Bison Courier, April 18, 2013

Bison CourierOfficial Newspaper for the City of Bison, Perkins County, and the Bison School District

A Publication of Ravellette Publications, Inc.P.O. Box 429 • Bison, South Dakota 57620-0429

Phone: (605) 244-7199 • FAX (605) 244-7198

The$1.00

Volume 30Number 44April 18, 2013

Includes Tax

HHiigghhlliigghhttss && HHaappppeenniinnggssWedding Reception for Margaretta& Keith Hanson at Reva Hall, Satur-day, April 27th from 3 - 5 p.m. Every-one Welcome, NO GIFTS PLEASE.

Bridal Shower for Ida Schmidt, Sat-urday, April 27th at 10 a.m. at the

Grand Electric Social Room. The cou-ple are registered at Target, Bed Bath& Beyond & Herbergers.BHS seniors and parents pleaseemail or drop off a senior picture forthe graduation page in the BisonCourier. - [email protected]

and he wouldn’t say that he would-n’t do it again. He said that he did-n’t hear about impending 30 mphwinds until it was too late.

Fire sometimes works on somegrowth, Smith said, but prescribedburns are “harmful to grass.”There is generally 60% less grassfor forage available after a burn ifit stays dry, he said. This is ac-cording to Dr. Kevin Sedivic,NDSU Rangeland ManagementSpecialist.

In January of this year, Smithsaid that the Grazing Associationwas one of eight entities to sign aMemorandum of Understandingfor range management. It meant,Smith said, “We will work to-gether.” Now he says that the pactwas not followed for this fire.

In February there was a new 10-year grazing agreement signed be-tween the Grazing Association andthe Forest Service. Key wordswere “cooperate, communicate andwork together.”

According to Smith, the ForestService has not invited the Graz-ing Association to its meetings andhas not always made the ranchersfeel welcome when they did at-tend.

Smith said that he attended thepost-fire meeting at the Hettinger

continued on page 5

By Beth HulmIn the aftermath of the recent

Pautre Fire, which burned an es-timated 14,000 acres of GrandRiver Grasslands, Tim Smith,Lodgepole, current president ofthe Grand River Grazing Associa-tion, appeared before the CountyCommission last Tuesday to sharehis concerns about the relation-ship between his organization andthe U.S. Forest Service. “You candraw your own conclusions,” hesaid.

Smith offered a timeline of com-munications, starting more than ayear ago, detailing the Associa-tion’s desire to halt all controlledburns in the Dakota Prairie Grass-lands. He said that the Forest Ser-vice had promised no prescribedburns unless the weatherchanged. “It did,” Smith said. “Itgot worse.”

Smith said that the Fire Servicehad been told, “It’s too dry andway too dangerous to burn.”Weather conditions in Hettingeron April 3 included temperaturesin the low 70s and “red flag” firewarnings.

Paul Hancock, District Rangerin Lemmon, said that in someparts of the country, a prescribedburn is “a great tool.” He made thedecision to do the controlled burnon the information that he had

A delegation from HomesteadHeights (HUD) met with the TownBoard Wednesday evening. Theyare concerned about the dogs run-ning loose in Bison. There havebeen several incidents where dogshave been on Homestead Heightsproperty growling at the residents.The Sheriff ’s office has been callednumerous times. The Sheriff ’s of-fice informed the HomesteadHeights people that they had tofile a complaint and go before ajudge before the Sheriff ’s office canlegally do anything. that is theway the nuisance ordinance forthe town is written.

The Homestead Heights delega-tion feel that something needstobe changed so that somethingcan be done without going throughthe lengthy process.

Homestead Heights is actuallyowned by the Town of Bison andBison is liable.

The residence of HomesteadHeights need to be protected,these people are elderly andshouldn’t have to fear being at-tacked by dogs if they outside ofthe building.

If Bison had an impounding or-dinance the dogs would be im-pounded and the owners wouldhave to pay a fine to get themback.

Trent Fink and Karin Vinkem-mulder have purchased the lot justnorth of their home (former Goss-man property) and are planning toput up a 40x80 shop for their A+Repair business. At the northeastcorner of the property the street isnot straight and is partially intheir right of way, they asked forpermission to use dirt from theright of way to level the property.The town will give them an ease-ment for 5 to 10 feet of the right ofway on the north/south street. Averbal agreement was made andwill be honored. Fink will bring adrawing to the May meeting.

Tim Gross of Brosz Engineeringwas present with plans for pro-ceeding if the fifty plus lots wereto be developed. He discovered a

couple of manholes that need to beextended at least two feet, thestreet has been built up right overthe top of these manholes and re-pairs need to be made to get themin compliance with codes.

Jim Hodgson of Dacotah Insur-ance presented the insurance re-newal proposal. The Board choseto change to Employers MutualCompany.

KLJ Engineering has suggesteda 4000 gallon tank at the airport.The Board voted togo along withthe business plan for the fuel sys-tem at the airport per KLJ engi-neers request.

The storm sewer project has fi-nally gotten the go ahead from theDepartment of Environment andNatural Resources. Advertisementfor bids will begin and bid openingwill be May 21, 2013 at 2:30 p.m.at the Grand Electric Social Room.Start date is August 1 and comple-tion date is October 1.

Coleman Avenue may finally berepaired, a community accessgrant is being applied for and thisproject should be able to move for-ward.

Board member Mike Lockert at-tended the airport conference andthe Bison airport will be cracksealed and rejuvenated in 2013,the fueling station will be installedin 2013 and the electronics datawebsite will be up and running by2015.

The results of the April 9th elec-tion follow:Dave Kopren - 107 votesLuke Clements - 122 votesJames Sandgren - 89 votesThe Ordinance Revising Ordi-nance 2000-1 Nuisance Ordinancefailed by a vote of 27 yes votes to145 no votes.

South Dakota has funding avail-able for removal of undergroundfuel tanks.

A pick up day for tree branchesand white goods has been set forMay - watch for dates in the BisonCourier.

The next meeting is May 6th at7 p.m.

Grazing Association had requestedno prescribed burns but PautreFire claimed 14,000 acres

Dogs on the loose arebecoming a problem

Tim Smith shares his concerns about the Puatre Fire as BisonFireman Heath McKinstry looks on.

By Beth HulmIt’s not so much a question of

“who” will pay for the approxi-mate $1.5 million dollars inlosses sustained by ranchers innorthern Perkins County fol-lowing the recent Pautre Firebut more a question of “when”the U.S. government will writethe checks. Paul Hancock, Dis-trict Forest Ranger in the Lem-mon office, has admitted liabil-ity for the fire; he just can’tguarantee how quickly federalwheels will turn to pay for dam-ages.

The April 3 fire started whenthe wind came up and stirred aForest Service planned 130-acre “controlled” burn. The endresult was an estimated 14,000acres of burned grassland -some federal, some privatelyowned. Thirteen ranchers wereimpacted by the flames.

It has left ranchers scram-bling to find pastures and feedfor their cattle. Nobody can pre-dict how long it will take for thegrasslands (already sufferingfrom drought) to recover. Ac-cording to County Commis-sioner Wayne Henderson, waterand wind erosion will also be“terrific.” The extent of dam-ages may not be known untilcattle are pregnancy tested inthe fall. Already, there havebeen reports of horses withpneumonia due to smoke in-halation.

Henderson said, there is “astaggering amount” of fenceposts and gates to rebuild, too.

Local fire departments whoresponded to help fight the bigblaze also have claims. In addi-tion to fuel costs, they are re-porting ruined tires and otherdamages to fire fighting equip-ment. Commissioner WillardOttman reminded everyonethat the local fire departmentsalready “operate on a shoe-string” and need to be compen-sated.

Those firefighters who spenta long day and night containingthe fire say that poor communi-cation was a major issue.

Commissioner Wayne Hen-derson, also a member of GrandRiver Grazing Association saidhe had “talked to many” andthe picture he’s getting is thatemergency response “failedmiserably.”

Last Tuesday Hancock met continued on page 5

Reimbursement andcommunication problems key issues of Pautre fire

Bison Senior citizens, dues of $10.00 are due.Please pay your dues so we can keep the center open,the building is in need of repairs.

The Bison Public Library will have a story time onApril 19th at 10:30 a.m..

Alcoholics Anonymous is meeting weekly in Bison.The group meets every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in thebasement of the Presbyterian Church. Everyone iswelcome.

To have your NON-PROFIT meeting listed here, please sub-mit them by calling: 244-7199, or e-mailing to: [email protected]. We will run your event notice the two issues priorto your event at no charge.

This week in Bison

Page 2 • The Bison Courier • Thursday, April 18, 2013

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Farm Bureau Camp“Inspiring our leaders for tomor-

row” is the theme for the SouthDakota Farm Bureau Camp. HighSchool students in grades 9-12from across the state will be join-ing together to learn about leader-ship and patriotism while makingsome lifelong friends. Camp isgoing to be June 10-12, 2013 at theThunderstik Lodge by Chamber-lain. Space is limited, so only thefirst 40 applications will be ac-cepted. Applications can be foundat the South Dakota Farm Bureauwebsite, www.sdfbf.org or by call-ing 605-353-8052. They are dueMay 1st. Parents do not need tobe Farm Bureau members fortheir children to participate.

Farm Bureau Camp is a great

place to work on team-buildingskills with the State FFA Officers,go through the “Alive at 25” driv-ing course, play games and enjoycampfires. Campers will also havethe opportunity to learn about pa-triotism, the Constitution, inter-national viewpoints, nutrition andwellness, and Congressional in-sight. “Farm Bureau camp is agreat place for making newfriends, but more importantly, thesessions and training we offer willhelp students become better citi-zens and leaders in their schools,churches, and communities. FarmBureau camp is really a life chang-ing opportunity” said Cindy Fos-ter, South Dakota Farm Bureaucamp director.

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Trailer Court development slated for northern Perkins County

By Beth HulmThomas Rusch, Haynes, ND, a

former real estate developer fromWisconsin, presented his plan tothe County Commission last weekto build a 120-space trailer courtfive miles south of Hettinger, inPerkins County. It’s on land that hebought from Clarence Archibald.

“Prairie View Park,” in GrandRiver Township, “is going to takeyears to develop,” Rusch said. He’llfirst develop the area and then ad-vertise covenants, one section at atime. Plans are to begin construc-tion in the spring of 2014. BroszEngineering, Bowman, did the platwork.

The court will have cul de sacsand paved roads. All but 17 of theproposed 120 spots will have sepa-rate septic systems. A park will bepart of the design.

“This is by no means a mancamp, at all,” Rusch said. He ad-mits, however, that nearby oil activ-ity might have something to dowith his wish to develop the project.It’s meant to be a permanent resi-dential park. “We’ll do whatever theengineer says to do it right,” Ruschpromised.

The plat that he presented tocounty officials isn’t quite ready.He’ll be back soon to have it ap-proved.

Platted lots increase the taxablevalue of the land.

State’s Attorney Shane Penfieldasked if there were future plans toincorporate the area as a munici-pality. Rusch said that he hadn’tconsidered that idea.

Rusch has also purchased someland near Bison but, for now, has noplans to develope it.

Don McKinstry, Jr. and RidgeVeal visited the board room to dis-cuss bridges in Bison Townshipthat need work. Highway Superin-tendent Tracy Buer had already an-nounced his intentions to fix one on

Golf Course Road, southwest ofBison. It’s eligible for federal cost-share.

The township representativeswould rather have help with a dif-ferent bridge. “We really need helpwith the bridge going south,” theysaid.

“If the creek comes up,” Veal said,“I think it’s going to take it com-pletely out.” He and McKinstry of-fered to take over the Golf Coursebridge - to “swap” bridges - with thecounty as a means of reducing thecounty’s liability on the Golf CourseRoad bridge and to get them helpwith repairs on the other one.

Buer agreed to hold up on lettingbids on the Golf Course Road bridgeuntil he can do further research.

Buer told Commissioners that hewould like to piggyback off a San-born County (Woonsocket) bid fortwo Sheehan Mack trucks, cab andchassis only, for $104,848. Adding abox and some other incidentalswould increase the price on eachtruck to approximately $150,000.

Originally, he was looking foronly one truck but would now liketo delay the purchase of anothermotor grader, planned for nextyear, to build up his truck fleet first.Not all of the commissionersagreed. “Grading roads are a prior-ity deal,” according to Foster.

A decision was postponed until aspecial April 18 meeting. The boardwill also discuss a county-wide burnban that day.

In other business during lastTuesday’s meeting of the CountyCommission, was the postpone-ment of the appointment of a Plan-ning Commission to work withBlack Hills Council of Local Gov-ernments to write a ComprehensivePlan until a full board could bepresent. Chairman MikeSchweitzer was absent on Tuesday.

Vice Chair Wayne Hendersonsaid, “We aren’t totally prepared to

pick a committee yet today.” Hesuggested a special meeting “assoon as we could” to get that taskaccomplished.

The Commission will meet onThursday, April 18 at 1:00 to ap-point the new board. Penfield rec-ommended that each commissionerbring two names, possibly fromtheir own districts, and to choosefive people from that list. His phi-losophy is “the fewer the better.”Henderson is leaning more towardsa seven-person board to get a goodcross section of the county repre-sented.

The already-signed contract withBHCLG is for $7,500. Commis-sioner Rusty Foster and visitorHolly Waddell, representing West-ern Plains Action Group, think thatprice tag is too much. Waddell saidthat a lot of the work has alreadybeen done by WPAG.

Visitor Todd Fink interjected thatseveral years ago, when Black HillsCouncil assisted with the grant, etc.for the new Prairie City Fire Hall,they paid $7,500. “It’s not out ofline; it’s not excessive,” he said. Di-rector of Equalization Rownea Ger-bracht reminded that “a goodshare” of the expense is for the PRwork that BHC has and will do andfor the numerous trips that they’vemade and will make to PerkinsCounty.

A new 4H/Youth Advisor hasbeen hired by SDSU for Perkinsand Harding County. Her start dateis April 28.

A Rapid City company has in-spected the courthouse sewer sys-tem and has located blockages.They had not yet sent a report orcost estimate for repairs yet.

With the 2014 budget planningprocess set to begin soon, Commis-sioners agreed to hold their June 11meeting in Lemmon.

Adair Drilling“Water for Life and for Energy”

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Garden Gate

Living Ground Covers IINews Flash!

Alternative Gardening to beheld in Faith! Here is the info!

Learn about raised bed, no tillgardening, lasagna gardening, andusing containers of all kinds. Wewill also discuss water conserva-tion, mulching and proper water-ing techniques. Plant a one gallonpot with spring vegetable seed totake home along with two pack-ages of seed appropriate for potculture.

April 27 – Faith, VFW Hall,Main Street Time: 9 – 4, lunchon your own (12-1). Cost: $40 perperson – includes all supplies totake home! Call or email to regis-ter. Mary Roduner ([email protected]) or 605-394-1722 as soon as possible!

Now back to Ground Covers….When choosing a living groundcover, there are a few things youshould take into consideration. Ifpossible choose a native species.Some natives of the Dakotas are:Pussytoes, Virginia Waterleaf,Prairie Smoke, Common Blue Vio-let, Wild Strawberry (edible fruit),they can be found on the websitePlantnative.

Some ground cover troublemak-ers to avoid are: variegatedbishop’s weed, Japenese barberry,crown vetch, cypress spurge, mockstrawberry, wintercreeper, Japan-ese fleeceflower, creeping Jenny,variegated ribbon grass.

As stated last week, alwaysmake sure your perennial groundcover is containable as many haveinvasive features. Some groundcovers have been introduced fromother countries and are consideredas invasive species in some states.A ground cover that is hardy for

Zone 3 and 4 are sedums, there areseveral varieties of sedum all ofwhich are not fussy about soil andare usually drought tolerant.Sedum Angelina and SedumFlaming Carpet are attractive aswell as hardy. You might also con-sider Creeping Blue Phlox resem-bling a low blue carpet or Lysi-machia Aurea for a yellow carpet-like accent. Some cultivars of Di-anthus also work for ground coversuch as Dainthus Firewitch a lowgrowing mounding plant with hotpink blooms.

As we mentioned last week, al-ways monitor any ground coveryou plant, as the name impliesthey are meant to cover theground, their creeping nature is tokeep covering the ground evenwhere you don’t want it. Don’t letit invade your neighbor’s yard!Remember not to dump stems, rhi-zomes or roots into your compostpile, they will come back to hauntyou when you put that compost inyour garden.

Organic ground cover mulchesavailable, many right in your yard,grass clippings, leaves (shreddedare best), wood chips or shreddedbark. You need to maintain a 3-inch layer of organic mulch forweed control. Inorganic mulchesare another option, usually se-lected for aesthetic . Inorganicmulches are stone, gravel, rubbermats, shredded rubber or weedbarrier fabrics. These mulches donothing to benefit the plants orsoil.

There are many ground coversavailable, some rather plain, oth-ers very attractive. Enjoy doingyour research and picking agroundcover that enhances thebeauty of your landscape.

His shoots spread over his gar-den. – Job 8:16Submitted by, Karen Englehart,Master Gardener, SDSU Coopera-tive Extension Service

The Bison Courier • Thursday, April 18, 2013 • Page 3

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County Equalization board opensand closes on same day

By Beth HulmFollowing their regular monthly

meeting and lunch at the boardtable, four county commissionerstook an oath to act as the PerkinsCounty Equalization board. Theymet with Rownea Gerbracht, Direc-tor of Equalization, for little morethan an hour to open the books andto close them again in one session.

Although there were three ap-peals on their agenda, none of thoseindividuals came to the meeting tostate their cases.

•Robert Roy, Lemmon, who alsoappealed last year, changed hismind. He asked last year that histaxes be lowered because the Cityof Lemmon was not fixing thedrainage issues in the street infront of his house, causing water toseep into his basement home. Hewasn’t aware that the valuation ofhis home had been decreased lastyear when he filed again this year.

•Gerbracht was able to settle anappeal for a Bison-area rancher be-fore the meeting. Ridge and PeggyVeal had appealed that some oftheir land was over-valued becauseit is a lake bed. At one time, it was

valued as such but during recentchanges in the soil ratings table, ithad been missed and the values in-creased. Gerbracht recommendedthe changes that Veal requested toa tune of a $9,192 valuation de-crease.

•Duane and Dawn Harris, Lem-mon, sent an appeal based on thefact that their valuations had in-creased 50% during the period of2009 – 2013. They did not attendthe meeting. Gerbracht recom-mended leaving the valuation as itwas previously because it was con-sistent with others in the county,following implementation of assess-ments based on productivity.

All three of these parties stillhave the right to come before thecounty board by the end of April.The board’s action to close thebooks was pending any further re-quests from them.

The board also acted on some of-fice “clean-ups.” When new soft-ware was installed in the assessor’soffice, a few mistakes were found,which resulted in a $129,880 de-crease in valuations throughout thecounty. For example, Michael Dray-

ton’s house, rural Lemmon, was onthe tax rolls twice; Lynn and NancyMiller on Cedar Canyon Rd. shouldhave had an ag exemption, an agexemption for Don Merriman wasremoved because he moved intoLemmon, and a few other proper-ties needed to have the year-builtentered so as not to default to 2012.

The Disabled Veterans propertytax exemption is unchanged frompreviously. There are four qualify-ing exemptions. An elderly assess-ment freeze is approved for 16 qual-ifying applicants. Gary Frisvold losthis owner-occupied status when hemoved from the country to Lem-mon. Four new tax exempt proper-ties were added to last year’s list –two are properties in Lemmon,which economic development hastaken over; one is the new SeniorCitizens Center in Lemmon; andthe other is the Meadow VolunteerFire Department. Two individuals,John Hill and Jack Ryen, wereadded to the predator control list.

The equalization board alsobriefly reviewed the assessmentand predator control lists for unor-ganized townships.

265 South Dakota FFA memberswill receive their State FFA De-gree, with four of those individu-als to be recognized as the StateStar Farmer, Star in Agribusiness,Star in Ag Placement and Star inAgriscience, at the 85th SouthDakota State FFA Conventionheld in Brookings, S.D., April 14-16, 2013.

The State FFA Degree is thehighest degree of membership con-ferred by the South Dakota FFAAssociation. The requirements forthis degree include:

•Having earned and produc-tively invested at least $1,000, orworked at least 300 hours in ex-cess of scheduled class time, or a

combination thereof, in a Super-vised Agricultural Experience pro-gram.

•Demonstrated leadership abil-ity by performing ten proceduresof Parliamentary Law, giving asix-minute speech on an agricul-ture or FFA-related topic and serv-ing as an officer, committee chair-person or participating member ofa chapter committee.

•Have completed at least 25hours of community service.

2013 State FFA Degree Recipi-entsBison: Anna Hatle, Wil Kolb,Lane Kopren, Shaley Lensegrav,Shelly Peck, Megan Serr

State FFA Degrees andStars to be awarded

WeatherWise

DATE HI LO PRECIP

Apr. 9 35 10Apr. 10 34 20Apr. 11 56 10 Apr. 12 43 25Apr. 13 43 24 Apr. 14 32 23 .18 Apr. 15 34 22 trace

One year agoHi 69 Lo 22

Brought to you by Grand Electric Co-op, Inc.


Pastor Brad BurkhalterBeckman Wesleyan Church

Choose Whom Ye Will Serve

Joshua 24:15 is a very well known passage of scripture. Itis found on wall plaques in many Christian homes that Ihave visited. The passage is actually Joshua's call to thechildren of Israel to leave the false gods that their neigh-bors had been serving and commit themselves to the one

true God. The problem was that the children of Israelwere prone to be lead astray by false gods. They wanted tobe like everybody else; they didn't want to be different orout of step with the people they were around. The peoplewho lived around them worshiped gods that they could

see and touch. The false gods allowed them to follow theirsinful nature and pursue pleasure, greed, and self-indul-gence. While the true God of Israel called them to deny

themselves and pursue righteousness and holiness and toset themselves apart for His use. For awhile the Israeliteswould serve God, but then they would fall into trying toworship God and the false gods. Eventually they wouldabandon God altogether and live in open rebellion and

selfish pursuits. In a lot of ways today's Christians facesthe same choice. They can serve God and deny themselvesand submit to God's will and way, or they can serve one ofthe many false gods of our culture. Most end up trying to

serve both. They try to serve God but at the same timethey also serve the god of money, immorality, or some

other self serving god. The reason for writing this is to re-mind us that our tendency is to follow after self serving

gods and away from the one true God. So Joshua's wordsare a challenge to us today as it was to the children of Is-

rael of his day. "Choose you this day whom ye willserve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the

LORD."

PPaassttoorrss PPeerrssppeeccttiivvee

Monday, April 22Noodles w/meatballs &

gravysalad bar, fresh fruit

milk

Tuesday, April 23Hot dog wrapsbaked beans

salad barapplesauce & milk

Wednesday, April 24Spaghetti w/meat sauce

coleslaw, peachesbread stick & milk

Thursday, April 25 Deli meat sandwich

salad bargreen beanspears & milk

School board: contracts and buildingBy Beth Hulm

The Bison school board accom-plished their April agenda in twoseparate meetings, a week apart.

On April 8, which should’ve beenthe regular monthly meeting, theweather was stormy but a fewagenda items had to be dealt with.Most importantly, the board had toapprove a superintendent contractand offer teacher contracts for nextyear.

Marilyn Azevedo was hired to bethe new superintendent for BisonSchool District. Her one-year con-tract is for $65,000. The board of-fered all current staff members aposition for the 2013-14 school year.

Also that night, Camille Drownwas offered the head cook positionfor next year. Drown has been theassistant cook and replaces long-time head cook Sherry Basford whois retiring at the end of the currentschool year.

Nathan Burkhalter was hired asassistant track coach for this year’strack season. His dad, BradBurkhalter, is the head coach.

About half of the board’s three-hour meeting that night was donebehind closed doors prior to makingthe aforementioned hiring deci-sions.

Board member Eric Arneson at-tended by teleconference. When theboard reconvened this Mondaynight, all five members were seatedaround the board table and madeshort work of the remaining agendaitems.

At Monday’s meeting, KalinChapman asked to have some con-

ditions in her offered contract re-moved. She no longer wishes to bethe Athletic Director. She wouldcontinue to be the physical educa-tion teacher and to coach volleyball.The board accepted her request andwill issue her a new contract.

Discussion continues on the prosand cons of building a new schoolvs. doing numerous repairs on theexisting structure. The board isconsidering hiring an engineer todo a walk-through and offer sugges-tions for improvements. Dan Kvale,board chairman, thinks the figuresthat he would come up with “couldpush us one way or another.”

Arneson is uncomfortable abouthiring an expensive engineeringfirm without first talking to con-stituents. He was successful in con-vincing his peers to host a publicmeeting where they can learn whatschool patrons have to say aboutspending that money.

A public meeting has been sched-uled for May 6 from 5:30 – 6:30,prior to the May school board meet-ing. It will take place in the cafete-ria (or the gymnasium, if neces-sary). Board members ask thatanyone who wishes to speak thatnight come prepared with a shortstatement. Attendees will be askedto sign in if they wish to speak tothe issue of hiring an engineer.There may be other public meetingsin the future as the board movesthrough this phase.

Board member Angie Thompsonsaid, “We either need to build or weneed to start planning improve-ments over the next five to ten

years.”Three teachers – Shawnda

Carmichael, Heidi Kopren and BevKopren – offered a presentationcomparing this year’s attendancerecords, deficiencies and A and Bhonor roll numbers to last year’s,when there was regular tutoringdays on Fridays and to the yearswhen students went to school fivedays a week.

In all categories discussed, re-sults prove that tutoring days did-n’t have much impact. “It’s seems tobe working out,” Carmichael said.

Matt Butsavage, Trustee for theTown of Bison, and Beth Hulm, Fi-nance Officer for the town, visitedwith board members about using aschool bus for proposed open swim-ming for area children this sum-mer. The town is considering nothaving a summer rec program but,instead, running a bus to Hettinger4-6 times in July, after swimminglesson end, for kids to take advan-tage of open swimming.

School board members will allowthe town to use a bus and will hirethe driver but they’ll expect reim-bursement for their actual costs.It’s possible that they would tradeservices, similar to what is donewhen the town uses a bus andschool driver for swimming lessonsduring the first two weeks in July.The town will present a contractwith those terms for both boards tosign.

New South Dakota legislation,signed into law by Gov. Daugaard,allows schools to have trained staffmembers with concealed weaponson the school premises for studentprotection. Not much discussionwas called for. All five board mem-bers voiced emphatic “no’s.” Supt.Kraemer’s response was, “I’m veryglad to hear that.”

Board members changed theircollective minds about joining thenew South Dakota Stars softwareprogram being offered by the SouthDakota Department of Education.

Initially, the board had decidedagainst joining the program, whichthey thought could lead to a breachof confidentiality regarding studentrecords. The software programcombines student information fromvarious sources into one place foreasier access by member schools.

Mr. Kraemer had discovered thatlocal student information would beincluded in the program whetherBison signs a Memorandum ofAgreement or not and, withoutsigning, the statistics and recordswould not be available to localteachers. They also would not be al-lowed to attend any training.Carmichael convinced the boardthat having all of the informationon one site could be very helpful. Allof the same information is alreadyavailable, she said. It’s very time-consuming to go to different websites to find it all.

4-H Youth Exchange programs pro-vide youth with the opportunity toreach their full potential as futureleaders in communities, as well as, inthe workplace, says Suzanne Gep-pert, SDSU Extension 4-H YouthPartnerships Field Specialist.

"Exchanges mobilize volunteersand communities to meet the needs ofyouth by creating non-formal, educa-tional opportunities to help youththrive in a complex and changingworld; allowing them to problem solveand plan through various life skill de-velopment opportunities utilizing the4-H Guiding Principles," she said."These life skills can be developedeven further by allowing our youth toadvance their practices in an Interna-tional Exchange."

Geppert explains that state andcounty exchanges are basically a se-ries of learning experiences in which4-H members visit the homes andcommunities of 4-H members in an-other geographical location, and thenreceives visitors in return. Countiesusually host a group one year and re-turn the visit the following year.

4-H also provides its members withthe opportunity to travel internation-ally. Alan Lambert, South Dakota 4-H International Programs VolunteerCoordinator, manages the exchangeswhich include delegates travellingabroad, inbound exchangees and thehost families needed for home stays.

Lambert says host families are cur-rently being sought for one month 4-H International Exchange Programs.Currently Lambert is seeking hostfamilies for 24 teens from Japan; ages12-16. The teens will be staying withlocal families as part of a two-way ex-change program sponsored through 4-

continued on page 8

South Dakota 4-Hlooks for host families

Grace Baptist Church • Pastor Phil HahnSunday School 9:30 a.m. • Worship Service - 10:30a.m.

Wednesday Prayer Mtg. - 6:30 p.m.Church of Christ

18 mi. south of Prairie City - Worship Service - 10:00 a.m.Prairie Fellowship Parish ELCA • Pastor Margie Hershey

Indian Creek - 8:00 a.m. • American - 9:30 a.m. • Rosebud - 11:00 a.m.Christ Lutheran Church WELS •

Pastor Gerhardt JuergensSunday Bible Class - 8:00 a.m., Worship Service - 8:30 a.m.

Coal Springs Community ChurchPastors Nels & Angie Easterby

South Jct. of Highways 73 & 20Sunday School - 10:00 a.m., Worship Service - 11:00 a.m.

Seventh Day Adventist Church • Pastor Donavon KackSabbath School - 2:00 p.m., Worship Service - 3:00 p.m.

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church • Fr. Tony GrossenburgSaturday Mass: Morristown - 4:45 p.m. Lemmon - 7:15 p.m.,

Sunday Mass: Lemmon - 8:15 a.m., Bison - 11:00 a.m.Holland Center Christian Reformed Church

Pastor Brad Burkhalter • LodgepoleWorship Service - 8:00 a.m.

First Presbyterian Church • Pastor Florence Hoff, CRESunday School 9:30 a.m. • Worship Service -10:30 a.m.

Slim Buttes Lutheran • Pastor Henry MohagenReva • Sunday School 9:45, Worship Service - 11:00 a.m., WMF 2nd

Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.Beckman Wesleyan Church • Pastor Brad Burkhalter

Prairie CitySunday School - 10:00 a.m., Morning Worship - 11:00 a.m.

Vesper Service - 6:00 p.m., Wed. Evenings - 7:30 p.m.


Reimbursementcontinued from page 1

with the Perkins County Com-mission. Lemmon’s fire chiefChad Baumgarten, Todd Finkfrom the Prairie City fire de-partment and Heath McKinstryand Dave Lensegrav, Bison andMeadow firefighters, respec-tively, sat in on the conversa-tion.

Hancock said that it was hisunderstanding that help wassummoned right away whenthe fire jumped the line early inthe afternoon. Lensegrav saidthat the Meadow departmentdidn’t get a call until 3:29 p.m.

Henderson told Hancock thatthe people running “your fire”weren’t knowledgeable of thearea. “The little rural fire de-partments put the fire out whileForest Service vehicleswatched!”

Lensegrav thinks that thecounty needs a resolution,which would give “the locals”decision-making control. Pre-scribed burns should have toget the county’s permission be-fore a match is lit, he said. Thatwould also give time for localfire departments to get pre-pared. Area rancher Ridge Veal,who was not impacted by thefire, thinks the county sheriffshould have the final say. “Acounty sheriff trumps the FBI,”he said.

Fink said that local depart-ments lack knowledge of theirnew digital radio system, lead-ing to poor communication dur-ing the widespread fire.

Firefighters went withoutfood or drink most of the day.Baumgarten said that sand-wiches were sent from Lemmonbut McKinstry said that he did-n’t get one until 1 a.m. andHenderson said, “The Lodge-pole boys went home hungry.”

Henderson said that thereneeds to be an emergency sup-ply plan and that thereshould’ve been an ambulanceon stand-by. Fortunately, therewere no injuries but the poten-tial was there.

Commissioner Rusty Fostersaid that it’s time to learn some-thing from the experience.“Some day we’re going to losemore than fence and grass.”

Baumgarten has alreadyplanned a meeting with all areadepartments to discuss commu-nication and education. SouthDakota Wildland Fire, RapidCity, will also attend.

Grazing Associationcontinued from page 1

NDSU Research Center on April 6and was denied the opportunity byHancock to address the group.Dakota Prairie Grassland Infor-mation Officer Anderson BabetteAnderson did allow him to speak.

He said that it doesn’t appearthat the Forest Service wants tocommunicate and address con-cerns.

Hancock was the lone ForestService employee in the countyboard room last Tuesday. WayneHenderson, vice chair of the com-mission who chaired Tuesday’smeeting, thinks that the ForestService has thrown Hancock to thewolves. He’s a “sacrificial lamb,”he said. Hancock faced a stand-ing-room-only crowd of angryranchers in Hettinger a few daysearlier and he was back, by him-self again, to take the heat inBison.

Also in attendance at the court-house was Dakota Prairie Grass-lands specialist Chad Prosser whosimply listened to the conversationand made no comment.

Hancock has taken full respon-sibility for the fire and the dam-ages that ensued but Hendersonwants a written response fromsomebody “higher up” in the For-est Service.

Forest Ranger Hancock didn’tcome with a prepared statementlast week. He said that he wasthere to answer questions. “We’retrying to figure out every optionthat we can,” he said, to get thearea operational again. “We are re-sponsible and we are trying to fig-ure out everything that we can toreimburse.”

He couldn’t answer whetherthere are immediate funds avail-able to hire people to do the workand to pay for materials, etc.

He offered that landownerscould start their own repairs, keepreceipts and then file tort claimsagainst the federal government.They’ll have to put their damages“to a dollar amount.”

The Federal Tort Claims Act("FTCA") allows certain kinds oflawsuits against federal employ-

ees who are acting within thescope of their employment. TheFTCA is intended to provide mon-etary compensation for injury,property loss, or death “caused bythe negligent or wrongful act oromission of any employee of theGovernment.”

States Attorney Shane Penfieldasked if immediate reimburse-ment shuts the door on further re-imbursement. Hancock replied,“We’re not sure.”

Penfield cautioned individualsagainst signing off on any claimstoo early. Once a claim is signed,he said, it might be too late to addcontingencies later.

Henderson asked if ranchers areexpected to pay up front. “Unfor-tunately, yes,” was Hancock’sreply. They’ll need to “bear theburden,” he said but they’ll be re-imbursed. He just couldn’t offer atimeline for when that might hap-pen. He said that he’s put in a re-quest for a claims specialist to bein the Lemmon office. (Since Tues-day’s meeting, members and non-members of the Grazing Associa-tion have taken it into their ownhands to have a Tort Claims Spe-cialist in Lemmon on April 18 and19, who will explain the claimprocess.)

Commissioner Rusty Foster isangry. “If we (as individuals) starta fire, we pay for it,” he said.“When employees of the ForestService start a fire, we pay forit…and employees (of the ForestService) still get the same pay-check!”

Ridge Veal, Bison-area rancher,called the fire “absolutely sense-less.” If there’s too much grass, hesaid, it’s poor management.“(Those affected) need somethingpretty fast. You’re talking theirlivelihood,” he said.

Penfield wants to enlist the helpof South Dakota’s CongressionalDelegation to “cut through redtape” to speed up federal reim-bursement checks. In fact, SenatorJohn Thune and RepresentativeKristi Noem have already writtenletters to Fire Chief Tom Tidwellin Washington, calling for immedi-ate action. A representative from

Noem’s Rapid City office will be atthe courthouse on Monday, April15 and Alaska Café in Lemmon onApril 16. The fire and reimburse-ment is sure to be a hot topicthere.

Hancock asked the county boardif they knew of resources thatcould be readily available to assistthe afflicted. He didn’t have all theanswers.

Henderson said, “There’s a lot ofconcern about getting reim-bursed.” When he asked if the For-est Service concedes responsibilityfor direct and indirect impacts ofthe fire, Hancock responded,“We’re trying to provide what helpwe can….I don’t see why wewouldn’t be.”

In answer to CommissionerWillard Ottman’s question abouthow long it will take for the grassto recover completely, Hancocksaid, “I don’t have an answer forthat either.”

In conclusion, Henderson com-mented that the Grazing Associa-tion and Forest Service were oncefriends. “Now, we’re foes,” he said.He hopes that something good cancome from the experience. “Localsneed to be listened to,” he said.

P.S. Why “Pautre” Fire? Accord-ing to one local fire chief, fires arenamed after the fire’s place of ori-gin. Once named, they are notchanged. Somebody misread thememo. It was intended to be “Pas-ture” Fire.

Ridge Veal listens intently as Paul Hancock, District Rangerin Lemmon, explains about the Pautre Fire.

Dr. Jason M. HafnerDr. David J. Prosser

OPTOMETRISTFaith Clinic

1st & 3rd Wed. of the month

Buffalo Clinic2nd & 4th Wed. of the month

1-800-648-0760

Bison ElementarySchoolwide PlanAnnual reviewscheduled

The Bison Elementary School-wide Plan will be reviewed onWednesday, May 1, 2013 at 5:00P.M. in the school lunch room. Par-ents, community members, schoolboard members and school staff areinvited and encouraged to partici-pate in the annual review. This re-view is held each spring to discussthe contents of the plan and makenecessary changes.

The schoolwide plan includes ob-jectives and strategies that provideopportunities for all Bison SchoolK-6 students to meet the state'sproficient and advanced level ofstudent academic achievement. Inaddition, various activities are heldat the school each year to promotefamily involvement. Included, butnot limited to, are the fall SockHop, Grandparent's Day, FamilyLibrary Night and Read AcrossAmerica Week.

In lieu of a printed survey beingsent out to gain input about theschoolwide plan and activities, com-ments and suggestions about theplan and activities may be emailedto the Title I Director at [email protected] care will be provided at theschool during the meeting. Plan onattending the annual schoolwideplan review meeting.


Another track season is officiallyunderway. On Tuesday, April 4th,the Varsity team traveled to Mo-bridge to run in the first meet ofthe season. It was a fairly cold dayand we even had a snow flurryblow through. In spite of the snowand cold we actually had a goodday at the track. The Early BirdMeet is normally a fairly smallmeet with about 7-9 teams and agood warm up for the season. Thistime the meet was a little differ-ent, with 17 teams showing up.More teams means tougher com-petition, but we still placed a goodnumber of athletes and camehome with more medals than Ithought we would. The surprise ofthe day was the Jr. High boys plac-ing in all four of their relays: fifthin the 4x800, sixth in the 4x200,seventh in the Medley and eighthin the 4x400. Congratulations toRoss Collins, Matthew Johnson,Jake Kahler and Joey Aukland.They were the core of those win-ning relays. Cody Buer had a goodday placing 3rd in the triple jumpand 7th in the high jump (5'2").Cole Buer came home with a 3rdplace medal in the long jump(17'1"). Josh McKinstry placed 5thin the triple jump and DanielBurkhalter won the mile (4:59)and the 2 mile (11:09) in his firstvarsity meet. The only negativenote was an early injury to SethBuer causing a quick scratch toour 4x100 team. Hopefully we willget that relay back on track laterin the season. Our lone femalerunner was Sydney Senn. She fellin the mile run, bruised her kneeand bled all over, but still got up

and managed to finish 5th (6:28).All things considered it was a goodmeet and a great start to our sea-son.

The first middle school trackmeet of the year took place onApril 6th in Belle Fourche. It wasa huge meet with oceans of kidsfrom all over western SouthDakota, Eastern Wyoming andNorth Dakota. We had severalkids in their first track meet everand that makes things exciting fora coach. Bison Track has a brightfuture and it showed in this meet.Daniel Burkhalter had the bestday competing in four events andwinning them all. He won the 2mile in 10:49, the mile in 5:03, the800 in 2:21 and he anchored the4x400 to a win. The other winning4x400 members were Ross Collins,Matthew Johnson, and Josh McK-instry. Josh also won the 75 hur-dles (13:28), finished 2nd in thetriple jump (35'2")and 6th in the200 hurdles (31:46). Joey Auklandtook 2nd in the two mile (14:03)and 5th in the 200m dash (29:63).Shane Collins threw the discus71'9", taking 3rd and JimmyBrockel threw the disc 70'7", tak-ing 5th. The 4x100 team of JasePrelle, Jake Kahler, Ross & ShaneCollins placed 3rd (58:19). The4x200 team, Tanner Cables, ShaneCollins, Matthew Johnson andJake Kahler finished 4th (2:22)and the medley team, Cables,Johnson and the Collins brothersfinished 2nd (2:12). Jase Prellelong jumped 13'1.5", placing 6th. Itwas a wonderful start to the Jr.High track season.

Bison Track Teamtravels to Mobridgeand Belle Fourche

Josh McKinstry running the 110m hurdles at Mobridge.

For all your advertising needs contactthe Bison Courier 244-7199

[email protected]


Tillage worst thingfor SD soils

Tillage may be the worst thingright now that could happen forsoil in South Dakota fields sayconservation officials. Springtillage is a tradition that is steepeddeeply into American agriculture.Now, more and more producers arerealizing that tillage is not in thebest interest of their soil’s health.“Tillage was once considered nec-essary in order to prepare a properseed bed for planting. Now, weknow that we can produce asmuch or more grain without tillingthe soil,” says Jason Miller, Con-servation Agronomist with theNatural Resources ConservationService (NRCS) Pierre, SD. “Tillage passes reduce surface soilmoisture, but more alarming isthat fact that tillage is incrediblydestructive to soil; it is like a tor-nado going through a house,’ saysMiller. Tillage collapses and de-stroys organic matter and soilstructure. “Those macro pores inthe soil structure areessential–they are what helpswater to infiltrate the soil profile,”he says.“The possibility of 2013 being an-other dry year should have produc-ers rethinking their use of tillage,”says Miller. In a tilled condition,soil is vulnerable to erosion. “Asdry as the soil profile is startingout this year, even getting the cropseeded will be difficult without aconcern for wind erosion,” saysMiller. Winds during the springeasily pick up soil particles ontilled fields before crops can be-come established.“Reducing or eliminating tillage,increases surface residue, buildsorganic matter and preserves soilhealth,” says Miller. Improvedcropping systems for building soilshould include no-till, diverse highresidue producing crop rotationsand cover crops.Producers interested in learningmore about soil health or wantingtechnical assistance for imple-menting a soil health manage-ment system on their farm orranch should contact their localNRCS office or visit the SoilHealth Information Center atwww.nrcs.usda.gov.


BHS Drama dept presents ----

O�ering includes sons of:Connealy Stimulus 8419 - 9 head

Hoover Dam - 8 headSydGen Mandate 6079 - 5 headHA Program 5652 - 4 head

Final Answer 924 SDG - 3 headMytty In Focus - 2 headSitz Uncommon - 1 head

Bred andmanaged to survive, thrive andproduce in a tough environment.

Selling: 39 Powerful Yearling & 2experienced two-year-oldAngus Bullsbacked by great carcass genetics

Larry,I am writing to let you know how pleased I am with the Bulls I purchased from you over the past 3 years.When you first asked me what I wanted in a bull and I stated: good disposition; easy calving; above averageweaning weights and range ready from day 1. StomprudAngus Bulls delivered all I asked for and more. Thispast fall, I had a 100% pregnancy rate in a 60 day breeding season and 75% of the cows calved in the first 21days this spring and “knock on wood”, I have not had to pull a calf so far this calving season. The only problemI have is that the calves are so hardy when they are born, that they are up and sucking and running off besidetheir mommy before I can get them tagged and weighed. But; that's a good problem to have and eventually Iwill get caught up on tagging them all before branding time. Also, just had the bulls tested this spring andthey all tested good to excellent. Thanks for providing me with the best set of bulls I have ever owned and Iwill be back to purchase another Stomprud Angus yearling bull next year.

Sincerely, Ron Frederick, Mission, SD

Flora (Sara Hatle), Maleficient (Madison Hulm).

Stepsister (Darren Jackson), Stepsister (Matthew Johnson).

Princess Rapunzel ( Shaley Lensegrav), Princess Aurora (Tessa Kopren), Princess Snow White(Kiana Brockel).

4-H host families continued from page 4

H and the Japanese LABO organiza-tion.

"The Japanese youth come eager tolive our everyday life and makefriends that will last a lifetime," Lam-bert said.

The exchangees will stay with theirSouth Dakota host families from July22, 2013 to August 18. The programaccepts host families with children ofthe same gender and about the sameage. Families without children in thisage range are encouraged to host anadult chaperone for two weeks.

"Families do not need to be in-volved in 4-H to host, they just need awillingness to share their home andworld," Lambert said.

The Japanese LABO Exchange, incooperation with 4-H InternationalExchange Programs, is one of thelargest exchange programs involvingNorth American and Japanese youthin the world. Since it began in 1972,more than 40,000 students havestayed with families in 39 states in-cluding South Dakota, and more than6,300 youth have lived with host fam-ilies in Japan.

There is no need to know theJapanese language. The studentshave been studying English, and areanxious to use it.

"The program gives host families achance to share their culture, friend-ship and family life with an exchangestudent, and at the same time learnabout Japanese life. The home stayslast only a month, but the effects lasta lifetime," he said.

Information and host family appli-cations about the program are avail-able by contacting a local 4-H leader,county extension office or through theSouth Dakota 4-H Leaders website:http://www.southdakota4hleaders.com/page_14.html.

For more information contact,Lambert at 605-366-6107 [email protected].


Nutrition SiteMenu

Thursday, April 18Hot beef sandwich

mashed potatoes w/gravycorn & sunshine salad

Friday, April 19Chili, chopped green peppers

crackers, jello w/pears & apple

Monday, April 22Meatloaf, baked potatolima beans w/pimento

pineapple tidbitsdinner roll

Tuesday, April 23Hamburger on a bun

hash browns, baked beanstomato slice on lettuce

pears

Wednesday, April 24chicken parmesan

brown rice, baked squashcooked apples

“The Princess Scandal”

Six of the seven dwarves, Happy (Wil Kolb), Doc (Daniel Chapman), Sleepy (Lane Kopren), Sneezy(Matthew Johnson), Bashful (Anna Hatle), Grumpy (Logan Hendrickson).

Fairy God Mother (Kassidy Sarsland), Princess Cinderella ( Anna Hatle).


Seth Buer escorted RebaAberle.

Gentry Reder escortedStephanie Kolb.

Clayton Prelle escorted BryceOlson.

By Robert Drown, Natural Resource Specialist

Most plants can be pruned at al-most any time of year withoutjeopardizing basic survival. How-ever, it is preferable to prune spe-cific plants at specific points in theyear. Trees and shrubs that flowerbefore the end of June should bepruned immediately after flower-ing. Other trees and shrubs, thosewhich flower after the end of June,should be pruned in winter orearly spring before new growthstarts.

Proper pruning requires goodtools, using them correctly andmaintaining them. Some of themore commonly used tools areHAND SHEARS - for branches upto 1/4'’ diameter, POLE PRUNERS- for branches beyond arm’s reach,LOPPING SHEARS - Forbranches up to 1-1/2'’ diameter,HEDGE SHEAR - for clipping newgrowth into formal shapes andPRUNING SAWS - for branchesover 1'’ diameter.

The three basic pruning tech-niques are pinching, thinning andheading back. Pinching involvesusing your hands to break offgrowing tips to control plant size.Thinning involves using tools toremoves some branches back to amain branch, trunk, or soil line.Heading back involves trimmingbranches back to a good bud or lat-eral branch.

When pruning broadleaf shrubs,cut above a bud to prevent dieback

Tree Facts – Pruning trees and shrubs

The double cut method is used when pruning larger sized limbs to avoid bark ripping and branchsplintering.

of the stem and encourage a newbranch to develop from the bud.Remove branches which tend torub against each other and dead,damaged, or diseased branches.Also, remove dead flowerbranches, dead flowers, and oldfruit stocks as soon as the flowershave wilted or the fruit hasdropped. Declining shrubs can berejuvenated by cutting them backto ground line. Many new shootswill grow from the base that mayrequire some thinning.

Large trees need pruning to pre-vent injury and damage to life andproperty. This usually involvesthe removal of large branches orlimbs from trees. Low-hangingbranches may cause injury to indi-viduals mowing the lawn or walk-ing on the street. Also, branchessometimes rub against the houseand roof. To remove the branchesthat are over 1" in diameter, usethe double cut method. First cuthalfway on the underside of thelimb, second make a cut clearthrough several inches further outon the upper part of the limb.When the branch is removed,there is no splintering of the maintree trunk. Then remove the stubby conventional methods, takingcare not to cut into the branch

With evergreen shrubs, avoidshearing, prune using the thin-ning technique, do not cutbranches back to the old wood. Re-duce new growth annually, andwhen removing the larger

branches for thinning, cut close tothe main trunk, leaving no stubs.Heavy thinning is needed onlyevery few years. Pinch out 1/2 ofthe candle (the new growth) whenit is approximately 2" long in thespring, to thicken the new growthof coniferous trees such as pines,spruce, or fir. If the terminal of apine or spruce has been lost, forma new one by bending one of theyoungest lateral branches near theterminal into an upright position.Basic pruning includes adherenceto basic safety rules. 1. Call in aprofessional for large jobs youdon't have the equipment for. 2.Keep all equipment sharp and ingood repair. 3. Use equipmentonly for the job it was designed todo. 4. Be conscious of electric lineswhen pruning near them. 5. If apower line is touching a tree limb,call the power company fast andstay clear of the tree. 6. Neverclimb a tree without a safety rope,with or without a ladder. 7. Keepyour fingers clear when usinghand clippers. 8. Use care in han-dling pruned limbs and brush toavoid eye injury.My source for this news releasewas Purdue University Coopera-tive Extension Service. If youwould like more information about“Pruning Trees and Shrubs,” con-tact Bob Drown at the Conserva-tion Office at 605-244-5222, Ex-tension 4 or by e-mail [email protected].

Electric Avenue -----------------------------



Back row: Paden Sexton, Reece Leonard, Justin Moody, Cole Buer, Cody Buer, Tony Gerbracht, Reed Arneson, Collin Palmer. Frontrow: Marranda Hulm, Tori Voller.

8th Grade girls that attended the prom were Sydney Senn,Nicole Hafner, Julianna Kari

Wrangler Weishaar escortedNicole Hafner.

Michael kopren escorted JimiFeist.

Tanner Stippich escortedMegan serr.

Conner Palmer escorted Des-tiny Wesner.

Dominik Ossowski escortedLanae McKinstry.

Lane Kopren escorted Char-lotte Johnson.

Joseph Kvale escorted KyraHolzer.

Wil kolb escorted Sydney Ar-neson.

Ty Plaggemeyer escorted Kim-berly Peck.

Ryan Serr escorted KassidySarsland.

Electric Avenue prom 2013 -----------------


Sophmores: Wrangler Wershaar, Kianna Brockel, Tyler Kari, Madison Hulm, John Hatle, Kimberly Peck, Joshua Beckman, TessaKopren, Drew Reder.

Daniel Chapman escorted Tay-lor Trohkimoinen.

Payton Jerde escorted AnnaHatle.

Dodge Weishaar escortedKianna Brockel.

Christopher Morris escortedKayley Johnson.

Logan Hendrickson escortedShaley Lensegrav.

Jon Sever escorted Beth Sei-del.

Christian Wolff escorted Brit-tnee Aaker.


A statewide tornado drill will beconducted for South Dakota by theNational Weather Service between9:00 and 9:30 am MDT (10:00 and10:30 am CDT) on Wednesday,April 24. Because the exercise isused to ensure communications andwarning systems are functioningproperly before storm season, peo-ple will see and hear the actualalerts used for tornadoes.Outdoor warning sirens will besounded in many towns. The sirensmay not be heard inside homes andoffice buildings, as they are in-tended to alert people who are out-doors away from radio or TV.

The drill will also include activa-tion of the Emergency Alert Sys-tem, which will interrupt localmedia broadcasts. The publicshould be aware that the scroll onbroadcast television and cable TVchannels will look like a real warn-ing, while the NOAA Weather

Radio and broadcast audio will beidentified as a test.

Local emergency response agen-cies may practice their responseprocedures and many schools willconduct safety drills for their stu-dents.

Individuals do not need to takeany action during the drill, but theyare encouraged to make plans toprotect themselves and their fami-lies before storms develop. Don’twait until the storm is headed to-ward you as there won’t be time. In-formation about storm safety isavailable from county emergencymanagement offices or visit the fol-lowing web sites: The Rapid CityNational Weather Service atwww.weather.gov/rapidcity, BlackHills Chapter of the American RedCross atwww.blackhillsredcross.org, andthe South Dakota Department ofHealth at www.bReadySD.com

Tornado warning systemsto be tested April 24

The South Dakota Farm Bureauwould like to remind everyonethat the deadline is approachingquickly for the EPA’s Oil Spill Pre-vention, Control & Countermea-sure (SPCC) Program, which re-quires compliance by May 10,2013. Rebecca Perrin, EPA Region8 Agriculture Advisor states, “"Al-though EPA can't begin enforce-ment of the SPCC rule for farms,as defined in the statute, untilafter October 1st 2013, it's impor-tant for farmers to remember thatthe deadline for SPCC complianceis still May 10th.”

According to the U.S. EPA,farms or ranches that store morethan 1,320 total U.S. gallons of oilor oil products in abovegroundcontainers sized 55 gallons orlarger, or more than 42,000 U.S.gallons in completely buried con-tainers, and could be reasonablyexpected to discharge oil to watersof the U.S., are required to have anSPCC plan in place. May 10, 2013is the newly amended compliancedate by which farms must prepare

or amend and implement theirSPCC plan. If your farm was inoperation before August 16, 2002and you do not already have aPlan, you must prepare and imple-ment a plan as soon as possible.

The EPA offered this link formore information to insure every-one is in compliance with theSPCC program.http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/spcc_ag.htm

"EPA is committed to workingwith the agricultural communityto find efficient and practical solu-tions to environmental chal-lenges," said Rebecca Perrin,EPA's agriculture advisor in Den-ver. "Every farm or livestock oper-ation is required to determine ifthey need an SPCC plan in placeto reduce the risks, and costs, as-sociated with potential oil spills.EPA is offering assistance to makesure that those who need a planare taking appropriate steps tomeet these requirements. We en-courage producers to call us di-rectly with any questions."

South Dakota Farm Bureau

HELP WANTED

Permanent Part-time.Must have good grammar and proofreading skills.

Computer experience a plus.For information call the

Bison Courier at 244-7199


Perkins CountyCommission

Regular MeetingDate: April 9, 2013Present: Commissioners Henderson,Ottman, Besler, Foster, Finance Offi-cer ChapmanOthers Present: Shane Penfield,Rownea Gerbracht, Tracy Buer, LynnWaddell, Holly Waddell, Tom Rusch,Paul Hancock, Chad Prosser, TimSmith, Dave Lensegrav, Chad Baum-garten, Don McKinstry Jr, Ridge Veal,Health McKinstry, Lauren Donovan,press, Beth Hulm, pressAbsent: Commissioner Schweitzer

Call to OrderVice Chairman Henderson called theregular April meeting to order at 10:00am. The Pledge of Allegiance was re-cited.

Approval of AgendaFoster moved, Ottman seconded to ap-prove the meeting agenda, motion car-ried.

Approval of MinutesOttman moved, Besler seconded to ap-prove the minutes of the March 12thregular meeting, motion carried. Fos-ter moved, Besler seconded to approvethe minutes of the April 2nd SpecialMeeting, motion carried.

Monthly Reports•Finance Officers Account with the

Deputy Finance Officer - To the Hon-

orable Board of County CommissionersPerkins County: I hereby submit thefollowing report of my examination ofthe cash and cash items in the handsof the Deputy Finance Officer of thisCounty as of March 31, 2013, SylviaChapman, Finance Officer, PerkinsCounty. Total amount of deposits inbanks $68,234.36, total amount of ac-tual cash $150.69; Insured MoneyMarket $1,270,894.73; Dakota PlainsFederal Credit Union membership fee$10.04; Certificates of Deposit$495,531.04; South Dakota FIT$101,495.23; Total $1,936,316.09. Thetotal represents state, county, schools,cities and township funds, which willbe transferred to each entity of govern-ment after being apportioned.

•Sheriff ’s Fees in the amount of$719.44 were reviewed.

•Register of Deeds fees in theamount of $2,795.24 were reviewed.

•Sheriff car logs were reviewed.•Motor Vehicle fees for the month of

March were reviewed.•Quarterly Report for the Commu-

nity Health Nurse was reviewed.•Highway Superintendent Monthly

Maintenance & Project Report was re-viewed.

•Longevity increases of 10¢ will berealized by the following: PauletteFero, April 1, $14.02/hr; Jeff VanVac-tor, April 8, 17.08/hr; Todd Campbell,April 1, $3,171.32/month

Correspondence•Jill Olson requested approval for

travel for a staff meeting in Sturgis onApril 30th and the new WIC-IT Train-ing to be held in Rapid City July 8-12,2013. Approval was given.

•The Commission received a re-sponse from Governor Daugaard con-cerning the Animal Damage ControlProgram.

Liquor Licenses•Foster moved, Ottman seconded to

approve the renewal of Lemmon Coun-try Club Retail (on-sale) Liquor Li-cense # RL-5710, all ayes, motion car-ried.

•Ottman moved, Foster seconded toapprove the renewal of Bison CountryClub Retail (on-sale) Liquor License#5825, all ayes, motion carried.

Perkins County ComprehensivePlan

•Discussion was held on holding aspecial meeting for the purpose of ap-pointing the Perkins County Compre-hensive Planning Board. Beslermoved, Ottman seconded to set a spe-cial meeting for Thursday, April 18,2013 at 1:00 p.m. at the PerkinsCounty Courthouse, motion carried.

•Discussion was held on whetherthe Planning Commission should be a7-man or a 5-man board.

•Besler moved, Foster seconded toenter into a Performance Contractwith Black Hills Council of Local Gov-ernment at a cost of $7500.00, all ayes,motion carried.

SDSU 4-H AdvisorCommissioner Ottman reported that a

4-H Advisor for Perkins & HardingCounties has been hired. She will bestarting this month.

Commissioner Meeting in Lem-monDiscussion was held on whether tohave the Commission Meeting in Lem-mon in May or June or possibly both.Ottman moved, Besler seconded tohave the regular Commission meetingon June 11th in Lemmon at 10:00 a.m.,motion carried.

Thomas RuschThomas Rusch was present to share apreliminary plat for his proposed mo-bile home park to be located in the SEquarter of S29-T23-R12 in PerkinsCounty. This proposal would accom-modate approximately 120 mobilehomes. Rusch assured the Commis-sion that was by no means a man campbut a professional sub-division. He hasdeveloped other sub-divisions in Wis-consin.

Golf Course Road BridgeDon McKinstry, Jr and Ridge Vealwere present to discuss the GolfCourse Road Bridge. They would liketo forgo the work on the Golf CourseRoad Bridge in favor of working on thebridge on 178th Avenue. Don McK-instry, Jr. would like Perkins County toput a moratorium on the letting of bidson the bridge project if possible. Buerwould like it to be noted that he wouldlike to continue with the project.

Forest Service•Paul Hancock, District Ranger

with the Forest Service was present todiscuss the fire which started on ForestService land last week. Hancockstressed that the priority is the reim-bursement to ranchers so that their op-erations can get up and running. Han-cock inquired as to whether the countyhad any resources to help those af-fected while waiting for approval offederal torte to come through.

•Tim Smith was present represent-ing private sector, Grand River Graz-ing Association and as a member of theLodgepole Fire Department. Smith re-viewed the events of April 5th and thefact that the control burn proceededafter urging from various parties notgo forth with it.

•Commissioner Henderson wouldlike a list of questions answered inwriting by Forest Service personnelhigher up than Paul Hancock.

•Commissioner Ottman would liketo propose a Resolution in support ofthose suffering damages from the fireand encourage our Congressional Rep-resentatives to promote rapid action onthe reimbursement for damages. Thiswill be addressed at the Special Meet-ing to be held April 18th at 1:00 p.m.

•Chad Baumgarten addressed theneed to have better communicationsbetween the numerous fire depart-ments and other entities involved. Thevarious fire departments in PerkinsCounty will be holding a joint meetingTuesday evening, April 16th at thePerkins County Courthouse.

•Dave Lensegrav spoke to the trav-esty of the fire and to the impact thatthe fire had on the ranchers in PerkinsCounty.

Highway SuperintendentBuer addressed the Commission con-cerning the bid for a truck. He has ob-tained the minutes from SanbornCounty on the acceptance of a bid for aMack Truck. He would like to pur-chase off of the Sanborn County bid. Itwill be placed on the April 18th SpecialMeeting agenda.

ClaimsThe following claims were presentedand approved for payment: March pay-roll: 71,870.81; IRS, fica, 4,604.56; SDRetirement, retirement, 3,705.43;Delta Dental, insurance, 931.20; Lin-coln Mutual, insurance, 124.56; SDS-DBF, insurance, 16,825.35; A&B Busi-ness, supplies, 240.17; Ace Steel, re-pairs, 506.77; Adams County, repairs,14,421.81; D Andahl, ct reporting,378.00; Best Western, travel, 79.00;Bison Food, supplies, 63.58; Bison Im-plement, supplies/repairs, 1,446.68; TBuer, travel, 68.00; Butler Machinery,repairs, 542.21; City/County Alcohol,poor relief, 840.00; Country Media,publishing 543.74; Current Connec-tion, supplies/equipment, 1,561.87;Dakota Business, supplies, 306.32;Dakota Feed, chemical, 16,972.90;Dakota Fluid, repairs, 45.69; Dead-wood Mountain Grand, travel, 57.00;EMC Insurance, premium, 459.00;Evergreen Supply, supplies, 831.26;Executive Mgmt, supplies, 5.61; Lem-mon Area Medical, blood testing,200.00; G & O Paper, supplies, 669.90;R Gerbracht, travel, 253.65; GrandElectric, utilities, 1,304.95; Hersrud,repairs, 72.33; John Deere, repairs,5,887.87; Kennedy, Rokahr, Pier, Knoff,MH ct appt atty, 187.80; Kevin’s FireExtinguisher, supplies, 730.00; Kim-ball Midwest, supplies, 393.09; Lem-mon EMT, travel, 740.71; Lewis &Clark, MI physician, 149.00; LoftusDental, jail meds, 810.00; Lycox Enter-prises, repairs, 200.44; Matheson Tri-Gas, supplies, 287.28; McLeod’s Print-ing, supplies, 264.73; Meade Co Audi-tor, jail board, 2,145.00; Meadow FireDept, subsidy/insurance, 7,083.00;NAPA Auto, repairs, 1,130.60; North-ern Truck Equipment, repairs, 149.97;NW Farm & Home, supplies, 2,961.74;S Penfield, rent, 400.00; Penor Texaco,supplies, 233.15; Phil’s Paint & Body,repairs, 100.00; Print Shop, supplies,45.00; Rivinius Tilling, maintenance,450.00; Rushmore Communications,repairs, 110.00; SD County Weed,dues, 150.00; SD Dept Health, bloodtesting/CHN qtr pymt, 1,615.00; SDDOT, repairs, 2,515.41; SD HumanServices, patient care, 611.63; SDEMA,dues, 90.00; SD Sheriff Assn, registra-tion, 65.00; Super 8, travel, 129.98; SWCrime Conference, dues, 30.00; ThreeRivers MH, CHN rent, 900.00; Town ofBison, utilities, 187.48; Verizon Wire-less, utilities, 120.03; VISA, travel/sup-plies, 557.61; Western Communication,repairs, 310.00; Western SD JuvenileCenter, jail board, 900.00; WR Tele-phone, utilities, 886.86.

AdjournmentFoster moved, Besler seconded to ad-journ the regular meeting at 2:00 p.m.,motion carried. The next regular meet-ing of the Perkins County Commissionwill be Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at thePerkins County Courthouse.

ATTEST:APPROVED:

Sylvia Chapman, Finance OfficerWayne Henderson, Vice Chairman

[Published April 18, 2013 at a total ap-proximate cost of $99.75.]

Invitation for Bids of BISON

Bison Area Economic Development is accepting bids for the letters “BISON” tobe attached to the top of both business signs along HWY 20. The bid should in-clude the cost of the letters, BISON, and the attachment of the letters to thesigns. The approximate height of the letters should be 24 inches tall and theappropriate width to make them proportional. The work must be completedby June 1, 2013. For more details, please contact Brandi Baysinger at 605-244-7526. Please submit all bids by April 30th, 2013. Mark envelope SIGN BIDand send to Bison Area Economic Development PO Box 444 Bison, SD 57620.

[Published April 18, 2013 at a total approximate cost of $37.60.]

•Water – Make sure to includeone gallon of water per person perday for drinking and sanitation.

•Food – Select foods that re-quire no refrigeration, preparationor cooking and little to no water.

•Flashlight – Make sure to in-clude extra batteries along withyour flashlight.

•First Aid Kit –Make sure yourfirst aid kit includes the basics, aswell as a first aid reference guide.

•Tools –Make sure you have thetools on hand to turn of utilities,like a wretch or pliers.

•Radio –Make sure to stashextra batteries or consider invest-ing in a hand crank radio.

•Clothing – Bring a change ofclothes for everyone, includingsturdy shoes and gloves.

•Money – Make sure to havecash on hand. ATMs and creditcards won’t work if the power isout.

•Contact Information – Alwayscarry a current list of family phonenumber and email addresses, in-cluding someone out of the areawho might be easier to reach ifthere is an issue with local phonelines.

9 Things to have onhand in case of anemergency


Perkins CountyCommission

Meeting as a Boardof Equalization

Date: April 9, 2013Present: commissioners Henderson,Foster, Ottman, Besler, Finance Offi-cer ChapmanOthers present: Rownea Gerbracht,Janelle Goddard, Beth Hulm press

Call to OrderVice Chairman Henderson called themeeting to order at 10:05 a.m. ThePledge of Allegiance was recited.

Oaths of OfficeOaths of Office were completed by thecommissioners.

Office Clean UpGerbracht and Goddard presented alist of office clean up items.

*Dennis & Lynda Drayton – N 1/2Govt Lot 4 (NSWNW) 20-23-17 record#17627

•House value is on the tax rollstwice, should be taxed on record#17624 (Michael Drayton)

•Current NA-A1 value - $60.446• Proposed NA-A1 value- $0

*Lynn & Nancy Miller – NE 26-13-11 record #281

•Should have Ag exemption•Current Ag Exemption value - $0•Proposed Ag Exemption value-

$10,000

*Don Merriman – SWSE, Pt Lot 4,SESW 19-21-16 record #10889

•Ag Exemption was left on whenOwner Occupied was moved to housein Lemmon

•Current Ag Exemption value -$10,000

•Proposed Ag Exemption value- $0

*Patrick & Karen Odenbach –Reno’s Addn Blk Lots 1, 2 N 1/2 of Lot3 record #13825

•Clerical•Current NA-D1-S value - $174,954•Proposed NA-D1-S value- $138,996

*Jeffrey & Mary Haase – Engebret-son’s Addn Blk 8 Lots 11 & 12 record#13800

•Clerical•Current NA-D1-S value - $108,635•Proposed NA-D1-S value- $77,857

*Kerry & Laura Holmes – Carr’s 1stAddn Blk 19 Lots 10, 11, & N 1/2 OFLot 12 -- MH ON RE record #12885

•Clerical•Current NA-DM1-S value -

$29,287•Proposed NA-DM1-S value-

$25,999

Foster moved, Ottman seconded to ap-

prove the office clean up items, all ayesmotion carried.

Disabled Veteran Property Tax Ex-emptionThere are four persons eligible for theDisabled Veteran Property Exemption.Besler moved, Foster seconded to allowthe Director of Equalization to removethe qualifying properties values total-ing $129,880, motion carried.

Elderly Assessment FreezeOttman moved, Foster seconded to ap-prove the applications for Elderly As-sessment Freeze, motion carried.

Certified Owner Occupied ListOttman moved, Foster seconded to ap-prove the Certified Owner Occupiedlist for 2013 and remove owner occu-pied status for Gary Frisvold ruralproperty since he moved to a house inLemmon which he is declaring owneroccupied on, motion carried.

Tax Exempt ListFoster moved, Besler seconded to ap-prove the tax exempt list as presentedby the Director of Equalization office,motion carried.

2:15 Robert RoyRobert Roy filed an appeal on (#13509)Lemmon’s 2nd Addn Blk 1 Lots 12-16.

• Current NA-D value - $11,150•Current NA-D1 value - $86,318•Proposed NA-D value-

$11,150•Proposed NA-D1 value-

$86,318

This past week he called DOE Ger-bracht and advised her that he wouldnot be present and wish to withdrawhis appeal. The Commission acted onit since it was on the agenda. Fostermoved, Foster seconded to accept therecommendation of Director of Equal-ization to leave the value of RobertRoy’s property, motion carried.

Duane Harris – 2:30Duane & Dawn Harris were not pres-ent but had filed a written appeal onthe following property values:§ #10383 (NE 1/4 NE 1/4, S 1/2 NW 1/4less Lot 1 of the Harris Addn) 1-21-13

•Requested Value - $37,875•Proposed Value (no change) AG-A

value - $45,139§ #10386 (SW 1/4 less Lot 1 of HarrisAddn) 10-21-13

•Requested Value - $43,500• Proposed Value (no change) AG-A

value - $50,180§ #10401 (E 1/2 NE 1/4, SW 1/4 NE1/4) 10-21-13


value - $18,925§ #10403 (S 1/2 SW 1/4) 10-21-13


value - $27,437§ #10407 (NW 1/4 NW 1/4) 11-21-13


value - $7,105§ #10426 (N 1/2 NW 1/4, SW 1/4 NW1/4)


value - $29,910§ #10428 (N 1/2 SW 1/4, SE 1/4 SW1/4)

•Requested Value - $24,000•Proposed Value (no change)•AG-A value - $28,491

§ #10429 (SE 1/4)•Requested Value - $36,000•Proposed Value (no change) AG-A

value - $37,567

Ottman moved, Besler seconded to ac-cept the recommendation of the Direc-tor of Equalization to leave the valuesas is on Duane & Dawn Harris’s prop-erty, motion carried.

Ridge VealRidge Veal filed an appeal with the Di-rector of Equalization on the followingproperty:§ #5665 (NE 1/4 ) 6-17-14

•Current AG-A value - $51,858•Proposed AG-A value- $50,274

§ #5667 (SW 1/4 ) 6-17-14•Current AG-A value - $47,052•Proposed AG-A value- $46,802

§ #5668 (SE 1/4 ) 6-17-14•Current AG-A value - $45,576•Proposed AG-A value- $38,218

Director of Equalization Gerbracht rec-ommended a property value reductionto the board. Foster moved, Besler sec-onded to approve the recommendationof the Director of Equalization to re-duce the property valuation as pro-posed, motion carried.

Township Change RequestsFoster moved, Ottman seconded to ac-cept requests from Duell Township toadd Jack Ryen and Horse Creek Town-ship to add John Hill to the predatoryanimal list, motion carried.

Unorganized TownshipsThe unorganized township books werereviewed by the board.

Assessment RollsFoster moved, Ottman seconded toclose the assessment rolls pending anyfurther action, motion carried.

AdjournmentOttman moved, Besler seconded to ad-journ the meeting at 3:12 p.m.

ATTEST:APPROVED:

Sylvia Chapman, Finance OfficerWayne Henderson, Vice Chairman

[Published April 18, 2013 at a total ap-proximate cost of $72.79.]

Are you looking for a plant that youcan train up a fence, over an arbor orpretty much over any shape you de-sire? Grapes fit the bill, while alsobearing fruit for jams, jellies, juice andyes, wine, says Rhoda Burrows, SDSUExtension Horticulture Specialist.

"Many may ask, "grapes in theDakotas?'" Indeed - even wine grapes,thanks to the efforts of grape breedersover the past 30 years," Burrows said."Given an appropriate growing siteand care, these vines can last fordecades or more, even in our climate."

What is an appropriate growing sitefor grapes?Burrows says there is some truth tothe adage that grapes like poor soil.

"Too rich a soil generally causespoorer quality fruit as well as problemsfor the vines' hardening off in the fall,leading to greater winter damage," shesaid.

She says although a soil that hashigh (5 to 8 percent) organic matter isgreat for growing your vegetable gar-den or raspberries, it supplies toomuch nitrogen for grapes. Grapesshould also not be planted where waterstands after a rain, as they do not tol-erate wet conditions.

"Another reason for avoiding lowareas is that such areas are prone tofrost and grapes are very sensitive tofrost. Although the vines are quiteheat-tolerant, avoid training themacross a south- or west-facing wall (es-pecially in the southern part of our re-gion), as these areas warm up too earlyin the spring and can cause the buds tobreak when there is still high dangerof frost," Burrows said.

If you wish to maximize fruit pro-duction from the vines, Burrows saysto keep in mind that you will need toprune them back drastically each year.

"So you may not want to utilizethem where you need an early-seasonprivacy screen. Grapes also need fullsun; shading drastically reduces fruit-ing and winterhardiness," she said.

Grapes are relatively easy to grow,but homeowners can increase theirproduction and vine health with care.Grapes are very sensitive to herbicides,including the common lawn herbicides,so be very careful in applying any ofthese near the vines. Fall applicationsafter the vines have dropped theirleaves are safest, but care should stillbe taken that the herbicide doesn't con-tact the vines or drift near them. Don'tapply any herbicides that can be takenup through the roots.

"We see herbicide damage everyyear in South Dakota, usually causedby drift from lawn or field applica-tions," she said.

Grapes are susceptible to a few dis-eases, although Burrows points outthat ours have relatively few diseaseproblems compared to our easternneighbors. Good pruning to thin andshape the leaf canopy to one to twoleaves thick greatly reduces problems

with downy mildew and other leaf andfruit diseases.

"The key to pruning is to rememberthat only two-year-old canes (stems)bear fruit, so remove vast amounts (upto 90 percent) of the past season'sgrowth each spring. In fact, one systemis to select four healthy canes from theprevious season, and prune off allother growth - except for a couple ofshort stubs just to grow some extracanes for the following year," Burrowssaid.

She adds that the ideal time toprune is fairly late in the spring, beforethe buds break, but late enough thatthe stems "bleed" when cut; this willactually help delay budbreak a bit,helping to avoid frost damage.

Following are some excellent vari-eties for homeowners to try: Somerset Seedless - This red tablegrape is hardy to -30°F; ripens aboutthe same time as Valiant. Strawberry-like flavor. This is the only seedlessgrape that has performed well in SouthDakota.

Valiant - One of our hardiest grapes,vigorous and very well adapted to ourclimate and soils. Has small clusters ofdark blue berries which ripen beforemost other grapes. Excellent juice,jelly, or table grape; may also be usedfor wine. The 4-cane pruning systemworks well for this variety. This grapehas a tendency to overbear; you mayneed to remove some of the clusters.Bred by Dr. Ron Peterson at SouthDakota State University.

Marquette - An excellent new redwine grape with high sugar and mod-erate acidity. Open, orderly growthhabit. Very good resistance to downymildew, powdery mildew, and blackrot; moderate resistance to phylloxera.Tends to break bud early, so avoid sitesthat warm up early in the spring. Wineis ruby color with pronounced tanninsand notes of cherry, berry, black pep-per, and spice. Released in 2006 by theUniversity of Minnesota.

Frontenac. Hardy blue wine grapewith cherry flavors. Excellent winegrape for this region, ripens mid- tolate September. Tends to have highacidity. Needs good pruning and clus-ter thinning to keep vine from overpro-ducing. Good disease resistance andsome tolerance to 2,4-D herbicide. Min-nesota patented cultivar.

Frontenac Gris - A white sport ofFrontenac, with a growth habit similarto Frontenac. Gray/light red fruit. Amidseason variety harvested in lateSeptember. Minnesota patented culti-var.

Brianna -White wine grape devel-oped by Elmer Swenson. Berries aregreenish gold to gold when fully ripe inearly to mid-September. Wine is bal-anced with pineapple nose and flavor.Also makes a flavorful white juice ortable grape. Winter hardy in SouthDakota; North Dakota???.

LaCrescent -Hardy white winegrape released by the University ofMinnesota in 2002. Ripens early (togoldenbrown color), but acidity re-mains high and may need to be re-duced during winemaking. Moderatelysusceptible to powdery and downymildew. Loose clusters with occasionalfruit set problems. May be susceptibleto spring frost in areas that warm upearly. Wine has apricot-like flavor andis excellent for blending. Minnesotapatented cultivar.

King of the North. Vigorous, lateripening Concord style grape that orig-inated in Wisconsin. Good for juice, butacidic for fresh eating.

Grapes for your garden

3 days of usage. Call 374-5315 or 244-7299 for arrangements.

Upon failure to observe this notice, thecounty weed and pest board is requiredto proceed pursuant to the law andhave the noxious weeds of declaredpests destroyed by such methods asthey find necessary, the expense ofwhich shall constitute a lien and be en-tered as a tax against the land, and becollected as other real estate taxes arecollected, or by other means as pro-vided by law.

Plant and animals designated as beingnoxious weeds and declared pests inthe state of South Dakota are LeafySpurge, Salt Cedar, Perennial SowThistle, Russian Knapweed, HoaryCress, Canada Thistle, Purple Looses-trife, Gypsy Moth, and Prairie Dogs.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN thatupon establishing probable cause to be-lieve a noxious weed or declared pestinfestation exists upon any property inPerkins County, representative ofPerkins County Weed and Pest Controlboard will enter upon said property forthe purpose of inspecting and confirm-ing that such infestation actually ex-ists.

Robert Hermann, ChairmanPerkins County Weed and Pest Board

[Published April 11 and April 18, 2013at a total approximate cost of $48.75.]

Perkins CountyNotice of

Responsibility toControl Noxious

Weeds and Declared Pests

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN 1st dayof April 2013, pursuant to SDCL 38-22as amended to all owners, occupants,agents and public officials in charge oflands in Perkins County, SouthDakota, that they are responsible forsuppression, control, and eradication ofnoxious weeds and declared pest’s in-festation that may exist on such lands.

Chemical, biological, and/or culturalcontrol methods used for the suppres-sion, control and eradication of noxiousweed and declared pest infestationsshall be those approved for such pur-pose by the Perkins County Weed andPest Supervisor, and the South DakotaState University Experiment Station.

The Perkins County Weed and PestControl Board request all organic pro-ducers within the county to meet withthe board to identify all land underthis program.

The Perkins County Weed and PestBoard have a Prairie Dog applicator foruse. A deposit of $25.00 is required for

NOTICE OF HEARING ON

PETITION FORVACATION OF

PUBLIC ROADWAY

Notice is hereby given that a Petitionrequesting that certain public road-ways be vacated in Moreau township,Perkins County, South Dakota, pur-suant to SDCL 31-3-6, as herein afterspecifically described has been re-ceived by the Board of Supervisors ofMoreau Township; that the Petitionmay be examined by contacting theClerk of the Township at the addressindicated below; that the specific de-scription of the property being re-quested to be vacated is:

That portion of the existing publicright-of-way including statutory right-of-way and any right-of-way acquiredby deed, known as the Old Usta roadbeginning where such road crosses thesection line between Sections 22 and23, heading north through the NE 1/4of Section 22, Township 15 North,Range 15 East of the Black HillsMeridian then northeast into Section14, heading north through the SE 1/4;then crossing into Section 15, headingdue west across Section 15 and cross-ing into Section 16; then headingsouthwest across the SE 1/4 of Section

16 into Section 21; then southwestacross the NE 1/4 of Section 21 intoSection 20; then westward across theN 1/2 of Section 20, crossing RabbitCreek and then due north, parallelingRabbit Creek and terminating at mid-point of the turn prior to headingsouth, a distance of approximately 3.8miles.

That portion of the existing publicright-of-way including statutory right-of-way and any right-of-way acquiredby deed, beginning at the mid-sectionline between Sections 15 and 16 ofTownship 15 North, Range 15 East ofthe Black Hills Meridian, headingnorth along the section line until theapproximate quarter-section point be-tween Sections 9 and 10; also begin-ning at the point where Sections 15,16, 9 and 10; meet, then heading duewest along the section line until ap-proximate mid-section between Sec-tions 8 and 17; then heading south intoSection 17 where it terminates, a dis-tance of approximately 2.26 miles.

That portion of the existing publicright-of-way including statutory right-of-way and any right-of-way acquiredby deed, beginning where it crosses thesection line between Section 1 of Town-ship14 North, Range 15 East of theBlack Hills Meridian and, Section 6 ofTownship 14 North, Range 16 East ofthe Black Hills Meridian , headingsouthwest across approximate mid-point of E1/2E1/2NE1/4 of Section 1 ofTownship 14 North, Range 15 Town-


STATE OF SOUTHDAKOTA IN

CIRCUIT COURT

COUNTY OFPERKINSFOURTH

JUDICIALCIRCUIT

Lenard Chapman, ))

Plaintiff, ))

Case No. CIV 13-08

vs.

Estate Of Margaret )Virginia James, )Estate Of Suzanne Pollard, )Kristine Pollard Stein, )Kathryn Pollard, )

):SSJessica L. Pollard, )and all other )

)Persons Unknown claiming )any estate or interest in, )or lien or encumbrance )upon the property described) in the Complaint, )

))

Defendants. )

THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTATO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFEN-DANTS:

YOU ARE HEREBY summoned andrequired to answer the Complaint of

the Plaintiff in the above entitled ac-tion which is on file in the office of theClerk of the Circuit Court of PerkinsCounty, South Dakota, and to serve acopy of your Answer thereto upon thesubscriber hereto at his office in theAdams County Courthouse, P. O. Box390, Hettinger, North Dakota 58639,within thirty (30) days after the serviceof this Summons upon you, exclusiveof the day of such service, and in caseof your failure to appear or answer asabove required, the Plaintiff will applyto the court for a judgment againstyou by default for the relief demandedin the Complaint.Dated at Hettinger, North Dakota this15th day of March, 2013.

/s/ Eric M. HardyEric M. Hardy, #4013Crane Roseland Hardy, PCAttorneys for PlaintiffP. O. Box 390Hettinger, North Dakota 58639(701) 567-2418

To the above named Defendants:YOU AND EACH OF YOU are furthernotified that the purpose of this actionis to quiet the Plaintiffs= title to thePlaintiff ’s following described real es-tate in Township 18 North, Range 15East. B.H.M., Perkins County, SouthDakota, to-wit:Section 29: W1/2SW1/4and to determine all adverse claimsthereto, and that no personal claim ismade against you.

/s/ Eric M. HardyEric M. Hardy, #4013Attorney for Plaintiff

[Published April 18, April 24, May 2and May 9, 2013 at a total approxi-mate cost of $108.03.]

ship East of the Black Hills Meridian,and terminating where such roadmeets the Capp road in Section 1, adistance of approximately 339 feet.

Therefore, notice is hereby given thatthe Board of Supervisors of MoreauTownship will hold two public hearingsto consider the vacation of the abovedescribed public roadway; that suchmeetings will be held on Friday the 26day of April, 2013, at 7:00 p.m., at theresidence of Dennis and Noma Welter.The second meeting will be held onSaturday the 27 day of April 2013, at7:00 p.m. at the residence of Dennisand Noma Welter.

That any person interested in the pro-posed action may be present at saiddate and time and present their infor-mation, opinions and/or arguments rel-ative to the proposed action. Any per-sons unable to attend this hearing maydeliver their written opinion for consid-eration by the Board of Supervisors,such testimony should be deliveredprior ti the date ant time of the sched-uled hearings by mailing or deliveringthe opinion to: Noma Welter, Clerk ofMoreau Township, PO Box 52 15699SD HWY 73, Faith, SD 57626

Moreau Township/s/Noma Welter Clerk of Moreau Township

[Published April 11 and April 18, 2013at a total approximate cost of $76.04.]

We were blessed with moremoisture this week. We didn’t getmuch snow from that storm lastMonday that buried most of thestate, but Sunday another stormmoved in here that covered thenorthern border of South Dakotaand dumped over a foot of snow onour neighbors to the north.

That earlier storm sure covereda big area. Guy called fromWyoming to tell me he couldn’t getto work at the Dry Fork powerplant north of Gillette and the kidsdidn’t have school. HardingCounty let school out early onMonday and started two hourslate on Tuesday, but we got by a lotbetter than those south of us.Since we didn’t get much snow, wewere never without electricity, noone got stuck, and no trees wentdown. The weatherman said RapidCity set a record for the most snowin 24 hours, almost 30 inches!

The second storm started Satur-day night when the wind blew amist over the east side of the housethat froze so thick on the windowswe couldn’t see out. The highwaywas too icy to make it to churchSunday morning and it reallystarted snowing Sunday after-noon. I called Shirley Meyer atDickinson to talk about some of

the Pautre fire issues Sunday af-ternoon and Shirley told me theyhad a foot of snow and all theroads were closed. Lanie got homeSunday afternoon from visitingAshley Thybo in Fort Collins andwas planning on heading home toDickinson for her job in Killdeer inthe morning until she heardShirley’s warning. Lanie stayedhere and helped out in the lamb-ing shed Monday until it was safeto drive to Dickinson.

Calving and lambing make thisthe busiest time of year on theranch. It’s hard to keep healthywhen you’re working outside in allkinds of weather and at all hoursof the day and several of ourneighbors wound up in the hospi-tal this week. Jess Marty wreckedhis four-wheeler this week, break-ing his pelvis in three places, bug-gering up his shoulder and gettinga concussion. He’s in pretty toughshape in the Rapid City hospital.

Laura Fisher was bringing in acow at Vern Anders’ when herhorse fell with her, breaking herleg in two places. Luckily her cellphone had coverage and she wasable to call her Dad. When Vernfound her, Laura's little girl stayedwith her mother while Vern calledfor help. The terrain was too rough

to get an ambulance in there, butJamie Gerbracht and Vern wereable to get her loaded in Jamie’sfour-wheel drive Suburban andhaul her out to the hospital inRapid City.

Willis Kopren got another am-bulance trip to the hospital in Het-tinger this week. This was his sec-ond ride on an ambulance and hissecond hospital visit in a coupleweeks. He’s home again, but hope-fully my young cousin will takebetter care of himself this spring!

Predators are getting more plen-tiful around here. Several of ourneighbors have lost calves to coy-otes. Cal and Ty Thybo found acouple coyotes next to a cow thathad just calved. The cow was sobusy guarding her calf from thecoyotes she hadn’t been able to lickthe calf. Thybos shot two of thecoyotes and think they got a thirdone that night.

April 15th was the last day tosend your tax money to the federalgovernment. Pres. Obama filed histax returns this week and, as amulti-millionaire and a “one-per-center”, he only paid 18% to thegovernment, much less than the“fair share” he demands fromsmall businesses.

With that in mind, here's a

cheerful story: The IRS decides to audit

Grandpa, and summons him to theIRS office. The IRS auditor wasnot surprised when Grandpashowed up with his attorney.

The auditor said, “Well, sir, youhave an extravagant lifestyle andno full-time employment, whichyou explain by saying that you winmoney gambling. I'm not sure theIRS finds that believable.”

‘I'm a great gambler, and I canprove it,” says Grandpa. “Howabout a demonstration?”

The auditor thinks for a momentand said, “Okay. Go ahead.”

Grandpa says, “I'll bet you athousand dollars that I can bitemy own eye.”

The auditor thinks a momentand says, ‘It's a bet.”

Grandpa removes his glass eyeand bites it. The auditor's jawdrops. Grandpa says, ‘Now, I'll betyou two thousand dollars that Ican bite my other eye.’

Now the auditor can tellGrandpa isn't blind, so he takesthe bet. Grandpa removes his den-tures and bites his good eye.

The stunned auditor now real-izes he has wagered and lost threegrand, with Grandpa's attorney asa witness. He starts to get nerv-

ous.‘Want to go double or nothing?”

Grandpa asks “I'll bet you sixthousand dollars that I can standon one side of your desk, and peekinto that wastebasket on the otherside, and never get a drop any-where in between.”

The auditor, twice burned, iscautious now, but he looks care-fully and decides there's no waythis old guy could possibly managethat stunt, so he agrees again.

Grandpa stands beside the deskand unzips his pants, but althoughhe strains mightily, he can't makethe stream reach the wastebasketon the other side, so he prettymuch urinates all over the audi-tor's desk.

The auditor leaps with joy, real-izing that he has just turned amajor loss into a huge win. ButGrandpa's own attorney moansand puts his head in his hands.

“Are you okay?” the auditorasks.

“Not really,” says the attorney.“This morning, when Grandpa toldme he'd been summoned for anaudit, he bet me twenty five thou-sand dollars that he could come inhere and peek all over your deskand that you'd be happy about it!”

Don’t mess with old people!

Grand River Roundup ............................................................... By Betty Olson


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STATES ATTORNEY FORHughes County, full time. Oppor-tunity for organized, innovative,dedicated, and self motivated at-torney to guide county States At-torney efforts. This is an appoint-ment to an elected position withsupervisory responsibility. Salaryfrom $68,400/yr DOQ. Contactyour local Dept of Labor or KarlaPickard, 605-773-7477, HughesCounty Courthouse. Open untilfilled. EOE.

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FOR SALEFor Sale by the Lodgepole VFD a1975 F250 Pickup with duals. Bedincluded but removed and extra setof five original rims and tires. 360engine, odometer reads 13,000miles, manual transmission and 4wheel drive. Sealed bids acceptedthrough April 25th with three high-est bidders given the opportunity toverbally raise their bids on April30th. Contact Jerry Vliem (605)564-4615 or Bob Parker (605) 564-2238 with questions. Mail bids toWade Henderson at 11000SD HWY75, Lodgepole, SD 57640.

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WANTEDThe Bison School District is tak-ing applications for Assistant Cookfor the 2013-2014 school year. Ap-plications may be picked up in thebusiness office during regular busi-ness hours. EOE.

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HELP WANTED1 position - Temporary/seasonalwork planting, cultivating, harvest-ing and storing crops on a wheat,bean, corn and oilseed crop farm,from 5/9/2013 to 12/15/2013 at Cel-ley Farms, Regan, ND. Threemonths of previous experience re-quired in the job described. Satur-day work required. Must be ableto lift/carry 60 lbs. No minimumeducation or High Schooldiploma/equivalent is necessary forthe position. No smoking or use oftobacco products is allowed on com-pany premises or in company-pro-vided housing at any time. Insur-

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FOR RENTFor rent: Homestead Heights lo-cated in Bison, S.D., has a one andtwo bedroom apartment available.Homestead Heights is a low-incomeelderly and disabled Section 8 HUD(Housing and Urban Development)housing facility. We are smoke free.Energy Assistance is available forthose who qualify. Utilities are in-cluded in the rent. HomesteadHeights is an equal housing oppor-tunity. For more information,please call (605) 244-5473.

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Thank YouThank You to all of the fire depart-ments (volunteer & full-time) thatresponded to the Pautre Fire. This10 - 12,000 acre fire would not havebeen contained without your hard-work. We also thank the newsmedia for their coverage of the dis-aster.

Vince & Susan Gunn

I sincerely want to thank the com-munity for its support during mymother, Jessie Kolb’s, illness, de-mise and my bereavement. Yourpersonal inquiries, visits, phonecalls, flowers, cards, food and finan-cial support have been overwhelm-ing and I will never forget it. Dur-ing a time when I could have feltvery alone, I didn’t because of yourencouragement and prayers. A spe-cial thank you to those who helpedme with the funeral service – Pas-tor Marjorie Hershey, Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home, AmericanLutheran’s WELCA especiallyMargo Kronberg, Bison Food Storeand Eliza Blue and Darren Jacksonfor music. Additionally, thank youfor your continued concern for myfather, Herb Kolb. He does under-stand the loss of my mother andI’ve shared your cards and memo-ries with him. This community isthe best.

Salli Kolb Blazey and Herb Kolb

District, 300 1st St. [email protected], 605-847-4455.

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South Dakota Farm Bureau re-cently hosted a meeting in WesternSouth Dakota about the changesthat are taking place in the agricul-tural land productivity valuationand commodity prices assessments.Michael Houdyshell, Director,Property & Special Taxes Divisionfrom South Dakota Department ofRevenue was on hand to informfarmers and ranchers about howtheir land values will now be basedupon its productivity value startingin the 2011 tax payable year. Hestated, “The Department of Rev-enue contracts with the EconomicsDepartment of South Dakota StateUniversity (SDSU) to produce the“productivity value” or the “formulavalue” for the productivity valua-tion system. This value is the start-ing point for valuing all agricul-tural land in the state. This start-ing value is adjusted by the countyDirector of Equalization to ensureuniform and fair valuations.”

The productivity formula iswhere they begin in figuring thegross revenue per acre. Thisprocess uses an 8-year period fromdata that was collected by theUSDA/NASS to figure the grossrevenue per acre in each county.The 2011 tax payable year woulduse values from the year 2001 to2008.

With cropland the productivityvalue is established by eachcounty’s information based onUSDA/NASS. According to theSouth Dakota Department of Rev-enue “this price is weighted basedupon the quantity of the commod-ity sold each month during themarketing year; actual productionof each crop is multiplied by thecommodity price for the crop to de-termine the gross revenue for thecrop. The gross revenue of all of thecrops is added together and dividedby the number of acres, to get thegross revenue per acre in thecounty.” The prices also do not in-clude deficiency payments, CCCloans outstanding, or purchases bythe government.

Cash rents are used to figure thegross revenue with non-croplandalso using the 8 year average. TheUSDA/NASS determined cashrents in counties across SouthDakota from the years 2001through 2007 by using a survey.They had hoped to have enough re-sponses to publish the cash rentsfrom every county by 2008, but theydid not get enough responses fromevery county. They used past cashrent prices and rent from surround-ing counties to help establish thecash rent for the counties without apublished 2008 number. Listeners

were told that the Department iscurrently working to find an alter-native to get the cash rent data.

Michael Houdyshell also remindseveryone that “the transition toproductivity valuation does notchange the appeal rights of prop-erty owners. In South Dakota,property cannot be assessed formore than its market value andmust be assessed equitably in rela-tion to other property in the county.If you disagree with the assessmentof your property, you can appeal thevaluation the same way you wouldhave appealed a valuation basedupon the market”. The farmer orrancher should first contract theCounty Director of Equalization.He or she will be able to explain thenew system along with showingsimilar valued property, and recentsales of similar property.

“Although the statewide amountof agricultural value in the produc-tivity system is the same as thatfrom the old valuation system, in-dividual counties increase or de-crease significantly, states the De-partment of Revenue, to preventsudden large shifts in values, andto ensure they had time to addressany unanticipated problems, theLegislature limited increases or de-creases to 10% a year.”

Changes in the agriculture land productivity valuation

Documents

Bison Courier, April 18, 2013