Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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Semis forced off of the closed Interstate 80 on Monday morning clogged Kimball roadways, included this stretch of 3rd Street in front of the Kimball County Courthouse. The powerful spring storm pummelled parts of Kimball and Banner counties with more than a foot of wet, heavy snow and disrupted life. Local schools and the city landfill were among the closings, and a power outage hit the Kimball area for exactly an hour from 9:41 to 10:41 a.m., according to electric and digital clock times at... Full story
KEARNEY – The Observer won eight statewide awards Saturday at the Nebraska Press Association's 2022 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Presentation at Younes Conference North/Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kearney. The honors included third place for overall general excellence among Class B newspapers in 2021, one year after the Observer placed first in this prestigious category. Only the top three judged papers are recognized in this competition. The Observer also placed first in Class B for its classifieds section, improving from last year's second p... Full story
Vehicles navigate the corner of Third and Chestnut streets in Kimball during the power outage Monday, April 11. Stop signs replaced traffic lights at Kimball's busiest intersection, which Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) scheduled for service work. The outage had been announced to last two hours from 8 to 10 a.m., but it lasted about 4 hours and 10 minutes from 9:18 a.m. to 1:28 p.m. The Observer left a message with WAPA seeking comment. WAPA planned another outage for 7 a.m. to 5 p.m....
The local high school sports calendar soon turns to spring sports – girls and boys track, boys golf and trap shooting – but it's never too early to talk some football. And there's some football to talk about. The Nebraska School Activities Association has released football district assignments and schedules for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Kimball Football Longhorns, expected to return with a new head coach after a year off from competition due to low roster numbers, are assigned to Dis... Full story
Two Kimball High School winter athletes were announced this week as members of the Western Trails Conference 2022 All-Conference teams – and another eight Longhorns earned honorable mention recognition. All-Conference honors went to senior Chantel Malson of the Lady Longhorns basketball team and junior Trey Schindler, who competed at 152 pounds on the wrestling squad. Wrestlers receiving honorable mention were junior Matthew Johnson at 106, freshman Cody Brinkman at 120, and juniors James McGinnis at 132 and Justin Klosterman at 138. On the g... Full story
A new study from a financial planning organization lists Kimball County among the Top 10 counties in Nebraska with the strongest small business presence. To be precise, Kimball County checks in at No. 8. The study measures IRS data on the number of small businesses operating in each county, how much income they generate and what they pay in taxes. The study was conducted and released by the SmartAssett financial planning marketplace. Kimball County’s small business index is 61.32. Here are Top 10 counties and their indexes: Saline 77.41, C...
Employees of RES, who work on windmills in the Kimball area, have donated truckloads of food to Kimball Food Pantry – a record donation to the charitable organization that helps those in need. Not only that, the donation came when the pantry really needed it – during a slowdown of food donations during the pandemic. The goodwill effort started with a phone call on Friday the 13th of November. This was not a Friday the 13th moment for those who believe in superstitions associated with the day...
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration presented Kimball County Transit Service with the 2021 Connecting Rural Communities Award during the recent national transit conference. KCTS administrator Christy Warner told the Observer that “the FTA Region 7 director called me personally to say how important KCTS has been in showing how regional public transportation can happen in small rural areas. While awards are not what I’m after, I know this would not have happened without the support of past and current cou...
The local Christmas season arrives officially Saturday, Nov. 27, with a lineup of festivities four full weeks before the holiday. Some changes are in store, such as “Christmas in Kimball” events being featured on restaurant placements and new appearance locations for Santa, but organizer Sharon Williams told the Observer that folks can expect to enjoy lots of tradition. Here’s this year’s schedule from Santa’s Helpers and the Parade of Lights committee: Saturday, Nov. 27 • Holiday Craft-Aganz...
The winter sports seasons are just about here for area high school basketball teams and wrestlers. Here are the opening week schedules for the Kimball Longhorns, Banner County Wildcats and Potter-Dix Coyotes, which begin following Thanksgiving. Kimball Nov. 29 – Basketball jamboree at Alliance (girls only), 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 – Basketball at Bayard, 4 p.m. Dec. 2 – Wrestling hosts Bayard, 6 p.m. Dec. 3 – Basketball at Leyton, 3 p.m. Dec. 4 – Wrestling at Mullen Tournament, 9:30 a.m. Dec. 4 ... Full story
Kimball Junior High wrestlers put in some competitive performances back-to-back in tournaments at Hemingford on Nov. 12 and Morrill on Nov. 27. A number of young Longhorns earned first place. Here they are. Morrill 91-96: Ryker Behrend, 22 team points. He won by decision over teammate Trey Cook, 7-0, in the first place match. 126-135: Braxton Miller, 24 team points. He won by fall in 1:43 over Andrew Smith of Banner County in the first place match. Hemingford 87-95: Trey Cook, 19 team points....
When Mountain Standard Time returns 2 a.m Sunday, it’s time to turn back clocks one hour that aren’t on digital devices that do it automatically. As for the vintage Larsen’s Jewelry clock above, it most certainly requires human hands to turn back the clock hands. This Kimball classic has been telling time on Observer office walls for many years....
That's a wrap for Kimball Lady Longhorns golfers Payton Wise and Katie Heeg. The senior duo closed out their high school golf careers in fine fashion – together on the course during the NSAA State Tournament at Elks Country Club in Columbus. Wise medaled for a fourth time at State – this time in third place – during her splendid four years on the links representing Longhorn Nation. Heeg, meanwhile, shot two rounds under 100 on the challenging Elks course– an outstanding achievement conside... Full story
Payton Wise and Katie Heeg are taking Longhorn Nation back to State. Wise qualified by winning her third straight District C-5 individual championship Monday with a round of 80 at Four Winds Golf Course. Heeg, meanwhile, carded 92 for fourth. Also competing for Kimball was Mariana Cajero, who continued her progress this season with 65 on the front nine and 64 on the back for a round of 129. Mitchell's Jacqueline Bowels shot 88 to place second and Creek Valley's Jordan Bocock was third at 91.... Full story
Kimball High School’s football season appears to have ended before it started. The Longhorns were forced to forfeit their scheduled opener at Hitchcock County last Friday due to a lack of players. And now this. “We only have nine players out for football right now,” Kimball coach Ben Aarestad said Tuesday. “I don’t think we will play at all this year. We have lost so many kids in the past few years that it finally caught up with us.” The Horns were scheduled to play Leyton this Friday, but that seems most unlikely barring the unforeseen....
The Kimball Longhorns 2021 fall sports seasons gets underway next Tuesday, Aug. 24, when medal winning Payton Wise and the Kimball girls golf team tee off at Sidney in their first competition since appearing at State last year. The season picks up two days later on Aug. 26 with the cross country, volleyball and golf teams all in action. The volleyball team debuts at 4 p.m. that day at Hemingford/Gordon, the cross country team gets off and running at Scottsbluff at 4:45 p.m., and the golfers... Full story
Longhorns football coach Ben Aarestad and his players, shown here during practice last year, will strive to show more progress after the 2020 rebuilding campaign that unfolded during the pandemic. It's about time to get going. The NSAA is preparing to open the 2021 fall sports season as currently scheduled. First practices are to begin next Monday, Aug. 9 – and for Kimball that means girls golf, cross country, volleyball and football. Kimball Public Schools plan to open the fall season with n... Full story
One of the bigger golf tournaments of the season goes down this Saturday at Four Winds Golf Course. The Kimball Hospital Foundation Golf Classic is back with its 30th annual edition. A record field of foursomes is signed up this year in the event that raises funds to purchase new medical equipment for Kimball Health Services. "We have 38 teams signed up," the foundation's Kerry Ferguson told the Observer. "That's two more than full, but (Four Winds golf pro) Chad Wise is allowing two teams from...
Clean Harbors is looking into a major expansion at its facility south of Kimball that would involve construction of a second incinerator and could create about 100 jobs. The company released this statement to the Observer on Tuesday from Clean Harbors spokesman Jim Buckley: “Clean Harbors is exploring the potential of expanding the capacity at its Kimball, Neb., facility by building a second incinerator. This state-of-the-art incineration unit, which will exceed all state and federal emissions control standards, will go through a rigorous p...
When the going gets hot, Kimball's Dead Eye Shooters get going. Dead Eye Shooters 4-H Club members weathered a heatwave at the Rushmore National Invitational last weekend to turn in some of their best performances. "It was a great event," coach Nicole Snyder told the Observer. "We are very proud of the kids – many of them shot their personal best scores despite the heat. It was 100 degrees one day with no air conditioning." Dead Eye Shooters Team 1 finished 18th out of 29 teams from across t... Full story
The Western Nebraska Observer, an award-winning powerhouse decades ago, has rejoined the state’s elite weekly newspapers. The Observer won seven awards – including first place statewide for General Excellence in its class – in the Nebraska Press Association’s 2021 Better Newspaper Contest. Results were announced June 17 during an online video presentation. General Excellence is a top contest award – an overall evaluation of the newspaper. Judges considered news, content, writing quality, headlines, page design, photos and captions, graphics... Full story
The annual Potter CarBowl returns this weekend with a loaded “Friday Night Rev Up” lineup and nonstop, morning-to-evening events on the big Saturday schedule. CarBowl spokesman Drew Enevoldsen told the Observer that the duckpin bowling tournament this year features a whopping $600 in cash prizes “We’d really like to grow that event,” he said. The tournament, with Potter-Dix cheerleaders helping out, begins at 10 a.m. at Potter’s iconic ducking bowling alley. As for other highlights, Enevoldsen...
Opening day has been pushed back tentatively to Saturday, May 1, at Mr. J's Garden Center, Kimball businessman John Morrison's new venture next to his High Point RV Park along Highway 71. Morrison wanted to open April 25, but construction didn't get done. The building crew from Gering Garden Center was making progress this week....
The Western Trails Conference on Monday announced its new class of scholar-athletes and scholarship recipients. Kimball High School was well-represented with a half-dozen students making the grade. The KHS scholar-athletes are seniors Sydney Biesecker, Megan Spicer and Cole Henson and juniors Kaitlin Heeg, Chantelle Manson and Payton Wise. Biesecker also was honored as Kimball’s WTC scholarship recipient. Each of Kimball’s Scholar-Athletes will receive a gold medal. Here is the criteria for WTC Scholar-Athletes: • Must have lettered in at le...
What a week up-and-coming local wrestler Jax Thurin of the Tri-State Grapplers enjoyed. At the Eads, Colo., Junior Olympic Tournament on Saturday, March 27, he wrestled in the 10U division _ winning both the 77- and 81-pound weight classes On top of that, he wrestled up an age group at Eads and won the 12U 80. The next day, at the Sidney Smackdown, Jax won the third- and fourth-grade 80-pound division. The Sidney Smackdown has been scheduled for Feb. 14 but was postponed due to the weather... Full story