Looking Back
News from Bertha's and Hewitt's Pasts
25 Years Ago
November 19, 1997
VFW and Auxiliary Post 3922 sponsored their annual essay contest for area junior and senior students. The “My Voice in Our Democracy” students competed for cash awards of $300, $200, and $100 which went to the top winners from each school. The first-place winners will compete on the VFW district level. This year’s judges selected Heidi Stokes from Bertha-Hewitt.
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Aid Association to Lutherans (AAL) Branch #1484 from Hewitt gave $500 to the Hewitt Lioness to help with expenses for their annual Halloween party. In order to receive the donation through the AAL Youth Serve Program the Lioness needed to get 10 youths to help with the party. At least 15 youths volunteered to help. The youth helped set up the games during the party and helped with the cleanup of the Hewitt Community Center. Pictured: Teresa Richter, Sarah Walker, Lorraine Sellnow standing in for husband Lloyd, Dawn Simpson, and Luke Mitchell.
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Jim Miller and Michael Foreman from Rieke, Carroll, Muller Associates Inc. Engineers spoke to the Bertha City Council about their sewer plant on November 10 at their regular council meeting. The sewer plant which was built in 1966 and is now 31 years old was given a life expectancy of 20 years, so the plant has actually survived 11 years longer than expected. A couple of options were discussed with the council. One was to build a pond system sewer treatment plant and the other to build a new chemical plant or restore the current chemical plant.
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Sewer and water problems continue to plague the city of Hewitt. There isn’t anything wrong with the services, except they do not generate enough income to pay for themselves. Both the water and sewer services are running in the red, though the sewer service is not quite as bad. The council decided to change the water rate to $18 per month (from $12) and the sewer rate to $12 (from $18). This way there is no increase in the total rate paid and it will hopefully offset some of the water service debt.