Santa Arrives in Gering!

Friday, November 27th was special in Downtown Gering, NE. Santa arrived at Santa Village!! At the end of the Holiday Parade, there was Santa, Mrs. Claus and two very helpful elves to greet the children at Santa Village in front of the Civic Center.

It was quite an event with hundreds of children and their parents waiting for his arrival. There were carolers, thanks to Gering Zion Church, hot chocolate, and cookies thanks to the Gering Bakery. Several members of the merchants were helping pass out the goodies.

Santa Village consists of Santa Workshop, Valley Bank, a Merchants building, a School, a Church (replica of Gering Zion), an igloo (one of the favorites, a police station, and a dog house! They are in the northeast corner of the Civic Center Parking lot.

Santa will be there the next three Saturday's before Christmas from 10am until 1pm. A great opportunity for parents to take their children's picture of Santa. If you are able, the merchants do accept donations to help keep the village going year after year.

On December 5th, many activities will be happening in Gering! The North Platte Valley Museum opens their Christmas trees for judging, the Farm & Ranch Museum will have their High Plains Christmas celebrations including collecting letters to be delivered to Santa at Santa's Village by Pony Express!!

Here are more pictures from Friday night. Please stop by downtown Gering on Saturday and take everything in!!

A Generous Community

With all the bad news one hears, we tend to forget what a great community we live in.

Since it is Thankgiving week we need to take a moment out of our busy lives, and remember that the many things we have to be thankful for. This past weekend, KNEB and Panhandle Coop teamed up to help the CAPWN Food Pantry. We did live remotes from Plaza Foods on Friday night, where KNEB had their Monsanto Silverado Pick up parked out front. We then had a Husker Tail Gate Party on Saturday. We collected food for a total of 9 hours.

In those nine hours, we filled the box of their pick up and collected over $600 in cash. The cash will be used to apply for a $500 matching grant from Land O' Lakes Foundation.

Today, Mayors Meininger and Greenwalt and I signed a proclamation commemorating the 25th Anniversary of "Thanksgiving in the Valley" which will be held again at the Guadalupe Center on Thanksgiving Day from 11am-1pm. Last year over 800 meals were served, with half of those being delivered to the home bound. I worked at KNEB when a man by the name of Rich Berry started this project and Kevin Mooney has kept it going all of these years!!! Hundreds of volunteers help put this on and many businesses and organizations donate money to buy the food. It truly is a blessing for our enitre community.

Times are tough right now, but it does your heart good to know the community you live care for its own. If you would like to volunteer for "Thanksgiving in the Valley" contact Jill Allen at the Scotts Bluff County Volunteer Center, 308-632-3736. By the way, Jill can also tell you how to volunteer on an ongoing basis, with one of their many programs.

Have a very blessed and thankful Thanksgiving!

Making the USDA Blog

A few weeks ago I wrote about the partnership with Magnolia homes, the City of Gering, TCD, USDA, and local banks. Well we were also on the USDA Blog. Here is the link: http://www.usda.gov/blog/usda/entry/recovery_act_funds_provide_jobs

Let your voice be heard!

I hear a lot about taxes being too high in Nebraska. We have a great opportunity coming up on Wednesday.

Revenue Committee Hearings will be held at the Harms Center at 10 am.

Topics for the hearing include:

LR212- valuation of agricultural land for tax purposes.
LR214-local govt. levy limits and property tax proposals that have been implemented since 1995

LR 215- current processes and procedures in statute applicable to county boards of equalization
LR 251- valuation processes of real property

Senators Louden and Harms really wanted one of these hearings in Scottsbluff. Please let your voice be heard on Wednesday, October 28th, 10am at the Harm's Center.

Clarification

Yesterday, during my "State of Gering" address, it was interpreted that I don't support the Gering Newspaper, the "Gering Citizen." I was asked for a written clarification by Publisher Jim Headley and Lisa Betz who also works there. I understand that Jerry Purvis, who did attend was also very upset.

It was not my intent to upset anyone with any of the comments I made.

I had a slide in the presentation that featured four new Gering Businesses. Classis Lanes, Pony Express Station, the Steel Grill and the Gering Citizen. These are the same businesses I mentioned in the October issue of the "Talk of the Town." I apparently made some additional comments that were interpreted that I did not support the Citizen and upset the staff at the Citizen.

For that, I do apologize. I do want all Gering businesses to succeed. I do read the Citizen at City Hall and am a "Fan" of the Citizen on Facebook.

Once again, I apologize for the misunderstanding.

So it has been about a month, since my last post. It seems when things get crazy this gets forgotten.
Today I will be speaking to the Leadership Scotts Bluff Class on Social Media and how to promote your professional and business image. Blogging will be one of those topics.

Three weeks ago, we were very honored to host two cabinet secretaries in Gering. Ag Secretary Vilsack and Interior Secretary Salazar were both part of the "Rural Tour" which made a stop at Scotts Bluff National Monument.
Ken Mabery, Superintendent at the Monument, looked back into the archives and the nearest they can tell, it was the first the Secretary of the Interior visited the park since it opened nearly 90 years ago. It was a very exciting day!
We must thank Geringite, John Berge, who really went to bat for our community to bring them here. John is the White House Liason to the USDA!

Last week on October 6th, I was proud to represent the City of Gering at Magnolia homes for the reception with USDA on the project of the 5 homes built in southeast Gering. Back in April, the City loaned them $575,000 to build 5 homes. That loan was paid back in September, with all the homes selling. The many partners were recognized. Twin Cities Development, Magnolia Homes, USDA and the lending partners of Valley Bank, Platte Valley Companies, and First State Bank. If you have not driven down K Street and Pappas, it is really taking on a new look!

Coming up next Wednesday, October 21st at noon, I will be presenting the "State of Gering" at Gering Business club. It is a similar presentation that was done at the "State of the Valley" in September. If you would like to know what is going on in Gering, please feel free to attend, it will be at the Civic Center.

We are in the process of updating the City of Gering's Website. We have added videos and we are working with Hale Multimedia to redesign it. Our goal is to have information that you might need on the sight. We will let you know when it is up and running.

Until next time....

State of the Valley

Yesterday was the Chamber's Government Affairs Committee hosted Annual State of the Valley address at the Hampton Inn. It is a time for business people in the community to hear from Elected officials what is going on in our community. School Board Presidents, Drew Lyon of Gering and Bob Kinsey of Scottsbluff, County Board Chair Mark Masterton, and Mayors, Kent Greenwalt of Terrytown, Randy Meininger of Scottsbluff and me all gave the highlights of the past year.

It was good to see a nice crowd again this year. Last year there were about 90 and the event was sold out, so it moved to the Hampton where there were around 110 people. I was appreciative to see people attend, since no one was at our public hearings for our budget. I know that people do care, but they just don't show up to meetings.

I know they care when they send mail, however, if it is not signed it is difficult to address and therefore not credible. Also it is frustrating for me when I hear complaints with no solutions. We hear a lot of negative, but at the State of the Valley you hear a lot of positive. You hear directly from those you serve you not the rumor mill.

Sure not everything is positive, however, there is a lot of positive happening. Between the cities, the county and the school districts millions of dollars are being spent to upgrade facilities. Those dollars go to LOCAL contractors and subcontractors that live in this valley. They have kept their employees working, when the construction industry as a whole as been flat.

We have to continue to move forward or we won't be progressive and grow. What attracts younger people to move back to our area? Seeing things HAPPEN! There is a lot happening in our community and for that we are blessed.

One more thing, please attend the Gering School Board's meeting on Monday night, Spetember 21st, at 7pm at the High School auditorium. "What to do with Lincoln Elementary School" is the topic. They are asking for YOUR INPUT! Please be proactive and be there. Offer your opinions in a venue where they will count and have an impact.

Until next time.....