Good Old Days 02-13-15

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.

50 years ago

Feb. 12, 1965

'Shopping center is partially filled; drug store location is under lease'

Sidney's first suburban shopping center is rapidly nearing completion.

Arlo Jones, owner of the Jones Center, told the Telegraph that four occupants are now installed in the L-Shaped structure and the others should be in within the next month or six weeks. The most recently signed tenant is a drug store.

The rambling structure is located between 10th and 11th Avenues facing on both Toledo and Spruce streets. Already moved in are Helen's Beauty Salon, the offices of Dr. Del Koch and Dr. Gainesforth, both dentists, and Mr. D.O. Shelton, a chiropractor.

The carpenters have completed their work on two other business location and the new tenants are now in the process of painting and decorating.

There are the Village Togs, a dress shop to be operated by Mrs. Les Couch and Mrs. Carl Crouse, and The Book Keeper, a book and novelty store to be operated by Mrs. Jack. R. Knicely.

These businesses and offices are located in the main part of the "L" in which there is one space still available. Until this is rented it will be used for a shop.

The foot of the "L," on which construction was started later than on the main part of the building, will definitely house a new drug store. Jones said that the business will be owned by a corporation but all the members have not yet been announced. It is understood that a man from Colorado will operate the store. The carpenter work should be completed in just a few weeks and Jones predicted that the drug store would be moved in and operated not long afterward.

The drug company will occupy the south half of the broad foot of the building. There will be a glassed in walkway from east to west cutting the wing in half.

In the other part of the wing will be a liquor store occupying one-half of the available space. Jones said he has not yet decided what will go in the other part.

If the work progresses as rapidly as predicted the complete list of occupants in the new center should be in business by mid-March.

The Village Togs and the Book Keeper owners are definitely planning to be open for business by the first part of March.

25 years ago

Feb. 9, 1990

'Students read for their week'

Members of the Sidney High School chapter of Future Business Leaders of America will observe National FBLA Week, Feb. 11-17. Business and office education leaders at Sidney High School who are members of vocational student organizations, plan to highlight the importance of vocational and career education and its contributions to the community.

FBLA is a national organization operated on the secondary school level. There are more than 200,000 members in the 6,000 chapters throughout the United States and its territories.

Members of the Sidney FBLA chapter will observe FBLA Week with a special bulletin board in forming the student body about their activities. They will also honor teachers with a luncheon and by being teacher assistants for a day.

The FBLA members are making plans for business educational trips later this year. Several members will be attending a leadership conference in Omaha involving competitive business tests and skills the first week in April.

10 years ago

Feb. 10, 2005

'Plans for Sidney shooting range moving ahead'

Representatives from the Sidney Shooting park board of directors as well as several other shooting enthusiasts packed the council chambers at Tuesday's meeting for an informational session on a project that looks to be moving full steam ahead.

In July 2004, the Sidney City Council agreed to spend $19,500 for initial project planning to get the idea of a shooting range off the ground . The money came from the LB840 Economic Development funds because of its potential impact on the local economy and community betterment.

Since then area shooting enthusiasts have rallied around the plan and have been working tirelessly to make the idea a reality.

Tuesday, the group presented project information as well as a business plan to develop and sustain the facility without the aid of tax money.

"We don't want the city to build the facility for us, we just want its help getting it off the ground," said Sidney Shooting Park board president Tom Bryant.

While the group has a grand plan of someday creating a world-class facility, members know they need to start small and build to that point over time. The range will start with a trap range first, because trap shooting will help generate income to add the other features, said Bryant. Over time features such as skeet shooting, a rifle and pistol range and sporting clays will likely be added.

Initially the range was to be located on the Sidney Wilderness Area, a 500-acre tract of city-owned land located north of the landfill. After planning was underway for this site, an offer was made by the University of Nebraska to construct the range on land located near the UNL High Plains Ag Lab.

"Our number one focus is safety and if a facility is engineered correctly from the beginning, safety is not an issue," Bryant said.

5 years ago

Feb. 16, 2010

'Wastewater plant planned outage'

Updates to the wastewater treatment plant are coming along as planned, and one of those upgrades requires that the electricity to the plant be shut down for a few hours. The announcement came from city officials late Friday afternoon.

"As part of the current upgrades to the City of Sidney wastewater treatment facilities, the electrical feed to the facility needs to be upgraded." Public Works Director John Hehnke said. "The location of the electrical feed also needs to be removed from a current onsite building to a new building being constructed as part of the project improvements."

Henke said in order for the work to be completed, the electricity will be shut down until the work is completed. The planned outage is scheduled to occur Feb. 18 from 9 a.m. until approximately 3 p.m.

"During the power outage, the level of treatment to the wastewater will be slightly impacted," Hehnke said. "There are no adverse environmental impacts anticipated was a result of this work. The treated effluent wastewater will be monitored by plant personnel during the scheduled outage.