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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Representatives from a handful of Sidney organizations have banded together to work toward creating a space in the city where residents of all ages could gather to learn, share knowledge and work on projects. Community learning centers – or makerspaces – have been established throughout the nation, including in Nebraska, as places for community members to share resources and knowledge. The centers foster entrepreneurship along with work skills and creativity. "We're looking at the idea of bei...
LODGEPOLE – Students at Creek Valley Middle School in Lodgepole want new playground equipment, and they're willing to work for it. A committee of 60 students – the school has an enrollment of 84 – has been meeting since September to plan fundraisers and create a wish list. Principal Tessa Fraass said the committee was created after she held a meeting at the beginning of the school year to gauge student interest in acquiring new equipment for the playground. "When 60 students showed up, I knew...
DALTON – The Leyton High girls basketball team overcame a slow start in the first period of Tuesday's matchup with Banner County to handily win the game, 47-23. The Lady Warriors (7-4) played in front of a home crowd, which had packed the Leyton section of the gym. Head coach Nick Newkirk said his team ran the offense well, pushing the ball up the court and being patient. "That was our focus [Monday] in practice," he said. "And we did that." The victory sends the Lady Warriors to the Minuteman A...
Mariah Draper, left, of Leyton, drives past Banner County's Savannah Jordan on Tuesday evening in Dalton. The Lady Warriors won, 47-23. They will face Creek Valley on Thursday. See a game story on page 9A....
Advocates appointed to children by the court system in abuse and neglect cases in Cheyenne County help serve as the eyes and ears for the judicial system while working to break harmful cycles, the organization's director said this week. Rose Bowcut, who was named director of Cheyenne County Court Appointed Special Advocates last summer, offered an update on the program to the county board of commissioners on Tuesday. The volunteer advocates work one-on-one with children removed from their homes...
CHAPPELL – The Creek Valley High boys basketball team is headed to the Minuteman Activities Conference Tournament semifinals after blasting Banner County, 85-10, on Monday night. "I think all of our players are very competitive," Storm head coach Roger Behrends said. "Therefore, they show up and play hard every game." The Storm (7-6) dominated every aspect of the matchup, from tipoff to the final buzzer. The entire Creek Valley roster got on the scoreboard. Behrends said he was proud of all 1...
A fire that began in the kitchen of a home in north Sidney caused extensive damage on Friday evening. Sidney Volunteer Fire Department Chief Keith Stone said the fire was ignited on the stove and quickly flashed up. Crews responded to the residence at about 5:30 p.m. While they were on scene for about 1 1/2 hours, Stone said the fire was brought under control within 15 minutes. No injuries were reported. According to Stone, there was quite a bit of damage from the fire to the kitchen and smoke...
Volunteers served about 1,000 pancakes on Saturday morning during a benefit breakfast for a Deuel County sheriff's deputy shot four times in the line of duty last month. As groups of diners filed into the warmth of a building at the Cheyenne County Fairgrounds to eat, 65 runners and walkers were covering 5 kilometers on the sunny but brisk morning. Between both events, $7,400 was raised to help Deuel County Deputy Mike Hutchinson as he continues to recover from his injuries. "I was very pleased...
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts stopped into Sidney on Friday morning to deliver a brief speech and then take questions from residents. The visit was a part of Ricketts' annual state of the state fly around. Over Thursday and Friday, he held 12 events in 11 locations. The tour began in Lincoln with his State of the State address on Thursday morning. The Sidney event was held at the Lloyd W. Carr Airport. About 50-75 residents attended the speech, including local government leaders. During the...
Countless studies have demonstrated regular marijuana consumption can cause short-term memory loss. For Brian Heasley, it's a bout of amnesia that's keeping him out of prison. On Wednesday, the 34-year-old Iowa man was given 5 years of intensive supervised probation for being caught with 9 pounds of marijuana, a felony. According to Nebraska sentencing guidelines, he could have been sentenced to a maximum possible prison term of 4 years. A few days after pleading guilty to the crime in August,...
The Nebraska Wesleyan University choir performed in Sidney on Wednesday night. The concert was held at the First United Methodist Church and was a stop on the choir's three-state tour. The choir is a 46-voice ensemble. William A. Wyman has conducted the group for 41 years, and Tamara Riley Wyman serves as its pianist....
The Sidney High School choir will be sojourning to Los Angeles in May for a music competition, performances and sightseeing. Choir teacher David Mead said he plans big trips for the students every few years. "I try to go every four years with the choir to a competition," he said. "The last place we went was Chicago, and before that, it was New York – and we've gone to Washington, D.C., Kansas City and to Denver." Travelling out of state allows the choir to measure itself against national c...
A comprehensive rate review of Sidney's electric utility is moving forward. At a Sidney City Council meeting in November, Andrew Ross, of the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool, presented an overview of the public utility's current financial status and projected future growth. Ross returned to a council meeting this week, seeking direction. The rate review examines the utility's current revenue and expense sources, as well as estimating what those numbers could be in coming years. The review will be...
Mike Hutchinson, the Deuel County sheriff's deputy who was shot four times in the line of duty in December, is continuing to recover from his injuries. To help his family with expenses, the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office is hosting a benefit pancake breakfast and 5-kilometer walk and run on Saturday. Hutchinson, a 25-year law enforcement veteran, was shot in Big Springs on Dec. 3 while attempting to serve warrants on a 66-year-old man. According to a Facebook page created by his family where u...
A 40-year-old Wyoming man was sentenced on Wednesday to 3-5 years in prison for having a gun while leading law enforcement officers on a 100-mile car chase last fall that ended near Sidney. In a deal struck last month, Joseph Mladenik pleaded no contest to possession of a firearm while committing a felony and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest, both felonies, and refusing to submit to a blood-alcohol content test, a misdemeanor. On Wednesday, Cheyenne County District Court Judge Derek...
A short list of three to four candidates has been identified to fill the vacant Sidney city manager position. Sidney Mayor Mark Nienhueser offered an update on the search process at a city council meeting on Tuesday evening. The position has been open since Gary Person resigned in August. In October, the city council approved using to services of Texas-based J.D. Gray Group, an executive recruitment firm. The company is being paid $27,500 to conduct a national recruitment effort and screen...
A group of Sidney High students presented its prize winning mural to school board members on Monday evening. In December, the students won first place for the mural and an accompanying skit at a cultural expressions competition in Denver. The event was sponsored by the Journey through our Heritage Program, of the Metropolitan State University of Denver Chicano/a Studies Department. Fifteen students worked on the project during open and lunch periods, weekends and evenings, for more than 200...
Members of the Sidney school board met on Monday evening for their first meeting of the year. The majority of the agenda dealt with annual appointments and designations. By unanimous votes, Tom Von Seggern was appointed the board's president, Steve Mattoon the vice president, Deanna Kantor the secretary and Geri Anthony the treasurer. All the appointments remain the same as last year. "Thank you everyone for the confidence in our board," Von Seggern said after the votes. The Sidney...
The current open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act will end on Jan. 31. Since Nov. 1, when the annual enrollment period began, 8.6 million people have signed up for health coverage through HealthCare.gov or renewed their coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Nationwide, 11.3 million people have signed up through Health Insurance Marketplaces. Nebraska is among the 38 states that use HealthCare.Gov, and from...
The Leyton School District held a spelling bee on Friday for its fourth- to eighth-grade students....
With less than 17 seconds remaining in the game, Sidney freshman Janay Brauer approached the free throw line. With apparent ease, she calmly hit two shots – both swishes – giving the Sidney High School girls' basketball team (8-3, 1-0) a 5-point lead to secure its victory. The perfect free throws marked her third and fourth within 10 seconds during Sidney's 52-47 victory over the Kimball High Lady Longhorns (6-1, 1-3) on Thursday night at the Cabela's Athletic Center. In a physical and fas...
An undefeated Sidney High School boys' basketball team controlled, from tipoff to final buzzer, Thursday's game against the Kimball High Longhorns (3-4, 1-3). On offense and defense, the Red Raiders (11-0, 1-0) dominated, winning 82-46. Perhaps the biggest obstacle of the night for the Sidney players was when an off-target Kimball shot caused the ball to become stuck between the rim and backboard. It took Sidney senior Jake Heeren three attempts to free the ball. Once the task was completed, and...
A new restaurant will soon be open in Sidney. Construction on an Applebee's – located on Cabela Drive, across from Buffalo Point Steakhouse & Grill and adjacent to Hampton Inn – is scheduled to wrap up in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, crews installed a sign at the restaurant visible from Interstate 80. Bradley Rowan, Sidney chief building inspector, said the location is set to open in early February. Construction at the site began last fall and was initially expected to be completed by the...
With a pair of winter storms already tallied in the past month, odds are good there'll be at least a few more to hit the region before winter ends. In Sidney, when a major winter storm is forecast to strike the community, city officials may declare a snow emergency. Geri Anthony, interim city manager, is tasked with making the declaration. "When a major storm is being predicted, the street superintendent and the police chief talk about it, and then they call me and tell me they think [a snow...
