BASEBALL UPDATE

Pierre Post 8 varsity schedule:
— Thursday: home vs. Sioux Falls West, doubleheader at 4 p.m.
— Sunday: at Aberdeen, doubleheader at 1 p.m.
— Tuesday: at Sioux Falls East triangular with Yankton; times to be determined.
— Wednesday: home vs. Mandan, doubleheader at 5:30 p.m.

Post 8 at Rapid City Post 22: Pierre was swept at Fitzgerald Stadium Friday. In a 10-2 loss in the opener Andy Gordon drove in a run in the third inning with a double and the other Pierre run in the seventh with a single. Post 8 managed 11 hits but only the two runs. Andrew Coverdale, Garrett Stout, Gordon, Maguire Raske and River Iverson each had two hits. The second game went to the Hardhats in six innings by a 14-4 score. Grey Zabel had three hits and Coverdale and Cade Hinkle two hits each.

Post 8 vs. Renner: In the first game of Sunday’s home-opening triangular, Post 8 took advantage of three Renner errors. Pierre’s first two runs in a 3-1 win scored on errors after hits, and Pierre led 2-1 after five innings. Matt Lusk’s RBI ground-out in the sixth made it 3-1. In the top of the seventh Lusk as reliever took Renner out in order with two strikeouts and an infield pop fly to end the game. Maguire Raske started on the mound but had to leave in the first inning. Post 8’s bullpen came through as Bennett Dean kept Renner in check in the middle innings, and Lusk pitched a strong final two frames to get the save. Among them the three Pierre hurlers struck out 11. Renner had only two hits, both of them in the third when their one run scored.

Post 8 vs. Rapid City Post 22: The triangular nightcap Sunday had a wild final inning. In a 6-5 Post 8 victory Pierre held an early lead, saw the game tied, took a late lead again, gave it away in the top of the seventh and won in walk-off style in the bottom half of that final inning. Starter Grey Zabel allowed only one Rapid City hit through six innings and had a 4-2 lead with three outs to go. However, to start the seventh Zabel gave up a walk and a single (Post 22’s second hit) and gave way to Garrett Stout in relief. A bunt for an infield hit gave Stout a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation with which to work. He walked the next batter to cut the Pierre lead to 4-3. A double play was converted by the Post 8 defense, but the tying run scored. Stout then walked two men to reload the bases and walked one more to let in Rapid City’s go-ahead run, 5-4. In the bottom of the seventh a Cade Hinkle single ignited the game-winning rally. A fielder’s choice left a man on first with one out, and Stout responded with a double that tied the game. Andy Gordon grounded out but advanced the winning run to third. River Iverson chopped a ball toward the Post 22 third-baseman. He made the play to first, but it was too late. Iverson was safe, and the winning run had scored. To start the game Andrew Coverdale and Stout had led off with triples, and Gordon grounded out to give Post 8 a quick 2-0 start. Rapid City tied the game on two walks, a sacrifice fly and a single in the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth the first walk given up by Post 22 pitching in the three Pierre games this weekend was followed by three hits, including a two-run single by Gordon that made the score 4-2. Despite being handed nine walks by Pierre pitching, the Post 22 offense was restricted to three hits.

Post 8 vs. Rapid City Post 320: A six-run second inning was enough—by the margin of a single run—to beat the Stars in Game #1 Monday, 6-5. A two-run double by Lincoln Kienholz was the big blow in that inning. Although Post 8 left the bases loaded, it didn’t come back to haunt them despite the fact that Post 320 scored one in the third, two in the fourth and two in the sixth to crawl back to within a single run. Cade Hinkle had two hits and two RBIs. Aaron Booth picked up the pitching win, and Matt Lusk, who threw the last two innings, got another save. Pierre started fast in the second game with four runs in the first inning on two hits and one big two-run error. Post 320, which left the bases loaded in the first and second innings, got two in the second, but they would be their only runs of the game. Post 8 added two in the second and one in the fourth and won by 7-2. Four Stars errors helped the Pierre cause, and the Post 8 pitchers stranded 10 Stars runners on base. Garrett Stout had three hits and Grey Zabel two runs batted in. Jake Mayer allowed no runs in pitching five middle innings, striking out four, walking only one and giving up four hits. A.J. Goeden pitched the final inning. Pierre stole six bases to help their offense.

Pierre Trappers early schedule:
— June 26-28: at Western Nebraska
— June 29-30: at Fremont
— July 1-1: at Western Nebraska
— July 3-5: home vs. Hastings
— July 6-8: at Badlands
— July 9-12: home vs. Badlands

Sioux Falls Canaries: The American Association will run its season from July 3 through Sept. 5. Six teams will play but only at three hub cities—Sioux Falls, Fargo-Moorhead and Milwaukee. Playing only on the road will be St. Paul, Winnipeg and Chicago. Each team will play 42 of its 60 games at its hub to limit travel, and St. Paul is teamed with the Canaries to play its “home” games at Sioux Falls. It is expected fans will be allowed to be present. The top two teams at the end of the season will play a best-of-five championship final series. Six teams in the Association—Sioux City, Lincoln, Kansas City, Gary-South Shore, Cleburne and Texas—will not play this summer. The Canaries will open the season July 3-5 as the home team against St. Paul, then stay at the Birdcage July 7-9 to play the Saints with St. Paul as the “home” team.

BASKETBALL UPDATE

Minnesota Lynx: The WNBA announced it will have a 22-game schedule with each team playing each other twice in the regular season beginning July 24. No fans will be in the stands. They expect an 8-team playoff

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

This week’s puzzle was composed by Brad Cruse. Thank you!

Directions: Draw a box of 16 boxes in 4×4 rows. Number the boxes in your top row 1, 2, 3 and 4 from left to right. Number the boxes in the left-hand row 1, 5, 6 and 7 from top to bottom.

Clues:
ACROSS—
(1) dull and unexciting
(5) sportscaster/former quarterback
(6) “Planet of the —-”
(7) —- pool.
DOWN—
(1) to make a boastful statement
(2) long, bounding stride
(3) confirming statement
(4) firefighter tool

COUNTDOWN

3 days: Fathers Day (June 21).
8 days: Pierre Trappers season opener, Gering, Neb. (June 26).
12 days: Fort Pierre Ward II election (June 30).
15 days: Pierre Trappers home opener (July 3).
15 days: Fort Pierre Fourth of July rodeos (July 3-4).
16 days: Independence Day (July 4).
16 days: Capital City Band season-opening concert (July 4).
20 days: Major League Soccer season resumes (July 8).
31 days: National High School Finals Rodeo, Lincoln, Neb. (July 19-23).
43 days: NBA season resumes (July 31).
43 days: Sioux Empire Fair, Sioux Falls (July 31-Aug. 8).
48 days: State amateur baseball tournament, Mitchell (Aug. 5-16).
49 days: NFL Hall of Fame game, Canton, Ohio (Aug. 6).
50 days: Sturgis motorcycle rally (Aug. 7-16).
50 days: Pierre Players’ “Native Gardens” (Aug. 7-9, 13-15).
50 days: State Legion baseball tournament (Aug. 7-9).
57 days: State 4-H Finals Rodeo, Fort Pierre (Aug. 14-16).

SOCCER UPDATE

Minnesota United FC: In the Major League Soccer “MLS is Back” tournament, the Loons have been placed in Group D along with Real Salt Lake, Sporting Kansas City and the Colorado Rapids. The group-stage matches will count toward the regular-season standings where the Loons stand 2-0 from games played back in March before the pandemic shutdown. The top two teams from each group will head to the knockout stage along with the four best third-place finishers. Dates and game times will be announced soon.

ZESTO SHERBET SCHEDULE

Thursday: coconut.
Friday-Sunday: watermelon.
Monday-Tuesday: pineapple.
Wednesday-Thursday: almond.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY FROM OUT OF THE PAST

“The fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city. It can not be quieted by token moves or talk. It is time to act in the Congress, in state and local legislative bodies and, above all, in all of our daily lives.”

— President John F. Kennedy

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

Thursday, June 18:
Oliver Gordon, Julene Yackley, Patti Stolp, Lacey (Boehmer) Hogan, Rex Craven, Dana Darger, Rob Hall, Terrance Waters, Chad Jungman, Don Dahlin, Kasey Light, Kylie Light, Tiffany Light, Tucker Light.
— 4th anniversary, Allen/Sadie (Fitzke) Goodman.
— 1st anniversary, Seamus/McKayla (Marso) McDonough.
— 32nd anniversary, Brad/Tammy (Helgeson) Cruse.
— 15th anniversary, Matt/Allison Jahraus.
— 8th anniversary, Johnnie/Ami (Hanson) Kennell.

Friday, June 19:
Staci Holden, Tom Lehmkuhl, Jeremy Mikkelsen, Alexa Rydland, Susan (Olson) West, Ellie Fox, Kea (Boyd) Warne.
— 38th anniversary, Monte/Tami Carda.
— 16th anniversary, Erin/Susanne Harmon.
— 16th anniversary, Casey/Amanda (Wood) Krog.
— 16th anniversary, Jason/JoAan Fuhrer.
— 16th anniversary, Jody/Christy (Maskovich) Ryland.
— 10th anniversary, Kody/Lindsey (Friez) Karschnik.
— 10th anniversary, Michael/Nicole (McComsey) Lewis.

Saturday, June 20:
Gillian (Woodburn) Hanson, Beth (Weischedel) Henrichsen, Caynen Carr, Judy Foth, Megan Sutley, Amos Hauck, Mary Fredrichs.
— 5th anniversary, Riley/Rachel (Hanten) Haag.
— 33rd anniversary, Michael/Marcie (Lyngstad) Long.
— 6th anniversary, Tanner/Sarah (Pogany) Wald.
— 39th anniversary, Dave/Mary Voeltz.
— 22nd anniversary, Kyle/Tammy Richards.
— 11th anniversary, Nick/Chelsey (Roberts) Renemans.

Sunday, June 21:
Deann (Martin) Rausch, Eli Jun Welch Okawa, Wanda McKittrick, Becky Sjerven, T.J. McCauley, Sawyer Antholz, Stacy (Alt) Decker, Andrew Eickbush, Andy Hanson, Erin (Richter) Jerke, Ami (Hanson) Kennell, Austin Brown.
— 6th anniversary, George/Paige Sperry.
— 6th anniversary, Graham/Sam Schuetzle.
— 18th anniversary, Tim/Kimberly Melvin.
— 60th anniversary, Willie/Loretta Cowan.

Monday, June 22:
Brian Englund, Vada Thielen, Matt Englund, Tane Owens, Bridget Dowling-Stoeser, Kyle Englehart, Ed Welch, Andrew Pietrus, Rainer Westall, Caitlin (Wagner) Graves, Portia (Hurney) Corbin, Stephanie (Farries) Judson.
— 7th anniversary, Willie/Sara (Kindopp) Gloe.
— 29th anniversary, Bob/Lori Sutton.
— 7th anniversary, Sam/Kelli (Livermont) Olson.
— 18th anniversary, Dustin/Regan (Schanzenbach) Byrum.

Tuesday, June 23:
Kirsten Marshall, Cathy Barringer, Leanne Neuhauser, Ty Hardwick, Cleo Hilding, Summer (Pitlick) Mersinger, Taylor Brock, Luke Shoup, Beckett Reilly, Brianne (Barnett) Roby, Kevin Loers, Diane Smith, Kila Vogel, Brandon LaBrie, Trevor DeSchepper, A.Jay Heiss, Shawn Flottmeyer.
— 8th anniversary, Jerid/Jeanine (Van Ash) Maskovich.
— 19th anniversary, Mark/Kelly (Larson) Anawski.
— 20th anniversary, Elton/Karla (Richards) Blemaster.
— 13th anniversary, David/Emily (Naylor) Franks.
— 14th anniversary Aaron/Amanda (Wharton) Brown.
— 8th anniversary, Brody/Andi (Pond) Andresen.

Wednesday, June 24:
Dennis Gibbs, Dallas Prater, Kylie Husted, Grayson Miller, Genny McMath, Jacob Parsons, Nikki (Koenig) Sullivan, Cora Jeffries, Elliot Riis, Jerren Deal, Gavin Wilson, Andrew Wulf, Jim Patten.
— 9th anniversary, Kiel/Emily (Auch) Ford.
— 14th anniversary, Brent/Jennifer Sogaard.
— 14th anniversary, Jason/Stephanie (Tveidt) Knapp.
— 14th anniversary, Andy/Kari (Kietzmann) Potter.
— 15th anniversary, Chance/Erika (Rounds) Stoeser.
— Anniversary, Ricky/Vicki (Fosheim) Dant.
— 4th anniversary, Chuck/Alexa (Edman) Miesbauer.
— 3rd anniversary, Jody/Sydney Lutz.
— 3rd anniversary, Andru/Brittany (Guindon) Meiners.
— 3rd anniversary, Blake/Ashley (Brotsky) Hemminger.

Thursday, June 25:
Joe Schueller, Drew Brandner, Muryl Paxton, Katie (Lakner) Dill, Krista Smith, Steph Flyger, Diane Kehrwald, Shavonne Mitchell, Larry Mosiman, Shelby Smith, Brett Stewart, Jenny (Sprenkle) Terveen, Adam Mentele, Dayna (Ludwig) Husman, Piper Word.
— 10th anniversary, Lucas/Jenna Oehlerking.
— 9th anniversary, Alex/Rachel Beckwith.
— 14th anniversary, Philip.Nicole (Krueger) Whitesitt.
— 15th anniversary, Tyler/Jessica (Wood) Steele.
— 9th anniversary, Brad/Rachel Lowery.
— 4th anniversary, Brian/Amy Pope.
— 4th anniversary, Neil/Kelsey Nemec.
— 4th anniversary Andy/Brittany Hanson.

PARKER’S PERSONAL NOTES

• The Argus Leader Sports Awards has to be an event without people in attendance this year, and the night is tonight (Thursday). You can watch at 6 p.m. CDT online at www.argusleader.com as the newspaper and USA Today present awards to the best athletes, teams and moments in South Dakota sports for the unusual 2019-20 school year. Remember that the Pierre Governor football team of last fall is one of the three finalists for Team of the Year. Sage Steele and Jesse Palmer of the ESPN networks will serve as anchors. Among the presenters will be Drew Brees, Michael Phelps, Venus Williams, Gabby Douglas, Misty May-Treanor, Steph Curry, Wayne Gretzky, Bode Miller and Patrick Mahomes.
• Unless I happen to see your family’s news items on Facebook, there’s no way I will know. It’s up to our readers to spread their good news (and sometimes sad news) to all the people who come across the Midweek Update. Your grandkids, your sons and daughters, you and your spouse—weddings (SOMEBODY must still be getting married this year!), births, vacations (if you’re comfortable to take them), promotions, job changes. Let your friends, present and former, know what’s going on. Send your news to parkerhome16@hotmail.com in case I don’t find out on Facebook.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Freedom of speech was enshrined so that common people could speak truth to power, not so people running for public office could lie in campaigns. . . . Peaceful protests should be a call to policy makers that people are hurting and will not stand for injustice anymore. . . . Let’s create dialogue so that racism, prejudice and bigotry will be replaced by actual liberty and justice for all.”

— Sen. Troy Heinert, South Dakota Legislature

NEWS OF PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Lois Hallem, 92, Sioux Falls, died June 8 at the Avera Prince of Peace retirement community. Services were held June 12 at St. Lambert Catholic Church in Sioux Falls. A native of Mitchell, Mrs. Hallem moved to Sioux Falls in 1952, and she married Paul Hallem in 1953. She is survived by five children, Jeff Hallem and his wife Darlene of Pierre, Chris Nielsen and her husband David of Sioux falls, Karen Bergeson and her husband Mark of Plymouth, Minn., Jon Hallem of Port St. Lucie, Fla., and Kathy Schreoder and her husband Mark of Sioux Falls; 14 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren.

Devin Weingart (’02), his wife Beth, and their three children have moved from Brandon to Phoenix and are getting settled in their home there. Beth will be teaching in the Glendale School District, and Devin will be working as a systems administrator for a company called CVO.

Thomas LaFave, youngest of the three sons of Onida native Steve LaFave and his wife Lori, recently graduated from Yankton High School and is already at basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Thomas is a member of the South Dakota Air National Guard as are his two brothers. Thomas, who was in Student Council, track, cross country, football, Boys State and National Honor Society while at YHS, plans to attend college and begin pre-med course work after basic training ends. His paternal grandparents were the late Lonnie and Irene LaFave, both natives of Pierre who raised their family in Onida. (News courtesy of Missouri Valley Observer)

This week’s list of reopenings vs. cancellations surrounding the coronavirus pandemic:

• Openings and reopenings: (1) The South Dakota Discovery Center in Pierre reopened this week for face-to-face camps and activities. (2) The South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center reopened with social distancing protocols in place. (3) Disney theme parks in California announced they will open in July. (4) The U.S. Open tennis tournament will go on as scheduled in suburban New York at the end of the summer but with no fans in the stands, (5) The local Street Masters Car Club announced its 2020 dam run will take place Aug. 7-9.
• Cancellations: (1) The Trail of Governors statues unveiling for this month was called off until next June. (2) The Arnolds Park amusement park at Lake Okoboji, which had reopened, closed again due to a spike in virus infections in that area. (3) The movie industry’s Oscars scheduled for next February has been delayed until April 2021, due in part to the hiatus in movie-making and viewing, and extended the period in which movies and actors will be eligible for Oscar nominations. (4) The Rapid City trolley, which takes tourists around to the city’s attractions, will not run at all this summer, due to the virus and the budget limitations it has caused. (5) The Clay County Fair at Vermillion has been canceled for this year. (6) The Sunset steamboat that operates on the river at Pierre will not be in operation this summer because the U.S. Coast Guard cannot travel due to the pandemic and thus can not come to inspect the boat.

Brady Erickson, a Spearfish contractor who is the long-time boyfriend of Katie Eberlein (’04), sustained a critical head injury in a motorcycle accident June 7 and remains hospitalized with a long road ahead of him. If you would like to contribute to his medical expenses, there is a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com. Under “Search” look for Huron, SD. Then on the Huron page scroll down until you find the title “Stay Strong Brady, Keep Fighting!” Brady is pictured in a red shirt holding his son Oaks on his shoulders.

Matt and Kim Brakke took their daughter Madilyn and her two sisters, Claire and Charlotte, to the Black Hills to celebrate Madilyn’s 15th birthday. They invited grandparents Verne and Deb Brakke to go along. They climbed Black Elk Peak, formerly Harney Peak, starting from Sylvan Lake on Trail #9, and returning down on Trail #4. On Facebook Verne commented that “I don’t think I will do it again.” The hike involved 25,000 steps and took five hours going up and back down.

The 90th birthday of Fran Welch on Sunday, June 28, will be celebrated that afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. at a come-and-go, meet-and-greet open house at her home at 302 E. Wynoka. Everyone is welcome to stop by. Those who wish to send her greetings can do so at 302 E. Wynoka, Pierre SD 57501. Fran is the mother of De Knudson of Sioux Falls, Dianna Knox of Pierre and Rapid City, and Ed Welch of Pierre.

Jessa Goodbird, 34, Pierre, died in Mitchell on June 6. Services were held June 15 at River Center Church in Pierre. Born in Sioux Falls, Jessa lived her first year with Mary Pease and family in Pierre. She came back to live with the Peases at the age of 6 and was legally adopted by them later. From 2005 to 2008 she lived in The Dalles, Ore., before coming back to Pierre where she lived most of the rest of her life. She is survived by her parents, Richard and Mary Pease of Pierre; her children, Noah Calvert, Mia Flood and Jazlynn Flood of Pierre and Kiyonae Riggs and Isaiah Riggs of Wasco, Ore.; her siblings, Rick Campbell, Brett Campbell, Brandon Campbell, Kristin Vermundson, Steven Campbell and Phillip Pease, all of Pierre, and Desiree Bordeaux, Ryley Bordeaux, LaChara Bordeaux and Rochelle Bordeaux.

The family of Willie and Loretta Cowan are requesting a card shower in honor of the couple’s 60th wedding anniversary on June 21. Cards can be sent to them at 28175 Cowan Place, Pierre SD 57501.

Macy Bryant, Tyler and Megan’s daughter in Sioux Falls, is already a stud athlete from whom we will be hearing more for probably a long time. She slugged three home runs in three softball games last weekend. If she isn’t intimidating to opponents, she is bothering some of their parents. An opposing coach stopped one of the games for five minutes to question the authenticity of Macy’s bat. In another game a pair of fathers were yelling, “Check her birth certificate!” or words to that effect. Meanwhile, Dessa Bryant, Toby and Amber’s daughter, was playing softball with a Minnesota team in tournaments in Shawnee, Kan., and Tulsa, and through the first two weekends of the season she was batting .666 (22 hits in 33 at-bats).

A resident of Onida for 55 years, Carol Shoup passed away June 13 in hospice care at Avera Maryhouse at the age of 77. A service was held Wednesday at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Onida. The former Carol Cunningham graduated from Faulkton High School and worked at Potter County Bank in Gettysburg. She and Jim Shoup were married in 1965 and moved to Onida. Carol worked at The Onida Bank and for the U.S. Postal Service in Onida, Gettysburg, Harrold, Pierre and Sturgis. She retired after more than 30 years. Carol was also bookkeeper for Shoup Oil Company, the family business she and Jim ran for 38 years. Carol is survived by her husband, Jim Shoup; her daughters and their husbands, Barbara and Mark Anderson and Peggy and Terry Barber; her sons and their wives, Brad Shoup, Mark and Laura Shoup and Rob and Nikki Shoup; 13 grandchildren; an expected great-grandson; her sisters, Arlene Mardian and Kathy Gunlogson; her brother, Richard Cunningham, and her sisters-in-law, Loni Shoup, Marj Zebroski and Cindy Thoene.

Tyler and Rachel (Hartmann) Arbach became parents on June 9. Their daughter, Layney Jo Arbach, weighed 7 pounds,3 ounces, and measured 20 1/2 inches. Grandparents include Randy and Jodi Hartmann. The Arbachs live in Pierre where Rachel is fifth-grade science teacher at Jefferson Elementary School and Tyler is a power lineman with Oahe Electric Cooperative. Last weekend Rachel’s sister, Bekah Hlavacek, and her daughter, Brynlee, came from Watertown to meet their new niece and cousin, respectively.

Our sympathy to Zach and Christina Merrill, who lost their newborn daughter this week. Emerson Marie Merrill passed away June 12 at Avera St. Mary’s Hospital. At 11 weeks gestation she had been diagnosed with Turner’s Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. According to the obituary the family posted, “she fought for about 20 weeks” against her circumstances. Graveside services took place Wednesday at Calvary Cemetery. Emerson is survived by her parents; her grandparents, Lee Borah, Cathy Borah, Kevin Merrill and Tami Merrill; her great-grandparents, Leroy Varilek, Sheila Varilek, Larry Merrill, Carol Merrill and Lorraine Borah; her uncles and aunts, Samantha Pietz, Robert Pietz, Ben Merrill and Melanie Merrill, and many other family members.

Jacob Shoup’s new single, “Your Word Has Power,” is being released today. Tune in to the Jacob Daniel Music page on Facebook at 7 p.m. CDT tonight (Thursday).

Sam and Morgan (McLain) Willard of Tea are the parents of a son. Nash Christian Willard was born June 15, weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and measuring 19 1/2 inches. He joins a sister, Mia, who will be 3 on July 29, in the Willard family.

Larry Lyngstad has been awarded Rotary International’s highest honor for individual Rotarians. He received a crystal “Service Above Self” award and pin from the board of directors of Rotary International.

ADVICE FOR LIFE (BUT WHAT WOULD HE KNOW?)

“Some feel face coverings infringe on their freedom of choice, but if more wear them, we’ll have more freedom to go out.”

— Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General

DAY BY DAY

THURSDAY, JUNE 11
So tomorrow (June 12) is the day those who applied for tickets to the July 3 fireworks show and Trump rally up at Mount Rushmore National Memorial find out via e-mail if they “won” the lottery. A story in this week’s Custer Chronicle told of the preparations underway among various agencies in that county for the traffic, chaos and potential problems that may arise because of that event. Their county emergency management officials, the Highway Patrol, the ambulance service, the state park officials, the sheriff’s department, the forest service, national park officials, the wild land fire people, the county highway department have all been putting their heads together to try to control the masses who may show up along the roads that lie within their county near Mount Rushmore. There are spots along, for example, Iron Mountain Road, where glimpses of past fireworks displays have been possible. So what happens when people pull to the sides of those narrow, winding roads to see fireworks at night while traffic continues to pass through? Problems, if not trouble. The story in the Custer paper said that the rumor is that the Rushmore fireworks will be discharged from the base of the memorial mountain, not from the top of Washington’s head as in past years. Thus, one would think the $350,000 display (paid to a California firm, of course) may not be visible to many people outside of the memorial grounds. It should be an interesting day and night, one well worth avoiding. Since Trump insists upon calling the coronavirus “the China virus” or “the Wuhan virus,” I’m going to call the blaze that erupts if fireworks embers set fire to the national forest The Trump and Noem Fire.

FRIDAY, JUNE 12
One reason I subscribe to the online edition of The Mitchell Republic is that it is the only newspaper that still prints Terry Woster’s column. Reason enough! But another reason is to read the works of one of the state’s best sportswriters, Ryan Deal. Today he came up with “a sports bucket list for South Dakotans,” and he hit all the proverbial nails on their heads. In no particular order other than alphabetical, here are his 15 choices as the events and places each of us who are sports fans in this state must do and see at least once: (1) basketball at the Corn Palace; (2) the Black Hills Brawl, the annual Mines-BHSU football game; (3) the Dakota Marker, the annual SDSU-NDSU football game; (4) the Days of ’76 in Deadwood; (5) golf at Sutton Bay; (6) “I Hate Winter” at Northern, the annual weekend of doubleheaders with fans wearing beach attire in cold weather; (7) the Jones County Invitational, the annual boys basketball tournament at Murdo; (8) the Key to the City games in Sioux Falls, the Augie-USF rivalry games in football and basketball; (9) the Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City, the annual December extravaganza of basketball and other events involving the Native schools; (10) Post 22 baseball in Rapid City; (11) the USD-SDSU rivalry, football and basketball and everything else between the red and the blue; (12) the state amateur baseball tournament at Cadwell Park in Mitchell; (13) the state “B” boys basketball tournament in Aberdeen, the remnants of what used to be the state’s biggest and best sports event; (12) state football championships in Vermillion; (15) the Summit League basketball tournaments in Sioux Falls. I would agree with all of his choices. If I were to add one more, it would be the combined state wrestling tournament with eight mats of simultaneous action. To one who doesn’t follow wrestling religiously and doesn’t know many of the state’s grapplers, it perhaps is a hodge-podge of hard-to-follow action, but for a wrestling fan, it is two days (soon to be three!) of incredible competition. My second addition would be the state track meet on finals day with all three classes competing in non-stop action from morning to night. Is there anything you would add to Ryan Deal’s list or mine?

SATURDAY, JUNE 13
I am still leary of going out among crowds of people. According to one redneck “open everything up” local sportscaster, I am one of those living in my “Doomsday basement.”
But I did sit through six hours of outdoor baseball last night—three hours at the Post 22-Pierre Post 8 doubleheader first game at Fitzgerald Stadium and three more hours of a marathon game between my grandson’s Post 320 Risers and a Sturgis team across the way at McKeague Field. It was a perfect night for baseball at the end of a hot day—warm temperatures with a bit of a cool breeze. It was great, although uncomfortable, to be out at live sports. Then today, continuing that trend, even though I seldom watch golf tournaments except the majors, I tuned in to the Colonial on CBS-TV as the PGA Tour returned to live golf tournaments. Besides my man on the Tour, Jordan Spieth, is in contention for the win. Then finally tonight I went back to McKeague for another of the Risers’ tournament games, this one against a Pierre team. I’m not ready for church in confined quarters or dining indoors at a restaurant yet and won’t be any time soon, but it is great to be back to live outdoor sports. Now let’s hope we can have high school football two months from now, but that depends on schools reopening, and the way this state throws caution to the wind, who knows if that will be possible.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14
In its plan to reopen its season at Disney World in Orlando next month, the National Basketball Association has enough details to make one’s head hurt. There are, for example, three hotel clusters in each of which seven or eight teams will be housed—call that “isolated.” Here is one interesting tidbit from the plan: Each player will have the opportunity to acquire a wearable ring that tracks his temperature, heart rate and respiration. The ring will give an “illness probability score.” And I love this item from the plan: “Players will be told not to spit or pick their noses, wipe the ball with their jerseys, lick their hands or touch their mouths unnecessarily while playing.” Good luck with that! The NBA might as well scrap the whole plan because we all know you can’t play basketball unless, after every free throw made or missed, you have to touch fingers with everybody else on your team. It would make too much sense just to cancel this season and start the 2020-21 season in October as usual. But LeBron James is getting old, and he must have this year’s championship to come closer to Michael Jordan’s six rings. So the NBA must have this season, even if it is a weird and shortened one. Its whole purpose is to have a LeBron vs. Kawhi Leonard finals, even if it has to compete for viewers with the first month of football.

MONDAY, JUNE 15
We are only two months away from what we hope is the start of the next school year. That is a shaky hope these days. Tonight our school board out here in Rapid City met to discuss what that start may look like. A task force is at work and will eventually determine just how the schools will open. The Rapid City Journal news coming out of tonight’s meeting reveals there are seven possibilities: (1) a normal start with health and safety measures in place. (2) a hybrid normal start for students with a remote start option for families who don’t wish to have their children at school yet. (3) a delayed start until some time after Labor Day. (4) students starting school in shifts. (5) a remote start. (6) backup planning for a return to remote learning some time during the school year if necessary. (7) changes in the school calendar. Only the first of those options would satisfy me. But Rapid City and the Black Hills are wide open for whatever befalls us now. Our superintendent, Dr. Lori Simon, did say tonight that she expects each district will get to make its own decision about the start of school—if and when—unlike this past March when the governor made the sweeping decision for all the state’s districts. Dr. Simon didn’t say so, but that would be another safe political decision on the part of the governor, considering her base—“less government” and all that. And it appears to be true that some parts of the state—Rapid City included—are becoming virus hotspots while others seem to be relatively free from the virus. Let the school bells ring on time! Please!

TUESDAY, JUNE 16
To nobody’s surprise the motorcycle rally is coming again this August, whether it’s a good idea or not. The Sturgis city council had little choice last night since several businesses and organizations had said they are going ahead with the rally whether the city sponsors it or not. So the vote was 8-1. They will try to limit Main Street crowds by having no opening ceremonies, no B-1 flyover, no parade, no photo towers and no use of the fairgrounds. Here’s a laugh—the Buffalo Chip plans social distancing and will sell hand sanitizers. What makes it obvious that the people up in Sturgis are not too comfortable with all of this is that they plan to have mass coronavirus testing for local residents once the rally is over, just to see what the visitors have left behind besides their money. At the same time the Sturgis council was meeting, the city council in Rapid City gave up the fight and voted 7-2 to let die the ordinance adopted two months ago. Those restrictions are now suggestions, and businesses can run at full capacity if they feel it is appropriate. I wager you can count on one hand the number of businesses that will not feel it is appropriate. The tourists are here, the motorcyclists are coming, and there is cash to be raked in. Our Pennington County had 11 new cases of coronavirus Friday, 16 new cases Saturday, eight new cases Sunday, six new cases Monday, 10 new cases Tuesday and 22 new cases Wednesday (June 17). What ever happened to that flattened curve we heard so much about!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
After several days of midsummer heat it was sweet relief to be awakened by the dogs at 6 a.m. this morning and find that cool air was coming in through the open window. This being an odd-numbered calendar day, we can water until 9 a.m., so in bathrobe and slippers, I went out to the front yard and set the sprinkler into motion, doing it again in another area at 7. The yards in our neighborhood are green in spots, brown in others, meaning it’s pretty dry around here, I assume. The Forest Service’s fire level at “high” means that it’s dry up in the Hills, too. Except for a few scattered blazes and a large one burning right now down in rugged country on the Pine Ridge, we’ve been lucky so far to avoid that big one. But if it’s going to happen, 2020 would certainly be the year for a major conflagration, wouldn’t it!

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