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 239
The Kimball Police Department and the Kimball County Sheriff’s department were called to Motel Kimball Saturday night to investigate a report of terroristic threats that ultimately led to the arrest of two suspects. “There was a complaint of a terroristic threats made, the party was at Motel Kimball. The officer on duty requested assistance to back him up going and speaking to this individual. We proceeded to do so, and they did find a small amount of what they expected to be methamphetamine,” Sheriff Harry Gillway said. Bo Fernandez a.k.a...
The County Commissioners will allow the Visitors Committee to pursue property after hearing the result of research into purchasing the old Burger King building near I-80 for the purpose of converting it into the new High Point Welcome Center. According to County Tourism Director Jo Caskey, she and her team met with the owner of the property Friday, March 29, in order to discuss possible options for leasing or buying the building. “He made a fairly generous offer to do the property as a contract for deed. He’s willing to amortize the deal at...
Kimball Police Chief Mark Simpson, who has served the city of Kimball for approximately two years, is under investigation by city officials, according to Mayor James Schnell. “The Kimball County Sheriff asked Simpson to go on administrative leave because he made accusations,” Schnell said. “I have to do an investigation with City Administrator Ortiz to find out if they are of merit. We will do what the law requires and investigate.” The investigation stems from a letter received by the City of Kimball sent by Sheriff Harry Gillway proclai...
Kimball’s County Commissioners approved a motion to pursue more information on the establishment of a visitors center after hearing a presentation from Tourism Director Jo Caskey. The location currently being considered by Caskey is the old Burger King building that currently sits by the Interstate. “This building is excellent there. The infrastructure is in place. The property is available for lease or purchase. It includes a large paved parking area on 4.9 acres,” Caskey said. The location would serve as the new High Point Welcoming Cente...
George Risk Industries, Inc. has chosen their replacement for former President and Chairman of the Board Ken Risk, who passed away February 27 after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. Stephanie Risk-McElroy, Ken Risk’s daughter, was chosen by GRI’s Board of Directors to take over the position on March 5. “I’ve kind of been trained to do his job for several years, and I just kind of fell into it. It’s stuff I’ve done already. It’s just signing off on some higher level purchases, an...
A Wyoming man wanted for felony warrants in Laramie County, Wyoming was arrested here in Kimball last week. Matthew Michael Huelsman, 37, wanted on three felony warrants for stalking, one for burglary, and a misdemeanor for a probation violation with an original charge of battery, and a second warrant violation for a protection order, was taken into custody by Sergeant Brandon Loy of the Kimball County Sheriff’s Office. Huelsman was considered dangerous. Surprisingly, the arrest stemmed from a Facebook post by Laramie County law enforcement t...
Kimball law enforcement was led on a pursuit that ended in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming last Wednesday, February 27. According to Kimball Chief of Police Mark Simpson, the pursuit started out as a child abduction. “It was the father taking his son, and a pursuit ensued. We followed the vehicle to Pine Bluffs. Pine Bluffs PD joined in and was able to stop the individual,” Simpson said. The suspect in the pursuit, though a name has not been disclosed by local authorities, was confirmed to have a restraining order in effect against them at the time of the...
The City Council awarded a $1,500 grant to the Accelerated Reader Program at the Kimball Junior-Senior High School at their February 19 meeting. The Accelerated Reader Program focuses on increasing literacy among students, assisting teachers with their curriculum, and contributing to students’ joy of reading. The program is overseen by 7th and 8th grade teacher Lani Heeg. “You take books from the library and books from home, and if there is an accelerated reader test on the system that we have, you take a comprehension test over it. If you get...
The City of Kimball has parted ways with Economic Development Director Larissa Binod. Binod, who has worked as Economic Development Director for the City of Kimball since November 1, 2011, was terminated from her position on February 13. “I went in to the office to have a discussion to formalize the agreement to move forward with the rail spur process. In the discussion and conversation, the hand writing was on the wall, and by the time I left that office, I no longer had a job,” Binod said. According to Binod, her termination stems from a diff...
The Board of Education has started the process of finding a replacement for departing Superintendent of Kimball Public Schools Troy Unzicker. The board held a meeting in the DL room of Kimball Junior-Senior High School Friday, February 15, in order to decide upon a search firm to do the leg work in lining up candidates for the position during which time they were given a presentation by Don Hague and Jeff West of McPherson and Jacobson, LLC. Hague and West emphasized the benefits of hiring a local firm for the job. “We’re right here. We...
The wind turbine that was placed at the Kimball High School is now up and running. According to teacher Alan Held, since the turbine was officially turned on February 6 at 7:00 a.m., it has produced a modest amount of electricity for the school, more specifically Held’s shop which is located right beside the turbine. “It’s produced 122.1 kilowatt hours. This building alone uses about 8,000 kilowatt hours a month. It’s not going to power the entire building, but all the electricity will be used in this building,” Held said. Though the electrici...
A public hearing was held at the Board of County Commissioners meeting the morning of February 19, to decide whether or not to approve the Conditional Use Permit Application from High West Energy to add a communication tower within the HWE substation located on County Road 54 in Kimball County. The primary concern of the board was whether or not the communication tower met the regulations in place for a conditional use permit. “One of the stipulations in a conditional use permit for communication towers is that the height of a communication t...
I have often heard warnings in my time about the obvious dangers of the world. Don’t walk alone at night in a strange neighborhood. Don’t play with fire. Don’t give out personal information on the internet. If a stranger offers you candy, don’t get in the van. Some warnings I have ignored (the candy was worth it by the way), but there is one danger that often gets overlooked: complacency. Too often I hear people say the words “good enough.” Some of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever seen made by friends, acquaintances and even myself have all star...
The process of getting the old oil derrick put back up has gotten one more step closer to reaching its completion. The Parks and Recreation Executive Board met February 13 to discuss whether or not to move forward with the location set aside for the oil derrick. City Council member John Morrison, who has been active in getting the oil derrick put back up, opened the conversation with a brief history of events that have taken place in the past few months concerning the oil derrick. The process to get the derrick put back up started with a...
The Board of County Commissioners has approved to authorize their signatures on the Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Nebraska Department of Verteran’s Affairs and Kimball County for the implementation of the VETRASPEC program at the request of Kimball County Veterans Service Center. The VETRASPEC program is a secure web-based application that will potentially make the process of obtaining benefits easier for military veterans. It contains every form for State and Federal Veteran’s benefits and will enable Veterans Service off...
The fate of West Elementary was decided by the Board of Education at their February 11 meeting. The decision was made to close West Elementary at the end of the school year. Discussion of West Elementary started with a statement from Kimball resident and former City Council President Kim Baliman who tried to get the board to reconsider closing West. “I hope there’s a way to keep West Elementary open. I think that school is designed perfectly for the kids.I would hate to see them moved into one building unless there’s nothing else that can b...
The Board of Education accepted the resignation of current Superintendent of Kimball Public Schools Troy Unzicker at their February 11 meeting. Unzicker will be leaving Kimball Public Schools at the end of the current school year in order to take over as Superintendent in Alliance, Nebraska. “Alliance appeared to me to be a similar situation to Kimball, a lot of community support. They’re a little farther advanced than us in the technology process within the school. They have things they’re ahead of us, and they have things where they...
The Longhorn Restaurant has officially closed its doors for the last time, at least under the most recent owners. The restaurant closed last week due to financial concerns, according to former employee Kim Randles. “We want to thank all of the customers who came in. We tried. We just couldn’t keep it going,” Randles said. The Longhorn Restaurant had re-opened in November of last year after being shut down abruptly by then owners Arnie and Louise Jay following a dispute with the city over the pace of repairs to the structure. A for sale sign...
It starts in the stairwell of an office building with guns drawn. You charge up the stairs with other officers in tow. A gun shot thunders in the distance as screams start to swell, echoing throughout the hallway. With each step, the shots get louder, the screams more piercing. Your heart starts to race as you clench your gun trying to prepare for what horrors await you ahead. As you approach the door, there’s a moment of calming silence before you turn to see a woman about to execute a hostage. You shoot the captor and as she falls, elation se...
Roses are red, Violets are blue, Was there no better thought in your head, Than to simply buy a card that says “I love you”? Let me start out by saying I like Valentine’s Day. I always have. Perhaps it’s because it is a day when people give you candy, and I was a fat child. However, as years go by, this holiday is getting more and more unbearable. It’s not because of the commercials and not because of the candy (I apparently still have a problem), but rather it is the Valentine’s Day cards. I know that there are people who are paid to phrase t...
At the heart of any good business is a focus on quality and a belief in the product. There’s certainly no lack of that at American Bullet. American Bullet is exclusively a Kimball business that located at 4360 E. Highway 30 here in town. According to American Bullet Director of Sales Kim Baliman, quality is the primary focus in the manufacturing of their product. “We hand check every bullet which we’re really proud of. We’re not the cheapest bullet out there, and we don’t try to be,” Baliman said. The process of making the bullets consists of...
The Kimball Police Department will be holding a course on women’s combat skills at the Kimball Junior-Senior High School on March 30 and April 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. “It’s going to be ten hours of training for physical conflict with an assailant. It teaches a woman the necessary skills to defend herself against the most anti-social members of our society,” Captain Darren Huff said of the course. According to Captain Huff, one of the primary goals of the course is to change people’s mental state from condition white to condition yellow. ...
The old troubles of Mad’s Dog’s Sports Bar have come to an end as previous owner Greg Reinninger has signed away any part in the business including anything that was left behind when the business closed down. “I signed everything over to Tom Williams. I was looking through my paperwork, and everything that was left behind belongs to Tom. I originally thought that the liquor was mine, but the paper that I signed included all the inventory,” Reinninger said. Reinninger expresses that he has no desire to pursue anything further with Mad Dog’s S...
Superintendent Troy Unzicker had little room to maneuver as he stood in front of a crowd of concerned citizens the night of January 30, at McNees Auditorium to discuss the fate of West Elementary. "We're all reluctant to close the building," Unzicker said. "But we don't see a lot of options." Unzicker started the forum by explaining the school's financial situation, and what would be needed to keep the public school system afloat. "Right now, I still look at being approximately $200,000 short in paying our bills. What that means is our...
Kimball's City Council heard updates on the city's nuisance abatement properties by Police Chief Mark Simpson at their meeting February 5. According to Simpson, the property located at 207 S. Walnut Street, owned by Mike Schadegg, has shown improvement since the last city council meeting. "He's gotten rid of a lot of the scrap iron. He's gotten rid of a lot of tires. He said he'll have another load of tires leaving shortly. He has moved several vehicles. He's done some stuff, and he has cleaned up quite a bit back there. It's not as messy or...