Emersyn Sudbeck, daughter of Don and Wendy Sudbeck, Hartington, learns how to blow bubbles and kick from her swimming instructor, Sara Heine, during swimming lessons Monday at the Hartington Municipal Swimming Pool. The warm temperatures in recent mornings have made the pool a great place to be morning, noon and night. The National Weather Service is predicting that the warm temperatures will continue this week, as the mercury is expected to climb into the 90s.

HARTINGTON — Dean and Lisa Burbach’s dream became a reality last year when they ventured into marketing their own dairy products.

Burbach’s Countryside Dairy, which is located southeast of Hartington, started filling re-usable glass bottles with their farm fresh milk at the end of September.

They have now expanded on that dream. Countryside Dairy has added flavored milk to their products.

HARTINGTON — The tragic death of a young Hartington woman last week, has left the community in grief and asking questions.

Janell Burbach, 20, died Wednesday at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa after she contracted bacterial meningitis.

She was life-flighted to the Sioux City hospital Tuesday afternoon.

Burbach was the 2005 Cedar Catholic Valedictorian and was enrolled as a junior music major at the University of South Dakota.

SOUTH YANKTON — The state is helping the Corps of Discovery Welcome Center by providing funds for three workers here this summer.

The facility, which is located along Highway 81 in northern Cedar County, was established in 2000 to promote and share the diverse and unique culture, history and landscape of Northeastern Nebraska.

The three new employees have a history of promoting Nebraska.

They believe in the mission of the Welcome Center, to promote the area, which in turn enhances the economic prosperity of rural Nebraska.

FREMONT — Faith and family are important to John and Amy Giorgio.

The couple puts faith and family first in their own lives and has encouraged others in their church to do the same.

By Deanna Anderson

Cedar County News

HARTINGTON — The areas newest veterans have a new view of Memorial Day this year.

After spending a year in Iraq, members of the Nebraska National Guard 189th Transportation Company have been back in the U.S. close to seven months.

Mike Olsen said adjusting to life back home in Coleridge after being gone for a year was fairly easy.

HARTINGTON — When Becky Lauer left Hartington 30 years ago she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.

Little did this 1977 graduate of Hartington Public High School know when she packed up and headed for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a shy small-town girl that she would be beginning an adventure to take her all over the country in search for her true calling.

HARTINGTON — To be the considered the best, a person must have certain intangibles that set them apart from those around them.

Determination, confidence and motivation are a few qualities Maisie Eickhoff and Denae Becker of Cedar Catholic, and Amanda Dendinger and Laura Wiebelhaus of Hartington High School displayed to become “best in class” in 2007.

For Eickhoff, the decision to separate herself from the crowd came at a relatively early age.

HARTINGTON — Hartington residents will have a chance to meet the man who wrote “The Unknown Star”, a book that has been published by Prairie Hearth Publishing Company.

Elton Rokusek, Tyndall, S.D., will be at the Hartington Public Library Saturday May 19 for a book signing.

Elton has a connection to the Hartington community. He is the father of Steve Rokusek who lives in Hartington.