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Sept. 10, 1925
HARTINGTON — Stiff sentences have been handed out during the past week to two men who appeared before Judge Bryant in the county court.
Leslie Turner got a 45-day jail sentence on a bad check charge, while Harold Powell was sentenced to three months in jail on an assault charge and fined $50 on a charge of intoxication.
Turner was brought into court last Thursday, charged with drawing a check for one dollar on a Wynot bank, without having sufficient funds to pay it.
Evidence was introduced to show that this was somewhat of a habit with him, and he pled guilty to the charge against him. His jail sentence is to be worked out, with a bread and water diet if he refuses to work.
Powell’s case dates since last June, when he was accused of causing some trouble at Homewood Park.
Arraigned last Thursday, he pled not guilty on both charges of assault and intoxication. The cases were carried over until Saturday, when a number of witnesses were summoned into court.
After hearing their evidence, Judge Bryant found Powell guilty on both charges. The $50 fine given on the intoxication charge could be worked out after finishing the jail sentence for assault, according to a ruling by the judge.
Powell appealed each case to the district court, and will have his hearing there next week.
Sept. 10, 1925
HARTINGTON — Corporations in Cedar county would pay approximately one-fifteenth of the total cost of an addition to the court house which would provide adequate office room for county officials and suitable vaults in which to keep the county records, if the board of county commissioners would make a levy to provide funds with which to build such an addition.
The architect who drew plans for the proposed addition which incorporates all the features now needed placed the estimated cost at $26,500.
Figuring the valuation of the property in Cedar county at close to $58,000,000, a tax levy of one-half of one mill for one year would provide approximately $29,000 to build and equip such an addition. That levy would be more than enough for the purpose, it is believed.
Taking the valuation of various corporations in the county and figuring the tax to be paid on onehalf of one mill, these corporations’ tax would amount to $700 toward an addition to the court house: Burlington railroad, which has its property in the county assessed at $2,163,938, would be the largest single taxpayer for this purpose, the tax levy would bring in $1,081.97 from that road.
The levy of one-half of one mill would bring in the following taxes from other corporations in the county: Burlington railroad, $315.75; Tri-State Utilities company, $7.75; Meridian Hwy Bridge company, $200; Western Union Telegraph company, $5.91; American Railway Express company, $1.16; Minnesota Electric Distributing company, $16.20; and the 83 telephone companies in the county, $58.67.
The amounts which would be paid by the three commissioners if the addition was to be built might also be of interest. Commissioner A. B. Shively, who has been consistently in favor of giving adequate protection for the county’s records and room for the officials, would pay $10.67 in taxes, taking the theoretical one-half of one mill as a basis for the levy.
Commissioner J. J. Thoene, who voted against any addition to the court house, would pay $3.75 on the same ruling.
Commissioner Alfred Anderson, who also opposed any addition from the start of the discussion about it and who voted against the proposition last week, would pay just $2.26.
County Treasurer Martin Nelson, who has advocated the making of a levy for an addition, would pay more than any of the commissioners, for his tax would total $22.91.
Mr. Nelson is vitally interested in the proposed addition, because the passage of the new automobile registration law which requires all receipts to be issued in January, just at the time when tax payments are heavy, makes it a physical impossibility to do the work in the present office and with the present force.
The vault in Mr. Nelson’s office has been condemned time and again by state examiners.
To determine what the tax for an addition to the court house would cost the farmers of the county, several farms were picked at random over the county, all of them with assessed valuations ranging from $17,000 to over $40,000. J. C. Guinn, a prominent farmer near Laurel, would pay a tax of approximately $9.00. William Gries, another well known farmer living near Belden would pay around $10.00 toward the addition. Charles Joslin, one of the large land owners of the county, would pay about $16.00. Charles Evans would pay about $8.50. F. H. Dirks of near Coleridge would have around $17.00 for his share.
