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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Sidney’s City Council unanimously voted to accept a contract with Holmes Murphy of Omaha for employee insurance brokerage during Tuesday’s regular meeting as administration seeks to improve benefits for its staff going into the next fiscal year. “These are the people who will bring us proposals from various insurance companies,” City Manager Ed Sadler said. “The whole point is for them to bring us something better, we hope, than what we currently have.” The City of Sidney’s employee insurance is currently partially self-insured, and large cla...
The introduction of a new city chief building inspector, along with the announcement its new assistant city manager, was made during Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Sidney City Council. At the start of the meeting, City Manager Ed Sadler introduced Kevin Kubo to the council as the city’s new chief building inspector. “He was the building inspector previously in Alliance,” Sadler said. “He’s joined us, moved down here and is fitting right in very nicely.” Kubo told council that he grew up in Chadron and graduate from Chadron State College...
Two long-time City of Sidney employees were recognized by the utilities section of the League of Nebraska Municipalities this month with an award certificate commemorating their decades of service with the city. City clerk Geri Anthony has been a part of Sidney's city government for nearly half a century, starting out as a part-time employee in the summer of 1966. "I think I started in July of '66," Anthony said. "Something like that." Anthony was born in Alliance to a family of farmers. After...
Sidney residents and visitors had an opportunity to step back in time last weekend as the 13th annual Gold Rush Days was held at the American Legion Park. Gold Rush Days is a three-day celebration of Sidney's history when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the 1870s and the city's railroad was instrumental in its transportation to Deadwood, S.D. "This became the shortest, and best, route to Deadwood," local historian Gordy Wilkins said. "And it stayed that way until 1881." Wilkins provide...
On a weekly basis, dozens of Cheyenne County youth have been taking up arms just outside of Sidney getting ready for action next month. But there's no reason to duck for cover or call the sheriff's office. It's just the Cheyenne County 4-H'ers practicing their archery skills ahead of July's shooting sports competition at this year's county fair and rodeo. "This is our third year," archery coach Kevin Wehrer said. "Our group is the largest in the Nebraska Panhandle right now." Wehrer said in...
Dozens of children, along with parents, teachers and other members of the Sidney community attended a tree planting and butterfly release Sunday afternoon at the Living Memorial Gardens in memory of 8-year-old Adeline "Addie" Elder who passed away from a brain tumor in February. "It was amazing what they did for her," Addie's mother, Kristin, said. In Jan. 2015, Addie was diagnosed with stage four Glioblastoma Multiforme, a rare and highly malignant form of brain tumor, shortly after her family...
Cool Kids summer activities were put on hold Thursday morning as the Nebraska State Fraternal Order of Eagles - Eagles Riders rode onto the North Elementary School campus to pick up handwritten letters advocating support for children's mental health to the state capitol in Lincoln. "This is our first time stopping in Sidney," Stan Bills, executive director for the Snow-Redfern Foundation as well as an Eagle Rider, said. For the past nine years, the Eagle Riders have traveled a nearly...
With summer now in full swing, the Cool Kids Club/No Limits program began its annual summer camp this week, offering a variety of educational and entertaining activities to area youth during the next two months. "We started on Tuesday, and it has been great," program director Coleen Langdon said. "Very busy." The Cool Kids Club began in Oct. 2001 when school administrators from Sidney and Chadron wrote a joint grant to begin a before, after and summer school program in their communities. A $1.5...
St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Sidney is receiving some much needed restoration this week as crews replace worn out shingles on the century-old structure. "Those shingles were loose and just needed to be replaced," Rev. James Heithoff said. "It was leaking into the bell tower, and then consequently, into the choir loft." Heithoff, who said the construction would not interfere with church services, was not sure when the last time repairs to the steeple had been done, but estimated that it had...
Memorial Day solemnity was interrupted Monday afternoon as Sidney citizens were warned about tornado activity in the area after two cold-air funnel clouds were spotted near the Colorado-Nebraska panhandle border. At 2:04 p.m., a confirmed landspout tornado was located in the area, moving east at 10 miles per hour. The tornado's path was projected to be near the Sidney airport around 2:20 p.m. and in Sidney around 2:25 p.m. A tornado warning was issued until 2:30 p.m., and was later extended to...
Beginning tomorrow, Sidney Public Library (SLP) will begin its annual summer reading program aimed at children, teens and adults alike. “It’s a Nebraska thing to have the kids, young adults and adults participate in the summer reading,” Sidney Public Library Director Andrew Sherman said. Summer reading programs are designed to encourage elementary-aged children to keep reading during summer vacation, preventing the typical “summer slide” that comes with the break between academic years. This year’s theme is fitness and health, and children an...
While it appeared early on the threat of lightning would put a damper on the donor preview of Sidney's new aquatic center late Thursday afternoon, weather conditions cleared up just enough to allow children some pool fun ahead of Friday's official opening. "It's been five years in the making," said Tom Von Seggern, park superintendent for the City of Sidney. "People are getting excited to come out." Construction on the $5 million aquatic center began Aug. 17 last year and passed its final state...
This summer, the Cheyenne County 4-H will be expanding its First Lego League robotics program with activities for children and young adults from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. "It's for anybody who's interested in robotics and tech, and who want to play around with that sort of thing," Nebraska Extension Educator Cynthia Gill said. "They are learning to program and to code." First Lego League challenges youth to design, build and program a robot using Lego Mindstorms technology,...
Nearly a dozen 4-H'ers took on a small project with big potential Wednesday morning as they learned how to build and grow their own fairy garden. The workshop was held at Sidney Feed and Supply, located at 418 Illinois St., under the direction of its manager Wanda Talich. "It's a brand-new project for the 4-H kids," Talich said. "It's the first year that they'll have fairy gardens entered into the state fair." Talich, going my the name "Tinkerbell Talich" and wearing a set of antennea on her...
After requesting feedback from the community at their last meeting, the Sidney City Council approved this week the preliminary findings of their goal setting retreat from last month to provide city administration direction as they prepare for the coming fiscal year's budget. On April 21, council convened for a special meeting in the meeting room at the Hampton Inn located at 635 Cabela's Dr. to discuss and prioritize their long-term and short-term goals for City Manager Ed Sadler as well as city staff. The retreat was facilitated by Nebraska...
During Tuesday night's regular meeting of the Sidney City Council, City Manager Ed Sadler announced Assistant Police Chief Joseph Aikens had been selected as Sidney's new chief of police effective immediately. In an interview in early May, Sadler said 18 candidates had applied for the position. "I was actually surprised where we had candidates from," Sadler said in the interview. "Virginia, D.C., Florida, Texas, some local. It surprised me how far-flung they are." Sadler told council that on...
Sidney is changing the method it uses for appointments to its boards and committees to allow for term expirations and vacancies to be advertised to the public beforehand. The change was brought to the Sidney City Council during Tuesday’s regular meeting in an agenda item concerning the reappointment of three members to the city’s planning commission. The planning commission is comprised of nine members serving on staggered three-year terms so at least three members are eligible for reappointment annually. On June 1, the terms for Jerry Spiker,...
In just a few days, the long wait for the Sidney Aquatic Center to be open to the public will be over. "I'm glad we're finally at this point, said Tom Von Seggern, park superintendent for the City of Sidney. "It's been a long haul." The $5.4 million Sidney Aquatic Center began construction in August last year, replacing the established pool after nearly 40 years of service. The new facility contains a 3,400-square-foot six-lane competition pool with accomodations for water polo, basketball and...
Students with the Sidney High School SkillsUSA chapter are offering their assistance to the community next month with yard work as they seek to raise funds for their state conference next year. "It's the first time we're doing this fundraiser, and we are very excited about it," Chapter President Will Castner said. "Our goal is to do some work for people and raise some money in the process." SkillsUSA is an organization that offers career and technical students vocational support as well as competitive activities at the district, state and...
Dozens of exhibitors brought their market lamb, goat and swine projects to the Cheyenne County fairgrounds late Monday afternoon for the mandatory tagging and weigh-in for the upcoming Cheyenne County Fair and Rodeo. Nebraska Extension Educator Cynthia Gill said the weigh-in is typically held a couple of months prior to the fair so exhibitors have a baseline to measure daily growth in their projects. Unfortunately, the scale was damaged after it took a tumble during the sudden rainfall earlier i...
More than 30 people turned out Saturday morning to assist the 2016 Leadership Cheyenne County class in an all-day cleanup effort at the Northside Park in Sidney. Leadership Cheyenne County is a program sponsored by the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce that aims to develop its participants into involved civic leaders and community volunteers. Each class in the program comes up with a project during the year that benefits the community as a whole. This year, the class chose to do a...
When Brent Jeffers came to Sidney in 1991 to become principal of North and South elementary schools, his first administration position, he expected it to be for only a short time before moving on. "I came here to be here for three years," Jeffers said. "In my line of work, you need to get some experience as an administrator, and I needed that experience so I could land another job in Colorado. Go back home." Twenty-five years, dozens of teachers and hundreds of children later, Jeffers is ready...
On June 4, Keep Sidney Beautiful will hold its annual Great Trash Race, a cleanup effort that tasks teams with collecting as much as they can throughout the community. "It's a good way for people to give back to their community," Beth Arellano, director of Keep Sidney Beautiful, said. Keep Sidney Beautiful has been an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful since the early 2000's, and has hosted the Great Trash Race in town since that time. Prior to the annual event, the organization conducts a litter index of the entire town, utilizing a 1-to-10 s...
Several representatives from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (NDED) visited Sidney this week as they joined city administration on a tour of existing buildings and shovel-ready sites to strategize a plan for attracting new and expanding businesses in the area. The tour, which took place on Monday and Tuesday and included facilities belonging to Cabela's, CommScope and others, was originally scheduled for the end of March. It was postponed, however, after snowstorms prevented...
This Saturday, the 2016 Leadership Cheyenne County class is asking for the community to help with the revitalization of Sidney's Northside Park by participating in an all-day cleanup effort. Sidney police officers Curtis Hofrock and Jennifer Woodis, who are participating in this year's class, are spearheading the Northside Park project. Leadership Cheyenne County is a program sponsored by the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce that aims to develop its participants into involved civic leaders and community volunteers. "Basically, we learned...
