Good Old Days 01-02-15

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.

50 years ago

'Community Mourning Loss of Mark J. Benz and Gary J. Weimer'

Dec. 31. 1964

Tragedy struck in two Sidney homes last night when a car accident in Sterling, Colo., claimed the lives of Mark J. Benz, 20, and Gary J. Weimer, 23. Sterling Police said that the accident happened at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday in south Sterling.

The men were in a 1965 Mustang owned by Weimer and they had just came to Sterling from the south when tragedy occurred. They drove onto Front Street, commonly used as a truck route through Sterling, missed a curve and crashed into a tree. Both were thrown from the car a distance of 17 feet. After impact the completely wrecked car proceeded another 30 feet beyond the tree. Young Benz was instantly killed, according to the Sterling authorities, and Weimer died at about 3 a.m. today in Logan County hospital.

The Benz rites have been set for 2 o'clock Monday afternoon the First Methodist Church with the Rev. John Stayton officiating. Internment will be in Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of The Gehrig & Son Funeral Home.

The Weimer Services have been scheduled for 10 o' clock Saturday morning at The First Christian Church with Rev. Drexel von Forrel in charge. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery with Craig Mortuary in charge.

25 years ago

'Miller New County Deputy Attorney'

Jan. 3, 1990

Larry L. Miller was sworn in as the new Cheyenne County Deputy Attorney, Tuesday afternoon.

Cheyenne County Judge Thomas H. Dorwart, administered the oath to Miller who replaced Robert Goodwin who resigned, effective Dec. 31, to devote full time to his private legal practice in Sidney.

Among those who witnessed Miller's taking the oath of office was his wife, Rhonda and their children Ryan, 6, and Kristen, 20 months.

Miller, 31, has practiced law in Sidney for the past five years and has considerable experience in criminal defense. He was associated with Jack Knicley for the past four year, The two will terminate their relationship now as a matter of legal ethics, Miller said.

Miller's position is a non-elected one and although it is considered to be part time, County Attorney Bill Luben, who selected Miller, said it generally requires at least 40 hours a week and a deputy court attorney is required to put the county's business first. However, Miller is allowed to "moonlight" if he wishes, as long as the cases he takes do not conflict in any way with his duties as the deputy county attorney.

10 years ago

'Pet Lover Pitch In To Help Animals For Adoption'

Jan. 4, 2005

Local animal lovers pitched in to help the High Plains Animal Welfare Society (HiPaws) raise money to spay and neuter pets available for adoption by raisin $175 during the recent cute pet contest. The contest featuredanimals in a variety of categories that voters could cast $1 ballots for.

Winning Grand Prize for most votes received (17) as well as first place in the large dog division was Kreuger, owned by Lori and Mike Borchert. Krueger earned a $50 savings bond from Security First Bank and a full service oil change from Maddox Motors.

Second place in the large dog category resulted in a tie between Max, owned by Annett Brink. Both dogs received ten votes and each won an oil change from Rand's Auto Care.

Mishi, owned by Annett Brink won third place along with four pounds of dog treats from Farmers Feed and Seed.

Winning first place in the small dog category (15), a $20 gift certificate from Sonny's Super Foods and a Wrangler T-shirt from Corral West was Chloe, owned by Dona Gaertner, Second place and two dinners to BJ's and Company was Toy (13). Third place (8), a Wrangler backpack and T-shirt went to Butters, owned by Evelyn Tennant.

Winning first place in the puppy division was Luka (14). The pup's prizes included in oil change from Reganis Motors and a $10 gift certificate to Jack and Jill Supermarket.

5 years ago

'Christmas Blizzard Causes Outages'

Dec. 31, 2009

It was a busy Christmas holiday for the linemen and management of Wheat Belt Public Power District, thanks to a multitude of power outages over the local area, Wheat Belt officials said Wednesday morning.

"We were lucky we didn't have lot of snow and ice on the lines or there would have been more damage to the lines," said manager Tim Lindahl. "as it was, we lost two substations and circuits out of several substations due to wrapped lines and arcing."

With wind speeds reaching 60 mph, several outages affected a large portion of the western service territory. There were circuits out from Sidney to Broadwater, the power company said. power outages were reported in Sidney, Chappell, Dalton and south of Lodgepole as well.

Two substations were off Christmas Day through Saturday morning. All customer accounts were restored by 4:30 p.m. Saturday. A count of how many customers might have been affected had not been released as of Wednesday morning.

No poles were broken in the storm, which helped get power restored more quickly, said employee Pam Wieser.

According to company officials, some power outages were brief while others experienced much longer losses. Wheat Belt said it appreciates the help from consumers on locating the problem areas and for their understanding during severe winter storm.

The company added it promotes the purchase of generators with the free installation of double-throw switches to alleviate the effects of Nebraska's harsh weather that invariably causes outages.