The Bloomfield FFA held their annual petting zoo on Tuesday May 14. There was a wide variety of animals there including a cow, calf, two horses, rabbits, bees, dog, guinea pigs, goats, chickens, and a pot-belly pig. All elementary students came down, as well as the Little Bees Daycare kids, to learn about the animals as well as have the chance to pet them.
St. Mark's Lutheran Church recognized their graduates Sunday, May 5.
Back left : Abby Folck, Gage Satterley, Trenton Holz Front left: Mariah Dather, Pastor Terry Krueger, Michaela Johnson. At the turn of the 19th century, Bloomfield’s first ambulance looked like a white hearse pulled by two horses and had a clanging bell. This hearse was operated by the Kalar Hospital, opperated by Dr. Sarah Kalar and her husband.
Before the Department of Health stepped in, it was also common for ambulances to be run by funeral homes. Norma Ober was the Bloomfield EMS secretary for 30 plus years and took extensive notes. According to those notes, in the late 60’s, the Department of Health required ambulance personnel to have some first aid training in order to be a private ambulance service. They also required the ambulance be manned 24 hours a day. In 1969, the City of Bloomfield bought a Ford van and volunteers started manning it, which was the beginning of the official Bloomfield EMS as the public knows it. Not long after, Art Anderson of Bloomfield trained six volunteers with a basic 18 hour Red Cross course. At the time, people in need of an ambulance would call Good Samaritan Society. The nursing home would then call 373-3333 which would ring in all the EMT’s residences to notify them of the need. In the early 70’s, the state started requiring volunteers to take an 81-hour EMT training course, which Art Anderson trained many of these volunteers. Lyle DeFord later trained the EMT 81-hour course and First Responder 40-hour course across a wide area of northeast Nebraska. In 1976, the Ruritan group helped the Lindy community build a new fire and ambulance hall. Lindy’s first ambulance was an old white Buick. Four Lindy residents drove to Niobrara to take the 81-hour EMT course by Lyle DeFord. In the late 70’s, Bloomfield was instrumental in organizing the five area towns to form KARA (Knox Area Rescue Association), and it was decided to have a mutual aid agreement. This allows Knox County towns to help each other on calls if needed. The Bloomfield/Lindy EMS has come a long way in 50 years of service to the communities. According to EMT Bryan Young, modern day training has increased to 160 hours for new EMTs and a two-year program for paramedics. And many hours of continuing education each year to keep state licenses current. The 373-3333 hotline Good Sam would call had been replaced by pagers and Knox County Sheriff dispatch. Pagers were eventually replaced by radios and now, EMS is notified through their cell phones with a responsive app. The ambulances themselves have also gone through some great changes. Bloomfield’s Ford van and Lindy’s Buick were replaced by modern ambulances which are full of equipment that can help patients in almost any scenario. “The back of our ambulances, along with our paramedics, are basically a miniature emergency room,” Young said. Bloomfield/Lindy has a great EMS crew made up of 19 members with many years of experience. They currently have one Emergency Medical Responder, Bryan Ruhr; 14 Emergency Medical Technicians, Brandon Barger, Jeff Barger, Ken Gill, Michaela Jessen, Kelly Kumm, Ben Lauck, Norma Ober, Redina Redwing, Katie Reicks, Lindsay Skroch, Dallas Suhr, Gail Suhr, Bernard Wagner and Bryan Young; one nurse/EMT, Minnie Sauser; and three paramedics, Jeff Holtz, Jon Sahagun and Michael Schainost. Bloomfield/Lindy ambulances are currently equipped and licensed as Advanced Life Support Service. At least one paramedic is needed to be licensed this way. “Not a lot of volunteer-type ambulances are Advanced Life Support Service,” Young said. The crew also has several air medical helicopters they can call if needed. “Overall, that terminology means we can do so much for people than just a crew of EMTs,” he explained. In 2015, Bloomfield was the first volunteer community in Nebraska to hire a full-time paramedic due to the short availability of help during the day. Now, the crew has three. Bloomfield/Lindy covers approximately 110-140 responses a year, transporting to many of the local hospitals. “I have a list from Norma of names upon names that served as volunteers over the years,” Young said. According to him, there has been roughly 150 volunteers in the last 50 years. There isn’t a shortage of members with 19 currently on the EMS crew, but more help is always sought after. With such high credentials and so many years of experience, the Bloomfield/Lindy EMS is a great crew to join and learn from. If anyone yearns to become a beneficial member of the community by joining the EMS crew, Bryan Young would love a chance to explain how Bloomfield/Lindy EMS can help new members get the training they need. There is also a nurse-to-EMT bridge class for nurses who would like to also become an EMT. If interested, Young can be reached at 402-640-2348. Bloomfield FCCLA recently hosted their annual FCCLA Banquet. There were lots of things to be celebrated this year, from congratulating people who competed in STAR, to celebrating Jaiden Johnson’s accomplishment of becoming a state officer, and even finishing off the evening with the installment of the 2019-2020 FCCLA chapter officers.
The evening started with a potluck dinner and was followed up with the chapter awards. Every member was awarded a membership award for the number of years they were in the organization. Tyler Hanson was also awarded the outstanding member for the Junior High and Jaiden Johnson was the outstanding member for the Senior High. After our outstanding member awards, we then gave out the STAR awards. STAR awards go to anyone in FCCLA that competed at the district or state level of STAR competitions. There were thirty-one members who competed at districts, twenty-eight who qualified for state, and one who qualified for nationals this year. The national qualifier this year was Blake Byerly with his entrepreneurship, he will attend the 2019 National Leadership conference in Anaheim, California. With all the awards out of the way, our 2018-2019 president Carolyn Nagengast gave her final address as president. When she finished her address, it was time for the moment we had all been anticipating. It was time for the longly awaited installation of the 2019-2020 FCCLA officers. The new officers are Jaiden Johnson- President, Alexandra Eisenhauer- Vice President, Grace Kuchar- Secretary, Lauren Pinkelman- Treasurer, Colton Gieselman- Public Relations, Christina Martinson- Historian, Haley Hoile- District Rep. and Carry Martinson- Junior High Rep. The banquet was wrapped up with the candle ceremony signifying FCCLA’s eight purposes, the reciting of the creed, and finally with the new president Jaiden Johnson ending the meeting by tapping the gavel. Every year on Memorial Day, the VFW Auxiliary places flags over the graves of veterans buried in the Bloomfield Cemetery. With Memorial Day fast approaching, Joe Skrivan is reaching out to the public.
The Auxiliary uses a list of veterans’ names to place these flags each year. Skrivan has taken the names from this list and has made it his mission to find out which branch every veteran belonged to. He is asking for the public’s help. “What is needed is the branch of service that they served in if there are any family members or friends who knew them,” Skrivan said. His goal is to match as many names to a branch as possible so the branch may be put next to their names on the future Bloomfield Veterans Memorial. If there are veterans whose branch still remains a mystery, Skrivan will place their name on the memorial with Military in place of their branch of service. If anyone has this information, please contact Joe Skrivan, PO Box 367, Bloomfield NE 68718 or e-mail bmonitor@yahoo.com or phone 402-841-1027 or 373-2330 and leave message. The following is a list of names who need a branch of service: Barber, Romaine Beach, Henry Bellis, Wilbert Busskohl, Raymond Dowty, Patrick Glanzman, Marion Bruder, Loren Cahoon, Sherill Joslin, Steven McDonald, Paul Bruder, Wylie Clausen, Duane Eckmann, Herbert Fleming, Lowell Hollister, Eugene Knutson, Keith Koehler, Milford Lukens, William McDonald, Paul Rogers, Wesley Schlautman, Robert Voss, ARobert Altieri, Albert Bergen, Don Bratetic, Frank Bruegman, Robert Chisham, Neil Clark, Marvin Claussen, Gerhard Clausen, Harold Clausen, Harry Clausen, Raymond Clinkenbeard, Willie Copper, Max Chisham, Neil Crosley, Elizabeth Drosz, Casimir Engel, Walter Engel, Wilbur Foger, Duard Frerichs, Laurence Friedenbach, Laurence Green, Louis Griffith, Evan Halverson, Harlan Hedman, John Joy, Terrance Kinnew, Duane Klingforth, Raymond Kolls, Rudolph Larson, Clarence Liddell, Forrest Menkens, Carl Nelson, Forrest Obert, Lyle Petersen, Ralph Prescott, Richard Pulse, Harold Rose, Wayne Schuett, Dale Schulz, Ray Vlcan, Vencil Ballad, Leland Bauerly, Albert Claussen, Amos Copeland, James Cram, Francis Depue, Ray Doering, JamesEisenhauer, Fred Frevert, Carl Frevert, Clifton Glanzman, Marvin Hadman, J Halsey, Harriet High, Ralph Hofeldt, Rhuf Langemeier, James Lukens, Doyle Luellman, Charles Mettlen, Dr. J. Harvey Moehlenhoff, Herman Peters, Ernest Prescott, C. H. Reynolds, Charles Schlote, Ray Schnecky, Eliz Schwartz, Carl Siegler, Ingraham Storjohann, Herman Tucker, S. W. Watters, Anna Wegner, Donald Yeager, Charles Little Bees Preschool held a Graduation ceremony On Tuesday May 7, 2019. Little Bees Preschool held a potluck supper and graduation ceremony for the 4-5 year old class at St. Marks Lutheran Church. Those graduating were (back row) Landon Hanson, Kenna Kronberg, Harper Chambers, Sutton Nielsen, Kenna Ketelsen, Rylea Sierks, Lennox Doerr (front row) River One Horn, Jay Jeannoutot, Padden Stelling, Maliyah Schmeckpeper, Anthony Kauth, Quinn Eisenhauer, Bailey Mlady, Bryson Nipp. Little Bees Preschoolers also celebrated their last day of school with a field trip to the Bloomfield Bakery and Grossenberg Implement. They ended their trip with a snack and some playtime at the City Park. A big thank you to Deland and Pam Reynolds and Sandy Miller for the great tours. The students really enjoyed their day.
Bloomfield graduated 18 today. Adam Johnson, Will Fehringer and Carolyn Nagengast gave speeches as the students with the highest 3 GPAs. The audience then got to enjoy the high school choir sang "Count On Me" and a slideshow of the seniors.
Mark Miller LLC donated $30,000 to the future Bloomfield Veterans Memorial late last week. Organizer Joe Skrivan accepted the check.
“Joe has put so much work into the memorial, we are just glad to help,” said Kelly Kumm, CFO. Miller’s company has been looking for some ways to help the community recently. “The last project we helped with was the weight room,” Kumm said. The memorial will house black granite stones etched with Bloomfield veterans’ names. With an amazing amount of names flooding in to Skrivan to be etched on the stones, the original plans for the memorial have had to be shifted. He has added another stone for names, as the original four stones proved not to be enough. Five stones will hold 1,500 names. “I already have 1,202 names to go on the stones, and I haven’t been to Center to collect names from their records, yet,” Skrivan said. The stone addition along with other unexpected costs, the project budget has gone up. Mark Miller LLC caught wind of the need for donations and asked Skrivan how much was needed to make up the difference for the new costs. The $30,000 will cover the new stone, stainless steel benches, an entrance sign and some other things that were upgraded. Because of the overwhelming amount of names Skrivan has received, he is unsure how fast the new stones will fill with names. Although Mark Miller LLC filled a huge hole in the budget, Skrivan is still looking to collect extra donations to go towards etching names in the future, possible extra stones and future upkeep. This memorial will be round in shape, with a walkway leading to the circle. There will be a brown marble stone with a verse and a black granite stone for POW/MIA upon entering the memorial. In the center of the circle, a red stone will be dedicated to those who have earned Purple Hearts. The black granite stones that will adorn all the veterans’ names will make a horseshoe around the circle. “Millers proves to be a huge asset to this community,” Skrivan said. “This memorial project wouldn’t be possible without the amazing people and businesses from this community.” Friday, May 3rd marked the 8th annual Spring Sprints held in Wayne, NE. This track and field day grows every year. This year there were 168 participants from 20 different schools in Northeast Nebraska that participated in the long jump, softball throw, and the frisbee throw (new this year) along with numerous running events.
The winners from Bloomfield were Conner Leader (9th grade), Tucker Hollander (3rd grade), Noah Risor (1st grade), and Rydder Eckmann (Kindergarten). Bloomfield citizens might have noticed some construction started north of Broadway Street this week. Farmers Pride is expanding and according to the Bloomfield Location Manager Jason Hames, this $9 million project has been a long time coming. “It’s been a need for about nine years,” Hames said. Farmer’s Pride has actually been discussing the expansion for three to four years with their board of directors. “It’s like anything else, it’s difficult to budget and make it pencil. But this is a long-term asset for the community of Bloomfield and will be here for many years in the future,” said Dean Thernes, Farmers Pride General Manager. According to Thernes, the improved infrastructure is much needed here. The Bloomfield location brings in many trucks at harvest time and the increased speed and space of this new facility is necessary for the area’s farm producers. In recent years, Farmers Pride has had to pile grain on the ground because there was not enough bin storage. There are currently eight bins at the location and in most years, that has not been enough storage. The new facility will sport three additional storage bins with 1.9 million bushel storage bringing the total storage at Bloomfield to 3.3 million bushels. There is also room to add two more bins in the future. Two years ago, the land in which the new facility is being constructed, went up for sale. Farmers Pride jumped on the opportunity to purchase it. “With the current floodplain, we have run into issues when trying to expand our current facilities. So we purchased it and decided to move forward with this project,” Thernes said. EBM Construction from Norfolk and Aschoff Construction from Osmond are doing a majority of the work. In addition to the increased storage, this project will add a new dump-through scale, a new dryer and generally more space to receive grain. The new facility will have a leg receiving capacity of 20,000 bushels an hour, and with the other existing facilities, Farmers Pride will be able to accept up to 37,000 bushels an hour. “The new facility is very high tech-very automated. We can basically run it from inside the office,” Thernes said. The main goal of the expansion is to get trucks in and out quicker and bring in new customers. This new tech will speed up the process. “The truck should be able to pull in, lay open its traps and be gone,” Hames said. “Trucks should be in and out in about 5-7 minutes,” Thernes added. The new setup will probe the load and the driver will then pull up to be weighed. After that, they will pull out, get their ticket and be on their way. This expansion will bring the Farmers Pride Bloomfield location up a notch, as similar Farmers Pride projects in Osmond and Neligh as well as other newer facilities recently built in the region. “This will be a very long-term project, built to serve the area for 40-50 years,” Thernes said. “This project is a great illustration of the benefit of the cooperative system-investing in our member-owners to help them with their operation.” Thernes stated that Farmers Pride’s mission is to bring value to our Bloomfield, and all of the member-owners, as they look forward to assisting them in their operations for many years to come. |