Just. Get. Home. Those three words may or may not have been spoken out loud by Kerry and Lori Hofer as they hit high gear in an effort to get their family out of the Czech Republic and back to the United States the third week of March last year, but they were no doubt front-of-mind.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER For those missing Schmeckfest and wanting to get in on at least a sampling of the festival, the Freeman Academy parking lot was the place to be last Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20 as the second annual Schmeckfest Drive-Thru unfolded on the west side of Sterling Hall. For five hours each day, vehicles formed a circular line around the perimeter of the parking lot that, at the busiest hours spilled well beyond, to pick up sausage, kuchen and other Country Kitchen items.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER With the proposed rebuild of Freeman’s Main Street beginning as early as 13 months from now, city officials are starting to think about details of the project — specifically what kind of decorative elements should be included in the project, if any.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER No action was taken and no decision was made, but members of the Freeman Public School Board gave a pretty good indication Monday night on where a possible sports cooperative with Freeman Academy and Marion stands: There is support for it, but not enough time to put it in place for the 2021-22 school year. That assessment is based on comments from all five Freeman School Board members at a special March 22 public meeting called to discuss the possible partnership with the district’s two closest neighboring schools.

The Freeman City Council voted Monday night, March 17 to accept the resignation of city finance officer Adam Van Ningen and to name administrative assistant Lisa Jensen as temporary city finance officer and Lisa Edelman as temporary deputy finance officer.

PART 1 OF 2 One year ago, Kerry and Lori Hofer and their four young children were just days into what may have been the first quarantine related to coronavirus the Freeman area had seen. The Hofers had been in Europe but were forced to return to the United States earlier than planned, finding themselves in a frantic race against time amidst escalating concerns about the spread and threat of COVID-19.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER No action was taken, but officials from Freeman Public are considering having new LED lights installed throughout its buildings either in phases or all at once — a capital project that would cost just over $100,000 for the entire elementary/middle school/high school. That would include both gyms, hallways and classrooms.

Kathy Kleinsasser admits it’s been strange not making plans for Schmeckfest in the way that is typical.

A new gas station exhibit debuts in the transportation exhibit area of Heritage Hall Museum & Archives this week and some folks who see it may feel that it looks a bit familiar. That, says Marnette (Ortman) Hofer, executive director and archivist of HHM&A, is no coincidence. “I’ve been intrigued by the number of gas stations in our community in the first half of the last century,” Hofer says. “We’ve been wanting to consolidate elements scattered throughout the museum for some time and creating a gas station exhibit seemed like a fun project.”

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER The Freeman City Council was expected to hear more about the pending Main Street project at its second meeting of the month Wednesday evening, March 17 beginning at 6:30 p.m. The agenda shows Paul Korn of Sayer Associates updating city officials on what is expected to be a $3 million capital project that would see the downtown roadway rebuilt from Fifth Street north to the North County Road, and also from Railway west to Juniper.