Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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Kimball County Transit Service Administrator Christy Warner informed the Kimball County Commissioners at their Tuesday meeting that Gov. Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Transportation Director Vicki Kramer will visit the transit service Feb. 26 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Statistics for KCTS also were presented by Warner. Of 33,943 rides for the calendar year 2023, 61% were from Kimball County. Other numbers showed that 8,843 rides were educational and preschool, school or college; 3,690 rides were for employment; 2,086 were deliveries f...
Bobby "Shorty" Wilson disappeared without a trace from the streets of Kimball on October 30, 1956, and the family struggled with his disappearance and searched for years for clues or his remains. In 1958, the family had a marker erected in the Kimball Cemetery that read: Robert G. "Shorty" Wilson. His birth date was May 28, 1925, and he was born in Kimball, Nebraska. The simple headstone says, "Disappeared on October 30, 1956." A description of Shorty Wilson was provided in a reward posted in...
Among the special touches at the new Kimball Health Services hospital are plaques next to rooms that recognize donors for helping make possible healthcare services in those rooms. In this case, Ryan and Stephanie McElroy of Kimball are recognized for their contributions to mammography services. They posed for this image during a tour of the new facility...
A high-drama scene unfolded on Thursday, Feb. 8, when the Kimball Police Department answered a disturbance call at 311 Cedar St. and followed up with an attempted arrest. The situation led to a standoff between law enforcement and a suspect in his home from morning until late evening. The next day, the suspect called the Kimball County Sheriff's Office and talked with Sheriff Dave Hottell. They worked out a method for the suspect to be taken into custody. Later, Hottell showed up at the...
The rehabilitation of primary runway 10/28 at the Kimball Municipal Airport/Robert E. Arraj Field received the 2023 Project of the Year at the Nebraska Department of Transportation Aeronautic Division yearly awards night on Jan. 23. Chair of the airport board Ryan McElroy also received an Award of Merit. The new runway project provides a safe landing and takeoff surface for all users of the airport. Runway 10/28 is 6,200 feet long and 75 feet wide. The rehabilitation included 6 inch concrete whi...
First Of Two Parts Almost 70 years ago before social media, cells phones, and cable TV, when oil was king, local children suffered from polio, and a washing machine at Montgomery Ward would cost you $159.95, Kimball's Bobby Wilson, 4 foot 6 inch in stature, disappeared from a local service station in broad daylight and was never heard from again. No body was ever discovered that matched his size, and no crime scene was ever found. Bobby Wilson just disappeared into thin air, never heard from...
Kimball Jr/Sr High School received the Circle of Excellence award from Cognia on Monday evening at the Kimball School Board meeting. Cognia is the largest accreditation organization in the world and does on-site reviews for educational institutions. Cognia did the accreditation for Kimball Public Schools last year. The presentation included comments from the regional accreditation evaluator, Dr. Dan Leikvold, "Kimball Jr/Sr High School has a robust continuous school improvement process and an...
Kimball has been added to the list of areas that have suffered thefts of thousands of gallons of fuel at fuel stations. Other communities hit by the theft rings include Chappell, Benkelman, Haigler, Sidney and Dalton. Video shows that on Jan. 26, a white straight box truck with two subjects pulled up to a fuel station at Frenchman Valley Coop in Kimball and absconded with over 1,000 gallons of fuel. With the theft occurring in the city of Kimball, the Kimball Police Department is investigating....
At the Feb. 6 Kimball County Commissioners meeting, an update on the sale of the High Point Welcome Center was provided. After completing its due diligence, Big D Oil Company of Rapid City, S.D., will complete the purchase of the High Point Welcome Center and surrounding acres on Feb. 12. The county will lease the welcome center back for $500 a month until Big D is ready to start construction. The center and additional eight acres were sold to Big D for $500,000. The company plans on developing the area as a truck stop. Other business in front...
"It is a joy, a blessing," Lela Carpenter said. "It is large enough for our family to go places and be together. It's great." Lela and her family purchased the "blessing bus" when it was declared surplus property for the county. The commissioners requested that the County Clerk's Office handle the bid process, and it went out for bid two different times. The first time there was no bid. The second time, the Carpenters bid $500 and they were the only bid, so they received the "blessing bus."...
On the May 14 primary ballot Banner County voters will be electing one commissioner and three school board members. Newly appointed Banner County commissioner Republican Don Lease has filed as an incumbent. Lease was appointed commissioner in December to complete the term of long-time commissioner Robert Gifford, who resigned. Lease’s current term expires January 5, 2025. Banner County School Board has three open non-partisan seats with incumbent Laura Baker filing to retain her seat, and John-Robert Faden and Jacob Knaub also filed for the o...
Little Bushnell is getting some big attention. Big Rig attention. The Kimball County village, population 115, has been a place of interest on three Big Rig Travels/YouTube videos that about 54,800 viewers watched from last Thursday through Tuesday. BigRigSteve (real name Stephen Michaels), the trucker star of Big Rig Travels for 16 years, even spent a night outside Bushnell. He had little choice. A tire on BigRigSteve's semi-trailer truck blew out heading westbound on I-80 out of Kimball that...
Officials for Kimball Health Services anticipate that the new building will be fully operational and ready for patients on Feb. 19. An open house and ribbon cutting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Feb. 26 with Gov. Jim Pillen in attendance, along with other politicians, officials and the public. The hospital, clinic and emergency room will open on Feb. 19 at 255 West 4th St. if all goes according to plan. CEO and CFO Cassie Gasseling said that employees from the portable trailers at the old hospital...
Discussions continue in Washington, D.C., on the modernization of weapon systems for the United States. The Air Force Sentinel project is destined for F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne and bases in North Dakota and Montana. The Sentinel is the ICBM replacement package for the current outdated Minuteman III missiles, and the program is often discussed by Air Force officials and think tanks in Washington, D.C. The Sentinel is the land-based leg of the United States nuclear triad on air, land and sea. Recently, when the Sentinel project came...
Not many candidates have filed for open offices for Kimball County or the City of Kimball, County Clerk Cathy Sibal told the Observer. But as of early Tuesday, she said four individuals have filed for Kimball County commissioner on the Republican side. They are incumbent Carl Stander files and challengers Dave Hottell (former Kimball County highway superintendent), Matt Bright and Sarah Weisbrook. The winner of the primary election on May 14 will move forward to the general ballot. No Democrats have announced their intentions for the...
Officials from Kimball Health Services and Kimball County Commissioner Carl Stander met on Jan. 4 to make preparations for the transition of the old hospital building back to county control. Although the county always owned the property, a quit claim deed will "wipe the slate clean" and solidify the fact that Kimball Health Services has no interest or claim on the building, officials said. The hospital property was acquired on Dec. 29, 1948, for a sum of $1,200 from the Alfred Forsling estate....
Kimball City Council met for their January monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 16, and council President Don Muench conducted the meeting due to the absence of Mayor John Morrison. Others in attendance included Christy Warner and Gabe Ingram. City administrator Annette Brower was absent, as was Councilman Creg Pike. Council approved a $25,000 business grant for Patriot Carwash, LLC to be paid when the project is completed. In the big news at the meeting, the long awaited Road Safety Assessment...
Sidney police have obtained an arrest warrant for a Dix man, Nathan James Robinson. The 23-year-old is being sought for the assault of an 84-year-old Sidney female. The incident happened on Jan. 17 in Sidney. According to the Sidney Police Department, Robinson has yet to be apprehended as of Monday evening, but no other information was provided. Robinson's charges include three Class 2 felonies, which include robbery, theft/shoplifting, and abuse of a vulnerable adult. In addition to the...
The good news is that average gas prices in Nebraska this week are $2.74 a gallon for regular unleaded – 17.2 cents lower than a month ago and 51.5 cents lower than a year ago, according to gasbuddy.com The bad news is that avearage prices in Kimball on Tuesday were at $2.94, 20 cents above the state average. FVC was the lowest locally at about $2.88. Diesel was selling here at an avearge of $3.67....
Gen. Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force, spoke candidly in an online interview about the Sentinel missile project destined for Kimball, the tri-state area, Montana and North Dakota. Kendall’s words could be a cause for concern in the Kimball area. He spent about four minutes of the hour long interview voicing his own concerns about the Sentinel project. The interview was hosted by a Washington, D.C., think tank, the Center for New American Security, on November 13, 2023, and is available on YouTube. Dr. Staci Pettyjohn, senior fellow a...
Three Kimball residents remained in jail as of Tuesday after the Kimball County Sheriff’s Office conducted a bond search at 713 Oak St. Bond conditions set by the judge required the individuals to submit to a search of person, property, any vehicles owned, any vehicles located in, and residence upon request of law enforcement. In addition, the defendants shall submit to testing of blood, breath or urine for presence of alcohol or drugs upon the request of law enforcement. On Friday morning, Jan. 12, the sheriff’s office conducted a bond search...
The deep freeze that put Kimball on ice last weekend and early this week with temperatures way below zero is giving way to milder, yet still wintery, temperatures. Highs and lows this weekend are forecast to be 18 and 8 degrees on Friday, 31 and 20 on Saturday, and 42 and 24 on Sunday. Above is the minus-14 temperature reading at Points West Community Bank late last Saturday afternoon....
Roger Gillming, director of the local Salvation Army, said he was “very pleased” with how well the area did with the Christmas bell ringing campaign. This year was much better than the past few years. Gillming said they collected about $2,800 in the weekends prior to Christmas. Six different area churches provided the bell ringers. Gillming thought the pleasant weather before Christmas helped with donations. In addition to the local individuals who put money in the Salvation Army pot, the Bushnell Lions Club and the Kimball Ministerial Ass...
The blizzard started Sunday, January 2, 1949. The morning was a cold chilly morning. By Sunday night the blizzard was raging in full force. On Monday morning the temperature had dropped to five below zero and had stayed there all day, On Monday, January 3, the wind was raging up to 60 miles an hour, blowing snow into tremendous drifts. The snow was so heavy that you could only see up to ten yards in town and a few feet in the country. About 11 p. m. on Tuesday, the storm was beginning to...
Patients from Cheyenne and Kimball were the last surgery patients at Kimball's old hospital on Friday, marking the end of an era at the 73-year-old facility and a new beginning at Kimball's new hospital next month. Bob Mason of Cheyenne and Larry Snyder of Kimball underwent procedures on the last day surgeries were performed in the hospital's old operating room. Mason, a Cheyenne firefighter and patient of KHS plastic and hand surgeon Dr. Bill Wyatt, underwent an amputation revision procedure...