Looking Back

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

100 YEARDS AGO

‘Parks Barred’

February 15, 1913

Fred Parks, Sidney’s popular boxer, went to Denver to take part in the tournament held there this week. He went to the ring Monday night and knocked out his opponent with neatness and dispatch. A repetition of the success of the boy was forestalled by the powers that be who ruled him out of the amateur class by alleging professionalism.

75 YEARS AGO

‘Accused Pair Bound Over On Charges Of 10-Ton Coal Thefts’

‘Claim Pair Selling Loot At Bridgeport’

February 15, 1938

James Tighe and Pete McBurnie have been bound over to district court under $500 bond on a grand larceny charge involving the alleged theft of $125 worth of coal belonging to the Union Pacific railroad. County Judge Robert A. Barlow said Union Pacific officers claimed Tighe and McBurnie had taken approximately ten tons of coal from the large pile near the round house.

Tighe is a resident of Morrill County and McBurnie is an acquaintance of his, the county judge declared. Tighe formerly lived in Cheyenne County, near Sunol.

According to the story told to the county judge, Tighe and McBurnie had been selling the coal in Morrill county. A check-up showed that no coal was missed at Bridgeport and Union Pacific officers were advised to be on the lookout for coal thefts. Barlow said he was informed that Tighe and McBurnie were taken into custody after attempting to sell some coal to residents of the Dalton community.

The charge involves one of the largest coal theft complaints on record here. A number of petit larceny cases have been filed at the insistence of Union Pacific officers, involving smaller thefts.

50 YEARS AGO

‘Oil Exploring To Resume In County’

February 13, 1963

Oil drilling will be resumed in Cheyenne County this week in at least two different locations.

Marathon Oil Company will start a well in the Reimers Field southwest of Dalton later this week, with Exeter Drilling Co. as contractor. It will be the No. 5 Reimers (C S1/2 SE SE Sec. 15-16-50), planned as a development well to increase production in the unit.

Another location is Vanson Production Co.’s No. 1 Stanley-Sanders in the Stanley Field (NW SW Sec. 18-16-51), located about nine miles north and four east of Potter. Don Rounds drilling company should be on location this week.

Shell Oil Co. has started drilling an attempted step-out from the South Potter Field in Cheyenne County at a location announced some time ago. It is the No. 1-B Herboldsheimer (SW NW Sec 35-14-53) with Lewmont Drilling Co. as contractor. Surface casing was set Wednesday morning.

Marathon also has at least three other drilling locations planned in Cheyenne County but must await special permission from the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission because they are unorthodox locations.

Average daily oil production in Nebraska last week was 62,238 barrels, up slightly from recent averages but below the average for last year. January’s severe cold spell cut production and it has not fully recovered.

The oil-gas commission will hold it’s regular monthly meeting in Sidney at the Ft. Sidney Motor Hotel next Tuesday, opening at ten o’clock.

25 YEARS AGO

‘Hospital Seeks Approval To Expand Nursing Home’

February 15, 1988

Memorial Hospital and Home has filed documents requesting State Health approval Department for a 14-bed expansion of the nursing home, according to the administrator Bob Driewer.

Included in the estimated $420,000 project, expected to be completed in 1989, would be to change the category of 14 semi-private hospital rooms to private rooms, Driewer said, to keep the number of beds in both facilities at the same level, 115 beds.

He said the expansion would also be likely to add six employees to the nursing home.

“During the last five years, we have experienced a very high occupancy rate,” Driewer said, so we are preparing a certificate of need for an additional 14-16 beds to the long-term care facility (nursing home).”

The ‘intent to file notice’ was signed by Driewer Jan. 29 and received at the Department of Health, Hospital and Medical Care Facilities Section, Feb. 8.

“We expect the Department of Health, in their review of our application, to compare us with facilities and needs in Kimball, Deuel and Cheyenne Counties, where there has been a historically very high need for long-term beds,” the administrator anticipated. “We think the numbers demonstrate a high occupancy rate in these three counties.”

“We’ve had people leave this community just to find long-term care, which isn’t good,” Driewer pointed out.

According to the notice filed with the Department of Health, “The proposed project is an addition of at least 14 private... nursing home beds to the existing 52-bed, long-term care and 63-bed, acute care facility (hospital). At the same time, 14 beds would be relicensed in the acute care section of the facility, resulting in a net change of zero to the facility’s total bed license.”

Driewer explained that the fourteen beds would likely be removed from existing semi-private rooms, under current plans. “That is the direction we are studying currently,” he clarified.

He noted the new extension would be constructed to the southwest of the existing nursing home lobby. “The new construction will blend with the current facility,” the notice of intent to file a certificate of need explains. “Dining area, bathrooms, public restrooms and a nurse-staffed, control point will be provided to support the additional residents.”

The proposed construction, if approved, would be the first major addition to the facility since 1983, when the laboratory and radiology departments were expanded, and the emergency room added, along with other remodeling and renovation. That project cost more than one million dollars.

10 YEARS AGO

‘T ‘N’ T Site of Break-in, Burglary’

February 19, 2003

T ‘N’ T Lumber & Floor Designs is the second and latest focus of criminal mischief in one sector of town in the last two months. Unknown parties broke into the business over the weekend to steal a number of power tools. This follows a prior incident in January in which tractor windows were broken out at Foland Farm Machinery, a couple blocks west of T ‘N’ T.

According to Police Chief Larry Cox, the break-in at T ‘N’ T occurred sometime between 10:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 and 7 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15. The thief or thieves broke the window and gained entry through the front door and made away with a number of power tools. The stolen tools, ranging from cordless drills to a reciprocating saw, are valued at $2,451.

When asked about the burglary, T ‘N’ T owner Gary Nichols said that “just like with any other shoplifting, this will cause insurance rates to go up. Which in effect results in everyone’s cost.” He said the store’s next move is to install a security system which again will increase cost for both the business and the consumer.

Though the incidences at Foland and now at T ‘N’ T occurred within the same proximity, they are not believed to be related. The Sidney Police Department is continuing to investigate both matters.