OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – About 200 relatives of Nebraska and Iowa service members will be honored during a day of public and private events. The Omaha World-Herald reports the Gold Star families will be guests of the Honor and Remember Nebraska Chapter at a private commemorative dinner on Saturday.

Chapter President Jim Meier says the families will then be bused to TD Ameritrade Park for the seventh annual Families of the Fallen Walk, where they’ll march into the stadium before the beginning of a college baseball game.

After the game, the names of the service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting will display on the stadium’s jumbo screen. George Lutz says he started Honor and Remember and began distributing flags to Gold Star families to tell them their sacrifice is remembered.

Members of the Griswold School District’s Board of Education will hold a special meeting 5:30-p.m. this Thursday, May 11th in the Central Office at the Middle School/High School Building. First off, they’ll receive an update from the Facilities Committee and hold related discussion.

Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News, after the update and discussion, the Board will discuss and act upon receiving a Citizen’s Petition calling for a Special Election. Henrichs says the Facilities Committee currently has in its possession, a petition calling for the District to pass a bond.

Once the Board receives the petition with the required number of signatures, the Board will decide whether or not to proceed with the bond vote. If yes, the bond vote will take place June 27^th and is in the amount of $9.9-million for the construction of a new Elementary Building and the remodeling of Middle School/High School.

A Community meeting was held in Griswold last Friday evening to discuss the latest information and recommendation from the Facilities Committee. Henrichs says there were roughly 70 people in attendance. Those in attendance were asked to fill out a survey pertaining to the project. 42 surveys were returned, with 38 responding favorably to the project and related costs, two were against and two were undecided. Henrichs considers that a “Very positive response.”

He says based on “…the assumption that the Board will proceed with the vote…a week prior to the bond vote, we’ll have some more community meetings to help inform people. We want to make sure they have the information they need to make the decision they feels what’s best for them to meet our needs.”

The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund is continuing their banner status this year by donating $1000 to the Annual Partnership with Youth Campaign at the Nishna Valley YMCA. Fund spokesperson Melanie Petty says by “Answering the Call” [they] are able to continue supporting not only our youth but other individuals and families in need.” Petty says “We are very lucky to have such an amazing facility in our community.”

Funds raised at our annual golf tournament are all returned back to the community in Trevor’s memory. This year’s tournament will be held on August 12th at Nishna Hills Golf Club.

Follow the Trevor Frederickson Fund on Facebook for more information, or listen for updates here on KJAN.

Photo: Trevor’s siblings, Laena Sonntag and Grant Petty

(9-a.m News)

The remains of a Kossuth County sailor who died at the start of World War Two are finally coming home. Fireman 1st Class William H. Kennedy was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 but his remains were not properly identified until earlier this year.

Kennedy’s remains will now be brought back to Iowa this week for proper burial as planeside honors will be conducted on the tarmac of the Des Moines International Airport Thursday with funeral services in his hometown of Titonka on Friday.

Kennedy was identified by Department of Defense program started in 2015 to use DNA analysis to identify remains from the Oklahoma.

(Radio Iowa)