Union, Nebraska

UNION NEWS
June 3, 2004

STORM UPDATE:

The Village of Union suffered a lot of damage from the storms that hit at 10 p.m. on May 26th. Downed power lines, trees uprooted, homes & vehicles were all damaged. Our Rescue Captain, Gaille Brown, was on her way to set off the sirens when the entire village lost power. Gaille with the assistance of other volunteers were out in the rescue squad immediately following the storms to check on all residents of the village. By 11 p.m., several other residents were already out cleaning up trees & other debris blocking roads. There were trees down on dog kennels trapping several dogs & with the family out of town, Mr. & Mrs. Moyer (who lives behind them) were out freeing the trapped animals and, luckily, found the propane tank had also been damaged & shut it off. Another of our families, Alex & Jessie Braszko, took in a family that got stranded in the storm & a yellow lab that came to their home in a total panic. No one was seriously injured & no homes have been considered unlivable. The mobile home owned by Ken & Athena Willeford suffered the most damage when a huge tree fell directly on the front of it. They don’t know yet what the status is because they haven’t heard back from their insurance company. Also one of their cars had $6800.00 damage & will probably be totaled. A couple of homeowners lost pole barns, storage sheds, grain bin & large horse barns.

Cass County has been designated a disaster area & the order was signed on May 25th. This means we are eligible for federal assistance to recoup some of our costs & residents are eligible for low interest loans or possibly some other assistance. The village is working with the EMA in Weeping Water & will keep everyone informed on what is available. If you need assistance, please let the village clerk know.

We are scheduling a Tub Grinder for our area coming from the Sarpy County Landfill. This will be used to mulch/chip all of the tree debris. A commercial chipper isn’t big enough to deal with the size of the trees we need to get rid of. A company was in the village to remove all limbs hanging over the streets, sidewalks & public parks. If you see any other limbs, let the clerk know.

We must thank Norman’s IGA in Nebraska City for their donation of several pounds of sliced ham, loaves of bread, cases of bottled water, oranges, apples, & cases of chips which enabled us to feed everyone working on the storm damage. Gaille, Sarah & some of Gaille’s extended family kept the fire barn open for 3 days to provide shelter & sustenance.

Our village may be small but when there is an event such as this storm, it seems to double in size. To everyone that helped, thank you very much & may I say, I’m proud to be a member of this community.

TIDBITS:

GARAGE SALES:
Don’t forget to sign up for the community wide garage sales scheduled for June 19th. Maps will be handed out at the fire station where there will also be a bake sale.

FUNDRAISER RESCHEDULED:
The Fire & Rescue fundraiser where Gaille Brown was going to stay on the roof of the fire station & was originally scheduled for May 29th has been rescheduled to June 19th.

Happy 22nd anniversary to Steve & Deb McWha.

The only thing holding this arch down in front of the McWha house is the honeysuckle.

This is some of the damages @ the Willeford’s home including the car in the background (under the tarp).

This deck (at the Brown’s) ended up @ a very odd angle thanks to the tree uprooting.

The park didn’t go without damage. As you can see, a very large tree fell on this piece of playground equipment with the replacement value of $2500.00.