Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago
Aug. 27, 2015

Tom Bennett and Marcus Kammer were in attendance at the Aug. 18 Holyoke City Council meeting to request use of Holyoke Ballpark for hosting the Babe Ruth regional tournament in July 2016. The request was approved, and further dialogue ensued regarding the attention that needs to be given to the ballpark.

A hearing in Phillips County District Court came to an abrupt end Aug. 19 when the city of Holyoke and Al Wall in his capacity of city attorney settled with Rupert and Claire O’Neal on a spurious document claim. The city will withdraw the documents from the public record, and the O’Neals will drop the case.

Gerk Funeral Home announced a change of ownership, handing over their businesses in Holyoke and Haxtun to Tennant Funeral Homes and Crematory. Owner Dave Tennant, along with sons David and Justin Tennant, operate Tennant Funeral Home in Sterling and Austin-Tennant Funeral Home in Julesburg.

Ten Years Ago
Aug. 26, 2010

Mayor Pro Tem Orville Tonsing was voted to take over as mayor of Holyoke during the Aug. 17 city council meeting. The position became vacant when David Nygaard resigned his spot at the Aug. 3 council meeting.

Along with the addition of new sidewalks, parking areas and pavement, new gardens were recently added at the entrance of the Colorado State University Extension office at Phillips County Event Center. Colorado Garden Show Inc. funded an $8,852 grant to help make the educational demonstration garden possible. Four new benches, plant signs, gravel, stone and plants were purchased with the money from the grant and were installed in July.

“Yes, Everyone Can Play!!” is a project of the Phillips County commissioners with volunteers Brooke Dirks, Shannon Schlachter, Michelle Vieselmeyer and Andrea McCallum. The idea is to build a universally accessible playground at Homesteaders Park for all children, including those with disabilities. In addition to the playground, the project will include an all-weather turf field and a disc golf course.

Nearly 200 friends and family gathered at Phillips County Event Center on Aug. 21 to help twins Elton and Milton Oltjenbruns celebrate their 90th birthday.

Twenty-Five Years Ago
Aug. 31, 1995

A plan for the elimination of the current director district plan of representation on the Holyoke Re-1J School Board will be on the Nov. 7 ballot. If approved by the voters, the new plan will find all members of the Board of Education elected at large. Currently, members of the Board of Education are elected from seven director districts.

Local librarians are taking steps to automate the libraries in the county. The local automation project is called SHARE, Sharing Haxtun/Holyoke Area Resources Effectively. The seven libraries involved are the Heginbotham Library, two Holyoke school libraries, the Haxtun Public Library, two Haxtun school libraries and the library at the BOCES office in Haxtun. Total funding needed to get the project started is expected to be $125,000, which includes software and records conversion, furniture and hardware.

Fifty Years Ago
Aug. 27, 1970

Those people 21 years of age or under who have not yet taken hunter safety training must do so soon or skip the 1970 hunting season. A new state law that went into effect at the beginning of this year states that any person born on or after Jan. 1, 1949, must show a certificate of successful completion of a hunter safety course before he can buy any hunting license.

Seemingly some misunderstanding has arisen about whether dress codes are to be in effect for Holyoke students. Comments have been circulating that regulations as to hairstyle and dress have been removed. The statements are not accurate, according to school authorities. At the last board meeting, it was agreed that parents, faculty, the board and students should be involved in reviewing the present codes. Until a committee has had a chance to study this matter, the current codes are still in effect.

Seventy-Five Years Ago
Aug. 30, 1945

The Treasury Department has announced that the Victory Loan will start Oct. 29 and extend through Dec. 8. The national quota will be $11 billion. The quota for Phillips County has not yet been announced. Let’s all unite in the grand finale of our war efforts and put Phillips County over the top the first day of the campaign and thus show our appreciation and thankfulness that the world conflict is over.

An epidemic of late blight threatening the 1945 harvest of late potatoes has broken out in the late-potato district of northern and northeastern Colorado. The blight causes potatoes to rot in the ground and in storage.