Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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Officials at Sidney Public Schools hope to complete work at the Middle School before classes begin on Aug. 18. “We just all have our fingers crossed and hoping that school can start on schedule and not sure yet,” said Sidney Schools Superintendent Jay Ehler at Monday’s school board meeting. The contractor replacing the windows and doors at the Middle School still plans to have the project done by the start of school, but acknowledges that it will be tough to complete in time. The contractor is guaranteeing that the windows and doors on the e...
Night of Hope's annual event is more than a cancer walk, it's a way to provide support for and gain inspiration from cancer patients and survivors. The organization's president, Brenda Noel, promises that the Walk for Cancer will be a special night, particularly for those who've been personally affected by cancer. "It'll be an evening they'll never forget," she said. The walk raises money through many different means to supply locals suffering from cancer with things such as patient aid,...
Cabela’s is expanding its footprint in Canada. The company plans to begin construction on its third store in Alberta, Canada later this year. Cabela’s hopes to open this 70,000 square foot store located in Calgary in fall 2015. The store is expected to employ around 180 workers. Cabela’s opened its first store in Edmonton, Alberta in 2011 and opened another in Edmonton in May of this year. “Alberta has been great to Cabela’s,” said Cabela’s CEO Tommy Millner in a press statement. “Our two Edmonton locations have received tremendous supp...
Sidney's new swimming pool will be located south of Lodgepole Valley Youth Camp, near the t-ball fields. The city council made the official location decision at Tuesday's meeting. Due to necessary road paving and the installation of a sidewalk or trail in the area, this location will cost the city an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 more than the other proposed sites. The prospective plans for the new pool include a competition pool and zero depth entry pool with one or two slides. Many members...
After initial delays, work on Greenwood Rd. is back on schedule. “We have curb and gutter in place from Highway 30 to Dailey Drive,” Public Services Director John Hehnke told the city council on Tuesday. “We anticipate doing main line paving next week.” The city has also started working on driveways in that section of road and is preparing for sidewalk installation on the east side of the road. Sidney hopes to open the section of Greenwood Rd. from Highway 30 to Daily Dr. for residents who live in that area within the next two weeks. “We are...
We’re all fans of rules, regulations and principals, until those frameworks for living our lives apply to us personally in ways that we don’t like. Although we live in a very conservative area, I’ve met many people who are fiscally conservative until it comes to using government money to build something that they want, personally. It’s hard not to be that way. Of course you understand the merits of a program that benefits you or your business better than one that would help out someone else. Obviously you get why a feature in the communi...
The city of Sidney plans to replace a portion of the freshly poured sidewalk on 10th Ave. due to surface damage allegedly caused by two juveniles. "We have had an unfortunate circumstance happen this morning," Public Services Director John Hehnke told the city council on Tuesday night. "We had two young men who chose to ignore the barricades and caution tape and rode a bike and walked across the fresh concrete that was laid for the sidewalk on the east side of the street between Illinois and...
A 56-year-old Potter man was sentenced to four years of intensive supervised probation and 90 days in the Cheyenne County jail on Tuesday for child abuse and tampering with a witness. In December 2013 Jason Frei pled guilty to one count of negligent child abuse and one count of attempted witness tampering, both class one misdemeanors, as part of a plea agreement with the state. Frei was initially charged with sexual assault of a child, a felony. While he was giving Kristie Keenan a massage at his home in August of last year, Frei reportedly...
A village of Potter garbage truck caught fire on Monday morning and burned for around two hours, according to village officials. Hot ash was apparently deposited in a dumpster ahead of trash pickup on Monday morning. When the garbage truck collected the trash from this dumpster, the truck caught fire, said Melissa Waggoner of the village of Potter. At this time the village does not have any official information on the extent of the damage to the truck. On behalf of the village of Potter,...
The Cheyenne County commissioners will hold a meeting in August to inform the public about Sidney Regional Medical Center’s request for the county to issue $10 million in revenue bonds on its behalf to help pay for the new hospital’s construction. While the county agreed to hold the meeting on August 4 as part of its regular board session, the commissioners were still skeptical about some aspects of the bond issuance. Since the hospital’s initial proposal at the board’s previous meeting, the county hired its own bond attorney at the hospita...
Interesting landscaping, flowers and greenery will be abundant during the Cheyenne County Ladies Chamber garden walk this year. "We have quite a variety," said Ladies Chamber member Norma Long. The annual walk will take place this Saturday, July 12 from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants on the walk can tour seven area gardens in addition to the library garden, where the walk commences. The garden walk is a self guided tour, but the owners will be present to tell participants about the plants,...
A grass fire broke out during the city of Sidney's fireworks show near Western Nebraska Community College on Thursday. Firefighters put out the blaze while the show continued....
A grass fire broke out during the city of Sidney's fireworks show near Western Nebraska Community College on Thursday. Firefighters put out the blaze while the show continued....
Although many advocated for an indoor pool during Wednesday's meeting the Sidney pool committee chose an outdoor pool location that will allow for future expansion. The city council has the final say in the matter, but the pool committee recommended the city construct the new outdoor pool south of Lodgepole Valley Youth Camp near the t-ball fields. The other two possible locations included new construction at the current pool site and a spot west of the city's current pool. Building at the curre...
As the city continues work on the 10th Ave. federal aid project, it will close the intersections of 10th Ave and Jackson St. as well as the intersection of 10th Ave. and Linden St. starting July 7. The city will remove and replace the pavement at these intersections during the closure. Suggested detour routes will be posted during the closure. “The phases have been adjusted in the 10th Avenue Federal Aid Road Improvement Project in order to maximize the efficiency of the concrete crew,” according to a press release from the city. Those wit...
A Sidney man will be arraigned in Cheyenne County district court on Tuesday for 44 counts of possessing child pornography, a class three felony. Levi Hallett, 26 was arrested in September 2013 when a citizen informant tipped off police that the man allegedly had sexual images of underage individuals on his phone. During a preliminary hearing earlier this week, the court found probably cause that Hallett committed the offenses for which he is charged....
After weeks of delays, workers finally began pouring concrete pavement on 10th Ave. between Illinois and Jackson streets. The crew started laying pavement on Monday and finished the main portion of the street on Tuesday afternoon. Workers should finish a small amount of concrete work in the alleys on Wednesday. The city plans to have the outer portion of the sidewalks poured sometime next week. Although the city was displeased with work completed by Werner Construction earlier in the project,...
Kathryn Brown, loan secretary at American National Bank of Sidney presents a check for $125 to Curt Door. Door submitted the closest guess for the amount of change in the bank's jar at its ice cream social earlier this year. The bank will provide a guessing jar to the public during each quarter of this year in celebration of its 125th anniversary and will present the prize to the person who provides the closest guess to the amount in it. Each person will receive a check for $125. There was...
The Cheyenne County Ladies Chamber donated around $950 in dress down funds to the Cheyenne County Family & Community Education Council on Tuesday (photo on page 2A). The FCE will use these funds for grid displays at the county fair. These grids display handcrafted quilts, knitting, crochet and food items for judging. On August 3, during the Cheyenne County Fair, the FCE will hold a raffle drawing with the proceeds to benefit the FCE Senior Scholarship Program. The items to be raffled include a...
Margaret Lienemann (middle left), presented $950 in dress down funds on Tuesday to Deloris Steffens (left) and LaDonna Jung (right) of the Cheyenne County Family and Community Education Council on behalf of the Cheyenne County Ladies Chamber. Diann Steffens (middle right) from Steffens Home Interiors represented the many businesses that participate in dress down days on the third Friday of each month....
While explosion-filled holiday celebrations have already begun, police remind citizens to be conscientious neighbors and to practice precaution. Although the city allows all fireworks that are legal in the state to be sold within its boundaries, Sidney does stipulate the time during which these fireworks can be discharged. The city allows private citizens to shoot off fireworks between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. with eight of hours of quiet time in between. On July 4, the city allows fireworks until...
With the backing of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts believes he can win the votes of farmers and ranchers across the state. “Agriculture is the heart and soul of what we do here in Nebraska,” Ricketts said during a stop in Sidney last week. “It’s our largest industry. So if we’re going to grow the state, we’re going to grow it because agriculture is strong.” He called the backing of the Nebraska Farm Bureau as well as the Nebraska Cattleman Association incredibly important. Ricketts recently rece...
Delays due to an absent concrete crew as well as less-than-perfect work have left the city frustrated with Werner Construction, the firm contracted to finished work on 10th Ave. "As it's no secret to the community we've had some issues with the 10th Ave project," said City Manager Gary Person at Tuesday's city council meeting. "John (Hehnke, public services director) did extend an invitation to a representative from Werner to be here tonight to kind of help explain some of the issues." The...
After adding some extras into the conceptual designs at citizen request, cost for the city’s swimming pool rose significantly. Attendees at the last swimming pool committee meeting asked to ad a splash park to the pool plans. The designers supplied the city with plans for a splash park at the same location as the future pool, as well as plans for a park at a separate location. The pool plans were designed to fit one of the city’s proposed pool sites just south of Lodgepole Valley Youth Camp on Fort Sidney Rd., in order to formulate a pro...
All the development projects underway in Sidney this summer make it difficult to find contractors willing to work on a job. The amount of work also inflates project prices. The city attempted to bid out several projects last week and received bids significantly higher than the engineer’s estimate on all of them. Sidney received only one bid for each project. In May, the city attempted to bid two of these projects, the water and sewer work on the Fairfield Marriott planned for the interstate area, and received no bids at all. In this second roun...
