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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For me the year 2012 ended in a different fashion then I am use to. I’m used to getting together with all my friends to enjoy the Seattle Space Needle fireworks show at midnight, and the fun of the town afterward. If you had asked me when I graduated from college last spring where I would be half a year from now, my ideas would have spanned from Seattle to New York City. In all of the destinations that came to my mind however, Nebraska hadn’t been one of them. It’s funny thinking back on it now, but a year ago this December I remember sitti...
Though Sidney businesses appeared to see an increase in holiday sales this December, the rest of the nation wasn’t as fortunate. Burt Flickinger, managing director at Strategic Resource Group said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio that his field team spread out across America saw modest to moderate sales on the Saturday before Christmas that became weaker and weaker leading up to Christmas day. While online sales increased by 17 percent this holiday season, Flickinger said that in-store sales...
It turns out that Sidney residents were on the “good list” this holiday season, according to Sidney Police Major Joe Aikens. Aikens said that around the holidays there tends to be a pretty prominent increase in domestic violence cases. This holiday season however there were barely any in the Sidney area. “I don’t think we have even had one,” Aikens said. “We had a couple little disturbances at bars but nothing in the nature of serious crime.” This year’s crime rate during the holidays has been a lot better than in previous years, he expla...
According to new statistics released by U.S. Census Bureau News and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, new single-family house sales increased 4.4 percent nationally in the month of November. “Housing indicators for the third quarter of 2012 continue to portray a fragile, but steady, recovery in the housing market,” members of the department said. The seasonally-adjusted rate nationally for the month of November was 377,000 houses sold, surpassing not only the estimated Oct...
Nebraska has been rated the third best-run state in the United States behind North Dakota and Wyoming and had the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 4.4 percent last year, according to a survey done by 24/7 Wall St. In 2010 Nebraska also had the second-lowest debt per capita at $1,297. The average for states nationwide was $3, 614. Being one of the nation’s biggest agricultural producers, with that subdivision earning 8.3 percent of the states GDP last year. The survey team members determined the results by reviewing each s...
This year the world came together to survive a giant feat, the end of the Mayan calendar. While some shrugged off the idea of the world’s demise, others took it seriously. The build up of Dec. 21, 2012, will be noted in history. I’ve heard the end of the world defined in many different ways. I’ve heard some people say the world would go up in an instant ball of fire, like a nuclear explosion. Others say the world would be under attack by a force unknown, be it a plague or people, leaving few survivors. We fortunately did not find out the defin...
Boxes that had been placed in Sonny’s Super Foods store for the past two weeks were picked up today, ending the first of many food drives put on by the Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska, CAPWN. The food was picked up by Brenda Dickinson and taken to one of the Sidney food pantries. Dickinson said that the food drive over the past two weeks generated a good amount of food for the community. “We collected five good-sized bags of food and are picking up more today (Friday),” Dicki...
Sidney Jaycee members always try to create an extra glow within Sidney in the month of December and this year was no exception. Members of the organization gathered around the traincars sitting along Legion Park Dec. 8 stringing Christmas lights for seven hours from engine to caboose for the community to view. The lights illuminated the dark park and the 10th Avenue roadside that night and have been glowing bright ever since. Amber Talich, in her second year as President of the Jaycees and...
Of the many houses lit up with Christmas cheer this holiday season one house in particular caught the attention of judges during the annual Sidney House Lighting Contest. Julia Juedes won first place and $100 in the contest for her residential decorations at 1259 Clark Dr. Second place was awarded to Stan Belieu at 1315 Solano Dr. who received $75 for his efforts, while Dennis Hicks at 1452 Summit Dr. received $50 and third place in the contest. The Griswald Award along with $100 was awarded to...
Learning Korner Preschool’s SunFlower class will journey to the post office on Friday afternoon to deliver the first Operation Santa project. The destination of this project package is Iraq. Students from the ages of 2 to 5 and staff members will be sending a box of gift items for one Sidney solider overseas to share with his platoon, kindergarten teacher Cassie Challburg said. Though the preschool students put on the event, the day care children and parents also helped and donated supplies to t...
My Nebraska Christmas tree Saying that the Pacific Northwest is different from the badlands of Nebraska is an understatement. I love both places for different reasons, but the distinctions in topography can’t help but stick out like a sore thumb to me. The biggest change to hit me this holiday season is the lack of large, bushy, green Christmas trees that go on for what seems like forever. Every year my parents, brother and I usually go chop down a sweet smelling pine tree in the forested area surrounding the Atlantic salmon farm that we l...
Diana Sonnie and Karen Pilger were the first volunteers sworn in as Court Appointed Special Advocates in Cheyenne County Wednesday at the Cheyenne County Courthouse. The job of Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA members, is to help children in the court system, program director Yvonne Donaldson said. “We work with children who are in court through abuse or neglect. Our job is to get to know the children, their caregivers, their teachers and anybody who has any information about them, and...
City of Sidney Police Chief Mike Brown said in a prepared statement that the best defense that can be taken to prevent an event like the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., is to prepare, practice and educate. “Having a second grader myself, I empathize with not only the parents of the children that were taken from this world in a senseless and cowardly act of violence, but also parents across the nation that have had their sense of safety and security shaken to the core,” Brown said. Members of Sidney’s Police Department and School District have alway...
Angels “flew off” this year at the Cheyenne County Community Center during the third annual Santa for Seniors event, said community center activity director Kiersten Richards. Santa for Seniors is an event where members of the community buy Christmas gifts for those in need at Golden LivingCenter, Richards said. Richards said that each resident at the living center is assigned a number and writes down what they want for Christmas. The resident’s number and their wish list are written on a paper...
Cabela’s Shared Services Department members continued their third year of bringing warmth to the people of Sidney. This year the department’s employees collected a total of 266 coats during their annual coat and mitten drive to give to community members in need, as well as additional miscellaneous hats, gloves and other clothes. “The amount we receive seems to be increasing each year, which is awesome,” Cabela’s Shared Service Administrative Assistant Angela Graves said. Graves and her team...
Next on Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Glenna Phelps-Aurich’s list is sending out annual membership renewal notices, followed quickly by preparations for January’s banquet. To become a member of the chamber Phelps-Aurich said that it’s as easy as filling out an application and paying member dues. The director said that the chamber exists primarily to do everything they can to help Cheyenne County businesses grow. “Our goal is to help businesses in any way that we can to...
The month of December serves as not only the time of holiday festivities but also National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. Sidney attorney, Thomas Sonntag said that the consequences of driving under the influence of any alcohol or drug could be devastating as well as legally impacting. According to Nebraska Office of Highway Safety statistics in 2011 there were 12,034 DWI arrests, 1,822 alcohol-related crashes, 1,185 alcohol-related injuries and 51 alcohol-related deaths in the state...
The Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, RMBO, brought community members together on Tuesday not only to explain their current bird conservation efforts, but to also expose the public education opportunities that they provide. RMBO and the Nebraska Environmental Trust held the Kimball County Conservation Informative Workshop at Kimball Event Center this Dec. 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In attendance at the workshop were resource professionals, landowners and representatives from the Game and Parks...
Boxes began to show up throughout Sidney stores at the beginning of November to collect toys for the annual Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots toy drive. You can find donation drop-off boxes at Larry’s Clothing Co., Cosmic Quarter Arcade, Sonny’s Super Foods, Walmart, Points West Community Bank and the Cheyenne County Community Center, Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Cheyenne County coordinator Amanda White said. Though the Toys for Tots drive has been present in Cheyenne County for yea...
Two-lane roads I’ve noticed beside the major highway that runs through the spacious state of Nebraska, almost every outlet from town is a two-lane road. Unless you hit the right time of day and you see no one, you usually pass a car or two. It’s just you, the road, and that passing car for a few brief seconds. You are going your way and the other drivers are traveling their own path. You most of the time never know who is in the other car, where they have been, or their story. Well, unless you are from Rochester, Wash. because in that town it’s...
Wendall Gaston was elected mayor once again at the City of Sidney Council Meeting Tuesday night. As required by Nebraska law, the new council in place always elects one of its own to serve as the upcoming year’s exeo president, or mayor. Mark Nienhueser was elected as vice president of the council during the meeting as well. Results from the 2012 election for city council were also approved and the new council members took to their seats. Leaving the council last night were Dave Weiderspon, R...
A light can be signified by a flashlight checking for monsters under the bed, a sun coming up over cornfields, or even a shooting star. But a light can also symbolize something as important as remembrance. Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandmothers and grandfathers, and friends all gathered Dec. 9 at Trinity Lutheran Church- South Divide in Sidney at 2 p.m. to remember the loved ones that have gone before them. The Worldwide Candle Lighting Ceremony is put on every second December...
Amongst the wind and winter cold, the Cheyenne County Community Center was the site of the second annual Christmas Craft Fair and Bazaar, Saturday. All handcrafted art filled the community center room as shoppers and vendors buzzed. Buyers asking how the creator used their skills to produce such cute ideas, while the creators began blushing and responding in detail. Crafts ranged from Hello Kitty hats to knitted Cornhuskers apparel.The tiny loops in every crotched scarf that filled the tables just as identical as the rest. Wooden snowman...
Through open houses and public presentations this Wed. and Thurs. at the Cheyenne County Community Center, the Sidney Expansion team was able to gather needed information from concerned community members, about the housing expansion in East Sidney. Dennis Armstrong, a corporate architect for Cabela’s and one of the presenters during the culminating formal presentation Thursday night at 6 p.m., said that these meetings were just the beginning of a long process. “This is the first step of the multi-step process. What we have learned over these tw...
First United Methodist Church’s Gloribells have been ringing for 16 years and this Dec. 9 is no different. The Gloribells are getting their brass bells ready for spreading Christmas cheer at their annual “Ringing in the Season” bell concert. At concert rehersal Wednesday night, the Gloribells rang under the instruction of concert director Marva Schiessler to prepare for Sunday’s concert. As the director raised her hand, the bells took swift position, some were held in the air, ready for instant...
