Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 21

I Journal Star Sunday, June 6, 2004 www.journalstar.comnebraska Pags DMign: Rob Schlottabeck MOT Elsmere student puts face on plight of small schools, towns V- i i Wyoming state trooper arrested for shoplifting A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested and charged with shoplifting merchandise from Cabela's in Sidney. Trooper Lance E. Novak has been charged with theft by shoplifting of more than $1,500 in goods, according to Nebraska's Cheyenne County Attorney Paul B. Schaub. The exact value of the goods involved was not released.

Novak appeared in Cheyenne County Court on Wednesday and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He will appear in Cheyenne County District Court for arrangement on July 13, according to court documents. Novak is based out of the Wyoming patrol's Laramie division, according to patrol Col. John Cox. NT5B releases cause of helicopter crash The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that a faulty tail rotor and an inexperienced pilot were likely the causes of a fatal medical helicopter crash in Norfolk in 2002.

Three people were killed in the crash: Lori Schrempp, 41, an emergency room nurse from Yankton, S.D.; pilot Phil Herring, 43, of Lincoln; and paramedic Patrick Scol-lard, 40, of Sioux City, Iowa. The LifeNet of the Heartland helicopter had just left a Norfolk hospital on June 21, 2002, when thepilotreportedtrouble.lt crashed at the airport. No one else was on board when the crash occurred. The NTSB determined the likely cause of the crash was a problem with the tail rotor and the pilot's failure to maintain control of the chop- per. Other factors included the binding of a mechanism controlling the tail rotor, gusty winds and the pilot's lack of experience with that type of helicopter, the agency said.

Tornado touches down in Kimball County KIMBALL A single tornado swept through Kimball County Friday afternoon. No damage was reported from the storm that began just before 2 p.m. MOT. The tornado touched down southwest of Bushnell and then moved east toward the county seat of Kimball, said Jennifer Start, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyo. From wire reports 4 i wtf wn M-OTTiikn -it -i-rr--r-'-ltiTir 11 iHM iiii ihi I i I i 1 if I i PHOTOS BY PATTI VANNOYFor the Lincoln Journal Star Teacher Pam Scheer and sixth-grader Amanda Keys, her only student, work at a table at Elsmere Public School.

Elsmere was one of four schools in Nebraska this past school year to have just one teacher and one student. i CHERRY J-Y L.L. Amanda's desk sports a large sign bearing her name. BY PATTI VANNOY For the Lincoln Journal Star ELSMERE A sixth-grader is reading about the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.

She reads aloud the paragraph explaining why Linda Brown's parents sued, the one noting the injustice of making a 7-year-old black girl travel two miles when an all-white school was just four blocks away. Her teacher looks up, across the room of a remote Nebraska schooL Here, a quick count from the window proves the adage: Cows really do outnumber people. Her fingers curl into bunny ears. "Two miles," the teacher mouths. Her smile says more.

Twelve-year-old Amanda Keys lives eight miles from this K-8 school in southeast Cherry County where her next-closest option is three times the distance. From her desk, Amanda can't help but notice the empty floor space on either side. She is the only-student In fact, Elsmere Public School, was one of four in Nebraska with just one student and one teacher this past school year. Experts on rural education and culture as well as those living in such remote areas say trends toward depopulation and industry, away from agriculture, make-these schools more vital than ever to local economies. At the same time, legislators and officials facing significant budget shortfalls find education an obvious area for cuts, especially schools drawing tax dollars to support one student.

"I don't think there's huge savings out there, but there's got to be some," Nebraska Education Commissioner Doug Christensen said of legislative efforts to cut administrative costs in smaller school districts. Those who think schools like Elsmere are worth preserving offer a variety of arguments: They exist out of necessity, at extreme distances from any others. Rural communities rely on the economic and social stimulus they provide. Forcing students to attend school far from home encourages them to leave, contributing to rural depopulation. Small student-teacher ratios provide an excellent education.

Centralizing administration would hurt schools more than help budgets. "Right now we are strictly taking an economic paradigm a short-term economic paradigm and it's harder to take a long-term one when you're sitting here trying to balance a budget," said John Allen, a rural sociologist and University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor who believes closing rural schools puts communities on a "treadmill of demise." It's almost like triage, he said. "They're making decisions of which towns will live and die." The economics driving those decisions are clear: Contributions to K-12 and higher education make up about half the state budget, said Lincoln Sen. Ron Raikes. So at a time when the Legislature is facing yet another budget shortfall, this time totaling $315 million over the 2003-05 biennium, heavy scrutiny of education is understandable.

The Education Committee chair sponsored a bill last session ultimately postponed requiring Nebraska's 241 Class I elementary-only Drought monitor Editor's note: Distributed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, this drought monitoring map is based, in part, on data compiled by the National Drought Mitigation Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. See it online www.drought.unl.edudm. Map updated June 1, 2004 MATT VAN DRIEST Lincoln Journal Star Declining enrollment In 1950-51, there were 6,604 public school districts in Nebraska, with 4,248 one-teacher schools. Twenty years later, the state's 1,478 public districts operated 673 grade schools with just one teacher, including three like Elsmere with just one pupil.

In 1990-91, 117 of the 812 school districts operated with fewer than 10 students and one teacher. This year, the numbers are down to 501 public school districts with 75 employing no more than the equivalent of one full-time teacher. D. MATT VAN DRIESTLincoln Journal Star High School in Dunning or 45 to either Thedford or Ainsworth the 14-year-old now studies at home with her mom, who holds a teaching degree. So Amanda is the only one at school, listening to music almost all day to get used to noise.

Come fall, she expects to be joined by two kindergartners, a first-grader and a girl her own age. "That next generation is coming, if we can just hang on here," said her mother. The predicament in which Elsmere and other schools find themselves is a crossroads of countless causes. A big part, the decline of agriculture, began around 1920. Since 1950, the number of farms in the state halved, according to the Department of Agriculture, from 109,000 operations producing at least $1,000 in annual agricultural sales to 48,500 outfits meeting that benchmark last year.

Efficiency was their downfall, said Stu Miller, deputy director of few- 4 i the state Department of Economic Development. Higher productivity achieved through better seeds and irrigation, fertilizers, more extensive and efficient cultivation, and other technological developments lowered the prices of agricultural products. With them went the ability of farms to support incomes. "One person on a farm now can produce what 10 did on a farm a century ago, or more than that," Miller said. Manufacturing and service jobs have replaced some job opportunities, he said, but overall, fewer peo- pie live in rural areas, leaving fewer people to pay for and use the infrastructure things like schools and roads.

Roads are a large part of why Elsmere Public School still exists, despite the town's population of four and the entire district's head-count of 51. Roads to the nearest schools 25 miles to another elementary, sometimes across county lines are dubious or even unthinkable. People in Lincoln have no concept of those distances, said Marilyn Meerkatz, executive director of Class I's United, an advocacy group for elementary-only districts. "When we think about 50 miles, we think about going to Omaha and we know there are people that commute every day to Omaha," she said. Consolidating would be like sending all the kids in Lincoln to Omaha and all Omaha kids to Lincoln, said Elsmere School Board President Cindy Smith.

Except there is nothing like 1-80 in Cherry County. In its southeast corner, most roads are gravel, see a grader every See PLIGHT, Page 2C out of the DIOR MCUYLincoln Journal Star has been with the state's ombudsman's years, serving; as the ombudsman since cipal for Amanda's school and 19 others in Cherry County. "If you were to close one of these schools, typically the students would have to drive another 30 or 40 miles to get to the next school. Would you want to have your student to have to travel 30 or 40 miles to go to school?" Kerry and Anita Keys don't. Their oldest daughter, Stacy, attended Elsmere until last year.

But instead of starting her freshman year at least 38 miles away at Sandhills Ombudsman stays districts to merge, at least administratively, with nearby K-12 districts. "It's not always that the smallest school is the lowest cost and the largest school is the highest, but there are definitely trends in that way," Raikes said. "That was really the basis of the underlying bill." But others say combining school boards means almost certain death for smaller districts. Besides, schools like Elsmere are just doing what's necessary to educate kids, said Jeff McQuistan, prin Abnormally dry: Short-term dryness slows planting and growing; above-average fire risk. First-stage drought: Damage to crops and pastures; high fire risk; low streams, reservoirs and wells; water shortages developing and water use restrictions requested.

Severe drought: Crop losses likely; very high fire risk; water shortages common and water restrictions imposed. Extreme drought: Major crop losses; extreme fire danger; widespread water shortages and restrictions. Exceptional drought: Widespread crop losses; exceptional fire risk; water emergencies due, to shortages in reservoirs, streams and wells. Exchange student treks back to state German girl returns to watch her friends graduate from Kearney High. BY VICKI RICE Kearney Hub KEARNEY Anne Zirnmer-mann had been to the United States before, coming as an exchange student in 2002, but she didn't know much about Nebraska.

Zimmermann of Stuttgart, Germany, ended up in Kearney during her junior year of high school and developed friendships strong enough to bring her back for this year's Kearney High School graduation. "I'm really glad I came here," she said. Friends Monica Radliff, Mike Albers and Jenae Frye, all Kearney High graduates, will return to Germany with Zimmermann to spend a couple of weeks with her family. While there, they will go to school with Zimmermann and visit castles and an amusement park. "I'm excited to show my friends the way I live," Zimmermann said.

There are many differences in the two countries, Zimmermann said, from the way her town Is set up without blocks, to the casde in which she goes to school. "Everything is different. I think they will be surprised," she said. Zimmermann said the only two fast-food restaurants she is able to eat at in Germany are Burger King and McDonald's. She is looking forward to having her friends try some of the foods traditionally eaten in Germany.

Radliff and Zimmermann developed their friendship when they were in classes together, including band, in which they both played saxophone. The two have kept in touch through e-mail. Radliff said she changed quite a bit during her senior year, and she was able to e-mail Zimmermann to help her through some of die stress. She has learned a lot about the German culture from Zimmermann, including about independence and the fall of the BerlinWallinl989. spotlight during most cases The low-key office takes care of km complaints and helps residents with rules of government.

BY NANCY HICKS Lincoln Journal Star For more than three decades, the state's ombudsman office has quietly helped people sort through the government maze. Every year, the staff of eight fields more than 2,000 complaints, around half of them justified. Inside3C Many are the simple problems ui ueiayeu income tax teiuiius ui getting driver's licenses reinstated. But there are complicated problems, including complaints by families with children in foster care. This summer the aeencv direc A look at some of the cases the Nebraska Public Counsel works on.

tor, Marshall Lux, is celebrating 25 years with that office. Lux, a man whose name is familiar only to state government insiders, runs an agency with an equally low profile. Lux is a lawyer whose interest in government began when he was a boy going to Roca Town Board meetings with his dad, the town clerk. Lux says he was never a crusader type, never out to get the bad guys. 1 le took an academic interest in government "I wanted to know how it works." And Lux's low-key, academic bent is one of the Se LUX, Page 4C Marshall Lux office for 25 1981..