Good Old Days 02-21-14

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.

100 YEARS AGO

'Helping Themselves'

February 21, 1914

The home of J. L McIntosh was broken into Monday night while the family were at the picture show. Entrance was made at the bathroom window and tracks at the base of a short ladder furnish some clue to the predator. Burnt matches all over the house indicated where the party had searched. He got only about one dollar and forty cents in change and money was apparently all he was looking for. The family is not regretting that the work was amateurish.

75 YEARS AGO

'Two WPA Projects Submitted As City Plans Improvement'

February 21, 1939

Lloyd Dillon, area WPA engineer, said Saturday he had submitted to the Works Progress Administration specifications for a band shell and city park shelter house. Dillon said he had no idea how long it would take to receive definite word from WPA regarding its attitude towards the two projects.

The band shell would be constructed on the old Central School property, making the first step in a contemplated program to make this square block a recreational and entertainment center for public enjoyment.

The shelter house would be erected just north of the ice skating and swimming pond in the city park south of town. It would be available for summer and winter use, providing picnickers shelter from summer storms and ice skaters protection from severe winter temperatures. Its specification call for a large fireplace.

It required several weeks to make out details of the two projects for submitting to the administration. Plans for the shelter house were drawn by a North Platte architect some time ago.

It has been tentatively planned to make the old Central school block into a recreational site, and the building of a band shell would be the first step. It also has been proposed to use a portion of the old school excavation for an official Boy Scout meeting place.

In discussing these two projects some time ago, Mayor R. E. Roche said they can be completed at very little cost to the city if the WPA agrees to participate. Without federal participation the work will be abandoned.

50 YEARS AGO

'Oil Blaze Damages Bureau's Power Line Serving West Nebraska Region'

"Sludge Fire At Gas Plant "Spectacular"

February 21, 1964

An entire section of heavy power line will have to be repaired or replaced as the result of an oil sludge fire near Huntsman Gas Plant Thursday morning.

Reports this morning indicated that the 115,000 volt power line, owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, sustained heat damage. The line is of aluminum wire which contains a steel core. The affected area extended from one pole to the next.

The Sidney Fire Department reported that the fire evidently resulted when sludge broke through or over the retaining wall of the pit and seeped down a draw. When the sludge in the pit was ignited, the flames spread to the excess, threatening the high power lines.

Russ Joder, on duty at the fire department at the time, said that 50 gallons of foam, valued at $266, were used to smother the flames. This large amount is too much for one department to keep on hand so extra foam was hurried to the scene by the fire departments from Dalton, Gurley, Chappell, Potter and Lodgepole.

The Sioux Army Depot fire department hauled 3,000 gallons of water to the scene to help out. Fire Chief Pat Ells said the SAD furnished three 1000-gallon tanks trucks of water.

The fire call came in at 9:22 a.m. and the firemen were at the scene for approximately three hours.

25 YEARS AGO

'Hospital Tells Of New Equipment, Service'

February 22, 1989

New equipment and a new service for Memorial Hospital were shown and explained to the public Tuesday.

Funds from a memorial for the late James P. Jacobs of Chappell and the C.A. Story Foundation have been used to purchase a Urine Chemistry Analyzer for use by the hospital's la.

Lab director Doyle Butts explained how the equipment works, which he says will give available consistent reading on urine tests.

Bev Schnell, discharge coordinator, and Connie Alllard, RN, director of nursing, explained the new swing bed program for which the hospital has recently been certified.

Butts said the urine analyzer machine has been in use about two months. While it is not necessarily a time saver, he said, it does provide consistent readings. Previous, test strips were read by color, and "everybody sees colors differently," he explained. A test strip is fed into the analyzer and within 40 seconds, the results may be read from a LED screen. "It takes away most of the human factor," Butts said in obtaining accurate readings, and physicians can receive uniform test results. The analyzer does nine tests in 40 seconds.

10 YEARS AGO

'New Name, Colors Announced For Merger'

February 21, 2004

After nearly a year of discussions and public meetings, the consolidation of the Lodgepole and Chappell school districts has been approved and a new identity chosen. Students attending Creek Valley Public Schools in 2004-2005 will usher in a new era for the two towns.

Creek Valley's mascot will be the Storm. Colors will be hunter green, black and white and the new school song will be Hail Varsity.

Both schools have a rich history, dating back well over a 100 years. The consolidation will allow a new page to be written in the future of the towns' educational stories.

The first school in Lodgepole was a dugout in the south park that housed six students in 1879. The first graduating class from Lodgepole High School was May 14, 1908. A grade school was built there in 1935.

The history of Chappell's school dates back to 1882 when John O'Neil, one of the early settlers and a railroad agent in Chappell at the time, started classes with four boys in the railroad depot.

In 1885 School District No. 7 was organized and shortly thereafter a small one-room school house was built where the Duel County Court House now stands. By 1914 all 12 grades were being taught in Chappell.

Creek Valley Public Schools will utilize existing structures in both towns. Elementary (K-4) and high school students will be located in Chappell and a middle school (grades 5-8) in Lodgepole.

The consolidation of the Lodgepole and Chappell School Districts was unanimously approved at a joint board of education meeting November 11, 2003. The vote came after nearly a year of feasibility studies, joint board meetings and public information seminars. In that time, hypothetical merger situations between Lodgepole, Chappell, South Plate and even Sidney were also discussed.