Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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Shelby Price is the face that greets anyone who visits Sidney High School (SHS). Her official title is Attendance Administrative Assistant, but if you talk to any of her colleagues or the students of SHS she is something much more. "She treats all students equally and with respect. She listens with a very caring and open ear," SHS Administrative Assistant Jodi Harvey said. Price has worked for SHS for seven years, acting as the main hub in the front office overseeing communication between...
April is Autism Awareness Month and Sidney Public Schools (SPS) Special Education Program has partnered with area businesses to help promote awareness and education in the community. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that involves abnormal development and function of the brain. Those with autism show decreased social communication skills and restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviors or interests. CDC Prevention issued a report in 2014 concluding that autism has risen to one in...
Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska (CAPWN) offers a Teen Outreach Program to youth in Cheyenne County. CAPWN is a non-profit community-based organization that serves low-income households and those unable to meet their needs by offering alternative sources. The teen outreach program is an after-school club that operates currently in the Media Center at Sidney Middle School, and meets once a week. The no-cost program is for youth ages 12 to 18. For more information on the CAPWN teen outreach program contact Lorilei Stark at...
Sandhills Publishing will be opening up an additional office in Sidney, both expanding the company westward and offering positions to those recently affected by Cabela’s call center consolidation. According to a recent press release, the Lincoln-based publishing company offers products and services that “gather, process and distribute information in the form of trade publications and corresponding websites that connect buyers and sellers across trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation and technology industries.” Curre...
Sidney Shooting Park (SSP) is located on 114 acres north of Sidney. The park offers trap, skeet and archery venues for visiting enthusiasts and the community. The SSP offers a trap/skeet venue with five trap houses located on four shooting fields and one skeet field, which also doubles as a trap field. All five fields are lighted and the trap houses are outfitted with voice-activated Pat-Trap clay throwing machines. Skeet houses are temporarily using two sporting clay throwers modified for skeet...
Cheyenne County Commissioners discussed and reviewed various fairground topics in Monday’s regular meeting, including opening sealed bids for an upcoming cement project. Sealed bids were opened for a project that would add cement pads at multiple locations on the fairgrounds. In previous Commissioners’ meetings, the Oktoberfest Committee had approached Commissioners about extending the cement pad by adding cement to either end of the existing pad. The pad is used primarily for the tent during Sidney’s Oktoberfest celebration. Two other proje...
A Sidney man appeared in District Court March 14 on three counts of Visual Depiction of a Sexually Explicit Conduct Involving a Child, a Class 2A Felony. Daniel Konruff, 38, was arrested on Jan. 17 for allegedly possessing child pornography. According to the Arrest Warrant Affidavit, the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) received information that child pornography had allegedly been traced and downloaded to an IP address linked to Konruff. On Feb. 14, Konruff plead not guilty in an arraignment hearing. District Court Judge Derek Weimer scheduled a...
Former South Platte Natural Resource District (SPNRD) Board Chair Keith Rexroth has retired after more than two decades. In 1972 the Nebraska Legislature enacted laws to combine 154 special purpose entities into 23 NRDs. NRDs are local government entities with broad responsibilities to protect natural resources. The entities are unique to Nebraska. The SPNRD services an area from Kimball County to Deuel County in the southern Panhandle. Rexroth has been a SPNRD board member since 1993, the...
Cabela’s will be consolidating its Sidney Call Center with the existing North Platte Call Center, effectively closing the local location. The Sidney Call Center, located in the Quad Graphics building on east Illinois St., was not the only Cabela’s department affected by the corporate restructure. According to Cabela’s Communication Specialist, Nathan Borowski, some of the teams on the Cabela’s corporate campus were also part of the restructure. Borowski did not specify the departments affected but did say that it was still unclear how many jo...
Sidney Public School (SPS) Board approved salaries for the 2017-18 school year in Monday’s meeting. The board approved Classified and Administrator salaries at a 2.89 percent package increase. Superintendent Jay Ehler said the package takes the whole of Classified or Administrator salaries with the budget in consideration and adds a 2.89 percent increase to divide evenly to those salaries. Classified positions in the school system are non-teaching degree positions, such as para professionals, kitchen staff, custodial and secretarial. The s...
Jim Trowbridge will be recognized for his service to the City of Sidney at an open house on Friday. Trowbridge will be retiring after 47 years with Sidney’s Water Department. A long time resident of Cheyenne County, Trowbridge said his family moved to Sidney from Missouri Valley, Iowa when he was a child. After spending four years in the United States Navy, Trowbridge worked odd jobs until hired on as a temporary employee for the City of Sidney on Sept. 9, 1970. “I was hired to work for two or three weeks and have been there ever since,” Trowb...
Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office responded to a rollover accident Thursday morning, when a driver lost control of his vehicle. According to an accident report from the Sheriff's Office, a 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Nathaniel Cuello of Sidney was headed south bound on Rd. 111 when Cuello lost control on the gravel. The vehicle left the roadway on the west side of road and rolled coming to a final rest on the wheels of the vehicle. According to the report the vehicle was totaled in the...
Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners awarded a bid for the weed superintendent contract in their regular meeting Monday. In last month’s meeting, Commissioners tabled bids from C-Weed Management LLC and Renkoski Vegetation to further discuss proposed bids for the Cheyenne County Weed Superintendent contract. In Monday’s meeting the bid from C-Weed Management for $50,900 was accepted by the board. With a lower bid than Renkoski Vegetation, Commissioner Darrell Johnson said their decision was for the lower bid. “I have to speak for the amoun...
Leyton Elementary School Students across the county celebrated Nebraska's 150th Birthday by participating in events Wednesday afternoon. At Leyton Elementary School, kindergarten through sixth grade students rotated through seven hands-on stations that represented something about Nebraska.. The seven stations included topics and hands on exercises that encompassed, old fashion games, Nebraska snacks, branding and roping, map activities, crop production, history and fossil education, hunting and...
"I've got friends I don't need anything" is a lyric from one of Leftmore's songs and the mantra the band's tour is centered around. Leftmore's singer/songwriter Joe Ziegler has made Sidney a staple when out on tour, a habit he says is due to the people and friendships established here. "I do not do as much touring as I used to, but when I do I make sure to get to Sidney," Ziegler said. "Sometimes people ask why I play such a small venue and I tell them it's because I enjoy the people. There is...
A Nebraska Judiciary Committee will soon make the decision whether or not to take a county elected position and consolidate it into an existing state agency. In Cheyenne County the Clerk of the District Court is an elected seat. In some states, the position is a state governed position under the existing Court Magistrate. Under Legislative Bill 544 (LB544) the office of Clerk of the District Court would be phased out in counties where an Ex officio acts as clerk, serving elected clerks would remain in office and continue to be re-elected until...
Area residents will get the opportunity to learn how to accurately spot and report severe weather, as well as keeping themselves and their families safe in times of atmospheric turbulence. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) storm spotters are the critical eyes-on-the-ground who identify and report severe weather to local emergency management and the NWS. Ron Leal, Region 21 Emergency Management Director will be hosting a Severe Weather Spotter Training this evening. The trainin...
Two bids were tabled for the Weed Superintendent contract in Tuesday’s Cheyenne County Commissioners meeting. After Cheyenne County Weed Superintendent Brian Hiett announced his retirement in January, Commissioners requested bids for the vacant position, considering independent contractors. Tuesday, Commissioners opened bids and interviewed bidders, the first bid came from C-Weed Management LLC for a $50,900 base. Cris Burks, owner of C-Weed Management said the company also services Deuel, Garden and Banner. “My biggest concern is that nox...
Tabletop exercises are used in a variety of capacities. From college campuses to emergency management, the simulated scenarios aid in the constant improvement of any given emergency situation. Region 21 Emergency Management Director Ron Leal recently conducted tabletop exercises with various emergency service entities to further effectiveness in a Hazardous material emergency situations. A tabletop exercise is a place to discuss a simulated emergency situation. Members involved review and...
Sidney’s Elks Lodge will be hosting a free will donation show and dinner featuring the Way Out West’s (WOW) improv group. WOW’s improv group consists of five actors, Cindy Bartling MC and player, Katie Mead, Erin Huddleston, Jeremy Narjes and Michael Mead. “We will be playing games like the dating game, addicts anonymous, freeze tag, as well as a new one called Beatnik Poet.We rely on the interaction of the audience to help set up the scenes for the players,” Bartling said. “The improv show has possible situational humor however, WOW will ba...
Local artist Ben Darling was recently commissioned to paint a mural for the Wildcat Hills Nature Center's addition outside of Scottsbluff. Darling is a professional artist that has had a passion for art all his life. For Darling, art is not just a past time, he also teaches art classes for grades 6-12 at Sidney Public Schools. Darling said he was originally commissioned to paint a three by five foot mural, however after seeing the space Darling suggested a larger piece. The nine by seven foot...
Bringing culture and art to rural Nebraska has been the goal of Sidney’s High Plains Art Council (HPAC) since its inception in 1982. The group has recently lost key members and is searching for committed members that have a passion for arts in rural communities. HPAC President and Executive Director Carrie Brown said they would like to be able to have each member seek out and produce one quality performance a year. The council brings six to eight performances a year in genres of music, dance, theatre and even magic. Brown said many of the p...
Sidney’s School Board members met Monday for their regular board meeting, touching briefly on bills currently in the state legislature. There are a few proposed bills being discussed that may have an effect on Sidney Public Schools, but Superintendent Jay Ehler said he does not think most of them will make the floor. Ehler briefly described several current legislative bills. LB14 would require a successful completion of a civics test as a prerequisite to high school graduation. LB103 would change provisions relating to curriculum and require e...
A Sidney man faces 10 felony charges that are allegedly connected to three unsolved burglary cases in Cheyenne and Duel County. Charles M. Meister, 27, of Sidney appeared in court for a Status Hearing Wednesday. Meister is charged with four counts of Possessing a Firearm by a Prohibited Person, a Class 1D felony, two counts Burglary, a Class 2A Felony and four counts of Possessing a Deadly Weapon by a Prohibited Person a Class 3 felony. According to the Cheyenne County Return of Search Warrant, on Jan. 3 Sergeant Adam Frerichs with the...
Cheyenne County community members were recognized at the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet held Saturday in Sidney. The banquet was held at Buffalo Point restaurant, with B.J. Wilkinson acting as the master of ceremonies and Chamber Chairman Andrew Hurt recognizing the majority of award recipients. As outgoing chairman, Hurt passed the gavel Kelli Chaon, who will act as the 2017 Chamber Chairman. Chaon works with Wheat Belt Public Power District in Sidney. Following dinner and awards, event...
