130 Years Ago
November 29, 1895
Johnnie Carmicle writes from Omaha to his parents that he has a chance to go to South America and have transportation and other expenses all paid, which he will probably accept. He says he thinks it a benefit to his parents to have the family as widely scattered as possible, therefore they ought not object.
125 Years Ago
November 30, 1900
Woodbridge is pretty enthusiastic over sales of pianos and organs this week, having disposed of four of the former and two of the latter. Some people are undoubtedly prosperous and thankful.
120 Years Ago
December 1, 1905
Patrons of the telephone system will be somewhat inconvenienced for time while changes are being made in the wires, but the work is being done with the intention of greatly improving the service.
115 Years Ago
November 29, 1910
G. C. Blakely, traveling salesman for the Hamilton-Brown shoe company, is seriously ill at his room at the Drake Hotel.
110 Years Ago
November 30, 1915
The court house held its first capacity audience Monday afternoon when one of the biggest crowds in the history of the building assembled to hear the Barkhurst-Zehrung trial in which Mrs. Anna Zehrung is suing the aged gentleman for $3100 for an alleged breach of promise to fulfill his marriage vows.
105 Years Ago
November 30, 1920
The arrest here late Friday afternoon of a man with a gunshot wound in his right shoulder, giving the name of William Henry Kimble, and a red-haired woman dressed in man’s clothing and representing herself to be Kimble’s wife, has attracted the attention of interested parties in three other towns. According to information received by County Attorney Lee Basye, warrants have been issued at Clay Center, Neb., charging the man with adultery and the woman with bigamy.
100 Years Ago
December 4, 1925
Shall the city pumping station be closed down in order that the interference, said to have been caused to radio sets about the city by the plant, be checked? Members of the city council and City Manager Goines have been besieged with complaints that the pumping plant has been the source of much trouble to radio fans when they tune in for an evening program.
95 Years Ago
December 2, 1930
John King, former baseball pitcher, who was arrested by police in a Thanksgiving night raid on the Barry house in the southeast part of the business section, won out in a trial in police court Saturday morning on the basis of a strong defense put up in his behalf by his counsel. King denied ownership of a gallon jug and a pint bottle of bright-colored moonshine whiskey seized in the night police raid.
90 Years Ago
November 29, 1935
Deane Bottorff, Hemingford 4-H club member, has been announced the state winner of the boys’ division of the 4-H conservation project contest held during the summer. Deane was the county club champion and as such won the free trip to Seward, where the state camp was held. His trip was won through an insect identification and control project he worked out.
85 Years Ago
November 29, 1940
Three boys, two of them 12 years old and the other one 10 years old, are scheduled to appear before County Judge Penrose E. Romig Saturday morning to answer juvenile charges arising out of two filling station break-ins. The boys, arrested by police Wednesday, confessed that they entered the Conoco filling station at Eighth and Niobrara Tuesday night and took a quantity of candy and tobacco.
80 Years Ago
November 30, 1945
Jon Funk, local police character, pleaded guilty to a charge of petit larceny in county court this morning and was fined $50 and costs by Judge P. E. Romig. He paid $56 and was released. Funk was charged with the theft of an overcoat and muffler belonging to Harold Wood, Drake Hotel clerk, and of a suitcase and clothing belonging to L. R. Brady.
75 Years Ago
December 2, 1950
Walter Metz met a couple fellows on the street Friday afternoon and the trio commented on the weather – which was getting colder by the minute. One of the three said, “Well, anyway, it hasn’t snow-” and that was as far as he got. Metz quick on the trigger, interrupted: “That’s the first drop, just as you said that.” And sure enough it was.
70 Years Ago
December 1, 1955
Mayor J. L. Saylor has proclaimed the week of December 3-11 as National Guard Centennial Week in Alliance. His proclamation cited achievements of the Guard as a public servant in times of peace and as well as war.
65 Years Ago
December 2, 1960
The first unit of the new Good Samaritan Village for senior citizens will utilize six present Chimney Town buildings adjacent to Flack Avenue. The City Council heard this report from City Manager R. W. Laing Thursday night at its semi-monthly meeting.
60 Years Ago
November 29, 1965
Lawrence M, 19, of Alliance, was pinned beneath an overturned car early Sunday in an accident seven miles east on Highway No. 2, but apparently escaped without serious injury. The young man was driving a 1956 model car east. He lost control, according to an investigation report by Sgt. Dale Justice of the Nebraska Safety Patrol, and the car traveled 558 feet along the right side of the highway.
55 Years Ago
December 2, 1970
The Box Butte County Sheriff’s office is investigating three burglaries along Highways 2 and 87. Sheriff Freddie Marsh reports a coin collection valued at a minimum of several hundred dollars is missing from the Russell Miller farm home three miles west of Hemingford. Marsh said the burglary apparently took place between 2 and 5 p.m. Tuesday while no one was at home.
50 Years Ago
November 28, 1975
The Alliance City Council officially offered about $136,000 as its share of the cost of a regional jail Friday in a continuation of Tuesday’s meeting. The Council unanimously voted to pay for 60 percent of the administrative space costs if credit is given the city for law enforcement machines that would be utilized at the new building.
45 Years Ago
December 2, 1980
Enthusiasm dampened by the failure of the sales tax proposal, the Citizens Participation Advisory Committee decided during its Monday meeting to look at alternatives to the recreation center proposal on the 1980 Block Grant. About $70,000 had been earmarked in the 1980 Block Grant for the planning and land purchase for a recreation center.
40 Years Ago
November 29, 1985
The City of Alliance plans to get more “aggressive” in its efforts to rid streets of snow and ice. Even though complaints concerning the city’s snow removal program have been limited so far, City Manager Wolfgang Bauer and Street Superintendent Don Thies agree that so far this winter prolonged cold weather has caused some problems with snow and ice on city streets.
35 Years Ago
December 1, 1990
Santa’s Helpers Ready To Shop: “Three years ago we had 20 kids; this year we have 247 children, ages four to ten years old, selecting gifts for 739 family members,” said Karen Trussell, a coordinator for an annual Women of Today project. The Alliance Jills Women of Today have watched the number of children shopping in their annual Santa’s Helpers project climb steadily.
30 Years Ago
November 29, 1995
Shannon Garwood gives keys to inmates at the Box Butte County Jail. Not keys to the locks, but keys to the future, employment and advancement – through education. Federal grant money, administered through Alliance High School, provides prisoners with the chance to earn their high school equivalency diplomas through AHS or GED from the state department of education.
25 Years Ago
November 30, 2000
The YMCA Teen Center and Aerobic Center on Box Butte Avenue, where the Porterhouse restaurant most recently was, is having an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony today. There is a Teen Board and Committee of high school students who are involved with much of the decision-making about programs, activities and hours of the Center.
20 Years Ago
November 28, 2005
On Nov. 24 between 7 and 8 p.m., officers of the Alliance Police Department responded to 15 reports of vandalism from various locations within the city. The windows of several businesses had been shot with a BB gun, as well as the windows of two vehicles.
15 Years Ago
December 3, 2010
The Alliance Police Department has been awarded six handheld alcohol breath-testing units through a traffic safety grant award. Police Lieutenant Ken Hart said the department has not received the devices yet, noting that they are the same type of devices the department has, and will be used to replace worn out equipment.
10 Years Ago
December 5, 2015
Officers from the Western Intelligence and Narcotics Groups (WING), Alliance Police Department and Nebraska State Patrol served two residential search warrants in Alliance on Thursday. Five adults were arrested and booked into the Box Butte County Jail on charges of Possessing a Controlled Substance (Methamphetamine).
5 Years Ago
December 2, 2020
County Attorney Terry Curtiss is on a mission to reduce the instances of truancy as changes to methods of learning have occurred since the outbreak of COVID-19 and opened the door for students to be truant.
*Compiled from The Alliance Times-Herald Archives by Christine Melcher