Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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Carl Stander takes the oath of office Jan. 12 as a Kimball County Commissioner from County Court Clerk Michele Woods. The commissioners, in their first meeting of the year, conducted their annual organizational business. They next meet 9 a.m. Jan. 19....
Banner County Wrestling competed through the end of 2020, but Wyatt Reichenberg, at right, is the only wrestler completing as Noah Yetter suffered a season ending injury before the first tournament. As a freshman, Reichenberg is 5-4 overall at 152 pounds. He has wins over Lewis of Morrill (2), Zorkowski of Aniworth, Stevens of Brady, and Vitosh of Chase County. Wyatt placed fourth at the Sidney/Bridgeport Invite on Dec. 19, where he lost to Zink of Ogallala and Allen of Gerin...
With fingers crossed, the Shopko building at 1217 Highway 71 will no longer be called the Shopko building, as it appears that it will be sold. According to Red Diamond Realty, the building has been under contract for about a month and the expected close date is the end of this month. Red Diamond Realty listed the building for $700,000 and it has been for sale for about a year and a half. It has been on the market, then off the market and then on again, according to Jeanine Perry of Red Diamond...
The Flower Haven in Kimball changed ownership Jan 1. Joe and Andrea Harroun purchased the local business from Kay McBride, who owned Flower Haven since 1988 and will stay and continue to help Andrea with funerals and holidays through Memorial Day. “We are really excited,” Andrea said. “We are going to keep it a flower shop and maybe expand to some other things....
COVID-19 vaccinations for those 75 years and older are now underway in Kimball and the surrounding area. Panhandle Public Health reported that as of Jan. 4, "2,108 people in the eligible population have received the COVID vaccine in the Panhandle." Kimball Health Services Director of Emergency Preparedness Jessica Webb said that they had 40 Moderna doses and they were "going through their patient list and started calling." The drive-thru clinic at the North Campus for the 40 doses was held Thurs...
Purchases and major decisions made by the Kimball City Council 65 years ago continue to have an impact on residents today – and the water tower south of town is a perfect example of lasting decisions. In March 1956, the council approved construction of a new storage reservoir and water system, according to March 22, 1956, Western Nebraska Observer. That reservoir, or water tower, located just south of town continues to serve the community today. The Kimball Country Club provided the site for t...
The effects of COVID-19 have obviously been felt throughout the world, but small local business owners have certainly taken the brunt of the effects of the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases continue to plague Kimball County, Panhandle Public Health District on Tuesday reported 42 cases over the last 14 days and a total of 341 confirmed cases. Dawn Moeser from the Sagebrush explained that COVID-19 affected them immediately, right after they purchased the building on March 3. "We were unable to receive...
4 will be remembered like other benchmark years in history – 1918, 1941, 1968, 1972 – but usually those years are remembered for just one or two events. 2020 will be remembered for COVID-19 which occurred throughout most of the year. Terms like social distancing, active cases, Zoom meetings, Zoom graduation, asymptomatic and flattening the curve became our norm. Many other wild and crazy things happened in 2020. Here are some of the other major events. Wildfires, the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash, the...
Mayor Keith Prunty’s report during a recent Kimball City Council meeting included a list of “City of Kimball Abatements” for properties that had fallen into poor condition. From June to December 2020, owners of 71 different properties in Kimball have been issued abatement orders or told to clean up their properties. These include abandoned residences, businesses, family residences and rental properties. Many of the property owners quickly cleaned up their residences, and their properties were then deemed up to code. Initially, courtesy phone...
As we close the book on 2020 and look forward to the New Year with a commitment to be better, lose weight, exercise more, read more books or just enjoy life, a simple yet profound resolution can be easily attained by learning about recycling and participating in recycling in our local area. Kimball Recycling has made it easy, very simple for the community to recycling. Kimball is sprinkled with recycling containers in alleys throughout town. Those wire containers are a single stream container,...
The vaccine has arrived and, according to Kim Engel, director of Panhandle Public Health District, Phase 1a should move along “pretty quickly.” Engel told the Observer on Tuesday afternoon that they were just receiving the vaccine at that moment. Although everything is subject to change, Phase 1a includes Healthcare Personnel and Long-term Care Facilities – and that has already started locally as Kimball Health Services has received the Moderna vaccine and vaccinations started on Tuesday for those in Phase 1a. (See report on Page A8.) The situa...
The Kimball City Council year end meeting saw the departure of long-time council member James Shields and the installation of previous Councilwoman Kim Baliman and newly elected Councilman Gabe Ingram. The City of Kimball continues to look for a city administrator and now will also be looking for a city clerk, as Katherine Terrill's resignation was accepted at the meeting. The council will be ready to tackle a new year as the housekeeping business was tended to at the December meeting....
Santa arrived early in Bushnell, last Saturday, to hand out gift bags of food to some special individuals. This event is sponsored by the Bushnell Fire Department, the Bushnell Firebells and the Bushnell Lions Club. This long standing traditional giveaway project provided 20 bags of food for local Bushnell singles....
Almost a year ago, a 15 year-old Mattie Debord from Virginia came to western Nebraska to pick up a weanling from Jo and Roger Timmerman. Timmermans had donated the young filly to the American Quarter Horse Association Ranching Heritage Young Horse Development Program and Mattie was one of 44 participants, Mattie received the Timmermans horse to train and own. The Observer did a story on Mattie, the Timmermans and Charis or SJQC Arual Blanton in February and now the program has been completed....
COVID-19 has unleashed its fury on Kimball County during the past week. According to covidactnow.org, Kimball County unfortunately leads the way in Nebraska in the percentage of daily new cases. The report lists the positive test rate in Kimball County at 60.4%. In previous weeks, Kimball County had continually been within a 25-38 active daily case range, but by last Tuesday the number had climbed to 56 and by Friday to 91. Monday of this week the total of active cases was 98. By Tuesday, the...
The Kimball Public School Board met for the last board meeting of 2020 on Dec. 15 and the final meeting for three Kimball School board members: Clint Cornils, Carrie Tabor and Heather Norberg. Both Norberg and Tabor have served on the school board for five years while Clint Cornils has completed 12 years as a school board member. The three members were recognized for their service to the school district. The minutes, board bills and treasurer's report were all approved with a 6-0 vote. Superinte...
The City of Kimball will continue to look for a city administrator as the previous candidate for an interview last week withdrew his name. And now the city also will be looking for a new city clerk as the resignation for this position by longtime City Hall employee Katherine Terrill is on Tuesday’s agenda. Agenda items also include Gabe Ingram and Kim Baliman taking their oaths of office and Mayor Keith Prunty appointing positions, boards and committees....
Local children were treated to an early Christmas as Holiday Heroes, formerly known as Shop with a Cop, treated the kids to breakfast, rides on emergency vehicles and presents for themselves and members of their families. The coordinator of Holiday Heroes, Erin Heidemann, reported that 14 children were recipients of the early Christmas project. Those children received special treatment from area police, firemen, state patrol and emergency responders as they each had an adult to help escort them...
The Kimball Quilt Guild raffled off its group project, which was a dog quilt, on Saturday at the Kimball Public Library. The quilt was a project that brought 15 different members, each making a block on the quilt. The members donated their time and materials for the fundraiser. Each of the 15 dogs on the quilt include 42 pieces, and it was estimated that each quilter spent 10-15 hours in preparation for the quilt, quilting it, trimming and adding the binding. The beautiful, colorful quilt was a...
The Banner County JV boys basketball team under the direction of Coach Charles Jones has restarted the basketball program. The seven-member team opened the season against Mitchell JV at home. Freshman Jacob Parson had 11 points, junior Alex Rundell tallied 6 points, and Nate McGowan and Wyatt Onstott had 3 and 2 points, respectively. Although they lost against Mitchell and would then struggle against Bayard on Friday night, Jones said that they “are learning each game. The boys are showing improvement from where we started.” Against Bay...
Cody “Lil Hippie” Brinkman, 13, spent the past week riding miniature bulls in Mesquite, Texas, at the World Finals where Cody placed 17th in the field of 56 senior bull riders, ages 12-14. Cody and his mother returned home from Texas late Sunday after a week of bull riding. Over the course of the week, Cody stepped up on seven bulls – and he admits he is a little sore from the experience. The World Finals started on Wednesday. Cody was unable to make the whistle on his first ride, but had an exciting day on Friday when he “covered” his bull...
In the Panhandle and especially in our local Kimball area, celebrities are hard to find, almost impossible to find. But one local individual was a celebrity and lived right here among us and interacted with us on a daily basis. Oh, "our celebrity" didn't even know he was an area celebrity, but he was and always will be in our hearts and minds. Tom Southard was "our celebrity, Kimball's celebrity." He knew almost everyone and everyone knew him, his personality, dedication to sports, to the commun...
The Panhandle Public Health District’s Risk Dial has slid backward just a little and is on the border of the severe/high range for the current week. On Monday, the number of active cases in Kimball County was 38, which was a bit lower than Friday’s number of active cases. Also on Monday, Kimball County reported nine new cases since the last report on Dec. 3. By Tuesday afternoon, the number of active cases in Kimball County had leaped to 56. If you are heading west of Kimball, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has ordered a mask mandate effective Wed...
Interview Update: This interview was cancelled on Wednesday morning. Another round of interviews for Kimball City administrator is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Sagebrush. The Mayor, Board of Public Works and the Kimball City Council will hold an interview for Perry Mader of Mitchell for the position. Mader is originally from Crawford, but currently is the city administrator in Mitchell. He has more than 20 years of experience in city government. The interview will follow the same format as the two previous sets of interviews. Mayor Keith...
Getting their morning workout are Nate Entingh followed by Heather Entingh. The couple, along with Austin Allison and Jessica Hahlweg, hauled about 70 bags of shoes up the stairs to a waiting collection truck. Kim and Todd Baliman helped load the truck. The shoe drive is a local fundraiser organized by Nate and Heather to benefit local parks. Kimball was the first stop for the truck, which will end up in Orlando, Fla., with a load of shoes to be refurbished and sent to Third World counties....