Good Communication Builds Good Community

Look, here’s the brass tacks, said Karen Nelson, the visionary behind the Bertrand Town Square publication — “Good communication builds good community.”

All roads lead to this underlying premise when it comes to Nelson and her no-nonsense, “just the facts, man,” approach to communicating community happenings.

“People don’t know what is going on. They just don’t talk,” Nelson said. “For example, they may not know there’s a new ordinance that you can’t park your vehicle on the grass, and that you have to have it at least on a gravel drive. The Town Square is just facts and events. It’s no opinions. I won’t tell you what I am feeling about a subject or thinking about it. What I want people to do is pick up the Square, read it, and discuss it with their friends.”

Nelson explained: “I got the idea when we went to Superior and ate at a little diner and saw this table tent the library puts out. I thought, ‘This is exactly what Bertrand needs.’ I went home for Easter at my parents’ and sketched out an idea with real content. I brought it back to the village office in Bertrand and talked to the ladies there and said, ‘Listen, let’s just do this. Can we just do this today?’ They were like, ‘Yes, let’s do that today.’”

Nelson was ready for their “yes.” With that first edition already prepared, they printed about 70 copies and put them around town. That amount continues to be printed. The math and chemistry major has the numbers broken down, “We are printing for around 30 places in town. It’s a little seasonal, too — for example, the swimming pool has them during swimming season. There are 17 at the bar, 11 are at the nursing home and five at the senior center. Every insurance agent has one at their front counter. Everyone can read them for free anytime of the week. It’s not anywhere online. The point is to have it printed so people can sit around and talk about it.”

There were some community members who wanted something in their hands beyond the table tent and asked Nelson, “Can I get a copy?”  She told them, “It will cost $1 to print one and mail it to you.” So, she charges $15 for three months of Town Squares mailed. “I have 57 subscribers who get it through the mail.”

What’s in the Town Square? Again, facts and news. No drama. You may learn that the Young at Heart Senior Center is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and has meals Monday through Friday each week. You may also find out the village board meeting is Tuesday, October 14. There’s school news and a little joke. There are also condolences for loss of a neighbor. And, you may find interest in an ’80s-themed murder mystery that is being performed at 607 Studio. Information like that.

Who is this woman behind this simple, yet profoundly effective community communication solution? Well, it all began when Karen’s mom (from Harlan County) and dad (from Cass County) met at the University of Nebraska — Lincoln, “My dad and my husband’s dad made friends in the physics lab. That was an interesting connection to start.”

Nelson’s parents decided to get married on the Fourth of July because her dad was in the Air Force and it was the tail end of the Vietnam War, but he knew he’d have that day off. “He was stationed in New Mexico and was moonlighting as a combine assembly person at a Massey dealership. People would order combines and he would put the options on.”

“When Dad got out of the military, he and Mom moved back to Nebraska and then they started the custom harvesting business. I was born in Franklin, and we moved back to New Mexico because that’s where they knew all the people,” she recalled.

Nelson said the Great Plains raised her, and she is right. She absolutely loved being with her dad on the custom harvesting crew, “We went from Texas to Kimball, Neb. and up through Colorado. Dad also picked corn in the area I am at for my husband’s dad.”

Her dad knew Jeremy Nelson’s dad from physics class — remember? (You see where this is going.) “After high school I went to Bethany College in Kansas. I finished my degree in math and chemistry and worked at the college newspaper. I also worked for my dad in the summertime. Right after college, I went on the fall corn harvest for the first time. That was the first year my husband was farming independently. It just worked out. That’s when we met as adults the first time.”

Jeremy and Karen married in 2003. Today they have five children — August (17), Ivy (16), Sadie (14), Raina (12), and Jenna (9). They also run a cow/calf operation, farm, and have more than plenty to do. Nelson described her day to give an example, “We could talk about this 24-hour period. Yesterday one of the kids wanted to make cake pops for a birthday and realized they are harder to make than she realized. So, Mom finished that. One daughter had to get to school early today for Quiz Bowl. Another daughter is in Quiz Bowl but has to be picked up later. We also have an early out. I am also substitute driving a bus route this afternoon. Then, let’s see. What does that get us to? Around 4 p.m.? So, we will start thinking about supper. Tomorrow there’s the Scholastic Book Fair and they have breakfast so guests can go to the book fair.”

Nelson said, “I basically work for anyone who will hire me.” With her experience working at the college newspaper that led her to a career alongside her sister at the Kearney Hub, she also found success in the freelance space. She puts together the U.S. Custom Harvesters Inc. magazine every month, works with a church printing company doing an online/print hybrid magazine for their national and Canadian audience each month, and she edits books and works for a photographer doing graphic design.

She also finishes her work getting the Bertrand Town Square out to the public. “Bertrand had a newspaper when I was pregnant with Ivy. Then they put on the front page of the Christmas Eve copy that it was the last issue. A woman who lived in Bertrand wouldn’t let it die and bought it and ran it. That was about 15 years ago. She asked me to help. We took the publication and made it digital and also printed it at the Hub and mailed it out like before. She did so well — wrote a feature story every week and recruited advertisers. When she finally retired at the age of 75, she sold the newspaper, and it turned into a ghost newspaper with just reprinted items in it.”

The community newspaper may have come to rest, but the Bertrand Town Square rose like a phoenix from table-tops all over town to life. It’s like Nelson said — if you don’t take away anything else from this article, take away this: “Good communication builds good community. You just have to do it.”  

That’s exactly what she did.