Area fire departments including Ainsworth and Raven spent Sunday, June 26th training while burning a house along Highway 20. The morning was spent starting small fires inside the house so firemen could train entering and fighting fires in confined areas. Following the morning training, the departments set the house ablaze and controlled the flames so the fire would not spread to adjacent buildings. The training wrapped up about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

I’m here to talk about Long Pine’s outlaws, but let me first set the stage. This area was rapidly changing in the 1870s and ‘80s. In 1870 this area of Nebraska was “unorganized territory,” a frontier. Roads were few and most people traveled along rivers and streams. The Sioux had just been given the western half of South Dakota as a great reservation. Five years later, gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Thousands of would-be miners flocked there. Out west the Sidney-Black Hills Trail moved freight from the Union Pacific Railroad in Sidney to Ft. Robinson to the Red Cloud Agency. But after gold was discovered, tons more in freight and gold was carted back and forth over this trail. This is where we find our first outlaw.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has funding available for Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers to develop Conservation Planning Activities. These plans are developed by NRCS certified Technical Service Providers (TSP) or other third-party service providers to help identify and find solutions for specific natural resource concerns on a farm or ranch operation.

A regular meeting of the Brown County Hospital (BCH) Board of Trustees was held Monday, June 20, 2022. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brent Deibler with board members Tate Schipporeit, Jim Walz and John Gross in attendance, and Brian Delimont attended via phone. Also attending were Mirya Hallock - CEO, Tad Stearns - CFO, Lisa Fischer - HR, Brandy Bussinger - D.O.N, Tawny Allen-Recording Secretary and Dr. Campbell. Corey Schroedl - Maintenance Manager joined the meeting for the window project discussion. Mike Strope with Strope Masonry joined the meeting to present his estimate on the window project.

Lori Clapper and Leanne Maxwell were the instructors for teaching a CPR refresher course to Ainsworth teachers and coaches recently. During the two sessions recently held, 33 coaches, paras and teachers were given a refresher course on CPR.

Week of June 19 - 25, 2022 Sunday, June 19th Received a report of two vehicles that were vandalized near South Main Street in Ainsworth. This is an ongoing investigation.