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 City of Kimball and Keep Kimball Beautiful received more than $172,000 in grants to combat waste and litter reduction and help with recycling and scrap tire cleanups. Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy announced $7 million in grants to 140 different projects throughout the state. Spud Rowley from Kimball Recycling and Keep Kimball Beautiful said that the recycling, public education and waste reduction were "fully funded" this year for $117,000; all three of those areas play a...
As a junior in high school at Lincoln East, Chad Wise was offered a full-ride scholarship to play golf at the University of Nebraska. On his way to the signing at the university, Wise was involved in a 34-car pile-up on 70th Street in Lincoln. Wise received injuries to his back and left knee. After his recovery, Wise played his senior year at Lincoln East but could not play collegiate golf after the car accident. Eventually, Wise attended and graduated from the Professional Golf Management program at New Mexico State in 1999. While at New Mexic...
The Kimball City/County Park & Recreation Executive Board met on Feb. 7 with the main item on the agenda to approve or amend the Management of (Four Winds) Golf Course Contract as presented by the City/County Park and Recreation Board. The current contract with Chad Wise (CW Management, LLC) is set to expire on May 6. When the agenda item for the contract agreement came up, Mayor John Morrison explained that Chad Wise would not be signing a contract extension, which would have ended Dec. 31. Some associated with the golf course believe that...
Good morning Banner County! Blue skies and spring in the air, every few days anyway. Hopefully melting some of this snow. This past week ended with the Super Bowl – yeah Chiefs! – and the potluck and annual meeting at the Harrisburg Community Church. Both local events were well attended with a lot of great food and conversation. This week hopefully the Ignite youth group will meet on Wednesday, at 6 p.m., weather permitting. The school week will be a short one, but still active. Today, February 16th school will be dismissed at 1 p.m. to all...
Superintendent Trevor Anderson’s annual report released at the school board meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, revealed successful NSCAS Performance Data for the 2021-22 school year. Based on proficiency percentages, the English scores for Kimball students in grades 3-8 and 11 were significantly better than the Nebraska state average in five out of the seven grades. Meanwhile, Kimball students’ percentage scores were better than the Nebraska state average in mathematics in four out of the seven grades. Science testing was recorded in 8th grade and 11g...
The Kimball County Commissioners voted on Feb. 7 to sell the High Point Welcome Center of Western Nebraska and adjacent lots. Sealed bids will be accepted until March 17 at 4 p.m. Bids for the property will be opened at 10 a.m. on March 21. The board reserves the right to accept or reject any bid. An appraisal of the property came back with a value of $243,000 for the center and lots, but the assessed value is $384,000. The commissioners determined that the fair-market value considering the pote...
The best advice to prevent scams can be found on the Protect the Good Life website: “Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” The Federal Trade Commission has issued a brochure with four signs that it is a scam: • Using an organization you know, scammers pretend to be contacting you representing the government. Examples include Social Security, IRS, Medicare, or a well-known business. Never give personal information to unsolicited calls. • There is a problem or a prize. Scammers claim you owe money to the government or a fa...
Kimball's wrestling supporters and local community came together last week to watch and cheer on four Kimball high school wrestlers who dominated wrestlers from Burns/Pine Bluffs. It was a special night when the Longhorns wrestling room was named after Joe Culek, a Kimball legend in the sport. After the four high school matches, the Longhorn senior wrestlers were honored. Each of the three seniors have been two-time state qualifiers. They are, at 106 pounds, Matthew Johnson, son of Kyle and...
Joe Mejia State Farm Agency opened its doors last week at 229 S. Chestnut in Kimball. Mejia has 32 years of insurance experience with agencies in Scottsbluff and Longmont, Colo., and now Kimball. Dawn Hinton and Hannah Biesecker will cover the Kimball office and are studying and testing for their auto, casualty, life and health insurance license. Mejia said his decision to open an office in Kimball stems from knowing that Kimball had previously had a State Farm agency, Elsie Sims State Farm...
About 150 area people attended the Sentinel Real Estate Town Hall meeting at the Sagebrush in Kimball last week. The Air Force will upgrade the Minuteman III missile system in four to five years. The system comprises 150 launch facilities, 15 missile alert facilities, existing utility corridors, and new lines for communications, including communication towers. The U.S. Air Force and Army Corps of Engineers met with local landowners to further explain the Sentinel project and the acquisition of...
As Kimballites struggle through the winter weather, there is no escaping the snow and ice. The winter weather conditions make getting out of the house difficult. Patches of ice hide beneath the snowfalls, and then warmer conditions melt the snow, and it re-freezes overnight. For another month or two, ice will continue to be an issue as it builds up on streets, sidewalks, and pathways. Fortunately, according to the Emergency Department, ambulance personnel and paramedics from Kimball Health Services, there has been no increase in falls during th...
The Longhorns travelled to Sutherland for a rematch with the Sailors on Thursday. The Horns had played Sutherland in the SPVA Tournament and downed the 0-9 Sailors, 72-50. After a win against Chappell, the Sailors are now 1-11 on the season. But on Thursday, at Sutherland, Kimball once again handily beat Sutherland, 68-43. Junior Brandon Paxton dumped in 24 points to lead all players, followed by Kyler Lusche with 15 points. Rounding out the scoring for Kimball was Ryker Behred with 10,Wyatt Cords and Trevor Fuss both tossed in 6 points,...
In late October, a petition was filed in the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court against Kimball County Sheriff’s Office and NIRMA II (Its Workers’ Compensation Self Insurance Pool). The petition by sheriff’s deputy Marla Knigge alleged that an “injury was caused to the plaintiff by accident or occupational disease, occurred or manifested on or about June 1, 2022, in Kimball County, Nebraska, arising out of and in the course of the plaintiff’s employment by the defendant, Kimball County Sheriff’s Office, and for which injury the plaintiff is...
The Sagebrush in Kimball was the site Tuesday for the Sentinel real estate town hall meeting related to the Sentinel missile system project. The Air Force set up stations to explain the real estate acquisitions as well as the timeline and the method of acquisition. Experts in the field were available for questions from landowners. Information was available to public and landowners about real estate for temporary construction and new permanent easements for utility corridors and tower sites. Groundbreaking is supposed to occur in the fall of...
In 1966, according to the Western Nebraska Observer's Feb. 24 edition, senior Joe Culek, at 145 pounds "took a state wrestling crown in Class B at Lincoln, leading the Kimball team to sixth in the state with a total of 31 points, collected by seven grapplers qualifying for the meet." After an illustrious career wrestling in high school, Culek went on to wrestle at Chadron State College. Then he coached youth freestyle and high school wrestling in Kimball. His coaching career has spanned 30...
Two public hearing will be held on Feb. 7, 2023, at the next Kimball County Commissioners meeting. At 9:30 a.m., a public hearing is scheduled for comment on the adoption of Ordinance 2023-1 concerning Snow Emergency and Abandoned Vehicles on county roads. This appears to be a problem because when the interstate and state roads are shut down due to the weather conditions, then GPS will take travelers on the county roads, and those roads have not been cleared. Hence abandoned and stuck vehicles end up blocking the county roads, making them...
The Kimball County Commissioners on Tuesday approved an agreement between Kimball County and Kimball County Transit Service to lease six new transit vehicles. All six vehicles are 2022 Ford 350 EL vans, ranging in price from $190,991.52 to $205,225.92. The total lease payments will amount to $1,185,804 over a period of three years for the six 10-passenger transit vans. While KCTS will lease the vehicles from Kimball County, according to the projected income, the county will reap $343,422.61 over the period of three years. This would be the...
Newly elected and re-elected Kimball County officials and deputies were sworn into office before the Kimball County Commissioners meeting Jan 5. At the first meeting, the first order of business for the commissioners was to elect a chairman and vice-chairman. Rich Flores was elected chairman, Carl Stander was elected vice chairman, and new member Elyse Schlake Lukassen joined the board.The appointments of commissioners were made to various regional boards, and contact officials were designated...
The first meeting of the year for the Kimball School Board consisted of reorganization and installing new board members. After the four new or re-elected members took their oath of office and were sworn in, Travis Cook was re-elected president, Jennifer Griebel vice president, Tom O’Brien secretary, and Chauncey Pederson was re-elected treasurer. Community Building Solution’s Jacob Hurla reported the progress on the HVAC project. After a series of supply chain delays, Hurla estimated that the project would be completed by the end of Jan...
While the New Year is still young, and those resolutions are still fresh in your mind, a little motivation from others is always beneficial. Four of the top 10 most common resolutions include healthy living –such as exercising more, losing weight, living life to the fullest and quitting smoking. "In 2016, I began losing some weight," Steve Knigge of rural Kimball recalled. But that was just the beginning of his transformation. Steve was looking to improve his life, and a passion for running w...
Radon, a cancer-causing radioactive gas, is found in homes throughout Nebraska and in Kimball County. The gas is odorless, tasteless, and invisible, but it can pose a danger to you and your family in your safest environment, your home. Testing for radon is easy and takes just minutes. At Panhandle Public Health District, January is Radon Awareness month, and test kits are readily available. The test kits are easy and free. Call 308-487-3600 and request a test kit. Radon is a byproduct of the natural decay of uranium and can seep into homes...
Due to no agenda items, the Kimball City Council will not meet on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 3, for its bi-monthly meetings. In December, the council and mayor went through the reorganizational process. Now, in January, the county will reorganize. The county will start the New Year off with a mandated reorganizational meeting. Nebraska Statute 23-156 states that “The board of county commissioners at its regular meeting in January of each year shall elect a chairman of the board to serve for the ensuing year, and such chairman shall sign a...
A Pennsylvania brother/sister pair who were arrested before Christmas on I-80 with a suspected 50 pounds of marijuana are still in jail. Brett Donohue, 22, waived his preliminary hearing and the case has already been moved to District Court. He was scheduled to be arraigned 1 p.m. Jan. 3. He is being held in Kimball. Meanwhile, Diamond Donohue, 19, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 10:45 a.m. Jan. 25 in Kimball County Court. She is being held in Garden County. Both Brett and Diamond are charged with three felonies: possession with...
On Jan. 1, the inheritance tax that Nebraskans pay was reduced from the highest category of 18% to 15% – but the actual final percentage one pays depends on the relationship to the deceased. The closer the relative, the lower the rate. And 15% is the cap. The Unicameral also increased the exemption amount from $10,000 to $25,000. Additional changes include anyone under 22 years old will not pay Nebraska’s inheritance tax at all. Nebraska is one of only five states that still have a state inheritance tax. According to CEO Jim Vokal of the Pla...
At the Kimball City Council meeting Dec. 20, Mayor John Morrison reported that he is trying to learn and "read as much as possible." He said the city had been run well over the past years, and he stressed that an excellent job was done clearing the streets after the first blizzard this past month. The council approved the renewal of the liquor license for the Panhandle Cooperative Association/Main Street market in a 2-1-1 vote. Council members Gabe Ingram and Christy Warner voted aye to approve...