IndexLegal Page ....................2Community Calendar......................2Social Side ....................3L.J.’s Column .................3Opinion Page.................4Comics ..........................4Classified Page..............5Statewide Classifieds ....5Business Directory ........5School News .................6Open Class Fair Results .................7Fair Pictures ..................8

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Notices• Village Of ThedfordBoard Proceedings

TERRI LICKING

• L.J.’s Column• Over The Hills• Happenings OnThe Hill

• Life’s Outtakes• Odds & Ends• Pelster FinancialColumn

• Sandhills & ThedfordSchool Activities

• Sandhills & ThedfordSchool Lunch Menus

• Open Class Results

Inside This Issue

THOMAS COUNTY, THEDFORD, NEBRASKA 69166 (USPS 596-550) THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017 NO. 7

THOMAS COUNTY Your Source OfNews In The Sandhills

Governor Ricketts & First FamilyMake Stop At Blaine Co. Fair

Cutting the ribbon at the Sandhills Heritage Museum, l-r: Teresa Goedeke,Lois Gordon, Kathie Martindale, Gov. Ricketts, JeanAnn Teahon, Vicki Webb,Miss Burwell Rodeo, Eva Oliver, NE Hereford Association queen, KendiMiligerl, Linda Teahon, Dale Spencer and Gerri Monahan.

TERRI LICKING PHOTOS

Nebraska’s first family with the Blaine County Foundation members whoserved the barbecue at the Blaine County Fair. Roscoe Ricketts, Amy Simon-son, Kristi Hafer, Shelly Mulligan, Elaine Zutavern, Pam Moody, Governorand Susanne Ricketts, Becky Collier, Donna Kennedy, Sue Clark, Margo Rick-etts, Dawn and Ron Hasebroock and Eleanor Ricketts.

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Thomas County wrapsup 2017 Fair

Squeaky clean prior to their first mud volleyball match, the Donald Bump teamconsisting of, l-r: Chelsey and Josh Delaney, Courtney and Brad, Jack Moody andTanner Drews.

By Terri LickingThomas County con-

cluded their 2017 fair edi-tion, Sunday, July 30. Thiswas the first year for amajor change. After the11:00 a.m. parade Satur-day morning, July 29, allactivities moved out tothe fairgrounds. In prioryears, the Thomas CountyHistorical Society con-ducted their lunch standon the courthouse squareand the turtle races wereheld on the lawn betweenthe library and court-house. Louie Herbaughhosted his annual youthfishing tournament, andthe Thedford Life Centerprovided breakfast. TheEastern Star ladies held acombined bake andgarage sale in the MasonicLodge following the pa-rade.

Both the lunch standand turtle races moved tothe open air pavilion atthe fairgrounds. Manyskeptics of the movechanged their minds.

"This is the ThomasCounty Fair, not Thedfordfair. We have a beautifulfairgrounds and weneeded to do this," JayJones said. He was one ofthe volunteers helpingeach of the fair days insome capacity. A memberof the Thomas CountyHistorical Society, Jonesgrilled hamburgers, bratsand hot dogs for the or-

ganization and had trou-ble keeping up with de-mand at the new location.

Mark Nutter, turtle raceorganizer, along with hiswife, Marian, enjoyed hav-ing the turtle races out atthe fairgrounds. The cir-cle was expanded, specta-tors had chairs, and theshade for everyone wasappreciated. The Thed-ford Art Gallery, locatedjust across from the court-house square in Thed-ford, was open on Sundayuntil 9 p.m. and did havemore sales that day.

The antique tractorpullers returned for a sec-ond year with a new trackbuilt just for them west ofthe pavilion.

Local puller, Wayne Lick-ing brought in his old 706German diesel to try, andenjoyed learning what isinvolved in the pulls.

Youth had a Fridayevening pedal tractor pullunder the pavilion andnot on the street down-town. Mid Nebraska PedalPullers, Bruce and CindyAsh of Arcadia, loved hav-ing the kids pull there.

"Shade is very much ap-preciated," Bruce said.

They pulled between thetwo rodeo performancessponsored by the ThomasCounty Ag Society. A Fri-day community supper ofhamburgers and hot dogswere held at the golfcourse. This was followed

by the ever popular nightgolf. More golfers thanever had fun this year.

The Nebraska Putt Puttmini-golf course ofAnselmo set up in front ofthe arena on Saturday.Gretchen Mak organizedthe mud volleyball tour-nament for young adults.The Ag Society, with thehelp of Sandhill Oil, madetwo courts so two gamescould be played at thesame time. The tourna-ment was limited to nineteams and all money wentback to the winners.Older 'kids' could be seenenjoying the water slidesfrom North Platte andcooled off younger youth.Toddlers enjoyed the kid-die pools and looked fortreasure in the sand pool.

The Cowboy MountedShooters were new to thefair this year. Local CMSAmember, Melanie Bern-hardt, member of the Ne-braska Cowboy MountedShooters, organized theevent. A Thedford HighSchool alum, Kelcee Dick-man Jacobsen was one ofthe 15 riders. Kelcee andher husband live andfarm at Franklin. Her par-ents are Monte and LeslieDickman and they also doCNMS.

"We are not as competi-tive yet," Leslie Dickmansaid.

Kelcee received theladies championship and

TERRI LICKING PHOTO

What’s in a Name? NRD, NRCS, FSA, DEQ.

If you’re in the ag indus-try or have anything to dowith natural resources(which we all do) then youhave probably heardthese acronyms before,but what do they meanand stand for? Let’s startwith one we should allknow! NRD which standsfor Natural Resources Dis-trict. Last week’s articlespoke about what NRDsare and what they do. Ifyou missed that articlevisit upperloupnrd.organd check it out! Next isanother office located inThedford. NRCS standsfor Natural ResourcesConservation District.This is a federal agencythat’s mission is to helppeople conserve and im-prove natural resources.Some examples of NRCSprograms are CSP or Con-servation StewardshipProgram and EQIP or En-vironmental Quality In-centives Program.

Another agency is theFSA or Farm ServiceAgency. This is also a fed-eral agency. Both NRCSand FSA are part of theUSDA or United States De-partment of Agriculture.The FSA controls CRP orthe Conservation ReserveProgram as well as pro-vides Beginning Farmersand Rancher loans.

Next, we have state agen-cies. DNR stands for theDepartment of NaturalResources. DNR ischarged with protectingand regulating the statessurface water. This agencyissues surface water per-mits, floodplain manage-ment, and insures thesafety of dams in thestate. The NeDEQ or Ne-

braska Department of En-vironmental Quality is an-other state agency. TheNeDEQ was created toprotect Nebraska’s air,land and water. Thisagency has recycling pro-grams and grants, as wellas waste managementprojects, and emissionstesting.

All in all, when it comesto agriculture and naturalresources there are a lotof players in our court tohelp producers andlandowners do what’sbest for our land, air, andwater. If you have anyquestions or want moreinformation call theUpper Loup NRD at 308-645-2250 or visit upper-loupnrd.org!

Eclipse ActivitiesThere will be no pre-

school at Thedford PublicSchools on Monday, Au-gust 21. All other stu-dents in grades K-12 willbe dismissed after thirdperiod, 10:45 A.M. andwill return during sev-enth period, around 2:00P.M. Destination is Rus-sell Licking’s ranch lo-cated 25 miles south of

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The Blaine County Fair concludedSaturday, August 5, and for the firsttime ever the octogenarians can re-member, a governor came to visit.This year's fair ended in grandstyle.

Governor Ricketts, accompaniedby his wife, Susanne and children,Roscoe, Margot and Eleanor, usedtrain, plane and automobile tomake it from Gering to Dunning.The family was traveling on theUnion Pacific's 'Nebraska 150 Ex-press,' a whistle stop tour by trainacross the state, reminiscent oftrain travel in the 19th century. Thefamily embarked from the train tofly to the Thedford airport, 27 mileswest of Dunning. They were pickedup there by two of his drivers,where they traveled the SandhillsJourney Scenic Byway west to Dun-ning.

Governor Ricketts was invited tocut the ribbons on two new venueson Main Street. The Sandhills Her-itage Museum (SHM) opened dur-ing the Memorial Day weekend.The museum houses memorabiliaof the history in the area, as well asa display highlighting the Herefordbreed. Herefords made Nebraskathe "Beef State."

Prior to the ribbon cutting for themuseum, Governor Ricketts re-ceived a guided tour from SHMboard chairman, Kathie Martindaleof Brewster. Linda Teahon,Chadron, Purdum, Dunning, toldhim about the efforts of the Here-ford Crossroads committee. Theyare working to preserve the breed'shistory.

Sandhills Blessings, a customquilt and sewing business openedits doors July 1. A work in progress,owner Teresa Goedeke makes cus-

tom quilts, T-shirts, and can evenimprint water and coffee mugs. Sheis emblazing some of her shirtswith a community logo and time oftotality for the upcoming total solareclipse. Husband, Mike, when notworking for Minert-SimonsonRanch, welds home decor itemsusing horseshoes and other metals.

Governor Ricketts was assisted inthe ribbon cutting by Eva Oliver,Merriman, Miss Burwell RodeoQueen, and Kendi Miligerl,Ravenna, Nebraska Hereford Asso-ciation Queen, as well as the SHMboard members, Martindale, Tea-hon, Goedeke, Lois Gordon, VickiWebb and Jean Ann Teahon.

The Goedekes and queens helpedGovernor Ricketts cut the ribbonwhen they traveled to the end ofthe block for the Sandhills Bless-ings ribbon cutting. Roscoe's high-light of the trip was sitting on Joe'J.T.' Bradley's horse, Tonto, whileTy Bass and his horse, Spud, lookedon. The two local cowboys were Na-tional High School rodeo partici-pants. J.T. ended up 8th in theall-around standings.

Upon his arrival, Governor Rick-etts wasted no time meeting, greet-ing and shaking hands with thosewho came to see him. He visitedwith Blaine County Foundationboard members on ways theirsmall community could pursuefunding for housing and other com-munity enhancement projects.

Prior to the ribbon cuttings, Gov-ernor Ricketts commended the ef-forts of community members, innot only opening doors on newbusinesses that bring a positive eco-nomic impact to the area, but healso commended the SHM boardmembers for their challengingwork and achievement of a 20-year-