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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Dear Cheyenne County, Our Senior Staff Writer and Sports Editor Mike Motz, was taken gravely ill this past Sunday and is currently in ICU at Cheyenne Regional. At this time, we are temporarily down both one of our two reporters and our sole Sports Writer. It is not an easy thing to do to admit one needs help, but we are a strong community newspaper, and I have zero doubt that this same community can rally behind one of its own during a very difficult time for both. He has worked tirelessly to...
Margaret Thatcher famously said "If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing." Britain's Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, Thatcher was the first woman to lead any large country and became known all over the world as "the Iron Lady". A nickname she relished. One would think that she would have been heralded as an icon of feminism, yet the fact is that she did not engage women as her peers, and she didn't noticeably...
On July 13, a public meeting was held on a proposed Creative District in downtown Sidney. The discussions included, why are people moving to Sidney, what can be done to promote more curiosity of downtown, add more growth, and bridging the gap between the highways and downtown Sidney. We need to move past the stage of, “we tried it before and it didn’t work,” and ask the question of why didn’t it work, and what can be done differently. Sidney, and Cheyenne County overall, has history streaming through it. The rails that once fed into “Sinful...
Winston Churchill is credited with one of the shortest, but most challenging speeches of the time. He didn’t cheer on the fighting men of the United Kingdom. He didn’t talk down the German advancement. He was speaking at Harrow School in 1941, his alma mater. The remarks he is still known for are: “ never give in, never give in, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to conviction of honour and good sense.” Death of a child is a chapter in life that leaves the parents constantly asking the...
Thursday evening, the lights were turned on at Sidney High School's Performing Arts Center. There wasn't a concert or performance of any other kind. This was a night when a sensitive subject could be addressed head-on. It isn't an easy topic. It is one many of us are guilty of dismissing as someone else's problem. It wasn't a forum with a list of one-size-fits-all answers. It was a deliberate discussion of a very sensitive subject: suicide. Suicide is a malady that doesn't have a single diagnosis, and therefore doesn't have a single-answer cure...
Behind every agency reaching out to those in need are the costs of meeting those needs. The buildings that house the dry goods and refrigerated products are kept cool by the cost of utilities paid each month. From basic clothes to essential food for the family, Sidney is blessed to have agencies designed to help those in need. We as a community also need to remember to support these agencies, even more so in today’s challenges. Among the outreach programs in Sidney is the Table of Grace. The program has a thrift shop whose revenue supports t...
On Feb. 16, business owners and managers, City officials and the curious met at the Elks Lodge to discuss the possibility of a Downtown Business Association. The concept as presented is to promote growth and work together as a business community, supporting each other, sharing resources and experiences. Economic Development Director Melissa Norgard stressed the Downtown Business Association (DBA) is not to compete with or replace the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce. It is to further stimulate the downtown business community. It also needs t...
With the arrival of the New Year, many of us will pause and ponder the age-old question: "Who knows where the time goes?" And, as is always the case, none of us really do know. However, wherever the time goes, it will usually be a key factor in your success as an investor. Time can affect how you invest, and the results of your investing, in different ways: Growth potential – Contrary to myth, there's no real way to "get rich quick" when investing. To build wealth, you need patience – and time....
In 1890, a young Danish immigrant named Jacob Riis published his book, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York. He began his introduction, “Long ago it was said that ‘One half of the world does not know how the other half lives.’ That was true then. It did not know because it did not care.” Riis went where few other investigative reporters would dare to go. He visited the Italian ghettoes, Chinatown, the Jewish sweat shops, the Bohemian slums, and the black neighborhoods. In each, the tenements’ owners told their age...
All last week, I heard from coworkers and people around the community about the possible snow that was coming. Not being from this area, snow in late April or early May just sounds ridiculous to my southern ears. Still, I heeded the warnings and dusted off my winter coat. I had planned on working Saturday as that was the day the Sidney Regional Medical Center was set to hold their health fair at the Cheyenne County Community Center. And then Friday afternoon, I learned the health fair was cancel...
The adventure writer Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote some eighty novels based upon two characters: Tarzan and John Carter. Tarzan lived among the apes in Africa, and John Carter transported himself from Earth to Mars, where he fought and conquered the Martians. In my younger years, I read several of Burroughs's books, as did thousands of other American kids of the twentieth century. The science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, said this of Burroughs, "I have been astonished to discover how often a...
In my last column, I wrote about how I used to weigh north of 250 lbs. and was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes by the time I turned 30 years old. During a rough period in my life, I decided to take charge of my physical health, one of the few things that I had any control over at that time, and lost 85 lbs. in less than a year. With my weight goals reached, I didn't want to slide back into my old habits. I began to search for a new venture, something that would keep me engaged in diet and exercis...
One of my favorite pastimes, at least in recent years, is walking. I'm sure some of you have seen me walking up and down the streets of Sidney as I make my way to the county courthouse, city hall, public schools and other stops as I "beat the bushes" for potential leads. If I don't have to drive my truck, I don't. Which is probably why I always have the best parking space outside my apartment, come to think of it. I even try to enter walking events when I can, such as the "Walk Across Texas" com...
After 15 days on the job as publisher of the Sidney Sun-Telegraph it’s time to say hello. I was named publisher of the Sun-Telegraph on April 1. No foolin’. While it’s not monumental news, I wanted to take some time before introducing myself to you, our readers. I have owned and or published newspapers since Reagan was president. My career has taken me from my home state of Minnesota (home of Ole and Lena) to the mountains of San Diego County, to the northwestern reaches of Wisconsin, the Ozarks of Oklahoma, to the Front Range of Colorado, and...
On August 22, 1939, Nazi Germany's troops, tanks, and aircraft stood poised and prepared to attack Poland, its neighbor to the east, and on that day the Nazi's dictator, Adolf Hitler, spoke. "Our strength," he said, "consists in our speed and in our brutality." Already he had instructed his generals "to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language." And the reason for his assault upon the Polish people? "Only then," he said, "shall...
Coming from South Texas, this week's snowstorm is definitely not something that I have experienced many times in my life. Sure, as a military brat, I've seen my share of snowfall when my father was stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany back in my early days of grade school, but in that case the weather was more constant than sudden. I was also not yet in double digits, so the memories aren't as vivid as they once were. As you can imagine, snow in South Texas is as rare as a winter...
The NCAA basketball games are upon us, and March Madness has arrived. The team to watch in recent years has been the University of Connecticut, where basketball is king. The men won their last national championship, their fourth, in 2014, but the women point with pride to their ten national championships, the most recent one last year, in 2015. In first round play this year, the Uconn women decimated the Robert Morris Colonials 101 to 49, and played Duquesne on Sunday, March 21. Uconn’s men d...
Even just three months in, 2016 has been a year of new experiences for this South Texan. When I made the move to Nebraska, I made a decision that I would throw myself into any experiences that came with it. I didn't move here to remain set in sedentary ways. I want to drive the roads and see the sights. I want to meet the people and hear their stories. I want to experience the midwest and all it offers. That, of course, includes the cuisine. Last night, I covered the Peetz FFA annual oyster...
If somebody had asked me at the beginning of this year if I saw myself leaving my hometown of more than 20 years and move 1,000-plus miles north to the Nebraska panhandle, I would have thought they were crazy. But here I am, and now that I've been in Sidney for the past couple of weeks I am starting to think I was crazy for staying in one place so many years. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Anthony Ruiz, and I am the newest addition to the Sidney Sun-Telegraph. I grew up a...
The United States has had two father-son presidencies. The first was John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, and the second was George Bush and his son, George W. Bush. Because Jeb Bush withdrew from the current race three weeks ago, we will not have a third, anytime soon. The Bush dynasty has ended, at least for the next four years. “The man responsible for Jeb’s demise” is Donald Trump. A journalist said, “From the moment he entered the race, the real estate mogul made Jeb his primary...
Scientists want to quantify. First, they observe a phenomenon, record their observations, arrive at a set of numbers, and then build a hypothesis. This procedure — the scientific method — works well in the sciences, such as in chemistry, biology and physics, but is less certain in the arts, such as in history. A writer who wishes to quantify events from the past calls herself or himself a “social scientist,” rather than a historian. This type of scientist observes a population’s demograph...
In September of 1796, President George Washington published a remarkable document, his farewell address “to the People of the United States on his declining of the Presidency.” After two terms as president, he was exhausted, tired of public service, and eager to return to his beloved Virginia plantation at Mount Vernon. When asked to serve a third term, he refused, and six months later he would retire and turn over the president’s duties to John Adams. In his farewell address, Washington liste...
Late in 1984, the calypso singer Harry Belafonte decided to raise funds for the famine-starved Ethiopians in Africa. First, he approached Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and asked them to write a song. Then, he asked several dozen of the biggest musical artists in the country to assemble in a studio one night and sing Jackson and Richie’s song. The resulting album and video’s sales Belafonte would turn over to United Support of Artists for Africa, or USA for Africa, a non-profit fou...
An article appeared in the New York Times two weeks ago, “Jane Austen’s Guide to Alzheimer’s.” In it, Carol J. Adams described her difficult days caring for her mother, who had lost the battle to Alzheimer’s. For solace, Carol listened to a recorded book, Jane Austen’s “most-perfect novel,” Emma. Carol identified with the novel’s main character, Emma Woodhouse, who felt trapped and housebound as she cared for an ailing parent, her father, Henry Woodhouse. “When a slight dusting of snow ala...
“What can you say about a 25 old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.” So begins Oliver Barrett IV in Erich Segal’s novel, Love Story. Oliver is a rich, white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, pre-law student at Harvard who plays ice hockey for the Crimson. Jennifer Cavilleri is an Italian-American Radcliffe student, who plays music. She is from Cranston, R.I., where her father, makes pastries. She works in Radcliffe’s library, wh...
