Story Time a hit with kids

Proudly showing off — Brandon Escalante shows off his egg carton creature. [PN Photo/CARRIE MOORE]

By Carrie Moore

It was a cool windy day outside the Hill City Library, but the kids inside did not seem to notice — they were too busy listening to stories.
Athena Threatt, a library aide at the library, was reading a group of 14 kids Dr. Seuss books in honor of his March birthday. Threatt manages Story Time, a weekly event that motivates kids to come to the library to listen to a few stories and make a craft.
According to Threatt, an average Story Time crowd is anywhere from 16 to 22 kids. Story Time also has two scheduled times: 10 a.m., which is open for the public, and 2 p.m., which is specifically for the Boys and Girls Club.
“All these themes and variety of themes help the kids pick up books and take an interest in reading,” Jenn Fischer said. “There are also great activities for them to do as well.”
After listening to stories, the group made their own monsters out of empty egg cartons.
“I like to hear the stories,” Avery Schroder said.
“Me, too!” Kelly Sudyatmiko added. “I like funny new stories and books. And I like to make stuff.”
“I like the stories we hear and the projects we make after,” Alex Stoeckman said.
Story Time begins at 10 a.m. every Friday and lasts about an hour. While this gives kids in the community the chance to socialize and get out of the house, it also holds a more important message.
“This program is really important for the kids because they learn more about the library and feel like they belong here,” Threatt said. “We want them to be comfortable in the library and to develop a rapport with us.”
Threatt hopes the good association with the library will keep kids coming back to the library for years to come.
“These kids love coming here for Story Time,” she said. “It’s been a big success.”

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Art Anderson left many memories

Procession — The Hill City Volunteer Fire Department leads the procession from Art Anderson’s funeral to the cementary. Due to the large crowd, the funeral was moved to Gins Gym. [PN Photo/CARRIE MOORE]

By Bev Pechan

With the unexpected passing of Hill City’s number one ‘go to’ person last month, former public works director Art Anderson will not be forgotten anytime soon. Art touched the lives of many persons around town, both in the way he conducted his personal life and also in his many years of devoted service in the task of keeping the city up and running.
Mayor Don Gray recalls this about Art: “ Art was the first neighbor we met when we moved in next door to him and Sue in 1983. He hooked up our water and showed us how to operate the coal furnace in the new (to us) home we had purchased from the school. At the time, Art worked at Ellsworth, but was very much involved in school activities with their kids Michelle, Jeff, Christy and Jon, and later his grandkids and great-grandkids.
“He was also a part time fire chief, plumber, heating contractor and an avid Jeep guy. Art proved to be the kind of neighbor you always hope for, one you could count on. When I was deployed to Desert Storm, our furnace gave out. Art kept our family warm by replacing the furnace in no time and at no cost. He and Sue watched over our family then, for which I’m forever grateful.
“Art’s dedication to the City of Hill City and its citizens can’t be measured and probably won’t be duplicated any time soon. He was always looking for the best way to serve the town, be it getting the last mile out of a piece of equipment or supervising the construction of a new waste water treatment plant. His intitutional knowledge of the city’s inner workings was outstanding. The city will struggle for a while picking up the slack. Art was a good friend, a good neighbor and a great guy.”
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MEALS programs cut

As of March 1, the senior MEALS programs have been discontinued in both Hill City and Keystone, including home deliveries for shut-ins.
Citing rising costs that make the current programs at these locations cost-prohibitive, MEALS director Marcia Murray, Rapid City, expressed exasperation Monday that they would not be able to continue to provide the service. “It’s costing us $12 to $14 per meal,” Murray said, to prepare and transport the food to those locations. So far, Hill City and Keystone are the only two communities that have been cut, but, Murray added, some other communities may also be at risk in the future.
And, Murray said, with the resignation of Leo Zwetzig, who picked up the meals in Rapid City and delivered them to Hill City and Keystone, there was no site manager and no one to do the necessary paperwork in Keystone. Judy Roberson worked 2 ½ hours for the program in Hill City, she said. Dwindling attendance has made it impractical to cook on site, Murray said. “This has been going back and forth for about a year. Awhile back, KELOland TV did a spot about the MEALS program being in jeopardy in Hill City and Keystone due to lack of participation”but it did little to change things, she noted, saying each community typically served “only 5 to 10 (persons) a day. We are paying government rates for mileage. Food costs are up 15 percent.” There is also a problem of getting and keeping cooks, which has been a longtime issue, she explained.
Murray stated that in seven months, there was a $9,000 shortfall between the two locations. United Way, which sponsors the MEALS program in the Southern Hills, will also not be too happy, she said.
“It sponsors two services in that area and we are one of them.” The MEALS program also relies on fundraisers, grants and donations to keep the program going, spending $200,000 a year on average.
Murray says the MEALS program is handled differently in Custer, where they contract with a local restaurant and the participants go there for their meals. She said that they considered looking into possibility for Hill City and Keystone, but with the few who regularly show up at these locations, it was not cost-effective either.
For the time being, there is no organized senior meal program in Keystone, although a group of volunteers is exploring possible options for the future, according to resident Linda Halley. For Hill City, there is no similar effort in place at this time.
“It breaks my heart,” Murray said with sadness in her voice. “The meal site in Hill City has been there since July of 1976. In Keystone, it’s even longer – July of 1975.”

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Rodger E. Chant

Rodger E. Chant, 67, of Cottonwood, S.D., formerly of Hill City, died Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at his home in Cottonwood.
Chant was born in Champaign, Ill., on Dec. 10, 1944, to Rodger and Ruth (Sanders) Chant. Rodger was raised in South Dakota his whole life and attended White River schools in Mellette County. After high school he attended Black Hills State University in Spearfish, as well as school in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Rodger enjoyed outdoor sports, such as gold mining, geocaching, boating, hunting and fishing.
Roger was united in marriage to Judy on Feb. 12, 1998, in Rapid City, S.D.
Survivors include his wife, Judy Chant, of Cottonwood; a daughter, Kathleen Leipold of Belle Fourche, S.D.; two sons, Harold and James Chant of Rapid City; a step-daughter, Catherine Habart of Rapid City; six grandchildren, Tyler Leipold of Rapid City, Ted Leipold of Belle Fourche, Sophia and Hannah Peterson of Belle Fourche, Eva Sherrod (William) of Ellsworth AFB, and Aidan Chant of Rapid City; two great–grandchildren, Harold Edward Sherrod of Ellsworth AFB, and Alayna Leipold of Rapid City; and a host of other relatives and friends.
Rodger was preceded in death by his parents Rodger and Ruth Chant; a son, Rodger T. “Teddy” Chant; and his foster parents, Ted and Mimi Thomas.
Visitation was held one hour before the services. Funeral services were held Saturday, March 10, at the Cottonwood Community Hall in Cottonwood with David Olson officiating.
His online guestbook is available at www.rushfuneralhome.com.

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Mystery of buried gold still brings fortune seekers to area

By Bev Pechan

In the 1950s, South Dakota extended its WPA writers’ project to collect more of the stories and folklore of the state. For a time, the state historical society, I believe it was, produced a monthly newsletter titled “Manuscripts,” which featured such accounts. This one, by Doris Bates, was called “Secret of Burnt Ranch (not to be confused with that location in Montana)” and occasionally is resurrected when old tales are retold. Here is the story as writer Bates recorded it over half a century ago:
“In the earliest years of the Black Hills gold rush, while the placer mines along Rapid Creek were at the height of their production, Gen. Crook and his troopers of the 5th Cavalry made trips between Custer, S.D., and Fort Beauford, N. D. [ed. note – at that time, Dakota Territory] passing regularly through the valley of Rapid Creek, making it one of their permanent camping spots. Their regular camp sites were situated about 12 miles apart, as nearly as they could be spaced, in spots where water and forage for the horses were available.
“Another of their regular camping sites was at Sheridan on Spring Creek in Pennington County. Sheridan was, at that time, making some pretentions to becoming a regular mountain town. Temporary county offices had been established and the first term of United States Court west of the Missouri River had been held here.
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Basketball season wraps up

Parents Night — Parents Night was held Tuesday, Feb. 7, at Gins Gym in a game against the Douglas Patriots. From left are Scott and Jody Wooldridge, Donna Atuna, seniors Sayge Wooldridge, Lucas Brist, Kendra McLaughlin and Lesia and John McLaughlin. [Submitted Photo]

The high school girls basketball season ended last Saturday with St. Thomas More winning the Class A 2011-12 state championship.
STM defeated Parkston in the championship game and Pine Ridge finished in sixth place. STM represented West River well by bringing home a state title. The Hill City Rangers finished their season 14 – 8 with a loss last week to Red Cloud in the district championship game. The girls finished third in the Black Hills Conference with a record of 6-2 with their only losses to STM and Spearfish.
“The addition of Spearfish and Red Cloud to the conference this season made it an extremely competitive league,” Coach Shawn Woodward said. “I was very proud of the girls for coming up third out of nine schools.”
The 14 wins represent the most wins since 2004 and the fifth most in Lady Ranger basketball in the last 30 years. Some of the highlights were defeating Bennett County for the first time in eight years, beating Belle Fourche twice (after losing to Belle three times last year), defeating Red Cloud at Red Cloud, defeating Wall, a new team, on the road in a come from behind performance and finally, winning a district game for the first time in eight years by defeating Custer.
“The girls really improved as the season went along,” Woodward said. “We scored over 50 pts in 11 of our 22 games, but in our last 12 games we were over 50 pts nine times.”
Individually on the season, Kendra McLaughlin scored 302 points for an average of 13.7 points per game. McLaughlin is only the fifth player in the last 30 years to score over 300 points in a season. McLaughlin finished her career with 610 points and eighth on the all-time Lady Ranger career points list.
McLaughlin also led the team with nine and a half rebounds per game. McLaughlin scored over 20 points in four games this year including 27 against Lead, which tied for third all-time most points scored in a game.
Kala McDonald also had a fine season finishing with 11 points per game and 242 points on the season. McDonald led the team with 4.8 steals per game to go along with 4.3 assists per game. McDonald scored 24 points against Sundance to go along with 13 steals in the game. She was also leading scorer in the district championship game with 17 points.
Dru Gylten was the third leading scorer at nine and a half points per game and 209 points on the season. Gylten also led the team with 4.6 assists per game and contributed 2.8 steals per. Gylten scored 28 points in a win at Red Cloud, which is the second most points scored in a single game in Lady Ranger history.
Sayge Wooldridge scored 2.1 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game.
“Wooldridge always provided the hustle we needed on the defensive side,” Woodward said.”
Allie Henderson scored five points per game and five and a half rebounds per game.
“Henderson had to play many different positions this year and was comfortable whether she was in the post or on the wing,” Woodward said.
Tia Grabow scored 2.2 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game.
“Grabow was another player who moved from spot to spot and helped us defensively against taller opponents,” Woodward said.
Breanna Lende-Hanson had four points per game and two and a half rebounds per game. According to Woodward, Lende-Hanson was another fireball who had to play against taller opponents most of the time, but really held her own in doing so.
Codee Sagdalen had three points per game and two and a half rebounds per game.
“Sagdalen improved each and every game throughout the season earning a couple of starting assignments at the end of the year,” Woodward said. “She also had to go up against girls who were usually taller than her, but again worked hard and improved throughout the year.”
“I was very proud of these girls and the season they had,” Woodward added. “We won more games than most people thought we would because we played as a team. The girls had to learn to play together with a wide age group. This was a true life lesson which is one of the main reasons we have high school sports. These girls didn’t let differences carry onto the court and that is why they were successful.”
When a team has a good season they usually gain some individual awards. McLaughlin and McDonald both made the All-Black Hills Conference Girls Basketball team for 2011-12 season. Gylten was selected to the Honorable Mention team. McDonald was also selected for the LNI BB team back in December. McLaughlin and Wooldridge were both selected to the Academic All-State Girls Basketball team as well. To be eligible for this award, a student must have been part of the basketball team for at least three years and have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
“Basketball is a team sport, but success depends a lot on the sacrifice of one’s personal statistics for the good of the team.”
Next year the team will return several players with varsity experience and hope to have another solid season. McDonald, Grabow, Lende-Hanson, Sagdalen, Henderson and Gylten all started games this past year and hope to build on this season’s success and try to have an even better year next year.

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A Birthday Celebration for Dr. Seuss

Covered in Tattoos — Canté Weathers, left, and Cara Ronish show off their temporary tattos during a carnival celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss and Read Across America week. Several stations were set up for kids to visit, including temporary tattoos, face painting, a cookie walk and reading room. For more photos, see page 9. [PN Photo/CARRIE MOORE]

For more pictures from the carnival, see the March 7 issue of the Prevailer.

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