Scott Weber is leading Heartland Bank’s expansion into Jefferson. The bank’s southernmost branch opened this week in a historic building that the city of Jefferson bought for $100 in 2016. Windows that once were bricked in are now open, and the original tin ceiling has been exposed. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

NEW KIDS, OLD BLOCK

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com The analogy that’s been used as justification to keep Jefferson’s historic Square intact is that knocking down one building, or two buildings, would be like having a smile with missing teeth.

Alaina Gettler, a third-grader at Greene County Elementary School, has walked nearly 40 miles at recess this school year, winning her class the right to host the “Golden Shoe Award” created by PE teacher Sean Thompson as part of his new Mileage Club program. The real prize, however, are little plastic tokens shaped like feet that incentivize physical activity. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

The trick to getting kids moving? Tiny plastic junk

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com It remains nothing short of amazing what an elementary student will do for an imported trinket.

“This is a significant investment,” NEW Cooperative grain manager Mark Walter said of a grain elevator and feed mill being planned for the co-op’s site near Cooper.

NEW hopes to build new grain elevator

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com When Landus Cooperative shuttered its Scranton grain elevator in the spring of 2019, citing a risk of falling concrete, it created a need for area farmers. NEW Cooperative is exploring a way to seize on that opportunity.

The Flack brothers, Chase and Clint (seen here with Greene County assistant Chris Connor) were instrumental cogs for the Rams wrestling team back in 2011. Chase, the school’s all-time wins leader, passed away last summer. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS CONNOR

Chase'n Dreams

By BRANDON HURLEY Sports Editor sports@beeherald,com @Brandonjhurley

Lynda Pierson, of Jefferson, holds up the certificate she received recently for completing the first class in a Meskwaki language course. “I want to see it all the way through,” says Pierson, who grew up in Jefferson, removed from Meskwaki-speaking relatives in the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. The tribe’s language is classified as “critically endangered” by the United Nations. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

DOING HER PART

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com At 51, it’s hard enough to learn a new language — any language — let alone a language that so baffled the Third Reich during the Second World War that the Nazi regime lost its grip on North Africa.

James Exline is handcuffed in 2018 after a judge sentenced him to 75 years in prison. HERALD FILE PHOTO

Exline loses court appeal

By JARED STRONG j.strong@carrollspaper.com The 49-year-old rural Jefferson man who sexually abused his daughter lost his first appeal of his convictions and his 75-year prison sentence, according to court records.