Good Old Days 08-28-15

Compiled By Delaney Uhrig

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

'Farm Youth Drowned As Car Washes Into Deep, Storm-Filled Draw'

Aug. 30, 1965

A popular Gurley farm youth, Jim Kuehn, 19, drowned Saturday night when his car was washed into a rapidly moving draw filled by heavy rains earlier that evening.

He was Cheyenne County's fourth traffic fatality for this year. His death, along with eight others throughout the state, sent the Nebraska traffic toll to 235, as compared with 265 at this time last year.

Funeral services for the young man have been set for 2 o' clock Wednesday in the Salem Lutheran Church of Gurley with the Rev. Albert Prouty officiating. Interment will be in Greenwood Cemetery of Sidney. The body will lie in state until Wednesday noon at the Gehrig & Son Funeral Home. The family has designated the Salem Lutheran Church as a memorial.

James Lee Kuehn was born March 13, 1946, in Lincoln. From that time until 1949, he lived at Malcolm, Neb., coming to Cheyenne County with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Kuehn.

A 1964 graduate of Gurley High School, he has been employed at The Egging Co. He planned to enter college this fall. He was a member of the Salem Lutheran Church.

Surviving are his parents and two brothers Raymond and Robert.

Young Kuehn was reportedly at Dalton Saturday evening and was evidently on his way home when the tragic accident occurred. The point on the road where the accident happened was gouged by the rushing water until a jagged hole estimated at 30 feet in length and about eight feet in depth resulted to cut the road in two. For about 50 more feet, the road was badly cut out and undermined.

25 Years Ago

'Enrollment Hits 1,350 in Sidney'

Aug. 28, 1990

A total of 1,350 students, grades K-12 are now attending school in Sidney.

Sidney Public Schools added another 23 students to their classes Monday, bringing their total enrollment to 1250. St. Patrick's reported an enrollment of 90 this morning, their first day of school. ESU 14 has four in pre-school and six at the cottage classroom.

Monday's increase in the public schools was mostly in the elementary schools. North reported an additional 10 for a new total of 216; South gained seven, for a total of 352; Central gained one, for a total of 197. The junior high school three, for respective totals of 178 and 307.

St. Patrick's has 21 enrolled in junior high (7-8) and 59 in high school, for a total of 90 students. Last year, St. Patrick's started the year with 99 students, 40 of them in junior high.

10 Years Ago

'Widow Works To Sustain Family Farm Despite Adversity'

Aug. 31, 2005

Nebraska farmers face hail, drought, disease, higher operational costs and unstable market prices, but Kathy Mayer not only faced these hardships but her husband's long-term illness and death.

"Often times it takes a crisis or just changing times to make a farmer look in other directions for income to make the family farm work," Mayer said.

Mayer is currently expanding Table Top Farm's "Bird Buffet Bird Seed" to help supplement the farm budget as well as continuing work on the farm. The business originally began ten years ago to help pay expenses due to lower revenues from the drought and growing medical bills.

Mayer was married to her husband Kim for 27 years and lives 13 miles west of Dalton or 18 miles northeast of Potter. Mayer knew her husband had complication with his kidneys since they began dating.

I was burr under his saddle," she said, "I kept him going for 27 years."

Since Kim's death two years ago, she has learned with assistance from her neighbors how to change the oil and bearings in vehicles and machinery, run the combine and even drive her late husband's 1971, 10-speed, International farm truck.

"The sunflower business gave me the confidence to do things I never thought I could do," Mayer said. She described herself as a follower not a leader despite her self assessment she is making it work. Recently, she traded an antique corn planter for an antique seed cleaner. She will be dumping buckets of sunflower seeds into the cleaner and from the cleaner she will dump seeds into 25 bags for delivery.

Mayer is no stranger to the hard work. Mayer's bird seed business also includes sunflower head orders from two large enterprises as well as Foster and Smith magazine. Alone, the magazine orders 1,000 heads a month. Mayer picks between 15,000 and 18,000 sunflower heads a year. She picks sunflower seeds one by one, and due to dust from high winds she must vacuum the heads out. Any seeds that have come out of the head must be replaced and then they are shrink wrapped and shipped. With the help of Sharon Kelly, she has been marketing the sunflower heads across the state.

5 Years Ago

2009: Another Year of State Highways

Aug. 31, 2010

Efforts to increase seat belt usage and promote safe driving techniques are paying off for the State of Nebraska, which continued to see low fatality statistics in 2009. The Nebraska Department of Roads highway safety office recently released its 2009 findings that detail a significant decrease in the state's death per 100 million vehicle miles rate since 1961.

"In 2009, the death rate on Nebraska roadways was 1.2 persons killed 100 million vehicle miles traveled," the report states. "Even though the death rate fluctuates from year to year, there has been a general downward trend."

In 1964, the death rate reached an apex of 5.7 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles. In 2009, that rate had dropped to 1.2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles, presenting a slight increase of 17 deaths over the previous year.

The highway safety office attributes the death rate decline to various factors, including vehicle design, better roadway engineering, emergency medical services, specific safety programs, enforcement and improved driver awareness.

"I think it has a little to do with the economy too," said Lt. Lance Rogers of the Nebraska State Patrol. "People aren't rip roaring like they used to, but we are getting the seat belt message out there, especially to young people."