Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
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This letter is in response to the recent Observer editorial, “Raves, Rants and Reality.” It’s very nice to hear the writer’s comments about her health care experience at Kimball Health Services and that she felt she was well taken care of, even though she was unhappy with the collections process. KHS is happy to receive these comments so that we can continue to improve our process and give our patients a better overall experience. In order to protect the privacy of not only hers but all of our patients, I will not be drawn into a public discuss...
What is wind? For those of us in Western Nebraska, that’s a superfluous question as even the youngest child has experienced what the National Center for Atmospheric Research describes as, “moving air that is caused by differences in air pressure within our atmosphere,” by the time they are a month old. For the very young, the blistering cold winds may take their breath away in a nanosecond if their faces are not covered. We complain much this time of year, when constant twenty mile per hour winds gust across our streets relentlessly for seemi...
Happy Thanksgiving! There are so many multitudes of joyful people and things in life to be grateful about and yet, as I write this, I am so very distracted. My intention for the past several weeks leading up to this issue was to write a lovely and positive editorial about thankfulness. A lyrical composition that would prompt my readers to dig deep into their souls, feel the compassion that is innately available for all of us and in turn light the candle of gratitude in us all. And yet, here I am, thoroughly distracted by the actions of others,...
It is that time of year when people are dealing with the dreaded flu and other illnesses. When you are sick, tired and weak, it makes everything in your life more difficult not to mention, emotionally stressful. Thank goodness for the good and competent healthcare professionals at Kimball Health Services. Many of them are indeed amazing people with true compassion for their fellow humans who are dealing with anything from the common cold to cancer. I want to RAVE about an experience I had at KHS this earlier this year. I had not been feeling...
A boy student, in the 12th grade, starved for attention, parched for understanding, handed in the following poem to his teacher: “He always wanted to explain things, but no one cared. So he drew, sometimes he would draw and it wasn’t anything. He wanted to carve it in stone or write it in the sky. He would lie out on the grass and look up at the sky, and it would be only the sky and him and the things inside him that needed saying. And it was after that he drew the picture. It was a beautiful picture. He kept it under his pillow and would let...
I think that we should acknowledge the Sheriff’s Office and Kimball Police for protecting the kids on Halloween. They parked at the intersection of Sixth and Adams, where I live and made sure that children were safe and even handed out little treats. I think it was a positive for Kimball and I think they should be acknowledged. Thank you for your concern, for being there and for the glow sticks that you passed out to the children. Carol Novotny - Kimball...
When I was in high school we had a career fair of sorts. Recruiters from colleges and all branches of the military came to speak with us about our future plans. I was drawn to the Air Force, a dream fueled by fierce patriotism and the movie Top Gun (I know it is a Navy movie) and the dream of flying a fighter jet. After talking with the recruiter, who told me that women were NOT allowed to be fighter pilots (I hope that has changed by now), we engaged in a fairly short but heated conversation. Shortly, this recruiter determined that I did not...
Friends and Neighbors in Kimball County: I have worked with the Kimball County Agricultural Society for over twenty years. I have found them to be hard working volunteers who care about the youth of our County and about supporting the future of agriculture. Why do we need to support the Ag Society in their request to get funding outside the Kimball County Commissioners? In my opinion, the first and foremost reason we should support the funding outside of the Commissioners is to allow the Ag Society to continue their operations of providing ag...
Am I the only one having trouble understanding what’s going on at our Hospital Clinic? Is it the hospital board or the CEO that is responsible for hiring and firing our doctors and nurses? At the clinic all of the front office people were let go. We have none of the same nurses in the doctor’s offices. Another of our good caregivers is all of a sudden gone. Where is Jonna Beyer? I called to make an appointment and she is no longer at the clinic. Other PA’s have left in the last year or two. It was bad enough when Dr. Bush left with no good expl...
There is so much buzz on TV lately about ‘Respect isn’t given, it has to be earned.’ and You have to demand respect.’ Frankly, that does seem confusing to me. I would be inclined to expect respect from everyone each time – I know myself. I earned respect. But, I would have trouble respecting most other people (especially in big cities) – they haven’t earned my respect, or have they? How does one sort out about ‘Respect’ if one hasn’t learned about it? When I was young (a long time ago) we were taught to respect the elder. They have worked ha...
Every week it is my responsibility to collect the information for the courthouse news. While I was in the courthouse this week I decided I might as well vote early because I had already done my research and as we put the paper together on Tuesdays, I didn’t want to take the time to vote on our busiest day of the week, here at the Observer. As I was casting my presidential vote I was momentarily sidetracked by a flash of a Facebook post I’d seen the night before between my oldest brother and sister. Although that post was tame in comparison to...
My husband and I stopped at the Welcome Center near Kimball last Friday, 10/14 for some information about the Sandhills region and other points of interest in the area. We were returning to Omaha from Cheyenne after visiting Panorama Point the previous day on a road trip with friends from Minnesota. We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Virginia at the Welcome Center and getting several pieces of information, plus maps to help guide us to several interesting places. We just wanted to let you know how helpful Virginia was and how much we...
I want to RAVE about my favorite holiday, Halloween. Also known as Samhain and All Hallows’ Eve, this awesome holiday is soon approaching, to the delight of children everywhere. Kids of all ages, myself included, will be happily dressed in costumes, wearing masks or make-up and running around schools, neighborhoods and businesses acting a bit more batty (pun intended) than normal. And why is this? Of course, children will respond with a resounding chorus of, “CANDY” but surely that can’t entirely be the reason. I’m not going to go into the...
As a youngster I was able to participate in 4-H for a short time. Though I don’t remember why I didn’t continue along the 4-H path, I do clearly remember the positive impact the program had on me. I joined a sewing club and my sister joined a cooking club. She made these delicious little treats and I put together a pretty darn good pin cushion (that I still have today). Each of us spent time with our mom working on projects, trying until we got something just right. Those moments are some of my favorite memories. I think back to seeing my pro...
The Littlest pumpkin in the patch was feeling very blue. He looked up at his friend and said: “I want to be big like you! I’ll be left in the pumpkin patch, nobody will choose me, to be their jack-o-lantern on Halloween, for all to see. Nobody even looks at me ‘cause I’m so very small, I’ll still be here on Halloween.” And his tears began to fall. His friend looked down at him and said: “That is just not true. You are perfect just the way you are. There is nothing wrong with you! You may be little and not as round as me, but that is not importa...
A school superintendent told his assistant superintendent, “Next Thursday at 10:30 a.m., Halley’s Comet will appear over this area. This is an event which occurs only once every 75 years. Call the school principals and have them assemble their teachers and classes on their athletic fields and explain this phenomenon to them. If it rains, then cancel the day’s observation and have the classes meet in the auditorium to see a film about the comet.” The assistant superintendent said to the school principals, “By order of the Superinte...
I need my sugar fix first thing in the morning. If you give me a spoon full of cane sugar or beet sugar, makes no difference. It tastes and looks exactly the same. How can that be? One is a green stock and one is a brown beet. We are in sugar beet country. And around this time of the year you know it. There is a certain kind of hustle and bustle type of electricity in the air. When the colorful leaves from the trees cheerfully dance along the sidewalk, people start to gather in groups for meetings. It’s countdown time. One day, ten hours and f...
Dear Editor, Relationships Shouldn’t Be Scary. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and we want our community to think about what makes a relationship scary. Reading this, you might think you don’t need this information but it may be helpful to a friend, family member, or acquaintance. Keep the DOVES Program in mind if you know someone experiencing any of the following: Physical Violence: this can include slapping, hitting, punching, choking, pushing, breaking objects, slamming doors, forcibly blocking someone from leaving, exc...
Benjamin Disraeli was a wildly distinguished British politician and novelist who lived through nearly all of the 1800’s. Although it’s likely that most Americans won’t remember him from European history or simply never learned of him at all, you can bet that most of us have quoted him at least once. Disraeli is generally accepted to have been the first to say, “Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” I find that quote both comforting and heartbreaking. I’m incredibly grateful that time does move forward, taking us and every single atom in th...
I went to lunch with my father last week and he said something that really stuck with me. He said, “if you can’t trust your doctor, who can you trust” and I was thinking, well, yeah, you sure in the heck can’t trust your doctor. Doctors are humans; doctors are fallible. I believe that people who are naive enough to trust that their doctors are infallible are likely to be severely disappointed in life. If you truly believe that your doctor, judges, police, teacher, parents, friends are one hundred percent accurate one hundred percent of the time...
In a few seconds a huge semi-truck with a long trailer rumbled south on Chestnut through Kimball. Just long enough for me to look up and see the trailer loaded with hay. What a beautiful sight. All these bails of hay represented an incredible amount of energy. Energy received from the sun, the rain and mother earth. But most of all it also took an amazing input of long hours, lots of know-how, patience, faith, hope and stick-to-it-ness by the farmer. Who are these farmers who send truckloads o hay or produce down the road? And how far does...
There are so many great items to RAVE about this week, that it makes my heart sing (hope you don't mind me borrowing your saying, Larissa). I want to first start with Sunday's Fun Day at Beer & Loathing benefitting the Friends of the Goodhand Theater. Heather, Nate, Dave, Jordan and David, you created a superb shindig that offered fun to the community while helping the community at the same time to the tune of $1,908. And a big shout out to all the dunkees, you know who you are. (See photos...
There are so many reasons to love our city of Kimball. A few days ago was a perfect example. Bernita Brown and I went for our usual morning walk. This time we went uptown to run some errands. Unknowing that I hadn’t secured my wallet in my purse, it fell out. One of the managers at FirsTier Bank found it. He brought it to the bank, and Mrs. Garrett then tried to find who it belonged to. My name and address were inside, but my phone numbers had recently been changed. Knowing how worried I’d be when I realized it was missing, she tried to fin...
I want to RAVE about how pretty and clean our downtown area is in Kimball. Seriously, have you noticed that not only is it actually very beautiful with all the flowers, trees, flowering shrubs, and rose bushes, but it’s actually incredibly clean. Unless we are in the middle of a storm, you seldom see trash on main street. I live and work downtown and I see city employees working in the area almost daily and I want everyone to know that I appreciate them and the work they do, and I’m not the only one. Heather Entingh actually brought this to...
I want to RANT about friends, not just my friends, but ALL friends. Do you appreciate the close friendships that develop in a small town? I’ve lived in Kimball around 30 years but I’ve spent a good bit of time living outside of our fair town as well. Making friends in a city can be tough. It can take years to make real friends and then you may not always get a closeness that you can develop in a small town. Small towns do, thankfully, force us to be nice. Nice to more than just our neighbors. Nice to our postmen, waitresses, bartender, gro...