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 Editor, President Obama, with the approval of Congress, has blundered ahead to fund and arm so called moderate Sunnis in Syria to fight the radical Sunnis in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This is a huge error because there are no moderate Sunnis. In the Middle East it is all about religion. The so called moderate Sunnis in Syria will turn the arms against President Assad of Syria and his Shiite followers. Their enemy is Assad and the Shiites, not the fellow Sunnis of ISIS. If they succeed in overthrowing Assad, the so called moderate Sunnis and I...
Dear Editor, This letter is in regards to junior high and high school athletics and the treatment of the kids who are the third- and fourth-stringers. Obviously, not all kids are equal talent-wise when it comes to school sports. It doesn’t mean the kids who are the third- and fourth-string are not trying as hard as the ones who start. I understand the overall goal is to win the game, but when the game is well out of hand on one side or another some of these other kids deserve to get in the game. The third- and fourth-stringers are out there g...
Dear Editor, What’s there not to like about good music? The vast majority of the citizens of Cheyenne County missed hearing an exceptional musical event at the Sidney High School auditorium recently. The Dallas Brass was the headliner at a concert that included the Offutt AFB brass ensemble and all members of the Sidney school bands. Because the Offutt brass ensemble was having a travel day between concerts in two area towns, they were excited to be a part of the concert and perform with the Dallas Brass and our own students. This was a c...
Dear Editor, Since late 20111, America’s livestock producers have endured weather disasters such as historic droughts, blizzards, floods and fires, awaiting Congressional enactment of a farm bill so that disaster assistance could resume. When the 2014 Farm Bill was signed into law by President Obama in February, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack ensured that disaster programs were restarted in 60 days, by April 15, 2014. Five months later, USDA’s Farm Service Agency has approved more than 250,000 applications seeking assistance, exceeding Con...
Dear Editor, West Nile Virus just robbed our community of one of its finest citizens. We all have heard the admonition “protect yourself from mosquitos particularly in the evening hours,” but since West Nile is fairly uncommon, we tend to discount that advice until something like this gets our attention. Few cases of West Nile have been reported in the Panhandle and the symptoms are similar to a cold or flu at the onset so we tend to get careless. The onset of a freeze in the weather will soon end the life of the lowly mosquito, but a wet spr...
Dear Editor, Kudos to our city manager and economic development chief for the past 15-plus years. He has recently been honored for his stewardship, foresight and downright hard work in leading Sidney to the forefront of small communities particularly in economic development. I have known Gary since he first hit town as a reporter of the Scottsbluff Star-Herald and have supported him and worked with him on a number of projects. He seeks not notoriety nor honors but just seems to get the job done. We are so fortunate that competing offers from...
Dear Editor, Here recently, the code enforcement officer made a visit to my home about allegedly a dog chasing after the cats in the neighborhood. After a brief introduction, I asked the code enforcement officer why is it cats can roam wherever they want, but nothing is ever said about it? Well, a lot of the cats are feral, she replied. I asked her about the cats that weren’t feral, and then said maybe dogs wouldn’t run off if the cats weren’t allowed to roam around at will. For the nine years I have lived in my home, the cats in the neigh...
Dear Editor, Having lived in Cheyenne County for over 30 years, I know dozens of reasons why it is a great place to live. One of those reasons was a blessing to me last Friday night at the Demolition Derby: honesty. I don’t know whom the people were who found and turned in my little card carrier to the authorities, but my sincere gratitude goes out to them. Unbeknownst to me, it had come out of my pocket and had fallen through the stands to the ground below. It is great to know that a child, and later another young person and adult took the t...
Dear Editor, The Table of Grace Mobile Food Pantry is again gathering school supplies to distribute to area families with back to school needs. 2014 marks the fifth year the pantry has distributed school supplies. The process with which we gather and distribute these supplies has evolved, however, the strong support and generosity of the Sidney community has been constant. Table of Grace depends on a variety of sources for school supplies including church groups, business groups and area residents. While the same groups or individuals don’t alw...
Dear Editor, As most of us realize, cell phone use has now replaced about one third of all land-lines that were in use in America just a few years ago. When 911 is called from a land-line, the exact location where that call is made from is known almost immediately. This is not the case with cell phone calls, especially when they are made inside a structure where their GPS location is masked. Critical information has to then be gathered by the 911 dispatcher, and in some critical circumstances, those seconds or minutes spent confirming where...
Dear Editor, “Ambulance service strives to cut hospital transports” seems to support Jim Jenson’s letter to the editor. I know the internal debate on whether to ask for help in the middle of the night. For future “should you call” decisions, I will always remember the scolding words, “nearly too late”, from an emergency room doctor during an asthma attack. Will Emergency Response Care consider if the patient lives alone and the distance from medical facilities when making their decisions on how to “cut hospital transports”? I was diagnosed wit...
Two boys were playing badminton, and because Andy played better than Bob, Andy won all the games. Bob threw down his racket, sat on a tree stump, and said, “I won’t play anymore.” So Andy suggested a different game. “Bob, let’s see how long we can keep the bird going between us and count how many times it goes back and forth without falling. Do you think we could make a score of ten or twenty?” Bob thought it a grand idea, and so the two boys resumed playing a cooperative game. From his office w...
Dear Editor, This week marks the last that Dr. Cal Cutright will be treating patients at the Sidney Regional Medical Center. Forty-five years ago he was an outstanding athlete at Sidney High, then known as the “Maroons”. He furthered his education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where he was a ‘walk on’ player on the taxi squad of the UN football team. In his final year at Sidney High he joined the Sidney Men’s Chorus, later to be known as the Fort Sidney Colonels and participated in that group whenever he was in town until it disban...
Dear Editor, Your article in the July 23rd issue regarding the death of a former Nazi armed guard at the Nazi Death Camp again brings to mind the recent death of Sidney’s survivor of Auschwitz. Benny Hochman spent three and a half years in this camp, with the slogan “ARBITEN MACHT FREI” over the entrance gate, was force marched in winter to Buchanwald where he nearly died only to be rescued by an army communications battalion, nursed back to health in an army hospital, worked as an interpreter in Europe and immigrated to the USA and spent many...
Dear Editor, The July 23 issue of the paper had a story about cutting costs by reducing ambulance calls by 15 percent. I have a question. When a person suddenly gets ill in the middle of the night when should you call a rescue unit? The pain may be just gas or the start of a fatal heart attack. My idea is to try to seek medical attention. If we can’t afford to run the rescue units, how can we afford to send out paramedics? These people will have to have more training than the EMTs. My advice to people is don’t get sick on the weekend because un...
Dear Editor, As a lifelong Cheyenne County resident, a Sidney resident (64 years) and a board members of the Cheyenne County Historical Association for 14 years I have a great interest in preserving our Fort Sidney buildings. We also lived in an apartment (in what is now the museum) when it was an apartment house (seven years). We have nine board members on the CCHA. The museum is open from about two weeks before Memorial Day to two weeks after Labor Day. We have a paid guide five days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekends we are open from 1 p....
Dear Editor, A recent poll showed a preponderance of Independent voters were unhappy with the Congress and the Senate and were considering voting for an Independent candidate. You should only do that if you are content with the continuation of the current Liberal agenda and its free spending anti-Constitutional activities. The only result of voting for an Inependant candidate would split the vote for a more conservative outcome since the Independent candidate cannot win, so your vote would be wasted with the possible result in the Liberal...
Dear Editor, Regarding the article on the Commander’s Home and Tamara Nelsen’s letter to the editor, I hope the larger point was understood. The Cheyenne County Historical Association replaced windows that should never have been replaced. Repaired and restored, but not replaced. Yes, there is no doubt that 147-year old windows will develop some deterioration that needs attention. If the bottom of a window sash rots out, the three solid sides should be fitted with a new piece that replicates the original, you don’t throw the window out. If th...
Dear Editor, Regarding the article about the Commander’s Home from last week, I was so surprised that Jill Dolberg with the Nebraska State Historical Society would condone putting modern vinyl-clad replacement windows in a historic building that I felt compelled to do some fact checking. I called Ms. Dolberg to inquire about the letter sent to the Cheyenne County Historical Society referenced in the article. After speaking to her and reading the letter, I found it evident the content of the letter was grossly mischaracterized. First, the l...
It has come to my attention that there is a provision in the Affordable Care Act that says that subsidies can only be extended to recipients who sign up through state exchanges. There are 36 states that did not set up an exchange and therefore recipients in those states are ineligible for assistance in meeting the cost of their health care premiums, which have gone up significantly in the past two years. Thus, the income from those states via subsidies is not forthcoming and the income from the remaining 14 states will not be enough to make up...
Your article in the Monday's edition regarding the Ponca Trail proposed by Congressman Fortenberry produced some interesting vibes for me and my family. One of the huge murals in the dome of the Nebraska Capital building painted by my nephew, Steven Roberts, depicts the trial of Chief Standing Bear in which the decision rendered by the presiding judge affirmed that members of the Indian nations were in fact citizens of the USA. Steve is a commercial artist who competed nationally for the contract to paint the murals in the Capital and is an...
Take a look at your neighbors yard, is there a pet in dire need of someone to love it? One that is in a small cage and not taken care of? Lucky to be fed and watered once a day, kennel has no place to walk around. People who can not keep their pets inside with them, should not own pets. That includes hunters, and their so called best friend. Yes they will still hunt if they live in the house, why not put up a fence and a dog door to the garage and their house in the garage, or someone needs to make you live like your pet? I am sorry but...
I would like to express my appreciation to the school and community for their interest and attention to the wildlife presentation in Mrs. Roach’s 4th grade class. The students were academically savy with Google search, and the transmission of data. Mrs. Roach has taught them very well. I was taken aback when Mr. Ehler (1,200 students to manage...), the counselor, and music teacher appeared. The room was packed when the parents came. The exposure to nature and wildlife is so valuable in our travels through life and the books these children creat...
Our community should be right proud of our city manager’s testimony before a US Senatorial audience recently. It sort of put our city in the national limelight for a short time and certainly a lot of the credit accrues to our own Gary Person. I have known Gary since he first appeared on the scene as a reporter for the Scottsbluff Star Herald and have worked with him on many of his projects over the years. He has exemplified the traits that have identified those of vision and common sense which are more often seen in the midwest. We are f...
A hero is defined as “a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities.” In my experience canvassing for the bond campaign, I think we have opportunity for many of our citizens to become heroes. Recently an issue has developed that is in the front of everyone’s mind, the school bond campaign to build a new K-4 elementary school. As you go to the election polls next Tuesday, May 13, I encourage you to vote yes and be a community hero. I encourage you to vote for a better education for the stude...
