Good Old Days 11-20-15

Compiled By The 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

'Way Appears Cleared For Development'

Nov. 19, 1965

A representative of the General Services Administration, Washington, D.C., was in Sidney this week to check on progress being made for the orderly use and disposal of land and property at Sioux Army Depot, which is scheduled to be totally 'phased out' by June 30, 1965.

Harold G. Ruby, realty specialist, utilization and disposal, GSA, said he was favorably impressed with a 'land use' plan which has been drafted by the Sidney Industrial Corp. to meet Federal requirements.

Lt. Col. Cyril Williams, commanding officer at Sioux, said he furnished Mr. Ruby with a copy of the plan, then had him confer with representatives of the industrial corporation and the Sidney Chamber of Commerce to make sure the plan, as drafted, will meet requirements of the Department of Defense, GSAS, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and other Federal agencies directly interested in the future use of Sioux for private and public development.

HEW figures in the picture because of the educational programs now under way, or scheduled to be started, at Sioux. These include a state-supported vocational-technical school and a Federal manpower retraining program, which already has completed one series of 48-week classes and has embarked on another.

The 'land use' plan will be submitted to the City of Sidney and the Cheyenne County Commissioners. Federal spokesperson have indicated that the city or county, or both, should be the agency through which property is transferred for nonmilitary uses. The Air Force is retaining some property because of the Minuteman Missile installations in that area.

The plan involves an estimated 16,700 acres of land out of a total of around 20,000 acres in the military reservation. It allows for industrial development, educational pursuits and some grazing and farming usage.

40 Years Ago

'Snowfall Limits

Travel Here'

Nov. 19, 1975

Travel in the Sidney area was sharply curtailed by late this morning as southern Panhandle residents felt the effects of their second snow this fall.

The snow, which was reported at two inches by the Sidney airport this morning, became packed on highways by mid-morning and caused many problems for motorists without snow tires.

The snow began falling early this morning in the western and central portions of Nebraska and was moving toward the western sectors of Colorado.

With a temperature of 26 degrees and visibility at one-eighth of a mile early this morning, the Sidney Municipal Airport reported cancellation of Frontier Airline flights for the morning.

An airport official reported the strongest surface gust this morning to be 46 miles per hour.

Highway travelers in the Panhandle are experiencing snow packed roads and poor visibility, the state patrol office reported.

"The further east you get, the worse it is getting," state trooper Bill Uhig said. "East of Sidney is snowpacked and poor visibility."

Chappell reported their visibility to be at zero early this morning.

The eastern edge of the snow front was reported at Kearney. Rain and drizzle is falling east of that point.

The State Patrol office reported that west of Sidney the road surface is near normal with limited visibility.

No accidents were reported by late this morning but two cars slid off the interstate near Sidney.

25 Years Ago

'St. Pat's Seniors

Flores and Lenzen

Elk's Teens of Month'

Nov. 19, 1990

Two seniors at Sidney St. Patrick's High have been named Teenagers of the Month for November by the Sidney Elks Lodge.

They are Tanya M. Flores, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Flores, and Teresa M. Lenzen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Lenzen.

Flores, 18, and Lenzen, 17, are active in both the classroom and extra-curricular activities.

Flores serves as president of the school's student council and is student council representative to the National Honor Society. She was a member of the school's 1989 state runner-up team in play production, and placed fourth in the state in the 1990 state speech meet in extemporaneous speaking. Flores earned both conference and district champion honors in extemporaneous last spring. She has also been a member of state qualifying teams in both basketball and volleyball.

Lenzen is president of the school's chapter of the National Honor Society, has been named outstanding band member and is in the chorus. She has participated in track and been captain of both the basketball and volleyball teas, earning all-conference honorable mention in both.

She has a 4.0 grade point average and is a national semifinalist. She served as class secretary and vice president, is on the speech teams, where she earned superior rating in district competition; is in Who's Who Among High School Students, earned superior awards at conference and district for trumpet and clarinet solos. She placed third in English usage at the Chadron Scholastic contest, earned the Good Christian Award as a junior and was a participant in County Government Day in 1989.

10 Years Ago

'Guests Enjoys

Sweet Sidney'

Nov. 18, 2005

The fudge at Western Drug wasn't the only thing Nebraska Lieutenant Governor Rich Sheehy was pleased with, incentive programs that have drawn business to Nebraska and help the economy have been a boost as well.

"Coming from municipal government, I still believe downtown areas are the core of the community and they are such an important part of our history," Sheehy said. "It's important to focus on downtown areas and we want to give towns the tools to help save downtown areas for businesses and the communities they serve."

The Lied Main Street Program is one of those tools. It helps provide historic preservation based economic development by helping business owners enhance the existing buildings to meet certain historic criteria.

Sidney businesses The Coffee Corner and Fox Theater have made improvements to their buildings with the funds and others have begun the application process to brighten up Sidney's Historic Downtown.