Good Old Days 05-15-15

Compiled By Rob Langrell

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

May 18, 1965

'General Rain Averages Over Inch Here'

Proof that it can still rain in Western Nebraska came over the weekend with a steady, straight rainfall that farmers fervently hope will be repeated regularly.

The downpour, varying from light to heavy, continued persistently from Friday morning early until about noon Saturday. The glorious totals ranged from 0.83 inches in the town of Potter to as much as 2 inches at other points.

By Sunday the effects on growing things could already be seen. It couldn't have been all imagination that plants appeared to have popped up about an inch overnight.

The Federal Aviation Agency weather station at the Sidney Airport recorded 1.49 inches altogether. Of this, 1.15 fell on Friday and 0.34 on Saturday. Temperature ranges over the weekend: Friday, 45-56; Saturday, 37-58; Sunday, 37-76; and by noon Monday the low had been 44 degrees.

Den Dey Ermand, government observer at Dalton, reported a total of 1.83 inches there with the same or heavier amounts in the surrounding countryside. At the Ivan Walker farm, west of Dalton, a two inch rainfall was recorded.

Lodgepole, traditionally at the short end of the deal, got 1.09 inches of rain, according to Henry Jenik, government observer. The entire area was well saturated, however, and the morals was considerably brightened.

25 Years Ago

May 17, 1990

'St. Pat's Sophomore To Summer In Germany'

Dani George, a 15 year old completing her sophomore year at St. Patrick's, will be spending the summer in Germany.

She's excited about it. So is her mother, Marianne George, who is the manager at Gas Plus. "I admire her nerve. Even now I don't know if I'd have the never to go that far by myself, much less when I was 15."

The visit to germany has been in her mind a long time, George says. "It's something I've wanted to do ever since I was in the sixth grade."

Fantasy came a step closer to reality this year when St. Pat's hosted an exchange student from Germany, Jan Skorczyk. Seeing Skorczyk every day at school kept George thinking about Germany. Finally she went to see the school counselor for ideas on how to make the trip possible, and he put her in touch with the local representative of the AASE International Student Exchange Program.

George made a formal request placement by AASE, filled out an application, and furnished a picture. A few weeks ago she received notice that she would be placed with a host family in Munich. Last week she received a letter of welcome from Peter and Manuela Voss, along with pictures of their two children and a dog.

10 years ago

May, 18, 2005

'Potter-Dix Bids Fond Farewell to the Class of 2005'

Seniors walked through school halls one last time before graduating from Potter-Dix High School Saturday. Eighteen members of the potter-dix Class of 2005 were awarded diplomas.

The valedictorian address was given by Brittney Schuessler, and Madilynn Bourret, the salutatorian address.

Speaker was Al Combs, former school superintendent.

School Board President Tim Maas presented graduates with diplomas, and Paula Wolff, guidance counselor, announced scholarship recipients.

This year's class earned a total of $83,112 in scholarship funds. Award recipients were announced as follows:

Madilynn Bourret – Potter-Dix High School Salutatorian Scholarship, Potter-Dix Dollars for Scholars Community Service Scholarship, P-D Education Scholarships, University of Wyoming Trustee Tuition Award, University of Wyoming Good Neighbor Award for Academic Achievement, Concordia University the Concordia Academic Award and Nebraska Historical Society's The Kenneth Robert Bickel Pearl Harbor Remembrance Award; and Robert Gardner – Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC) Board of Governors Scholarship, WNCC Outstanding Leadership Scholarships and WNCC Don Enevoldsen Memorial Scholarship.

5 Years Ago

May 18, 2010

'Proposed Railroad Crossing Closure Faces Opposition'

The proposed closure of a railroad crossing on County Road 24 just of of Highway 30 faced strong opposition Monday during a discussion of the issue at the Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Jeff LaMontagne, a senior railroad engineer with USR Corporation, said his firm was exploring, on behalf of Union Pacific Railroad, the possibility of closing the crossing. LaMontagne said the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has been actively pursuing the closure of crossings deemed unsafe.

"The FRA has required all the railroads to close unsafe crossings. An unsafe crossing is anything that doesn't have gates and lights," LaMontagne said.

The engineer said crossings fall into three tiers, with the first-tier crossings mostly closed across the country.

"Over the last 10- plus years the FRA has been requiring crossings to be closed and they've pretty much accomplished all the low hanging fruit.

"The tier-two crossings usually involve situations like this where the crossing – it's not a no-brainer to just close it and everybody would be perfectly happy about it. There is usually something that might need resolved or communicated to make ends meet," LaMontagne added.

Two primary issues were raised were raised by county residents during the discussion of the proposed closure. One issue was access for farm machinery to property directly served by the crossing and the second issue was access to homes and property north of the tracks when other crossings are blocked by trains sitting on the track.