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ELECTION UPDATE
29 days till voting begins (Sept. 18).
40 days till first presidential candidates debate (Sept. 29).
48 days till vice presidential candidates debate (Oct. 7).
56 days till second presidential candidates debate (Oct. 15).
60 days till voter registration deadline (Oct. 19).
63 days till third presidential candidates debate (Oct. 22).
75 days till Election Day (Nov. 3).
153 days till Inauguration Day (Jan. 20).
To vote by absentee ballot, you can download the application form from the secretary of state’s website and send it in. After Sept. 18 you will receive your ballot to be filled out by you at home. You can return it by mail (two postage stamps required!), being careful to follow the instructions regarding signatures. Just be sure it is mailed in time to be received by the county auditor before Election Day. As an alternative to mailing in your ballot, you can deliver it in person to the county auditor’s office on any regular business day.
In-person voting can be done at the county auditor’s office on any regular business day starting Sept. 18 or, of course, at your polling place on Election Day itself. But waiting until Election Day leaves you open to a possible conflict that prevents your voting that day—sickness in the family, commitment at your job, bad weather, an accident. Don’t wait until Nov. 3. Start considering when and how you are going to vote when we get to Sept. 18.
Last spring if you applied for an absentee ballot prior to the primary election and you checked on your application the “all elections” box, you will receive a ballot after Sept. 18 without having to apply for one again. If it does not show up, contact your county auditor’s office in plenty of time so you can get your voting done prior to Nov. 3.
A crucial point to remember: You must have a personal ID, such as a driver’s license, with you when you vote. If you vote on a ballot that is mailed to you, you must include with that ballot when you return it a photocopy of your driver’s license or other ID. (An alternative to that is having your signature on your ballot notarized by a notary public when you sign it. Do not sign it in advance!)
Who’s on the ballot? Of course there is the presidential election between the Biden/Harris ticket (D) and the Trump-Pence ticket (R). On the statewide level there is the U.S. Senate race between Mike Rounds (R) and Dan Ahlers (D) as well as the U.S. House race between Dusty Johnson (R) and Randy Luallin (L). In District 24 (Hughes-Stanley-Sully) there is the House of Representatives contest among Amanda Bachmann (D), Will Mortenson (R) and Mike Weisgram (R) with two of those three to be elected. In Hughes County alone there is a contest for two at-large seats on the county commission among Vicky Wilkey (D), Tom Rounds (R) and Randy Brown (R) with two of those three to be elected.
What issues are also on the ballot? There are three measures on which you probably need to study up before you vote:
- Initiated Measure 26: This legalizes the medical use, delivery, manufacture and cultivation of marijuana and marijuana-based products to treat or alleviate debilitating medical conditions certified by the patients’ doctors for their patients, including minors. The measure includes restrictions regarding the amount of marijuana, caregivers, and the legalization of some substances that remain felony controlled substances under current state law.
- Constitutional Amendment A: This amendment legalizes the possession, use, transport and distribution of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia by people age 21 and older. It authorizes the Department of Revenue to issue licenses for commercial cultivators and manufacturers, testing facilities, wholesalers and retailers. It also requires the Legislature to pass laws regarding medical use of marijuana and imposes a 15% tax on marijuana sales.
- Constitutional Amendment B: This authorizes the Legislature to include wagering on sporting events as a type of gaming in Deadwood in addition to those types of gaming already allowed. Such wagering would also be allowed at on-reservation tribal casinos.
NOTE: All of the above dates, restrictions and statements refer to voting in South Dakota. Other states have different rules and dates to be followed. If you are registered to vote in a state other than South Dakota, check your own state’s voting regulations.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
“COVID-19 is a disease. It plunders without bias, and the spirit of America is no match for it. The only weapons against it are intellect, strategy, respect for science and the resolve to be as patient and flexible as possible in adjusting to a mysterious enemy.”
— Jerry Brewer, Washington Post sports columnist
PIERRE GOVERNORS SPORTS ROUNDUP
Girls soccer: The Governors lost their opener to Brandon Valley, 2-1, Friday and lost at Spearfish Tuesday by the same score. Against the Lynx Caytee Williams scored in the 11th minute, but BV tied it u9p in the 47th minute and got the winning goal in the 63rd minute. Jenna Gehring was in goal for Pierre. At Spearfish Avery Davis scored the Pierre goal to tie the game at 1-1, but Spearfish got the winner just before halftime. Pierre outshot Spearfish, 26-7, in the losing effort.
Boys soccer: The Governor boys are 0-2 after a 2-1 loss to Brandon Valley and a 2-0 shutout at Spearfish. Eighth grader George Stalley put Pierre ahead quickly in the third minute, but the Lynx had tied the game by halftime and went ahead in the second half. Cam Ahartz was in goal for Pierre. Spearfish went ahead of the Govs 1-0 and stayed there after the Govs missed a penalty kick that would have tied the game. A second-half Spartan goal put the game out of reach.
Boys golf: After the first day of the Sioux Falls-Brandon invitational Monday the Governors were in 12th place. By the time Tuesday’s play finished they were in a final 11th-place slot. On Monday at Willow Run Nick Bothun played a 14-over 84, Sawyer Sonnenschein 88, Johnathon Lyons 91 and Luke Olson 93. In Tuesday’s play at Brandon Olson had an 83, Sonnenschein 85, Lyons 86, Jack Bartlett 88, Bothun 88 and Lincoln Houska 90.
This week’s schedules:
FRIDAY—
* Girls tennis: at Harrisburg, 1 p.m.; at Sioux Falls Lincoln, 4 p.m.
SATURDAY—
* Girls tennis: at Sioux Falls Washington, 9 a.m.; at Sioux Falls Roosevelt, noon.
* Girls soccer: at Aberdeen Central (varsity 1 p.m., JV 3 p.m.).
* Boys soccer: at Aberdeen Central (JV 1 p.m., varsity 3 p.m.).
TUESDAY—
* Boys golf: Pierre invitational, 10 a.m.
* 9th football: at Rapid City jamboree, 4 p.m.
STANLEY COUNTY BUFFALOES SPORTS ROUNDUP
This week’s schedules:
FRIDAY—
* Football: home vs. Winner, 7 p.m.
SULLY BUTTES CHARGERS SPORTS ROUNDUP
This week’s schedules:
FRIDAY—
* Football: at Warner, 7 p.m.
ZESTO SHERBET SCHEDULE
Thursday: key lime.
Friday-Sunday: watermelon.
Monday-Tuesday: lemon.
Wednesday-Thursday: orange.
SOCCER UPDATE
Minnesota United FC: The 18-match remainder of the regular season begins for the Loons at home Friday night against Sporting Kansas City. The 6:30 p.m. match can be seen on Fox Sports North Plus.
BASEBALL UPDATE
Pierre Trappers: In the past week the Trappers lost to Badlands, 10-7, and lost to Hastings twice, 8-3 and 3-2. The final game of the Hastings series Sunday was postponed pending a virus test on a Trappers player. While the result of that test was being awaited, many of the players had to leave because their colleges were opening, so the last two games of the season vs. Badlands Tuesday and Wednesday were also canceled, ending the season. There was an interesting night last week when three Pierre natives—Garrett Stout, Spencer Sarringar and Andrew Coverdale—all played for the Trappers in the same game against Badlands.
Sioux Falls Canaries: The Birds split a pair with St. Paul, lost two of three vs. Winnipeg and won over Fargo-Moorhead Tuesday, 3-2. Sioux Falls plays at Fargo-Moorhead tonight, then is home Friday through Sunday vs. that same team and Tuesday through Thursday next week vs. St. Paul.
Minnesota Twins:
Thursday—Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m. (FSN, FS1).
Friday—at Kansas City, 7:05 p.m. (FSN).
Saturday—at Kansas City, 6:05 p.m. (FSN, FS1).
Sunday—at Kansas City, 1:05 p.m. (FSN).
Monday—at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m. (FSN).
Tuesday—at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m. (FSN).
Wednesday—at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m. (FSN).
Thursday—at Detroit, 6:10 p.m. (FSN).
Colorado Rockies:
Thursday—Houston, 1:10 p.m.
Friday—at Los Angeles Dodgers, 7:40 p.m. (MLBN).
Saturday—at Los Angeles Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. (MLBN).
Sunday—at Los Angeles Dodgers, 2:10 p.m. (MLBN).
Monday—at Arizona, 7:40 p.m.
Tuesday—at Arizona, 7:40 p.m.
Wednesday—at Arizona, 7:40 p.m.
Thursday—at Arizona, 4:10 p.m.
CROSSWORD PUZZLE
Directions: Draw a box of 16 squares, 4 in each row.. Number the boxes in your top row 1, 2, 3 and 4 from left to right. Number the boxes in your left-hand row 1, 5, 6 and 7 from top to bottom.
Clues:
ACROSS—
(1) rowing sport
(5) circle of light
(6) a great distance
(7) tear into pieces
DOWN—
(1) blacken
(2) Raphael’s nickname
(3) flair; style; panache
(4) combination of letters
(Answer at the bottom.)
BASKETBALL UPDATE
Minnesota Lynx: The Lynx lost to Las Vegas, 87-77, and beat New York, 94-64. Minnesota plays Phoenix Friday (9 p.m. FSN+ and CBSSN), Atlanta Sunday (3 p.m. FSN+) and Los Angeles next Wednesday (7 p.m. CBSSN and FSN+).
FOOTBALL UPDATE
The South Dakota combined media have released their preseason high school football polls. Here are the top three teams in each classification:
— Class 11AAA: 1, Sioux Falls Roosevelt; 2, Brandon Valley; 3, Sioux Falls O’Gorman.
— Class 11AA: 1, Pierre; 2, Yankton; 3, Mitchell.
— Class 11A: 1, Canton; 2, Tea Area; 3, Dell Rapids.
— Class 11B: 1, Winner; 2, Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan; 3, McCook Central-Montrose.
— Class 9AA: 1, Viborg-Hurley; 2, Bon Homme; 3, Lemmon-McIntosh.
— Class 9A: 1, Canistota-Freeman; 2, Howard; 3, Gregory. (Sully Buttes is fifth.)
— Class 9B: 1, Wolsey-Wessington; 2, Colman-Egan; 3, Dell Rapids St. Mary.
COUNTDOWN
1 day: Central States Fair, Rapid City (Aug. 21-30).
1 day: Stanley County football opener (Aug. 21).
1 day: Sully Buttes football opener (Aug. 21).
3 days: Indianapolis 500 (Aug. 23).
4 days: Republican National Convention (Aug. 24-27).
4 days: First day of school at Stanley County (Aug. 24).
8 days: Pierre football opener (Aug. 28).
8 days: Pierre volleyball opener (Aug. 28).
14 days: State Fair, Huron (Sept. 3-7).
15 days: PGA Tour championship, Atlanta (Sept. 4-7).
16 days: Kentucky Derby (Sept. 5).
18 days: Sanford International golf tournament, Sioux Falls (Sept. 7-13).
21 days: NFL season opener, Houston vs. Kansas City (Sept. 10).
22 days: Stratobowl Historic Hot Air Balloon Launch (Sept. 11-13).
24 days: Minnesota Vikings season opener (Sept. 13).
28 days: U.S. Open golf tournament, Mamaroneck, N.Y. (Sept. 17-20).
28 days: South Dakota Film Festival, Aberdeen (Sept. 17-26).
29 days: Absentee voting for general election begins (Sept. 18).
36 days: Custer State Park buffalo roundup (Sept. 25).
37 days: Brule’ concert at Crazy Horse Memorial (Sept. 26).
40 days: First presidential candidates debate (Sept. 29).
FOOTBALL CONTEST #1
Everyone is welcome. Send your 10 winners to parkerhome16@hotmail.com by Friday noon. There are no prizes involved, but at the end of the season (whether that is in February or next May!), we crown a season-long champion. The winner will be announced here each week. NOTE: The list of 10 games each week is also posted on the Facebook page entitled Parker Knox by Sunday evening of each week, so you can enter by listing your 10 winners in the “comment” section there. We will have only high school games for a couple weeks until college games may begin in some parts of the country and the NFL season begins.
This week’s games:
(1) Aberdeen Roncalli at Miller/Highmore-Harrold.
(2) Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan at Wagner.
(3) St. Thomas More at Hot Springs.
(4) Winner at Stanley County.
(5) Wall at Harding County.
(6) Sully Buttes at Warner.
(7) Burke at Lyman.
(8) Hill City at Jones County/White River.
(9) Platte-Geddes at Bon Homme.
(10) Chester Area at Canistota/Freeman.
PARKER’S PERSONAL NOTES
- You have another chance to watch one of South Dakota’s best-ever men’s basketball teams in action again when the NCAA Division II national championship game from 2016 is shown on Midco Sports Network at 7 p.m. tonight (Thursday). The Augustana Vikings had a 34-2 record that winter, beating six nationally-ranked opponents along the way and ending the season with a 15-game winning streak. Dan Jansen, Jordan Spencer, Casey Schilling, John Warren, Alex Richter, Adam Beyer and Zach Huisken all had memorable individual performances at gut-check time during the Vikings’ tournament run. The title game against Lincoln Memorial (Mo.) is on tonight (Thursday). One wonderful memory from that season goes back to early before conference play began when the Vikings went to Iowa City to play the Hawkeyes of the Big 10. Iowa’s athletic department put the logo of the wrong Augustana (the one in Illinois, not the one in South Dakota!) on the locker room’s door, and the Vikings immediately felt disrespected and won the game over mighty Iowa on Jansen’s last-second game-winner. From that night on, this team knew they had bigger goals than simply winning a non-conference game.
- Broadway musicals exist only in our memories right now at least until 2021 because of the pandemic. But Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” in all its glory can be seen at 8 p.m. CDT this Friday on PBS as they broadcast an encore performance of that show from 2015 at Lincoln Center. Kelli O’Hara stars as Anna and Ken Watanabe as the king of Siam.
- Last week’s trivia question provided by Greg Dean asked you to try to name six schools in South Dakota whose athletic mascots’ names do not end with an “S.” Dean Sorenson in Sioux Falls was the only reader who answered, and he mentioned the Hot Springs Bison, the Brandon Valley Lynx and the Sisseton Redmen. Dean also knew about Tisopa Zina and its Wambdi mascot although he admitted he could spell neither the school’s name nor the mascot’s name! Besides these four, the other two are the Lower Brule Sioux and the Wakpala Sioux. But Dean reminded us that the Woonsocket teams used to be named the Redmen, and when Montrose had its own school, its teams were the Irish.
- Last week I mentioned the death of legendary South Dakota native Carroll Hardy, who played baseball in the Indians’ organization and football with the 49ers. I mentioned that I couldn’t remember for sure which Basin League teams he played with, and former Pierre resident Don Summerside down in Omaha came to my rescue. He said Hardy played with our own Pierre Cowboys as an outfielder on the 1953 team. That was the first year of the Basin League, and it came after Hardy’s sophomore year at Colorado. Mr. Summerside reminded me that also on that Cowboys team that summer were Pierre native Sox Walseth (later men’s basketball coach at SDSU and CU) and Milt Welch, who had his own men’s clothing store in Pierre after playing in the ’40s with the Detroit Tigers. Great memories of those Cowboys summers at old Hyde Stadium!
- If you assume that South Dakota’s three electoral votes will go to the Republican presidential candidate as usual, no matter who it is, you and I should also remember that it still does matter that you cast your vote in the presidential election because it counts in the national popular vote totals. In 2016 Trump won the presidency through the electoral vote system, but he was beaten handily by Hillary Clinton in the popular vote. If nothing else, winning the popular vote is a bragging point. So votes in South Dakota do count in that regard.
- I’m not sure who in Pierre to ask so I will put my question here, hoping somebody can answer. Regarding the two marijuana issues on the Nov. 3 ballot, if Amendment A passes, does Initiated Measure 26 then become moot because Amendment A legalizes all marijuana for whatever purpose, including medical use? Or if Measure 26 passes and Amendment A is defeated, am I correct that marijuana can then be used ONLY for medical purposes and otherwise still remains illegal in South Dakota?
- I’m not sure how a guy broadcasts a hockey game. All of those players look the same to me. But I was impressed with NBC’s Kenny Albert on Sunday when he was play-by-play man for three Stanley Cup playoff games in succession with only an hour’s break between them. That’s about nine hours of live TV broadcasting, and he could identify the players with the puck instantly. I can understand a man being familiar with a team if he works all their games, but how Albert could immediately identify players from six different teams as he did was amazing. This is a great time for TV sports as long as they last—baseball every day as they try to squeeze in 60 games in about 60 days; the NBA playoffs in a bubble with four or five games every day; the hockey playoffs at two bubble sites with four games every day. Maybe we will even have some college football in the South, but don’t hold your breath.
- Winning the prize for the comment that makes me hit my head up and down on my desk is the Sturgis school board member who, of course, is against masks and precautions and said in defense of his opinion, “We’re South Dakotans, and we don’t like to be told what to do.” Excuse me while I go throw up.
WORDS OF WISDOM
“Being President doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are. And a presidential election can reveal who we are, too.”
— Michelle Obama in her address at the Democratic National Convention
BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
Thursday, Aug. 20:
Elinor Dekker, Jared Randen, Brycen Haefner, Lindsey (Friez) Karschnik, Devin Weingart, Amber Ogle, Jordyn Martin, Becky (Eich) Watson, Tina Jensen, Sue McNaboe.
— 4th anniversary, Ben/Michelle (Monroe) Kettler.
— 3rd anniversary, Cody/Mandi Coppess.
— 16th anniversary, Tyler/Erin (Schiefelbein) Jones.
— 58th anniversary, Bob/Glynnes Sargent.
— 60th anniversary, Jon/Terry (Lamster) Horning.
— 10th anniversary, Brad/Katie (Zeller) Murphy.
— 15th anniversary, Brian/Amy (Johnson) Berendes.
— 55th anniversary, Ray/Wanda Beck.
Friday, Aug. 21:
Carter Zellmer, Jordan Lamb, Abran Kean, Dorothy (Nygaard) Gibbs, Dennis Reed, Tamra (Buol) Armijo, Becki Weischedel-Erickson, Amy (Ripperger) Grunewaldt, Savannah Cromwell, Abigail (Barber) Burgum, Rip Ray, John Peck, Vanessa Sevier, Judson Seaman, Denise Garber, Jamie Damon, Amanda Peck, Emily Lancaster, Jerry Ortbahn.
— 5th anniversary, Vinh/Jackie (Schlaikjer) Nguyen.
— 32nd anniversary, Larry/Peggy Hofmeister.
— 16th anniversary, Kevin/Kim (Kindle) Nachreiner.
— 16th anniversary, Jay/Nikole (Hillmer) Penrod.
— 27th anniversary, Greg/Sarah (Adam) Axtman.
Saturday, Aug. 22:
Steve Harding, Jason Stahl, Sheridan Cronin, Kirby Mammenga, LaDonna Zellmer, Gail (Flansburg) Tennant, David Ludwig, Jim McLain, Alissandra Stoeser, Quinn Schiefelbein.
— 11th anniversary, Demetri/Joni (Haugan) Sengos.
Sunday, Aug. 23:
Becky Burke, Bohde Kuiper, Joshua Kinsman, Dan Sutera, Hope Dill, Jan Sommer, Dawn Magee, Alice Wright, Stephanie Zebroski, Alice Whitebird, Aske Whitebird, Colin Whitebird, Merna Imsland, Barry Sargent.
— 6th anniversary, Austin/Kelsey Blair.
— 6th anniversary, Shane/Deni (Lohman) Hollingsworth.
— 6th anniversary, Caleb/Katie (Kemink) Shepherd.
— 45th anniversary, Marty/Shirley Javurek.
— 6th anniversary, Todd/Michelle (Beemer) DeWitt.
— 17th anniversary, Josh/Malene Ford.
— 51st anniversary, Bill/Kathy Van Duzer.
We fondly remember Tyler Wilcox on his birthday.
Monday, Aug. 24:
Vivian Van Camp, Shawn Chase, Eric Aadland, Darrin Dykstra, Demeri Hanson, Chris Klucas, Bryan Stahl, Katie Stier, Lisa Bondy, Riley Lamb, Carrie Jo (Eckman) Howard, Dana Day, Brent Swenson, Jace Mancuso.
— 7th anniversary, Blake/Lindsey (Luers) Hyde.
— 19th anniversary, Doug/Lindsey (Tilberg) Jennewein.
— 18th anniversary, Kirk/Shaun Van Roekel.
— 46th anniversary Bill/Dee Ann Stevens.
— 52nd anniversary, John/Jean Lakner.
— 63rd anniversary, Seb/Carol Axtman.
Tuesday, Aug. 25:
Kelsey Nincehelser, Gary Johnson, Dustin Hight, Chris Lopez, Gina (Kotilnek) Hickenbotham, Michael McKillip.
— 8th anniversary, Brandon/Cassie (Kinsman) Deffenbaugh.
— 8th anniversary, Andy/Debra Yackley.
— 2nd anniversary, Steven/Katelynn Gordon.
— 47th anniversary, Rick/Gloria Merriam.
— 8th anniversary, Brandon/Cori (Bechtold) Haag.
— 30th anniversary, Tim/Thea (Miller) Ryan.
— 2nd anniversary, Sam/Katie (Duenwald) Williamson.
Wednesday, Aug. 26:
Pat Clark, Ursula Waack, Johnathon Mehlhaff, Braeden Bruning, Nick Dooley, Barb Bjorneberg, Jensen Kussser, Scott Hipple, Liz (Winter) Marso, Chad Grunewaldt, Jamie (Dykstra) Fitzke, Trestin Johnson, Landry Blake, Hope (Hoover) Brenny, Hannah Reiprich.
— Anniversary, Chris/Beth (Weischedel) Henrichsen.
— 9th anniversary, Chad/Emily (Currey) Kiel.
— 3rd anniversary, Taylor/Angie (Kemnitz) Owens.
— 3rd anniversary, Jerry/Darcie (Mennenga) Tveidt.
— 42nd anniversary, Kevin/Connie Tveidt.
NEWS OF PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Marilyn Naylor passed away July 27 at the Westhills health-care facility in Rapid City. Her husband, Ed, died on April 13. She grew up south of Presho and in Rapid City and Hill City. She married her husband in 1955. They lived in Vermillion while he attended USD, then moved to Pierre in 1960. Marilyn worked at various jobs while Ed was at the Department of Transportation. In 1965 they moved to Rapid City, and both retired in 1996. Survivors include her daughter, Kristina Ahem of Marion Rock, Wis.; her sons, Steve Naylor and his wife Jane of Pierre and Troy Naylor and his wife Mary of Nehalem, Ore.; five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, two sisters and a brother-in-law.
Ashley (Iverson) and Jason Feyereisen, who live and work in the Watertown area, posted on Facebook that they both have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been isolating at home until they are able to leave. Ashley said they are not sure where they caught the virus, but they have suspicions.
Colleen Winter retired Friday after a long career with the state Department of Health.
The mayor’s recommendation of Jason Culberson as Rapid City’s new fire chief was approved by the Rapid City Common Council Monday night. Jason becomes the 19th chief in the history of the fire department.
Carol (Lewis Todd) Barge died Aug. 15 at the age of 88 after a short battle with cancer. Arrangements are being handled by Kirk Funeral Home in Rapid City. She graduated from high school at Burke in 1949 and came to Pierre to work at the Department of Public Welfare. She married Richard Todd of Agar in 1950, and they became parents of four children. After Carol returned to work, she spent 41 years with an insurance agency, retiring in April 2013. In the meantime she had married Terry Barge in 1975. Carol is survived by her sons, Douglas Todd of Indianapolis and Steven Todd of San Antonio; her daughter, Sharon Cavenah of Rapid City; her stepdaughter, Kayleen Williams of Sturgis; eight grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Among those who preceded her in death are her two husbands and a daughter, Janet Todd.
Rawlins Municipal Library returns to traditional operating hours Friday. The library will be open 10 to 9 Mondays through Thursdays; 10 to 5 Fridays and Saturdays, and 1 to 5 Sundays. The library will begin operating on its Phase 3 plan, which includes: (1) no unsupervised children under 18; (2) computer access and public seating will be restricted to ensure social distancing; (3) children’s toys, puzzles, computers will not be available.
Abe Storms, who works for Sanford Health in Bismarck, is medical director for the local ambulance service in Washburn, N.D. A team of three volunteer EMTs from there recently saved a man’s life after he flat-lined for 37 minutes on the 40-mile ambulance ride from Washburn to Bismarck. The patient had four heart attacks during the ride. Once hospitalized, he spent eight days in an induced coma, but he recently was able to return to the Washburn ambulance garage and thank in person the three who saved him.
Openings/reopenings/restrictions:
- In New York museums and cultural institutions which have been closed since March can now open under a 25% occupancy restriction.
- In the Mitchell school district where masks are required of students and staff, community members are raising money for a fund to reward students for wearing masks in school. The money will be used to buy prizes, and each school building will decide how to reward those who consistently abide by the policy.
- The Waterloo city council in Iowa has passed a mask mandate, which requires that masks be worn in all public settings where social distancing is not possible.
- Unlike baseball and football, the NBA, the NHL and the WNBA have had zero positive tests in their respective bubble settings.
- In Rapid City the Stevens and Central home football games will see only two spectators’ passes granted to each rostered student in football, band, cheerleading squad and flag corps. The ramp passes for cars at O’Harra Stadium will be sold only at the gate on game night and can be bought only by people who are on the school’s spectator pass list.
- Even in the midst of a nationwide pandemic, Black Hills State University continued an annual practice of housing Sturgis motorcycle rally-goers in dormitories on the campus. This year more than 100 people stayed in three dorms, leaving Aug. 10. Four days later an employee of BHSU tested positive for COVID-19, and now there have been three cases on the campus as students arrived early this week for the fall semester.
- Within the Chadron, Neb., public schools, there have now been six cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday night.
- A volleyball player at Stevens High in Rapid City tested positive after a coach ordered her to get a test or stay home. The team members have also been ordered to watch for symptoms.
- A student at Sioux Falls Washington football practice has tested positive, so parents have been notified to watch for symptoms in their children who also were at practice.
Closings/postponements:
- The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which includes Northern, Augustana, USF, Wayne State, Mary and 11 other colleges, will have no sports competitions until after Dec. 31. Thus the winter wrestling and basketball seasons will not start until at least January.
- Considering the continuing surge of positive virus cases in the United States, Canada is maintaining its restrictions along its border with the U.S., allowing only essential travel to cross the border into their country.
- The Todd County schools at Mission will have no school activities so long as there is no in-person learning at their schools.
- The All Nations Football Conference, which includes 12 Native American high schools in the state, has moved its football season until spring. For now they plan a six-game regular season followed by playoffs.
- The Bon Homme school district at Tyndall and Springfield delayed the start of school from last Monday to next Monday due to COVID-19 in their community. The county courthouse at Tyndall was also closed. The same is true of the city hall at Elk Point.
- Sunday’s Pierre Trappers baseball game at Hyde Stadium was canceled earlier that day due to a Trappers player’s being tested after coming in direct contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
- The Stirling Family Memorial Ranch Rodeo in Fort Pierre has been canceled for this year.
- The CFL, Canada’s pro football league, has canceled its entire season.
- After one week of in-person classes the University of North Carolina at its main campus in Chapel Hill has abandoned that plan and gone to online-only classes for this semester because of on-campus coronavirus cases. Michigan State has now gone to all-online classes for this semester. Notre Dame has shut down in-person classes for at least the first two weeks of the semester.
- An entire sorority house at Oklahoma State has been placed under quarantine.
- And here it begins: The football co-op between Estelline and nearby Hendricks, Minn., has canceled its season-opening football game vs. Dell Rapids St. Mary and its second-week game vs. Alcester-Hudson. The Estelline/Hendricks team is now in the midst of a 14-day quarantine.
- The NCAA says it will have a statement by mid-September about whether women’s and men’s basketball can start as scheduled with practices in October and games in November. The PAC-12 has already said no athletic competitions can begin until Jan. 1.
- SDSU football was canceled last week, but now the university has made it official that there will be no Hobo Day parade on Oct. 31 as scheduled. A news release says the Hobo Day committee is considering other ways to celebrate.
Bennett Geraets, junior at Sioux Falls Lincoln, was tied for first place in the 16-team boys golf tournament in Sioux Falls Monday night after the first day’s play. He finished the two-day tourney in second place overall behind his teammate, senior Nash Stenberg. Bennett is the son of Pierre native Dr. Ryan Geraets and his wife, Emily.
Mason Short, who spent four years each as manager of the Pierre and Rapid City airports, died Aug. 11 at Monument Health Hospital in Rapid City at the age of 50. Among his survivors are his wife, Jeannie; his daughter, Kathlynn, and his sons, Alexander and Kristoffer. A celebration of his life took place Sunday afternoon on the meadow at Rimrock Church at Johnson Siding.
Andrew Van Gerpen scored the second hole-in-one of his golfing career last week on the eighth hole at Hillsview Golf Course in Pierre. He used an 8-iron on the 165-yard hole.
Janice Bergeson will celebrate her 80th birthday next Wednesday, Aug. 26. Cards can be mailed to her at P.O. Box 387, Fort Pierre SD 57532.
On Midco Sports Network’s “Players to Watch” list for Class 11AA football, Gunnar Gehring and Maguire Raske are the Pierre Governor players so recognized among the dozen athletes mentioned.
Meleta DeJong will be guest preacher this coming Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in Onida while the regular pastor, Kathy Saxbury, takes a week off.
Our sympathy to Dorothy (Nygaard) Gibbs, her husband Dennis, and all of the Nygaard family. Dorothy’s brother, Donald Nygaard of Sioux Falls, passed away Aug. 15 at the age of 84. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at Miller Funeral Home in Sioux Falls. A private burial will take place at a later date. Mr. Nygaard was a former police chief at Webster, a Sioux Falls police officer and a truck driver. He and his wife lived in Hartford for more than 25 years. One of his final wishes was to attend stock car races at Huset’s Speedway one last time, and he was able to do that on Aug. 2. He is survived by three children; his sister, Dorothy Gibbs of Pierre; a brother, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Congratulations to Garrett Pochop. He became engaged last weekend to Allison Verville. Garrett, who earned his degree at Simpson College in Iowa, is working in the world of finance in Des Moines with Piper Sandler. Allison, who grew up in Illinois, has one year of study in physical therapy left at Maryville University in St. Louis.
With all of the problems of trying to open schools amid the pandemic and summertime heat and everything else, how about smoke for one more reason. In the Washoe County schools in Reno and Sparks, Nev., where Val Kunsman is an elementary teacher, the first day of school this past Monday was called off because of oppressive smoke from the Loyalton fire. That wildfire began in the Sierra Nevadas just across the California border but as of Monday had spread into Nevada just northwest of Reno. Because the school buildings need fresh air to be circulated in from outside every hour, the schools had to be closed due to the poor air quality. Val’s school did reopen Tuesday, but the threat of smoke is on the horizon again. She said her first graders did OK with keeping their masks on and practicing social distancing. This is Val’s 17th year of teaching.
Jacob Shoup is again coaching soccer at Brandon Valley High School for whom he is head coach of the girls varsity team.
Harold Thune, long-time resident of Murdo, died at the age of 100 Aug. 15 at a long-term care facility in Central City, Neb. His funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Harold Thune Auditorium in Murdo and will be broadcast at the www.isburgfuneralchapels.com website. Mr. Thune, a member of the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame and the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame, grew up in Murdo and was a star on his high school team that reached the state tournament. He played basketball at the University of Minnesota. While there he met Pat Bodine when she was working at the Stadium Drug Store in Minneapolis. Mr. Thune joined the U.S. Navy, and he and Pat were married where he was stationed at Melbourne, Fla., in 1942. He spent 14 months in World War II combat, flying off the USS Intrepid. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. Back home in Murdo, he and his wife were involved in the hardware business. He also spent 21 years as a teacher/coach at Murdo High School where he was also athletic director. He coached girls and boys basketball and founded the Murdo Invitational Basketball Tournament which continues today. He retired from the school in 1984. Mrs. Thune died in 2012 at the age of 90. He is survived by his son, Bob Thune, and his wife Ruthie; his daughter, Karen Senkbile, and her husband Greg; his son, Rich Thune, and his wife Karen; his son, U.S. Sen. John Thune, and his wife Kimberley; his son, Tim Thune, and his wife Sue, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Every four years we come together to reaffirm our democracy. This year we come together to save it.”
— Eva Longoria Baston, host of the first night of the Democratic National Convention
DAY BY DAY
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
Our state’s official reaction to battling the continuing spread of the coronavirus is to “put our positive pants on,” according to the governor. Other than to close the schools for two months last spring, she has done nothing to help limit the spread in South Dakota but chose instead to imply no restrictions, to keep the state open and “normal,” and that’s what so many of you seem to love about her. Now as the death toll has surpassed 150, people insist on comparing that number to the number killed in accidents, by the flu, by cancer, by acts of God, or whatever. If I understand you all correctly, if we keep the COVID-19 death toll below the other death tolls, we are doing a good job. Well, wonderful! Unless, of course, a relative or friend of mine or I myself is one of those numbers on the virus death list, then I don’t consider it to be particularly admirable. If they want to compare death totals, the number of 155-and-counting who have succumbed to the virus compares to 102 people who were killed in automobile accidents all of last year. That sort of offsets their shaky argument that the COVID toll is not all that bad. A professor friend of mine at USD remarked today that she is considering putting a note on her office door to the effect that “I don’t care if you’re wearing your positive pants, but you better sure be wearing a mask.” If the governor’s plan of action to combat the virus is simply to be positive, then more power to her. In the meantime my pants are going into the washer. As you can tell, they have lost all their positivity. But please, governor, when you speak at the Republican National Convention next week, please don’t tell them you told us to put on our positive pants.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14
A website which goes by the name of LinkedIn.com calls it a horrendous failure on the part of United States journalism to almost completely ignore the derecho winds that leveled central and eastern Iowa, northern Illinois and beyond a few days ago. I for one have never heard the term “derecho,” which is a prolonged hurricane-level wind event. Last week in the Update we mentioned some of our Pierre natives who live in Cedar Rapids, Marshalltown, Waterloo and that area who were without power. Now today, four days after the wind died down, tens of thousands are still without power, and much of Iowa’s famous corn crop is ruined. The website to which I referred wonders how the nation can ignore such devastation, depending on where it occurs. Actually I have now seen coverage of Iowa’s destruction on several media outlets, so it hasn’t been totally ignored at all. However, to their point, one of the almost weekly wildfires in Los Angeles County gets national coverage and response. A hurricane threat along the Atlantic coast has newsmen courageously (stupidly?) braving winds and waves along the beach. A foot of snow in New York or New England brings life to a halt. Maybe the fact that, where we live, two feet of snow means little more than a one-hour delay in the start of school means that there is no reason the nation need pay any attention because it doesn’t bother us much. But the damage in Iowa has been incredible. I hope that state’s politicians, who want things back to normal immediately, can respond to the derecho winds so things get back on track for those affected. (I see their governor asked for federal help, and President Trump was quick to respond to a conservative state’s governor although he approved only a fraction of what was asked, giving funds for damage to government facilities but not to farms and homes. He lied, of course, when he bragged that he approved the request “in full.”) This very morning here in Rapid City about 3 a.m. I was awakened—though no one else in this house was—by violent winds. No rain, no thunderstorm, just mighty 80 MPH wind that bent the trees sideways, blew yard furniture around, broke tree limbs and sounded like what we hear on those hurricane TV segments. Fortunately we didn’t lose power here although there were some outages in the area.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15
Facebook does a quite good job of dumping into my junk mail file those incoming e-mails that seem to be just that. I hope I am not the only person who several times a week receives those e-mails that begin “Dearest beloved . . .” or “My dearest . . .” or “Greetings, my dear . . .” or “I want to talk to you urgently” or even “Dear Beneficiary . . .” More often than not, I assume—I don’t know for sure because I never open them—that they tell the sad tale of some wealthy person in a foreign country who has fallen ill and who has chosen me to be the benefactor of his or her wealth. In the past week a new body of work has found its way to my e-mail address. These messages are from some dating site whose name I had never heard. The problem is that the messages aren’t really for me but instead for someone named Laura. I don’t know who Laura is nor do I know why e-mails intended for her are coming to me instead. But as I said, Facebook knows to put these sorts of messages straight into my junk mail file, and there it takes only one click to rid myself of all of them.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
When I open the back door of the garage that leads into the back yard each morning, I get my first idea of what kind of day weather-wise it’s going to be. If the first air to hit my face is a blast of heat, I know we’re in for another of those dog days of August. If there is a hint of overnight coolness still in the air when the dogs have to go out at 6 a.m., I know there is a chance we may have a comfortable day. The drought monitor maps that I see show that all four corners of South Dakota are in a serious drought situation, and the seven-day forecast of temperatures and precipitation for Rapid City that popped up on my TV screen this morning is not promising—temps in the 90s every day and not a hint of moisture. That’s uncomfortable news on one front and bad news on the other.
MONDAY, AUGUST 17
One of the blessings of Facebook is being able to see back-to-school photos of youngsters, older students, maybe even their parents on the first day of school. That started this morning and will continue for several weeks as some districts have to hold back on opening for awhile. One of my fond memories of my own kids’ returning to school goes back to when my girls were at Pierre Junior High. (It wasn’t Georgia Morse Middle School yet back then in the early ’90s.) Our house on Prospect across the street from the jail was the last house on the way to the junior high for the kids from the west side who had attended Lincoln School. So my daughters and their friends gathered out on our front lawn for their back-to-school group photo. I remember Jocelyn Newman, Betsy Valnes, Amy Wire, Chelsea Neuhauser, Jessi Huber, Melissa Stevens, Nicole Stengle, Meghann O’Day, Jennifer Urbach and Briana Tobin as well as Holly and Heather. I hope I haven’t forgotten somebody else. I have a copy of those photos somewhere in a photo album. The hairstyles from back then are reason enough to search for that photo. I know we never had reason to worry about our daughters getting to school safely because the girls in this pack who now have become strong women always had each other’s backs.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 18
News and politics junkies who remember national conventions from the past are missing the hoopla, the balloons, the chaos, the reporters’ interviews from the floor, the candidates and their families waving from the podium and all the rest at the conventions this week and next. This virtual “convention” is really only a convening of people from dozens of cities by means of technology. But, to re-coin a popular phrase these days, “it is what it is.” One advantage of the speeches at these conventions is that it is much easier to focus on what is being said without the constant interruptions for applause and standing ovations. I’m for that, and Monday night’s session, for example, was done in two hours’ time to fit the television networks’ time slot. I can remember convention sessions lasting well into late-night hours. You have to be old like me to remember watching George McGovern’s acceptance speech in Miami in 1972 at 2 a.m., not exactly prime time on TV.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19
For a high school sports fan it is more difficult than usual to get too excited about the return of the fall sports unless you happen to be the parent or sibling of a student directly involved in the activities. Where I am in Rapid City there will be no attending football, for example, because spectator passes will go only to two persons for each football player, band member, flag corps girl or cheerleader, and I don’t have any of those. I guess the radio announcers will become even more familiar to me than in past seasons. It is ironic—but for South Dakota it’s not strange at all—that tens of thousands of people were welcomed to the area just last week, mingling with each other and the locals, in the midst of the pandemic. And now a 10-day fair is taking place. Yet it is left up to the school officials to be the responsible people, rather than elected “leaders” and many parents, applying what limitations and restrictions they can to try to keep safe a public that doesn’t want to be kept safe.
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWER
C R E W
H A L O
A F A R
R E N D
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER THIS WEEK
“Staying out of politics” or “sick of politics” is privilege in action. Your privilege allows you to live a non-political existence. Your wealth, your race, your abilities or your gender allows you to live a life in which you likely will not be a target of bigotry, attacks, deportation or genocide. You don’t want to get political, you don’t want to fight because your life and safety are not at stake.
It is hard and exhausting to bring up issues of oppression (AKA “get political”). The fighting is tiring. I get it. Self-care is essential. But if you find politics annoying and you just want everyone to be nice, please know that people are literally fighting for their lives and safety. You might not see it, but that’s what privilege does.
— Motherwiselife.org
Great column.