Keeping things on track

I had the chance last weekend to go on a snowshoe outing with friends. It marked the second annual event to play in the snow.  This year's spirit cleanse was found on Rabbit Ear's Pass, just outside of Steamboat Springs, Col.

While on the sojourn, I came across some cross country ski tracks left by people trying to get over a hill. It caused me to think about my present situation in a way I hadn't appreciated before.

Cheyenne County Commissioners to meet March 1st

CHEYENNE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
CHEYENNE COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
AGENDA - MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010

The Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners and Board of Equalization will consider, take
necessary action and may go into Executive Session, when applicable, concerning the following:

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

8:00 A.M. Roll Call
Announce Open Meetings Law Act
Approve current Agenda
Approve Minutes from meeting on February 16, 2010

8:15 A.M. Claims
Review correspondence, if any

9:00 A.M. Sue Warner, Marketing Specialist for Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance
Introduce Tara Stevenson, new Blue Cross/Blue Shield Representative

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

10:00 A.M. Public Hearing to review and consider approval of Exemption
Application for Tax Exemption on Motor Vehicles Owned by
Qualifying Nonprofit Organizations for Regional West
Medical Center

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

10:15 A.M. Rob Roderick, Sidney Volunteer Fire Department
Review and consider approval of Special Designated Liquor
License for Fireman's Ball on April 16, 2010

10:30 A.M. Tom Noel, Highway Superintendent
Update on road activities

11:00 A.M. Public Hearing to review and consider approval of One and Six Year Road Improvement Plan

11:15 A.M. Comments from the Public

Jordan tells council to get back on the Ball

The North Substation Transformer's arcing and sparking aside, there were few fireworks at last night's Sidney City Council meeting. With a couple public comments and considerably less public participation, council took up a schedule of ten items that included a proclamation for the Jaycees, the Northside Transformer project and the one and six year road plan.

When Mayor Wiederspon called for public comments under last night's agenda, City Attorney Jordan Ball rose to the podium.  Ball made a statement in which he suggested Council take a different approach in dealing with the public comments section of the bi-monthly council meetings.

'Our Clothing Store' dressed for success long before it opened the doors

In a recent post to TheGuardianNews, Starla Eleson described a meeting in which a Sidney, Neb. community-owned clothing store was discussed. She talked about similar efforts in Torrington and other communities who sought to establish ways to recapture shopping dollars spent elsewhere. They also hoped to create local jobs and further stimulate local downtown areas that had seen a rough time of things in recent years.

City Council Meeting February 23rd, 7:15 PM City Hall

UPDATED: MAYOR's Agenda item 

Publisher's Note: City Council is now providing electronic copies of the agenda and supporting information. This is the same information supplied to members of the media. Theguardiannews will make available a copy of this packet to anyone interested. Please send your inquiry to guardianofsidney@gmail.com one will be returned to you by close of business that day.

For purposes of brevity, summary items from the supporting documents will be added below each agenda item as applicable.

The lie of the Tiger

"I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me."

These words and more were spoken by a visibly shaken Tiger Woods today as he read from a prepared statement in front of a live camera this morning in Florida.

Torrington eyes community-owned clothing store (2005 Reprint)

Publisher's Note: Tom Mast gave permission to re-post this article. The community store effort that has been discussed along with Ms. Eleson's article made me go look for some deeper information on this issue.  The store in Torrington, WY is still apparently in business. The article below appeared in the Star-Tribune in January of 2005. Note also how much money they thought they needed to raise to get their effort off the ground. I did not see a reference in the article posted earlier on how the ownership model would be employed, but the idea of limiting the maximum number of shares an individual may hold seems like a good check against a large investor having undue influence in the direction the store might take.

One more bit of information: Our Clothing Store has apparently been sold to a Nebraska company located in Scottsbluff. More information to follow.

TOM MAST Star-Tribune staff writer
Sunday, January 16, 2005

Economic development officials in Goshen County hope to raise $450,000 by this spring in an effort to create a new clothing retail outlet.

By so doing, they want to reduce the "leakage" of money that results when local people shop elsewhere for goods, like in nearby Scottsbluff, Neb.

Brad Sutherland, executive director and sole employee of the Goshen County Economic Development Corp., said the effort to create a community owned store is similar to a successful venture launched in Powell.

Man sets fire to house, flies plan into federal IRS building

A 53 year old unemployed software engineer named Andrew Joseph Stack, III flew a plane believed to be owned by him into an office building in Austin, Texas today. It appears from the investigation thus far that Stack was despondent over his loss of income and frustrated with the federal government, particularly the IRS.

Stack took his frustrations out first in an online rant, subsequently published on Foxnews.com.  He rambles about how long it could take to fill up the piece with examples, but finds it, "pointless...especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head."

Stack's anger at the IRS was, in part, due to federal regulations that permit churches to remain exempt from taxation. He claimed that his actions were intended to bring attention to the laws that govern such policies that, "make a mockery of people who earn an honest living."

It also appears that Stack set his own house on fire with family members inside his home in Austin prior to launching his plane.

Executive Usurpation of the Constitution

President Obama today signed an executive order that creates a deficit reduction committee, the purpose of which is to get control over the massive deficits this nation has incurred, particularly since late 2008.

The commission, comprised of 18 members, six of whom will be Republicans, named by congressional Republican leaders, plus two additional Republicans named by the President.

We elected members to congress in part to hold responsibility for the purse strings. They have the sole power of federal taxation and appropriation and have used both to devastating effect on the US economy. The President has instituted, by fiat, a usurpation of Congressional Constitutional authority.

Cabela's Inc. Reports Strong Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2009 Results

Information Supplied by Cabela's Press Release.

Fourth Quarter Diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.77 Before Special Charges
Fourth Quarter Comparable Store Sales Decline 0.5%, Exceeding Expectations
Fourth Quarter Retail Operating Margins Expand 70 Basis Points
Record $294 Million Cash Flows From Operations For Year
Year End Return on Invested Capital Improved 150 Basis Points To 11.1%

City Council Candidate Tim Hackleman

Candidate: Tim Hackleman

Current Career: Art Director, Cabela's, Inc.

Other Activities: Actively involved with Sidney Youth Football for five seasons. Active and proud supporters of the Sidney High School fine arts and athletics programs. Tim also has held multiple leadership roles in his church.

Tim and his wife Amy have been married for 21 years and are the proud parents of four sons, Jaren, Seth, Nathan and Grant. In 1993, Tim received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from the University of Utah. He went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts degree in Graphic design in 1997 from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. You can find out more about Tim's positions by going to his blog.

Tim and his family make their home here in Sidney.



Tim's Vision for Sidney:

My vision for Sidney is to build a stronger, more prosperous community through the positive partnership of the City Council, city administration and the citizens of Sidney. My top priorities will be:

If elected, I will work towards building an easier and efficient way for the city to communicate thoughts, suggestions and concerns to the appropriate city officials. In return, have those comments, first, acknowledged, and second, responded to in a timely manner. If Sidney is to be the best it can be, it needs to happen through a stronger partnership with the community.

If elected, I will work towards the operation of a balanced budget. 

If elected, I will partner with city officials to explore new ways to increase revenue to reduce the tax burden placed on the citizens.

Together we can build a stronger Sidney family through honesty, integrity, open communication, understanding and respect. We can do this together!


NEWS COVERAGE

Candidate Interview with theguardiannews

City Council Candidate Mark Nienhueser

Candidate: Mark Nienhueser
Current Career: Senior Director of real estate and construction, Cabela's

Other Activities: King of Kings Lutheran Church Board of Lay Ministry, Sidney Public Schools Facilities Committee.

Married to wife Shelley. The couple have three sons, Jeff, Chris and Tim.

The couple make their home here in Sidney.

Other News about Mark Nienhueser

Interview in the Sidney Sun-Telegraph

Opening the Door on New Jobs in Cheyenne County

The Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners met today, and among the business addressed was a request from Emagine Concepts, Inc for $160,000 in community development block grant funds. The request for a loan from the re-use fund was to assist the Colorado company in relocating equipment and to prepare a permanent site for operations in the Cheyenne county area. The request was conditionally approved, pending the attachment of a schedule of collateral assets to cover the loan and that 20 employees would be created within the first year of operations.

Electoral College not a protector of small states

Dr. Carl Cornelius writes in today's Sun-Telegraph that the Electoral College was put into place to protect small states from being dominated by a, "...consortium of large states." Essentially, he is making an argument for not choosing the President by popular vote such as was demanded after Al Gore's close loss in 2000.


This posting reflects the framer's intent as contained in Federalist 68.

It isn't just for Hospitals and Guardians: Wards

People have been talking about the impact of splitting the City Manager/Economic Development Director positions (or keeping them together) for a variety or reasons lately. There is a much broader question that should be asked of the structure of the current management of the government and that is how effective are the five council positions at representing the entirety of the city's population?

For the Love of St. Valentine

Someone wrote as a comment (which I did not post) that this site was a poorly written, vemon-filled pile of crap. I was so stunned and afraid that someone got in touch with my 3rd grade English teacher, I nearly panicked.  After a few doublestuff Oreo cookies and a glass of milk, I was able to regain my composure.

Insane questions

Boo Radley writes on Julie Young's blog, "As long as we are on the subject of open disclosure, I would love to hear the reason that the City of Sidney is not collecting a little over $11,000 in taxes from the mayors business. Does anyone else find it interesting that his little parcel of land is not annexed, yet city contracts are given for our animal control? Do the city Police and animal control officers even have jurisdiction once they take an animal taken from the city to an unannexed (sic) location? Why should I have to pay a fee to retreive (Sic) my pet from a non-city business?? And folks wonder why the citizens have questions about our elected officials playing above board!! Unbelievable!

Boo Radley

Well Boo,


The city can't charge taxes on businesses that are not located outside its jurisdiction. Sidney routinely issues contracts for work and services to companies outside the jurisdiction of the city limits so no, I don't find it interesting in the slightest.

The city police are allowed to transport animals to the vet clinic. asking that question says more about her than the policy. As for having to pay a fee to retrieve your pet, perhaps she should avoid the situations that required the police to transport the animal out of the city limits.

If you want to question the actions of Council, try to stick to legitimate ones, not the comic relief you dribbled out to Julie Young. If that is the best line of questioning you can develop to show how underhanded the city is, your cause has the toughest row to hoe in all of Nebraska.

Michael Rowland

A pause to say, "Thank You."

I have been publishing this site for nearly a year now. I need to thank those who have participated in the success of this site by reading and providing useful comments on the topics at hand. I truly appreciate the fact that there are concerned citizens who choose to look here for a part of their news and commentary.

Having said that, I would like to encourage everyone, whether you agree with the opinions or stories expressed or have a different perspective to share those comments and stories with our readership which has surpassed 500 hits per day and is averaging page views exceeding 1200 for the first time in the last couple days.

It is because of the needs of the town and its people that I do this. If you enjoy reading, but don't want to comment and value the site and the service it provides, please consider contributing to help keep it going via financial support. If readership continues to build we will be very close to opening up true media competition in the Sidney area. That hasn't happened for a very long time. A chipIn widget on the side of the page will provide you a secure method to make your donation.

Thank You to everyone who has read and made the site as successful as it has been so far. Let me know how I can keep making the place a more complete view of the needs of the town.

Sincerely,

Michael Rowland, Publisher
theguardiannews

Issue No. 2, the Sidney Citizen

Publisher's Note: I am taking no position on this item below, except to post it for the benefit of those who said they did not get the first one and wanted to see it. Perhaps the author will forward a copy of the original version. I expect to take some flack for the references it makes to me, as well as Julie Young, but this is an on-going news item of interest to the city and as such will be posted here. Please feel free to comment for or against.

Of Dogs and See-Saws

I don't plan to be a pawn by anyone, just to be clear. Do I feel that rules been broken by various employees of the city, including councilmen? Yes. Should everyone's first conclusion be that the council is underhanded? I should hope not.

I liken the current imbroglio to a dog who knows where to get its food. When another dog comes too close, the first dog gets nervous, and then will fight to preserve its source of sustenance. It yelps and scratches and bites at the newcomer, seeking to drive away its competition for survival and the preservation of its own way of life.

The big dog in town wields all the real power. He chews on the deals and decides what he will give to the other members of his pack, and they are so grateful for the opportunity to continue living that they are willing to do whatever the big dog wants. The pack of the big dog in Sidney has shown that they are willing to fight any other dog who might get too close to the food bowl, even if it means cutting the heart of them in the process.

I would submit that the big dog in Sidney needs to learn how to share his source of power and remember that someone is always bigger than the big dog. What will all the little dogs do if that changes?

This town needs obedience training.

Michael Rowland

DNC asking people to write form letters

I get crazy letters from the DNC and the Obama team occasionally asking me to trounce and denounce the Republican policies through a letter which they are happy to "help" me with.

Below you find the contents of their talking points. Note the specific request to not use the points verbatim.

House Divided, Again

 Publisher's Note: This is a letter I sent to the Sun-Telegraph Publisher and editor today in response to a skewed article by Klark Byrd.  I am publishing it here, because as someone once wrote, I know it will get published.

HIghlights from Council

City Council met last night and adopted two resolutions, heard presentations from the City's auditor and the  Library's Annual Report. Discussions were also held on the continuation of the Deadwood trail project, and an agenda item from Julie Young on four points.

Contents of the Library Annual Report

­ The library ended the 2008-2009 fiscal year $30.55 under budget.

***Bulletin*** Council Meeting Tonight City Hall, 7:15 PM

The City Council of the the City of Sidney will meet tonight in the City Council Chambers. There will be a full agenda to consider with requests for two resolutions to be passed and annual reports from the City's financial Auditor, Rauner and Associates, and the Sidney, Public Library annual report. The agenda is provided herein commencing with items 4 through 11 with background as provided by members of the city government for your benefit.

LB 967, modifications to statutes affecting refunds of state sales taxes

 Publisher's note: The bill is presented using denoted lines. As such, it may be hard to read, but it would be searchable for various elements of interest.


FOR AN ACT relating to revenue and taxation; to amend section 77-4106 and 77-5726, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska; to change provisions relating to refunds of local sales and use taxes under certain tax incentive laws; to create a fund; and to repeal the original sections.

Civillity in Civil Government

Robert's Rules of Order provide a framework for debating ideas in a public forum in a way that allows recognition of individuals in a controlled manner. Ideas are brought before a body public through a process called motions, for which a second is obtained. The idea behind it is that if an idea doesn't have at least two people in favor of it, any discussion of that idea would have little chance of bearing productive fruit. Once a second is obtained, a vote on the motion takes place to open the process of formal debate.

Debate can be defined as a formal contest of argumentation in which two opposing sides defend and attack a given proposition. In a civil debate, each side brings their facts forward and each states a point, which can addressed (or rebutted) by the other side. Generally, the better prepared side will win, but in politics, the best prepared side doesn't always win the argument.

Council debates

Recently, several citizens of Sidney have alleged that three councilmen are acting in concert to fire Gary Person as City Manager and/or economic development director. The reasons cited, included a desire to manipulate the various departments and employees directly as was done under the old mayoral form of government years ago or to set up some employee (some have named this writer) as a new head of the city management or a PR person for the city who "assisted" the group in their objectives.

Enough with the Conspiracy Theories Already

Publisher's Note: I am making some changes to this entry based on information subsequently provided to me after the date of original post.

Julie Young's blog is a continual rant of baseless allegations of corruption and skewed interpretation of state law.  She charges that Bob Van Vleet, Marvin Filsinger and Dave Weiderspon are conspiring to violate open meeting laws, holding illegal closed sessions and trying to fire the City Manager.

It is clear from council meetings that a majority of elected officials seek to examine the possibility of separating the positions of City Manager and Economic Development Director. The conspirators gave different reasons, so they apparently must not be very good at conspiring, but yet, they are evil men.


My gut feeling is that the positions should be separated, on the basis of providing a necessary check and balance between the need to grow, but also to be able to manage the current obligations effectively.

Instead of building a path to I-80, that 167k could have been spent on improving the worst areas of the city's streets, but we pressed on, stating that we had yet another grant that we would lose if we didn't go forward. Now we are told that we would only save 24k if we killed the project now. We are damned if we do (because highway, epa and other regulations will force us to incur additional expenses to maintain it) and damned if we don't.  Maybe someone should have acted to kill the project outright, but that didn't happen, not from the City Manager, nor members of the City Council, who are both at fault, in my opinion.

If you are willing to take a position different from mine, I welcome your comment, you just can't be anonymous.

Nebraska Open Meetings Act, as Amended, with Attorney General Comments and rationale

Publisher's Note: Julie Young pointed out that I copied the information below from the Attorney General's website, rather than the state legislative website. The information below is the same, but you have the added benefit of understanding the AG's rationale for the acts provisions, and the benefit of case law for many points contained therein.

This posting copies the contents of the Open Meetings Act as amended, from the Attorney General's website. The links herein will navigate away from this space to the actual posting from the his site. Among the many provisions it contains are the bodies covered, meeting definitions, when closed sessions can/should be called and member responsibilities when issues arise, including timeliness in reporting violations. Lastly, the Act provides remedies for civil and criminal penalties for knowing violations to the Act's provisions. Case law and Attorney General comments/citations are provided for context and further understanding.

This is the same act as posted at the City Council and duly noted by the Mayor at each meeting. I encourage each of you to read the act, particularly in areas where you feel local government has failed with respect to the Acts provisions.  

Knowledge is power and knowing your rights will help you keep your public servants on the correct course and prevent breaches of the act, whether intentioned or not.

Senator Ben Nelson to directly benefit from his vote on Health care.

In addition to accepting what some have considered a bribe for his vote on the Senate health care bill, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson is accepting a more direct benefit in the form of an advocacy campaign on his behalf from none other that the Democratic National Committee.

Poll Results

I have conducted a couple polls in the last week. Both are overwhelmingly skewed in one direction. The polls, while not crafted by a pollster and certainly not scientific, illustrate the schism between what we say is the right thing and what we are actually doing.

Recently, Ibs Young sent a letter to the editor blasting the anonymous letter writers who penned, "The Sidney Citizen." Overwhelmingly, those who responded said Mrs. Young was correct on two fronts: Calling out anonymous posting, and labeling those who did so, "Gutless, despicable cowards."

The "letter" led to a set of questions which I gave to city council members on Tuesday. Council members answered the questions with ample community participation. Those answers were reported on this site. Dave Collins from KSID radio asked council to elaborate further on the reasons why each councilman wanted to separate the city manager's dual roles. In turn, each gave what seemed to be a different reason for their thoughts, but members in the audience seemed to believe that a conspiracy to unload Gary Person continues to exist.

Dr. Cornelius questioned parliamentary procedure, but in chastising the council, got his answer slightly incorrect. It seems that a person who makes a second on a motion can withdraw his second, if the motion to which the second is provided is altered. Under the circumstances for that particular meeting, the motion did not change, and so the second should not have been withdrawn.

Accusations on violation of open meeting laws are being bandied about, but no evidence has been forthcoming, nor official complaint filed.

Another thing to consider on polling now. It is easy to skew the results here because Blogspot allows for polling, but you can cheat the results in your favor through some relatively simple techniques. As a result, the poll results are actually only reflecting a very small number of people who have voted many times.

Future polls (on the news site being created now) will contain specific logic to prevent such occurrences in the future. It will not be scientific, but it will be more reflective of people's actual choices, rather than manipulated bias as has been the case on the two polls posted thus far.

Michael Rowland

Community-owned businesses and due diligence

As one of Cheyenne County's newbies, I don't often chime in on community projects or signs of unrest amongst the natives.

A community-owned clothing store is a different story. I have some background with these types of projects. I lived and worked in Torrington, Wyoming when theirs came about. I worked with a development group in Chadron, Nebraska, when they put together a team to investigate the possibility of a community-owned clothing store.

Having been through it twice, I know a little about it. I figured I would attend the meeting last Thursday to learn what I could about Sidney's current project status, and offer what I could to help.

The meeting included thirty or so folks who were very excited about the idea of a community-owned clothing store. The folks from UNL, Connie and a gentleman whose name I do not recall, presented on behalf of the group. They spoke of the group's inception, and how they came together with the idea of a community-owned clothing store. They spoke of focus groups that were held to discuss wants and needs from a clothing store. They discussed customer service quality, assortment, including sizes and selection, and how their store would be inviting and have a great floor plan, etc etc.

What they did not discuss - was due diligence.