130 Years Ago
March 16, 1894
Marshal Saner spent most of a day last week with a shotgun chasing a canine, that had offended the majesty of the law. John, however, isn’t a very good “wing shot” and had to give it up. Judge Butler ‘lowed he could show that policeman without brass buttons a trick or two. So after getting forty rounds of ammunition “loaded for bear” and some of Banks Stewart’s twenty pounds of granulated sugar for $1.00 to entice his dogship out to his summer residence in Duncan’s addition, the Judge marched boldy to the fray with the self-confident air of a citizen proud to discharge the duties of a patriot at the call of his country. Having offered fitting religious consolation to the doomed canine, the judge backed up against the door-post and after carefully taking aim, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. His dogship winked his eye and after a careful survey of his person concluded that the broadside at short range fired by the enemy had inflicted no bodily damage, charged to get through the door into the house. But the judge intended to win the battle clubbed arms and struck at his opponent with the butt of the shotgun (borrowed from the hardware store) missed the dog, embedded the butt in Box Butte soil and broke the gun-stock “smack” in two. That new gun-stock cost the judge $9, and we understand the judge prefers the quiet peace of a civilian’s life to military duty.
125 Years Ago
March 17, 1899
Times welcomes County Treasurer A. M. Miller to Alliance, and announces to our citizens that he is disposed to “do the right thing.”
120 Years Ago
March 15, 1904
It is likely that more than a hundred of the two hundred and six delegates representing the various counties of the Sixth district for the Republican Congressional Convention will be in Alliance Thursday of this week. This, with the usual transient visitors, will likely tax the public hostelries and capabilities of the city to the utmost.
115 Years Ago
March 12, 1909
Alliance citizens have expressed their determination in no unequivocal terms to have a sewer system. At the special election held Tuesday, a vote of almost ten to one was cast in favor of the system and bonds.
110 Years Ago
March 13, 1914
Sheriff E. T. Clark of Fall River Co., was here Friday with warrants for the arrest of Harry G. Taylor and his sister, Mrs. Jack Traffney. The sheriff had no extradition papers and they refused to accompany him without them, so Taylor was locked up in the county jail and Mrs. Traffney released on her own recognizance.
105 Years Ago
March 14, 1919
An overheated stove in the janitor’s rooms of the Emerson school building caused a fire scare Thursday morning which, luckily, did not do any great amount of damage. The stove pipe goes through a lath and plaster partition and it was here the fire started.
100 Years Ago
March 14, 1924
Mame Houchins of South Alliance was sentenced to serve 90 days in the county jail following conviction on two counts, possession of liquor and intoxication, before County Judge Ira E. Tash Thursday morning. On the night of March 2 the police were called to South Alliance on a complaint that Mrs. Houchins was disturbing the peace by firing shots from a revolver at George Banjoff and a companion, who were returning from town.
95 Years Ago
March 8, 1929
The wisdom of the county commissioners in replacing horse-drawn drags, small grading outfits and team work with heavy grader equipment has been shown in the figures compiled by Commissioner R. E. Knight covering the seasons of 1927 and 1928.
90 Years Ago
March 13, 1934
“Alliance’s new municipal airport, improved with CWA funds, is the best airport in Nebraska—barring none!” The authority for that statement is R. W. Shields, airport inspector under Dr. W. W. Arrasmith of Grand Island, who has been the federal chief of airport improvements under the government’s program in the state.
85 Years Ago
March 14, 1939
The city today advertised for bids on auxiliary equipment and piping for the new power plant, the bids to be opened on March 30. The estimated cost is $88,000.
80 Years Ago
March 14, 1944
Impassable roads in Box Butte county each spring lead to a “cussing out” of county commissioners by many who do not understand the problems of highway construction in a country in which few materials exist for building a top surface which will hold up the tonnage of a trucking age. Fortunately Box Butte county commissioners years ago faced the transportation problems in a realistic way. They saw rural roads blocked by snow and mud, with livestock seeking market, and feed needed on the other end of the highway. As an economic problem it was a serious one.
75 Years Ago
March 15, 1949
A majority of Times-Herald readers who have voted in the straw poll on highway revenues favor a 1-cent per gallon gasoline tax increase but they are opposed to boosting car registration fees.
70 Years Ago
March 13, 1954
A man whom Alliance officers have a hold-order on in connection with burglaries here, is being held by Des Moines, Ia., officers after being captured by three Catholic priests. Police identified the man as Howard McDowell, 23, who made his home in Alliance for about 30 days and before that was a resident of Des Moines. According to information reaching here McDowell was captured in St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Cathedral Thursday night during an alleged attempt to break into the Cathedral’s “poor box.”
65 Years Ago
March 13, 1959
The Alliance City Council gave the embattered War Dad’s Club a new short-term lease on life and approved plans for Frontier Airlines to install refueling facilities at Municipal Airport at its regular semi-monthly meeting Thursday night.
60 Years Ago
March 12, 1964
The Nebraska Education Television Commission Wednesday, meeting in Omaha, agreed to set construction priorities next month for the remaining four proposed stations at Alliance, Channel 13; North Platte, Channel 9; Albion, Channel 25 and Basset, Channel 7.
55 Years Ago
March 13, 1969
Montgomery-Ward will move its Alliance catalog store this weekend to the former location of Ward’s auto center at 216 West Third Street, according to an announcement today.
50 Years Ago
March 13, 1974
With the deadline for filing set for 5 p.m. Friday, County Clerk Grace Mote is urging those interested in filing as a delegate to the county convention in either the Republican or Democrat party to do so at her office prior to that deadline. So far, only two Republicans and one Democrat have filed for election as a delegate to their respective conventions.
45 Years Ago
March 14, 1979
Water runoff, “front-ending” of development costs, the proposed new Meadowood Addition, and a downtown zoning regulation were topics for discussion and action at a regular meeting of the Alliance Planning Commission Tuesday evening.
40 Years Ago
March 14, 1984
Polly Abbott and Kirt Kerr have been named as top winners in the 1983-84 “Most Valuable Student” Competition sponsored by Alliance Elks Lodge No. 961. There were 19 students entered in the competition from Alliance High School, Alliance St. Agnes, Hemingford and Hyannis High Schools.
35 Years Ago
March 13, 1989
Officials are estimating damage at $500,000 after a fire at the Sandhills Oil Company triggered two explosions that rocked Hyannis late Saturday afternoon. Four people were transported to Box Butte General Hospital in Alliance for treatment of injuries they received during the fire. Firefighters from Hyannis, Whitman, Ashby, Alliance, Arthur and Mullen were on the scene.
30 Years Ago
March 14, 1994
Alliance High School placed second overall in the Pre-State Debate Contest held at Chadron High School this weekend. John Foy placed first in the competition and William Suit placed eighth.
25 Years Ago
March 15, 1999
Bobbi Frazier was one of about a hundred customers who crowded outside Alliance’s Kmart Sunday morning to purchase an elusive Furby. According to Kmart employees people were lined up to purchase the toy before 6:30 a.m. Selling at $27.99 apiece, Alliance’s Kmart sold its allotment of 49 of the much anticipated creatures in less than five minutes.
20 Years Ago
March 12, 2004
The Annual Alliance Chamber of Commerce banquet, “A New Beginning” will be Tuesday, March 16 at the Alliance Country Club. Emcee Delinda Neville will also be the keynote speaker.
15 Years Ago
March 13, 2009
The Alliance High School bands will present their Spring Concert at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, in the high school gym. The highlight of the concert will be the premier performance of “A Time With Nicholas,” an original composition commissioned for the AHS band by JC and Cheri Gasseling, in memory of their son Nic.
10 Years Ago
March 13, 2014
Following their historic run to the state championship game in 2013, the Hemingford Bobcats football team will have a new look next year, as will their field if funding can be raised. The team and the Hemingford Boosters are raising funds for new equipment as well as improvements to Bobcat Field.
5 Years Ago
March 13, 2019
After issuing a request for qualifications and receiving only one response, the Alliance City Council has selected an engineer to move forward with the Sunken Gardens revitalization project. During its meeting on March 5, the council voted to award the project to Baker and Associates of Scottsbluff.