News from Neighbors
Svoboda pleas ‘no contest’ for fire
STERLING JOURNAL-ADVOCATE, Dec. 6 — After months of court hearings, Patrick Svoboda entered a plea of no contest in connection with criminal charges stemming from a massive wildfire that destroyed over 32,000 acres in northeastern Colorado earlier this year.
The 40-year-old rancher from Iliff, who was accused of starting the fire in March of 2017 while welding on a feed trough during dry, windy conditions, entered his plea during a disposition hearing in Logan County District Court Thursday, Nov. 30.
According to Deputy District Attorney Travis Sides, the no contest plea was part of an agreement with the D.A.’s office in which Svoboda was offered a four-year deferred judgment for a felony arson charge while being given two years probation for a misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge. Sides said the misdemeanor charge will remain on Svoboda’s record.
If Svoboda completes the four-year deferred judgment, including the two-year supervised probation and restitution, the felony charge would be dropped from his record.
The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.
County approves crude oil expansion
STERLING JOURNAL-ADVOCATE, Dec. 6 — The Logan County Commissioners gave approval to Tallgrass Terminals, LLC for a significant expansion of their crude oil storage facility east of Sterling during Tuesday’s board meeting.
Tallgrass Terminals, LLC asked the county to amend the original conditional use permit to allow the company to expand its storage capacity by 800,000 barrels of crude oil. The company plans the construction of two 250,000 barrel storage tanks and two 150,000 barrel storage tanks at the Sterling Terminal.
The original conditional use permit issued to Tallgrass Energy allowed the company to construct the facility which currently stores 1.3 million barrels of crude oil. The Sterling Terminal is located approximately 9.7 miles east of Sterling adjacent to State Highway 6.
The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.
Construction continuing on new homes in Cornerstone
IMPERIAL REPUBLICAN, Dec. 7 — Progress continues to be made on six new homes being built in the Cornerstone Development.
The homes are being built by Dana Point Development. That is the same developer that won housing tax credits to build 10 rental homes on East 2nd Street in the Cornerstone Development.
In April, Dana Point purchased six lots on the north side of East 3rd Street from the City.
The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.
Millet growers consider state order
STERLING JOURNAL-ADVOCATE, Dec. 9 — Millet growers learned how to join the exclusive club of marketable Colorado commodities and be able to tax themselves to help fund marketing, education and research on the crop.
About 80 members of the High Plains Millet Association gathered on the Northeastern Junior College campus Friday morning for the HPMA’s first annual meeting.
HPMA president Chris Stum told the group that a lack of research in developing new millet varieties and lack of new market creation has inhibited expansion of the crop.
The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.
Archery hunter’s bighorn sheep likely a Nebraska record
CHAPPELL REGISTER, Dec. 7 — There may be a new state record among bighorn sheep harvested in Nebraska. Archery hunter Jason Bruce of Lockeford, California, claimed success during Nebraska’s bighorn sheep season with a massive ram taken on private property in the rocky Wildcat Hills near Gering, Nebraska, Saturday, Dec. 2.
Todd Nordeen, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission biologist, estimated it to be 10 years old, had a gross score of 195 1/8 and netted 193 5/8 on the Boone and Crockett scale.
The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.