Newell

  There will be a blogging training class taught February 4th at 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. in the Newell City Library. Rides are available for those who need them. Please encourage everyone to come and see what all this blogging stuff is all about! Questions, call 456-2544 or 456-0200.

In response to the questions posed to us on Leadership….

I would say that Leadership Plenty has improved our leadeship greatly. I think people who didn’t think of themselves as leaders are now stepping up to the plate and our seeing that they truly are leaders. When given a task and having the support of others behind them; people are doing things they never thought they could/would do.

I also think that people who knew that they had leadership skills were equipped with better leadership tools and strategies from Leadership Plenty.

I think it also bonded people together and they found out that more people then just themselves have the same goal. It’s easier to work towards something when you have support and camaraderie. I think there is a better spirit of unity among those that attended. Although there were different opinions brought up and we don’t always think alike; people have put some differences aside to get some things accomplished.

Part of the blog requirements are to answer a few questions from each catagory (under the blog in light grey are the catagories each post addresses) in posts. I’ll put my two cents in to get the ball rolling, I hope those who’ve been more involved will answer more of them either in the post or comments!

This month focuses on two catagories, one being #6 Building Skills and Mobilizing around leadership. One of the questions are;

What changes are you seeing in the way community leadership is exercised or carried out? How is it different?

I’ve been thrilled to see how successful clean up days have been, whether they were “go getters” to begin with or not, the Horizons group has seemed to bring together enough folks with a common focus to get projects accomplished. Part of that is partnering with exsisting groups whether it be the city or community club, or others. In addition it seems like those that need help have a place to call, Horizons has been great at becoming a community resource - just take a look at the pool post. When someone has an idea they think can better our town, they contact Horizons members.

Other questions in this catagory are:

How has your community changed after LeadershipPlenty® training? In what ways have leadership skills been improved/enhanced?  What is different? What changes are you seeing in the way leadership is carried out?  How decisions get made in your community?  What difference does the involvement of low income people make in community leadership? 

Four School Boards seats are up for election this year. Starting March 1st interested individuals may obtain a petition from the Newell Schools Business Office, petitions MUST be returned by March 25th at 4pm.

WRCTC is offering a $500 scholarship to NHS Seniors, applications are being accepted until March 31. To obtain an application contact Connie Humble (Guidance Counselor) or go to www.westrivertel.coop

On Saturday, February 2nd at the NVN center from 5-7pm enjoy a pancake supper sponsored by the Senior Center and Newell Lions Club. This is part of an annual membership drive and bake sale I’ve been told!

Horizons had a nice break for the Holiday season. Now it’s time to get going again. We are having a meeting on Jan. 26th at 10:00 a.m. at TJ’s Cafe. We are asking the steering committee,strategic planning committee, and all committee members to attend. We will be getting an update of progress made, things that need done yet, resources needed and any other information that Carolyn has to share with us. Please plan to attend. Daycare is provided! Contact Amanda Keller or Julie VanDerBoom for more information.

It’s that time again…Newell City Council will meet at Newell City Hall on Wednesday, January 9th at 7pm for their regular scheduled meeting.

Horizon’s offers Regional Seminar #1 

REGIONAL COLLABORATIONS & COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS
Mon. Jan. 28, 2008
Mitchell Technical Institute, 6:30 pm 

Click below for more information on this event

www.southdakota.community.blogs.us

If you shopped out of town for Christmas gifts, or at any time in the past year - why?

One of Horizons Strategic Goals is to implement a “Gator Card”  - a type of Shop Newell incentive to encourage citizens to spent their money in our community rather than out of town or county.

It might be beneficial to explore the many reasons that folks do go out of town to shop. Are there products that Newell just doesn’t offer? Is it because you can find it out of town more affordable? Are you working out of town and it’s easier to do your shopping there also? Simply explain why you shop out of town, maybe the feedback can help Horizons and local business owners to work to serve more of our citizens.

To read more about the Gator Card idea, click on Newell Stragetic Plan on the right toolbar and read through the many goals Horizons has set for themselves! If you would like to join in to help see some of these goals through, contact Amanda Keller for more information.

Click below to see more detailed results from this poll

http://www.vizu.com/poll-results.html?n=65453

Our newest restuarant in town officially opened today, hours will be 5:30am-10pm everyday, with possibly extended evening hours as the crowd dictates. Formerly known as the Royal Oak, the building sat empty for over two years before current owners Jeremiah and Tracy Heath bought, remodeled and opened the business.

During the recent Newell City Council mtg the finance officer reported that Martin Trucking had paid the city $20 per ton for the scrap metal he crushed , and compacted from the city rubble site, meaning the city received a payment of $1,795.60! Newell Horizons played a large part in getting this much scrap iron to the rubble site, they lined up volunteers, machinery, and dump trucks to help haul items out of town and the surrounding area. They took time out of their busy schedules to take calls and make numerous trips to the site.

The clean up projects have helped to gain awareness of one of the strengths Newell possesses - we are able to pull together to get things done. By recognizing that not all folks have the means, physical ability, or vehicles to bring items to the rubble site area residents worked to make sure anyone that needed help received it. The awareness of the diversity within our community helped to ensure that needs were met and projects were completed to the best of everyone abilities.

TJ’s (formerly known as the Royal Oak) opened their doors this evening for a private meeting of the SD Stockgrowers Association. For more information on the SDSGA check out their website

http://www.southdakotastockgrowers.org/

To see more details on the results of this poll click below

http://www.vizu.com/poll-results.html?cId=0&n=62321

Members of Newell PTO & Horizons recently joined forces to make hundreds, YES hundreds of popcorn balls! Children enjoyed them after the recent elementary concerts, and will again receive the yummy festive treat during the Santa Claus Day on Saturday.

Take a look at the new visit counter installed on the site, now we’ll have an idea of just how many folks are reading our blog!

Also added is a recent comments section on the right sidebar - instead of searching through old posts trying to find unread comments, new comments will be listed as they are posted on the sidebar.

**The counter was reset on 12/6 as it was changed to count unique visits rather than just hits (hits means it would count every time you went from a post back to the main page). Counting visits should give us a more accurate idea of how many visitors our blog receives. As I understand it, it will now count each time you visit the site in general, not count each time you go back to the main page.

I’ve added a new page on the right - NVN  AREA BUSINESS DIRECTORY!

By no means do I think I’ve gotten every business included, so lets work together and make this the most complete and accurate list of services available in our area.

Hey, if folks know they can get it local - they won’t go elsewhere!!! On the flip side, maybe if out of area folks know we have it, they’ll come here to get it!

Add to the list yourself, or comment under any blog with additional information and it will be added asap. I’d like to also include links to our local businesses web pages - so don’t be shy, send in your information!

As if our teachers don’t give enough, they’ve gone one step futher this year - this is the letter students brought home recently:

I noticed this evening that we’ve got 91 comments on our blog so far - think we can get to 100 before Christmas???