75¢ plus tax 12 Pages Plus Supplements wHEAT: $6.76 MilO: $6.06 CORn: $6.51 Tuesday Markets Courtesy of McDougal-Sager, Snodgrass Grain, inc. email: [email protected] SquARE DEAl RAwlinS COunTy “A Voice for New Frontiers” VOL. 20, NO. 42 ATWOOD, KS 67730 THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2012 Summer Blast! FREE Day at the Pool • July 3 Start the 4th of July celebration early with a Summer Blast at the Atwood Swimming Pool! On Tuesday, July 3, all kids kindergarten through 12th grade will be admitted to the pool free of charge during the pool’s regular hours, from 1 to 6 p.m. For any youngster who has not yet dipped a toe into the community’s fabulous new swimming pool, this “free day” is an invitation to check out the new facility. Photo by Kathy Davis-Vrbas Horinek deems this year ‘best harvest’ By Rosalie Ross It was the best harvest ac- cording to Bernard J. Horinek, a Rawlins County farmer who celebrated his 99th birthday last March. “This was by far the best wheat crop we’ve had,” Horinek said. “It averaged 68 bushels and prices are good.” He recalled being in the same fields as a 12-year-old helping harvest with a team and barge. “We had an Acme 12-foot header that was pushed by six horses,” Horinek said. “The driver guided the header with a bar between his legs and used his hands to control the horses.” He remembered some years that the grasshoppers were so bad that they com- pletely lined the sides of the equipment. Harvest in B.J.’s youth in- volved the whole Rudolph Horinek family, which con- sisted of seven boys and two girls. The operation would take long, sweat-filled daysand once in awhile lasted clear into September. Wheat was much taller than the shorter varieties grown now, so some labor went into binding the straw and threshing grain for cat- tle feed. B.J. said their first com- bine was a little Gleaner that he pulled with a Interna- tional 1020 tractor as a 16- year-old. He remembered buying his first self-pro- pelled used combine in 1943. “It sure didn’t have air conditioning,” B.J. said with a laugh. Then he told about order- ing a personal cab air condi- tioner for tractor driving. “It fit over the farmer’s shoulders and had a fan that blew over from the back,” he said. “It really worked.” One post-harvest week in 1928 stands out in B.J.’s memory. His job was to load three wagons every day with wheat to sell at the elevator. The money was for a new family car. “I scooped about 54 bushels by hand every day that week and then drove the horses about an hour and a half to town with a load to dump at the elevator,” he said. He pointed out that he could go home a bit faster when the wagon was empty, but the grade of the road’s hills, the present Highway 25, was much steeper than now. “Sometimes going uphill you’d have to set the brake on the wagon and let the horses rest a little bit,” he re- called. Over the years Horineks have been hailed out a few times, 1970 being the worst. They once got a wheat crop wiped out by Mosaic disease, but B.J. couldn’t remember ever having a fire. “There were two different periods when rabbits swarmed in and ate every- thing,” he said. “Grasshop- Celebrate July 4 at Lake Atwood By Rosalie Ross What better way to cele- brate our country’s inde- pendence and the end of harvest than by spending the afternoon and evening of July 4 at Lake Atwood with family and friends? Bring your lawn chairs and join the traditional good time — relax with food, music and fireworks. Food vendors have some traditional offerings like root beer floats, and some new items, such as rabbit brats and homemade galushkas. Vendors can pick their time from lunch right on through the evening. Call LeRoy Luedders at 626-5331 to reserve a spot. Teams should sign up to play sand volleyball by call- ing Jenni Melia at 785-694- 8089 or register on Facebook by the July 2 deadline. “We are going to limit our tournament to eight teams this year,” Melia said. “And we’re going to start at 9 a.m.” There will be the annual bike races, horseshoe pitch- ing, 3-on-3 basketball and the favorite blue barrel rides for kiddies. Additional games are being planned for older kids. See the ad on page 10 for the schedule of events. Stop by the shelter box display. It is a Rotary Club emergency shelter that is transportable to disaster areas worldwide. Part of Atwood’s July 4 tradition is the patriotic pause about 7:30 p.m., to salute as the Boy Scouts raise the flag after it has been on parade. Everyone is encouraged to honor the USA, as the national anthem is sung and the Pledge of Al- Council hears pool report By Rosalie Ross City pool manager Jenni Melia reported to the Atwood City Council during their reg- ular meeting June 21. “Our average attendance so far this year is up from last year,” Melia said. The average is 68 swim- mers per day. There are 50 season passes sold this year, compared to 44 last year. So far, nine swimming parties have been booked. The pool will be closed after the swim meet July 7. “Atwood will be hosting a qualifying meet for the league championship swim meet,” Tim Colgan said. “There will be a bunch of teams here and it will take most of the day.” There will be a free swim County volunteers respond to blaze By Mary Holle By 10 a.m., Tuesday morn- ing, local temperatures were well on the way to 100-plus. A blustery south wind blew hot air across the area. Add a car with mechanical problems igniting along Highway 36. The results? A wildfire that burned out of control most of the afternoon and into the evening. The fire started in the north ditch 6 miles west of Oberlin. Decatur County dispatch reported receiving the call at 12:50 p.m. At 9:10 p.m., crews had contained the majority of the blaze, but were still fighting hot spots flaring up among the ashes. Photo by Kathy Davis-Vrbas The burned-out shell of the car that caught fire rests on the shoulder of Highway 36 with the out-of-control wildfire raging to the north and east. Courtesy photo B.J. Horinek, center, joins his son, Bernard, left, and grand- son, Deone, as they conclude their harvest. B.J., 99, con- tinues to enjoy participating. See ‘Horinek,” Page 9 See ‘Blaze,’ Page 9 Early copy, please! The Square Deal will be printing a day early next week, due to the 4th of July holi- day. The staff must receive all copy for the July 5 edition by noon, Monday, July 2 and the paper will be printed and mailed Tuesday, July 3. See ‘Celebration,’ Page 9 RCHC to apply for tax credit By Rosalie Ross The Rawlins County Health Center board voted to proceed with the Kansas tax credit applica- tion as presented by Julie Britton during their June 25 meeting. Britton explained in the application that the grant would be used to provide an outpatient sur- gical procedure room. It would benefit the commu- nity by encouraging its use by visiting ophthal- mologists, orthopods, den- tal surgeons and others. The room would be used for minor surgeries and diagnostic procedures like colonoscopies. Should the RCHC appli- cation be successful, the room would be completed in 2014. The hospital’s old sur- gery is obsolete and would require a bigger dollar in- vestment to bring it up to code than the estimated $661,700 cost for the new room and equipment. Ari Harvey told the board she was pleased with the progress being made by the capital cam- paign, saying that harvest hadn’t slowed the momen- tum as she expected. Pledges one time through five years are av- eraging $5,259.84. “We are going to make our big splash of reveal- ing figures during the pa- rade at the county fair,” Harvey said. The board voted to pay the four construction ap- plications for payment from BD Construction Co., as their work is al- most completed. Tara Bowles of the human resources depart- ment, brought a compari- son review of two insurance policies to the board. The coverage was for accident and cancer in- See ‘Coverage,’ Page 9 See ‘Pool report,’ Page 9 News at a Glance