Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
1946: Speedy drivers irk Hartley Mayor P.A. Leese
• Sept. 19, 1946
Numerous complaints had reached Mayor P.A. Leese’s office that drivers were disobeying the speed laws, especially in the vicinity of the schoolhouse, were failing to stop at stop signs and were driving with cut-outs open. The mayor warned that if necessary, a patrolman would be brought in to patrol the streets and those violators apprehended would be fined heavily.
Rev. G.E. Scheider, pastor of the Hartley and Everly Methodist churches for four years, was transferred to the Galva-Silver Creek charge. Rev. S.A. Kruschwitz was appointed to fill his place. The Scheiders’ many friends in both communities were sorry to have them leave.
The Milwaukee train going east in the evening was changed to 6:34 p.m. The Des Moines-Spirit Lake branch was changed to connect with the eastbound train as usual, and would leave at 7:03 for Des Moines.
• Sept. 23, 1971
One of the foreign exchange students attending Hartley High School was Nada Bajagic, of Vasa Raickovica, Yugoslavia. She was staying with the Gerrit Bos family in rural Hartley. Nada was a senior. Her father was an electrical engineer.
Police Officer Bruce Branson spoke to the second grade class at Hartley Elementary School on safety habits, encouraging good bike riding practices, sitting down in the seats of cars while riding with parents or friends, and wearing seatbelts. Members of the Tritonia Junior Federated Club distributed safety pamphlets and “Safety Bug” pins and pledge cards.
Bruce Denny, Dwayne Jacobs, Greg Paulsen and Ron Smith, members of the Hartley FFA livestock judging team, took first place at the Clay County Fair. They judged eight classes of meat animals.
• Sept. 26, 1996
Michele Dummett and Rory Marra reigned over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn’s Homecoming activities. Other members of the court were Corina Donkersloot, Shannon Koele, Nicole Muhs, Scott Byers, Jay Koedam and Aaron Stoltz.
The Red Cross Bloodmobile collected 84 units of blood in Hartley. First-time donors were Lydia Brawner, Korey Ebel and Matt Schuver.
Financial grants given to two businesses by the City of Hartley were used to purchase properties in the industrial park. Grants of $9,850 to Heartland Ag Industries and $6,500 to Brown Medical Industries were based upon the economic growth and improvements by the firms on their industrial park sites.
“From Our Files” is compiled by Sentinel-News sports editor/staff writer Mike Petersen.