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 Commissioners room was crowded Sept. 6 with residents seeking answers about the proposed budget. Tuesday's meeting included a budget hearing and summary for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Early in the meeting, the county commissioners appointed Jeff Jung as the Cheyenne County designee to attend the Joint Public Meeting scheduled for September 26. The Joint Public Meeting is required by LB644. Sections 1 through 5 of LB644 are also known as the “Property Tax Request Act” requires...
Sen. Deb Fischer met with local officials throughout western Nebraska recently, including officials at Sidney Regional Medical Center Aug. 30. After the meeting, she took time to meet with the press. Some of the major topics she has encountered on her tour are housing, the impact of inflation and jobs. She said in her stop in Kimball, officials explained their housing project. She said the Air Force plan to update the ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system) will bring workers in in...
The Cheyenne County Chamber Board recently announced Toshia Jones as the new President/CEO of the Chamber. Jones comes to Sidney from Northwest Missouri. She has lived in Sidney for about two years. She enjoys playing league volleyball and assisting in coaching youth basketball and volleyball. Her previous leadership experience and 10 years in customer service will make her a great asset to the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce, and the Cheyenne County community. She is excited to meet...
It's a theme used over and over on the big screen. Fun-loving young adults visit a foreign country and their week in Rome becomes a walk through a nightmare with a one-man army to the rescue. There's also the desperate immigrant who was led to a unofficial border crossing and obligated into forced labor, or worse, in exchange for payment of getting them across the border. While these scenarios occur to some degree, the deeper story involves coercion and grooming, according to discussion at the...
The Cheyenne County Fairboard was blasted with questions and criticism after this year’s county fair and rodeo. The fairboard holds its meetings in a small office complex adjacent to the arena, except when an overflow crowd requires a larger facility. The 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 meeting was moved to the east end of the 4-H building with the board seated facing north. A crowd estimated at about 20 showed up for the meeting. The night’s agenda included reviewing the ADA handicap accessibility of the gra...
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Rail Road has asked the City of Sidney to block the Deadwood Trail multi-use trail at the point the railroad overpass crosses over the top of the walking trail. This is the BNSF overpass of trail, adjacent to Sidney Draw Road bridge and the backside of the golf course. The BNSF will be doing bridge and ballast work on Wednesday September 7 through Thursday, September 8, beginning at 9 a.m. for approximately five hours each day. There will be barricades and signage announcing the temporary clo...
The Sidney City Council will be returning to a later meeting time. In a previous meeting, Mayor Roger Galllaway suggested changing the time from 6:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. He said the change was offered because he was asked to take a football coaching position, which could interfere with the current 6:15 p.m. Tuesday city council meetings. “Most of this came about because my work responsibilities changed,” Gallaway said in the Aug. 23 meeting. He offered to change the meeting time seasonally, or per...
Sidney Regional Medical Center is moving ahead with plans to consolidate and expand its facility. Plans include moving Extended Care to a new wing on the west side of the existing hospital. The new facility will include a “Memory Care” wing among its four wings, and 63 beds. The Extended Care facility is currently located on Osage Street in Sidney, adjacent to the “old hospital.” SRMC administrator Jason Petik recently addressed the Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners on the project. He said...
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” On Sept. 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, signed the framework of their new country. On Aug. 15, 2022, the Cheyenne County Commissioners sig...
The Sidney City Council in its Aug. 9 meeting approved continuing the Joint East Sidney Watershed Authority (JESWA) with the South Platte Natural Resource District. City Manager David Scott said the partnership with the SPNRD has been successful through the creation, construction phase and completion of the project. Scott proposed the City Council approve formation of the Sidney Watershed Coalition (SWC). The loan payment would continue as with JESWA at an 80-20 percent split of the semi-annual...
The Cheyenne County Commissioners discussed an Engagement Letter with Lutz & Company for consulting services regarding American Rescue Plan Act funding. The commissioners have discussed projects they would like to use the funds for, but sought clear definition of how the ARP funds can be used. Lutz & Company evaluate what projects can be funded by ARP dollars and provide the audit as required by the Federal government. Lutz & Company bills at a rate of $200 per hour and up, with the required...
What would your home town look like if you weren't concerned about your checkbook, an investor who could absorb some of the risk? Would you be big and bold? Would you have live music in the park seven months of the year, a sports complex that would draw attention from east Nebraska and three neighboring states, or would you be tempted to restrict your dreams to what you think can be accomplished? On Aug. 2, a community meeting was held at the Sidney Elks Lodge to discuss what Sidney could look...
It's cast as a personal crime in the movies, and it is, and often as a web with more arms than can be imagined, which is also likely. Human trafficking is defined by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services as a form of modern day slavery. It is viewed in primarily one of two areas: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The DHHS defines sex trafficking as “recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for a commercial sex act that is induced by force, f...
It is one thing to have a fund of “free” money and a list of projects to spend it on. It is another to have that list and be uncertain what the funds can be used for. Cheyenne County is among the local entities to receive American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) funds. The challenge is finding a framework of how the funds can be used, by what date, and what kind of accountability. The Cheyenne County Commissioners are considering allocating some of the funds for a heating and air conditioning upgrade at...
SIDNEY — Sidney Regional Medical Center (SRMC) received confirmation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development approving financing for 40 years at 2.5% interest to fund a new extended care facility in Sidney. “There are many steps to a project of this size and the USDA Rural Development approval for financial support is a major step toward ensuring SRMC’s goal to build a new state of the art extended care facility for our community,” said Jason Petik, Chief Executive Officer for SRMC. “Building this new facil...
A public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 29 at Sidney High School's Performing Arts Center on trafficking. The community conversation will include Glen Parks , Nebraska Attorney General’s office Coordinator of the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force. Glen Parks graduated from UNL law school in 2001, clerked at the Nebraska Supreme Court, and worked as a civil litigator. He spent nine years in India, where he worked on projects addressing human trafficking. He and his family returned to Lincoln in 2015. Parks has been the task force c...
When talking about economic growth, the big three are frequently jobs, housing and quality of life. The Sidney community is in the early stages of a process that could promote quality of life, and economics, in an artsy way. The City of Sidney is applying for the Creative District Program offered by the Nebraska Arts Council, with legislation passed by the State of Nebraska. The legislation will show arts as an economic driver, support communities in the state in telling their stories and...
Sidney voters will get to decide in November whether to continue a ½ cent sales tax, a “Local Option Sales Tax Proposal.” The Sidney City Council held a public hearing July 12 prior to approving the measure. As written, the ballot question asks whether or not to continue the tax that increases city taxes from 1.5 percent to 2 percent for an additional 10 years. The current ½ percent sales tax expires in 2023. As presented in the public hearing, 50 percent of the funding would go towards stree...
For some people, the attraction to the rural lifestyle is the distance between you and your neighbors. Measuring distance by time has a unique relevance. The disadvantage to the rural lifestyle is the same: distance between neighbors... or help when something suddenly goes wrong. On Tuesday, July 5, representatives of the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Department, Regional West first-responders and representatives of the Helmsley Trust met with the Cheyenne County Commissioners. “About a year ago, t...
The discussion started as an effort to designate a printer for post cards, and evolved into a debate on a legislative bill. In the Cheyenne County Commissioners July 5 meeting, the agenda included a line item on designating a printer should the county need to conduct a special meeting. The meeting would involve all local taxing districts that went above a certain growth percent. The requirements are defined in Nebraska's LB644. LB644 creates the “Property Tax Request Act.” “The Property Tax R...
In 2010, Rebecca Napier took a job promoted as part-time. Now about 12 years later, she admits the time commitment was not always 20 hours, but it was fulfilling. “It's been a great job,” Napier said Wednesday, June 29. Some jobs, occupations focus on the mechanics of service — paperwork, deadlines, reports — while others are more about the people. Working in the Veteran Service Office (VSO) is a balance that can change the tipping point at any given moment. At its simplest definition, it rema...
While much of Sidney was preparing for the official fireworks display Sunday night and backyard barbecues were heating, a group of people made their voices known from Legion Park north to Illinois Street and back. The primary chant, call to action, heard in the march was “Our Body, Our Choice.” The march was organized by Kelsey Hauge of Sidney. “We marched today (Sunday, July 3) in support of women's rights, after the overturn of Roe vs Wade,” Hauge said after the march. The march include...
An officer with the Sidney Police Department responded to a call pertaining to an 18 year-old male who sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Regional West Medical Ambulance arrived and transported the male to the Sidney Regional Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at the hospital June 29. The Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office and the Sidney Police Department continue to investigate the matter....
It wasn't a million dollar lottery win, although it might have felt like it. There weren't any well-known celebrities followed by clowns and confetti celebrating the lucky draw of the family's name. This “lottery” cost more than a $2 ticket, and therefore is best said as a “Thank you for your service.” Benjamin Carter and his family are the recipients of a home through the Military Warriors Support Foundation. The presentation of the keys to the home was made Tuesday, June 21, in Sidney,...
There are specific events that define a community, including the aroma of fresh popcorn colliding with cheesy nachos and the presence of livestock in the same area. County fairs include a variety of entertainment and purpose from 4-H members seeking reward for their work to children and adults alike enjoying the lure of the carnival attractions. In the June 20 meeting of the Cheyenne County commissioners, Fair Board member Kip Miller met with the commissioners to provide an update on the annual...
