Congratulations
. . . to St. Mary's hospital on the 50th anniversary. It is interesting to read how so many people in Nebraska City banded with the Sisters of St. Francis and hit the streets asking for donations to build the hospital.
We say thanks to those many people who started the project and worked to its fulfillment.
The celebration of the hospital will begin Sunday at 2 p.m., with a mass by Bishop Flavin. Hospital Administrator Phil Fisher said there will not be an open house, but everyone is welcome to attend the mass and reception for the bishop.
We told you so
The number of high schoolers receiving awards has swelled with almost every issue this past week. Honors convocations have been or will be held at schools in the coming weeks.
You're invited to attend one of the programs and enjoy the enthusiasm of the students. We had one of those pleasures the other night at the Distributive Education banquet.
The DE students "ran" their own program, calling on adviser Robert Rathe for remarks at the close. He awarded Dave Stukenholtz and Le Anne Ehlers for winning at the state DE contest and singled out Le Anne who had returned the same day from the national contest at Anaheim, California. She was pretty excited about her trip and gave an enthusiastic report.
The News-Press has had DECA students for many years. Greg LaMasters is our DECA employe this year and we were his guests at the dinner.
Greg works in the mail room at the News-Press with Jerry Keran. The two boys put the names and addresses on the papers for the mail, put up the carrier bundles and operate a small post office preparing the News-Press for delivery.
We appreciate DECA. The work is rewarding for the boys and for us. The only sad part is the "turnover." Somehow, they seem to grow up and every year or two, we get a new "crop."
The Jaycee awards
The Jaycees appropriately recognized a number of energetic people at the banquet the other night, but it was the women's organization that caught our attention.
The Jaynes selected Cindy Hall as the Outstanding Young Woman. The Jaynes are to be complimented for their selection. Cindy not only was a good student and athlete at NCHS, she got "involved" in politics and is a member of the Board of Education.
Congratulations, Cindy.
A party for Alta
There's gonna be a party July 17 at the Wayside park in Unadilla to honor Alta Rhoten, a former Otoe county teacher who is retiring after 33 years.
Mrs. Frank (Joyce) Schulze, Unadilla, telephoned the other night to tell us of the plans to honor the former teacher. Miss Rhoten taught at Orchard Hill District 102 from 1944 to 1955 (she had 18 pupils) and then at District 12 northwest of Nebraska City from 1955 to 1963. She then moved to Omaha where she taught in the schools there.
A basket dinner will be held at 12:30 p.m. at the park.
The Sunday noon party promises to be a special event to honor a very fine person. We expect there will be a lot a stories about the old days in the country school and the renewing of a lot of friendships.
If you want to help on this, give Mrs. Schulze a call.
Thanks, Sara Jane
The interesting "Roots" story about the Ned Abbott family was taken from the Los Angeles Times and was written by Annabel Wilson, youngest daughter of the Abbotts.
The newspaper story was brought to our attention by one of our favorite news sources, Miss Sara Jane Whitten.
The county jail
Sheriff Russ Seals jolted the Optimists the other day when he said the closing of the Otoe county jail may be closer than most people think.
The sheriff said the rules and standards of jails today outdate the county jail. He suggested that the county remodel the jail because it will cost less in the long run than driving prisoners back and forth to Beatrice or some other town.
You don't toss prisoners in jail and toss away the key. Today they must have exercise rooms and sunlight. The sheriff refers to the county jail as like a dungeon.
None of us cares to spend the night to find out so we'll have to rely on the advice of others.
The graduates
There are a number of "early" graduations in the area and for that reason the News-Press will publish its special section on high school graduations earlier this year.
The biggest job we have with the graduation edition each year is getting the pictures of the seniors. We thank the superintendents, principals and the Moms and D[illegible]ds for their help.