Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 108
We all have choices that we make everyday, truly every moment of everyday. Many are minor choices, what to eat, which street to drive down or what movie to watch but some are bigger choices that will impact the rest of our existence. Whether our choices are conscious or unconscious, we often miss the meanings behind the choices we make because of the busy lives we lead. It is a wise person who recognizes the subtle meanings hidden within our everyday life. For many years, and during the time I lived and worked in Sedona, AZ, I was one of those...
There is a mountain lion on the loose in the Bushnell area, or so the rumors say. According to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website, mountain lions have been making a comeback in Nebraska since the 1990’s. Many of you may remember the one that was found in a tree across from Gotte Park about ten years ago and what happened to it. If you want to learn more about mountain lions in Nebraska, go to http://outdoornebraska.gov/mountain lions. There, you will find an excellent interactive map of where they have been sighted (pretty much a...
Dave Hottell, County Road Superintendent, voiced his concerns about roads frequently traveled by the Air Force during the March 7 Kimball County Commissioner's meeting. In the past, the Nebraska Department of Roads was in charge of how and when the roads were repaired and they did a good job, according to Hottell. Now it is handled by the Federal Highway Administration and he has some concerns. Hottell recently received a report that named roads were scheduled for additional gravel this year and...
Despite resistance from locals, the Kimball Board of commissioners moved forward on the plan to transition local emergency services from a county-managed service to a hybrid model. To allow members of the public time to voice concerns about the new hybrid model ambulance service, the Kimball County Commissioners extended their bi-monthly meeting on March 7, 2017, reconvening in the afternoon to dozens of citizens. Although none of the agenda items were unusual, many in opposition of the imminent changes had taken to social media and posted...
Bob Abramson, Don Olsen, Joe Hernandez and Kimball Police Chief Andy Bremer attended the March 7, Kimball County Board of Commissioners morning meeting, representing the County Veterans Service Committee that interviewed five applicants and recommended Robert Jenner for the position of VSO. Jenner is a veteran of the Air Force, has a good rapport with people and has decades of experience in the business world. He has also been approved by the State of Nebraska VSO. Jenner's wife, Mary Kay is...
Last week’s meeting of the Board of Public Works witnessed the board working through several small items quickly before spending the majority of the meeting discussing whether or not to cap the utility bills for the Kimball Event Center. They chose not to at this time but may be open to revisiting the issue in a few months. Christy Warner, representing the Kimball Event Center committee, addressed the board concerning the electrical portion of the event center’s city bill. She explained that after a review of past utility costs, they found tha...
Once again for the record, this article is my opinion.This means that whatever I write here is written from my own perspective and not the opinion of the Western Nebraska Observer. If you would like to share your own opinions, you may submit a letter to the editor for publication. Please refer to the bottom right corner of this page, “Letter to the editor policy,” for more information. I want to clarify that my opinion piece from last week entitled, “Shame on us,” was not about the ambulance service. It was in reference to a lesser known i...
The 150th birthday of the State of Nebraska was celebrated in the district court room of the Kimball County court house on March 1. More than 100 people of all ages attended the celebration including a couple from Colorado who came to get their marriage license and stayed for the party because the groom is originally from Grand Island. Although the Kimball County Commissioners requested the celebration, many of the court house employees worked together to make the afternoon affair both fun and...
For those of you who do not know, I will put on record that I enjoy my job and one of my greatest joys is writing a weekly opinion piece. Buckle up readers, this week is a doozie. As I said, I truly enjoy my job, I feel that I’m somewhat good at it and no one has threatened to fire me as of yet, although I have ruffled a few feathers (something I will continue to do as long as the powers that be will allow me). However, I do not love my job, this is not my soul work nor do I believe it is what I’ve been put on this earth to do. I have a clo...
The Kimball County Board of Commissioners met last Tuesday to discuss zoning amendments, back-up generators and the Kimball County Ambulance Service. Carla Goranson, County Ambulance Director, presented the December 2016 and January 2017 statistical and financial reports to the board. According to Goranson, and supported by the data report, both months had the same number of calls, 35 each month, a slight decrease from November but overall above average months for Kimball County. December showed seven falls on ice while January only had one, ho...
Deb (Sanders) Fiehtner had no idea that someday, as an adult, she would spend more time working at the Kimball Dairy Queen than she ever did as a teenager. A Kimball graduate of the Class of 1980, Deb was born and grew up here, her parents are Delbert and Peggy Sanders and her brother Danny lives in Greeley with his wife Sheri. While in high school, in the late 70s, Deb enjoyed spending time with her fellow cheerleaders Melanie Johnson, Shari Bauer, Jean Koenig, Peri Benstead, Maggie Biggs and...
The Wayne Robbins family and subsequently Z&S Construction have been generous donators and supporters of the Kimball Volunteer Fire Department for generations. Three to be exact. Wayne Robbins became an honorary fireman in the early 1980s and enjoyed gifting new American flags to the department along with other donations. Now his wife Flo, daughter Susan and son-in-law Dave Haack and family have continued with the tradition of supporting the fire department. Among the family's unselfish...
I found myself writing this weeks editorial on Monday, President’s Day. When I first realized this fact I became frustrated with the sudden realization that our government offices were closed for the holiday. As it is my responsibility to compile the weekly court house news, I was disappointed that I would not be able to perform my normal Monday duty as planned. Of course, I could do it on Tuesday, but that also happened to be the morning of the bi-monthly County Commissioner’s meeting and the day we put the paper together, therefore adding one...
On February 7, 2017 five high school students along with their counselor, Chauncey Pedersen, met with the Kimball County Commissioners to give a quick presentation about their work in promoting a tobacco-free and drug free campus. Student Madison Wynne addressed the board and public first, explaining briefly how the coalition started. Since the students have taken over, just this past January, they have had several meetings and been fantastically proactive. They were able to obtain donated...
The Board of Equalization met on Tuesday, Feb. 7, for their regularly scheduled bi-monthly meeting. Scheduled for that meeting was a public hearing and discussion of Permissive Exemption Applications for both the Kimball County Hospital administrative building at 301 South Howard and for the Goodhand Theater, located at 226 South Chestnut. According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, “all property in the State of Nebraska is subject to property tax, unless an exemption is mandated or permitted by the Nebraska Constitution or by l...
Kimball County Commissioners held a public hearing to receive comments about the proposed One and Six Year Road Improvement Program during their regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7. With no comments from the public, after some additional discussion with Dave Hottell, County Highway Superintendent and assistant Randy Bymer, the board closed the hearing and approved the plan that would work towards replacing many of the old and inadequate culverts throughout the county, among other plans. During Hottell’s monthly road department report, a l...
Mike Winget is living his childhood dream, right here in Kimball. Since the beginning of this month Winget is the newest member of the Kimball Police Department (KPD). Winget grew up with two brothers and a sister in Torrington, Wyo., and graduated high school there in 2011. His youngest brother lives in Cheyenne but is currently training in counter terrorism at Fort Leonard Wood with the National Guard. His sister is married and lives in central Nebraska and his parents and another brother...
I awoke at 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning, remarkably aware of every detail of the seemingly quite long dream I had just had. The possible reasons for why I had dreamed what I had kept me awake several hours, or as is the way it goes, until a half hour before my alarm was to go off, so that when it did ring, I was shocked that I had fallen back to sleep. They say that dreams are a window into our subconscious and yet there are just as many theories of why we dream as there are doctors, psychiatrists, scientists and new age gurus. It’s an i...
Although the days have been cloudy and cold, flowers, birds, butterflies and other signs of summer have recently popped up on the walls of the dining room at Vista Villa. A welcoming ensemble of women gather in room 204 of Vista Villa at 10 a.m. every Thursday to enjoy an hour of relaxing adult coloring and camaraderie. Anyone, regardless of age, sex, religion or where you live, is invited. At the present, however, only the ladies have chosen to enjoy the therapeutic benefits and friendship...
Ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the first American Heart Month in 1964, Americans have been celebrating both love and heart health during the month of February. The perfect gift for Valentine’s Day is the gift of life, for all of your loved ones, including yourself. In an effort to combine Valentine’s Day and heart health month, consider having a romantic dinner with your loved ones, knowing that you are serving only the best known foods approved by doctors worldwide to prevent heart disease. The American Heart Association recom...
From the Western Nebraska Observer archives: January 9, 1947 159 marriage licenses by county court Marriage licenses issued in Kimball county showed an increase of almost 75 percent in 1946, according to the records of County Judge Orville C. Wisdom. 159 were issued by the office in 1946 as against 92 the previous year. The office also issued 163 certified copies of licenses. Jan. 6, 1927 There were over three times as many marriage licenses issued in Kimball county in 1926 as in 1924 according to the Judge’s records. In 1924 there were but t...
Next Tuesday is Valentine’s Day, a day that is honored not just in America, but in several places across the world. Many people often exchange flowers, candy, cards and gifts with friends and loved ones on this day to show their affection. It has become commonplace in elementary schools today that children are obligated to hand out “Valentines” to everyone in their class, whether they like them or not, so as not to hurt another child’s feelings and all children are treated equally. When I was in elementary school, there was no such requirement....
Every February 2nd, for longer than anyone can remember, has been a day of foretelling the weather. Although history can be clouded (pun intended), it’s believed that Groundhog Day may have originated in the Celtic lands of Europe where it was first known as the pagan holiday of Imbolic. As the traditions of Imbolic include not only foretelling of the coming seasons, just as Groundhog day, but also the halfway point between winter solstice and spring equinox. Originally it was a pagan tradition to light candles in reverence of the coming of s...
The second meeting of 2017 for the Kimball County Board of Commissioners held on Jan. 17 was a lighter load than their typical meeting. Commissioner Daria Faden reported early in the meeting that Jamie Soper, sponsor of the Substance Abuse Coalition at Kimball High School, had requested a time for students to present to the board the actions they have taken to promote no smoking, no drugs and no alcohol at the school. That presentation is scheduled to be held during the next board meeting. Board Chairman, Larry Engstrom reported that PADD...
There is so much I want to say about last Friday’s Inauguration of Donald J. Trump as our 45th President of the United States, and yet so much has already been said that I find it might be easier to attempt a lengthy commentary on the less tumultuous concepts of time and space. The whole thing has me in quite a conundrum actually. I am a female supporter of Trump, and yet, as many of you who truly know me know, that being a reporter is only my day job and that there is a lot more to me than meets the eye, or the page, I should say. Because o...