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 traffic problem around Sidney Public Schools continues to vex Superintendent Jay Ehler. He encourages parents to obey the rules about dropping children off for the safety of the children. Ehler says that the school board has applied to the council to place new signs around the schools to encourage parents to obey rules about drop off and pick up. Ehler hopes that people will consider their actions around the facilities: are they parking on wrong side of street? Are they stopping in no parking zones? Ehler said that there has been a problem...
Starfest is many things to many people. This weekend’s Denver event features the likes of Ben Browder, Avery Brooks, Melissa McBride, Seth Gabel, Julie Caitlin Brown, Nicole de Boer, Deep Roy and David Boop, amongst others. The convention will also include areas that feature the RobotFest, ComicFest, DigiFest, GameFest, HorrorFest and RoboFest. Admission to all of these will be included in the StarFest ticket purchase. Tickets to ComicFest only may be purchased for $10 per day or $15 for all three days with children under age six free. There w...
There will be a Health and Wellness Fair on Saturday, April 30 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Cheyenne County Community Center. Admission is free. The Health Center Foundation (HCF) will host this year’s annual event a part of an ongoing focus with Sidney Regional Medical Center (SRMC) to encourage the members of the community to pursue a healthy lifestyle and to provide preventive care tips. This year’s event includes more than 35 booths which will be offering services such as discounted blood screenings, car seat safety checks, health risk ass...
The Kuno tablet purchase for all of the Potter-Dix school teachers and students in grades seven through twelve was a topic of discussion once again at the Board of Education’s April meeting. In March board members approved the purchase of 30 Kuno Four Pilot Packs to start with at a cost of around $30,000. This order of Kuno tablets won’t be shipped until sometime in July. The tech committee expressed concern that if the order for the remainder of what the school needs is not placed soon, that the tablets won’t arrive until September or Octob...
At their April meeting, the Sidney Public Schools Board of Education selected Randy Miller to fill the seat left vacant by Jeff Wernsman. Miller was nominated by board member Tom Vanseggern and a motion was made and approved unanimously by the board members to make Miller the next board member. Vanseggern explained that the board is in charge of filling the seat with the person who they feel will best serve the public interest. This appointment will be in effect until the November 2014 elections...
The recent snow fall is “better than nothing” for the drought, according to John K. Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmer’s Union—although he would prefer a good, soaking rain. At least the state has been targeted by fronts that produce some moisture. From the first of March to the beginning of June is when Nebraska generally receives substantial rainfall. If rain does not hit the region during those times, chances are nowhere near as strong over the rest of the year. Hanson added that the area needs long, steady rains to soak the pasture...
Potter-Dix boys’ basketball coach Chad Miller and the girls’ basketball coach, Jeff Einspahr, went before the Board of Education at their April meeting asking for approval to follow the NSAA’s five day moratorium during Christmas holidays. Einspahr told board members that children who play basketball tend to “get out of shape” during the holiday break and they need to “stay in practice”--that even five days off makes a difference. The pair requested access to the gym for optional practices during the holidays. A motion was made for this and...
On my St. Patrick’s Day “Sunday exploration drive,” I visited Cheyenne. My first stop was the Wild West Museum. All of the carriages brought back memories of one of my grandfathers. He owned a prized horse named Rusty among other horses. He also owned a fancy buggy that he would have a couple of his horses pull into town. I remember these things, and I even rode to town in the buggy a few times. I remember Rusty also, but I was never able to ride on him; he was too big as I was only about three...
Fresh Wind Organic Farm, located in the “school section” of Sidney, is on 640 acres of land; plenty of room for their free-range chickens to roam. John and Teresa Smith and their children Annalyn, Erika and Theodore currently occupy the farm house, which was built in the early 1900s. A 1999 tornado destroyed about 50 percent of the farm buildings, and John and Teresa say that they are working to rebuild some of the buildings. When the family moved here, they wanted to acquire animals that were ...
There were no major injuries reported after a two-semi collision occurred on Wednesday afternoon. Johannes J. Vanhanster, of a California address, was travelling east on I-80 when his semi-trailer was rear-ended by a semi driven by Matthew D. Finkes of Missouri. Finkes truck failed to stop when he pressed brakes “hard,” so his truck struck the rear end of Vanhanster’s trailer. Both parties were wearing their seatbelts. The use of neither drugs nor alcohol was suspected. Pictures were taken and the investigation was concluded at the scene by re...
Dozens of students enjoyed Fine Arts Night at South Elementary on April 11. Art activities filled rooms along the first grade hall, including scratch art, thumb print art, water colors and bubble wrap prints. Music activities were staged in classrooms though the kindergarten hall, including Wii karaoke, “fun with instruments,” homemade instruments, instrument bingo and instrument show and tell. In the gym, children enjoyed Wii dance. South Elementary music teacher Misty Michelman, along wit...
The topic of track renovations dominated the Creek Valley Board of Education (BOE) meeting on Thursday night. During the March BOE meeting, estimates of around $100,000 to repair/replace the top coat or around $375,000 to do a more extensive repair by repairing the old base using a new system were discussed. There is currently only one contractor’s estimate that the BOE members are dealing with. An advertisement was put in region newspapers for bids. Only two contractors replied. One of those contractors went bankrupt, so the estimate from t...
No serious injuries were reported after a one-vehicle accident resulted in a roll-over on Highway 30 in Lodgepole near mile marker 66 on April 8. The driver of the vehicle, Cody Rowley of a Lodgepole address, was traveling westbound on Highway 30 when he ran off the roadway into the north ditch. Then he re-entered the roadway and crossed the center line and went back into the north ditch. The vehicle, a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo, then rolled one complete time and came to a rest on its wheels. The airbag did not deploy and the driver was wearing his...
If your child is 5 years of age on or before July 13 of this year, he or she is eligible for kindergarten registration. The registration for kindergarten students who will be attending Sidney Public Schools during the 2012-2013 school year will be held on each day from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. from April 8 through April 12. This year’s location is at South Elementary, at the corner of 12th and Toledo Streets. The students must be registered by the parent or a legal guardian. When registering the child, the following items must be presented: T...
The two snow days that occurred at Sidney Public Schools this week will not affect anything in the future, according to Jay Ehler, superintendent of Sidney Public Schools. Ehler said that snow days were already built into the schedule this year and since no snow days have been used, the 2012-2013 school calendar will stay on track. Some events have been rescheduled due to the weather. The choir concert will take place this evening, April 11, at 7 p.m. in the high school’s Performing Arts C...
April 6 was a day filled with stories, memories, hope and tears for all those who participated in the Miles for Hope/Moving toward a Cure 5K run/walk in at Sloan’s Lake Park in Denver. The day was sunny and pleasantly warm. It was a perfect day to participate in a 5K. The event raised $64,123 (donations are still arriving) with 940 participants, volunteers and fund raisers. Proceeds from the event go to benefit brain tumor research and the Children’s Hospital Colorado. Inspiring brain tumor survivor’s stories were heard and memories were shared...
The Leyton Board of Education (BOE) held their monthly meeting on April 8. They announced their students of the month for March for grades 5 through 8 and for grades 9 through 12. Fifth grade student Drew Haley was chosen because he is friendly to all of his classmates and he goes out of his way to make others feel accepted. He is also a good student who takes pride in his work. He can often be seen with his had raised with a challenging or humorous question in mind. Drew is honest, an all-around kid who works to become better. Sophomore...
The July 20, 1944 edition of the Sidney Sun Telegraph reported that Sgt. Alfred P. “Jake” Jacobs of the 2nd Battalion Marine Regiment Unit D26 was killed in action in the Pacific theater of war. Jacobs was stationed in Iceland when the war began, and he was transferred to the Pacific theater where he was stationed on New Zealand before new drives in the mid-Pacific started. He had four and one half years of service in the Marines, and he was noted for fighting in the Guadalcanal battle and Tar...
Two of the events I covered this week involved the heroes of the local fire departments. On Thursday, I took pictures at the presentation of the Heroes Among Us award to the Dalton Volunteer Fire Department. On Friday, I attended the Fireman’s Ball. These brought back fond memories for me about some other heroic fire fighters that I met a couple of years ago. It was a slightly darker time in my life. After being unemployed for two years, I had to move in with family when my job ended at the same time as the lease on my apartment. I found p...
The winner of Best of Show at the 42nd annual spring art show was titled “Balloons.” It was created by Ethan Nelson for the category of computer generated. “Balloons” was chosen by the art show judge, Pete Younger, from Sterling, Colo. Younger was an art instructor at Northeast Community College. Entries include pieces in oil, water color/pastel, mixed media, acrylic and colored pencil; photography; sculpture; fiber art and miscellaneous. Each category was judged on three levels: Beginne...
The Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce created a new award in 2012, called “Heroes Among Us.” The chamber had little trouble deciding on this year’s winner. The recipient – recipients, rather – are all of the area fire departments. They earned the award because of the hard work while fighting the wildfires in 2012 that burned nearly 6000 acres in Cheyenne, Kimball and Banner Counties. Awards are being given to the Sidney, Dalton, Potter, Gurley and Lodgepole volunteer fire departmen...
On behalf of State Farm and the Western Nebraska State Farm agents, Ron Ahlschwede presented a check for $2,500 to Leyton Public School Foundation (LPSF) board member Cary Linton to be used toward promoting teen driver safety recently. Before the presentation, a video was shown that encouraged seat belt use; the board members felt was important to show to the teens that were present. In the presentation speech Ahlschwede stated that, in addition to promoting teen driver safety, the Leyton Public School Foundation also helps provide updates to...
Most of the year, firefighting is a serious matter. For one night, however, the department gives way to plain old fun. The 134th annual Fireman’s Ball for fire district one is on April 5 at the Cheyenne County fairground’s 4H building. The band starts at 8 p.m. and the festivities will continue until 1 a.m. Entertainment will be provided by Loaded Dice, a cover band from Scottsbluff. Admission is a $5 donation at the door. Due to on-site alcohol sales, this is for 21 and over only. The fire department gets a special license to sell alcohol at t...
The Cheyenne County Art Guild (CCAG) will hold its 42nd Spring Art Show on April 6 and 7 at the Cheyenne County Community Center. The event is open to the public and admission is free. On Saturday, the event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sunday it is from noon through 4:00 p.m. There will be a door prize of art work by Virg Shomacker. Attendees may vote for his or her favorite piece of art and the People’s Choice Award will go the item with the most votes. Raffle tickets will be sold for artwork from Paul Adkinson for $1 each or six f...
This is the second part to my column from last Saturday. In part one, I recalled the events and the journey leading up to my first trip to Nebraska that began on September 10, 2001. During the bus trip to Los Angeles, one poor lady had an “episode;” her daughter explained that she was afflicted with Alzheimer’s. This was sad, but a few passengers didn’t understand and they proceeded to call her crazy. Upon arriving in LA, I rented another vehicle and saw as much of the California coast as my few days would allow. I marveled at the tall palm tr...
