Ask Questions Here!

As we all know, a lack of information can result in a flood of rumors. In an effort to help control the rumor mill a bit, we would like to invite the community to post your questions here.  If you heard a rumor and want to be sure of the facts or if you simply have a question about local news and events, just ask us. We will do our best to answer your questions as quickly as possible.

25 comments:

  1. This is a new question for your blog. I have reviewed every aspect on the quality of living in Alliance and find it ABOVE AVERAGE. However as a person with some medical problems that up to this point have been addressed by a qualified staff and close medical facilities I have been a very lucky person to have had these medical facilities close by. My wife and I are very impressed by everything we have seen and heard about Alliance. ( And yes we have been following all the blogs ,both negative and positive and have come to the conclusion that Alliance is where we would like to live and have our children and grand children visit us and possibly they would see the benifits of living and raising thier children in a small town.As I said the only questions left are the medical questions we have. I would really appreciate some honest feedback on this.

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  2. Doe’s the Alliance Public Schools need a liquor license for the fund raiser their having at the skate rink?

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  3. A liquor license is required for the APS fundraising event. ATH has obtained the following information:

    Number: 89426; Status: Retail; License: Category: SDL; Type of Beverage(s): Beer: Yes,Wine: Yes, Distilled Spirits: Yes; Date and Time License Valid : 05/01/2010 - From 5:00 PM to 12:00 AM; Corporation or Licensee: TWB WASH LLC; Supervisor: TORI BROZEK Address of Premises: SKATELAND, 1312 E 10TH ST, ALLIANCE, NE 69301; EVENT: RECEPTION/FUND RAISER

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  4. I understand the groups and organizations wishing to set up refreshment booths in the city park during the celebration for the opening of the cemetary are each required to provide the city with proof of a one million dollar insurance policy. Is this also the policy for groups setting up booths during the campout for bike ride across Nebraska, and family night during Heritage Days? Is this a policy for any use of City property, i.e. the people that play basketball in the City Auditorium. If churches or retirement homes want to have a gathering or an ice cream social, does this rule apply? What are my obligations if I want to have a family reunion gathering in the park?

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  5. In response to the question about insurance requirements for events on city property: Thank you for asking us. We are working on gathering information on this question and will reply as soon as possible. We will do our best to get an answer for you or we will have someone with knowledge of these requirements comment on the blog.

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  6. Steve Stackenwalt, GM-ATHMay 10, 2010 at 10:46 AM

    In response to the insurance question above:
    We contacted City Clerk, Linda Jines, for information regarding the insurance requirements pertaining to events on city property. Insurance is needed during any commercial supply of food on city property. This would include Heritage Days, the BRAN Ride, the Veterans Cemetery events and others. This is necessary to protect not only the providers, but the consumers. Churches and other organization holding private events in the parks would be wise to check their insurance to be sure they are protected in the case of a lawsuit. Many organizations are covered by a parent organization, but again, it is always wise to check on this for sure. Any normal family event would not need to have coverage. As for the basketball players in the City Auditorium, they are covered by the YMCA insurance policy. For additional information, you can contact Linda Jines at 762-5400. Thank you again for commenting!

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  7. The day we lost the big cottonwood by the fountain there was also a report of another large tree in the park that was also ready to come down.
    If you look at the large tree right by the stone pillars across 10th St. from the fountain you will see that it has a large crack going right into the main trunk of the tree. A large part of this tree overhangs 10th St.
    What, if anything, has the City done to secure this tree? I would think that it would be a huge liability risk for the City.
    With another high wind warning in affect for tomorrow, God forbid this tree would come down on a child on a bike, pedestrian, or motorist.

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  8. Read Saturday's ATH for the answer to the question about another large tree by the fountain that looks ready to fall.

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  9. I have a question about the County schools that rezoned. Why did they and who do people talk to about county zoning rules?

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  10. I have a question about the Country schools that rezone. Why did they and who do people talk to about county zoning rules?

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  11. First off, none of the country schools ever re-zoned while they operated, that I am aware of, and would have no reason to. Any changes happened /will happen after they were/are no longer schools and are being sold by APS District 6. Box Butte County is responsible for zoning with a lower planning and zoning board and then the commissioners having the final say. The former District 2 facility may be one exception where it is close enough that the city was responsible for rezoning it.

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  12. Are the city tennis courts really going to be redone? I thought I read once in the paper that they were but nothing has been done, so I wondered if the plan had changed?

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  13. My question is why did the city of Alliance decide to put a crosswalk/traffic light in the middle of the block between Mississippi and Grand? I realize there is a need for one on that part of town but why not put it on a corner? This is a safety concern for me as there is an alley where many people pull out of the convenience store near by and can't see the traffic light.

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  14. In response to the city tennis courts question:

    Nothing has changed, it just takes months and years to figure out what to do then settle on who and when. City Council selected a contractor and mentioned a time table, which was featured in our last article on the subject. Although I have not looked it up again, it seems like it was late fall for completion — too late to provide a decent surface for summer tennis players or the fall high school season.

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  15. How can Terry Curtis be on the school board, be the attorney for the school, his wife teach in the district and be the APS nurse? A few years ago the Mottl husband and wife were not allowed to be on the school board(Mr. Mottle and teach(Mrs Mottl). They have since left town. Also, the Curtis family does not even live in city limits. Has this rule changed for them also? We know how her principal evaluations will be! All A plus due to the fact her husband is the boss!!!

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  16. In response to the question about Terry Curtis:
    Our elected officials are not eliminated from running or holding an office based on most conflicts of interest. The important thing is that they remove themselves from any vote or action that would be a conflict of interest for them. Being employed by the school district yourself and being on the board is different than having a family member employed. As far as I've seen whenever a vote has come up on an issue that relates to his wife or his being an attorney for the district he has abstained. If he did not, and actively took part in discussion and voting on this issue it would be a clear violation of the rules. The fact that he lives outside city limits does not mean he does not live in the district. All of the former rural school districts are now part of APS District 6.

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  17. A response to the question about the crosswalk on 3rd Street will come soon.

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  18. That light and cross walk to me by surprise. I have to admit I would of liked to see it at a corner also, maybe 3rd and potash? May help with children going to school?

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  19. I am so curious as to why our "Alliance Times Herald" does NOT even put a score of our Jr./Varsity or Freshman Volleyball games in the paper, little lone their own article of their game?
    They are in high school and work hard to get nothing at all from our LOCAL news! I've noticed our area newspapers even put articles of their middle school sports events..We do have a sports page and I feel when there is local sports going on in town, they should all get some recognition.

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  20. I often wonder that too. There are always sports going on locally but they choose to put in a bunch of national stuff. I would rather see more local. It would probably boost paper sales too!! Especially with pictures. I have to say sometimes they do a really really good job and then other times it's like why??

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  21. Steve Stackenwalt, GM-ATHSeptember 14, 2010 at 2:48 PM

    Thank you for commenting about our sports coverage. Because we are a small daily newspaper, we are only able to afford one full-time sports reporter. This reporter must cover six fall varsity teams with all their games, meets and matches, keep on top of the regional college sports teams, go through the national sports news, photograph and layout the sports pages. We do our best to report the scores, publish some photos and write some stories for the JV, Freshman, Middle School and St. Agnes, but with multiple sports for each of those, that adds another 20 plus teams to follow. It just isn't possible. Most of the coverage you desire is left to the coaches of those teams and unfortunately, they aren't all great about getting us information. This is something we will work on though. And we will continue to try even harder to cover more of what our readers want to see. If parents or other spectators wish to forward photos and/or scores, we would be happy to consider them for publication. Thanks again for commenting!

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  22. When will Alliance pass bars being open till 2am????

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  23. The hours of operation for bars and liquor stores is up to each city government. As far as we know, our city council has not been approached with any request to extend hours of operation. If we find out differently, we will comment here. Thank you for your question!

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  24. I woke up wanting to see a picture of the senior float from the homecoming parade in the paper, only to not see one picture of our up and coming graduates in there. I think that is sad. They are our next leaders to graduate. I agree with the comments that have been posted, there definitely needs to be more positive publications about our youth. The kids in middle school sports are important also, they are our up and coming high schoolers. We need more positive things in our paper instead of all the negatives in Alliance and the world.

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  25. Steve Stackenwalt, GM-ATHOctober 2, 2010 at 11:11 AM

    Dear Anonymous:

    Saturday morning we had a total of fifteen color photos of Homecoming events. In addition, we had four photos of the homecoming football game. Of those photos, we had seniors pictured in the band, as part of the royalty in the parade, on the softball float and in the game.

    Throughout the week covered nearly ever homecoming event, while reporting on local happenings - both good and bad.

    In addition on Saturday, we ran a headline story promoting Fire Prevention Week and honoring our local firefighters, we had a piece on the groundbreaking of the new performing arts building and we took a beautiful color photo of our local farmlands. On page two we used a half page to list, for free, many upcoming events taking place in town. Further in we listed schedules and events for twenty-five local churches, the Good Samaritan news, the St. Agnes Academy news, the Senior Center menu, a birthday and and anniversary - all for free.

    I do appreciate your opinion about what we choose to publish and we will keep that in mind as we continually attempt to produce the kind of newspaper our community wants and deserves. But as we do, I would kindly ask that you please treat us with the same optimism as you ask of us.

    Thanks again and please keep commenting!

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