Twelve workmen are repairing and renovatiog the interior of the courthouse with repaired woodwork and new plaster.

Hans Peter Holms, 33, is in critical condition with infantile paralysis. It was the first case of polio reported in the county in almost two years.

R.F. Klute of Hampton, was elected the new chairman of the county board of commissioners. He succeeds C.B. Mabon, last year's chairman.

Free tickets are being offered to this weekends Mazda feature to children ages 5-12 who bring a label from a glass jar or the lid from a tin of Nash Coffee.

Carolyn Jon Long, delivered by Dr. O.M. Troester on Jan. 6, 1940 has been certified as the winner of the first baby contest of 1940.

Residents were thankful for the first week without snow since before Christmas. However , the extremely cold temperatures were holding and many of the county roads ere blocked with two to five feet high snowdrifts.

Mrs. Willis (Nellie) Sanders and her two small children were rescued after their car stalled in a snow drift southeast of Aurora. She was overcome by the cold as she worked to free the vehicle; a neighbor's dog alerted others to the trouble and the three were rescued and warmed up; the baby and mother had some severe frostbite.

Eight out standing Hamilton County 4-H members have won trips or scholarships this year. The winners include Elenora Jensen, Myron Gustafson, Archie Madsen, Ruth Ann Medaris, Agnes Veburg, Lois Bamesberger, Fay Lewis and Dale Oswald.

Aurora merchant Harle W. Wright is selling out his women's clothing and dry goods store after 24 years of business in Aurora. He has not announced his future plans.

The Bremer Dairy in now churning butter, made from No. 1 pure pasteurized cream. The company will go into volume production but plans to make a higher grade of butter for local trade.

The Community Cooperative Oil Co. of Aurora and Marquette reported a 1939 profit of $934.37 at the co-op's annual meeting.

Jack Waller and Bud Pence teamed up on the Aurora A debate team that was successful at the Midlands College Tournament last week.

Judge Hastings found against Sheriff Andrews in a court case involving repossession of a car, but fined him only 10 cents.

Weather news filled the papers as another blizzard was due through the area. A number of meetings and activities were postponed for at least a week.

Hampton easily defeated Hordville, 41-17 to win the county basketball championship.

Frank E. Sorensen, son of D. Sorensen of Phillips, received a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Nebraska. The Phillips High graduate is currently on the staff of the Teacher College High School.

The Aurora Rotary will celebrate its 35th anniversary this week.

A skeleton, believed to be a Sioux Indian male, age 60-65, was uncovered by a high-way crew digging up fill dirt for the Stockham Highway. The skeleton is believed to have been buried during a hard winter when about 1,500 Sioux Indians camped near the river in 1867-68. It was brought to the Aurora Museum for final repose.

The coming mayoral election promised to be interesting, as the town's caucuses nominated incumbent Mayor Dr. J.F. Cole and former Mayor J.A. Pence.

C.A. Newman Motor Co. was offering a used car sale. The price on a 1929 Ford A coupe was $45.

Ed Carlson of Aurora retired after 43 years of service to the railroad, ending as a railroad engineer running the Kearney to Aurora route. He never had a fatality accident in his years as engineer. His plans for retirement include a trip to the World's Fair.

C.C. Frazier, Aurora Attorney, has been elected state chairman of the Republican Founders Day organization.

The Aurora Hotel Property will be resold. Hamilton County had won the original bid at a tax foreclosure sale, Judge Hastings ruled that a second, higher bid had to be considered. Because of the dispute, a new sale has been scheduled.

Aurora was to become the only school in the county to offer the Smith-Hughes Vocational Agriculture Class next year. The government will pay half the teacher's salary for the course, which included crops, soils, animal husbandry, poultry and shop work. The current shop room will be used part of the time for the classes.

The entire eight-member staff of Phillips School had been rehired. The staff includes Superintendent L. M. Hagwood and Principal Rex Lutz.

Aurora debate team members won six in a recent contest against St. Mary's High School of Grand Island and Grand Island High School. Debating for Aurora were Josephine and John Asher, Edward Daniels, Bonnie Hinrichs, Kenneth Herrold, Robert Nielson, James Gunnerson, Jerry Cole, Jack Waller, Rolland Pence, Donna Smith and George Coy.

The Aurora Chamber of Commerce has scheduled 12 free movies to be shown on Wednesday nights through the summer.

Barbara Hansen of Aurora will represent the county at the second annual Girls State in Lincoln this summer. The program is sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary.

Phillips has the highest per pupil cost of the schools in the county at $96.56 each. Other county schools and their costs are Hampton $90.19; Hordville $82.11; Stockham $80.33; Aurora $79.25; Giltner $76.22 and Marquette $68.28.

Work on the WPA courthouse improvement project has moved outdoors, and the new five-foot sidewalk is being laid around the courthouse square.

Fifty-eight county workers involved in the Works Progress Administration force were laid off in the county last week as the program is becoming retrenched. The workers are being transferred to the welfare programs and are seeking other jobs.

Chapman Furniture Store was offering a Hoover Special Vacuum for $19.95.

Judge Harry Landis has confirmed the sale of the Aurora Hotel to a new corporation, the Aurora Hotel Inc. The property was first sold on a tax sale to the county, that sale was disputed and ruled invalid and the new purchase allowed.

Mule Day will be observed in Aurora this week to promote mule production in the county. Silver of Cimmaron, a champion jack, will be featured in the educational show, along with several types of females.

Glen Eloe, Eddie Daniel and Earl Parris led the Aurora golfers as they defeated Central City this week. Parris finished the round with a score of 34, including two birdies.

Hampton won the Central Nebraska Conference Music Contest. Individual superior awards won by Hampton musicians went to Donald Kamtz, Delores Dahms and Wanda Wall.

Aurora's population dropped from 2,715 in 1930 to 2,406 in 1940. Stockham, Giltner, Phillips and Hampton also lost population; figures from Marquette and Hordvillie were not yet in.

Norman Sundberg and Sylvia Lewis were named as the top graduates in the Aurora H.S. Class of 1940.

Gerald Enderle will be competing in the state track meet javelin competition from Aurora. The school's golf team will be represented by Earl Parris, Glen Eloe and Eddie Daniel.

The Phillips High School track team won the C.N.C. meet. First places for Phillips were won by Dake, Jensen, Ator, Casper, Otto and Holberg. Casper won the 60 yard hurdles in a record 8.2 seconds.

Mrs. John Hilligas, 67, died of burns suffered when her clothing caught fore in the basement of her Hampton home.

Two small sons of former Hordville superintendent of schools Van Miller died in a car-truck crash near Elm Creek that occurred during a dust storm.

The Hampton County Farms Company of Aurora recently mailed out more than 2,600 14-lb. sample bags of hybrid seed corn to Nebraska-area farmers.

Farmers near Phillips have reported the loss of several cows after the cattle were infested with wood ticks.

Earl Parris, a top high school golfer at Aurora, took his talents to another level by winning his flight in the Nebraska Sand Greens Tournament at Grand Island.

The local Red Cross is joining a national effort to send money to the war-torn areas of Europe.

Two former Aurorans Mother, M. Gerald Mooney and Mother M. Merchmans Mooney, known locally as Anna and Grace Mooney, are celebrating their silver jubilee as members of the Ursuline Order of Catholic Sisters.

The county's personal property valuation dropped this year from $2.1 million to $1.9 million, according to Assessor D.M. Walker.

The Harle W. Wright Store sold its last merchandise this weekend. The store handled general merchandise and shoes; the owner has moved to Colorado.

Hail the size of hen's eggs was reported between Stockham and Eldorado.

An old-fashioned southern barbecue, staged in the garden at the George Wanek home left nothing to be desired in the way of luscious barbecued beef, down to the last detail of special sauce. Not be satisfied by a makeshift barbecue, Mr. Lewis superin-tended the digging of a pit four feet deep and seven feet long. A supply of oak and hedge posts were rounded up and the process of roasting began.

County Agent Cook reports that a number of farmers in the county have reported damage by blister beetles to alfalfa and gardens. A number of different species including gray, brown, black and striped have been reported. The blister beetles are from one-half to one inch in length.

The Farmers Union is staging a carnival at the Chris Holm farm five and one-fourth east of Hamilton corner, Aurora, on Aug. 1. The ball game at 6:30 p.m. between the farmers on the north side of the pavement and the farmers on the south side of the pavement will open the evenings entertainment. All ladies are to bring jars suitable for vases. The Hordville band will give a concert. Everyone is welcome to attend this entertainment. Last year a similar carnival was staged at the Holm farm, which was attended by several hundred people.

Approximately 300 farmers visited the John Thiesen farm, located eight miles south of Hampton, last Friday afternoon, to view the irrigation plant installed by Thiesen last fall and to see the various forms of equipment in operation.

The county board met and finished making the levy for 1940. The mill levy raised.01 and would have been 3.64 mills, the same as last year, except that it was necessary to add the .01 to the county fair to make the funds equal to divide between the state and county. The 3.65 mill levy in 1940 will raise $76,624.38 as compared to $87,417.77 in1939. This means that with the same levy as last year the county board must practice economy at every turn, because $10,393.39 less money will be paid by the people of the county towards the support of their county government.

The city letter carriers of the Aurora post office, with their wives will act as hosts at a District Letter Carriers' meeting in Aurora next Sunday afternoon and evening.

Oscar McHargue, living in the north part of Hamilton County, threshed 122 bushels and 48 pounds of alfalfa seed from 11.1 acres this week. Mr. McHargue expects to receive $12.00 per bushel for his seed which will net him approximately $1,470 or an average of about $132.44 per acre. A number of farmers in the north part of the county report from 4 to 7 bushels of see per acre.

Merrill Mathews of Central City, forest of the subdistrict which includes Hamilton, Merrick, Nance and half of Boone County, took the News editor on an inspection tour of part of the shelterbelts in Hamilton County. Twenty-three shelterbelts were planted last spring and of those visited nearly all were in fine condition and show a very small tree loss. Farmers who planted shelterbelts in Hamilton County last year are to be complemented on the fine job they have done in cultivating and keeping the weeds out of the trees.

Dwight Griswold, Gordan Ne. newspaper publisher, and republican candidate for governor of Nebraska, spoke on the street in Aurora. Griswold stated if elected he would concentrate on the buildings of highways instead of political fences. He favors relief to those unfortunate but deserving people who need relief. He favors and adequate old age pension to those in need.

Myron and Eugene Gustafson of Aurora placed second in national 4-H club competition at the National Dairy Show held at Harrisburg, Pa. this week, in their Dairy production demonstration.

County Supt. O.L. Stranton has just been notified of the winners in the Young Citizenship Contest held Oct. 19, the tests being supplied and corrected through the university.

Hamilton County went solidly into the republican ranks when nearly every republican candidate on the state and national ticket was given about a tow to one majority. Franklin Delano Roosevelt smashed all third term precedent and was reelected president of the United States, carrying 39 of the 48 states, with 468 electoral votes to 63 for Willkie. This may be changed some as the official returns come in, as a number of states are so close they could swing to either of the two candidates.

J.W. Hudson of Marquette, Manager of the Marquette Mercantile, has purchased the stock of Carl's Grocery, operated by the late Carl Lancaster, on the west side of the square. Mr. Hudson announces he will offer the entire stock for sale. Mr. Hudson will move any remaining stock to his store in Marquette after the sale.

Suits brought in district court by the owners of the Aurora Hotel Inc. and Frank E. Edgerton, owner of the garage in which Ted's Tire Shop is located, and an apartment house just north of the Aurora hospital, against the Hamilton County Board of Equalization, resulted in a reduction on the garage from $2,850 to $1,850. The calculations of the apartment house of $1,425 was ordered to stand. The hotel valuation was reduced from $8,750 to $4,375.

Miss Frances M, Kaub, accomplished harpist of Beatrice, Nebr. will present a harp concert at the Christian Church in Aurora on Friday evening, Dec. 13. Miss Kaub is the daughter of the Methodist minister at Beatrice, whose family is a close friend of the Rev. Shephenson family

One hundred plates were laid for members of the Aurora high school football squad, coaches, parents and members of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce at the annual Aurora high school football banquet sponsored by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.