We begin today in Sidney, where DA Shawn Smith confirms an indictment against a man for a hate crime. 34 year old Donald Kern is accused of threatening and spitting on an black woman, who is also a Sidney resident. A statement from Smith says Kern threatened to “get a noose and hang” the woman. A grand jury returned the indictment this past Thursday for aggaravated harassment. Public records show Kern was also charged in 2018 with aggravated cruelty to animals.