News

by Andrea Nisely, UNL Extension Educator, Dawson County Salt is generally added to canned foods to enhance their flavor. Canning or Pickling Salt is recommended for home food preservation.

Jean Burge Duff and Kathy Tinant traveled to Oklahoma City, OK on Monday where they spent several days visiting her sister, Rosemary Bolton. What do most couples do for their 54th anniversary? Well, Gary and Barb Peters were adventurous and traveled to Fort Benton, MT where they joined a group of 13 people, and three guides from Missouri River Outfitters for a four day canoe trip.

The 4-H and FFA Livestock Sale is a major highlight during the Cherry County Fair. Youth spend many hours working, feeding, showing and fitting their animals in anticipation of the sale ring results. This is an opportunity for youth who may be too young for a job to earn some money for future projects or even a college fund. For older youth, it is an opportunity to start pursuing a career in the livestock industry. Raising an animal teaches many life skills including goal setting, problem solving and financial responsibility.

Best of Show Awards by Department Ag/Environmental Education/Earth Science/Plant Science, Adalin Wickman; Communications and Expressive Arts, Adalin Wickman; Consumer and Family Sciences, Ariana Blume; Leadership and Citizenship, Rhett Ward; Healthy Lifestyles, Callie Kenner; Science, Engineering, and Technology, Tilden Foster.

$1,100 premium. The Reserve Champion Market Swine, owned by Quaiden Knight, was purchased by Peterson Beel LLP for a $1,500 premium. Wesley Willert donated a hog with premium sales going to the Cherry County 4-H Foundation and Young’s Western Wear was the winning bidder at a $1,200 premium. Other market swine sales: Kate Cox, $800, Sandhills Family Dental; Gus Benson, $600, Brittany Foster; Brayden Stec, $1,000, Scotty’s Ranchland Foods; Aubrey Benson, $800, Outback Screen Printing & Embroidery; Emily Benson, $700, Scotty’s Ranchland Foods; Alivia Patterson, $700, Perrett Construction; Briggs Patterson, $1,100, Wickett Construction; Paxton Knight, $700, Sandhill Oil; Gracie Knight, $700, Sandhill Oil; Crew Patterson, $900, Prairie View Ranch; Matthew Prewitt, $600, Sandhills Family Dental; Wesley Willert, $1,400, Hall & Hall; Alex Barnes, $600, Stec Electric; Cash Jenkins, $1,000, Humdinger Boots; Greyson Hollopeter-Swan, $700, Valentine Livestock; Stockton Rodgers, $1,000, Sandhills Family Dental; Maeli Patterson, $1,500, Nebraska Bank; Addison Stec, $1,100, Scotty’s Ranchland Foods, Stockton Rodgers, $1,500, Burdick Ranch; Brooklyn Nollette, $1,100, Speedee Mart; Kayleigh Harms, $1,100, Larsen V.E.T Embryo Transfer; Alivia Patterson, $700, Flat Iron Bar & Grill; Aubrey Benson, $600, Ward Vet; Briggs Patterson, $1,000, Arganbright Law; Cash Jenkins, $900, Outlaw Trail Angus; Crew Patterson, $1,000, Kenner Ranch; Greyson Hollopeter-Swan, $600, Premier Well Drilling; Gus Benson, $800, Stec Electric; Brayden Stec, $2,000, Flat Iron Bar & Grill; Gracie Knight, $1,200, Hoffman Ranch; Maeli Patterson, $1,300, Huskerland Communications; Kayleigh Harms, $1,300, Craig & Katie O’Kief; Quaiden Knight, $1,100, Ramm Ranch.

The Team Fitting competition is always a highlight during the Cherry County Fair livestock shows! Youth work in teams of three to fit a beef animal in 20 minutes, then do a salesmanship presentation. Every year, Craig and Katie O’Kief award all participants with halters and the winning teams receive show gear.

Let me just start by saying, I know better. I know that when you receive gifts, you say ‘Thank you’. Typically, for weddings, graduations, and funerals you hand write them. I know this. The thing is, this time, I can’t. We can’t, because I know that we would miss someone, and I just can’t do that. There are so many people who deserve them: first-responders, EMTs, medical staff, friends, family, community members, football teams, students, teachers, church groups, prayer warriors, and thousands of people we’ve never met. When the kids’ car accident happened, people came out of the woodwork: family, friends, first responders, EMTS. It was incredible! We weren’t home, and an entire community came together for our kids, for us. As we were driving to get them, and our pick-up was breaking down, friends filled in, provided everything we needed to get to our kids: a vehicle, a place for the new horse we had just purchased, communication from the side of the gravel road on how our kids were doing, plans for transport, love, and prayers. God was there, too, working through all those magnificent hearts! Family packed bags for an inevitable trip to somewhere bigger for medical support. My sister stepped in to do what she does, and when it was time to leave Valentine after hugs and I love you’s to our girls, we were ready. Snacks, water, a full tank of fuel, a dependable vehicle, we had everything necessary to follow James to Omaha, all provided by friends, family, and a community operating on love. We had a list of places for us to stay a mile long, along with meals, money, and still more prayers by the time we reached our destination. As the rest of the story played out, we continued to be showered with love and support. Encouragement for James’s recovery, prayers for Rylie and Addie, for Ryan and I, too, and Dano followed us every step of the way. There were fundraisers, auctions, tshirts, Web pages to share jokes and pictures from home, and excitement for Cowboy’s progress. We received prayers from all over the world, from people rooting for him and for our family. I will never forget him waking up after being sedated. Dano and I had been talking about the prayer warriors. Cowboy woke up and asked me, “What kind of warriors are they?” As tears filled my eyes, I told him, “The best kind.” James received more mail in that PICU in one day, than the whole floor receives in a week!! It was so awesome, such beautiful expressions of love!! Dano and I started a list of gifts and cards. We wrote down all the addresses, and we fully intended to send the thank-you’s when we came home. However, after Cowboy had his stroke, we lost track of the mail coming in. Ryan and the girls were there, saying their goodbyes. Once the decision was made to donate Cowboy’s organs, a whole other chain of events took place. Live On Nebraska teams came in to start trying to find matches; more imaging and tests were done. Finally, goodbyes and the recovery surgery were scheduled. When all those plans started, Dano and I stopped recording, and we lost track. We kept opening the mail, though. Each card, gift, and message was a bright spot and a welcome break from the waiting. Waiting to say goodbye is hard. We truly couldn’t have done this without all the love and support we received. Friends came to be there for Cowboy’s Hero walk, help us pack his room, and say goodbye. UNMC staff that has become family, pulled strings to allow Dano to go with Ryan and I to say goodbye to Cowboy (only 2 people are supposed to be allowed in the operating room), and after we said our final “I love you’s” we headed home. After Cowboy’s service, we started the list again. It was an incredible celebration, again made possible because of so much love. Friends and family helped compile pictures and orchestrate horses and the coolest escort for Cowboy’s last ride. Our community came together once again to feed the 600 plus people who came to celebrate his life, and my goodness, it was beautiful!!! The love shared with us continues. We are still receiving gifts in the mail, cards full of encouragement, and gifts for the girls, all sent with such incredible amounts of love!! Every phone call, message, handshake, and hug holds us up. Every story, every mention of Cowboy’s name, the memorials gifts, awards in his honor, and pictures shared helps heal our hearts. Thank-you so much for honoring him!! Thank-you for helping him “Live On”!! Thank-you for celebrating his life!! Thank-you for loving him!! Thank-you for loving us!! Thank-you for showing up for our family in our darkest, most terrifying hour. Thank-you for giving of yourselves, and thank-you for sharing love. The love shared is the beauty in the tragedy, the blessing through the tears. Cowboy brought out so much goodness in those around him, and he’s doing it, still!! God is so good. Thank-you for sharing the stories and memories with us. Cowboy made such an impact. We knew he was amazing, but we didn’t realize how many lives he had touched. Please, keep sharing the memories!! Never worry about the tears. They’re there because we miss him, but they aren’t bad. They’re just love. Thank-you also for sharing the gifts of Cowboy’s continued presence, the God-winks, the little whispers sent our way from James and God. Those also heal our hearts. We don’t wonder, because James believed; we know where he is. I will never look at a rainbow the same again, or a butterfly, or a dragonfly, or…a feather. They’re gifts from God, and because you’ve shared them, gifts from you. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK-YOU!! May God bless your lives, as you have blessed ours. May He help you see the joy and find the blessings in all things. May He help us share love as you have all so willingly and so generously shared love with us. Amen. With Love, The Sexsons: Ryan, Jamie, Rylie, Addie, and Cowboy “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Corinthians 13:13

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission reminds landowners of three changes made to the Special Landowner Deer Season. This season, entering its second year this fall, gives a qualifying landowner a three-day season on his or her property preceding the regular firearm deer season.

Students who attend September webinars eligible to win one of six $500 scholarships Lincoln-EducationQuest Foundation announced the dates and times of a series of virtual events in September and October focused on college planning and financial aid. All events are free.

M Monday, Sept. 12 - Breakfast: Cody- Breakfast burritos, cereal, toast, fruit, juice, and milk.