Good Old Days 02-19-16

Compiled By Delaney Uhrig

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

'Sidney Cable TV Programming Not Visibly Affected By FCC Ruling'

Feb. 16, 1966

The effect of a Federal Communication Commission ruling on the fourteen Nebraska cities which have cable TV systems probably won't be measured until official copies of the ruling have been distributed for study.

At least, that's the situation in Sidney, says Ron Tighe, manager of Sidney Community TV.

"All we know is what we've read, seen and heard," Mr. Tighe said. "I assume that at some time in the future the owners of the Sidney system may have a statement to make after they have had time to read and digest the FCC ruling."

However, on the surface it would appear that the Sidney cable TV programming situation has not been worsened by the action taken by the regulatory agency.

In fact, it could be improved in one respect, because FCC's "non-duplication of the program" will be that the cable system must wait one day before showing the program originally fed to the local television stations. The Sidney system has been under a 15-day non-duplication agreement, but it is recalled that this is with Frontier Broadcasting Co. of Cheyenne, and not FCC. Thus, it could be that Sidney is a that the mercy of Frontier in this particular policy, and not at odds with FCC.

The commission said CATV systems will be required to avoid duplicating the programs of local television stations only on the day they are broadcast by the local stations -- not 15 days before and after such a broadcast as the old rule had required.

The FCC improved the 15-day rule last April in asserting jurisdiction over those CATV systems using microwave facilities to relay the programs of distant stations to the master CATV antenna.

The commission extended its control to all 1,600 systems -- including those that use only a master antenna to pull in television signals in the area.

Although eliminating this 15-day rule, the commission extended to the entire industry its requirement that CATV systems carry the signals of all local television stations within good signal range, to the extent that their channel capacities permit. The Sidney cable system already does this.

40 Years Ago

'Load Limits to Be Enforced'

Feb. 18, 1976

A program of enforcing vehicular weight limitations on hard surfaced county roads was discussed Tuesday night by a handful of farmers and ranchers attending the Cheyenne County Road Department's annual one and six year improvement plan hearing.

Ken Rose of Potter, chairman of the county commissioners, asked the audience for its opinions on enforcing the state's weight laws. The response he got was favorable.

"The problem is with farm trucks with overloaded axle limits," he said. "What I'm trying to say is that we are getting pretty close to the maximum mill levy limit. That means we're going to have to start enforcing the weight law. And that means somebody is going to have to weigh those trucks."

Rose said the commissioners considered requesting grain elevator operators to cooperate with the county in weighing trucks to determine which are overloaded, but that a more likely method would be for the county to buy a set of portable scales for enforcing the law.

"We really don' have any other choice," said commissioner Ed Narjes. "The signs we've put up don't do any good unless we enforce the law. I know it's not a popular thing to do, but I think most of us are willing to keep our good roads. We appreciate good roads and want to keep them that way."

Rose said the enforcement program probably won't start for at least six weeks until more pubic reaction is heard and plans are finalized.

Rose also said he expects the county would grant a 10 percent "overage" on load limits when the program is set up.

The county has been studying such action for several months, but it came to a head Tuesday when the commissioners received a reply from County Atty. Thomas Sonntag regarding weight limitation on county roads.

Sonntag said, in answer to questions from the commissioners, there are no exceptions to the state's vehicular weight laws for farm vehicles.

25 Years Ago

'High Winds Believed Not to Have Hurt Wheat'

Feb. 19, 1991

Despite last week's high winds and blowing dirt, state agricultural officers say things aren't as bad as they look.

"The land's not in bad shape," says Dean Yonts of the Panhandle Extension Station Ag Lab in Scottsbluff. "I couldn't say that last week's wind didn't do any damage - any time you have blowing dirt hitting wheat fields there's going to be some damage - but I can say there was no substantial damage."

Yonts said Sidney's quarter inch of moisture over the weekend was about average for the whole Panhandle area.

"It wasn't much, but it certainly helped cut down the blowing dirt," Yonts said. "It also helped the wheat some. The roots are shallow now, and our warm weather thawed the top of the ground enough for the moisture to soak down into those roots."

Cheyenne County Extension Agent Karen DeBoer says this winter hasn't been as dry as the last one. And she believes the wheat is in better shape than it was at this time last year. "For one thing, we haven't had nearly as many reports of Russian wheat aphids this year," she says. "The more stressed the wheat due to wind and drought, the more inviting it is to aphids."

"March is the critical month insofar as moisture for croplands is concerned," says DeBoer. "Moisture is always welcome at any time, but heavy moisture now wouldn't be as beneficial as it would be in the spring." Due to deep frost, heavy moisture now would result in runoff, according to DeBoer and Yonts.

10 Years Ago

'DeNovellis Honored As 'Dealer of the Year'

Feb. 17, 2006

Denny DeNovellis, owner of Sidney Auto Sales, was named the "Quality Dealer of the Year by the Nebraska Independent Auto Dealer Association. Along with the state award he now has the chance to compete for the title of "National Dealer of the Year" in Las Vegas later this year. The NIADA has only been an organization for 29 years and DeNovellis is only the 29th dealer in Nebraska to be honored with the award.

DeNovellis attended the annual NIADA banquet and awards presentation with his wife, Sharon, son and daughter-in-law Feb. 11 in Kearney with no idea he was going to win the award. He said the whole thing came as a surprise to him.

"The whole town knew, he was the only one who didn't know. It's really a neat deal for him," Sharon said.

DeNovellis took an interest in the car business when working with his dad at the dealership he owned in Longmont, Colo. His dad pointed out to him that there wasn't a used car dealership in Sidney, and this prompted him to open his own in 1978. Starting out with around five cars and two employees, he has seen his business expand over the years. Currently his dealership has between 30 and 40 cars at any given time and four full-time employees and four part-time employees.

"We thank our customers for making it what it is today. A lot have come back over the years because of what they've bought and the quality of the service they receive," DeNovellis said.

DeNovellis along with his wife Sharon will fly out to Las Vegas to attend the annual Auto Dealers Convention June 6-10.