Commissioners approve funding for sexual assault services

Red Willow County Commissioners approved a contribution of $9,158 to Domestic Abuse/Sexual Assault Services for 2007-08 this morning. This is 5 percent of the organization's $205,681 annual budget.

In other action:

* Commissioners approved a request to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development for a 12-month extension on the completion of the "Hilton Farm Eco-Retreat," under development by Andela Taylor of rural Cambridge.

* Commissioners tabled until Aug. 20 any decision on their response to a notice of application to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality for a major modification at Red Willow Dairy. Commissioners want the county's zoning administration to review the DEQ reports and to get answers to questions regarding licensed numbers of cows, heifers and calves and the application of waste. Commission Chairman Earl McNutt and fellow commissioner Leigh Hoyt agreed that they want existing issues regarding waste runoff violations cleared up before any expansions/changes are made at the dairy.

* Sue Wesch, speaking on behalf of county treasurer Marleen Garcia, said the sheriff has collected on 46 of 55 distress warrants, in the amount of $32,878, issued since October 2006. The sheriff has collected $30,795. Seven of the uncollectible warrants are on mobile homes, Garcia's report indicates, and should have been collected on.

* Garcia indicated in a report read by Wesch that she has striken from the tax rolls two properties whose taxes total $1,749.90. These taxes were owed by owners of a mobile home since destroyed by fire and by a rural Indianola farmer whose current address is unknown.