Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 175
If a person were to suffer some sort of stroke or their heart stopped, the body would stop receiving oxygenated blood. It would take four to six minutes of a lack of oxygenated blood for the brain to begin to die. Brain death would be certain after six to ten minutes. Without an ambulance service, it would take an ambulance out of Sidney 40 minutes to reach the patient. According to the scenario previously mentioned, that would mean death for someone suffering from lack of oxygenated blood. Thankfully, Kimball does have an ambulance service.... Full story
The US National Weather Service (USNWS) recently had two forecasters from the Cheyenne, WY, location come to Kimball in order to teach a brief class in what it takes to be a spotter. They talked about the need for storm spotters and how even though they do have advanced weather predicting equipment, there’s nothing like a report from someone watching the storm clouds develop right before their eyes. Rob Cox, Science Operations Officer, and Steve Rubin, Forecaster, have both been involved with weather prediction for many years. It has taken them...
Tuesday, February 25, was Government Day. Students from the local high school spent the morning at the Kimball County Courthouse learning about the different jobs performed and why they are important. With county officials present, the students filled the district courtroom. They witnessed a K-9 demonstration, and Cathy Sibal, Kimball County Clerk, led the questions concerning the dog. The students were split into four groups of roughly seven each and given a leader. The county commissioners...
With the primary election approaching for the city, county, and state several office holders have filed for re-election in order to beat the incumbent deadline on February 18. One current office holder, however, did not file for re-election. Larry Brower has held the office of county commissioner for twenty years. Once his current term is up, to the surprise of many, he is not seeking re-election. Brower originally ran for office as a way to serve the public, something he had always been interested in doing. “I just figured it might be a way t... Full story
Kimball will be seeing a rate increase in their electricity bills in April. In an effort to prepare residents for the increase, the city has had letters published explaining the purpose for the rate increases. MEAN is the company through which Kimball obtains power and, unfortunately, they only see the prices going up in the foreseeable future. On Tuesday, February 18, The Board of Public Works and City Council held a joint meeting. At this meeting MEAN representative, Andrew Ross, explained to the best of his ability the current situation in... Full story
Project Fun's Giga-Bite has been named Street Characters' Mascot of the month for February. When Police Chief Darren Huff envisioned Project Fun, he wanted the kids to have an example to look up to, someone who could embody the "perfect citizen." Huff thought it would be a good idea to use a police dog as an example for the children. After doing some research, Huff decided to model the mascot after a police dog. Most would expect a police dog to be a German Shepherd, however, another breed was...
Michael Mansour, Senior Electrical Engineer with Exponential Engineering Company out of Fort Collins, was at the city council meeting Tuesday, February 4, to explain the need of new equipment in the south substation that provides electricity to Kimball. Mansour has worked with Exponential Engineering for many years and has worked with Kimball, doing inspections of the electrical facilities. Upon Kimball's most recent inspection Mansour came across things that need immediate attention at the... Full story
Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on October 1, 2013. Since it's inception the ACA has experienced scrutiny and difficulty. The website alone was faulty and glitch filled until a mere few weeks ago. Nationally the interest in the open enrollment wained after many people experienced trouble with the site. Kimball was no exception to that. Ken Hunter, CEO of the Kimball Health Services confirmed that little interest was shown in ACA enrollment, especially after the many... Full story
Kimball for Economic Growth and Sustainability (KEGS), had a meeting on February 6, 2014, at the High Point Welcome Center. At the meeting they received an update on the ongoing rail spur project as well as information concerning Marketing Hometown America. At the meeting on the sixth, both Wilson Bowling and Daniel Ortiz were present to talk about the rail spur. Bowling started by giving KEGS an update. “Since the last meeting we went and spoke to AVI in Cheyenne. After taking a look at the design that we showed them they said that it would al...
Since January 1, 2014, there have been seven reported school shootings in the United States. Some fear that school shootings are becoming the norm. With students under stress to perform academically, as well as socially, it’s not a surprise that some have difficulties handling the stress of their adolescence. The key to working with this type of situation is to be prepared and spread awareness, but not to cause alarm. Local law enforcement and school officials are not going to let themselves be put in a situation where they are not prepared f... Full story
Miss Nebraska, JaCee Pilkington, was crowned on June 13, 2013. In September she competed for Miss America in Atlantic City. Although she was not crowned Miss America she is still attending to her duties as Miss Nebraska. These duties include visiting various schools around Nebraska, as well as rotary clubs. She also appears at other functions for charities and special events. When she won Miss Nebraska she took a year off school so that she could attend to her duties as Miss Nebraska properly.... Full story
Local student Maddie Snyder has qualified for the 2014 Army National Junior Air Rifle Championships (USANARC). She is currently a student at Kimball High School, and her mother and father are her coaches in the 4-H Dead Eye Shooters Club. Nicole Snyder, Madie's mother, explains where they will be going and the competition itself. "We received information that she placed 13th out of about 750 kids and that qualified her to go to nationals. We will be going to Georgia February 24th," Snyder said....
Kimball has acquired a School Resource Officer (SRO). The SRO is stationed at the high school but also keeps an eye on the elementary school. His first and foremost duty is assuring the safety of the students. Ryan Smith is the new SRO and he recently moved to Kimball with his family. "I have a wife, Omruthai, she works up at the Manor and I have two boys James and Justin, James is an eighth grader and Justin is a fifth grader. I do have a twenty-one year old daughter who goes to the U.S. Naval...
A little over halfway between Kimball and Scottsbluff there sits The Wildcat Hills Nature Center. It's an educational center that showcases the wildlife of the local area. Wildcat Hills is often a destination for school field trips. According to Amanda Filipi mostly first second and third graders visit with their schools. The center has a classroom that allows Filipi to talk to the children about the wildlife of Nebraska. She also uses the time in the classroom to talk to the kids about safety...
Talent is awarded to everyone differently. There are several different types of talents one could have. Some people are gifted with numbers and love various formulas. Other people have a talent with music and being able to compose beautiful melodies. Local Kimball high school senior, Jessica Parkos-Alvarez, has quite a bit of talent in art. She specifically finds her talent in painting, and that talent could win her a $10,000 scholarship to Nebraska Wesleyan University. Nebraska Wesleyan Univers... Full story
July Kimball-Banner Chamber of Commerce Director, Jeanette Rabender, resigned. When asked why she said the reasons were personal. The resignation does come at a time when Kimball is at a critical juncture in it's economic future and development. However, Rabender and her knowledge of what's going on will be missed. Kimball celebrated the Fourth of July with an old-fashioned cookout and fireworks. The fire department provided lunch and there was a water fight at the park. The day was wrapped up...
On the morning of December 20, 2013, the county commissioners met to discuss and review the resumes and to interview the applicant for county assessor. After the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer, the commissioners started the process to hire a new county assessor. County clerk, Cathy Sibal started off the meeting by explaining that she made the local area aware of the County’s need for a new county assessor. “I published in The Observer for two weeks about the need for a county assessor. I had no interest or calls as far as asking que...
Captain Justin Trout has been the Kimball Police Captain for about six weeks now, and Andrew Bremer is the department's new detective. Both men have a desire to serve the public to the best of their abilities. Although Captain Trout did not grow up with the desire to to be in law enforcement he has developed a fondness for it. "In my ideal world I wanted to be something different, but as circumstances happened when I came from the military police I rotated to civilian law enforcement," Captain... Full story
The home of Gordon and Joyce Bright is filled with the whirring noises and hums of tiny little machines hard at work. These little mechanisms power a ferris wheel, carousel, hockey rink, country dance, a cookie shop, and several other holiday and winter themed figures. Joyce Bright has lived in Kimball since 1969. In 1975, her and her husband started collecting things. "When we started we also had built three dollhouses," Gordon said. Joyce made ceramics for several years and her work is also... Full story
January Nebraska public schools showed improvement and growth under a new accountability system. This caused a sharp improvement in the amount of students graduating. This year 180 of 249 Nebraska public school districts graduated 90 percent of their high school seniors. State wide 88 percent of seniors graduated, a two percent increase from last year. Rail Spur project gets new life after being in the works for eight or ten years. The rail spur would allow Kimball to be a part of...
While running titles, Tascosa Land Resources representatives were surprised at what they found: three miles east of Kimball on Highway 30 the County owns eight mineral acres. The Tascosa representative, Jason Brown, attended the County commissioners meeting on December 17, to discuss and consider the action that needed to be taken in order to lease mineral land in Kimball County. They brought that to the attention of the county commissioners and opened a discussion of what needed to be done in order to lease the land from Kimball County. “We d...
Sid Dinsdale is the fourth Republican Senate Candidate to run for Nebraska State Senate since Senator Johanns announced his soon to come retirement. Dinsdale is a Nebraska native and has a extensive resume filled with a variety of experience in different fields including agriculture, business and community activities. Although those fields do not include politics. “I have thirty-seven years in community banking and agriculture. My brother and I are still involved with companies that feed cattle and have real crop operations, so that’s my bus... Full story
The High Point Welcome Center of Western Nebraska held an open house on Friday December 6. Despite the cold weather there was a nice turnout. There was holiday music being played and hot beverages available for the taking. All showed their support for this lovely place that welcomes travelers to Kimball. That night Jo Caskey made her way around the room greeting people and telling them she had an exciting announcement to make. After everyone had more or less had the chance to visit for a while,... Full story
Life is an interesting journey, it does not have a map with which one can navigate through effortlessly, it is more like uncharted territory. More is discovered the longer one lives, and the more one experiences. So when a new place to explore is discovered sometimes that is the place to go. Assessor Deborah Huff’s life is taking her on a new journey. She moved to Kimball in 1956, then to Denver, CO in 1970, and back to Kimball in 1998. She has lived here since and has only positive things to say about Kimball. “The people in Kimball are suc...
Midland University’s President, Ben Sasse, is known as the Anti-Obamacare Candidate for Nebraska Senate. He has never held an elected office, however, he has strong opinions about what is happening here in Nebraska, as well as in Washington. Obamacare is a 2,300 page document filled with legal terminology that many do not understand. Sasse, though, has a background as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Bush administration, and has read every page of the Obamacare document. He is heavily opposed to it and is very vocal ab... Full story