Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 780
Recreation was high on the list for the Kimball City Council at their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 18. Council heard one local company’s offer to build at Janicek Dam before hearing a request to limit access to Gotte Park. “We would like to build a remote control course (at Janicek Dam),” said Jerry Deines, manager of Z&S Construction. “It would keep kids off the street with them (remote control cars) and it would be in a safe spot.” Deines said the company wished to complete the project at no cost to the City of Kimball. Z&S would do...
Although she and her husband moved to the Kimball area from Minnesota in 2012, Tami Briscoe-Rutt may not yet be familiar to many. They had been looking for a ranch since 2004 and while their search began in New Mexico, they found their home on the western Nebraska range and they now run a cow/calf operation south of Kimball and they raise chickens as well. Briscoe-Rutt has a diverse background centered on customer service and she is excited to begin her duties in Kimball as the new Community Ser...
After several weeks of searching, the Western Nebraska Observer staff is full once again. Our previous advertising representative, Stefanie Bartels, took a position with the local post office. We are thrilled for Stef, and though we miss her dearly, we are excited for the changes in our office. Our own Aleta Pearson took the marketing specialist position, and she is doing great. Aleta has many years of design experience and it shows. We encourage all of our readers and advertisers to contact Aleta for any advertising and marketing needs. Since...
The Local Emergency Planning Commission met for the first time since Kimball County recently rejoined Region 21 Emergency Management. Kevin Sherman was named chairperson, with Wayne Elliot as vice-chair, Laura Bateman as secretary and Ron Leal as the information coordinator. The committee discussed meeting dates, once each quarter in February, May, August and November, and reviewed the local hazardous material emergency plan and the bylaws. Shelters in the area were discussed, as several buildings were previously listed in the Tier II emergency...
After two public information meetings, and with input from dozens of interested citizens, the South Platte Natural Resources District chose to indefinitely postpone action on the Oliver Reservoir streamflow Enhancement Project. At their April 11 meeting the SPNRD board reviewed the purpose of the project, to maintain an adequate water level in the local reservoir for sufficient recreation. The board further reviewed the Oliver Dan rehabilitation Study done in 1976 as well as the Oliver Reservoir Hydrology and Hydrogeology Study of 2003. The boa...
Braxton Miller and Shay Heim of Kimball competed in the 2017 Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championships on Saturday, April 1. Their journey began on Feb. 12 when each of the young men won their age bracket in the local contest. Miller and Heim then competed and won at the district level on Feb. 18. Miller, age nine, scored 21/25 free throws at the district level. They followed up with wins at the regional contest in Alliance on March 18. This year the state competition was held in Grand Island, where girls and boys, ages nine through 14,...
With support building for the project and a partnership between the City of Kimball and Kimball County, it appears that the long-awaited local walking trail may become a reality, though City Administrator Dan Dean said it really is still more of an idea than a plan. The proposed walking trail at Janicek Dam south of the Kimball High School was revisited during the Kimball County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, April 4. According to commissioner Larry Engstrom the walking trail is a project backed heavily by the Howard and Peggy...
Kimball County Commissioners heard a request from County Tourism Director Jo Caskey, regarding broadband service and not only subsequently approved pre-enrollment for the High Point Welcome Center but will also consider the same for other Kimball County locations. Caskey said that the current service at the High Point Welcome Center is unreliable, “The problem with the satellite service is that every time the tower goes down, we go out,” Caskey said. In addition to satellite service, Kimball County also provides a cell phone for use at the wel...
The Kimball Ministerial Association is often called on to assist in times of crisis. Often these volunteers are asked to help families in need of food or shelter and they often work with law enforcement to answer those calls for help. On May 7, they are hosting a Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, with a reception planned from 3 – 5 p.m. at the Trinity United Methodist Church. The KMA encourages everyone to attend, meet and greet members of our local law enforcement and thank them for their d...
Pets running at large are at a higher risk, and locals are asked to leash, kennel or keep a closer eye on them when they are outdoors. Danger to pets are around every corner, from dogs at large and unvaccinated feral cats to vehicles on the highways and even chemicals waiting for the next household hazardous waste collection day. Local veterinarian, Mimi Shaw, recently treated a housecat that had come into contact with an corrosive substance while spending time outside. Neither the owner of the cat nor Shaw could identify the substance on the...
The Kimball Board of Public Works considered the purchase of a new conveyor belt at the Kimball Landfill and recommended the matter to City Council to progress. Employees at the landfill have made multiple repairs to the current conveyor belt and replacement has been considered for nearly a year. “It is getting worn out and needs to be replaced before we have problems,” City Administrator Dan Dean said. A bid was received from Karl W. Schmidt & Associates, Inc., at just over the $30,000 budgeted amount including hardware. Labor was bid at an...
A nomination made secretly and supported by several letters of recommendation led to the surprise recognition of one of Banner County's most beloved teachers – Jeri Revelle. Revelle traveled, with many members of her family, to Kearney where she expected her daughter to be recognized and awarded. "I was listening to the Music teacher of the Year award and I was thinking that teachers in small schools do a lot," she said. "Then they read the elementary award and I thought the same thing. Then t...
Despite a moratorium they adopted in 2002 on drilling new wells with a capacity of 50 gallons per minute or greater, the South Platte Natural Resources District may consider drilling an augmentation well south of Oliver Reservoir with a capacity of 800 – 1,000 gallons per minute. This measure, one of two being considered to augment water levels at Oliver Reservoir Recreation Area, was discussed at the second public meeting regarding diminished streamflow, on March 23. Representatives from The N...
A dramatic representation of a two-vehicle accident was staged for the students of Kimball High School on Tuesday, April 4. "Every 15 Minutes Program," is a national program used to dramatically instill in students the potentially dangerous consequences of impaired and distracted driving. Just prior to witnessing the dramatized accident, students at Kimball High School heard a multimedia presentation by a former Nebraska State Trooper. Following the mock accident, students were debriefed by...
Terry Galloway, an auditor from Almquist, Maltzahn, Galloway and Luth, CPA, presented an unmodified report to the Kimball City Council at the March 21 council meeting. “What you have received here is an unmodified report,” Galloway said. “Which is the highest level of assurance you can receive from an independent audit firm, so congratulations. Basically it means everything is true and accurate within the financial statements, themselves.” According to Galloway’s report, the City decreased overall debt by $192,000, or by six percent, and the b...
Current Kimball County Zoning regulation section 5.02 states that an asphalt or concrete batch plant and borrow pits used temporarily and exclusively for the completion of a public road improvement project is allowed in A1 and A2 agriculture zoning districts and in section 5.03 borrow pits are listed as a conditional use with the approval of a permit. However, when the Planning Commission began working on zoning regulations for Kimball County, landowners were told that if their property was used in a certain manner, it would be...
As the school year nears an end, Kimball Public Schools has begun accepting resignations for the coming year. At the March 13 Kimball Board of Education meeting two such resignations were accepted, that of Jordan Sukup, pre-Kindergarten, and kindergarten teacher Nora Robinson, with more to follow, according to school superintendent Marshall Lewis. However, two current teachers have been approved for new contracts in existing positions. Kim Beyer, the current art, publication and career teacher at Kimball High School, was approved through an...
The Panhandle was represented well at the 2017 Nebraska Rural Community School Association (NRCSA) Spring conference this last month as three area school districts, from nearly 200, received recognition. NRCSA represents more than 75,000 students across 195 different schools, 88 counties, and 24 legislative districts. Their purpose is to promote the general advancement of public education in rural communities and to provide recognition to quality rural education programs. Kimball Public Schools...
Senator Steve Erdman, District 47, hosted a town hall meeting on Friday, March 24 at the Kimball Public Library with more than a dozen in attendance. Erdman answered questions from the public on issues such as funding for education and property tax, and he spoke about serving on the Committee on Committees – who decides which committees others serve on. "I was fortunate enough to be elected to the Committee on Committees, it is very seldom that a freshman senator coming off the street gets to s...
The Kimball County Commissioners approved a contract for a Deputy County Attorney at the March 21 Board of Commissioners meeting. The contract was given to the firm of Ellison, Kovarik & Turman, instead of just one attorney. It will be up to this firm to assist County Attorney Dave Wilson in prosecuting Kimball County cases. Terms of this contract, which is to begin on April 1, include an agreement to prosecute approximately 20 percent of all Kimball County misdemeanor criminal offenses, not including appellate work at a base salary of...
With the Kimball Event Center energy audit complete, the Kimball City Council heard a presentation by Bob Mead, Nebraska Municipal Power Pool, at the March 21 council meeting which highlighted several concerns. According to Mead, who was accompanied by City of Kimball Electric Department Director Bill Hinton on a facility walk-through, some errors were fixed immediately. “The ice machine and the cooler were being underused,” Mead said. Another issue that was previously corrected included a heating unit and cooling unit set up in such a way tha...
During the most recent Kimball Board of Education meeting the board updated the standards by which all school leaders are evaluated. Board members chose to evaluate administrators in the district by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC), a set of recently developed standards that, according to the ISLLC website, are meant to help strengthen preparation programs in school leadership. “This is the basis for future administrative evaluations,” Superintendent Marshall Lewis. “Recently we have felt the need to improve all of ou...
Services in Kimball are expanding for some of the community's "most vulnerable," according to Rose Bowcut – Executive Director Cheyenne County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). CASA, a non-profit organization is branching out into Kimball County and with two Kimball County volunteers already on board, as well as several key cross-over components, Bowcut said the decision to extend these services locally was an easy one to make. "We are lucky. In Sidney we have the same judge, Judge R...
Once a man could travel hundreds, even thousands of miles, find a piece of land suitable (or not) to his needs, lay claim and call it his. Those days are long gone. But in the more recent past, a person (because by this time a woman could own land) could do what they deemed appropriate with their private property. Those days too, are long gone. There are few areas that go unregulated by various agencies in all levels of government, and that list grows smaller each day. Now, we have committees regulating how we use our personal property. In...
Just what is a borrow pit and how should it be used? The Kimball County Planning Commission has raised that question, and attempted to define it and regulate its use for the benefit of county residents. During a special meeting on Monday, March 20, with the Kimball County Board of Commissioners, following a planning commission recommendation to change verbiage to Kimball County zoning regulations, planning commission members said they each previously had their own definition. Additionally, they are tasked with regulating the use of gravel from...