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 public hearing for Kimball County's one-and-six year plan for roads opened to a packed room. The main concern on the road improvement plan was Road 59, otherwise known as the Dix road. The county's plan included grinding up seven miles of pavement and returning that part of the road to gravel. County Road Superintendent Randy Bymer explained that there was an additional plan not to tear up the road and do a chip seal project on it. A number of area residents spoke on the issue, including...
The Kimball City Council approved over $36,000 in grant money March 21 to local businesses through the Business Improvement Grant program. Lil Bit of Country, Joe Mejia Insurance, and Ondori Ramen & Sushi were businesses receiving grants. An LB 840 loan was approved to the Friends of the Goodhand Theater for $25,000 to purchase 300 black/red leather reclining/rocking theater chairs. Interviews are being conducted for the open position of the city clerk, and Creg Pike was appointed to serve on the interview committee. Interviews were planned...
Edward Tamsett, an Australian native and a member of the Australian PGA, has signed a contract with the Four Winds Park and Recreation Executive Board to be the next golf pro at Four Winds Golf Course. Tamsett is in the process of obtaining the necessary paperwork to live in the United States and return to Kimball. Tamsett told the Observer that he is 35 years old and was been the head golf professional at Eden Gardens Country Club for the last four years. He and his wife live in Eden, New South Wales, Australia. Tamsett said, “I’m very exc...
Found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of terrorists threats, and the commission of a felony with a firearm, William Shane Serrano will be back in Kimball County Court on May 2 for sentencing. A pre-sentence investigation is being conducted by the probation office. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Serrano is no longer being held in the Kimball County Jail. It took an hour and 20 minutes for the five women and seven men to reach guilty verdicts on four of the five charges in the trial of Serrano, which followed the shooting death...
Mayor John Morrison explained to the Observer the plans that Clean Harbors Inc. has to create a subdivision on 60 acres of land just across Highway 71 from Kimball Ace Hardware and to the west. The division, if it gains needed approvals, would be called "Project Lighthouse" because the term lighthouse is sometime described as being the beginning of a bay. The northeast corner of the subdivision would include Howard Street. Tuesday night, Clean Harbors executive Paul Whiting showed plans for the...
The Unicameral’s Revenue Committee heard testimony March 16 from Kimball city and county officials in support of Legislature Bill 100. LB 100 was introduced by Sen. Steve Erdman, District 47, who used to represent the Kimball area. The bill would amend the ImagiNE Act to allow certain waste treatment and disposal businesses to qualify for tax incentives. Qualifying businesses receive credits based on construction and the number of employees hired. Other available incentives include sales/use tax direct refunds and exemptions and personal p...
Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank are more than a thousand miles from Kimball County’s FirsTier Bank, Points West Community Bank and Kimball State Bank, and their practices and depositors remain as distant as their location. But the question arises here and across the nation: Could the troubles at those distant banks spread elsewhere? These two banks on both coasts have succumbed to financial failure recently; Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York closed their doors on March 10 and March 12, respectively. T...
The trial for William Shane Serrano continues this week in the Kimball County Courthouse. Serrano is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend, Tessa Ghering, in Kimball last year. Other charges against Serrano include terroristic threats, attempted first-degree murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The Tuesday morning trial session ended with the testimony of the 10-year-old son of Serrano and Sheena Erickson. The boy appeared to be mature beyond his years, confident, well-spoken and...
Tiffany LaBeau, the organizer of the feral cats program in Kimball, has provided an update on the March trapping and fixing of cats. The Northern Colorado Friends of Ferals have Saturday evening, March 25, set aside to trap 50 area feral cats, and the ferals will be returned to Kimball on March 26 after being spayed or neutered in Colorado. LaBeau and the Northern Colorado Friends of Ferals are asking for people to refrain from feeding the strays for two days before the 26th. This enables the volunteers to trap the cats much more effortlessly....
On Tuesday at the regular Kimball City Council meeting, the council held two public hearings and approved the special election to place Resolutions 2023-01 and 2023-07 on the special election ballot to be held on June 13. Resolution 2023-01 approved the placing of the City of Kimball Economics Development Sales and Use Tax on a special election ballot and Resolution 2023-07 places the matter of an infrastructure project local sales and use tax on the special election ballot with an increase of an additional 1/2% from the current rate of 1.5% to...
The City of Kimball has decided to move forward with a special election for the City of Kimball Economic Development Sale and Use Tax and an additional one-half percent sales tax increase. A reader posed the question: “How much is the special election going to cost?” Only voters from Wards 1 and 2 will be allowed to participate in the special election, and Kimball County Clerk Cathy Sibal is, as always, in charge of overseeing this local election. According to Sibal, the last city special election was in 2007, and the final bill was $3,094. Sib...
The Kimball School Board met in regular session on Monday evening, March 13. During the recognition of visitors, resident Michelle Barret addressed the board about starting a local beef donation for the school lunch program. Barrett cited that Bridgeport has such a program, and they receive nine culled cows a year that are made into hamburger. The animal has to be taken to a USDA packing plant, but the program is helpful for lunch finances, and local beef is being used. Superintendent Trevor...
The public hearing for the Kimball County's One- and Six-Year Plan, Highway or Street Improvement Project, is scheduled for March 21 to "hear support, opposition, criticism, suggestions, or observation" on the proposed plan. The One Year Plan has four projects – with the largest located on the asphalt road south of Dix and County Road 24. According to Project C53-279 (Priority #4) is going south of Dix four miles, and the start of the project is located approximately seven miles south to the e...
A Collective Gathering in Potter is celebrating 19 years in business and the folks there are excited to begin their 20th year. The unique business venture opened April 1, 2004. The sprawling 2,500 square footage building on Chestnut Street that holds the flea market has 30 booths and 22 different vendors. The flea market is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The business model includes a management team of two and eight volunteers to help work the store every day, all women....
The Unicameral's Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee heard proponents and neutral comments Feb. 23 on LB712, which would allocate a $26 million grant to aid Kimball and the surrounding areas. LB712 was sponsored by Sen. Brian Hardin from the 48th District, which includes Kimball, Banner and Scottsbluff counties. In anticipation of the upgrade of the Minuteman III missiles to the Sentinel system, the funds would be used on infrastructure, water, wastewater system, child care,...
A special election will be held in June for voters to decide on a ½ cent infrastructure sale tax. Kimball City Council members approved in a 3-0 vote to put the ½ cent sales tax on the ballot. Voting for the measure were Gabe Ingram, Creg Pike and Don Muench. The council instructed legal counsel to draft the language and prepare the ballot language for the March meeting. The Kimball County Clerk's Office said that the special election would be held Tuesday, June 13, with...
Kimball High School senior Madison Ebeling has had a senior week to remember. Her cheerleading team placed first in the Class D Non-Tumbling Division at the Nebraska State Cheer and Dance Competition in Grand Island. A week later, Madison was eating lunch with the governor of Nebraska and testifying at a Unicameral committee hearing. Madison said, "The best part of the LB712 trip was having lunch with the governor, Jim Pillen." She explained that Gov. Pillen provided a little history of the...
The Nebraska Homestead Exemption Applications are available from February 1, 2020 to June 30. 2023 in the Kimball County Assessor’s office. According to the office, about 200 people in the Kimball area already take advantage of the tax relief program. The Nebraska homestead exemption was enacted to help certain groups of individuals who may not have a regular income and that may need financial relief. If you or you know someone who may benefit from the Nebraska Homestead Exemption visit the Assessor’s Office in the Kimball County Cou...
On March 4, "Broadway in the Bluffs" will showcase area talent – and Tom O'Brien from Kimball will sing a song from Disney's "Encanto" on stage. Broadway in the Bluffs is a musical fundraiser of Theatre West with local talent and alums performing different solos or small group numbers from Broadway and other musical shows. The event will be held at the Judy Chaloupka Theater at Western Nebraska Community College as a perfect evening to be exposed to live theatre and music. The Theatre West B...
High West Energy confirmed that it will be using a drone for inspection purposes in Kimball County in the next few weeks. A pilot on the ground uses drones to inspect lines, insulators, poles, wire breaks and insulator wraps. They visually inspect the lines in the field and take photos of the structures for further review and documentation. Drones are invaluable for hard-to-reach areas where the roads are muddy and provide an overhead view of the utility structure. High West Energy drones fly only in the daytime, and the pilot, according to the...
Kimball Mayor John Morrison explained his absence from Kimball in a recent email. On Nov. 9, John Morrison was elected the new mayor of Kimball. He took office on Dec. 6 at the Kimball City Council meeting. Council meetings were either canceled due to no agenda items or lack of quorum until the Feb. 7 meeting. In reference to his time in Texas, a concern of some residents, Morrison said, “We had this planned before I was elected.” For the Feb. 7 meeting, he said, “I took two days to go back for the council meeting and represented the city...
At the February Kimball School Board meeting, the board approved the calendar changes due to early dismissals and snow days. From March 1 to the end of school, Wednesdays will now be a full day of school with no early dismissal for professional development. This calendar change will give back about 30 hours of classroom time. Superintendent Trevor Anderson explained that in the fall, Kimball Schools had four early dismissals due to heat. This winter, they have had six snow days as of Tuesday and two late starts. Furthermore, March 1 is an FFA...
The final two spellers at the Kimball Spelling Bee, Andrew Hawthorne and Aundrea Christiansen, battled back and forth with words such as "homeopathic," "ballast," "hematology" and "mercenaries." Finally, seventh grader Andrew spelled "conjugate" correctly to achieve his dream since 4th grade, winning the spelling bee. The odds for either a Hawthorne or a Cook to win the spelling bee were favorable as the spelling bee was a family affair. Before the contest, Andrew admitted he was "kind of...
The public hearing for the 1/6 Year Road Plan for Kimball County road department was set at the Kimball County Commissioners meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21. The public hearing has been set for March 21 at 9:15 a.m. The plan will be available at the road department or the clerk’s office by Thursday, Feb. 23. One item that could potentially be on the 1/6 Year Plan is the repair or replacement of seven miles of oil road south of Dix. The plan, according to Randy Bymer, Kimball County highway superintendent, is to grind the oil road up to a depth of...
On March 4 at 5 p.m., the Kimball FFA and supporters will have their annual Labor Auction, Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed, or chicken strip dinner. Other FFA dates to remember are the FFA Convention on March 28-31 in Lincoln and the Chapter Banquet on April 21. Various state-qualifying individuals and teams measure the success of the FFA in Kimball. Mallory Hottell placed 1st in the District 12 Creed Speaking contest and qualified for state, Grace Anderson took honors in TIG Welding, and her...