Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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Sam Glenn is a motivational speaker who has spoken at conferences and conventions for major companies and events all over the the nation. The Kimball Junior/Senior High School civics class has managed to set up an event with Glenn for the school and community. Jeri Ferguson, high school social studies instructor, has encouraged her civics class to do something that would benefit both the school and the community. The city council chambers were filled with high school seniors on Sept. 2. The...
Kimball Public Schools have addressed the need for updates to the school buildings’ structures as well as some safety issues at the Sept. 8 board meeting. Kimball Public schools has been working with 360 Energy Engineers in order to address some much needed updates to both the elementary school as well as the high school. 360 Energy offers a preliminary engineering audit as well as a facilities master plan that allows the school to see its problem areas and then decide how to proceed. At the board meeting, 360 Energy Engineering r...
Just past mile marker eighteen on the bypass Shane Tucker, Highway Salvage Paleontologist with the University of Nebraska State Museum Lincoln, has unearthed a six to eight million-year-old tortoise shell. Tucker's job is an interesting one, as the Nebraska Roads Department builds new roads he follows along and looks for possible fossils in the earth. Once a fossil is found, depending on the size and whether or not it is collectable, Tucker will dig it up and have it taken to the Nebraska State...
Over the weekend Camp Grace held their annual carnival fundraiser, which was attended by many members of the community. Camp Grace is a non-profit farm therapy camp. One of the only of it's kind in the United States, Camp Grace is a place that helps children with varied abilities. Generally the children who attend require some form of physical, speech, or occupational therapy. Also children with Sensory Integration Dysfunction tend to benefit greatly from the program at Camp Grace. Laura Welchel...
Madie Snyder, Dead Eye Shooters 4-H Club member, attended shooting competitions this summer and returned with several medals. Madie Snyder is a junior in high school. While she participate in several sports through out the year she tends to really enjoy shooting the best. Her mother, Nicole Snyder, is her coach with Dead Eye Shooters. "Madie works really hard she practices several times a week trying to get better and better. She's been working really hard and it's showing in what she's brought...
The village of Potter held their annual celebration this past weekend. Potter residents, as well as members of the surrounding communities, gathered in the streets to celebrate their community. The theme for this year's Potter Days was "Potter, A Toy Story". The celebration kicked off on Thursday evening with the crowning of the Potter Days Miss Potter. This year's Miss Potter was Donica Enevoldsen. The Miss Potter Days Attendants were Miss Regyn Hicks, and Cortney Lewis. On Friday, children's...
On August 21, the Economic Development Committee held a joint meeting with City Council to discuss the economic development plan and what to do with the funds that had been purposed for the no longer feasible rail spur project. Back in April, a public meeting was held in order to hear input pertaining to the .4 percent tax and whether or not it should still be collected. Only two members of the public attended the meeting in April and the proposed amendment would allow the tax to continue to be collected in order to fund future economic...
The Kimball school district has spent the last year trying to bring up its test scores. With the results of this past spring's Nebraska State Assessment (NeSA) finally available, it shows just how hard the school worked. "We set goals for the testing. We wanted to make sure that we had something to strive for, and well, we passed all our goals except for one," Kimball Jr/Sr High School Principal Mo Hanks said. The students take what is called Measures of Academic Progress(MAP) tests twice a...
This past weekend Kimball got a real treat. The Wyoming Rough Riders Cowboy Mounted Shooting Club put on a display of talented athleticism at the Kimball Rodeo Arena. The Wyoming Rough Riders, established in 1997, are a Wyoming based club that participate in mounted shooting. Mounted shooting involves the competitor riding their horse through an arena and shooting black powder blanks at balloon targets. The goal is to hit all the targets with the least amount of penalties in the fastest amount o...
Farmer’s Day is a celebration of the community that is anticipated throughout the year. This year Farmer’s Day will be held September 26, 27 and 28. Farmer’s Day may only happen over a three-day span, but it takes much longer to prepare for the events that the community looks forward to every year. Assunta Calise, the lead chairman of the Farmer’s Day Committee, confirmed that the committee started meeting all the way back in January. “We had our first meeting in January and we had them once a month to touch base and make sure everyone was doin...
At the August 5 Board of Kimball County Commissioners meeting, the commissioners chose to move forward with contracts for Stacy C. Nossaman-Petitt as Public Defender and Lindsay R. Snyder as Guardian Ad Litem. However, at the August 19 meeting the Kovarik, Ellison, and Mathis, PC brought some concerns to the attention of the commissioners. The commissioners were approached by the Kovarik, Ellison, and Mathis, PC in May of 2014, with a complete proposal for the public defender position. In order to make the application process a fair one, the...
School is back in session which means that the Board of Education will be instituting changes made to the handbook and other policies over the summer months. The board met on July concerning the handbook changes. While most changes presented concerned the elimination of unnecessary wording and the inclusion of the School Resource Officer, when concerning disciplinary action, one particular change will be of major interest to parents and students alike. The board approved a change to the Kimball...
With the chill of autumn approaching, one of Oliver Reservoir’s busiest summers is drawing to a close. Oliver Reservoir has had an abundant amount of water this summer. This surge in water levels is due to a snow runoff that happened back in March of 2014. The area suffered flooding and many were taking trips to Oliver merely to witness the water levels rise. As a result of the heightened water levels, Oliver attracted quite the summer crowd. Several people ventured out to camp and participate in water sports. “We’ve had large crowds this...
The Kimball Planning Commission addressed their last meeting’s tabled agenda item concerning the recommendation to the city council to rezone some single family residential district (R-2) property to a light industrial district (I-1). Mark Brown, chair of the planning commission, opened up the meeting to public comment. However, before the public spoke, it was noted that local governments cannot regulate environmental effects of cellular towers. According to guidelines presented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), local g...
At the August 5 county commissioners meeting, the decision was made to appoint Stacy C. Nossaman-Petitt as the county’s public defender and Lindsay R. Snyder as the county’s Guardian Ad Litem. On May 2, 2014, Kovarik, Ellison, and Mathis, P.C. presented the county commissioners with a proposal for the taking on of 100 percent of the juvenile defense cases as well as 50 percent of the Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) cases. They had an office in Kimball on Chestnut and were very eager to be Kimball County’s choice for this work. They put in a bid of $1...
On Wednesday, July 30, the Board of Public Works met and discussed the amending of the current municipal code. This topic, which had been tabled previously, was a topic for much debate between board members. It is no secret that a lot of Kimball’s regulations are out of date and in need of an update. This is something that has been addressed by City Administrator Daniel Ortiz. At the Board of Public Works meeting, Ortiz brought that to the attention of the board. “There are a lot of phrasings that are out of date and require us to use upd...
Brooke Jones has worked at the Kimball Public Pool for the past seven summers. Unfortunately, this will be her last summer working at the pool, but she is leaving having learned and taught some valuable lessons. In the summer of 2007, Jones got her first job, as a lifeguard at the Kimball Public Pool. "I guess it was the cool thing to do. Everyone wanted to be lifeguards at the pool. I really liked to swim at the time, and it just seemed like it would be a fun first job," Jones said. What Jones...
Sally Wheeler is to be Kimball Junior Senior High School’s new Agriculture and FFA Instructor. Wheeler taught in Wyoming for five years, and she attended the University of Wyoming prior to that. “Agriculture has always been an important part of my life, and I believe in education. I believe that education is the key to success, so it fit for me. To be an ag teacher really just combined two things that I really believe in,” Wheeler said. Wheeler believes strongly in helping and teaching kids. She especially believes in teaching agric...
As Friday's fair events closed down for the evening several fair goers were encouraged to make their way to the high school auditorium for the final event of the day, a concert by Gwen Sebastian. Gwen Sebastian is best known for being on the popular singing competition show, The Voice. The Voice opened many opportunities for her, such as being coached by Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. As a result of her time on The Voice, Sebastian was invited to tour with and sing back up for Shelton....
Friday, July 18, the building on the corner of Chestnut and Highway 30 was demolished. The building sat on the same site as the 24 hour fueling station managed by the Panhandle Coop. Although the building has been demolished, the fueling station is not going anywhere. Many in the community would agree that, prior to it being removed, the building next to the 24 hour fueling station was an eyesore of sorts. Panhandle Coop agreed and upon examining some facts and figures made a decision on what...
On Friday, August 1, a rollover accident occurred one mile west of Kimball just past exit 20 on I-80. At approximately 9:30 a.m., a 2002 Ford Explorer going westbound on I-80 had a tire blow out. This caused the driver of the vehicle, Stephanie Hernandez, 15, to lose control of the vehicle, which ended up going off to the right side of the road and rolling. Emergency personnel arrived on the scene where the rolled vehicle was sitting upright. The three back seat passengers, Daniel Montes-Lopez,...
Teachers work very hard to get children to learn and to help them enjoy learning. However, sometimes even a teacher needs some assistance, that’s where a paraeducator comes into play. Mary Lynch has hired two new paraeducators for the new school year. These people are able to help children in the classroom that might need extra help as well as handle other responsibilities such as recess duty. Laura Johnson is the new English Language Learners (ELL) paraeducator. She can assist students that might need assistance grasping things in class due t...
It's time for Kimball-Banner County residents to get excited about the upcoming fair. In five days, the fairgrounds in Kimball will be a lively hub of activity that includes several 4-H, FFA and rodeo competitions. The highlight of the fair for many will be the performance on Friday, August 8, by former contestant on The Voice, Gwen Sebastian. This will be the 96th year that the Kimball-Banner County Fair Days has been around, and it's the event to attend. There will be an array of livestock...
As the summer draws to a close, so does the internship for Emilia Woeppel and Jessica Bartak. The UNL students will be leaving Kimball within the week and returning to their homes in order to get ready for the approaching school year. Despite their inevitable exit, they are making sure that the projects they began will not go unfinished. Woeppel and Bartak have been working closely with the Kimball Recruitment Coaliton (KRC) and have aided in getting together some promotional videos for...
First impressions are important, they shape a person's outlook on something or someone for better or for worse. Pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade are a child's first impression of school. This means that it is vital for the teachers of these early grades, the impressionable grades, to create a fun atmosphere that make children want to return. The new teachers for grades pre-k through first at Mary Lynch Elementary are enthusiastic and passionate about teaching. Kalyn Land will be Mary...