The battle over the future of Elkhorn is about to take center stage. Omaha's proposed annexation moves to the courtroom this week as attorneys take up the issue before a judge.

The hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday and it's expected to last two to three days.

Both cities have filed lawsuits against each other and they've been combined into one case.

Emotions run hot on the issue and opinions are split.

Andrew Worthing likes growing up in Elkhorn and says, "I like living in a small town."

But his aunt, Linda Peterson, is all for the annexation and she says, "I think it helps the expansion of Omaha, which is a good thing."

When Omaha announced plans to annex Elkhorn, Elkhorn announced plans to annex 21-developments and push its population to more than 10,000. Once a city is larger than that it can't be annexed without voter approval.

The Omaha City Council reacted the next day by holding a special meeting to begin the process of annexing Elkhorn. The council then voted unanimously to annex the neighboring city.

In response Elkhorn attorneys filed two lawsuits to stop the process. Omaha attorneys fired back, filing a lawsuit to stop Elkhorn's annexation attempt.

Lissa Clark is among those hoping Elkhorn can remain independent.
"We'd be disappointed to become a part of a larger city," she said.
To avoid that, Elkhorn's attorneys will argue that Elkhorn began its annexation process first and should be allowed to complete it; that there are no adjoining borders between the two cities as the law requires in order for a city to be annexed and that the Omaha City Council violated open meetings laws when it rushed to annex Elkhorn.

The City of Omaha's attorneys will argue that Omaha's annexation is perfectly legal.

Attorney Paul Kratz says he also plans to bring in some philosophical arguments that Omaha's annexation of Elkhorn is best for the community as a whole and that this is what state lawmakers intended when they crafted the law.

Kratz says he believes that the judge will probably announce a decision within a month. Appeals are expected to follow all the way to the state supreme court and the issue might not be complete for a couple of years.