Year in Review - Film crew is back to work on TV show here
July 31, 2019
HARTINGTON — Cedar County Judge Douglas Luebe set a $1 million bond Wednesday for attempted murder suspect Kevin Haug, Fordyce.
Haug, 44, who appeared before the judge without an attorney, was charged with five crimes; Attempted murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, burglary, use of a deadly weapon and possession of a deadly weapon. All of which are felonies and have a potential to be dealt with in the state court.
Haug allegedly broke into the Fordyce home of his wife, Rhea Haug, and stabbed James Olson, 58, in the early morning hours of July 2.
Olson suffered stab wounds to his abdomen, hand and thigh. He was transported to Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, S.D., after the incident, where he underwent surgery for his injuries.
In order to bond out of jail, Haug will need to produce 10 percent or $100,000.
In asking for the $1 million bond, Cedar County Attorney Ed Matney said this is a matter of public safety.
Matney said Haug’s past criminal record shows he is dangerous.
“These are very serious charges. The defendant was already out on bond,” the county attorney said. “Additional charges may be coming soon.”
Matney said additional charges could be filed against Haug, who is also accused of fleeing from law enforcement to avoid arrest.
Haug’s next court appearance is set for Aug. 2, at 10:45 a.m.
Haug was led into the first floor courtroom by Cedar County Sheriff Larry Koranda. His right arm was heavily bandaged as a result of injuries suffered in a Pleasant Valley accident on the evening of July 2. He was being pursued by law enforcement when the accident took place.
Haug was originally scheduled to be in court on drug charges, but hearings were held in both cases.
Aug. 7, 2019
HARTINGTON — Two Chicago area men were apprehended by Cedar County law enforcement after allegedly attempting to fraudulently obtain narcotics from an area drug store.
Anthony Hamilton, 20, and Deon Wadley, Jr., 26, both of suburban Chicago, were arrested after fleeing from Steffen Drug Store in Hartington.
Court documents allege Hamilton attempted to fraudulently obtain narcotics from the drug store.
Cedar County Sheriff Larry Koranda entered the store as Hamiltonwas purchasing narcotics he allegedly obtained through a fraudulent prescription. Once the purchase was made, Koranda attempted to apprehend him, but Hamilton was able to shove his way past Koranda and run out the door. Koranda then gave chase as the two ran down Broadway Street. Hamilton was apprehended a short time later on State Street by Chief Deputy Chad Clausen.
Wadley is accused of being the get-away driver. He left the scene when law enforcement showed up, but was later apprehended by Nebraska State Patrol.
Both men are now being lodged at the Cedar County Jail charged with five felonies related to the incident. Bond was set at $250,000 for Wadley, while bond for Hamilton was set at $150,000.
They are both scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Cedar County Court Aug. 28 in front of Judge Douglas Luebe.
Aug. 14, 2019
HARTINGTON — Water rates could soon see an increase here.
After an examination of similar-sized communities around the region, city officials have discovered Hartington charges one of the lowest rates around for its city utilities.
“Our current water, sewer and garbage expenses and income are about breaking even, giving us no cushion,” Mayor Mark Becker told City Council members Monday. “If we need infrastructure improvements, we simply don’t have the funds for that with these kind of rates.”
Earlier this year the city discussed the possibility of putting in a new well. The city will also have to do something in the near future to improve the storm sewer system and water drainage along North Madison Avenue in downtown Hartington, Council members were told Monday.
The city does not have the fundsin thebudgettomakethese kinds of improvements.
Councilman Cody Christensen said the Council is realizing the rates are simply too low to be sustainable.
“We are pretty much realizing we haven’t been charging enough for the system as is. We are just trying to come up to speed with this,” he said.
Aug. 14, 2019
HARTINGTON — Imagine this, you are sitting in front of your television in your favorite spot.
Dinner in hand, you flip through the channels endlessly searching through the mundanity of TV. Then, while surfing the channels you see your next door neighbor flash across the screen. Quickly you flip back to the National Geographic channel to see the veterinarians that you take Fido to on screen.
For Hartington area residents this may soon become a reality.
Local veterinarians Ben and Erin Schroeder are in the midst of filming a TV show with Glass Entertainment that will be aired on Nat Geo Wild sometime in January 2020. The working title currently is Homestead Vets.
The nationally syndicated show focuses primarily on the couple’s love of animals as well as area farmers’ connection to the animals that help fund their livelihood.
It all started just about a year ago when the Omaha World-Herald published an article about the couple fixing up the Historic Hartington Hotel.
That story generated quite a bit of interest. It was picked up by the Associated Press where it then found its way into the hands of Glass Entertainment’s research team.
They were not the first to find the family though. After the article came out, many different media outlets tried to reach the Schroeders.
They never expected such a huge response.
“It is just too weird, this just doesn’t happen to people. It is crazy,” Dr. Erin Schroeder said.
After some Skype interviews, it was decided a crew of seven would come to Hartington in August 2018, to film a little bit of their lives.
Once it was edited, the Glass entertainment group pitched their TV series idea to National Geographic. After another Skype interview with Ben and Erin, the TV network immediately ordered not just a test episode, but sent it straight into a production as a new series.
They got the news just before Christmas last year.
The call came as a big surprise, but it was a surprise they had to take advantage of, Erin said.
“There wasn’t going to be another knock on the door like this to be an advocate for Nebraska,” Erin said. “I felt it was too important of a role to pass up.”
Matt Carte, the executive producer of the first season, said what made the two veterinarians stand out was their personalities and the kind of animals with which they deal.
“Their passion for animals is evident in everything they do,” Matt said. “Vets pay a central role in this area compared to vets you would see in more urban areas. They are directly involved in the economic development and well-being of the community.”
The crew returned in full force and began filming.
“We spent every hour for the past 12 weeks with them,” Matt said in an interview in June. “We live in their hotel, we eat their food and buy from local businesses, it is an investment,” he said.
The film crew follows the family around 24-7 — practically every hour of every day when they are here.
Aug. 21, 2019
HARTINGTON — When Ben and Erin Schroeder purchased the vacant Hartington Hotel, they got a vacant lot across the street as part of the deal.
They originally thought of building a parking lot there, but decided against it. A small downtown park with trees, bushes and seating was also considered, but again, they decided against that plan.
It was finally decided to donate the land to either the city of Hartington or to one of the local veterans groups so the community of Hartington could build a veterans’ memorial, much like the ones recently constructed in Coleridge, Crofton, Wynot and Randolph.
Members of Hartington’s three veterans organizations — VFW, American Legion and AmVets — met recently and decided to accept an offer to build a veteran’s memorial in downtown Hartington.
Exactly who will own the donated land is still undecided, but one thing is for sure, the local veterans want to see a memorial built on that corner.
Local veterans have some very ambitious plans for that site.
Dean McGregor and Dan Kathol spokelastweek with the Hartington City Council about the idea.
Kathol estimates the memorial will cost an estimated $200,000 to build, but no firm figures have yet been established.
Aug. 21, 2019
HARTINGTON — The public school system is on the grow here, while Hartington’s Catholic school system saw a slight enrollment decrease this year.
Hartington-Newcastle has a total Pre-kindergarten to grade 12 enrollment of 380 students. This is nine more students than were enrolled at HNS in the 2018-19 school year.
There are 99 students enrolled in high school at Hartington-Newcastle.
“It’s great we continue to have people that want to be a part of our school district,” Supt. A.J. Johnson said.
This marks the third straight year HNS has seen an increase in enrollment.
The local public school system had 330 students enrolled in prek-12 in 2017 and 371 in those same grades last year.
Cedar Catholic-Holy Trinity had 365 pre-k to grade 12 students enrolled last year, but has only 360 students in those grades this school year. This marks the fourth year in a row the local Catholic school system has seen an enrollment decrease.
There were 398 students enrolled in the Catholic school system here in the 2016-17 school year.
Aug. 28, 2019
HARTINGTON — Back to
work, to play, to living.
That’s the philosophy Mark Spier, MSPT, owner of Spier
Phyiscal Therapy, applies each day.
And that’s what he is
bringing with the services now available in Hartington.
“We’re looking forward to
getting up there and meeting
our patients and helping them in a variety of ways,” Spier said.
Spier is now taking patients at its shared location with First Chiropractic, 201 N. Broadway.
The first day for their
practice is scheduled for Sept. 3, and will be open Monday,
Tuesday and Thursday. Spier
will see patients Monday, while Jake Reifenrath will be their
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“I didn’t want to be on top
of each other,” Spier said of
the shared space. “This just
worked out well with our hours, and with Jake’s (Reifenrath)
schedule.”
Sept. 4, 2019
HARTINGTON — At least one area resident has been diagnosed with the mumps, local officials say.
The Northeast Neb. Public Health Dept. said a person in their coverage region has been diagnosed with the disease.
Hartington-Newcastle School Supt. A.J. Johnson notified parents in the school district that more than one local person has been diagnosed with
mumps, and parents should take extra precautions.
According to Avera Medical Clinic Dr. Connie Micek, as of Aug. 28, there were four confirmed cases of the mumps in Nebraska and one confirmed in S.D.
The first exposure occurred Aug. 3 at a wedding in Yankton, S.D. State Health Department reports indicated.
Hartington-Newcastle Supt. A.J. Johnson said as of last week, there had been no cases of mumps reported at the local public school. The school is being pro-active, though, he said.
“Precautions are being taken at school through classroom education and cleaning
schedules, to help prevent this disease from occurring in our student body,” Johnson said.
Supt. Johnson urged
parents to help make sure this disease does not spread any further.
“It is very important that (parents) help us in these precautions by not sending a student to school if they exhibit the signs and symptoms of the mumps,” he said.
Sept. 4, 2019
HARTINGTON — The March flood here is costing Cedar County at least $1.5 million for road and bridge repairs.
At the Aug. 27 Cedar
County Commission meeting, the board met with Brad
Slaughter from Ameritas and signed resolution 19-06 to issue highway allocation fund pledge bonds for $1.5 million to make road and bridge repairs and improvements caused by the spring flooding.
The county is expected to receive FEMA disaster funds some time this fiscal year which should pay for a large portion of the flooding expenses the county incurred.