Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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The Kimball County Commissioners met in regular session on Jan. 21, addressing items tabled from the Jan. 9 meeting and new issues on the current agenda. The County Holiday Schedule for 2025 was approved. The county will recognize 15 holidays by closing the courthouse, including Dec. 24 and 25. Those same days have been declared holidays by the state and federal government. A short discussion occurred about Juneteeth. It was described as a National Independence Day celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate ending slavery in the United...
Christy Warner, KCTS administrator, and members of the KCTS Advisory Board met with the Kimball County Commissioners on Jan 2. The commissioners requested an update on KCTS to review policies and procedures, and discuss a succession plan and the success of the advisory board. Warner’s numbers show a significant increase in rides from the fiscal year 2023-24 to July to December in fiscal year 2024-25. The monthly increase in total rides range from 300 to over 1,500 from 2023-24 to the first six months of 2024-25. The informational chart b...
How Kimball Health Services staff would respond to a tornado damaging half of the new Kimball hospital and a surge of incoming patients was the focus of a panhandle-wide disaster exercise on Friday. The exercise involved a dozen healthcare-related agencies in a simulated tornado outbreak including several hospitals, public health departments, emergency medical services, emergency management agencies, long-term care facilities and others. For Kimball's part, 18 staff on the hospital's Hospital...
Bryant Knigge was raised and played sports in the Kimball and Potter-Dix area, although now he is assistant coach and director of analytics and scouting for the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks in Durango, Colorado. Unless you are a basketball scholar and fanatic, you may wonder what basketball analytics is. As the Skyhawks prepare to head to the Denver area to play three games this week – the 23rd with Colorado Christian University, then the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and Jan. 30 a...
People from Kimball and surrounding areas showed up in droves for breakfast and the silent auction benefiting Brigsley Hinton and her parents, Trevan and Hope. Nine-month old Brigsley and her parents are forced to repeatedly travel to Denver for treatment of a low grade brain tumor at Children's Hospital. Brigsley was diagnosed at four months and has been receiving chemotherapy in the hopes of reducing the tumor. Unfortunately, the tumor has not shown signs of reduction and a new type of chemo...
The installation of three board members was the first order of business at the 2025 Kimball School Board meeting. Britni Toth, Landon Smith, and Taylor Brown took their oath of office, and then the board got down to doing the business of the school district. During the reorganization, Travis Cook was once again elected as the board president, with Jennifer Griebel as vice-president, Tom O’Brien as secretary, and Britni Toth, treasurer. Superintendent Trevor Anderson noted two significant bills when the board bills were discussed. Anderson m...
The process to rejuvenate the wastewater treatment plant continues to move forward as the Kimball City Council approved Resolution #01-2025. The council approved this resolution to file an application with USDA Rural Development for a 40 year loan in the amount of $5,863,000 to finance the wastewater treatment plant improvements. The $5,863,000 includes the improvement project, legal fees, the central beltway interceptor, and interceptor-contingencies and inflation. Wastewater expert Doug...
The first Kimball County Commissioner meeting of 2025 was held on Thursday, January 9 at 9:00 a.m. David Hottell was sworn in as Kimball County Commissioner, replacing Carl Stander for the four-year term. The regular commissioner meeting followed the swearing-in, with many items tabled due to Elyse Lukassen's absence. While commissioner appointments to various boards and committees were tabled, Rich Flores was elected Board Chairman, and Elyse Lukassen was voted vice-chairman. The appointments...
Kim Randles lived at 208 N. Elm St. for the past 31 years. On Monday, Dec 29, at 6:45 a.m., she lost her home and she is unclear where she go after Jan 16. The Kimball Volunteer Fire Department and a local resident have paid for her hotel room until Jan 16. According to Randles, she is still suffering from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning from the fire. She said she is experiencing body pains and difficulty breathing. When she awoke the fire was consuming the camper and she escaped to...
Kimball resident Shirley Kinnison, 91, has a heart for recycling. Her passion runs deep and has been going on for more than 40 years. Shirley sees the whole picture. She said, "It is so important when you stop to think about the number of people and compare that to Omaha or Denver. I can't believe how much one person, like myself, has to recycle. Then think of a family and then the whole town." Shirley would like to see people rewarded for recycling, even on a small scale, to make people feel...
In 2006, after a four-year battle against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Doug and Patty Shaw lost their oldest son, Andy, to this horrible cancer. At 20 years old, when he was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, he lived life to the fullest during his fight to the end. Andy had repeated rounds of chemo, two stem cells procedures, and other treatments. Andy’s family started the Andy Shaw Memorial Cancer Fund in 2008 to help local cancer patients with travel expenses. As Patty said, “Insurance doesn’t cover travel, hotels and meals, and we live in...
Breakfast will be served at the Eagles in downtown Kimball on Sunday, Jan. 12 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. The breakfast, in conjunction with a silent auction. will help with medical, travel and expenses for 9-month-old Brigsley Hinton, daughter of Trevan and Hope Hinton. At four months of age, Brigsley was diagnosed with a low grade brain tumor. She continues to need medical attention and regularly travels to Denver. Silent auction items will be available for live bidding during the breakfast. On Monday evening this week, Brigsley’s mom, Hope, p...
With thoughts of a summer vacation in your thoughts, now is the time to apply for a U.S. Passport. A passport is necessary even if you go to Canada, Mexico or on a cruise. After applying for a passport, it will take anywhere from six to 12 weeks to receive it, that is, if everything is filled out accurately and completely on the application form. First-timers will need form DS-11, which can be downloaded or obtained from the Kimball District Court. Visit the website travel.state.gov/citizenship for a downloadable DS-11 form. Kimball District Co...
The Kimball City Council will meet 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, to discuss and vote on the approval of an application for a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development for an upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant. The Board of Public Work has recommended approval of the project. The $5,736,000 loan would be for 40 years at a rate of 3.12%. The update for the wastewater treatment plant is projected to cost that amount and will include replacing the clarifier mechanism and equipment, replacing the weir and scam battles, adding...
The city of Kimball power generation plant is projected to be up and running by June 2025, a proactive step taken by the Board of Public Works and the City Council. Since April 2022, they have jointly met and discussed options, ultimately deciding to move forward with this plant to ensure that the city has backup power and is on standby for MEAN, the organization that Kimball has purchased electricity from since the 1980s,. Annette Brower, city administrator, shared details and background about the new power generation plant with the Observer....
The drones are back in the news, this time in New Jersey and not here. The recent surge in sightings of unidentified drones over New Jersey and other eastern parts of the United States has sparked a wave of speculation and concern. This reality is reminiscent of the drone invasion over Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas in late 2019 and early 2020, leaving residents in New Jersey and beyond puzzled about their origin, purpose, and the entities behind them. According to news reports, the New Jersey drones were first spotted on Nov. 18, appearing...
New faces were approved at the Dec. 17 Kimball City Council meeting for appointments to city boards and commissions. The council approved the appointment of Jack Shaw to fill the open seat on the Board of Public Works, and Aaron Abraham became the newest member to fill the seat on the Planning Commission. In other regular business, Mayor John Morrison signed the State of Nebraska Department of Transportation City Maintenance Agreement renewal, which requires yearly approval. The previously approved development agreement between the City of Kimb...
Two departing Kimball County employees were honored at the County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, December 17. Commissioner Carl Stander and HighwaySuperintendent Randy Bymer are leaving their county positions. Bymer is retiring. Stander will be replaced by former county highway superintendent David Hottell, who was elected to take the seat. Hottell will be sworn into office on Thursday, Jan 9, at 8:30 a.m. Bymer gave his last superintendent update on the highway department, and reported that...
Santa Claus was busy preparing for his return to Banner County this week for his main job – delivering gifts to nice and even some naughty kids – just a few weeks after squeezing in an earlier visit to Harrisburg. That was when, at right, he popped in at the Banner County School sixth grade entrepreneurship event....
Ron Buchart told the Observer that the effort he publicly led to recall Kimball Mayor John Morrison, which began on Oct. 22 and ended on Dec. 12, ended up 70 signatures short of the necessary 280 to force a recall election. Dec 12 was the statutory deadline for signatures to be turned in to the Kimball County Courthouse. Buchart requested the petition that set the recall effort in motion. “We gave it everything we could,” Buchart said. “All of my spare time went into it.” The petitions will be shredded as required by law, he said. The mayor a...
Former Kimball resident Leota Kant was found incompetent to stand trial for a shooting incident on Halloween evening 2023 in Kimball. Kant who was 86 at the time of the shooting recently received a diagnosis of dementia from court appointed Forensic Psychiatrist Klaus Hartmann. Judge Derek Weimer signed the order finding the defendant incompetent on Dec. 13. Kant was charged with attempted murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and discharge of a weapon in city limits. The incident occurred at the Finer Motel on the east edge of Kimball....
Two Kimball City Council meeting took place one Dec. 5, one for the outgoing members and one for the new members. After the consent agenda was approved, Christy Warner received a Presentation of Appreciation for her eight years of service on the council. Meanwhile, Gabe Ingram, who also left the council, was not in attendance to receive his Presentation of Appreciation Award. The meeting was adjourned at 5:01 p.m. The 2023-24 council adjourned and the 2024-25 council was called into session with Jamie Murdoch and Austin Garner taking their...
A whirlwind of activities – from ice cream school to opening Josie's Creamery – describes the past year for Coralee Smith, Josie's owner. The creamery is named after Coralee's first milk cow, Josie. Josie inspired Coralee to begin milking and initially making raw ice cream, which was sold at Farmers Markets. Now, her legacy lives on with the pasteurized premium ice cream made in Burns, Wyo., and delivered to Laramie, Cheyenne, Pine Bluffs and Kimball. Coralee has always dabbled in milk cows and...
The audit for the Kimball School District from Rauner and Associates, P.C. stated that Kimball Public School and Creek Valley Schools are in the best financial position of the 10 districts that they audit in the Panhandle. The audit was reviewed and accepted at Monday evening’s Kimball School Board meeting. On another positive note, the Kimball district was assessed as excellent in the state’s ratings, a status that three districts in the Panhandle received. Mary Lynch Elementary was rated as a great, the junior high was rated as excellent, and...
Sixth graders in Banner County spent a quarter learning introductory skills about business and how to start your own business. Items from the entrepreneurship project were marketed and sold last week at the Banner County Christmas concert. Instructor Cameron Geary explained that the project, which has been a part of the school curriculum for many years, was created by retired business teacher Kari Gifford. The students' journey extended from creating a product, learning the basics of signage,...