There were smiles all around Sunday as Chadron State College music professor and piano instructor Dr James Margetts gave a free concert to unveil the school’s refurbished 1918 Steinway Model D Grand Piano…considered one of the top concert pianos made and the first piano purchased by the college.

Among the biggest smiles were those from music professor emeritus Dr Jackson Hammitt and his wife Peg, whose $35,000 donation was the catalyst for the restoration of the piano…which had been out of service for several years. Dr Hammitt, himself a pianist, says the result was everything he’d hoped for.

CSC hopes the refurbished piano will be a draw for touring artists to schedule stops in Chadron, but Hammitt is focused more on the college music department. “I would hope they can use it to attract more outstanding piano students; they already have an outstanding piano teacher.”

Dr Margetts says Chadron State is taking a lot of precautions to protect the Steinway from the area’s dry climate and the wear and tear of time…including its own enclosed storage area on the Memorial Hall stage and frequent checkups by piano technicians.

CSC has actually renovated 6 other Steinway pianos over the past two years, and Margetts says those will also get regular attention from technicians.

The public will get a chance to hear the 1918 Steinway and one of its cousins on April 3rd when Margetts and CSC accompanist and fellow piano instructor Brooks Hafey offer a duo-piano recital…which Margetts believes will be the first for the school in several decades.

Alcohol is suspected in a one-vehicle accident about 4:30 Saturday afternoon east of Mitchell that killed the lone occupant.

Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s officials say they are expecting driver error and alcohol to be listed as factors in the death of 45-year-old Jose Louis Garcia of Mitchell.

The Sheriff’s Office says Garcia was eastbound on a county road about a mile and a half east of Mitchell when he lost control of his full-size pickup.

It went went off the road and Garcia over-corrected, sending the back onto the road, but it went off the pavement again, struck a utility pole, and landed on its top. Garcia, who remained inside during the rollover despite not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Responding to the accident along with the Sheriff’s Department were the Mitchell Police and Volunteer Fire Departments, Valley Ambulance, and city of Scottsbluff Fire Department.

 

     Box Butte and Dawes Counties have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit over the death of  47-year-old Lori Heiting of Hay Springs in the Box Butte County jail a little more than 2 years ago.

Heiting died Dec. 4, 2010, after she was found unresponsive in her cell, where she was being held following her arrest in Dawes County for drunk driving the day before.

Heiting’s daughter, Jennifer Young of Hay Springs, filed a lawsuit last month claiming the counties were negligent and violated Heiting’s constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.

The counties say the lawsuit should be dismissed on two different grounds: they’re protected from such lawsuits by sovereign immunity, and Young missed the two-year deadline to file her suit by about a month.

A Box Butte County grand jury on January 24, 2011, cleared officials of wrongdoing in Heiting’s death. Box Butte County Attorney Kathleen Hutchinson said the grand jury determined Heiting died of natural causes — although she wouldn’t specify an exact cause of death.

 

       Scottsbluff Senator John Harms says will not support…at least for now…Governor Dave Heineman’s tax reform proposals.

It’s not that he thinks eliminating the individual and corporate income taxes or shield some retirement income from taxes are bad ideas, it’s that he thinks they go too far too fast.

Harms wants to see more study any major tax reform is considered, Harms thinks most Nebraskans feel the way he does…based in part on what he heard when the Revenue Committee held well over 10 hours of hearings on the two bills the make up the governor’s alternative proposals.

The two plans are LB-405…which ends the individual and corporate income taxes by doing away with nearly $2.5 billion dollars of sales tax exemptions.

LB-406 would eliminate about $320-million in sales tax exemptions to fund an end to the corporate income tax and to exemption some military retirement benefits and other retirement income from the individual income tax.

 

Chadron State College unveils its refurbished 1918 Steinway Grand Piano Sunday afternoon at 3:00 with a free concert in Memorial Hall by music professor and pianist Dr James Margetts.

Refurbishing of the Model D…the largest concert grand made by Steinway and believed to be the first piano purchased by the school…began in late 2010 with the hope of having it ready for concert use during Chadron State’s Centennial celebration in 2011.

Margetts says a number of factors delayed the project and missed the centennial, but he couldn’t be more excited about the result of the work and being able to let the world hear the restored piano sound the way it was intended.

“The most exciting thing was to actually sit down and play the piano,” he says. “It’s absolutely beautiful (and) makes all the other pianos (at Chadron State) pale by comparison.”

For the concert, Margetts selected works that show some of the changes in piano music that occurred over the first 200 years of the instrument from composers who had significant milestones around the time CSC opened in 1911.

One piece was written by Maurice Ravel in 1909…the year that marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Franz Joseph Haydn…while American composer Samuel Barber was born in 1910 while the world celebrated the centennial of the birth of Frederic Chopin.

Dr Margetts says the refurbished Steinway will be a great asset for the CSC music program…providing a quality instructional tool and an enticement for touring artists who require similar instruments before agreeing to come and perform in a city.

Chadron State professor emeritus Dr Jackson Hammitt, the school’s long-time piano instructor, and his wife Peg donated $35,000 for the renovation project and kept close tabs on throughout the 2-plus years. Dr Hammitt says a similar new piano would cost $100,000 and probably wouldn’t be as good.

The Hammitts…who also made a long-term million dollar donation to the college…will be honored at a reception following the concert. Dr Margetts says the couple are a great example of the type of people who love and give to Chadron State.

For those unable to attend Sunday’s concert, it will be streamed live on the college website www.csc.edu/live.