Ord Talk

SUNDAY, JUNE 7th at 8:00pm at the COUNTRY NEIGHBOR. A MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF FT. HARTSUFF. BE THERE OR DON'T COMPLAIN WHEN THEY SHUT IT DOWN!

The Memorial Day weekend started off with BANG! on Saturday when the Freemont Pathfinders came to Ft. Hartsuff. The Pathfinders are a group of re-enactors who do living history in the form of Civil War soldiers, portraying Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry units. They are capable of doing impressions from the 1840’s all the way up through the Spanish American War period, but the Civil War and the time period shortly after are their bread and butter. Ft. Hartsuff made a welcome home for them this weekend. A Vintage Base Ball game was played on Sunday with the Artillery vs. the Ord Tigers. Video can be seen over on the Sports Page.

As reported earlier, the State of Nebraska is planning on closing down Ft. Hartsuff or reducing the maintenance and staff to the point that it might as well be closed. Budget considerations are the reason given and it seems that most anything of a historical nature west of Lincoln is on the chopping block. Apparently if you can’t put a boat in it or fish on it the State is not interested in keeping it open. Remember, Ft. Hartsuff is the most complete Indian Wars fort in the United States today. ALL of its buildings are intact, ALL of its buildings are furnished and short of having the soldiers to man it, it is a working, living breathing model of what a military post on the frontier was. There is none better, there are not substitutes.

Estimates of the number of visitors who came to the Fort on Saturday run into the thousands, about 2500 give or take. For the night firing of the cannon and the gatling gun vehicles were parked along both sides of the entrance road, along the service access road on both sides and two deep and all the way out to and along the highway. It was a turnout not seen since the 1976 Bi-Centennial and perhaps out performed that.

Watch the videos, write to your state representative along with the people on the board that oversees the funding for the state parks. I would also suggest writing Washington and your state representative and state senator about this. We can’t afford to lose this vital piece of American History to a few bean counters in Lincoln.

Lincoln Office/Governor Heineman State Capitol: Office of the Governor P.O. Box 94848 Lincoln, NE 68509-4848 Phone: 402-471-2244 Fax: 402-471-6031

Western Office: Office of the Governor 4500 Avenue I P.O. Box 1500 Scottsbluff, NE 69363-1500 Phone: 308-632-1370 Fax: 308-632-1313

Nebraska Game & Parks Rex Amack, Director Jim Fuller, Regional Parks Director 2200 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, NE 68503 • (402) 471-0641

Sen. Kate Sullivan District 41 Room 1019 P.O. Box 94604 State Capitol Lincoln, NE 68509 Phone: (402) 471-2631

Game and Parks Commissioners

District Name Address City Phone

1 Dr. Mark Pinkerton 114 W. 3rd St., P.O. Box 1127 Wilber, NE 68465 (402) 228-1755

2 Ron Stave 25827 Blondo St. Waterloo, NE 68069 (402) 359-2718

3 Mick Jensen P.O. Box 500 Blair, NE 68008 (402) 426-9511

4 James Ziebarth Rural Route 1, Box 14A Wilcox, NE 68982 (308) 478-5255

5 Jerrod Burke 220 Crook Ave. Curtis, NE 69025 (308) 367-4399

6 Lynn Berggren 514 Westridge Drive Broken Bow, NE 68822 (308) 872-6684

7 Mark Spurgin 790 Road East R South Paxton, NE 69155 (308) 239-4539

8 Dr. Kent Forney 5001 Trotter Road Lincoln, NE 68512 (402) 421-6456

At Large

Rex Fisher 1314 Douglas, 13th Floor Omaha, NE 68102 (402) 422-3742