Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 239
The Banner County boys just weren’t able to hold off the Indians’ pressure in their game Friday, January 12. “We played three and half quarters, and we just got tired. We were there. We just made mental mistakes,” Wildcats’ Head Coach Jim Wyatt said. The Wildcats struggled offensively at the beginning of the game, unable to get on the board until 4:18 left to go in the first quarter with a drive by Kadan Huber off a pass from Brenton Soule. However, their defense was strong, keeping the Indians from penetrating into the paint for easy scor...
There was still some concern at the County Commissioners meeting January 3 over where the money for the Visitors Committee budget and means to pay the salary of the new Tourism Director comes from--existing funds or taxes levied on local residents. According to Carinda McConnell, the Visitor’s Committee budget to pay the new Tourism Director, Jo Caskey, comes primarily from lodging tax which Kimball County collects as a result of the Nebraska Visitors Development Act, which became law in 1980. “There is some confusion, and people think that it...
The Rail Spur project, which has been in the works for eight to ten years, may have new life according to Economic Development Director Larissa Binod. “I’m working on a strategic marketing strategy. I’m working with CRS Advance. They are the engineering firm that we are working with now. They have a marketing component and recruitment component to their profession. Before, we were just working with an engineer,” Binod said. According to Binod, CRS Advance could be crucial to getting the rail spur project and industry park off the ground....
New Kimball City Administrator Daniel Ortiz started work Monday January 7. Ortiz comes from Casa Grande, Arizona where he served in the City Manager’s office for the the past three and a half years. He also served as a research assistant for the Alliance Renovation. “It’s an organization of local governments. Their goal is to be innovators and be able to promote the best practices and come up with new practices in the local government. “ Ortiz said. Though Ortiz has spent the past few years in smaller communities, he spent the early years of hi...
The Board of County Commissioners voted to go with the bid from the CAT representative to purchase a CAT motor grader in their January 3 meeting. The motion to accept the bid came from Commissioner Larry Brower. “As far as graders, I can’t say that any grader is better than the other. They’re both very equal. CAT’s a little bit higher, but they’re benefit package is a little better. The trade in value seems to be better. We haven’t tried CAT for a while, but I would like to try the new CAT,” Brower said. Commissioner Nolting seconded the...
The new Tourism Director for Kimball, Jo Caskey, came to town this week to look at homes and meet members of the town. Caskey comes from Lake Havasu City, Arizona where she has lived for the past 20 months. However, this isn’t the first time Caskey has lived in the state. “I’ve lived in Nebraska before. I love the Midwest. I grew up all over the Midwest, and I’ve lived in the high plains. I’m very familiar with the area. For me, it’s coming home. It’s not going elsewhere. To me, it’s a good fit,” Caskey said. Before coming to Kimball, Caskey h...
The Mary Lynch Elementary 5th graders will once again be participating in the Stock Market Game which is held throughout the year by the Nebraska Council on Economic Education under the advisement of 5th Grade Teacher Laurie Janicek. “The Game entails that the teams begin the simulation with $100,000 to invest. They must invest in at least five different stocks, and they have to purchase 100 shares in each stock. They also need a majority to make a purchase on any stock,” Janicek said. The 5th...
South Platte came out swinging at Potter-Dix on Saturday night. The Knights banged out a 7 point lead in the first few minutes of the game. But the Coyotes weren’t shaken by the sudden onslaught. “I was a little worried, but I had confidence in our team,” Bryant Knigge said. “I knew we’d come back.” Things quickly shifted for the Coyotes when they switched to a full court man defense putting more pressure on the Knights causing turnovers that led to easy drives down the court allowing the Coyotes to end the first quarter with a one point lead...
The Coyotes held a consistent lead throughout their game against the South Platte Knights January 5. Potter-Dix took the advantage early on, with Amanda Maas putting them on the board on a pass from Conner Wolff with 7:30 to go in the first quarter. The Coyotes increased their lead near the end of the first quarter with a three point play by Kaidee Livingstone, who was able to bank in a shot while drawing a foul from South Platte’s Grace Kotschwar leaving the score at 11-5. The second quarter s...
A fire occurred at 209 South Elm Street early Sunday morning, December 30. According to Kimball Fire Chief Rick Wynne, the fire started around 12:30 a.m. “It burned and smoldered all night. We got the call around 7:00 a.m. We responded with two pumpers and our equipment truck. We had about 12 men on the scene,” Wynne said. Fire fighters were on the scene until approximately 10:20 a.m. battling the blaze, according to Wynne. There were no injuries as the owners were in the process of remodeling and were not staying in the house at the time. How...
“Welcome back,” Mayor James Schnell said to Darlene and Gary Goff as they stepped forward to comment to the City Council December 19 on their recent liquor license application for Woody’s Liquor. The mayor’s comment stems from the fact that, though Darlene and Gary Goff have recently purchased Woody’s Liquor store which sits at 208 East 3rd Street in Kimball, it is not the first time they have actually owned the business. “We had the business for about 11 or 13 years before and then we closed it out for six,” Goff said. According to Darlene, t...
The Veteran’s Service Committee has recently looked into a system that could potentially make the process of obtaining benefits easier for military veterans. “It is a server program which has every form for State and Federal Veteran’s benefits on a computer. It will enable CVSO to process claims in a much more efficient manner. In the same token, you will eliminate a lot of paperwork,” County Veteran’s Service Officer, Ron Scott said. Once veterans’ records are entered into the system, the program would allow for veterans’ basic information t...
The Kimball County Board of Commissioners looked over bids for the purchase of a new motor grader at their meeting the morning of December 18. The first bid was for a CAT M2 Motor Grader. The Grader would allow a trade in of a current grader for $34,000 with a $5,700 parts credit leaving the total cost of the machine at $191,143. The grader also has a 5,000 hour/5 year total machine warranty. The second bid was for a John Deere 770G Motor Grader with a list price of $215,892. The John Deere bid would allow for a $47,000 trade-in. However, with...
The Kimball Volunteer Fire Department had a relatively busy year according to Fire Chief Rick Wynn’s year-end report to the City Council at their meeting on December 19. In total, the Fire Department had 55 calls putting in 1,068 volunteer hours which consisted of 11 city calls, 38 rule board calls, four mutual aid calls to Dix and two mutual aid calls to Bushnell. According to Wynn, the number of rule board calls, which include Interstate calls, could have been much higher if the state had not taken preventative measures in recent years to c...
The Plains Historical Society which has worked to put a fence around the old high school on highway 30 here in Kimball has set a date for the project’s completion. The fence is scheduled to be completed by June 13. The reason for the process taking longer than usual is the fact that the fence is being put up by volunteers according to Glynn Felkins, President of the Plains Historical Society. “All the material for the fence is there. All the work is being done by volunteers so we have to work around their schedule. Weather can also slow tha...
The Visitor’s Committee presented their choice candidate for the position of County Tourism Director to the Kimball County Board of Commissioners the morning of December 18. After receiving three applications and interviewing two candidates the Visitor Committee has chosen to recommend Jo Caskey to be appointed for the position. “We were looking for someone who can take initiative to generate our tourism industry with strong communication skills, directing ability, and someone who is very team driven since we have three different entities tha...
The Kimball Junior High will be introducing a new program in order to aid students with troubled grades in the second half of the school year. The program named Extended Learning Time will be a mandatory after school study hall for kids who fall on the D or F list. The study hall will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday with kids falling on the D or F lists to attend ELT for at least one week. “We’re targeting the seventh and eighth grade. All students who have a D or an F would be affected by this. They would be ask...
After a long discussion over the past few meetings, the Board of Public Works has decided not to apply city funds toward acquiring an electric car for the city of Kimball in their meeting December 11. The decision not to move forward with the electric car for Kimball comes from uncertainty pertaining to how it could be put to use to benefit the city. “I think it is the right thing. I just wish I felt more confident that it was something we could really use,” Chairperson Jim Cederburg said. City Administrator Harold Farrar had applied for a gra...
The Board of Public Works voted to adopt a resolution that will change the landlord deposit policy for utilities in the city of Kimball. The new policy will change the previous policy for landlords from paying a $100 dollar utility deposit per rental unit to a $200 floating ceiling deposit for all rental properties contained in one location. Under the previous policy landlords would have to pay a $100 deposit for each residential rental property without a limit on the cost to the landlord. As stated on the resolution itself, the purpose of the...
Kim Baliman received recognition and thanks at her last meeting as Council President at the City Council meeting on December 4. “You’ve done a lot for us here on the board, also for the community. You’ve helped chair several of our clean up projects where we’ve got the citizenship really involved along with the Keep Kimball Beautiful project that we do each Spring. That has really been a success in my mind,” Mayor James Schnell said. Baliman received a gift for her service to the council, and even in her final moments sitting on the council,...
With Pamida Stores being closed down for good across the state of Nebraska, Shopko has come to the city of Kimball. According to Shopko Manager Marcus Wood, customers will see a big difference in the items the store carries. “We have a much higher quality product now. We have name brand clothing, fishing and hunting supplies. We’ll also carry name brand electronics such as LG, and we’ll now carry name brand shoes such as Nike, New Balance, and Reebok. We’ll have a very good line of just about e...
The Banner County Wildcats put up a fight against the Leyton Warriors, ultimately being overcome in their loss at home December 14. The Wildcats showed promise in the first quarter, with Mike McKown, putting the Wildcats on the board with a three pointer, edging them ahead 3-2 with 6:43 to go in the first quarter. The Warriors started pulling away near the end of the first, sneaking passes behind the Wildcats’ defense for easy layups. The visitors also started anticipating the Wildcats p...
The Leyton Warriors gave Banner County trouble from the very beginning of the game in their victory over the Wildcats Friday night. The Warriors put pressure on Wildcats’ point guard Amanda Harrison from the start of the first quarter through a full court press that kept trapping her near mid-court. The visitors started to build their lead early scattering the Wildcats defense by swinging the ball causing open drives to the hoop resulting in a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. “We still need to improve a lot at seeing the whole court a...
The City Council voted in favor to recommend a Class C liquor license application put forth by Bob Hinton concerning Mad Dog’s Sports Bar for approval by the state. The council heard comments from Hinton who assured the council that if granted the license, he would make sure that no complications arose from it. “This is strictly a landlord-tenantship between Tom Williams and I. If I do feel like that is violated, I will pull this license myself. I will not be dictated. I’m trying to make an establishment that could be good for people to go to...
Chief of Police Mark Simpson stood in front of the City Council the night of December 4, to ask for support for the Shop with a Cop program by way of a $4,500 grant. “Before you make a decision,” he said, “I want to tell you two stories.” Simpson went on to tell the council of a little girl who took the money given to her through the program the previous year and bought presents for all of her family, excluding herself completely. “The whole time she kept saying, ‘I would have never been able t...