2012 Hometown Heroes

March, 2012 | Hometown Heroes | 11 | Hometown Heroes | March, 2012

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Hometown

HeroesA special publication of the Capital Journal | March, 2012

March, 2012 | Hometown Heroes | 3

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Hometown

Heroes


For advertising information in future publications, or subscription information, write: Capital Journal, 333 West Dakota, P.O. Box 878, Pierre, SD 57501 Phone: 605-224-7301. Website: www.capjournal.com. No portion of the contents of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher.

Publisher Steve BakerAdvertising Director April PullmanManaging editor Lance NixonAssociate editor Justin JoinerArt director Melanie Handl

Dear Readers,We at the Capital Journal are excited to bring you our

fourth “Hometown” edition, Hometown Heroes.

Th is year’s focus is on the people in this community

who have given their time, energy and expertise to make

this community what it is today, with special emphasis on

volunteers. Th ey were the people who kept the fl ood at bay

in 2011 and helped us rebuild; and they’re still the people

who keep us safe from fi re danger.

You will also read about a standout athlete from Fort

Pierre, now taking center stage in one of the nation’s big

basketball events. You’ll read about the region’s world-

renowned expert in no-till farming, as well as a math teacher

who is recognized statewide for her innovative teaching.

You’ll read about an immigrant who arrived in South

Dakota with $27 in his pocket and is now revered as one

of the region’s biggest givers to charitable causes; about a

woman who was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of

Fame for her work preserving the state’s history; about one

of our soldiers overseas; about a lobbyist who helps make the

political system in state government work.

We wanted to tell the stories of these people who have

had great infl uence in this community and who, in turn,

have been infl uenced by it.

One of the best parts about working as a journalist

is getting to visit with these people day in and day out —

every day a new adventure or two.

Th is special edition will tell you those extraordinary

stories about ordinary people.

We couldn’t include everyone who was suggested

during this process. Th e list of our community’s heroes goes

on and on. But we hope we have provided you with a varied

and interesting selection that you will be excited to read.

Enjoy!Lance Nixon, Managing Editor

Hometown

HeroesA special publication

of the Capital Journal

4 | Firefighters

6 | Bill Weischedel

8 | Sam Ostarello

10 | Amy Boutchee

12 | Volunteers

14 | Mansour Karim

16 | Dwayne Beck

18 | Nancy Tystad Koupal

20 | Bob Miller

By Justin Joiner [email protected]

Christmas Eve of 2011 won’t be one for the family scrapbooks for some area firefighters. While their neighbors celebrated with family, local firefighters spent part of the day trying to keep a Fort Pierre fire in check.

That’s how it is when you’re part of an organization that works to save lives, saving millions in taxpayer dollars at the same time.

The Pierre, Fort Pierre and Pierre Rural fire departments are all staffed by volunteers willing to risk their lives for essentially no compensation, and that means big savings for city budgets.

“By Pierre having a volunteer fire department, we save the city of Pierre about $3 million a year off the city budget,” Pierre Fire Chief Bill Alexander said.

Plenty of people do not know the local fire departments are volunteer-based. But their volunteer structure is not that uncommon. About 75 percent of fire departments in the nation are staffed by volunteers, Alexander said.

The only paid firefighter in the region is Alexander, who is paid by the city of Pierre.

Being a firefighter not only takes courage, it also takes time. To join the Pierre Fire Department, a new volunteer must go through 120-140 hours of training and that is just to get certified. Beyond that there is department training and company training.

“A volunteer firefighter is as well trained if not more so than the career departments,” Alexander said.

Firefighters don’t get holidays off either. The Fort Pierre Fire Department battled a blaze that burned down Dudley’s Valley Tap on Christmas Eve.

So why would volunteers risk their lives and give up so

much of their free time to training and responding to fires? The answer is different for everyone, Leon Ellis, a captain with the Pierre Rural Fire Department, said.

“A lot of us have joined for the thrill and the sense of helping people in need,” he said.

Ellis also gets a kick out of fighting grass fires, something the rural fire department is well versed with.

Rick Cronin, Fort Pierre chief, said he thinks it is about giving back to the community.

Alexander said some of his firefighters look to the department for a sense of community and camaraderie, but finding willing volunteers is not as easy as it used to be. The number of long-time firefighters has dropped through the years at the Pierre department.

“People don’t join organizations for 30 years

anymore,” Alexander said.Cronin agreed. He said people are tied up with busy

schedules and it has been harder to get volunteers over time.The Pierre department currently has about 60

volunteers, but that number is always in flux. That is why the department is constantly on the lookout for new help.

“We are always looking for quality people,” Alexander said.

In addition to the fire departments, the Pierre Rescue Squad is also volunteer-based. That group responds to boat incidents, vehicle extrications and just about anything that requires a specialty rescue, Ellis, who also serves on the squad, said.

To contact the departments visit their websites. Pierre and Pierre Rural’s is www.http://ci.pierre.sd.us/Department.aspx?id=8. Fort Pierre’s is http://www.fortpierrefire.org. Fort Pierre also has a Facebook page that can be found by searching for Fort Pierre Rural Fire Department. ■

Firefighters save lives , cash

4 | Hometown Heroes | March, 2012 March, 2012 | Hometown Heroes | 5

Fort Pierre firefighters pull down a section of the front wall of a business and home on Christmas Eve last year.


Fort Pierre firefighter Justin Jones walks away from a

heavily smoking building during a fire call last year.


By Chris Mangan [email protected]

Staff Sergeant Bill Weischedel has a way with surprises.

Weischedel, who is in Afghanistan with the 200th Engineering Company, returned home on Feb. 29 for two weeks of rest and relaxation — much to the surprise of his wife, who didn’t think he would be home for another day.

“I told my wife that I was supposed to leave the country on the first of March. I was able to move my leave date up a little bit so she had no idea, and I never told anybody,” Weischedel, 47, said. “When I came in, I had a couple friends pick me up and take me out to the house and she had no clue.”

That wasn’t the only surprise that day. March 1 was his son’s 17th birthday and it took him awhile to realize that his dad was even home.

“He never even noticed me right away. I said ‘Happy birthday,’ and his eyes just about popped out of his head.”

Weischedel, one of the region’s heroes in uniform, has been overseas three different times. In 2004-2005, he was in Kuwait with an Army Reserved unit out of Nebraska. In 2005-2006, he volunteered to go to over to Iraq with the 452nd out of Aberdeen. Now he is in Afghanistan with the 200th.

“Kuwait wasn’t that bad because nothing really happens there,” Weischedel said. “When I was in Iraq, we got mortared every day, so it was interesting and hot.

“You just took it in stride. If it happened, it happened. Most of the time, we had it down to a time frame to when they were going to do it so we were kind of ready for it. They would do it between 1:30 and 3 every afternoon.”

Weischedel started as a welder in the reserves and it was a long journey for him to become a staff sergeant. Weischedel earned the staff sergeant ranking while overseas but when he transferred to the 200th, he was reclassified to a regular sergeant and had to get the staff sergeant ranking back.

As staff sergeant, Weischedel is in charge of 10 personnel and about 13 pieces of equipment, including bulldozers, semis and cranes. In addition to being in charge of the heavy equipment, his squad does all the maintenance work on their equipment to take some of the pressure off of the mechanics.

Weischedel said the support from home for the 200th has been terrific.

“It means so much,” Weischedel said. “Without that, it’s like you’d be thinking to yourself, why are we doing this? With that type of support, it keeps you at that level. People do appreciate what we do. That means a lot.” ■

Soldier in Afghanistan Bill Weischedel now serving third overseas deployment

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We’re so proud of our Hometown Hero!

By Wade [email protected]

A little more than four years ago Sam Ostarello was cutting down nets in celebration. Now she’s doing the same only on a grander stage.

Stanley County’s top basketball player of all time has blossomed into a central figure for the nationally ranked Purdue Boilermakers. As this publication was going to press, Ostarello and Purdue were hoping to cut down a few more nets and bring home an NCAA championship back to West Lafayette, Ind.

“We definitely have a championship mentality but the tournament is one game at a time. We feel like we can play with anybody in the country,” Ostarello said.

Ostarello is fully focused on the task at hand but the junior forward couldn’t have imagined that she would find this much success at the NCAA level.

“Everybody dreams of going to play somewhere big and it’s a reality now. I would have never have imagined playing for Purdue or at a big time school like this. I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to do so,” Ostarello said.

Ostarello’s dream season couldn’t have been scripted any better as she will match up with SDSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The first round will be somewhat of a reunion for Ostarello and Pierre native Katie Lingle.

“We played SDSU last year at the preseason WNIT which was fun. It was fun to play against Steph Paluch, Katie Lingle and other people I grew up with. I wouldn’t say it’s a rivalry but it’s always nice to see people you know,” Ostarello said.

The Purdue-SDSU match up will certainly have most in Pierre and Fort Pierre glued to their televisions Saturday. Although Ostarello is hundreds of miles away from her hometown, her fans still let their voices be heard loud and clear.

“People from the community still talk to me through Facebook, text messages or someone else,” Ostarello said. “It means a lot to me because it keeps me on track and humble. The support reminds me of where my roots are and where I came from.”

The support Ostarello receives from Stanley County is surprisingly comparable to the support she receives from the Big-10 powerhouse Purdue. Ostarello feels like the biggest similarity is how close she is to her fans in both states.

“On any given night we get 8,000-10,000 people in the crowd at Mackey Arena. It is similar to Stanley County because you know everybody at the game. The same people come to see us every night but it gets crazy. The crowd gets loud and you feel that support and energy,” Ostarello said.

Ostarello has given her fans in both South Dakota and Indiana a lot to cheer about but her terrific play hasn’t come without hard work. Ostarello has learned a lot physically and mentally which has helped propel her game to new heights.

“I’ve learned that the game is more than just about putting the ball in the hole; you have to do the little things,” Ostarello said. “My coaches have invested a lot of time in me and I’ve spent a lot of time picking their brains, probably more than they would like.”

Ostarello had done all of the little things for Purdue but her biggest contribution has come off the glass. With 8.2 rebounds per game, the junior has become one of the country’s elite rebounders. Her dominance on the boards hasn’t come by accident.

“Rebounding is all about effort. I help myself by studying film of teammates and opponents to see tendencies to help me predict where the ball will go,” Ostarello said. “I wouldn’t be able to rebound if my teammates didn’t box out because it’s a collective team effort.”

Ostarello possesses all of the physical gifts and intangibles necessary to make a career of basketball. She hasn’t given much thought to going pro, since she is only a junior, but she is hoping to play professionally in the future.

“I always want to play ball until I can’t anymore. I’ve always had the thought of going pro in the back of my mind but it’s going to take a lot of work to get there. If that opportunity presents itself, I would more than take advantage of it,” Ostarello said. ■

Fort Pierre athleteSam Ostarello competes on a bigger stage




By Lance [email protected]

A teacher who helps equip Pierre students with the advanced knowledge of mathematics they need to succeed is in the running for a prestigious state award because of her innovative teaching methods.

Along with Kristi Lutgen of Deubrook Area Schools in White and Deborah Snook of Philip High School, Amy Boutchee of Riggs High School is one of three 2011 South Dakota finalists for the 2011 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, or PAEMST, Program.

Whether she wins or not, Boutchee said the experience has made her aware how good some of her colleagues are as teachers, and how important their work is for the future of young people.

“It was nice being nominated, but there’s a lot of good teachers doing a lot of good things across the state. It’s fun to see that statewide,” Boutchee said. “Educators in general are hometown heroes. They create the product that you as a hometown are proud to call your own.”

The way teachers create that next generation of educated citizens varies from classroom to classroom. Boutchee does it in part by a very simple strategy of arranging desks differently – not in neat rows, but in pods of three.

It’s a configuration that allows students to teach each other, and it underscores one of the things that sets Boutchee apart as a mathematics teacher: a willingness to be adventurous when it comes to helping students confront problems that only numbers can solve.

“There are two parts to math. There’s a conceptual understanding, and there’s a process base. The people who don’t like math usually get caught up in the process base,” Boutchee said. “I think an understanding of math is an understanding of problems and patterns. My focus

is on the method used, and even better, the variety of methods used. To have students comparing their methods, that creates that conceptual understanding.”

Each state and four other jurisdictions can select up to three mathematics and three science teachers as state finalists. A maximum of 108 Presidential Awardees are selected nationwide. Recipients of the 2011 Presidential Awards will be announced in spring 2012 in Washington, DC.

PAEMST is the highest recognition that a kindergarten through 12th grade mathematics or science teacher can receive for outstanding teaching in the United States. More than 4,000 teachers nationwide have won the award since it began in 1983, including two math teachers from Pierre.

Marla Walz, who retired as a math teacher from the Pierre School District, won the same award in 1987 as a junior high teacher. Becky Kitts, a K-6 math teacher at St. Joseph Elementary School in Pierre, won it in 2008.

Boutchee says having such colleagues in Pierre, and especially working in the same school as Walz, helped her grow as a teacher.

“She has always been a role model for me,” Boutchee said. “She tried something new every year. If you mark a good teacher, they’re always willing to try new things to aid in student learning.”

Walz and Kitts say Boutchee is already known among her peers for her creativity in teaching an essential discipline.

“The world has become so technical, with computers and engineering and inventions,” Walz said. “Math is the language of all that.”

Kitts added that being nominated for the award, or winning it, has the effect of making good teachers work even harder.

“The whole point of math and science is that you’re training your mind to think in a logical, problem-solving manner,” Boutchee said.

The sum? Students benefit. ■

Doing the math:Amy Boutchee’s innovation plus student involvement equals success



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Pierre’s biggest hometown hero of 2011 had a different name and face everywhere you looked.

It was the Volunteer.You saw him, or her, man, woman or child, everywhere

as record flooding on the Missouri River inundated some neighborhoods and threatened others. People of all ages filled sandbags and tossed them down the line to other men, women and children. Some were homeowners affected by the flood. Some were friends, neighbors and relatives. Some were complete strangers.

Later, groups such as the National Guard and the U.S. Air Force Academy Cadets provided support during the flood or during the clean-up; church groups of all denominations did their part; and businesses went above and beyond the call of duty to help their employees and the larger community.

Some things never changeAnd it wasn’t new for Pierre. Pierre native Judy Rieger

said in terms of the way the community responded, 2011 was a re-play of the flood of 1952. The 1952 flood was different from 2011 in that the Oahe Dam was not yet built. Instead, ice jams pushed floodwaters as high as the viaduct. But just as they would later in 2011, Pierre area residents responded by pitching sandbags and doing anything else as needed to help one another deal with the threat.

“Pierre is fantastic when it comes to community support,” she said. “Everybody rallies around.”

It’s one of the reasons Rieger was glad to return to Pierre a few years ago after living in the Pacific Northwest.

Instant community spirit – just add waterWhat Kristie Maher of Fort Pierre remembers about the

flood of 2011 was the transformation in her neighborhood as everyone began thinking of how to battle the common threat.

“We knew a lot of people in our neighborhood anyway, but it was interesting how almost instantly, things were coordinated and people collaborated,” Maher said. “In just about no time there was this system of manufacturing sandbags at two or three locations in the neighborhood and it was getting done for everyone. It wasn’t just people working on their own homes.”

Fort Pierre Mayor Sam Tidball saw it first hand.“It was such an outpouring of volunteerism as I’d never

seen before. We had people volunteering who were friends, of course, and relatives, but also complete strangers. When they saw an opportunity to help, they dug right in,” Tidball said. “I’ve never seen anything that could compare to that.”

The reinforcementsAs homeowners and Pierre residents tossed sandbags for

hours on end, reinforcements arrived. Maher remembers a motorist with an hour to spare calling her at the South Dakota Discovery Center to offer that hour of his time as the center moved items out of the reach of the flood.

Similarly, Maher said, Pierre residents took heart when a squad of girls and boys high school athletes from Onida pulled

The Herowith a thousand faces kept Missouri River at bay

›› Continued on page 22


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U.S. Air Force Academy Cadets help remove sandbags from around

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The stories of coming to America are not all written down in 10-cent spiral notebooks, but the one about Mansour Karim is.

Because that notebook is what was available at the five-and-dime in Huron, South Dakota, when Mansour Karim went looking for a ledger in which to track expenses – his very first step toward becoming the successful engineer and businessman who has now given away nearly $1.5 million to charity, according to the Pierre Area Charitable Organization. The organization honored Karim as Pierre’s Philanthropist of the Year in 2011.

But that was all far in the future when Mansour Karim arrived on Nov. 28, 1950, with $27 in his pocket – five $5 bills with President Abraham Lincoln’s portrait on them and two more bills with George Washington’s face on them – and an iron resolve not to spend any more than he took in.

“My account in U.S.A.,” he wrote at the top of the first page. “Mansour Karim. IRANIAN.”

He made an ink drawing of his country’s flag and noted the date of his arrival: Tuesday, Nov. 28th, 1950.

Then, because he was spending the money he had made teaching night classes, and money his mother had made from selling her gold ring, and money his father had borrowed, he drew in pen a set of scales at the bottom of the page. One side of the scales is labeled “Income” and the other is labeled “Expenses.” His note said to him each time he opened the notebook for the nine years afterward: “You have to watch the scale.”

Watching the scaleHe did. It was no trick at all for a kid who was good enough

at bookwork to be asked to teach night school in chemistry and math as a high school student. But that had been in Iran. Being poor and smart didn’t set you apart there. Even teaching night classes didn’t mean you would ever go on to university.

“I could never have attended university in my country,” he said.

He and his family figured out he needed to go to America; and for that he needed a plan.

“Never spend more than you earn. That was my goal when I started,” said Mansour, a retired engineer from the South Dakota Department of Transportation who also has done well from investments in real estate. “That was the only way I could survive in this country. My family was very poor. I had to discipline myself.”

And that is implicit in the pinched scrawl of those letters and numbers divided into his own added columns that track “Received” and “Paid.”

Notebook, 10 cents.Bread, 19 cents.Butter, 18 cents. “That was my life. I kept record of everything.”Sometimes the entries show he’s been extravagant: Bread, 37

cents.“That means I bought two loaves – saved a penny. If I could

save a penny for five days, I could save 5 cents and buy an apple.”

Missionary work He came to Huron College because he had heard that

Michigan State University, where he was supposed to go to study English, had many Iranian students – the temptation to get along without English would have been too great. Huron College didn’t have many foreign students and so the instructors – in theory -- would be able to give more personal attention to teaching him English.

“Supposed to. But they put me in the same class with everybody else. I didn’t understand,” he says. “I still remember, ‘dangling modifier.’ I still don’t know what it means.”

It wasn’t the only thing he didn’t understand.“I met people from a Baptist church, or Church of Christ, I

think. They asked me if I liked missionary work.”He didn’t know what it meant. “Missionary,’ it sounded to

his ears like ‘machinery.’I told them, ‘Oh, yes, I like machinery.’ They suggested he

might do missionary work someday. Mansour said Oh, yes, he’d like that.

But what he really wanted, when he thought it over, wasn’t that. He moved on to South Dakota State University. He started to study engineering.

Numbers were not as slippery as English words; numbers you could get a grip on. And he wrote his life down, the same as before, in a spiral notebook.

Potatoes, 18 cents.Soup, 34 cents.Corn flakes, 21 cents.

Family historyHe got a job in a cafeteria in his second year in America;

they paid him with meal tickets. Then he got a degree in 1955, and a temporary job with the Soil Conservation Service – not

Giving something backPhilanthropist works to help the country that helped him


a permanent job, because he was not yet an American.

But things were looking up; he got a job with the Department of Transportation in 1957 for $3,500 a year. He gave his parents half the money to buy a house. It was one of his first efforts at settling accounts that also included giving back to the country that had been so good to him.

In Pierre he met a teacher named Ruth Kempter – formerly a Girls’ State national delegate from Riggs High School, then a Phi Beta Kappa honor student from the University of South Dakota. She had a pretty good grip on words, among other things; she was also a correspondent for the Rapid City Journal.

They married in 1959, and there are signs of that in the notebook.

“1959. I got a haircut for $1.50,” he notes with surprise.

And there is also, mysteriously, that entry, “Rings, $45.”

But the woman Mansour Karim had chosen to marry was – who would have guessed? – frugal. She made him take hers back and exchange it for a cheaper one.

His cost $12. Hers cost $10.She left her teaching job and went

with Mansour to Brookings in 1960 when he went on to earn his master’s degree in engineering; she taught freshman English at the university. And seven children came along, and Ruth co-founded the South Dakota Right to Life group, and they set up endowments – did he mention that his name, Karim, means “generous” in his language? -- to help students at SDSU, among other things. But there is nothing about that in the notebook, which ends where it needed to, in 1959. There was no need to keep track of everything in such detail as long as you remembered to watch the scales, and they did -- he did, she did. Things were looking up here in America. ■


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By Michael [email protected]

Dwayne Beck recalls growing up on a farm in Platte, a place where some of the earliest seeds of his future farming innovations had begun to take root in his imagination.

“I was farming as a kid, watching the crop burn up because of a lack of moisture and also totally frustrated, pulling a three-bottom plough around with a little tractor,” he said with a chuckle.

Later, in the 1970s, efforts to irrigate the areas adjoining the Missouri River in central South Dakota were hitting snags. The windblown or loess soil that characterizes the area was creating problems with water infiltration. About that time, Beck entered South Dakota State University as a graduate student.

“I was teaching school in Gettysburg and working for a fertilizer dealer right during this period in the ’70s,” he said. “I got persuaded by a couple people at SDSU to go back to graduate school and do some work on nitrogen fertilization irrigation. In the process of doing that, I saw all this runoff. That was an issue, and we were going to try to solve this.”

Beck said he and other researchers discovered that no-till methods enabled the water to permeate the ground more quickly.

That was one of the things that helped fuel Beck’s interest in no-till farming methods, a discipline in which he is now one of the world’s experts. He was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2007 because of his work in that area.

“It was a real revelation to most of science at the time,” said Beck, who earned a Ph.D. in agronomy from SDSU.

Beck said the no-till method – by eliminating tillage – reduces erosion and other sorts of soil disturbance. It’s a hallmark of the

Dakota Lakes Research Farm, which Beck directs.Beck said the research farm’s very existence was sparked by the

irrigation problems back in the 1970s. It’s a farm that’s owned by the not-for-profit Dakota Lakes Research Farm Corp., which was created by area farmers, business and community groups, Beck said.

“They cooperate with SDSU, which manages the research portion of the operation,” he said.

Beck characterized the no-till method as a kind of return to previous farming techniques.

“The Native Americans no-tilled prior to us coming here, but the white man didn’t no-till until quite recently,” he said.

But Beck was careful to point out that the method, in itself, is not a panacea.

“If we just had no-till and had not changed rotations, it would have been a failure,” he said. “We would have had insects and diseases.”

A proliferation of bugs and weeds, he added, can provoke a need for pesticides – and the pesticides can lead to resistant weeds that pose an even tougher threat. He said it’s vital to diversify crops so that the soil remains active, making it tougher for bugs and weeds to take over the soil.

Diversity of crops in this region has fluctuated, he said, narrowing with technological developments and then expanding again in recent decades.

“If you go way back, farmers were diverse because they had no technology,” he said. “They grew pastures and alfalfa, and they had livestock and they grew lots of different crops.”

That changed when better tractors emerged, along with fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides. The goal of the research farm, he said, was to move toward diversity once again. He said

Agricultural innovator Dwayne Beck advocates long-term thinking


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the research farm hasn’t used an insecticide for more than 10 years.

“We realize that if we put out an insecticide, we’re going to be killing our beneficial (predators),” he said.

He said the farm grows wheat, peas, canola, soybean and other non-native plants.

Beck said one goal of the farm is to maintain the nourishing loop of the ecosystem.

“If you go back to the prairie ecosystem, nothing ever left,” he said. “The bison ran around. Something killed the bison and ate it, and the nutrients stayed here. If you leak nutrients out of the system, eventually it becomes a desert.”

Beck mentioned one practice that he said helps keep nutrients on the farm, while at the same time producing something that can be sold. He described a process of using a press to extract oil from crops such as soybeans. The oil can then be sold, while meal from the crop becomes livestock feed. Keeping the meal on the farm is important, he said, because that’s where most of the nutrients are.

He said another hope of the research farm is to become energy neutral, or fossil fuel neutral, by 2026.

Beck said he’d like to see farmers – and politicians – think about what land throughout the country will be like hundreds of years from now, when we’ll no longer be using fossil fuel.

“Why are we spending a lot of time on the Excel pipeline instead of spending time getting wind or solar going?” he asked.

Beck also said he’d like to see more publicly funded research on farming.

“At a time when we probably have the greatest need ever for doing something better,” he said, “we’re de-emphasizing research from the public side, with the idea that the private side is going to make up for that.”

Beck said he wanted to prompt farmers – as well as those outside of the farming community – to think about the long view. He acknowledged that it’s often a tough approach to sell.

“It’s not just next year,” he said. “If you keep doing what you’re doing, what will you look like in 600 years? And that’s an important questions for politicians to ask – and they don’t.” ■

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The road to Oz runs through Nancy Tystad Koupal’s office – or at least through South Dakota history, and that’s nearly the same thing.

Tystad Koupal was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2009 for her work as a recognized leader in editing and publishing state history. As research and publishing director for the South Dakota State Historical Society, she leads an effort to capture South Dakota history one book or journal article at a time.

“The mission of the South Dakota State Historical Society is to collect, preserve, interpret and disseminate historical information,” Tystad Koupal. “We collect the remnants of the past. We preserve it.”

For Tystad Koupal, that also means preserving the thinking of earlier eras. Her own work has focused on such figures as L. Frank Baum, the famous writer of the Oz books who was first a newspaper editor in Aberdeen.

Tystad Koupal, a Mitchell native, earned her bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University and her master’s from Morehead State University in Kentucky. In 1979, she was appointed editor of South Dakota History, the quarterly journal of the

Nancy Tystad KoupalCapturing South Dakota history, one book at a time


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South Dakota State Historical Society.Under her leadership, the journal became recognized for its

quality, and in 1997, she established the South Dakota State Historical Society Press and became its director and editor-in-chief. Within the first decade and a half, she had published an impressive list of books on the region’s history, including forays into the state’s architecture, its political history, letters from different periods of the state’s history, a legendary sports team, and a collection of famous illustrator Paul Goble’s Iktomi stories based on Lakota folklore.

All this cultural wealth needs to be preserved, Tystad Koupal said. Books and the state’s historical magazine are important formats for doing that.

“You can’t take it for granted,” she said. “Somebody’s got to preserve it and save it so that we have a record of where we’ve been and what we’ve done.”

That includes preserving the record of what was not always done well, Tystad Koupal said. L. Frank Baum, for instance, wrote some editorials about American Indians that reflected his times but sound like the worst side of the 19th century speaking when they’re read today.

The difficulty for the historian, Tystad Koupal said, is dealing sympathetically with such figures, realizing they are products of their times. And one day, she notes, later generations will look critically at the people of this time and measure them by a different measure.

Tystad Koupal said the South Dakota State Historical Society Press, now in its 15th year, carries out its work with the help of funding from the state of South Dakota, the city of Deadwood, and groups such as the Aberdeen-based Great Plains Education Foundation Inc.

Koupal said she envisions the Historical Society Press continuing long after she has retired. She said that will depend partly the success of its books.

“I have to say that I think there are several kinds of success that help build a press. I don’t think there is just financial success, because that’s kind of dubious. We don’t have the volume that’s going to give us huge financial success. We do need to sell books. But doing a service for the people of the state, that’s also a part of success.” ■



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BECKLooking ahead to the next 40 years

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By Chris [email protected]

A lot has changed in the South Dakota Legislature since 1968, but one face has remained constant — Bob Miller.

Miller moved to Pierre in 1968 to work for Attorney General Frank Farrar. Miller stayed around as a lobbyist and he’s been here ever since.

“I love the process,” Miller said. “Some days, it’s like watching sausage being made, but I just love the process. I started life as a high school teacher. I taught at (Sioux Falls) O’Gorman right out of college and I taught for five years. I taught debate and U.S. history and government. In a sense I’m still doing that.”

Miller started out as a lobbyist for the Municipal League, where he worked for 20 years, before moving on to the Investor Owned Electrical Utilities, where he served as lobbyist and executive director for 16 years. After working for the electrical utilities, Miller retired but the retirement didn’t last long. Miller started working part-time for BankWest as a government affairs officer and became its lobbyist.

Miller has seen several changes in the Legislature in his time. Some he is in favor of — like women lobbyists, which was started by the Farm Bureau — and some he is opposed to — like term limits on legislators.

“Term limits are the biggest mistake we’ve ever made in South Dakota in terms of the Legislature, absolutely the biggest mistake,” Miller said.

“Everybody wants to term-limit some other legislator other than their own — ‘My guy is OK, but let’s term limit the rest.’”

When Miller first started as a lobbyist, things were more difficult then than they are now due to the advent of electronics, he said. In the old days, bills had a tendency to disappear without ever being voted on or not tell the lobbyists when

the bill was going to be voted on. Now, with everything being electronic, it is much easier to follow a bill.

“Those old time chairs could just put the bill in their pocket and never hear it,” Miller said. “Or they didn’t have to tell you when they were going to hear it, they would just have a meeting and you didn’t know.

“Now, it’s all electronic and we can track everything, we can see amendments immediately. You use to have to cut amendments out of the journal and paste them on your bill so you knew what the bill looked like. It was a lot harder.”

Miller said it was nice to win for his clients but at the same time, he didn’t want to sacrifice relationships with legislators just to get a bill passed. If you don’t tell the truth to a legislator, you aren’t going to last long in the Capitol, Miller said.

“Sure you want to win for your client, but not at the expense of the future years,” Miller said. “You don’t want to create a problem that is going to come back and haunt you next year. You don’t want to torque off a legislator that from now on is always going to be against you. You have to be careful about the win-lose thing. While, it’s important, it’s not the most important.”

Miller is now into his 70s, but he isn’t done being a lobbyist just yet. Miller and his wife, Mickey, have a condo in Sioux Falls — “their cottage,” as they like to refer to it — that they treat as a weekend getaway. But as long as Miller is still capable and his health holds up — he’s battling cancer currently — he’ll still be here.

“I expect to do another two years,” Miller said. “We’ll see. Clearly, I’m going to be here next year.

“I haven’t decided (when I’m going to retire) yet. I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. If I were retired, I would have to leave Pierre when the legislative session meets, because I could never stand it to be at home while they’re meeting here. I would have to be here.” ■

Longtime lobbyist Bob Miller remains passionate about business of making state laws


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into town. Central South Dakota was helping out its own.“It was energizing for us to see their energy and willingness

to help,” she said.State Rep. Tad Perry, a Fort Pierre resident who battled

the fl ood, agreed. “I had 150 people sandbagging in my yard and I couldn’t even tell you who some of those people were. People came back home who were citizens here once or still had family here. Th ey drove in to help because they had a day or two to spare. Th e good nature of humanity showed at its fi nest.”

Tapping expertiseRuss Hofeldt, central operations manager for Feeding

South Dakota, said each organization used its area of expertise to help in the community eff ort. In the case of Feeding South Dakota, that had to do with feeding the volunteer army and displaced people.

“We supplied a lot of the snacks and water and meat to make sandwiches for volunteers and for people displaced by the fl ood,” Hofeldt said.

In addition, Feeding South Dakota sent an entire semi-load of food and water to Fort Th ompson in response to fl ash fl ooding.

Th e aftermathAnd after it was all over, Fort Pierre Mayor Sam Tidball

noted, the volunteers kept coming – to take part in the hard work of tearing down levies, for example.

“When you start talking about millions of sandbags, it’s quite an eff ort,” he said.

Ron Nagle, a volunteer coordinator for Lutheran Social Services, said it the number of volunteers who helped Pierre and Fort Pierre battle the fl ood numbered in the thousands before it was over, but getting an accurate count would be

impossible.“A lot of people came without any notice. Th ey just

showed up and asked where they could help,” he said. Th ey added brawn and spirit to the recovery work directed by federal agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state agencies such as the Offi ce of Emergency Management, and charitable groups such as the Red Cross and United Way.

Even as this story is going to press, Nagle noted that he’s still working with church groups and outside organizations such as AmeriCorps to coordinate new arrivals in spring 2012 to help with fl ood recovery work.

Why should anyone in Pierre or Fort Pierre be surprised?It’s what volunteers do. ■

The HeroContinued from page 12

U.S. Air Force cadets remove sandbags from a Fort Pierre residence.

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Th ank You Heroes For Making Us a Strong Community!


We honor a legacy of care.The Year of the Nurse at Sanford Health.

They’re called to be caregivers, advocates and leaders. The backbone of our organization. Humble heroes always putting their patients first. And we are grateful for all they do at the bedside, in the clinic, in the corporate offices, in research and in our communities.

At Sanford Health, we show our appreciation. This day. Every day.The Year of the Nurse at Sanford Health.

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Walmart associates are proud to give back to Central SD through many volunteer hours and donations. Join them in making a difference in your community.

Become… Someone’s Hero…

American Cancer Society • Angel Tree • Boys & Girls Club • Blunt Fire Department • Central SD Schools • Civic CASA • Countryside Hospice • Farm Rescue • Food Bank • Ft. Pierre Women of Today • Girl Scouts • Habitat for Humanity • Honor Flight • Lions Club • MOPS • Oahe Inc. • Pheasants Forever • Pierre Area Referral-Backpack Program • Pierre Area Senior Citizens Center • Pierre Area Youth Skating Association • Pierre Fire Department • Pierre/Ft. Pierre United Way • Pierre Players • Pierre Rural Fire Department •

RSVP • SD Cares • SD Discovery Center • SD Heritage Fund • Special Olympics • St. Mary’s Foundation • Young Marines.

Walmart supports these and many other local organizations throughout the year:

Documents

2012 Hometown Heroes