News from neighbors
Ag commissioner tours Logan County
STERLING JOURNAL-ADVOCATE, Feb. 23 — In her first visit to eastern Colorado, the state’s new agriculture commissioner toured the North Sterling Irrigation project and visited with Logan County farmers on two farms Thursday, then spoke at the Northeastern Junior College Farm Bureau’s Beef with a Brief Thursday evening.
Kate Greenberg told the 80-plus attendees in the NJC Student Center Ballroom that succession — the ability of farm families to pass their operations on to the next generation — is a high priority with her.
Greenberg talked about her four top priorities for the department and credited her predecessor, Yuma farmer Don Brown, with setting the department up to succeed with those priorities.
First, she said, she wants to make sure farmers and ranchers have the assets they need to stay on the land, and that includes working with state and federal agencies to see that producers’ needs are being met.
The new ag commissioner wants to continue Brown’s work of opening markets, with a focus on the Colorado Proud brand. “Hemp is on everybody’s mind, and it’s a high-value crop,” she said. “Finding markets for that is going to be a challenge, but it’s one I want to meet.”
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Plans in the works for Bonny
THE YUMA PIONEER, Feb. 28 — Bonny Reservoir, once a popular camping, boating and fishing destination located in extreme southeastern Yuma County, was drained years ago to help Colorado get into compliance with the Republican River Compact with Kansas and Nebraska.
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Aurora Dairy granted 15-month extension
WAUNETA BREEZE, Feb. 21 — Aurora Dairy was granted a 15-month extension to begin work on its Chase County, Nebraska, project during the Feb. 12 commissioners meeting.
Tracy and Jonathan Beverly of Imperial, Nebraska, attended the meeting to ask commissioners Jacci Brown, Dennis Kunnemann and Chuck Vette to deny the extension.
The Beverlys, who live near the site in northwest Chase County, protested Aurora Dairy’s original conditional use permit in June 2018.
The Beverlys said they have accepted the dairy, but giving the dairy an extension leaves landowners in limbo: there’s no market for property not involved with the dairy because of the “threat” of the dairy, while the only market they see, the dairy, won’t be needing employee housing for an additional 15 months.
Aurora Dairy lawyer Lee Sachnoff said owners have expended funds having plans drawn up and getting the various permits needed. If the extension were to be denied, Sachnoff added, the Aurora Diary could start building now.
“Like everything, it takes longer than expected,” he said. “I want to quell the reaction that they aren’t doing anything. They’ve actually done quite a lot, and they are committed to coming to Chase County. It’s just taken longer than they initially considered.”
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Former council member to be recognized as football star
STERLING JOURNAL-ADVOCATE, Feb. 23 — A former Sterling City Council member is being recognized posthumously for his unique contributions to the world of football.
Ellis Jones, who served for 20 years on the council, will be inducted into the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame, which honors outstanding high school athletes and coaches from a 19-county area surrounding Abilene, Texas. He will be recognized May 6 as a “Bill Hart Memorial Legend” member.
Jones was born in Abilene in 1921. A childhood injury left him without his right arm, but it didn’t stop him from becoming a football star. After high school, he went on to play for the University of Tulsa as a guard and linebacker, helping lead his team to three major bowl games: the 1943 and 1944 Sugar Bowls and the 1945 Orange Bowl.
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Turkey will be plentiful this spring
AKRON NEWS-REPORTER, Feb. 27 — Spring turkey hunting in northeastern Colorado has grown in popularity and accessibility over the past few decades.
The South Platte River corridor is home to Rio Grande turkeys that now number in the thousands. Turkeys can now be found along creeks and drainages far from the river corridor.
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