Good Old Days

COMPILED BY THE SIDNEY SUN-TELEGRAPH STAFF

These stories from the past first appeared in The Sidney Telegraph. Original writing is preserved, though some stories were shortened for space reasons.

100 YEARS AGO

'New Hotel In Operation'

November 22, 1913

The Hotel National has been open to the public for a week and is fast getting a large share of the patronage. First everything is absolutely new with the factory scent of cleanness still upon it. The rooms have heat and electric light. Each room is equipped with running water both hot and cold. Many rooms have bath in connection. The lobby has a wide frontage and is furnished with easy chairs and writing desks. Adjoining is a first-class dining room where meals and short orders will be served. Messrs. Hardy and Klein have an enterprise in this new hotel in which has been needed here for a long time and for which the way faring man will rise up and call them blessed.

75 YEARS AGO

'Zero Weather Hits Panhandle Section;

Snow Coats Panhandle'

November 22, 1938

Cheyenne County observed its first white Thanksgiving in many years yesterday, following flurries Wednesday that left from one to three inches of snow covering the ground. The sudden storm, though short lived, brought a renewed assault of cold weather to this territory, the mercury toppling to one above zero early Wednesday for the coldest reading of the season and one of the lowest November readings in many years.

Fair and cold weather was forecast yesterday with only mild respite from the cold snap

The weather change followed a very mild autumn season which brought a record breaking series of warm days during October and November. As first assault of winter hit the panhandle area, the general review of crop conditions, issued from Lincoln said:

"Winter wheat made slow progress, as there was insufficient moisture for rapid growth. However, as the September rains had penetrated the subsoil, few fields were materially injured, and the crop was mostly in fair condition at the end of the month.

"The frost did no damage, as corn and sorghums were matured before that time (near the 20th); but was beneficial in that potato vines in irrigated sections were killed, facilitating harvesting.'

50 YEARS AGO

'Assassin Ends Life of John F. Kennedy

In Tragic Shooting'

November 22, 1963

President John F. Kennedy, 36th president of the United States, was shot to death today by a hidden assassin, armed with a high powered rifle.

Kennedy,46, lived about 30 minutes after a sniper cut him down as his limousine left downtown Dallas. Newsmen said the shot that hit him was fired about 12:30 p.m. (CST). The hospital announcement said that he died at approximately 1 p.m. of a bullet wound in the head.

Automatically the mantle of the presidency fell to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, the native Texan who had been riding two cars behind the chief executive. There was no immediate word on when Johnson would take the oath of office.

Kennedy died at Parkland Hospital where his bullet pierced body had been taken to a frantic, but futile effort to save his life. Lying wounded at the same hospital was Governor John Connally of Texas who was cut down by the same fusillade that ended the life of the youngest man ever elected to the presidency.

Connally and his wife had been riding with the president and Mrs. Kennedy. The first lady cradled her dying husband's blood smeared head in her arms as the presidential limousine raced to the hospital.

"Oh, no," she kept crying

Connally slumped in his seat beside the president. Police ordered an unprecedented dragnet of the city, hunting for the assassin. They believed that the fatal shots were fired by a white man about 30, slender of build, weighing about 165 pounds, and standing 5 feet, 10 inches tall. The murder weapon reportedly was a 30-30 rifle.

Shortly before Kennedy's death became known he was administered the last rites of the Catholic Church. He had been the first Roman Catholic president in American history.

The horror of the assassination was mirrored in an eye-witness account by Senator Ralph Yarborough D-Tex. who had been riding three cars behind Kennedy.

"You can tell something awful and tragic had happened," the Senator told newsmen before Kennedy's death became known. His voice breaking and his eyes red-rimmed, Yarborough said "I could see a secret serviceman in the President's car leaning on the car with his hands in anger, anguish and despair. I knew then that something tragic had happened."

Yarborough had counted three rifle shots as the Presidential limousine left downtown Dallas through a triple underpass. The shots were fired from above-possibly from one of the bridges or from a nearby building.

One witness, a television reporter, said he saw a gun emerge from an upper story of a warehouse commanding an unobstructed view of the presidential car.

Kennedy was the first president to be assassinated since William McKinley was shot in 1901. It was the first death of a president in office since Franklin D. Roosevelt succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Ga. in April of 1945.

He is the fourth president to be assassinated while in office. The others in addition to McKinley, were Abraham Lincoln, killed in 1864, and James Garfield, assassinated in 1881.

25 YEARS AGO

'Anthony Named New Sidney City Manager'

November 23, 1988

Sidney's new city manager is Roger B. Anthony, 48, appointed to the post Tuesday by the City Council.

"I'm tickled pink. I really am," said Anthony moments after taking the oath of office for the $40,000 a year job. Thanking the council for its support in selecting him for the post, he promised he would "support the Council with every inch of my body – and I weigh a lot."

Anthony will officially assume the position Dec. 1. A new council will be seated Dec. 6, and will also reorganize and name a mayor at that session.

Anthony has lived in Sidney since 1983 and was plant manager for the Prestolite Wire company here. "I'm pro-growth and pro-management," he said.

This is the dawn of a new era for Sidney," said Jack Lowe, who has been interim city manager since the resignation of Stan Torvik last April. "I'm pleased to have Roger Anthony as my successor. He would have been my choice and he will carry out all of the good things we have been doing," Lowe said.

In a prepared statement, issued by Anthony, he said his operating philosophies and management principles are directed at: productivity, opening communications to all, effective project management, business planning, cost control and support for industry, business and education units.

Anthony is a native of Pontiac, MI. He is the father of two children and has two step-children.

Anthony was welcomed to the post by the five city councilmen. The announcement of Anthony as city manager was the major item in a session that lasted 24 minutes.

10 YEARS AGO

'Two Injured In Collision At Potter Intersection'

November 21, 2003

POTTER-Bob Gaston didn't see the collision.

"I was standing here (in the customer service area of Gaston's Service) and I heard the crunch," he said Thursday morning. "I looked up and saw this pickup sliding toward the gas pump. 'Don't hit my pump again," he said to himself.

The truck stopped about a yard short of the pump, which Gaston said had been recently repaired and put back in service after being damaged in another accident.

"Wrecks happen here all the time," Gaston said of the stretch of highway that runs past his service station located on the northwest corner of the intersection.

The intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Nebraska Line 17-B was described as "the most dangerous intersection in Nebraska," by a man who was watching the clean up of debris from the two vehicles involved in the collision shortly before 8 a.m.

Two men in the pickup truck were injured and transported to Memorial Health Center for treatment. They were identified by the Nebraska State Patrol as Rosleo Sanchez, 41, Sidney, the driver of the 1992 Chevrolet pickup, who complained of neck pain, and Randy Taylor, 41, Sidney, a leg injury.

They were westbound and collided with a 1987 Pontiac driven by Justa O'Neal, 16, Kimball, who was eastbound and starting to turn from Highway 30 onto Link17-B into Potter.

The Patrol estimated damages at $5,000 apiece to each vehicle.

"We have been trying for years to get the state to lower the speed limit here," Gaston, a member of the Potter Village Board, said. "They finally did last year – to 50."