Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 2451 - 2475 of 4087
The Kimball City Council considered Mayor Keith Prunty’s appointment for City Administrator during a special meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 3. Prunty offered the position to Dan Dean just prior to the new year, and Dean accepted the offer, but the decision was not made final until last Tuesday, when council unanimously approved the appointment. Dean will begin duties, upon completion of his 30-day notice for his current position, on Feb. 6. Council further considered the contract negotiations performed with the appointment. With input from City A...
When high energy, creativity and a strong western Nebraska work ethic mix with an open mind and a desire to experience new cultures, one finds possibilities endless. Kimball native Patrick Faden embodies this melding of forces and has moved from the fields of the Panhandle and the halls of Potter-Dix High School to Beijing, China. Faden, a 2006 graduate of PDHS, followed high school with a bachelor's degree in communication and journalism from the University of Wyoming. Faden enjoyed activities...
Nebraska marks 150 years of statehood on March 1, 1867, but the state has planned a year long celebration including many programs and projects across the state. Planning for this once-in-a-lifetime event began in 2012 when a group of community minded citizens from across the state formed the Friends of the Nebraska 150 Foundation. Later, in 2014, state Legislature established the Nebraska Sesquicentennial Commission. Governor Pete Ricketts appointed 17 members to the commission. The Celebrating Nebraska Statehood Foundation was formed in 2015...
After a 4-0 start the Kimball High boys basketball team suffered back-to-back losses this past week losing to Sidney at home on Thursday evening 62-21 and losing on the road to Chase County Saturday 65-33. In the loss to class B Sidney, it was a case of the Raiders getting off to a big start as their shots were falling while the Horns could not get a shot to fall. The Raiders broke out to a 15-0 start, led 22-4 at the quarter break, was up 44-9 by half time and cruised to the easy victory....
The Kimball High wrestlers were busy this past weekend competing at the Western Trails Conference Meet in Mitchell and then the Garden County Invite on Saturday. This Saturday they will be off to the Chase County Tournament. The Longhorns finished fifth in the team standings at the WTC Tourney, won by Bridgeport with 200 points. Mitchell was runner-up with 161 followed by Gordon-Rushville with 122, Hemingford 103, Kimball 82.5, Bayard 77 and Morrill 75.5. Kimball was led by Jordan Cluff and...
The loss of their leading scorer certainly played a part in a pair of losses this past week for the Kimball High Lady Longhorns. Alex Reader suffered what appears to be a season ending knee injury in the closing seconds of play at Morrill in the final game before the Christmas break, and was scheduled to confer with a surgeon this past Monday. With the talented junior sharp shooter side-lined, the Kimball girls fell to Sidney 65-25, and lost to Chase County 71-22 this past week. Thanks to a...
A tough weekend of basketball for the Kimball High girls and boys with losses to Sidney and Chase County. Both of these schools have talented teams and will be hard to beat by anyone on their schedules. In looking for excuses as to why the Horns were demolished to such extreme, the Kimball girls have lost their leading scorer and top play maker as junior Alex Reader is done for the season and will be undergoing knee surgery this month. The boys were without a couple of key players due to illness and injury. And, the Horns had an extended...
Much of the public is still uncertain about the future of the ambulance service in Kimball. Though a new contract has been signed, a new partnership made, the service can remain vastly unchanged according to Kimball County Commissioner Tim Nolting. Following the steady five-year climb of property tax requirements needed for the county-run ambulance service, the board of commissioners sought an in-depth study of the service as well as viable alternatives. The Paramedic Foundation was contacted by the Nebraska EMS & Training Program to conduct...
With the dawning of a new year many of us are cleaning out closets, cleaning out friends lists and just preparing in general for the new year. I have started a new year with lofty ideals and intentions for more years than I care to count. There is the lose weight/eat healthy resolution and the read more or stress less goals. I have lost, and regained, several times. I have enjoyed new books and found creative ways to diminish stress due to these goals. In years past I have cleared my closets and cupboards of unused and unloved items, donating...
The Kimball High wrestling team hosted Hershey and Chase County in a double dual wrestling match to close out the pre-Christmas part of the season with Jordan Cluff, a double winner for the home team. Cluff, wrestling at 106 pounds, pinned his Hershey opponent in :55 seconds, then moved up a weight class to 113 and pinned his Chase County opponent in 5:01. Kimball went up against Hershey in their first dual of the night and lost 51-30, but actually won three of the five matches that took place...
The Christmas break is over, a New Year has arrived and it’s time to get the area high school sports action up and going once again. It begins today (Thursday) with the Kimball wrestlers off to Mitchell for the Western Trails Conference Tournament. The wrestlers are also in action this Saturday at the Garden County Tournament. The Kimball High basketball teams also return to the hardwoods this evening (Thursday) hosting Sidney with JV play set for a 4 p.m. start followed by the girls varsity and 5:30 and the boys varsity at 7 p.m. The FFA c...
Kimball Mayor Keith Prunty has chosen Dan Dean for Kimball’s City Administrator. Prunty offered the position to Dean this week, Dean accepted the offer, and a special council meeting will be scheduled for next week for council approval. Dean, the former Town Manager of Mead, Colo., has more than 30 years of experience in local government management. Dean has been a city manager in Colorado, Nebraska and Oregon and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University. He is currently the interim town administrator of Pao...
9 was a busy year in Kimball. A young Kimball man saved an elderly woman from a burning car, the Goodhand Theater was reopened, a small group of young ladies made wrestling history, the Kimball Event Center was saved, some area youth met a famous movie star, the Kimball Jr. Sr. High School got a facelift and the local Legion baseball team was revived. We begin where every new year does, in January. Part one will revisit stories through June and next week, in part two, we will revisit stories from July through December. January 7, 2016 A two...
Kimball City Council said goodbye to council member John Morrison at the regular council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 20, ending 18 years of public service. Morrison's four-year term on the council was up, and following the election on November 8, former council member Kim Baliman and James Shields each won a seat on the board. Morrison began his public service on the Kimball Economic Development Committee in September of 1998. In April 2003 he sat on the Planning Commission and in September of...
Zebbedia G Gibb, received his Ph.D. in social psychology on Dec. 10, from the University of Nevada in Reno. While this is the acme of his formal education, Zeb looks forward to lifelong learning through his research. He graduated from Kimball High School in 2000 and attended Western Nebraska Community College to get his general education credits. Zeb said he attended the nearest community college, "mainly because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. This let me stay close to the area...
The holiday season is coming to a close and the year's Santa's Helpers finale included a chili cook-off, cookie exchange and wreath auction with plenty of time for friends to gather and enjoy the festivities. The final event for the grassroots group was held on Sunday, Dec. 18 at the Eagles Club #3389 in Kimball. Dave Klinkhammer was awarded first place in the traditional chili cook-off and Steve Pinkerton took first in the non-traditional category with his pork green chili. An abundance of...
Representatives from the Kimball City Council, Board of Public Works and City of Kimball staff were present to interview two candidates for the City Administrator position left open when former administrator, Daniel Ortiz, resigned on Oct. 21. The two candidates, interviewed at the Kimball Event Center on Monday, Dec. 19, were narrowed down from a field of more than a dozen applications. While City of Kimball representatives were present, the interview was facilitated by Bill Podraza, a...
Kimball students have become active members of the Kimball Prevention Coalition (KPC) and have focused on keeping themselves and others tobacco free. Several student leaders have taken the initiative to enforce tobacco-free public school properties by posting signs, making announcements at events, distributing printed material and using the school’s all-call system to remind patrons that “Kimball Public Schools are proud to be tobacco-free.” Three of these students spoke at the most recent Board of Education meeting, on Monday, Dec. 12. Junio...
The evolution of Christmas is a natural progression for millions across the world, and I find that I am no exception. Though Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, has the reason I enjoy this season progressed as I age or has it remained steadily always the same? When I was young, of course, it was the magic of Santa Claus’ annual visit. As a curious youngster I had so many questions! How did he know just what I wanted? How could he possibly monitor the behavior of all the children in the world? How did he travel to every home in every...
With unanimous approval on Monday, Dec. 12, from the Kimball Board of Education, the local district will repair the air handler that is housed in a small room off the band room at the junior/senior high school. Though the aged unit is currently functioning, the ongoing issue can only be repaired by rebuilding a shaft and bearings, which cannot be replaced with newer parts. Additionally, the pulleys will be replaced. “The shaft is no longer made, it will have to be custom-built,” Building and Grounds Director Gregg Fossand said. “It is just...
New Dimension, Kimball High School’s show choir, will once again have the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a Denver Nuggets game in March. Because the group attended last year, and many expressed interest in doing so again, according to choir teacher and show choir coach, Jacob Hoffman, he budgeted much of the expense into his classroom budget. “The kids pay for their own tickets to the game,” band teacher and show choir coach Kristi-Hiles Smith said. “If the kids have money in their individual account, they can use that to help de...
Kimball FFA celebrated the 2016-17 Greenhand ceremony on Friday, Dec. 15 at the Harry E. McNees Auditorium and in the school's agriculture building. The ceremony is called the Greenhand Ceremony as it marks a member's first year with the leadership organization. These members get their greenhand pins and mark their year with a painted hand on the agriculture building wall along with their name. This year the following students received this award: Nicole Delaplane, Carli Wurdeman, Lane...
Though the Potter-Dix girls are still missing teammate Audrey Juelfs, and were also missing starting guard Payge Hoffman during the rivalry game against Leyton, they added another win to their season, bringing them to 3-2. According to coach Jeff Einspahr, the Lady Coyotes played very well against the Lady Warriors on Tuesday, Dec. 13. "We had to adjust to playing against a defense designed to take away one of our strengths, our inside presence of Alexus Rozelle and Trinity Langley," Einspahr...
The Potter-Dix Coyotes hosted their rival team, the Layton Warriors on Tuesday, Dec. 13 for a 62-32 loss. The Coyotes varsity team was outnumbered and outscored, but not for a lack of effort. Leading the Coyotes on the board was junior Connor Williams, who bucketed four out of five treys totaling 12 points. Dylan Nielsen hit one trey out of seven attempts and added three two-point field goals and two from the line, adding 11 to the board. Senior Tyrus Gawith added seven points and Michael Steele contributed two. The Potter-Dix boys struggled ag...
Thanks to Mother Nature, no school sports to report on this week. The terrible cold and nasty weather forced most all of the area schools to call off the scheduled activities although most will be re-scheduled for a later date. I do have a date for the Kimball-Hershey basketball games that were post-poned last Friday evening and will now be played on February 11, 2017. The Saturday night game with Bayard that was also called off has not been re-scheduled as of yet. Kimball also chose not to travel to Sidney on Saturday for wrestling, although...