Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 4150
Mountain lion sightings have recently been reported in parts of Banner County and the northern part of the town of Sidney. With calving season in full bloom, the mountain lions are a concern for area ranchers. Sidney Police Chief Joe Aikens confirmed the mountain lion sighting in Sidney and cautioned people to be aware and keep an eye on small pets. Sam Wilson, a carnivore biologist for Nebraska Game and Parks said that mountain lion sightings increased gradually over the past 30 years as...
At the special Kimball City Council meeting on March 19, county resident Roger Kaczmarek spoke to the council about the city billing the monthly landfill fee to county residents. According to state statutes, county residents are charged a monthly landfill fee because dumping and burning is illegal. The Kimball Landfill is a city facility, but previously Kimball County had billed and collected the landfill fees from residents and then remitted a check to the city for those fees. In an...
On Tuesday morning, word came from KCTS Administrator Christy Warner that $212,000 of reimbursements had come through from the state to help KTCS meet its financial obligations. At the most recent Kimball County Commissioners meeting, Warner requested a loan of $210,000 to continue operating KCTS because reimbursements from the Nebraska Department of Transportation had been delayed. As of Tuesday, Warner said that KCTS will still receive a $15,000 transfer from the county to continue operating. In an effort to obtain more information about the...
After a two-day trial in Kimball County district court, a California man was found guilty on four felony charges. His bond continues, and he will be sentenced on May 7 at 2:30 p.m. In just under two hours, the jury of five women and seven men found Andrew Mendoza guilty of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, no drug tax stamp, and carrying a concealed weapon. The charges stemmed from a speeding incident on I-80 on Nov. 2, 2021, a case that didn’t reach t...
On Saturday evening the Kimball FFA hosted its annual labor auction along with the FFA Alumni sponsoring the meal and other events. According to FFA instructor Emily Sowards, more than 250 people took advantage of the event. Thirty-two students were auctioned off for eight hours of work each. The top selling students were Dakota Vrbas for $1,500 and Julia Winstrom reeling in $1,300. All the money remains in the FFA chapter. The students receive the benefits in the form of scholarships, contest...
Inmate Jordan Crews has a new set of charges to contend with from an incident on March 13 in the Kimball County Jail. The new charges include a 3A felony assault by a confined person-no weapon and misdemeanor criminal mischief. Crews was transferred to the Lincoln County Detention Center and is being held on a bond of $25,000. He is scheduled to appear March 27 for a Kimball County Court status of waiver of preliminary hearing. Crews is represented by Stacy Bach. Crews, 27, was arrested on March 9 during a Kimball drug bust and charged with pos...
Kimball County commissioners Rich Flores, and Carl Stander voted to approve, if necessary, on Tuesday, March 19, the transfer of $210,000 from the inheritance fund to the general fund to pay KCTS payroll and bills due to a holdup in state funding. The discussion prior to the vote focused on cutting transit services, such as shutting routes down. Administrator Christy Warner said, “Everything is connected,” and a public hearing must be held in order to shut services down. The financial operation of the KCTS has been crippled because rei...
Last week’s Observer article “A Look At Kimball Land Swap Plan” stirred some discussion among residents on the practicality of the land swap. Under the Kimball Rec land swap plan, four ballfields on 44 acres at the Rec Center would be exchanged for 4.5 acres that include the former Windbreak Restaurant and two golf sheds. The Windbreak Restaurant would be remodeled into a Four Winds Golf Course pro shop with a possible bar. The entity in charge of the land swap or conversion is the Park and Rec Executive Board. Residents have expressed inter...
See something. Say something. That was the message. The Kimball County Transit Service building was packed with local and state law enforcement, politicians, city and county employees, a group from Sidney, and citizens interested in learning about threat assessments and the need to report suspicious activity. Nebraskans are of the mindset to mind your own business, but speaker Lt. Monty Lovelace, director of the Nebraska Fusion Center, said those days are over. He said people need to be vigilant...
Keep Kimball Beautiful scored big again in the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy financial awards. In response to being awarded the money, Director Spud Rowley said, "The totes are coming to the alleyways." He said the totes are in high demand, and he is constantly being asked for alley totes for residents to place recyclables to be collected The Kimball facility, operational for 42 years and functioning out of the city building for the past 30 years, received three different grants...
Banner County FFA adviser Bill Gifford reported that 200 people were in attendance at the recent 2nd ever FFA auction. The FFA Boosters served the meal and feedback has been very positive on the event. Gifford said, "I think we collected nearly $20,000 in donations this year, and we were overwhelmed with that number. "We really are grateful to our community and the surrounding communities that supported us. It is very humbling to think that so many can be so generous in so many ways to support...
A presentation from the Kimball FFA Parliamentary Procedure team topped the agenda Monday at the Kimball School Board meeting. Using Robert's Rules of Order, they conducted a mock meeting in preparation for the state FFA contest. The presentation was done by team members Nolan Cook, Landon Norberg, Grace Anderson, Aubrey Culek and Hayden Sours. Meanwhile, Superintendent Trevor Anderson reported two more donations of locally raised beef in February, making the total beef donations five for the...
A search warrant resulting in multiple Kimball arrests was executed on March 9 at separate residences by the Kimball County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s department was assisted by the Kimball police and the Nebraska State Patrol. A traffic stop in the 600 block of Burg Street produced stolen items as well as a white powdery substance on the person of Jordan Crews. Crews, 27 was arrested and charged for possession of a controlled substance (meth) and possession of stolen property with a bon...
The "land swap" at the Rec Area should be a topic of interest to taxpayers, baseball/softball players and golfers. It is not actually called a land swap by the Nebraska Game and Parks, but it is called a conversion – outdoor recreation land is being converted to other outdoor recreation land. Hannah Jones from Nebraska Game and Parks said that the Kimball Rec Area conversion is in the "early stages" and "it is not a short process." The lengthy process is meant to safeguard outdoor recreation l...
The Kimball County Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday morning to hear from department heads on the workings of the county government. Heads of the roads, buildings and grounds, veterans office and KCTS gave the commissioners updates and reports. Veterans Service Officer Program Coordinator Darcee Wheeland reported on new veterans numbers, military records and medical record requests for December 2023 and January 2024. County veterans receive more than $80,000 in benefits from the Veterans Administration each month. Newly appointed...
From the smallest to the largest, all counties in Nebraska elect a sheriff. The county sheriffs throughout Nebraska have several duties and responsibilities, with their number one responsibility law enforcement. State statutes requires the sheriff to serve, execute and return writs or other legal process issued by a lawful authority. The sheriff shall prepare and file an annual inventory statement of county personal property in his or her custody. The sheriff has charge and custody of the jail...
The Kimball Police Department received approval on two items at the Kimball City Council meeting on Feb. 20. A CargoGlide for a department pickup received approval for this budget season, and the council approved the purchase of a drug dog for the 2024-25 budget year. The CargoGlide, priced at $5,657.99, will provide storage for traffic cones, spikes, pepperballs, evidence collection kits, ballistic shields and instructor gear. Chief Jose Ruiz also received approval for a canine program to be started; this would include a female yellow lab....
Gov. Pillen arrived in Kimball for the Kimball Health Services hospital ribbon cutting on Monday, Feb 26, but he also tended to other business. The governor and his entourage landed on the newly resurfaced Kimball Municipal Airport runway 10/28 and found the landing was incredible. The resurfacing project recently received a 2023 Project of the Year award from the state. Before the ribbon cutting, Pillen met with KCTS staff and toured Kimball Public Schools. Pillen and members of his Department...
The Kimball community came out en masse for Kimball Health Services new hospital ribbon cutting on Monday, Feb. 26. On a windy day, an estimated 200 or more people crammed into the entryway and clinic waiting area while officials were recognized and spoke of the process to develop the facility. Gov. Jim Pillen started off the ceremony with a message of congratulations. "This is a big, big deal for rural Nebraska, for Kimball, for your community," he said. Pillen spoke about what a fantastic...
Kimball 51, Morrill 38 Tuesday’s subdistrict first round matchup with Morrill was a game that we took awhile to get things going, but a great finish to the 3rd quarter really opened things up. Knowing just how capable Morrill could be from the perimeter, our 7 point half time lead was not what we were hoping for after 2 quarters of play. Our shooting was not what we were used to, but our defense and rebounding was keeping us ahead in the game. We only allowed Morrill to score 11 points in the 1st half and that was definitely a positive. We alwa...
The wildfire that began 8.6 miles northeast of North Platte on Monday morning continued to burn as of Tuesday afternoon. The Betty’s Way Fire has consumed 71,022 acres, according to a press release from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, with the hopes of some containment later on Tuesday. With winds over 40 mph the fire continues to spread east, and evacuations have been issued. According to Emergency Management Region 22 (Scottsbluff and Banner counties), local departments have responded to the mutual aid request by taking firemen a...
Kimball County Transit Service Administrator Christy Warner informed the Kimball County Commissioners at their Tuesday meeting that Gov. Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Transportation Director Vicki Kramer will visit the transit service Feb. 26 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Statistics for KCTS also were presented by Warner. Of 33,943 rides for the calendar year 2023, 61% were from Kimball County. Other numbers showed that 8,843 rides were educational and preschool, school or college; 3,690 rides were for employment; 2,086 were deliveries f...
Bobby "Shorty" Wilson disappeared without a trace from the streets of Kimball on October 30, 1956, and the family struggled with his disappearance and searched for years for clues or his remains. In 1958, the family had a marker erected in the Kimball Cemetery that read: Robert G. "Shorty" Wilson. His birth date was May 28, 1925, and he was born in Kimball, Nebraska. The simple headstone says, "Disappeared on October 30, 1956." A description of Shorty Wilson was provided in a reward posted in...
The postseason is here. The Kimball boys basketball team – 14-7 with a .667 winning percentage on the season after a sweet win over Mitchell – opened subdisrict play Tuesday evening against a 14-10 Morrill squad at Bridgeport. Kimball was the No. 2 seed and Morrill No. 3. On Thursday, the winner faces the winnter of No. 1 seed Bridgeport and No. 4 Gordon Rushville game. Friday's rematch with Mitchell was a great game that saw our players execute and have their 3rd most efficient game of the sea...
A high-drama scene unfolded on Thursday, Feb. 8, when the Kimball Police Department answered a disturbance call at 311 Cedar St. and followed up with an attempted arrest. The situation led to a standoff between law enforcement and a suspect in his home from morning until late evening. The next day, the suspect called the Kimball County Sheriff's Office and talked with Sheriff Dave Hottell. They worked out a method for the suspect to be taken into custody. Later, Hottell showed up at the...