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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A city auction being held at Sidney Police Department Sunday will offer surplussed items from various city departments, including used vehicles. The auction is part of an annual city effort, SPD Chief Joe Aikens said. “We have property that’s gathered that nobody claims and we can’t keep it around forever,” Aikens said. “We have a ton of bikes, and stuff people turn in, abandoned around town. Every couple of years we try to have an auction to sell off that, any surplus equipment we might have....
Sidney Public School staff attended the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) National Conference held in Denver, Colorado in June to great success, SPS Superintendent Jay Ehler reported at Monday’s school board meeting. “We want to stay on the edge of what’s out there in education,” Ehler said. “It was an excellent conference.” Joining Ehler were Belinda Westfall, North Elementary principal, Rick Meyer, new South Elementary principal, Chris Arent, Sidney High School prin...
Sidney Police Department is taking action against graffiti appearing in Legion Park. A reward in an unspecified amount is being offered for information about those responsible for the tagging at the walking trail tunnel at Fort Sidney Road and other locations. "We're offering a reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for the graffiti in the park," SPD Chief Joe Aikens said. Images of the graffiti were posted on the SPD's Facebook page on June 28....
Concerns were raised at Monday’s County Commissioners meeting about inequities regarding maximum raises and salary caps. This has created a difference in wages offered across county departments. “There’s a difference in wages being paid for clerical staff,” Diane Scott, county treasurer, said. “One county official the last two years gave their staff 60 cent raises when the rest of us were given documents telling us to figure raises at 50 cents.” Clear policy is also needed regarding salary caps....
County Commissioners Monday approved a contract with USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Wildlife Services for prairie dog elimination. The contract not to exceed $11,877.50 for one and a half months of service is matched by USDA for a total of three months. The county then bills individual property owners for the services. Commissioners used the meeting to speak with Jerry Feist, USDA APHIS district supervisor, about the possibility of hiring more staff to assist Matt Anderson, APHIS...
Rev. Mike McDermott, a native of Grand Island, is the new priest at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. It was St. Patrick's where McDermott entered into his vocation in January 1979, serving for two and a half years. "Sidney was really the beginning of all of that," McDermott said. "Sidney really set the tone for me, in the sense of how to do ministrating, how to enjoy ministry. My first two and a half years were great years." From there, McDermott went on to serve at St. James in Kearney, St....
GMCO Corporation, a Rifle, Colorado-based company, is expanding its efforts in Western Nebraska. Started in 1964, the company offers de-icing materials and provides dust control services. GMCO has one warehouse at Sidney/Potter Adams Industries complex, and is pursuing additional property at the complex, Bruce Juelfs, business development manager, said. In June, GMCO was awarded "preferred distributor" by the state of Nebraska for magnesium chloride, Juelfs said, used in treating roads for dust...
Sidney's Office of Human Development and the DOVES Program both visited Legion Park Wednesday for a morning of gardening. OHD, which serves adults with developmental disabilities, brought six clients to Memorial Gardens for a morning of planting and maintaining the grounds. "This is just an activity to get them out and about, something just to help them learn a skill," Nick Hays, OHD staff member, said. "It gets them out in the community. They love getting out. They have a lot of fun doing it....
Sidney’s future is unknowable. Cabela’s stockholders will vote July 11 on whether to sell to BassPro. Neither company can speak about what might result from the potential sale, though. Mayor Joe Arterburn visited the Sidney Sun-Telegraph Wednesday to speak about the city’s future and the atmosphere of uncertainty in Sidney. “I think we’re all waiting to see what’s going to happen at that meeting,” Arterburn said. “That’ll be the shareholders voting on the option to sell. I don’t have any in...
John Bahr, Western Nebraska Community College Sidney receptionist, was honored Tuesday by Nebraska VR with the Debra Bowers Client Award. “We choose one client every year to receive this award,” Nicole Fisher, Nebraska VR Scottsbluff office director, said. “The award is named after a client who achieved employment success while overcoming adversity.” She continued, “Her determination, motivation and dedication to achieving her goals is her legacy, and it lives on each time we present this awar...
Sidney City Council is considering increasing electricity rates. Residential rates would increase from $13 to $16, small general service single phase from $25 to $28, three phase from $44.50 to $60 and large general service from $135 to $160. This would be the second of a planned two-term rate increase recommended by a rate study done in early 2016. Adoption of a second increase was delayed from April, but is now needed, Ed Sadler, city manager, explained to the council at their Tuesday...
Cheyenne County Commissioners are considering the sale of foreclosed land in the county’s possession. There are roughly 10 to 12 such properties held by the county from unsold tax sale certificates, Paul Schaub, county attorney, said. “I’m proposing we take a look at all of these properties we’ve acquired over the years through the foreclosure process and have a group sale where everyone is made aware that these properties are owned by the county,” Schaub said. “They’re not needed by the county...
Sidney Parks Department will begin spraying for mosquitos July 16. It is the best time for eliminating mosquitos that could carry West Nile Virus, Tom Von Seggern, parks director, said. "We could start now but then I'd need a bigger budget," Von Seggern said. "And we'd be fighting some nuisance mosquitos perhaps, but we wouldn't be protecting against West Nile Virus because that mosquito isn't prevalent until mid-July." While West Nile Virus is the most common disease spread by mosquitoes in...
When a crime happens, there is a proper way to report it to the police. And it’s not through social media. Chief Joe Aikens, Sidney Police Department, urges citizens to contact the communications center or reach out to the police station when there is trouble. “If there’s an emergency, we’d like you to call 911,” Aikens said. “If it’s a non-emergency, you can call 254-5515 or -2880, or dial the Sheriff’s Department number.” Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are not effective way...
Rick Meyer is the new principal at South Elementary. Meyer has served as a teacher at South and as Sidney Public Schools technology coordinator. "I taught kindergarten for seven years," Meyer said. "After seven years, there was a position that became open in the district which was a technology coordinator. I've been doing that the last five years." As technology coordinator, Meyer was tasked with leading elementary technology classes at South as well as North and West elementary schools. "I...
British coaches with Challenger Sports visited Deer Run Park this week to teach Sidney youths how to play European football, here in the states called "soccer." "We put on camps in different places for a week, and then go traveling all around the midwest," Coach Patrick Stutt explained. Throughout the week, Stutt and fellow coach Sean McGee have taught youths in morning sessions and half-day camps the basics of the sport. "We're working on a bit of dribbling, getting the kids used to using both...
Cheyenne County Commissions Monday approved taking ownership of a new shelter to be built by the Leadership Cheyenne County Class. The shelter will be placed apart from the sidewalk at 10th Avenue and King Street, on the Sidney Stage Line. Heather Hausmann, county tourism director, visited the commissioners Monday to make sure final ownership of the property was clear. In approving ownership, the commissioners also agreed to providing crew to prepare the area for a concrete pour, and to...
POTTER - The third annual Potter Car Bowl Saturday is a day of melodrama, bowling, bull riding, and, of course, exceptional cars. The event started as a way to attract more people to the village's theater productions, Drew Enevoldsen, event organizer, said. "We noticed that awareness of our melodramas was starting to dwindle and we wanted to get our numbers up," Enevoldsen said. "We thought if we held a car show it would bring more people into town." The event has grown since then to include a...
Sidney’s Police Explorer Post #607 is raising money to take its youth to Denver for a day of learning and community service. SPD Officer Adrian Smith hopes to take his nine explorers to Ronald McDonald House to prepare and serve food to the needy. “It gets them out of Sidney, gets them looking at different things,” Smith said. “We’ll walk through the Children’s Hospital and meet some of them and some of the doctors I know. They’ll see some kids who are a little less fortunate. It’s for a go...
Foster Grandparents needs more volunteers to serve in area schools. The program offered by Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska is looking for retired seniors to serve as a supportive presence for students, Linda Massie, CAPWN recruiter, said. “It’s a non-profit community action program to put seniors into schools to help students learn,” Massie said. “We do everything from preschools to junior high.” Foster Grandparents are neither paraeducators nor parents. They are “warm and fuzzi...
Highway 30 renovation efforts along Illinois Street are expected to begin in downtown Sidney after Fourth of July. Justin Schmidt, Simon Contractors project manager, took time Wednesday to meet at Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce with business owners and hear their concerns. Downtown is the most high-profile segment of the project, Schmidt said. "We're contracted to remove and replace all of the concrete panels under the asphalt," he said. "If you drive through there, you'll see a lot of bad...
CHAPPELL - No bids were received for the now defunct Creek Valley Middle School’s football field in Lodgepole. “They’re going to reopen bids for the football field because nobody in the original bid process, which was due the 6th of June, nobody put any bids in,” Ron Howard, CVS superintendent, said. Possibly there were no bids because the price for the property was too high, Howard said. The property was listed for roughly $11,000 for 10 acres. “The county assessor told us what to put on th...
Daniel D. Konruff, 37, of Sidney, pleaded "no contest" Tuesday to two charges of attempting to possess child pornography, a class 3A felony. According to a Nebraska State Patrol affidavit, in October Investigator Dean Christensen was assigned to investigate a cybertip, where a "single image of a topless three-year-old girl with her underwear pulled down around her thighs" was transferred to a Google Photo account. The cybertip identified the IP address as belonging to Konruff. Christensen visite...
Sidney is taking a new direction in issuing LB840 grants and selling industrial park lots following a special meeting of the City Council Monday with Ed Sadler, city manager, and Melissa Norgard, economic development director. LB840 grants will be offered to prospective businesses within a range of 20 to 40 percent of overall payroll, rather than based on individual pay rates. “It makes more sense to us to do it based on the entire payroll of the company that’s moving here,” Norgard said. “Not e...
Michelle Onstott, nurse at Central and South elementary schools, won the Excellence in School Nursing, School Nurse of the Year award from the Nebraska School Nurses Association. Attending the annual NSNA School Health Conference luncheon in Kearney on June 6, Onstott received her award to the applause of her peers. "I was very honored, but very humbled," Onstott said. "I feel like that I love my job and so I didn't feel like I was doing anything above and beyond. I love my job, I love the kids...
