Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 239
With the current setbacks and issues affecting HealthCare.gov, county hospitals are left wondering whether or not the new health insurance marketplaces will be effective in helping residents receive affordable coverage. According to a report by The Washington Post, Quality Software Services, Inc., has been charged with taking over management of HealthCare.gov in order to fix the website to create a smoother process for U.S. citizens to select insurance plans. Among the problems impacting the...
When Blain Schilreff started the process of gathering donations to buy long time Kimball resident Caroljo Nagel a new car, it was merely just a small dream, a small act he believed could dispel the darkness permeating the news and the nation in general. However, as time has gone by and donations have poured in, it is clear that the seemingly small act reflects something much bigger than simply the kindness shown for the cause at hand. It wasn’t until the morning of November 1 that the scope of the project truly hit Schilreff while he was b...
The Nebraska Farm Bureau is refocusing their efforts in order to better educate the general population about their organization. The Nebraska Farm Bureau is a general volunteer farm organization which has various different types of farmers and ranchers as members throughout the state who raise all different types of commodities, according to Craig Head, Vice President of Issue Management. "Out in this part of the state, there are sugar beats, dry beans, there's corn out here obviously. We...
For most residents, Halloween is a time to dress up in pop culture costumes and go door-to-door trick or treating and gorge on candy as the night winds down. However, for the Meyers, it's a time to break out boxes upon boxes of decorations and give the people of Kimball another great show. Don and Carol Meyer, who reside at 501 South Adams Street, spend each holiday season hanging lights and placing a plethora of props on their lawn in order to celebrate certain holidays. "Ever since we've been...
At the heart of Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts campaign is a focus on education. Ricketts, who previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of TD Ameritrade and national committeeman for the Republican National Committee, decided to run for governor, because he feels that it will give him the opportunity to bring about change and address issues that may have fallen by the wayside in recent years. “As governor, you actually have an opportunity to work with people and make a difference in people’s lives. We have a great his...
The Kimball/Banner County Farm Bureau held their annual meeting at the Kimball Event Center Thursday, October 14. Members of the Kimball/Banner Farm Bureau piled into the Meadowlark room of the event center where they enjoyed a dinner prepared by the event center staff before the meeting was called to order. Along with the regular members of the local Farm Bureau, notable guests also attended the annual meeting including Nebraska State Senator Tom Carlson, who had spent the day in Sidney at a meeting concerning water issues. “I’m a friend of...
Poor test scores in the lower levels of the Kimball Public School system have resulted in warnings from the Department of Education, stating that the local education system is not meeting the federal accountability standard. The lack of meeting the federal standard has pushed Mary Lynch Elementary into being identified as a School in Need of Assistance (SINA), a designation that occurs when a school fails to meet the standards for a given area at the grade level two years in a row. However,...
Marketing Hometown America held its kickoff event at the Kimball Event Center Thursday, October 10. A modest crowd of local residents sat in the Meadowlark Room in the Event Center as Connie Hancock, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Educator, kicked off the meeting with an explanation for the project. “The Vice Chancellor of the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources has charged all of us within the university, particularly the College of Ag and Natural Resources and Extension to work on changing the demographics of the state of N...
The City Council approved the use of Keno funds to us towards the beautification of the Kimball Recycling Center at their October 17 meeting. The city awarded $15,000 dollars in Keno funds to the project to revamp the appearance of the exterior of the Recycling Center in hopes to make it appear more attractive to passersby, according to City Administrator Daniel Ortiz. “It’s more of a beautification project, ensuring that we have concrete put in to make it last longer but also to create a nice a...
Although results from the Nebraska State of Schools report indicate positive trends throughout much of the state, the numbers offer little comfort to the Kimball Public School system. The annual Nebraska Department of Education report focuses on the results of state testing students participate in each year. In then compares and ranks schools based on the students’ scores. According to Kimball Public Schools Superintendent Marshall Lewis, though Kimball is not quite at the bottom of the barrel,...
Standing in the middle of downtown Kimball as the sunlight bounces off the windows of the businesses, one can’t help but notice the vacant lot where the Corner Bar used to sit and the dilapidated signs randomly hanging near the buildings downtown that used to house the businesses of old, businesses that have long faded from the public memory. The story of Kimball and its businesses is one of humble beginnings and booms throughout the years that have left it still standing nearly 128 years l...
Saturday morning started off with a chill as the starter pistol went ‘pop’ in the distance and runners started trudging down the pavement of 2nd Street for the annual ‘Fun Run’. The sound of feet pounding the pavement as the runners headed towards Gotte Park served as a gentle morning melody that resounded through Kimball. As runners passed the corner of 2nd and Myrtle, their bodies appeared as mere silhouettes as they passed under the shade of the trees while the sun beat down on the train c...
Local resident, Jessica Williams, daughter of Daniel and Rose Ellen Williams, has earned the title of 3rd top Girl Scout Cookie seller in the entire state of Nebraska. Williams, 14, has been a girl scout since she was in the fourth grade and is one of 44 girls scouts who sold over 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in 2013, leading the Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska council to create a ‘1,000 club’. Previously, the council’s top recognition level was for girls selling 500 boxes. “It’s pretty cool, because there are only 44 people who got into...
The Kimball Community Theater’s melodrama “The Dastardly Doctor Devereaux” served as a perfect cap to the Farmers Day festivities Saturday night. The production, directed by Tom O’Brien, was put on in the Plains Historical Society Museum in front of a packed house of local residents. “The Dastardly Doctor Devereaux” takes place in the emergency room of the Hanover D. Cash Clinic where Dr. Dogsbreath Devereaux, played by O’Brien, and his accomplice Nurse Hilda Hatchett, played by Aida Williams...
With overcrowding in Nebraska state prisons reaching a critical point, state officials are seeking ways to reform the system. According to a report by the Omaha World-Herald, Nebraska state prisons are currently resting near 151 percent capacity. As of June 30, the nine major state prison facilities throughout the state housed 4,796 inmates. However, they are only designed to hold 3,175. Other states such as Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and South Carolina, which have faced the same problem of...
The Kimball Board of Education received the Outstanding Board Award during the Area Membership Meeting at the Gering Civic Center on August 28. The award was presented to the board by the Nebraska Association of School Boards, and Board of Directors and staff. The board received the honor on behalf of their "volunteer time and commitment to education", according to a press release from the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Superintendent Marshall Lewis recalls the moment that he realized...
After 33 years serving as a teacher in Canada, Australia, Mexico, and five of the U.S. states including Alaska, local resident Carmen Perkins feels she finally knows what leads to making sure that students are successful in the classroom. "I wanted to find out just what it was, the common denominator for learning in children. It's very simple: love and discipline. They thrived on it," Perkins said. Perkins, who was born in Kimball in 1935, spent the early years of her life as a migrant worker...
With the rail spur project completely stagnant and many new businesses failing to keep their doors open during tough economic times, many are pondering the question of just what has the potential to revitalize Kimball and bring new faces to the community. However, in recent years, local organizations have been turning their focus to a staple of day-to-day life in the Panhandle in hopes of jumpstarting the local economy: wind. The idea of harnessing wind energy in order to reduce harmful...
Recently there have been a few changes to how properties in Kimball County have been coded for tax purposes for the 2013 tax season. Some properties previously believed to be within city limits have been rezoned to fall into the property of the county, according to Kimball County Assessor Debra Huff. "This last year I started looking at the city limits to make sure that we have everything coded correctly, because if you're outside the city limits you have less of a tax rate so I started taking...
A recent update on the rail spur project that has long been in development by the City of Kimball gave little comfort to local residents who have waited years for its completion. According to Mayor James Schnell, the project, as it stands, cannot move forward as initially planned. “No matter what we do, we’re starting basically from the very start again,” Schnell said. In a statement read by Schnell at the start of the meeting, the state of the rail spur project became quite clear when considering the construction bids the city had recei...
With the sports season in full swing at the Kimball Jr./Sr. High School, local residents and young athletes alike turn their attention to the excitement on and off the field as players battle for a every yard and the fans in the stand cheer on their team dressed in red showing their Longhorn pride. However, there is one aspect of the local sports that often goes overlooked. That area being concussions. According to NSAA Assistant Director Ron Higdon, the organization has spent the past few...
Since the resignation of Jeanette Rabender from the post of Executive Director of the Kimball/Banner County Chamber of Commerce earlier this year, many have wondered what will become of the chamber and how it will move forward. According to Chamber of Commerce Board President Jennifer Provance, the chamber board has been taking time to reevaluate and reorganize the chamber. "We still are not ready to hire a director. Where we're at is trying to refocus on what our mission is. We did have a...
Looking at the grasslands along the interstate, passersby and residents alike can witness the effects of the current drought plaguing the state of Nebraska. You can see it in the brittle, wilted leaves of grass that have become completely divorced from their ideal color of green and the rest of the plains sheered in a hue of light brown, parched in the unforgiving heat of the sun to a point that would leave one questioning whether or not they could ever be resurrected. However, now with the...
The City Council voted to accept the changes proposed by the Cemetery Board regarding the rules and regulations of the Kimball Cemetery at their meeting Thursday, August 22. The most noticeable change to the rules and regulations concerning the cemetery concerned the visitation hours. "It's going to open all the time with the proposed changes," City council member Ann Warner said. Kimball Police Chief Darren Huff was hesitant to support the idea of leaving the cemetery unlocked at all hours of the night because of the chance of increased...
Alan Held, Kimball Junior/ Senior High School agriculture and welding instructor, recently attended the 11th annual DuPont NATAA in Chesapeake Farms in Chestertown, Maryland in July of this year where he attended and completed the Ag academy to become one of 288 teachers to earn the title of ag ambassador. Held considers the experience to have been very beneficial but admits that it is not something he originally planned to take part in. "NATAA sends out an application form. I actually didn't fill it out to begin with just because your summer...