St. Mary's Teams Win 1st NVC Titles

2012 NVC Champions St. Mary's Cardinals - Front row (l-r): Zach Renshaw, Josh Cuddy, Kyle Pardun, Luke Loecker, Ty Eiler, Cole Moon, Kyle Loecker and David Shields. Second row (l-r): coach Gary Chvala, Marcus Schnieder, Jeremiah Cuddy, Tait Sibbel, Connor Connot, Jared Tomjack, Aaron Ohri, Tom Chvala, Adam Moon, Tyler Timmerman, Ryan Podany, coach Jim Sibbel and coach Tony Allan. Photo courtesy Studio B Photography.

2012 NVC Champions St. Mary's Cardinals - Front row (l-r): Alyssa Weise, Tracy Vandersnick, Bridget Schneider, Jessi Simons, Megan Schneider, Sarah Vandersnick, Carli Baseggio, Krissy Krotter, Alejandra Vergara and Caleigh Miles. Second row (l-r): coach Roger Weise, Head coach Mike Pardun, Emily Everitt, Jessi Pongratz, Erin Boyle, Addie Wetzel, Justine Blumenstock, Brooke Bauer, Marisa Miles, Makayla Wiese, Mackenzie Wecker, coach Mary Kersenbrock and Coach Terry Viterna.

K-9 Training

K-9 Training from Atkinson, Norfolk, Cherry County, Valentine and Broken Bow enjoyed a training at O'Neill Public High School and St. Mary's High School on Jan. 26.

Mr. Blizzard 

Mr. Blizzard appeared at the O'Neill Dairy Queen after the first winter storm this past week. Mr. Blizzard was so named because he was made of Blizzard cups from the establishment. The storm dumped several inches of snow in the Holt County area.

West Holt Medical Services In Top 1% In ER and 5% In Survey Scores In The Nation

Press Ganey Survey reports released for this quarter show that West Holt Medical Services is rated one of the highest in the nation.

The satisfaction surveys, specifically for emergency room patients,

inpatients and outpatients rank West Holt Medical Services emergency room in the top 1%, Inpatient stays in the top 5% and the outpatient clinics in the top 5%.

Press Ganey is contracted by the hospital to independently and objectively complete the survey process.

Press Ganey works with more than

7,000 health care organizations, including nearly 40% of U.S. hospitals, to measure and improve their quality of care, and has more than 20 years in the business.

These surveys are also used to garner information sent to a Medicare program referred to as HCAHPS, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.

The Center for Medicare Services reports the HCAHPS information publicly and allows comparisons of hospitals by the public as an incentive for hospitals to provide quality service.

"The results speak for themselves and are very much a reflection of our committed staff and culture that is focused on our mission of providing well-rounded, family healthcare with respect and understanding for the physical and emotional needs of our North Central Nebraska communities,” says Michael Coyle, CEO of

West Holt Medical Services.

West Holt Medical Services is very pleased to announce that we have achieved our highest overall survey averages for the fourth quarter of 2011 with the emergency room and inpatient and outpatient surveys.

The Press Ganey rating scale is 0-very poor, 25-poor, 50-fair, 75-good, and 100-very good. The 2011 fourth quarter emergency room overall mean score was 99.2 up 2.1 from a year ago.

The 2011 fourth quarter inpatient overall mean score was 94.5 up 3.2 from a year ago. The 2011 fourt quarter outpatient overall mean score was 93.1 up 3.2 from 3 months ago. Overall rating of care given, West Holt Medical Services is in the 99th percentile compared to overall nation’s scores. 

2012 St. Patrick's Annual Development Dinner Set

Will Doughtery will be the guest speaker at this year's development dinner.

The 2012 St. Patrick’s Parish Development Dinner will be held Saturday, Feb. 25. The evening will begin with a reception in St. Mary’s High commons area at 7:00 p.m., followed by dinner in the St. Patrick’s Parish Hall at 7:30  p.m. The New York steak dinner will be catered by Westside Restaurant.   

The theme this year is “Old Glory” Give Glory to God! Dress in casual clothing including red, white, and blue attire. The guest speaker is St. Mary’s alumnus from the class of 2004, comedian, Will Dougherty. 

Will is the son of Pat and Nikki Dougherty of Page. He is a staple of the comedy scene in Lincoln and Omaha. In 2011, he was one of only two Nebraskans selected for the finals of  Norfolk’s Great American Comedy Festival amateur competition. In 2012, he will continue to work toward his ultimate goal, being notable enough to have his own Wikipedia entry. Master of Ceremonies will be Scott Poese, General Manager of KBRX radio.  

Dinner tickets are $50 per person. They may be purchased at St. Patrick’s Parish Office, 301 E Adams or by calling 402-336-1602.

Kick-off For Holt County Relay For Life Is Feb. 23

Planning for the 2012 Holt County Relay For Life is in the works!  We need you!  There are many ways to get involved with this event.  Volunteer to be on a committee to help organize the event, consider being a sponsor, get a team together, let us know if you are a survivor or just come out and enjoy the evening and help us celebrate, remember and fight back.  

Relay For Life is an empowering experience to share with your family and friends near and far.  Learn how you can create a world with less cancer and more birthdays.  

Please join us for the Holt County Relay For Life Kickoff on Thursday, Feb. 23 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. at the Courthouse Annex located at 128 N 6th St in O’Neill.  This is a terrific time for you to stop in and see how you may want to take part in the 2012 Relay For Life.  If you have questions, please contact Tristan Cook at tristcook08@gmail.com or (402)340-4958.

City Council Reviews Plans For LB 840 Introduction To O'Neill

The O'Neill City Council met in regular session on Tuesday for the Feb. meeting. Absent from the meeting were council persons Tim Schneider and Terri Krysl.

After approving the minutes of the Jan. meeting the council opened bids on a new patrol vehicle for the O'Neill Police Department. Police Chief Matt Otte approached the bench while City Attorney Boyd Strope opened the bids. After opening bids on a patrol car and a utility vehicle the police chief asked the council to pursue the sport utility vehicle option. The council then agreed to go forward with the Ford Explorer with the police package from Prairie Hills Ford of O'Neill.

The next item on the agenda was the bids for brick installation at the community center in O'Neill. There was only one bid and due to a question about the bid the council tabled the award until the next meeting.

Nicole Sedlacek approached the council to answer questions about the proposed economic development plan for the City of O’Neill. The plan being discussed is the vehicle that determines how the city can spend any revenue collected through a local sales tax for economic development purposes under LB 840.

The city council is discussing taking the issue to city voters, asking voters to raise the local 1 percent sales tax to 1.5 percent, with all of the new tax going for economic development. If approved by the voters, this tax will remain in force for a period of 15 years. With current sales tax receipts, the annual amount that  is estimated to be available for economic development in the O’Neill area is $240,000. 

LB 840, the Local Option Municipal Economic Development Act, essentially gives cities more ability to invest public funds in programs that benefit economic development, job creation, and more.

Use of sales tax dollars collected under LB 840 is more stringent than how the city can spend its current 1 percent sales tax revenue, and has to be spelled out prior to any public vote.

Some of the eligible activities that LB 840 funds could be used for include purchase of real estate, business recruitment and relocation expenses, grants for job training and workforce recruitment, small business development, housing related programs, demolition of buildings to assist with future development of commercial, industrial and residential investment and public works infrastructure.

The city council took public testimony on the proposed plan and will also be holding a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 20.

The council read the dog ordinances again with concerned citizens letting their voices be heard over wording in the ordinance. The concern by the crowd seemed to be the possible cost to the dog owners on securing their animals and the wording in the dangerous dog ordinance on selection of breeds on the list. Mayor Price tried to explain the city's view on the ordinance and that the city is trying to work with the dog owners to make this go as smoothly as possible.

The council approved the bills and adjourned for the evening around 8:30 p.m.