Columns/Opinion

Recognize small businesses every week

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 05/03/2018 - 12:53pm

This week is National Small Business Week. We don’t really need a special week to recognize small businesses because the importance of them are often highlighted in this column and through our news pages where we feature new, expanding and changing local businesses throughout the year.

Although small businesses are an obvious driver of our small town economies, many of us may not realize how much of an impact they make on the entire state economy.

In recognition of Small Business Week, here are a few statistics for you to mull over.

Kingsland School District bond issue is over the top

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 05/03/2018 - 12:51pm

We have seen the Kingsland School District make some poor choices over the years, but the decommissioning of the Wykoff school buildings and immediate request for approval of a school district bond issue is over the top!

Early Catholic priests covered a lot of ground

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 05/03/2018 - 12:13pm

We continue with stories from the Spring Valley History, 1855 to 1980, remembering that this is 38 years later!

Catholic priests served a large area, and mud kept them from meeting often.  A news clipping from 1899 notes that on Christmas Day, Father Gossman said Mass in LeRoy, drove cross country (by horse and buggy?) to Spring Valley, took the train to Grand Meadow to hold three Masses.  D.A. Sullivan was most faithful, wanting to form a parish here, and offering his home as a place of worship.  There were only 27 Catholic families at the turn of the century. 

The Clan finds doing math means eating crow

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 05/03/2018 - 12:04pm

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of my home school education, it’s that the math correction book is seldom wrong. And as much as my siblings and I like to, claiming otherwise rarely works out well.

But we still try.

Yes vote in referendum moves district forward

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 05/03/2018 - 9:29am

I am going to vote yes Tuesday, May 8, on the Kingsland building referendum.  The reasons are pretty straight forward.  The Kingsland School Board, our elected representatives, have decided that the school campus in Spring Valley is in need of an indoor air quality (IAQ) project for asbestos abatement, mechanical, lighting and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades.  In addition, the board has also decided, if the building referendum is not passed, to go ahead with a lease levy to add two to three classrooms to the existing campus. 

Too Hick to be Square: We're calling it ‘sprinter’

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:42pm

It has come to my attention that although my calendar says it’s nearly the end of April, it isn't particularly springy outside.

I think it was the third 50-degree day followed by a major dumping of four inches of wet snow that gave it away. Blizzards are rarely subtle.

Glimpses of Yesteryear: Churches on the move in Spring Valley since 1800s

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:22pm

   How can 50-plus years go by in a flash?  John Halbkat (last of several generations of the Halbkat Store) spent hours and days on the centennial booklet that was published by the Centennial Committee in 1955.  In this column we have touched on many things but we are about to tackle a compilation of articles that appeared in the 40-page booklet.

Casey and Mark Harrison with Trevor, 6, and Evelyn, 3.

Published by lniemeyer@bluff... on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:13pm

Casey Becker Harrison, class of 2001 and daughter of Roger and Cindy Becker, is the featured student this month in a series that catches up with the current lives of Kingsland graduates during the school’s 25th anniversary.
Now living in Downers Grove, Illinois, she is married to Mark Harrison and mother of Trevor, almost 6, and 3-year-old Evelyn.