Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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The 85th annual Potter Days was held over the weekend with a parade, barbecue, fireworks and more. The Potter High School class of 1965 served as the grand marshals of Saturday's parade. Potter Days royalty was also crowned. Brooke Glass, the daughter of Stuart and Candi Glass, was crowned queen. Her attendants are Cortney Lewis, daughter of Les and Jodi Lewis, and Alana Thies, daughter of Brian and Sondra Thies. See this week's Observer for additional photos....
The property tax for Kimball County will see the slightest of increases in the current fiscal year. Property tax for land valued at $100,000 will go up 32 cents in a budget passed Tuesday by the county commissioners. The property tax request from the commissioners went up from $3,155,388 in 2014-15 to $3,373,150 in 2015-16. The property tax rate moved from 0.471095 last year to 0.471416 this year. Of the more than $3.3 million in county funds provided by taxpayers, over $814,000 of that goes to the county road fund. The remaining funds go into...
Recently named Kimball street superintendent Jim Shoup has worked as the interim superintendent for the last year and has been a part of the city street crew since 2006. To be a street superintendent, one must pass a six-hour exam in Lincoln. After three days of study and preparation in Kearney, he took the test. The testing process includes an interview with the examination panel. "They kind of say, don't expect to pass it the first go, but for some reason they must have felt sorry for me and l...
The Kimball Baptist Fellowship recently began a project that has been on the hearts and minds of the small congregation for more than a year. They recently started a food pantry. According to Pastor Dennis Payton and his wife, Karen, the food pantry began with one of the founding members, Betty Elliott, and her fellow worshippers. "This is something they have always wanted to do because there is such a need in town." Karen said. The church's first food distribution will be from 9-11 a.m. on...
Weather permitting, work is scheduled to begin the week of Sept. 7 on two sections of I-80 from Reference Post 21.49 to Reference Post 24.50 (east of Kimball) and from Reference Post 33.20 to Reference Post 35.69 (west of Potter), according to the Nebraska Department of Roads. Paul Reed Construction & Supply, Inc. of Gering, Nebraska, has the $442,680 contract for construction of median crossovers to be used for the upcoming I-80 reconstruction project in the spring of 2016. There will be closures in both the eastbound and westbound passing...
The Kimball city council approved its annual budget during the regular board meeting on Monday, Sept. 1. “In terms of the budget, we discussed that and they gave their final recommendations to move forward,” Ortiz said. “With, they sought to keep the mill levy the same, which was about .55. I believe our total mill levy for 2014-2015 was .55211 and the proposed mill levy for 2015-2016 would be .556991.” Property tax will fund, primarily, the police department and the fire department. One of the amendments made for the upcoming budget is movi...
The Kimball city council reviewed a potential budget during a budget workshop meeting held Aug. 26. Board members voiced concerns and considered changes for each department. “My (concern) is going to be somewhat general because it pops up in several places,” board member James Schnell said. “The landfill expense (line item) bad debt shows 100 percent. My question is throughout this we show that we have bad debt, but are we just writing them off, zero them out? We don’t send anything to collections?” The electric and the power plant show coll...
Beverly (Muhe) Keys, 85, of Gillette, Wyo., and formerly of Kimball, died Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, of natural causes. She was born May 7, 1930, in Sioux City, Iowa. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, at First Assembly of God in Gillette, Wyo., with Pastor Dan Holden officiating....
In the 2014 South Platte Natural Resources District (SPNRD) Water Usage Report, the average amount of water used daily by people living in the District boundaries of Kimball, Cheyenne, and Deuel counties is 287 gallons of water a day. Taking a shower, cooking and doing laundry are just some of the everyday activities that attribute to our water usage. In an average year each of us uses some 105,000 gallons of water, enough to fill three backyard pools once a year. Begin to add the water used in our communities, such as restaurants, hotels,...
The City of Kimball annual seal coat street improvement project is expected to begin within the next week. The contractor, Top-Kote, will begin the project each morning at approximately 7 a.m. Residents along the following streets are requested to have all vehicles, boats, trailers, etc., off these streets during the project. - South Walnut Street, from East 2nd Street to East 3rd Street. - South Walnut Street, from East 4th Street to East 7th Street. - East 2nd Street, from South Washington Street to South Walnut Street. - West 2nd Street,...
On Monday, Gene Mohr and his two sons, Justin and Jaden, helped the Spanish Club hang up their murals at the historic Wheat Growers Hotel. Last spring, the Spanish Club had made the paintings and displayed them in the windows at the hotel. The paintings are images of the windows in 1910. The students would like to see even more done to improve the community's most historic building....
Applications for the 2015 Farmer’s Day Queen Contest are available at the Kimball-Banner Chamber Office, Kimball High School, Banner County School and the Potter-Dix School. Applicants must be between 16-19 years of age as of Jan. 1, 2015, must be a resident of Kimball or Banner counties and must be single. Prizes include a $250 scholarship, chamber of commerce gift certificates, tanning sessions and a manicure. Applications must be signed and returned to Kimball High School by Wednesday, Sept. 16....
The 89th Annual Farmer’s Day is September 25-27, and nominations are needed for grand marshal, outstanding farmer and outstanding homemaker. Nominations are due in by Monday, Sept. 21. To nominate someone, state their name and a brief description of why you believe they deserve the title. Nominations can be emailed to [email protected] or mailed to 600 S. Locust, Kimball, NE 69145....
From the parade to the barbecue to sand volleyball, Potter was the place to be over the weekend. The 85th annual Potter Days had something for everyone. See additional photos in this week's Observer....
The Kimball Longhorn football team came back from an early deficit but ultimately fell at the Southern Valley Eagles, 36-28, last Friday night. "We've been having a lot of ups and downs in the last two games," said head football coach Nick Kuxhausen. "We just need to be more consistent and have a more consistent team. We have a lot of young guys on the team that need experience, we have a lot of positives about our team. "Our varsity is getting a lot better. We really played hard all four...
The Kimball volleyball team won last Thursday's season opener by topping Bridgeport, 3-2. It was an intense game with both the Longhorns and the Bulldogs playing their hearts out, chasing each other on the scoreboard and constantly shifting the tides of the game. The first set, like all the others that followed, was a close one, with Bridgeport starting the serve and gaining the lead with three continuous successful rallies. Kimball came up next, scoring the next two points and soon game one...
It was a tough season opener for the Banner County football team last Friday. The Wildcats lost a pair of players to injury and had to forfeit the second half after falling behind 25-0 at halftime in a road contest against Maywood/Hayes Center. “We had two kids hurt or injured, so we had to forfeit,” coach Brady Cross said. Cross said his team had only six players eligible for Friday’s game, prior to the two injuries, and did not want to risk further injury in the second half. The coach said Garrett Grubbs was lost to a concussion while Austi...
POTTER - Turnovers haunted Potter-Dix in a 52-34 loss Friday to Morrill. The Coyotes turned the ball over eight times, including six times in the second half, that led to their defeat in the 2015 season opener. They had five interceptions and three fumbles in the game. The Coyotes (0-1) are back in action Friday with a 7 p.m. home contest against Caliche (Colo.) The Buffaloes (1-1) opened the season with a 30-18 win against Soroco (Colo.), and fell 12-6 last week at Kiowa (Colo.). Friday night...
Potter-Dix rolled to a 3-0 win against Morrill to open its volleyball season last Friday. The Lady Coyotes won 25-14, 25-18 and 25-17. Dawson Sharman led the way offensively with 12 of the team's 25 kills. Regyn Hicks and Audrey Juelfs added five kills each. Hicks led the team with both six aces and five blocks. Lanie Thies led Potter-Dix with 23 assists, while Juelfs and Hicks had eight digs each. After a match at Minatare on Tuesday, the Lady Coyotes travel to Mitchell for a triangular on...
Kimball opened the cross country season last Friday at Gering, and coach Tiffany Johnson was pleased with her team’s initial output. The boys varsity team finished 12th and the girls varsity team took 11th place. “For only being our first meet, I think we did good,” Johnson said. “Our newcomers all did good. The heat was tough on us. We ran against a lot of bigger schools and I was really impressed how our team did. “I’m looking forward to a good year. The team knows what they need to work on and we will continue to improve. It’s going to be a...
The Banner County volleyball team opened its season with a 1-2 record last week. The Lady Wildcats opened the season at home last Thursday with a 2-0 win against Minatare. They won 25-11 and 25-23. MaKenna Dahlgrin led the team offensively with three kills and a block. Paige Cross added two kills in the win. Savannah Jordan led the team serving with five aces, while Cross added four. Defensively, Cross and Danielle Flick had two digs each for the Lady Wildcats. Cross also led the team with three assists. Banner also dropped a 2-0 game to Creek...
Banner County opened its cross country season last Friday at Gering, and coach Kari Gifford was pleased with her team’s initial efforts. Courtney Knisley finished 45th in the varsity girls race with a time of 24:43, while Josh Boston finished 95th in the varsity boys race in 26:14. “I was pleased with their performances on Friday,” Gifford said. “It’s good to get the first competition behind us and have some idea of where we are at. They both are focusing on what needs to be done to see improvement.” Banner County also had four junior high...
On the subject of golf, Kimball High held their home girls golf tournament this past week with 27 girls participating. Gering won team honors with a team score of 416, Bayard had 466, and Sidney junior varsity 513. Mitchell's Kensey Kanno won individual top honors with her round of 97. Kimball's two entries were Lila Moore with 155 and Natasha Selves with 164 but coach Nora Robinson said the girls are working to learn the game and are improving. I was out on the course trying to get some...
A pair of Kimball residents had strong showings at the Julesburg drag races Aug. 29-30. Bransyn Kiefer took first place in the junior dragster 1 category at the race. Kimball's Rodney Ragorshek also finished second in the super pro category. For the season, Ragorshek leads the super pro category with 2,314 points. Wade Kiefer is sixth with 1,652 points, and Kathy Porter is 11th with 802 points. Bransyn Kiefer stands fourth in the season standings in the junior dragster 1 category. JR Dragster 1...