Five attorneys…four of them from the Panhandle…have applied for the vacant county judgeship created by the retirement more than a year ago of Charles Plantz of Rushville.

Two have been unsuccessful applicants for judgeships in the past. Dawes County Public Defender Paul Wess of Chadron tried in 2011 for the district judgeship now held by Travis O’Gorman while Stacy Nossaman-Petitt was an applicant a year earlier for the county judgeship now held by Kris Mickey.

The other three applicants for Plantz’s position…which will be based in Alliance…are Larry Miller of Alliance, Audrey Elliot of Gering, and Mark Raffety of Omaha.

The Judicial Nominating Commission for the 12th Judicial District will hold a public hearing at the Box Butte County Courthouse in Alliance February 1st at 10:00 a-m where the applicants can make their cases for appointment to the bench. Members of the public will also be able to testify for or against any of the five.

The Nominating Commission…made up of 4 attorneys and 4 non-attorneys from across the 12 counties in the 12th Judicial District…will then send at least two names on to Governor Dave Heineman, who will make the final decision.

A listing of the members of the Judicial Nominating Commission can be found on the Nebraska Judicial Branch Web site at https://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/2606/twelfth-district-county-district-court.

After Plantz retired at the end of 2011, the state Judicial Resources Commission considered a proposal to move Sheridan and Grant counties from the 12th District to the 8th District and to move the judgeship to the juvenile court system in Omaha.

As a test run, County Judge Steven Orr of Valentine spent about 4 months driving weekly from Valentine to Rushville to conduct court…with County Judge Russ Harford of Chadron adding Plantz’s former duties in Alliance to his own.

The Commission was told in December by virtually everyone connected to the test that it was an abject failure, leaving both judge tired, overworked, and behind. The panel then officially declared a vacancy, starting the process to fill it.

Ashtyn Shrewsbury _ FFA to Haiti

As we told you on KCOW Radio news earlier this week, Alliance High School FFA President Ashtyn Shrewsbury has been selected to be part of the FFA to Haiti Mission Trip this summer.

 Three years ago, Haiti receive massive destruction by an earthquake that destroyed 300 thousand buildings, and Shrewsbury will help in rebuilding homes and assisting the Haitians with meal deliveries, and teaching the Haiti citizens about how they can utilize what little agricultural resources they have. 

Shrewsbury, who is the reigning Box Butte County Fair Queen, says she believes the trip will cost about $2,000, and the first fundraiser on her behalf will be held Thursday night in conjunction with the Chadron vs. Alliance girls and boys basketball games at Alliance High School.

 Sloppy Joe, chips, beans, cookie and a drink for a $5 donation.

 Serving will take place in the upper level of the commons area from 5 o’clock until after halftime of the boys game (around 8 p.m.)

 Whether you are going to the Alliance basketball games or attending the Velocity concert in the performing arts center, you are invited to support Ashtyn.  

Shrewsbury says any money she raises above her $2,000 goal will be donated to help build a Haitian home or for meals for the residents of Haiti.

 Shrewsbury is encouraging you to enjoy her Sloppy Jo fundraiser and then visit the Velocity girls choir bake sale fundraiser and concert that begins at 7 p.m., as well as basketball — as it will be a night of food, music, and basketball excitement at Alliance High School.  If you can’t make it to her fundraisers but would like to assist, send you donation to Ashten Shrewsbury at 605 Cheyenne Avenue, Alliance, NE  69301.

Shrewsbury is also a member of the AHS Band, the state champion one act play team, and golf team.

Without fanfare, Dr Randy Rhine was officially hired Tuesday by the Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees as the 11th president at Chadron State College.

Rhine had been Interim President since the retirement of Dr Janie Park last May and was named as the choice to be permanent president by Chancellor Stan Carpenter in November, but that action had to be confirmed by the trustees. Even though Rhine was certain the trustees would do so, he says it felt good when they did.

Board of Trustees chairman Cap Peterson of Wayne calls Rhine “an excellent choice for president” who will make the school “an even stronger institution than it is today.”

Rhine began his career in education with 2 years as director of Adult Basic Education for the U-S Department of Agriculture in his native Arkansas, then spent 12 years in a variety of posts at the University of Arkansas in the Division of Continuing Education.

He went to Montana State University-Billings in 1996 as Dean of the College of Professional Studies and Lifelong Learning…working under Dr Park, who was a vice-president.

He joined her again at Chadron State in late 2005…just a few months after she began her presidency, and became Vice President of enrollment and student services and director of college relations the following year.

No date has been set for Rhine’s formal inauguration as president, but it’s expected to be later this year.

Triple A, which calculates gasoline prices in all states on a daily basis, listed the average price of gas in Nebraska Monday at $3.10 a gallon, with $3.01 a gallon in Grand Island the lowest price in the 7 metropolitan areas it checks in the state.

That’s sky-high compared to Chadron, where a gas war at 4 convenience stores has prices down to $2.56 a gallon for cash and $2.58 with a credit card.

Corey Pourier…co-owner of Big Bat’s Shell, the station with the same price for cash or credit…says January has been a slow month, leading one of the others to start dropping prices to bring in customers and make up for the lost margin on in-store sales. The other stores have lowered their prices to stay competitive.

Pourier says the increased demand for gasoline has caused his company some problems. They normally purchase their gas from a wholesaler 90-miles away in Rapid City, SD, but that market’s been tight because of the sharply increase demand in the oil boom areas of North Dakota.

Pourier…whose father is the namesake founder of the company…says the closure for maintenance of the Wyoming Refiners plants in Cheyenne and Newcastle have also tightened supplies of gasoline.

As a result, Big Bat’s has had to scramble at times to get shipments, at least once going over 220 miles each way to a dealer in North Platte and paying 20-cents a gallon more than in Rapid City.  Pourier says it’s tough for the company to know where it’s going to get fuel and how much that gas is going to cost.

As for the Chadron gas war, Pourier has no idea when it will end. He’s just telling customers to enjoy it while they can.

     The Chadron City Council had one of its longest-ever workshop sessions last night, spending over  4-1/2 hours getting updates and details on about a dozen issues…some pressing, some longer-term.

Mayor Karin Fischer expected a long meeting since 12 different items were on the agenda, and wasn’t upset or disappointed it ran as long as it did.  Council members were upbeat at its end, and Fischer says the depth and breadth of the discussion was exactly what she’d hoped to see.

Paris Fisher…the newest councilman and no relation to the mayor…liked the information presented and the interaction between council members and staff  so much he suggested holding similar meetings on a regular basis, possibly as often as every 3 months.

About a quarter of the night was spent on the massive renovation and expansion of Chadron’s downtown stormwater drainage system and how to pay its roughly $4-million dollar cost. City Manager Wayne Anderson said Chadron LB-840 Reauthorization Committee is recommending funding the project by asking voters to renew the half-cent economic development sales tax that sunsets next year.

The panel proposes that 80% of the proceeds…about $320,000 a year…go to pay off bonds for the storm sewer project and the remaining 20% go to community development and better projects. That’s roughly the same split as in the current LB-840 program…which helped fund the new Chadron Community Hospital.

During last night’s occassionally emotional discussion, councilman Dr John Gamby…who’s returned to the council after a 2-year hiatus from 20-years of service…objected to the size and options for the project, saying that “others in the business” were telling him the city was getting “screwed over” by the engineer…the Leo A Daley firm of Omaha.

Gamby proposed letting the LB-840 tax expire…saying a renewal would “go down in defeat”…and instead using half of the city’s basic 1-cent sales tax for the drainage project. Gamby said the base tax…approved in the early 1980s…was to fund street work and lower property taxes, but had failed to do either.

Anderson offered a fact sheet showing the city’s sales tax and property tax numbers over the years…with the tax rate going up from a little over 64-cents per hundred the first year of the sales tax to 71-cents in 1995, then dropping to about 34-cents in 2000 before settling in between 29 and 37-cents before the council upped the rate to 42-cents two years ago.

Anderson warned that putting half the sales tax toward the project would require either a 16-cent increase in the property tax rate or cutting spending about $320,000 a year. He also listed nearly 80 jobs created by businesses that received LB-840 loans or grants and 16 community betterment projects totaling nearly $174,000 that were funded by the sales tax.

Anderson said he plans to ask the city council at one of its next meetings to approve sending the LB-840 proposal to the voters at a special election in late March or early April. He also said he’ll ask for a referendum later in the year on a proposal still being developed for a joint project with Chadron State College to enclose the city’s outdoor swimming pool with added amenities as a replacement for the now demolished Armstrong pool.

Anderson emphasized that the $3-1/2-to-$4-million dollar cost estimate is very rough since the city’s chosen consultant has yet to determine what the public wants in the new building, what is feasible, and the best way to achieve that. Anderson also said professional grant writers have already offered their services…free of charge…so there’s no way to know how much or what type of funding will be requested from Chadron residents.