A new face will be making an appearance at St. Peter de Alcá after the announcement of the 2017 clergy assignments from the Archdiocese of Omaha.

Father John Norman will take over as pastor of St. Peter de Alcántara Parish in Ewing, St. John the Baptist Parish in Deloit Township, and St. Theresa of Avila Parish in Clearwater. Norman is currently serving as associate pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Elkhorn.

Father James Kramper, currently serving in Ewing, Clearwater, and Deloit Township, will retire this year. The assignment change is effective August 1.

The 7th Annual Bubby's Race drew more than 200 people to Ewing on Sunday morning.

Cancer survivors were recognized with a Circle of Hope before the 5K run and 1-mile walk began at the Ewing football field. Runners and walkers of all ages followed the marked course throughout town. The race, which was started in memory of Beverly "Bubby" Thramer of Ewing, was held in conjunction with Ewing's Funfest celebration.

Proceeds from the event will benefit cancer treatment at Antelope Memorial Hospital in Neligh and Avera St. Anthony's Hospital in O'Neill.

Results are shown below:
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The Ewing girls had a spectacular day at district track and that means they will spend some time on the field at Omaha Burke next weekend for state track.

Five Lady Tigers qualified, led by Jodi Fry. She will take part in the shot put as well as the 100 meter hurdles. She will be joined by the 4x400 relay team of Emily Eacker, Tiana Thramer, Bailey Schindler and Ashley Koenig. Eacker will also take part in the 300 meter hurdles. 

Emergency officials were on the scene to investigate gas leak along Highway 275 on the edge of Ewing on Thursday morning.

Ewing Fire Department was working traffic control near Two Rivers Motel on the east side of Ewing.

Black Hills Energy crews were investigating the issue on both sides of Highway 275. 

Black Hills Energy Community Affairs Manager Brandy Johnson reported that the investigation concluded that there was not a natural gas leak, but rather a leak of methane  of a sceptic drain.

Elkhorn Rural Public Power was also on scene.

​One thing was constant throughout the Ewing Board of Eductaion on Wednesday night - if Ewing doesn’t combine with Clearwater-Orchard now, it will have to happen in the near future.
 
Dr. Gerald Ehlers, who presented the feasibility study between Ewing and Nebraska Unified District #1 last month, said the outcome is inevitable due to the dropping numbers.
 
The board gathered with Ehlers on Wednesday in Ewing to ask questions and clarify some numbers.
 
“Forget about all the other options, a school here, here and here,” board member Jason Schindler said. “Just one high school would be something you could do to show this is what we are spending now, and this is what a new school would cost, PK-12.”
 
Pete Funk agreed, “I don’t really see an advantage if we don’t do a new school.”
 
It was also discussed that with the three schools combined, each grade would have two classrooms with around 15 students in each, which is optimal.
 
The audience was involved throughout the meeting. One member of the audience asked the board what the next step is and what they thought would be the best option.
 
Mark Ramold suggested taking a “straw poll vote” to get an idea what the board members were thinking. An official vote was not possible because it was not on the agenda.
 
The board agreed unanimously via the "straw poll vote" on a new building for PK-12.
 
Schnindler initially wanted to have an elementary site in each town and a different joint middle and high school site. But looking at the funds, he switched his opinion to a new PK-12 building.
 
“Money wise, it probably doesn’t make any sense,” Schnindler commented.  “You do that and then in 10 years you’ll end up with another battle.”
 
Ehlers said, “Initially you’re talking about a vote going to three separate districts, and somehow you have to tie all of that together with a new building and merger. I don’t think you want to get involved with three separate district’s own new buildings. That is a disaster waiting to happen.”
 
Ehler recommended hiring three parties to get the answers that the board was looking for.
 
“If the plan selected is to go with a new structure, for example a new pk-12, obviously you would need to get three parties involved,” Ehlers said.
 
He recommended hiring an architect, fiscal agent and an attorney in which all three districts would split the costs equally.
 
Funk reminded the board they need to make sure all districts are on board with this plan. The board decided that approving to pay their portion of the hiring of three parties would be on the agenda for next week’s meeting.
 
“I think the next move if for you to decide collectively what is the best to move forward, and be able to justify that,” Ehlers said.
 
A new concept was also presented where the PK-4 is at Ewing, middle school 5-8 at Orchard and 9-12 at Clearwater.
 
That option, they said, had the same problem as a few other concepts. Ewing’s school is not big enough to accommodate PK-4 with only eight possible rooms instead of the 11 needed.
 
The question of what to do with the old buildings was discussed as well. An audience member said walking away from Ewing’s site would be easier than the other two because Ewing hasn’t had as many upgrades and additions as the other two.
 
 Ehlers said his two main concerns with Ewing is the declining enrollment numbers and the size of the school.
 
The next Ewing School Board meeting will be Wednesday, Jan. 12.

Jaimie Schmitz
​[email protected]

Not many high school students know about loans, collateral, taxes and bank accounts. In fact, some adults don’t know much about these things.

But a class at Ewing High School is learning about finance while they start their own business. 
Yes, you heard that right. Teenagers are starting their own business. 

The idea started when Tamera Cooper, the business teacher at Ewing, came to the students with the idea of creating a store. 

 “So we would learn first hand about the stuff that we are reading in the book,” said senior Danielle Anderson.

With guidance from Cooper, the class created the business, Knock on Wood. 

“It’s the entire class doing it,” Anderson said. “We decided to have our store be called Knock on Wood because everything we make is made out of wood.

The class makes the products themselves and run the business as well.  They offer chairs, benches, toy barns, doll houses and picture frames made from authentic barn wood.

The goal is to make $1,000. Their superintendent gave them a loan for $500. Soon after, they made that back along with $250. 

“It probably won’t be hard to make $1,000,” Anderson said.

Knock on Wood had a display table at the Christmas program in Ewing. Anderson said after that, she knew the business could work.

“I had people come up to me and ask me what they were, so no doubt we will get some orders. But so far we don’t have any in the books yet,” she said.  “Definitely still the beginning stages.”

There will be a craft show in Ewing at the end of February where Knock on Wood will have a vendor booth to sell more items. Until then, the class can work to make the product, learn to market the product, and figure out the best business plans. 

In the long run, Anderson believes that this opportunity will benefit her next year in college.

“Me personally, I want to go into business,” she explained.  “I want to major in strategic communications next year. So me being the head of marketing is pretty good practice.”

Although this is the first time students have had an opportunity like this, Anderson thinks this will continue to next year.
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Knock on Wood can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 308-641-4550.

It was a great night of basketball for the Ewing Tigers, as both boys and girls traveled down the road to Clearwater to take on the host school in the Cyclone Holiday Tournament.

In the girls game, the Tigers held the Cyclones to just 20 points in the first three quarters in a 42-35 win. Ewing held Clearwater-Orchard to just 26 percent shooting from the floor and forced 18 turnovers in the win.

Stats were unavailable for the girls.

In the boys game, the Tigers played a tight game with Clearwater-Orchard, eventually taking the lead for good with just under two minutes remaining to advance to the first place game with a 48-44 win.

A pair of seniors led the Tigers in Bryce Summers and Matt Kurpgeweit. They finished the night with 15 and 11 points, respectively, including some crucial late-game shots from Summers in the win. 

Earlier this week on Tuesday the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) awarded Thurston and three other communities a combined total of $106,500.

From the 2016 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) open cycle funding in the Planning Category has been offered to Brunswick, Ewing, Fairbury and Thurston.

Ewing will use $21,000 to complete a water study that will provide guidance to restore reliability, prepare for future water needs, project implementation and plan to obtain funding. The existing water distribution system has been maintained, but families and businesses have complained about the lack of water pressure to run appliances.

Applications for the open cycle, will be accepted until the CDBG Planning Category funds are either depleted, or the first cycle of the next program year commences, whichever comes first.
Up to $30,000 is available for communities and as much as $50,000 is available for multi-communities, counties, or regional applicants.

Planning activities considered for funding include community strategic planning, such as environmental assessments, citizen participation, downtown revitalization and fiscal management. Analyses of impediments and barriers to fair housing choices and neighborhood/comprehensive/strategic development plans may qualify.
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Also considered are functional or special studies for housing, infrastructure, community economic development, land use/regulatory measure, main street improvement districts, downtown revitalization, energy conservation and transportation. In addition, environmental, heritage tourism and historic preservation studies may qualify.

The audience was treated to a fun day of acts at the Niobrara Valley Conference East One-Act competition Tuesday in Tilden.

​Eight schools took part in the competition. 

Third place went to Ewing for “A Wrinkle In Time,” adapted by Morgan Gould from a book by Madeleine L’Engle.

Many outstanding actors and actresses were recognized as such for their showing on the night.

For Ewing, Katie Hawk, Sarah Hawk, Jodi Fry, Emily Eacker, Danielle Anderson, Ann Nordby and Skylar Eacker were awarded for their efforts.