Beatrice Daily Sun from Beatrice, Nebraska • 1

SARNECKI OUT Fire Marshal job to Barnett IBEATMCE Asked about the comparatively high rate of turnover in atntp fire marshals. Daily Thursday, Feb. 9, 1978 1 5 Cents 1 4 Pages I Deteriorated Pawnee Hotel coming down Barnett said, "I think I can stay." "There's no reason why someone couldn't sit down and talk with the volunteers and paid firemen across the state," Barnett said. Barnett would not comment directly on Sarnecki's resignation but said, "as I understand ft, the morale was pretty low over there." Barnett is sponsoring legislation that would remove the fire marshal's position as a gubernatorial appointment. He said he still believed that bill, LB563, "is the best way to go." Sarnecki said he resigned at Exon's request Wednesday, and contended he was "set up" by "people that wanted my job." Sarnecki said the episode could prevent Exon from winning a seat in the U.S.

Senate. In addition, Sarnecki said he "definitely" would seek nomination to public office himself this year as a Republican. He did not embellish on that statement. Exon is a candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination. In a terse news release, Exon's office announced the governor "had asked for and accepted" Sarnecki's resignation because Exon "was not satisfied with the present condition of the department's affairs and felt that a change was necessary." Sarnecki said he "had a choice" in the resignation and "I did what I thought was best." Asked if politics were involved in his resignation, Sarnecki replied that "we've had a governor for eight years and we've had seven fire figure it out." However, he did not say partisan Dolitics were involved in his dismissal.

1,0 1 a I a i ins LINCQLN, Neb. (AP) Sen. Wally Barnett of Lincoln will become the state's next Fire Marshal, but Gov. J.J. Exdn said Thursday he would delay the appointment until the end of the current legislative session.

Less than one hour after announcing that Barnett would take the Fire Marshal's office next week, Exon issued a statement saying: "Because of possible constitutional problems and on the advice of the Attorney General, Governor Exon said he has delayed the appointment of Senator Barnett until the end of the current legislative session." Barnett had told his Unicameral colleagues that he would resign his 26th District seat as of Feb. 14. Exon's following statement said that Acting State Fire Marshal Pete Stuerner would serve for "the approximately 60 days until I can formally appoint Barnett." Barnett's selection came one day after Exon demanded and received the resignation of Fire Marshal Paul Sar-necki. Barnett said he hoped to get the Fire Marshal's office, "back into shape." He told his colleagues, "I will need your help." Barnett served four years as assistant state- fire marshal before entering the Legislature. "He is qualified and experienced," Exon said in announcing Barnett's appointment.

Barnett will be paid $22,000 annually in his new post. Barnett, chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, was elected to the Legislature from the 26th District in 1970. He was re-elected in 1974. Barnett is a registered Republican. In an interview Barnett saidi his appointment, "was sort of a couldn't believe it." Barnett said he was in a Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday afternoon when he received a telephone call from Exon offering him the post.

iV elM I I The- 118-year-old Hotel Pawnee soon will be gone. In a telephone interview, he said the Before deeding the property to the County, the owner sold part of the contents, windows and doors. Famous Guest Known first as the Woods House, named 1 for the builders, John and Joe Woods, it was called Arlington House for a short time before the name Exchange Hotel was chosen. Over 60 years later it became Hotel Pawnee. At one time, a beauty and coffee shop were in the building, and the lobby was a gathering place for local people, as well as travelers.

At least one famous traveler spent the night, resting in the hotel, but he apparently didn't register by his real name. The man didn't impress the young boy sent to tend his horse, but the mount was a great horse that fact the boy would remember. After the man was safely gone, riders came looking for John Brown, the famous abolitionist. The nearby town of Table Rock was one of the stations on the Underground Railroad to spirit slaves to the north and freedom. Brown had chosen to stay in Pawnee Citv.

Probably the incident that STORY, PHOTOS By LAURA TURNBULL PAWNEE CITY-The Hotel Pawnee soon will belong to history. The building, condemned by the fire marshal and ruined by several years of vacancy and vandalism, is being torn down by Pawnee County and the city. Built in 1860 with lumber hauled from St. Joseph, it was one of the oldest hotels in -Nebraska. Through efforts of members of the Pawnee City Historical Society, the building had been placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

The work of the organization was in vain however, as the inside of the building deteriorated beyond repair. No room escaped the toll of time and insensitive treatment. Gaping holes appeared in walls, floors, and ceilings. Plumbing fixtures that weren't removed were smashed to bits by unknown persons. Beer bottles were added to the rubble of powdered plaster, laths and drooping wallpaper.

only explanation fcxon otierea in asKing for the resignation was that "he said I couldn't control the troubles in my office." Sarnecki, 49, said he "sort of expected" Exon to ask for the resignation because "people wanted my job." THE STEINMEYER Building on the southeast corner of Sixth and Court streets is scheduled for a $100,000 remodeling job. Rod Henning, president of B. Town, which owns the building, said the area formerly leased to Woolworths will be divided into three shops, with 10 more in the basement. At present, the basement is used only for storage. "There will be a lot of glass, brick, and rough lumber," Henning said.

"It is a quality fjrst class layout." Construction is scheduled to start next week, with the work to be completed in three to four months, Henning said. Steinmeyer remodeling JC i rTf II e7 I 'mi gave the hotel and the town the most infamy was the stabbing murder of a 19-year-old female employee of the hotel by the second cook, Fremont Emmons, and the resulting lynching of Emmons is said to have lost his fiancee to a bolt of lightning while living in Kansas, and had "vainly paid attention" to Bertha Shultz, a young lady from the DuBois area. Using a vegetable paring knife from the hotel kitchen, which he had sharpened at a local butcher shop, around 7 p.m. Thursday, July 26, 1888, he stabbed the girl once while they were standing in back of the hotel, a deed witnessed by several citizens. She died in about 20 minutes.

By, 10 p.m.- a crowd assembled at the livery stable and, according to the account in The Pawnee Republic, "the murderer wih noose and running knot was to delight the crowd by attempting to jump down from the iron bridge about 15 feet, stop suddenly five feet from the ground, and leap back again without breaking his neck, but no man would consent to leading the deed." After swearing in several deputies. Sheriff Strunk "hoodooed" the crowd and spirited the man across the 'courthouse yard to the carriage behind the opera house. Two deputies took the man toSteinauer to board the train. He was sent to Beatrice, the "city on the Blue" for safe keeping. However, the mob was to have gengeance as the man was returned to Pawnee City for legal action on Monday.

Around 300-400 people assembled, many from the area of the girl's home, and again Emmons was removed for safe keeping. The mob stormed the courthouse around 2 a.m. Tuesday and found no one. Someone told the mob to look in the third story of a building, and there a deputy vainly tried to protect the prisoner. Emmons was taken to the.

and (later Rock Island) railroad bridge which crossed the tracks of the and line. He was "urged to During his allowed 10-minute speech, which was Retail power rofe increase blamed on production cosfs X7 ill 'i People once filled this stairway going up to their rooms in the Pawnee Hotel. By DEB TORRES Increased fuel costs, interest rates construction, labor and material costs are some of the reasons for wholesale and retail rate increases for Nebraska Public Power District customers, representatives from about 10 area towns were told Wednesday. The representatives attended a noon luncheon at the Beatrice District NPPD office. According to John McCarthy, director of the Columbus office rate department, there will be an 8.6 percent increase in retail rates beginning March 1.

When asked how that increase might affect an. average customer's bill, McCarthy said if a home used 700 kilowatt hours a month, the bill would increase $2.70. If 'the home used 1,000 kilowatt hours a month the bill would increase $3.60. McCarthy said the towns affected were notified of the increase in November. He said there also will bean increase in 1979.

McCarthy said the years 1939-1971 were the "golden years" for electrical rates. There was only one increase during that period and 17 decreases in rates, he said. But, in 1972, costs began to rise and increases came in 1975 and 1976. The NPPD representatives at the meeting reassured those attending, saying that Nebraska still has some of the lowest rates in the nation, despite the recent increases. For example, in New York City, if a home used 900 kilowatt hours a month, the bill would be $93, but in Nebraska that same bill would be $39.05, he said.

Besides discussion of rate increases, the meeting included a slide show on coal, a presentation from Joe Flash, on "Energy, Today and Tomorrow," and a short discussion of pending legislation in the Nebraska-unicameral. Among towns represented were Adams, Murray, Humboldt, Stella, Shubert, Plymouth, Plattsmouth and Table Rock. The towns participating were ones which have distribution system lease agreements with NPPD. Through the agreements, NPPD supplies electrical current to the towns and operates the town's electrical system, making additions and improvements to the property. NPPD representatives included Clint Johannes, customer relations; Arch Gustafson, customer services; Harvey Hyde, legislation; and Charles Stark, Beatrice district manaeer.

for this deed than those who did the act." it was "deeply regretted and no one will regret more than those who The WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union) had a notice saying the "good name of the community was stained by a most degrading exhibition of mob violence and outlawry by The ladies wished to "record indignant condemnation of all murder by the hand of one or a cowardly But they were more concerned about the effect it had on the youth saying "many (youth) were permitted to see the great number who follow (the mob) but hearing no man raise his voice in protest." Emmons was cut down in the morning by the sheriff and the resulting inquest showed he met his death by persons unknown. interrupted twice by passing trains, he referred to attending a local church where no one paid any attention to him. He spoke of his parents and former girlfriend and he asked God for forgiveness and "forgive them who have a part in this work." Press accounts from other newspapers referred to the lynching as "saving the county considerable expense and possibly the villain escaping his just dues." Another called it an "inex-, pensive public One sounded as if it could have been written today: "while we do not uphold mob law or lynch law, we do believe that the law makers and the law officers that have made it impossible to mete out justice to the hundreds of -criminals that are escaping justice more and more every year, are more accountable Thp 'Hotel Pawnee was on the- National Register of Historic Places, tut that did not protect it from the ravages of time or vandalism. Montana club springs from efforts of Beatrice Sertoma OVERVIEW Kappler is dead SOLTAU, West Germany (AP) Convicted Nazi war criminal Herbert Kappler, onetime Gestapo chief of occupied Rome, died of stomach cancer today at his wife's home here, five months after he escaped from an Italian prison, police sources said. Kappler, 70, a former Gestapo official, was convicted of ordering the killing of 335 Roman citizens in the Ardeatine Cave's near Rome on March 24, 1944, only 24 hours after Italian partisans killed 32 German soldiers marching on a Roman street The escape of the former Nazi official last Aug.

15 treated a political furor when West Germany refused an Italian request for his extradition. Over first hurdle LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) The Legislature gave first round approval Thursday to a proposed Constitutional amendment that would give voters a chance to abolish the' Pardon Board's authority to tamper with the sentences of those convicted of first degree murder. Senators advanced LR63 on a 26-23 vote after rejecting a move by Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh to kill the proposal.

Foul weather 1 By The Associated Press Texas, Oklahoma and the Pacific Coast, still recovering from previous storms, were hit with new waves of Curtis bill By The Associated Press Sen. Carl Curtis said Thursday in Washington that he is sponsoring legislation to establish an intermediate credit program "which is designed to promote and expand U.S. agricultural sales abroad." He criticized the Carter administration for not responding to farmers' needs. Academy flu ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) In the East Coast's first suspected outbreak of Russian flu, three-quarters of the midshipmen at the U.S.

Naval Academy have reported to sick call in the past week with symptoms that doctors say fit the pattern of the contagious viral illness. In addition to more than 3,000 midshipmen here, several hundred people in the Washington area have come down with flu. symptoms that hospital officials here say are "very likely typings of A-USSR-77," the formal name for the Russian strain. A new Billings, Sertoma club is underway, thanks to the efforts of the Beatrice Sertoma club. Jim Thornburg said the efforts to start a club in Montana go back a year and a half.

At that time, Montana was one of seven states without a Sertoma club. Thornburg, chairman of the Club Build Another Club (CBAC) committee, said the then Beatrice Sertoma president had been talking with Chuck Stark's brother in Billings. Stark is a local Sertoma member. On a business trip to Miles City, Thornburg made some initial contacts about starting a club there. After a visit to Miles City and Billings with three other Beatrice Sertomans, Thornburg said it was decided Billings showed the most promise.

Three Beatrice Sertomans made a final organizational trip to Billings in late January and found the group short of the 25 members needed for chartering. "I told them I would stay until they had enough members," Thornburg said. When he left after the week'-s visit, the membership had grown to between 30 and 40. On Friday, Feb. 10, permanent officers will be elected, with the chartering, banquet Saturday evening.

Beatrice Mayor Robert Sargent and 19 Beatrice Sertomans are planning to make the trip, by plane, to the banquet. "I wanted to share Sertoma with them," Thornburg explained as his reason for taking charge of the project. "I'm especially proud of our Beatrice club and the cooperation of Beatrice itself because we were able to make enough money to send my committee to Montana and build a club there," he said. "All the people in Beatrice Sertoma made this possible." By chartering a new club with over 40 -members, the Beatrice club is in line for the "Distinguished an honor only 14 of the 917 Sertoma clubs in the United States, Canada and Mexico received last Sertoma, which stands for Service To Mankind, has projects including Freedom Week, youth, underprivileged and elderly projects, and citizen awards for community service. foul weather today.

The Northeast expected a full day of sunshine as it dug out from Monday's blizzard. Damages awarded DETROIT (AP) Damages totaling million have been awarded to the parents of a Detroit man who Was killed when the fuel tank of his 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle exploded after it was struck from the rear. The plaintiffs argued that the rear-end location of the fuel tank on the General Motors Corp. car was inherently unsafe. Markets 3 Opinion Page 2 People Page 10 Sports 4-5 TV Log 6 Amusement 7 Classified 12-13 Comics 6 Deaths 3 Farm Page 9 Local Page 11 Today's cogitation None but a mule denies family a Moroccan proverb.

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