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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The Cheyenne County School District No. 1 Board of Education met Jan. 10 with much of its agenda focused on organizing for the 2022 year. The board voted Mike Palmer as the new president, and Brenda Smith as the vice-president. Outgoing board president Tom VonSeggern was commended for 16 years on the board and seven to eight years as board president. Board secretary will continue to be Deanna Bond, and Lori Borchert as board treasurer (Palmer abstained from the vote). The board also approved...
Winds brought tumbleweeds into downtown Sidney recently while weeds in the background were bent almost horizontal. The winds from the north and west made walking in downtown Sidney a challenge last week. Skies were clear much of the weekend and humidity reached into the 80 percent range....
The Sidney City Council approved two liquor license applications and two zoning applications in its Jan. 11 meeting. The council approved liquor license for Beans and Steams Coffee House, LLC and Kiersten Richards as the manager of the 610 Glover Road location. Richards purchased Beans and Steams Coffee House from Pat and Sharrell Keane. Her license will allow catering as well as sales at the store. The council also approved a license for MSW Liquor, LLC, Paul Strommen the contact. The license...
I’m not sure if it is age, or seeing some of the lessons in classrooms past. It impresses me that some of my high school and college history classes went against modern perception, telling accounts factually without offering a slant or personal viewpoint in lecture. In recent time, I’ve seen some of the lessons from classrooms past refute or corroborate current issues. A few decades ago, a book was written that has been included in various sociology classes since. The book came out about the...
Sidney Regional Medical Hospital officials held two question and answer sessions on January 4. The meetings were held to address questions and concerns regarding proposed moving of the Extended Care facility, and returning a hospice program to Cheyenne County. The meetings were held at the hospital and at the Cheyenne County Community Center. The meeting was hosted by hospital CEO Jason Petik. Petik said the meetings are a required step in their USDA grant application. The hospital is applying f...
Submitting petitions for public office started January 5 in Nebraska. The deadline for incumbents is February 15, and March 1 for non-incumbents. The State of Nebraska defines an incumbent as anyone who is currently an elected official and is seeking to return as an elected official of any other board or agency. For example, if a school board member chose seek a seat on the city council, the school board member would be considered an incumbent. Several local seats are up for election this year....
The Cheyenne County Commissioners voted against a request to have a firearms show at the Cheyenne County Fairgrounds. The vote was based on procedure, not a lack of support for firearms. Skip Fricke of High Plains Shooter Supply submitted a request for use of the Cheyenne County Fairgrounds building for the weekend of January 15-16. Sheriff Adam Frerichs was present for the telephone discussion with Fricke. Fricke said the event is a gun show with vendors. He said he would at the facility...
On a trip to Central America several years ago, the group I was with was encouraged to be careful giving money to panhandlers and beggars. A little background. For as dysfunctional as American society is becoming, there are places we are still as a Shangri-la. I remember leaving the terminal and being greeted, almost accosted, by children trying to sell what looked like origami from plants. “Only a dollar,” still rings in my memory. One of our group shooed them away like stray dogs. That was...
He was born in Sidney. One might say he was born into medicine, and then passed on the legacy to his children. Three of his children continued the practice of medicine in the family. Dr. Clinton B. Dorwart recently retired from practice in Sidney. His dad was a general practitioner in Sidney until his death in 1978. “ We could not be prouder of all the work you've done throughout your 40 year career in Sidney. The dedication to the city, the perseverance through difficult times and your unwaveri...
It is a process six years in the making, a process that cost a lot of budgeting and support from the City of Sidney and the community. Almost exactly a year after it was ordered, the Sidney Fire Department received its newest response unit, a 2021 fire engine. Fire Chief Laverne Bown said the process of purchasing the truck has taken five to six years. In that time, the city council approved saving a percent of the fire department's budget each year. The frugal approach allowed the department...
It’s that time of year when trash cans have digested their diet of Christmas wrapping paper, and now is the time for poets to write the soothing rhymes of what we want in a perfect world. The very idea of New Year’s Resolutions invites image of cliche beauty contests. “I wish for world peace, and ending poverty.” The artificial smile reflects the spotlights but doesn’t go very far reaching toward the heart. I was recently asked what I wanted for Christmas. I frequently ask myself how I should...
On Thursday afternoon, the typical flow of automobile and pedestrian traffic was somewhat distracted by a sight a little out of place on any other day. There at the side of Illinois Street a large wooden cross was resting against a street sign. On the cross were meager goods and two flags: the U.S. flag and the black and white POW-MIA flag. Near the foot of the cross were a few belongings, very few considering he has been on the road for nine years. His visit to Sidney is spiritual in part, but...
Oxford Dictionaries defined science as “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” But how far will curiosity, the discipline of asking why does this do what it does, and what makes it work without the tools to research? Students curiosity and doing what science is supposed to do, ask why, how and what if, has been limited by the capability of the science lab at...
Voters in the Leyton School District will get to decide on two board positions. In a season that has been at times contentious and other times justified, signatures were submitted to the Cheyenne County Clerk seeking the recall of Board President Suzy Ernest and Board secretary Roland “Rol” Rushman. Ernest and Rushman were elected in the May 2020 election. In January 2021, board members Anne Rexroth and Galen Bartling resigned from the board. During the Jan. 22 meeting, the 4-member board vot...
There are certain stages in life that are tender, even extremely sensitive. Marriage, the birth of a child, tenderly caressing an infant as he sleeps on your chest, and saying goodbye when moving from this life to the next. The first time I recall attending a memorial, a funeral dinner, my attention was on the food, and probably a lot of questions of why are we here. I remember being quite young, and the concept of losing someone, especially someone I didn’t really know, didn’t add up. It was...
Schools are wanted, needed, even necessary to be safe space. There needs to be a confidence that their facility is reasonably safe from threats, from weather, from any issue that might cause harm. The question is who to call, how to respond, when there is a real or perceived threat. In a recent board meeting, the Sidney Schools board of education discussed a program that includes an option for reporting concerns. The program, Safe2Help Nebraska includes an outline of what to report, and how....
The Sidney City Council is considering entry into the solar energy market. Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN, the wholesale electricity provider for the city) issued an RFP (Request For Proposal) about two years ago on behalf of six MEAN communities for solar photovoltaic (PV) field. Proposals were submitted but the project did not move forward. Prices were higher than what communities expected. Since then, according to a memo from Electricity Superintendent Mike Palmer, solar prices...
Sometimes getting something done just takes asking the right person the right question. That, in part, resulted in a relationship that blessed Table of Grace with the future ability to take food to areas with limited transportation. Table of Grace Director Sherri Eads heard of a need during a food give away this year; seniors in the Sunol community who couldn't get to the Table of Grace food pantry. She learned of this while talking to a gentleman who was taking food to people in Sunol. She...
Sometimes I wonder if the birth of Jesus occurred when it did because it was the best time to happen. Yes, I can hear the rumbling of generations of theologians citing why it happened then, starting with prophecies, and it is a valid point, and writing their hands with the perceived heresy, but that is not what I was referencing. Think about it. The king of all kings and there’s no call for days of festivities, no entering the capitol on a white horse and a legion of soldiers. The stress of s...
Sidney Regional Medical Center is looking to streamline some of their response lines. Hospital officials are hoping to move the Extended Care Center to what is now an open field west of the hospital. Sidney Regional’s CEO Jason Petik said recently hospital officials will be holding public meetings to discuss concerns and questions from clients and local residents. Petik said eight years ago, the long-term plan was to move the Extended Care Center to the hospital campus. The hospital changed p...
The Cheyenne County Commissioners approved an agreement for special council in response to a lawsuit filed against Cheyenne County Clerk Beth Fiegenschuh. The suit was filed by Leyton School District Board of Education members Suzy Ernest and Roland “Rol” Rushman. The lawsuit is in response to approval of signatures on a recall petition for Ernest (board president) and Rushman (board secretary). Ernest and Rushman are requesting the signatures be denied. Recall petitions were submitted and the...
The lifestyle of rural Nebraska often includes people wearing multiple hats. The shop mechanic might be a board member in a non-profit organization, a “big-brother” in a mentoring program, and a pastor of a country church. One such example of multiple hats and a wealth of history was recently promoted to a national board. Dan Carlson is known by any of several hats. He is a writer and columnist, weather forecaster with his own page and serves as pastor to the Immanuel Lutheran Church at Wey...
We watched a version of “Scrooge” recently. It was interesting in the comical sense. This year I caught someone saying Scrooge didn’t have a problem with Christmas; he had a problem with people. Maybe the lesson is Dr. Seuss, in all of his human frailties, continues to teach. In the comic version of the previous generations, bitterness overruled the celebration. In the updated semi-human version, the outcast of the class grows into a hideous green monster, an easy reference. For whatever reaso...
Early this summer, the City of Sidney announced Kim Matthews as the new economic development director. She replaced Melissa Norgard who resigned to work in the family business, Sam and Louie's of Sidney. On Dec. 5, Matthews announced in an email that she submitted her resignation to the City on Friday, Dec. 3. “On Friday, I submitted my 30-day resignation letter to David Scott, our City Manager. My last day will be on January 3rd, 2022,” she said in the email. “I want to thank everyone in Sidne...
Nestled in a white building on Illinois Street is a chance to challenge your skills and take a break from the day. It has similarities to other athletic challenges, but with sharp differences. Most people don’t think of an ax as a tool for relaxing and even competing with your neighbor or best friend. However, that is available at Chill-Axe. The concept started during a road trip to Colorado when Aaron Beyer and Krista Pittam stopped at a place in the Northern Front Range with a very unique v...
