MAY - YEAR IN REVIEW

FORMER SIDNEY TEACHER PAINTS OFFICIAL KENTUCKY DERBY ART

Jim Cantrell, a former Sidney art teacher, was chosen as the official artist for the 2017 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks races.

He received the call from Churchill Downs last summer and completed the art in the fall.

Cantrell said it was an honor to be chosen.

"At first I didn't understand it, but it's turned out to be, not an ordeal, but it's something I'm not used to," he said. "All this celebrity, people stopping me on the street and that sort of thing."

Cantrell was reluctant at first, gallery owner and wife Jeannette Cantrell, said.

"He was called in July and at first said 'I don't think so' until we convinced him this was international exposure," she said. "Everybody knows about the Derby."

Jim Cantrell was born in Oklahoma, raised in Wilbur, Nebraska, and came to Sidney in 1958 for his first teaching job after college. He lived in Sidney for eight years.

Jeannette Cantrell was raised in Sidney and worked at Sioux Army Depot.

"My brother was an art student under Jim and he introduced us," she said. "That's how we happened to meet."

Sidney was a part of Jim Cantrell's journey to becoming this year's Kentucky Derby artist.

"The one thing that has impressed me more than anything else was some of the people I taught," he said. "They were more of an influence on me than I was on them."

HIGHWAY PROJECT UPDATE

The Highway 30 reconstruction project has been facing delays in Sidney.

Crews have been cutting down into Illinois Street and finding more cracks in the concrete foundation than anticipated.

"The first activity is that we need to repair the base of the road, which is concrete," Sayed Torak, Nebraska Departments of Roads highway project manager, said. "Some of the areas, this is difficult to identify at an early stage. When we open that area and we see there are more loose materials we need to repair, we're not missing those."

Crews are working at Fort Sidney Road to the east and currently at 17th Avenue at the west of Highway 30 in Sidney.

"From the beginning with the west side, which we did, we caught extra work, and due to that extra work, and we recognize that we see it further down, with that kind of extra work we might be able to add to our resources," Torak said. "That's what the contractor figured out, and they started a second crew and started their activity on the east side."

CREEK VALLEY MS LAST SCHOOL DAY EVER

LODGEPOLE Creek Valley Middle School had its last day of school Tuesday.

The students leaving the 1930s building for summer vacation were the last to do so, as the building is being closed and the students are transferring to Chappell.

The day, though, was a positive one, Principal Tessa Fraass said.

"It was a great celebration," Fraass said. "The kids were happy and had a great time. We celebrated the positive and are focusing on moving forward and doing what's best for our kids."

Students enjoyed grilled burgers made with meat from the school's beef program, Fraass said, and a community-wide scavenger hunt, among other school activities.