gone more often than not. Though they were extremely busy, they always found a way to be at his athletic events.

“They always made it to my wrestling meets, they always made it to my football games, and so to have them in my life I don't think it says enough,” Schweitzer said. “I don't think I can do enough ever for what they've done for me. They definitely built that work ethic in me and that's what has kind of helped me blend.”

Schweitzer's

unselfishness was kindled soon af-ter starting his wrestling career in second grade. As a high schooler, he helped coach the Central City mat-men program. The experience was his first taste of the coaching business.

By the time he was a senior in high school him and his twin broth-er took the Bison grapplers to the Huskerland state tournament. The moment is one that still stands out in his mind today as one his proudest coaching moments.

“I'll never forget the day, Husker-land was the big tournament and it would have been my senior year my brother and I came with these white shirts. They said 'junior coach' on them, they had the Central City wres-tling emblem on them. That was my first official coach-ing shirt and I look back at it now, I still have the shirt. I got that chance to not only go there but they paid for me and my broth-er's way into Husk-erland,” Schweitzer said. “They let us, they trusted us to

coach these kids up. That was a big deal.”

During his time as a Fairbury coach, one moment stands out above all.

Schweitzer re-called a match of Logan Slater's a year ago at the 2017 state tour-nament. It was in the third round of consolation, also known as the blood and guts round which gets you a spot on the po-dium, Slater was up against Ben-nington's Devin DeLancey.

Slater lost their previous two meet-ings in the season so Schweitzer put on the tape and formed a perfect game plan for when the two met up a third time.

Garfield remem-bered the prepara-tion was precise and it played out exactly how they expected as Slater ended up winning 5-4.

“Man I'm tell-ing you right now we don't win that match if we don't game plan it,” Gar-field said. “He had it to a T. I remem-

ber sitting in the hotel lobby and him sitting down with Slater go-ing over the game plan. I thought that was spot on. That's one of the funniest things I've ever watched. It was awesome.”

Fast forward to this past season and you could argue that Sch-weitzer did his most instrumental work as a coach along with Garfield and Lenhart.

The duo helped sophomore Seth Firmanik become a state placer a year after being on JV. They got senior heavyweight Trent Grizzle to the state tournament after not wrestling in high school previ-ously, and they guided Carson and Ace York get to the state tournament for the first time in their careers. Not to mention getting senior Zach Reikof-ski into the round before placing and Slater earning his second medal.

“This year was fun,” Schweitzer said. “I think this year at districts the best thing about it was even times we didn't question it but we had con-versations all the time this year “are we doing things the right way.” It wasn't that we weren't but we had a couple of set backs. We all sat down in this room the week before conference and said the process works. When it came through at districts it was so humbling and awe-some.”

Cory Schweitzer will receive the assistant coach of the year award at the NSWCA Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, June 8 at 5:00 p.m. at Bor-ders Inn & Suites in Grand Island. The event will hap-pen a day before Garfield coaches in the NSWCA all-star dual, which will be held at Grand Island Senior High.

Will You Answer the Call?“You hockey

puck.” - Don Rick-les

Hockey; a game invented by people who felt urban street riots weren’t violent enough to be a sport, and thought they could kick it up a notch by adding ice. I’ve never actually seen an entire hockey game. I’ve seen occasional bits and pieces, but I’ve never had the stomach to endure an entire game. It’s just too pain-ful to watch. I get too tense waiting for the bloodshed to start. I’ve never seen an entire epi-sode of “The Bach-elor” for the same reason. Still, from what I have seen, I gather hockey is basically a sort of a combination of soccer, “Disney on Ice” and a “Friday the 13th” movie. I suppose some

folk may accuse me of exaggerating the level of violence in a hockey game. If you do, I sug-gest you try this. First, find a hockey player. Next, find a meth addict. Now, try to tell the differ-ence based solely on the number of remaining teeth.What I find fasci-

nating about hock-ey are the kind of people attracted to it. If you look at football fans, they tend to be pretty much who you ex-pect. Husker fans, for example, are largely the same at home, at church or at the grocery store, as they are at a Husker game. Maybe they seem a bit more rowdy, a bit more passion-

ate at a Husker game, but that’s only because there are so many all in one place. Never-theless, they are pretty much like that all the time. Doubt me? Go find yourself a serious Husker fan and say something to him like, “Eh, Tom Osborne wasn’t all that.” When you regain conscious-ness, you’ll realize I was right.Want another ex-

ample? Irish rugby fans seem to be completely psy-chotic at a match, ready to riot at a moment’s notice. In truth, they are like that all the time. I was in Ire-land a few years ago, and here is a brief snippet of a conversation I overheard between a rugby fan and another fellow.Rugby Fan: “Oy!

I’ll rip yer bleeding ‘ead off and stick in on a pike if ye don’t watch yer mouth, ya wank-er!” Barista: “Easy, mate. I just asked if you wanted cin-namon on your latte.”Hockey fans

aren’t like that. They seem to be the Jekyll and Hyde of sports fanatics. The sort of screaming, bloodthirsty fans at a hockey match resemble Romans in the stands of the Colosseum, waiting for a guy in sandals and a leather miniskirt to get eaten by a lion. Yet, out in the real world, most of those people nice, quiet, polite indi-viduals who don’t seem like the high-

light of their week is watching some guy take a hockey stick to the head.Case in point:

hockey is the na-tional pastime of Canada. Yes, Can-ada. This country’s two major exports are good manners and Michael J. Fox. Canadians are famous for being laid back, well-mannered and, above all, nice.Well, there is a

reason Canadians love hockey. They need it. No one can be that nice all the time. It’s impos-sible. You have to have a release valve, something to let off steam before the pressure builds to an uncomfort-able degree and you explode. That’s how Cana-

dians do it. That’s how they stay nice all the time. Hock-ey is basically the Canadian version of “The Purge.”So I guess my

whole premise is that hockey fans are mild mannered with a violence alter-ego, not un-like Clark Kent and Superman, assum-ing Superman was a violent sociopath who liked to hit people in the face.But this isn’t just

true of the fans. It appears to be true of the players as well. Just take a look at one “hockey hero” in the news.During a recent

game, the Chicago Blackhawks had a bit of a dilemma.

Its seems both of their goalies had been injured and were unable to continue. One of them got hurt be-fore the game even started. So the team was forced to call in an “emer-gency goalie.”There is no spare

goalie sitting be-hind a glass panel in a wall with a tiny hammer and a sign reading, “In case of emergency, break glass.” Ap-parently, the NHL allows hockey teams to keep a list of players on call, like volunteer firefighters.Enter Scott Fos-

ter, an accoun-tant who hadn’t played competi-tively since 2006. He was called in to the game with 14 minutes left on the clock. According to reports, he made seven saves and allowed no goals, which is good, so I am told.So this is a fun

little story and, not surprisingly, people are kind of hung up on his be-ing an accountant. I can understand that. It’s a little hard to imagine some guy sitting at a keyboard, doing somebody’s taxes, when he gets the call to come and save the game. I imagine it is the fantasy of many sports fans to get a call like that, though few ever will.

LETTERS POLICYThe Fairbury Journal-News welcomes

opinions in the form of responsible let-ters to the editor. The FJN will publish letters as space permits but reserves the right to edit any letter for style, punctua-tion, spelling or vulgarity. The paper and its staff also reserve the right to reject any letter at its discretion. Letters must be signed (email is OK) and include ei-ther an email address or phone number for verification. Authors are restricted to submitting a letter once within a 30-day period.

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Cautiously Optimistic

Page 4 The Fairbury Journal-News Editorial Friday, April 6, 2018

Senator Laura Ebke, District 32

Last week was a “short week”, with ad-journment for the long Easter weekend coming at noon on Thursday, and con-tinuing until we went back into session on Tuesday, April 3.Topics for the week leading up to Eas-

ter included a proposal by Senator Lynn Walz (Fremont) to expand the use of social workers in the schools. The goal is to help identify potential problems of behavior and mental health, and to provide a navi-gator, of sorts, to aid in finding help when problems are identified. Increasingly—es-pecially in light of recent school based violence—states and school districts are looking for ways that they might head off violence in the schools, and identifying small problems before they become big problems is a part of that. The bill (LB998) advanced to Select File.A bill brought by Senator Briese (LB845),

which came through the Judiciary Com-mittee, would prohibit courts—in child custody cases—from limiting custody ar-rangements for one parent based purely on a disability. Courts would still consider the best interests of the child, and could gather evidence related to the disability and its impact on ability to parent, but a parent competing for custody rights would not be able to say “my ex-spouse is inca-pable of parenting because of their dis-ability” and have that be determinative. It moved to Select File, as well.After several fits and starts (and at-

tempts to gain cloture), on Wednesday night, we finally moved the budget bill (LB944) to Select File. A group of 6 or 8 senators—some representing one side of the Title X debate, some representing the other side—met on numerous occasions and were largely absent from the floor, until a compromise on the language was reached. The new language remains a significant barrier to Planned Parenthood receiving funding except under very lim-ited circumstances (abortion services are already not eligible for public money). In the case of all compromise, it would ap-pear that neither side felt totally pleased with the result. Nevertheless, a failure to act on a budget could have caused even more problems with the funding of vital services later. The Budget will likely have been passed on Final Reading by the time you read this.The Judiciary Committee’s “Corrections

Package” was advanced to Select File on Thursday before adjournment. The bill (LB841) contains elements of five bills which dealt with corrections issues this year. The goal of the committee was to demonstrate that the Legislature would continue to be focused on Corrections, and the many problems that exist in that system.Finally, by the time you read this, it’s

likely that my LB299 (Occupational Li-censing Reform) will have come to a Select File vote. I am optimistic about its chanc-es. We have spent a lot of time working with people across the political spectrum to tighten up language, make sure that our intentions were clear, etc. I see this as a critical first step in allowing our labor market to grow, and for easing govern-ment regulation of our economy. As always, you can contact me or my

staff by calling 402-471-2711, or by emailing me at lebke@leg.ne.gov.

Letters to the EditorEditor:Senate Candidate

Todd Watson That glorious sea-

son called “elections” is upon us once again. I would like to request your support for Todd Watson for Senate.Our God-given

rights have been diminished bit by bit. As evidenced by a recent editorial in the NY Times by retired SC Justice Stevens – the mask has now fallen – yes, America, they ARE coming after our 2nd Amendment rights! Read the new bill submitted in the House which would ban almost ALL semi-automatic weapons: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5087/textSenator Deb Fisch-

er co-sponsored the “Fix NICS” bill. Read Todd Watson’s statement - excerpt: “Senator Fischer Co-Sponsors Latest Gun Control Bill! Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Con-gressman Massie in this full video on the legislation. He clearly explains the plans of leadership with this bill for gun control.” http://

www.watson1776.com/press-release-statement-on-deb-fischer-co-sponsor-ing-latest-gun-con-trol-bill-fix-nics-bill/I always look at

campaign funding sources and have to wonder who Deb Fischer is really working for: the ma-jority of her fund-ing comes not from small individual con-tributions (5.26%) but from large individual contribu-tions (42.27%) and PAC contributions (48.64%), leaving 3.84% to “other” and $0 candidate self-

financing. https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00033443&cycle=2018Fischer voted FOUR

times for PP funding, yet claims to be pro-life. She voted FOR the TPA, transferring Senate authority to the President, and supported the TPP, which would result in the loss of our sovereignty and our religious liberty, and make transnational companies stronger so that local econo-mies are subordinat-ed under an obscure

process outside of our Constitutional law called the “in-vestor-state dispute settlement system.”Please send Deb

Fischer home and vote for Todd Wat-son.Doctor Warns: Stop

Eating This Vegeta-ble ImmediatelyGundry MDhttp://thirdpartyof-

fers.juno.com/TGL3131/5abea3bad015023ba2199st03ducJudy GreenPlainview, NECarol Clark, Diller,

NE

Page 5 The Fairbury Journal-News Editorial Friday, April 6, 2018

NEIGHBORS-42On Tuesday morning the Koffee

Klatchers had a surprise visitor, Al-ice Mae Mallory, wife of Felix Mallory who sees

ghosts and has seen them---and talked to them---ever since his brain “changed” after being struck by lightning and being in a coma for a couple of weeks. Despite his bizarre visions Alice Mae stuck with her “crazy” husband throughout every-thing.Because she had heard about the

Buzzard/Klatcher meeting two weeks before when it was discussed wheth-er Felix could ever buy a gun if men-tal illness were a consideration, Alice Mae came to defend her husband’s sanity. First, Alice Mae referred the Klatch-

ers to an article in the March issue of the Reader’s Digest that gave ex-amples of persons who had suffered terrible head injuries, just as Felix had, becoming “instant geniuses” with phenomenal abilities to do such things as: play the piano like Horow-itz; do complicated math problems; paint like a great artist; or, Alice Mae argued, see real ghosts, really real ghosts, she insisted. Felix was not crazy; he simply saw more reality than the rest of them.All this led to a discussion of ghosts

and belief in them. Clara Tobin told of living in a house in a small Illinois town where her husband taught when an old man came one day wanting to purchase a cook book Clara had written. She invited the man in, but he refused and said he was surprised they had rented the house. No one wanted to live in it. When she asked why he told her that a young man had committed sui-cide in the house and his ghost still haunted it. Soon after the old man’s story

Clara said she began to notice doors open and close with no one near them, and her thirteen year old son claimed his TV went off by itself at nine-thirty every night and refused to come on again until seven the next morning.Irma Doggett related her story of be-

ing alone on a seldom traveled road in Nevada late at night when she suffered a flat tire. As she sat in the car wondering what to do, the car door opened by itself, then closed. She looked around afraid but saw no one. She lay down in the front seat, nothing to do until morning when a rancher might come by and help her. Then she felt one side of the car be-ing raised. She looked up. No one. She collapsed onto the seat, but in fifteen minutes her flat had been changed, and she drove on. A ghost? Perhaps.Dorothy Flagg told about losing

her wedding ring while lying on the beach with her husband Tony one night near Miami. She didn’t real-ize it was gone until they returned to their motel. She was afraid to tell Tony. She would wait until morning to tell him. Then Tony had a strange idea. He insisted they return to the beach and sleep on the sand. He didn’t know why. So they went to a spot near where they had lain earlier in the night. Suddenly just as dawn was breaking Tony yelped, turned onto his side, reached into the sand, and retrieved his wife’s wedding ring…that at that moment he did not know she had lost. Had a friendly ghost directed him? Okay, so are ghosts real? Nearly

fifty percent of all Americans think so. As real as computers that seem to have all of the world’s information; as real as huge metal ships that do not sink; as real as giant aircraft that fly like birds. Just remember, as Hamlet said,

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy.” Amen to that.-Richard KimbroughAll proceeds from the book, “NEIGH-

BORS” will be given for cancer re-search. The book is available on Ama-zon.

The only art mu-seum in the country dedicated to this art form and the cen-ter for Dale Nichols research—will host a new exhibition of Dale Nichols and Terence Duren this summer.Opening May 2,

2018, and running through September 23, 2018, the exhibi-tion entitled, “Worthy Rivals: The Art of Dale Nichols and Ter-ence Duren”, com-pares the artwork of David City artist Dale Nichols (1904-1995) to Shelby, NE artist Terence Duren (1904-1968). An opening reception will be held Saturday, May 5, 2018 at the museum from 2:00-5:00pm. Guest Curator Cole Sartore will lecture about the exhibition at 2:30 and 4:00pm.Though both artists

were highly accom-plished painters in their own right, never before has there been a show designed to compare and contrast these two Nebraskans who grew up so close to one another with their hometowns of Shelby and David City less than 20 miles apart.The exhibition is

framed around the narrative of a docu-mented feud between Duren and Nichols, which came to light in

the summer of 1945 when both men were showing their work in their hometowns. A Time magazine article titled “War in the Corn” detailed their vastly different styles and artistic philoso-phies through their careers. Their shared personality traits and desire to prove supe-riority over each other led to an outspoken and heated exchange of words that was re-membered for years.The museum has

enlisted the young and energetic histo-rian Cole Sartore to serve as Guest Cu-rator for the exhibi-tion. Sartore has designed the show largely around direct comparisons of the individual paint-ings, so that view-ers can clearly see where their styles and sympathies aligned or diverged. Bothof the museum’s

gallery spaces will be filled with approxi-mately 40 paintings by Nichols and Du-ren.Some of these

paintings are in local private collections and several have been borrowed from major art institutions including the Kemper Museum of Contem-porary Art in Kansas City, the University of Arizona Museum of

Art in Tucson and the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, NE.Bone Creek Museum

hosted retrospective exhibitions for Dale Nichols in 2008 and 2011. This will be the first exhibition for it to feature Terence Duren so prominently as he is not typically considered anagrar-ian artist. “While many artists have strong, technical pro-ficiency, both Duren and Nichols had their own artistic theory as to why one should create art. Because of this their work stands out above the rest. It is my hope that through this exhibi-tion, their creative processes and theo-ries will shine bright-ly,” said Sartore. A book focused on the lives and works of each artist titled “Worthy Rivals: The Art of Dale Nichols and Terence Duren” is being published to coincide with the exhibition.“As Bone Creek

celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and remembers 50 years since Duren’s death, it is a notable time for the museum to contribute once again in a scholarly way to these local art-ists who had such an impact on the Ameri-can art movement

and the fine arts of Nebraska,” said Bone Creek curator Aman-da Mobley Guenther.The opening recep-

tion on May 5th at 575 E Street will also use the neighboring 569 gallery for an exhibition of “Who’s Next: 2020 Vision”. This future exhibition raises the question of who might be the next nationally known Nebraska artists. Also enjoy live music by Mistyn Kozisek and refreshments during the reception.The Nebraska Arts

Council, a state agen-cy, has supported this project through its matching grants program funded by

the Nebraska legisla-ture and the National Endowment for the Arts, and theNebraska Cul-

tural Endowment. Visit www.nebras-kaartscouncil.org for information on how the Nebraska Arts Council can assist your organization. In addition, the Butler County Area Founda-tion Fund and the Butler County Arts Council have spon-sored the exhibition and its connected educational pro-grams. Butler County Tourism and addi-tional sources have also made this major exhibition possible.

The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art

Page 6 The Fairbury Journal-News Agriculture Friday, April 6, 2018

This past week I at-tended the Agronomy Research Update and in-service training in Lincoln. One of the pro-gram updates that caught my eye (that wasn’t crop related) was a new app that has gone nationwide utilized by golf course turf managers across the country. It’s called greenkeeperapp.com Greenkeeper is an essen-tial decision support tool designed exclusively for turfgrass professionals by the Turf Program at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln but has nation-wide implications.

Users like the com-puter program because of the mobility to smart phones or tablets and it automatically keeps track of product efficacy. Golf courses that are using plant growth regulators benefit by following grow-ing degree day models and the user gets alerts or when control has expired from an applied product.

You can tag a target pest to the products you add to your turf or report pest outbreaks directly to help other turf manag-ers prepare for potential problems. If you ever want a challenge try to maintain a bentgrass green! To date 58 of the top 100 golf courses are using the app and alto-gether 3,600 nationwide.

Plugging or Dethatch-ing: It’s been slow to warm up this March but eventually warmer weath-er will have many of us excited to start improving home landscapes. There are always many tasks but don’t be too quick to do aggressive lawn cultiva-tion such as dethatching and aerating (plugging). While the soils are warm-ing, the plants are still de-

Valley® Irrigation has announced Southeast Valley Irrigation of Bruning, NE as a Valley Performance Plus Dealer at the company’s 2018 National Sales

Meeting. Southeast Valley Irrigation has earned this honor for excelling in the areas of

Valley Dealer Members pictured with Len Adams, Group President, Valmont Global Irrigation

Nebraska Rural Living Seeks Rural Art Submissions by May 1

Rural Nebraska artists who want to show and sell their paintings, sculp-tures, drawings orphoto-graphs are encouraged to submit samples of their work to the Nebraska Ru-ral Living Online ArtGal-lery by May 1.

Art submissions are jur-ied by professional artists who also live in rural Ne-braska, and chosen artists will gain a “storefront” on the Nebraska Rural Living online art gallery where they can promote, display andsell their art.

The online gallery launched in August 2016, and now 34 artists are promoting their art to thousands of Nebraska Rural Living readers around the world at www.nebraskaruralliving.com/art-gallery. Artists have also benefitted from ad-ditional opportunities to share their work at public events through theirselec-tion into the gallery.

The Nebraska Rural Liv-ing online artist submis-sion form is also available

in Spanish (online) to encourage a culturally diverse group of artists to submit their work.

The goal of the gallery is to give artists a platform to share and sell their art while at the same time increase knowledge and appreciation of life in rural Nebraska.

Art will be accepted throughout the year for future consideration in the gallery. Submissions will be juried each quarter with the following dead-lines: May 1, August 1, November 1 and Febru-ary 1. New artists will be added each quarter if selected.

To submit art for review, artists must have a Ne-braska address in a rural town with a population of 10,000 or less. Artists must also have a website so that patrons can pur-chase their work if they are chosen for the gallery. Four types of art can be submitted: paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs.

Nebraska Rural Living, founded in 2006, educates its more than 30,000 readers that rural Nebras-ka is vibrant and business-friendly with amenities that appeal to families, retirees, entrepreneurs and tourists.

For rules and criteria and to submit art to be ju-ried for the online gallery, visit www.nebraskarural-living.com/fine-art/.  Art-ists will be asked to upload five high-quality images of theirwork and submit an artist’s statement and a short biography.

The Nebraska Rural Living Fine Art in Towns Under 10,000 gallery is funded with the support of the Phelps County Community Founda-tion, the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Cul-tural Endowment, Great Western Bank and private donors.

For more information, contact gallery coordina-tor Kristine Jacobson

krjacobson@nebraskaru-ralliving.com.

Game and Parks Provide Updates on Cougar Research

and ManagementThe Nebraska Game

and Parks Commission delivered an update of its cougar research and newly approved manage-ment plan for the species to Panhandle residents this week. The informa-tion was delivered during public meetings in Gering on Wednesday, April 4, and Chadron on Tuesday, April 3.

The meetings featured a presentation by Sam Wilson, Commission carnivore and furbearer program manager, and addressed questions about the big cats, commonly referred to as mountain lions or pumas.

Wilson said cougars in Nebraska are part of a larger population that includes South Dakota’s Black Hills and states throughout the West.

Using a combination of genetic surveys and research captures, Wilson said the latest estimated population in the Pine Ridge is 59 mountain lions, which includes both adults and kittens, and outlined the meth-ods used to reach that number.

He pointed out that the Pine Ridge is one of three areas with resident populations, and the only area in the state where they have estimated the population. Resident populations also have been documented in the Wildcat Hills and Niobrara River Valley but no esti-mates have been made for the size of those recently formed populations. There is no statewide population estimate, and the number

of cougars in the Pine Ridge and the rest of the state continually fluctu-ates because of births, deaths, and animals mov-ing in and out of areas.

The Commission has col-lected DNA samples from scat since 2010 and has collected tissue samples of cats they have captured and equipped with GPS tracking collars the past three years. The Com-mission has 17 cougars with working collars, nine females and eight males. All but one those cats, a tom in the Wildcat Hills, are in the Pine Ridge area. During the research, the Commission has placed collars, or at least ear tags, on 58 cougars – a tally that includes many kittens and animals that have dispersed or not survived.

Wilson said the popula-tion data is sufficient to consider another moun-tain lion harvest season in the Pine Ridge. He noted that the Commission staff would continue to moni-tor the population includ-ing any known deaths and could make a recom-mendation to its Board of Commissioners based on the agency’s mountain lion management plan adopted in October 2017. The Board of Commis-sioners would then decide whether to hold a season.

Mountain lions are na-tive to Nebraska but dis-appeared from the state in the late 1890s, largely because of decimation of prey species, unregulated hunting and habitat loss. The first modern confir-mation of the species in

Timing is important in Lawncare

Valley® Irrigation Honors Southeast Valley Irrigation as a Performance Plus Dealer

Service,Aftermarket Support

and Sales.The Valley Performance

Program honors dealer-ships that excel in a vari-ety of measures including customer service ratings, goal achievements and core requirements in relation to dealership

growth plans.“We are proud to take

the opportunity to honor our dealers for their hard work and commitment

to Valley products and providing superior service to our customers,” stated Rich Panowicz, Vice

President of North American Sales. “Being named a Valley Perfor-mance Plus Dealer dem-onstrates their aptitude to go above and beyond in delivering the high-est level of service and product support in the industry.”

The Valley Performance Program allows the op-portunity for dealers to be recognized for their continued customer support and encourages them to go the extra mile in providing the highest level of product knowl-edge and advanced irriga-tion expertise.

the state was made in 1991. The Nebraska Leg-islature protected the cats with game animal status in 1995 and statutes to al-low hunting were created in 2012.

The Commission has had one hunting season for the species. Five moun-tain lions were harvested in 2014 – three in the Pine Ridge and two in northeast Nebraska.

Wilson noted that he views mountain lions as an important component to the ecosystem, and the Commission’s goal is to maintain a resilient, healthy and socially ac-ceptable mountain lion population. He said the Commission does not take harvest recommendations lightly, and noted that no game animal managed by the Commission has ever become endangered and game species such as deer, elk and turkeys have thrived with the same management principles used with mountain lions.

The meetings at the Gering Civic Center and Chadron State College Student Center were part of a series that also included a stop in North Platte the previous week and will end at Valentine on Wednesday, April 11. That meeting will be at the Cherry County Fair-grounds at 7 p.m. CDT.

More information about mountain lions in Nebraska, including the Commission’s manage-ment plan for the species, may be found at outdoor-nebraska.org/mountain-lions.

Learn traditional rifle marksmanship skills in a safe, family-friendly environment at the Project Appleseed clinic April 15 at Platte River State Park’s Roger G. Sykes Outdoor Heritage Complex.

Project Appleseed events teach traditional rifle marksmanship skills while reconnect-ing Americans of all ages and backgrounds to the people and events of our nation’s founding.

Only .22 rimfire rifles

Learn traditional rifle marksmanship at Project Appleseed event

hydrated and fragile. Let the plants rehydrate and begin to actively regrow before starting aggressive management practices. The grass will quickly recover from dethatch-ing and aeration once it beings to grow in early to mid-April. Patience is a virtue!

Crabgrass Preventer: Everyone always asks when the best time to put crabgrass preventers on for the product to work the best. The first step is thick, healthy turf due to management practices to prevent weeds. Tradition-ally, the window to apply crabgrass preventers is April 15 to May 5 provid-ed you read and follow the label or commercial ap-plication is done correctly. Freezing temperatures usually kill off any early germinating crabgrass in April. Split applications work even better to ex-tend your control. Don’t let air temperature fool you when it warms up. The soil temperature at 1 inch depth needs to be > 55˚ F for five days and then you have the best of both worlds for applica-tion and control.

Nitrogen Fertilizer: Generally, turf experts warn against a lot of nitrogen fertilizer in early spring. Turf usu-ally grows at a rapid rate once soil temperatures remain around 50-55 F. This explosion of growth is thought to be from freeze-thaw cycles during the winter, which release plant available nitrogen. Microbial activity is also low in early spring because the soils are cold. This means the grass roots have less competition for mineral nitrogen, and the grass surges once tem-peratures are conducive

for growth in the spring. Adding large quantities of additional nitrogen in early spring can promote excessive shoot growth. This depletes carbohydrate (sugar) reserves before the stress of summer.

If you apply a pre-emergence herbicide combined with fertilizer in April, then your May nitrogen fertilizer applica-tion should be reduced or skipped. Some profes-sional lawn care compa-nies have more flexibility with products available to them, and can give a more gradual feeding of the grass plants and produce a high quality lawn.

Locally there are nu-merous good commercial outlets that carry slow release fertilizer for sale. New this year, Farmer’s Cooperative in Wilber is handling an economical, professional brand, slow release lawn fertilizer for home or acreage owners.

For more information on lawn care, go to turf.unl.edu or with home fertilizer management go to https://go.unl.edu/ho-menfertilizer

b

This can be alife threatening problem!

Get your pet tested by our Veterinarians

& protect monthly with Heartgard

Phone: (402) 729-2204

April is Heartworm Awareness Month

Countryside Veterinary Clinic3030 Industrial Drive, Fairbury

Real Estate Broker, Auctioneer & General Certified Appraiser 145 North 4th Street, Hebron, Neb. • 402-768-7270

View this auction on the web at www.eltingauction.com

Brad Elting & Co.Sale Conducted by

ABSOLUTE LAND AUCTION TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2018

STARTING PROMPTLY @ 10:30 A.M.SECREST PUBLIC LIBRARY, HEBRON, NE

80 Acres selling near Hebron, NE JERRY & CAROL ANDERSON

FAMILY TRUST, SELLER

Auction ReminderTo be held at the site at Merchant’s Bldg, Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds,

Fairbury, NE on Saturday, April 14, 2018 • 10:00 am Public viewing Friday, April 13 • 4-6 pm

Tractor & Equipment - Sporting Items Furniture and Appliances - Household

Collectibles - Equipment, Tools & LawnFor Ron and Nioma Francis/Jan Gibson

& othersSteve Kettelhut, Fairbury NE - 402-300-0547 Steve Siemsen, Fairbury, NE - 402-729-7876

Scott McGee, Fairbury NE - 402-300-2659 Clerk: Kettelhut Real Estate, 515 E St., Fairbury, NE•729-3060

will be allowed at this daylong event (Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 rifles not allowed). Participants will learn the six steps to firing a shot, natural point of aim, steady hold fac-tors, and much more. Participants must be at

least 8 years of age.The fee is $10. Regis-

ter or get more infor-mation at http://calen-dar.outdoornebraska.gov/event/project-app-leseed-22-competition-2?instance_id=6689. A park entry permit is required.

Page 7 The Fairbury Journal-News Comics Friday, April 6, 2018

Page 8 The Fairbury Journal-News Recipe Friday, April 6, 2018

Great Food with Help from Ray’s Apple Market

Ingredients2 tablespoons vegetable oil1/2 medium onion, finely

chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 pound lean ground beef 2 teaspoons sloppy joe or

chili seasoning mix Kosher salt and freshly

ground black pepper 2 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 teaspoon Worcestershire

sauce 2 tablespoons chopped fresh

flat-leaf parsley Two 8-ounce tubes crescent

roll dough, unseparated About 1/2 cup shredded

sharp Cheddar

Preheat the oven to 350 de-grees F.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stir-ring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the ground beef, seasoning mix, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring and breaking up any clumps, until brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the ketchup, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup water and simmer,

Ingredients3 eggs , yolks and

whites separated1/2 cup caster

sugar (known as super fine / baker's sugar in the US)1/2 tsp vanilla

extract8 oz / 250g mas-

carpone (Note 5)1 1/4 cups hot

espresso coffee - strong! (Note 1)2 tbsp (or more!) of

liquor of choice - I like Frangelico and Kahlua6.5 oz / 200g (24

- 30) lady fingers , pavesini or savoiardi biscuits (Note 2)Cocoa , for dusting

Beat yolks and sugar in stand mixer on medium high for 12 minutes or until white and thick. (Note 3)Add vanilla and

mascarpone, beat until just com-bined. Transfer mixture to a bowl, set aside.Clean bowl and

whisk. Beat egg whites until stiff.Fold 1/3 of the

yolk mixture into the egg whites. Then gradually fold the remaining yolk mixture in and mix until just com-bined. (Note 4)Mix coffee and

liquor together. Quickly dip biscuits in and line the bot-tom of a 8”/20cm square dish. (See video to see how I arrange them).Spread over half

the cream, then top with another layer of coffee dipped bis-cuits.Spread with re-

maining cream.Cover, refrigerate

for at least 3 hours, preferably overnightDust with cocoa

powder just before serving - either be-fore you cut or after placing onto serving plates.\

stirring occasionally, until most of the water has evapo-rated, about 4 minutes. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room tem-perature.

Unroll the tubes of crescent dough but do not separate along the perforations. Pinch the seams of two of the trian-gles together to make a rectan-gle and then cut that rectangle off from the rest of the roll at the seam. Repeat with the re-maining dough.

Lay the rectangles of dough out on a work surface and cut each in half to make 2 squares. You will have 16 squares. Put 1 rounded table-spoon of the sloppy joe filling in the center of each. Mound a rounded 1/2 teaspoon of Cheddar on top of the beef (there will be cheese leftover). Gather the edges of the dough up over the filing to make a little pouch and pinch to seal each edge. Arrange the pouch-es on a parchment-line bak-ing sheet and mound a little cheese on top of each.

Bake the pouches until the dough is golden brown and cooked through, about 20 min-utes. Serve warm.

Sloppy Joe Pockets

Hamburger SoupIngredients:1 pound lean ground beef 1 cup chopped carrots 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup

chopped onion 6 cubes beef bouillon 5 cups

water 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce Two servings of veggies in every

1/2 cup of sauce. 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

In a medium skillet, brown hamburger over medium heat. Drain off fat.Combine beef, carrots, celery,

onions, bouillon, water, tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, salt, corn, basil, and ketchup in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours.

Ingredients4 portobello mushrooms

(about 1 1/4 pounds total), stems discarded 1/4 cup ol-ive oil kosher salt and black pepper 4 slices Cheddar (about 4 ounces) 3 medium russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into wedges 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 1/3 cup mayonnaise 2 table-spoons Dijon mustard let-tuce and sliced red onion, for serving 4 English muffins, split and toasted.

Step 1Heat oven to 425° F. Rub

the mushrooms with 2 table-spoons of the oil, and ¼ tea-spoon each salt and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet.

Step 2Place the mushrooms stem-

side down and roast until

Easy Tiramisu

Portabella Mushroom Burgers

tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Top each mushroom with a slice of Cheddar and continue to cook until melted, 3 to 5 minutes more.

Step 3Meanwhile, on a separate rimmed

baking sheet, toss the potatoes with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 18 to 20 minutes; toss with the parsley.

Step 4Mix together the mayonnaise and

mustard in a small bowl.

Step 5Stack the lettuce, mushrooms,

onion, and mayonnaise mixture between the English muffins.

Ingredients5 chocolate sandwich

cookies such as Oreos 2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly soft-ened 1/4 cup milk

Place 3 cookies in a ziplock bag. Seal bag and crush cook-ies with a rolling pin. In a blender, combine ice cream and milk. Blend until smooth. Add crushed cook-ies and pulse a few times just to blend. Pour into 2 tall glasses and garnish each with a cookie (or a dol-lop of whipped cream drizzled with chocolate syrup, if desire

Friday, April 6, 2018 The Fairbury Journal-News Page 9

exclusiveFriday Sports

fjn VarsityLetters

Matt EdsonBy Jim Phelps

Fairbury Journal-News

2005

Getting involved in sports at a young age has paid huge divi-dends for Matt Edson through high school and college and on into his professional life.Edson has been

around sports for the majority of his life and he has had a passion for sports re-gardless of the sport that he was compet-ing in at the time.Matt is a 2006

graduate of Fairbury Jr.-Sr. High School, and was a three-sport athlete for the Jeffs earning four letters in football, three in bas-ketball, and one letter in track and field.Edson had suc-

cess in all three of the sports that he participated in with his greatest success taking place on the gridiron.During his high

school football career, Edson compiled a number of records in-cluding most tackles for a career with 399, shares the season re-cord for tackles with Aaron Smith each with 163 stops, and he owns the single game mark for tackles with 33 versus Crete in 2005.Following gradua-

tion from Fairbury, Matt attended William Jewell College in Lib-erty, Mo. to compete in football and earn his college degree in physical education with a secondary in coaching in 2010.Matt’s first three

years of playing col-lege football were under the guidance of head coach Fran Schwenk, who had been the head football coach from 1984-2004 at Doane Col-lege in Crete, Ne.During his freshman

year, Edson started at inside linebacker and then was moved to outside lineback-er, and eventually switched over to of-fense to play fullback.Late in his fresh-

man year through his senior season, Edson played entirely on of-fense as a fullback for the Cardinals.“I liked to play de-

fense better in foot-ball, but the offense got me to where I am today. Looking back it was a good change,” Edson mentioned.Matt was a two-year

letterman in football for William Jewell College.Of the three sports

in high school that Matt participated in his favorite was foot-ball.“Football was my

number one sport, as I always had a pas-sion for the game.

My dad Rod Edson coached me through my entire high school football career and he was a heavy influ-ence for me. We had a number of good players in my class that had a lot of tal-ent and that made it fun when we played our games or were in our daily practices,” Edson said.Competing against

the opposition made athletics entertaining for Matt.“To compete hard

every day and try and beat the person across from you. There is nothing else much like it. You can learn so many life lessons in athletics. Losing is something that is hard, but you have to respond and bounce back to that challenge,” Edson commented.Matt feels athletics

teaches the athlete so much about life itself.“I think one of the

greatest aspects about sports is how it teaches athletes how to win gracefully and take on a tough defeat. One time after a big win you are so high that you are floating, and then you may suffer a gut-wrenching loss then you hit a low. At that point you have to find the middle ground and respond and work to get better. As an athlete you have to take the challenge head on,” Edson re-plied.As a senior, Matt

earned several post-season honors for his play in football in-cluding All-Sunland, All-Conference, and All-District.Matt began his

endeavors in sports at the young age of five or six starting out playing T-Ball.“I grew up in Scotia,

Ne and started play-ing T-Ball between five and six years old. As I got older I played on select baseball teams in Grand Is-land before moving to Fairbury. T-Ball got my introduced to sports and from then on I just branched out in a number of sports,” Edson stated.After moving to

Fairbury, Matt got involved in playing football by participat-ing in a flag football league run by Jeff Vetter on Saturday mornings.“I got a thrill play-

ing flag football every Saturday morning. We switched up teams which was a lot of fun. Football got into my blood and it has stayed there ever since,” Edson remarked.Several individuals

inspired Matt as a young athlete starting out in sports.“As a young person

I was the football stu-dent manager for my dad when he coached at North Loup-Scotia and I learned a lot from the players on the team. Both Glen Snodgrass and Mike Kern were on that

football team that my dad coached to a state football cham-pionship in 1997 in eight-man football. Now both are suc-cessful coaches at York High School in football and girls basketball. Those two individuals were some of my idols growing up. I wanted to become just like Glen and Matt who were both great high school athletes who both went on to play football in college,” Edson noted.“I have a special

bond with my fahter, Rod. He was a huge inspiration to me. I always wanted to do my best and make him proud. He would always take time to help me along with my sister, Kilee and my younger brother, Zach in whatever sport we were com-peting in,” Edson said.Throughout his

career in athletics, Matt credits specific coaches that helped him gain success and

prepare for life after sports.“I have had a num-

ber of great coaches from my father, Rod Edson to Rick Bell my head boys basket-ball coach at Fair-bury. Those two men showed me the way to reach my highest potential. They each taught me to be my best in athletics as well as being a gentle-man. In college, Fran Schwenk who had previously coached football at Doane College is one of the main reasons I went to William Jewell College. Fran ran his football program to make his players the best they could be. He instilled in his ath-letes how to win with class and be gentle-men off the field. Those to me were im-portant life-long les-sons that I learned,” Edson responded.When asked what

word or words best describes himself, Matt listed a pair of words.“I would like to think

that I’m a hard work-er and I was a player that was dedicated to what he did. Anything that I did I tried to do it to my fullest and best whether in high school, college, or in my professional life today,” Matt acknowl-edged.Competing and

participating in ath-letics in high school and college, Matt has his share of special memories.“One of favorite

memories was play-ing Elkhorn Mount Michael in football during my junior year at home. I broke my pinkie on a play and I went to sideline and

one of my coaches said we need you in to score a touch-down. I went back in with my glove torn

on my hand and the bone sticking out the side and the team runs a fullback dive to score that touch-down. After that I got my pinkie popped back into place along with taping the finger and then I continued to play the rest of the game. After the game I went and got stitches. Another fond memory was hitting three home runs in a legion baseball game at Norris, and com-peting with my team-mates in the Class B American Legion Se-niors State Baseball Tournament in Bea-trice in 2004. Any-time you go to state and compete that is a big accomplish-ment. I got to pitch in the opening round game versus Omaha Roncalli and the team won the game which was a good memory,” Matt stated.Not every high

school athlete that goes on to college has an opportunity to compete in athletics so Matt was thrilled that he had the chance to participate in college athletics.“One of my greatest

accomplishments in my life was earning a college athletic schol-arship to compete in football at Wil-liam Jewell College. I enjoyed the recruiting process that I went through being pur-sued by a number of schools. I enjoyed being a college athlete my four years for I built life-long rela-tionships. Building those relationships is something I will always remember,” Edson remarked.Besides William

Jewell College in the

recruiting hunt for Matt, Sioux Falls Uni-versity, and the Uni-versity of Nebraska-Kearney were looking at him for football, while Midland Univer-sity wanted Matt to play baseball.According to Matt

competing in sports can teach you so much about life itself.“As I said before,

dedication and hard work are two valuable aspects that you take away from sports. As an athlete you experi-ence the highs and lows in every sport that you take part in. You are going to expe-rience highs and lows daily, weekly, and yearly in your life. It is how you overcome that as a person that will be the most important lesson you can learn. Being an athlete you will find out that there is always somebody bet-ter. It is your goal to out-work that person with hard work, de-sire, and dedication,” Edson commented.“That plays true in

life. People that work hard are going to go a long ways. You will be a step above your competition,” Edson replied.Matt’s former high

school football coach and father Rod Edson remarked on the qualities that made Matt the athlete that he was.“He (Matt) was a re-

ally tough competitor. He likes to compete in any type of sport. Matt was always up for a challenge in all of his sports he took part in. That is what made Matt the athlete he was,” Rod acknowledged.Coach Edson feels

that Matt’s start in sports came from him being so competitive. “As a young boy,

Matt and I would go out in the yard and play nine innings of T-Ball. He always wanted to bat and I would do the pitch-ing. At his young age Matt was very com-petitive and loved to play any kind of sport. At an early age

in Scotia, Matt would always compete against bigger kids and that really helped him as he got older. Once he got to play with kids his own age he kind of stood out with his play,” Edson stated.“Matt put so much

time in the weight room to improve his play. As an athlete he went all-out through each and every drill, and he battled his teammates in scrim-mages to the extreme until the whistle blew,” Edson re-marked.Mental toughness

was a key ingredient that Matt brought to his high school foot-ball team.“As a player, Matt

brought mental toughness to the team. He was always looking to get the last hit and finish off his opponent. As a middle linebacker on defense, Matt was always looking to place a hit on the op-ponent’s top player. He loved a challenge thrown at him, for he would not back down,” Edson com-mented.For the past six

years, Matt has been a teacher at Fairbury Jr.-Sr. High School in the Academic Support Program.Besides teaching,

Matt has a full plate being the offensive coordinator for the Fairbury Jeffs var-sity football team, is the freshman/assis-tant girls basketball coach, and this is his first year as the head varsity girls track and field coach with his main priority on the pole vaulters and the middle distance run-ners.“Being a teacher and

a coach I get experi-ence the highs and lows with the group of kids that I work with. We get to experience the joys and sorrows of competition togeth-er. It makes for life-long memories that I will never forget. The kids keep me hungry and motivated to do better,” Matt replied.

We get to experience the joys and sorrows of competition to-gether. It makes for life-long mem-ories that I will never forget.--Matt Edson