Hearts United for Animals, a shelter just south of Nebraska City, has been active in rescuing several dogs from puppy mills in nearby communities. Director of the animal rights group, Carol Wheeler, has been receiving a lot of attention in the news and on television after several puppy mill raids saved dogs from horrible living conditions. Days ago another dog was rescued, a two-year-old poodle from a nearby puppy mill. Previously in October a breeder near Grand Island and another near Columbus surrendered starving dogs to the group. A vet checks all the rescued dogs and an effort is made to adopt them out when healthy. Rescued animals are never terminated for lack of finding them a new adopting family.
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It’s called BECA, the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act, and what it does is allocate $320,000 in state funds to rural communities for, what the Nebraska Governor calls, community economic development. Of the BECA money, Nebraska City will receive a slice to use in cooperation with Table Rock to create a web page. Will the grant money be in the form of a loan that has to be paid back to the state from local funds, and what is this web page supposed to do for our community? These are the questions we will explore in our investigation.
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Julie Naberhaus has been a licensed real estate agent in Nebraska City for about five years now, and has worked for Century 21 Bremer Agency. She has established a reputation as a fair and trustworthy agent with a unique forthcoming concern for placing homebuyers in a home that is right for them. This summer Julie married local businessman Sam O’Neal, owner of Champion Construction, while she also campaigned for a seat on the Nebraska City City council. Monday night during the Nebraska City city council meeting Julie learned that she would receive financial help from Nebraska City utilizing a $35,000 grant from the economic development revolving loan fund. She will use the money to start her new real estate company, Arbor City Reality, which she plans to open in January.
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Desperate parents have dropped off 34 children at Nebraska hospitals since Nebraska’s new safe-haven law took effect. Most were preteens and teenagers as old as 17. Today Nebraska state legislators have agreed on a more reasonable age limit to the safe-haven law. A 30-day age limit on children who can be dropped off at hospitals will likely be adopted as a result of today’s debate. Yet some legislators say establishing an age limit for the law won’t fix glaring holes in services for children in trouble.
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Nebraska City businessman Farzad Rahmani owns Sundance Laundry & Tanning and World Auto Sales on 1651 South 11th Street as well as the old Livingston’s building at 807 Central Avenue downtown Nebraska City. Our sources say he benefited from a grant through local government to help him establish his coin operated laundry and auto sales business. If taxpayers have already given him a hand-up, why do they have to fork over more money to bail him out of his crumbling building bind? At tonight’s city council meeting plans will be discussed to bail Farzad out by handling the demolition of his condemned building which has been deemed a hazard by the city building inspector. Farzad say’s he’s too broke to pay for the demolition of his own building.
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Monday night will be the last regular city council meeting for Nebraska City Mayor JoDee Adelung. Also concluding meeting business on the city council are commissioners Erv Friesen and Leon Schiermeyer. In December Jack Hobbie will be sworn in as the new Mayor of Nebraska City. Brett Gay will replace Public Works Commissioner Erv Friesen and Jeffrey Crunk will replace Leon Schiermeyer as Parks Commissioner. This election cycle didn’t include Street Commissioner Dean Handy or Finance Commissioner Mark Mercer. They will remain on the city council along with the new members in 2009.
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When 115 acres of farmland is rezoned for commercial use, the likely result is a notable increase in property value. That would be a great deal for the owner, right? So, when a local farmer and businessman who shares an office with our city attorney asks to have his farmland rezoned, a few eyebrows are raised. After a Nebraska City News dot-com reader asked us to investigate, we got out he shovel and did some digging. What we found out about the 115 acres south of Arbor Day Farm, the owner, and the zoning change request might interest you, and answer some questions for those with elevated curiosity.
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45-year-old JoAnn Taylor was just released from prison yesterday after DNA evidence cleared her and five other people in the rape and murder of Helen Wilson of Beatrice. In 1989 the state convicted then 26-year-old Taylor to a 40 year prison sentence. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning asked for the parole hearing after DNA testing of evidence from the 23-year-old crime scene identified Helen Wilson’s killer as Bruce Allen Smith, a former Beatrice resident who died in 1992. Nebraska’s attorney general says he’ll seek pardons for all six of the people who were wrongly convicted.
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On November 21st the Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce group will run a Christmas promotion for Nebraska City businesses. Christmas Lights throughout the town will be illuminated on that Friday evening including two Christmas trees. However, the largest source of illumination might be from a bonfire being set off in the city parking lot on the 700 block of Central Avenue. For some reason this southern Mississippi river tradition is being brought to Nebraska City, and instead of being next to the river, it will be next to combustible downtown buildings. The Nebraska City’s Volunteer Fire Department will be present to monitor the fire and ensure public safety. Yet, is a fire ever really 100% safe and is this a sound idea?
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A largely conservative and pro-life Nebraska community doesn’t reflect the national preference for presidential leadership under today’s political climate. The nation has elected Barack Obama as president, and today he announced he has put aside the victory celebrations and started planning his White House team. He feels it’s time for a president to lead a country mired in a deep economic crisis and end two lingering wars. Although Nebraskan’s voted for John McCain, a deeply divided and leftward moving America decided to give the liberal from Illinois a shot at the oval office. Nebraska will continue to defend the Senate for conservatives with victor Mike Johanns. Local election results and some Claus Commentary follows in this Nebraska City News dot-com report…
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On the backside of tomorrow’s ballot you will have an opportunity to vote on the Proposed Amendment No. 1 under the heading Constitutional Amendments. Proponents of the amendment say it will provide tax relief and better jobs in Nebraska communities. Currently there is a constitutional requirement that only local revenue can be used for economic development programs. This usually results in high property taxes for homeowners in small communities. The property tax rate in Nebraska City has been a sore issue with many locals for years. Nebraska City was ranked highest in the state for two years in a row among “Class I” cities in our state. Amendment No. 1 might be an instrument to help tame local taxes. However, on the flipside, the Amendment may cost Nebraska City the edge it currently has in attracting new business and industry.
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In Nebraska voters will be weighing the future of affirmative action. Known as the “Civil Rights” Initiative, Initiative 424 would prohibit the state from discriminating on race. Opponents are concerned it could eliminate scholarships for minorities, undercut funding for some diversity programs. Supporter Doug Tietz, of the Nebraska Civil Right Initiative, said the measure would be a step forward for the state. “It puts equality before the law and treats people without regard to race or gender in public contracting, public employment and public education,” he said.
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The US Justice Department has approved Verizon’s takeover of Alltel, to create the largest mobile operator in the USA. The $28.1 billion deal will likely also receive approval from the FCC early November. Verizon plans to pay Alltel about $5.9 billion for equity in the company, but it will also take on about $22.2 billion in Alltel bad business debt. Alltel has been losing money until their fiscal losses reached critical mass. Investors have been concerned that the acquisition has gotten too expensive, as debt financing costs have risen. Customers will likely see increased service fees as well as an expanded network, the pros and cons to such a large scale merger.
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Automobile manufacturers in the U.S. are seeking more federal bailout money. They expect to receive help beyond the money available for them as part of a financial industry bailout and a loan package. They claim they will use the extra funds for developing more fuel-efficient cars. However, the last agreement had no provisions for such specific allocation for the use of the money. According to a White House spokesman, the auto industry has talked to the Bush administration about funding on a much broader scale than the two programs approved by Congress earlier this fall.
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According to the National Rifle Association and other 2nd Amendment advocates, Barack Obama is not being forthcoming about his standing on firearms rights. The Obama campaign has released a statement saying that Obama “believes in the Second Amendment.” However, an NRA press release on the matter said, “Barack Obama has gone beyond lying about his long anti-gun record.” According to the NRA, Barack Obama may be the most anti-firearms rights presidential candidate that ever ran under a major party ticket.
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