Bruning Land Owners and Acres
NAME TOWN ACRES PRICE Wanda Rippe Ohiowa 40 $1,600 Marie Kerrie Ohiowa 80 $3,985 Geneva Cemetery Asso. Geneva 80 $3,363 Henry W Holtgrew Nebraska City 160 $7,675 Olga Stech Duncan Lexington 160 $8,934 Chris Schweer Ohiowa 240 $9,694 John Culp. Deceased Alexandria 300 $13,730 Mr & Mrs Robert Marks Alexandria 280 $15,580 Mr & Mrs Eugene Shane Alexandria 40 $1,604 Loren J Heston. Deceased 40 $1,832 Lena Wedeking Hebron 40 $1,825 Garrison Ohiowa 40 $3,598 F F Garrison Ohiowa 40 $3,598
An additional 2,122 acres were leased from farmers. Petition in condemnation and order for immediate possession was filed in the Federal Court.
Respondents in the action were the following Thayer County land owners:Roy Marsh, Parks and McClure, J.B. Headrick, John Marsh, Mutual Benefit Insurance Co., A.L. Polage, E. T. Stacup, Wagner Estate, Wagner Brothers, Reinhardt Tjaden, M. C. Brinegar and Daryl Easley
Daryl Easley, from Alexandria, a land owner near the base, had cattle in his pasture when the base decided to expand and have a gunnery range. He was told the government would LEASE, NOT BUY his land and he had to move his cattle herd out by the next day. It was difficult to find other pasture on such short notice.
Land was at a premium as several of the farmers who lived up by the Hastings, NE area had their land condemned for the Hastings Naval Ammunition Storage Area which took thousands of acres. Also the land had been condemned for the Harvard, and Fairmont Air Field close by so these farmers had come into the local counties looking for farm land to replace theirs.
Daryl believed that when the base closed he would get his pasture land back and be able to put in his cattle. He was told this could not be done for at least a year as it would be too dangerous as it had been used for a gunnery range and there was unexploded ammunition in the pasture. He worked along with government aurhorities to go over the pasture and check out the ammunition possibilities.
