Monthly Archives: January 2024

Mary Ann (Redl) Moorhead, 91

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Mary Ann (Redl) Moorhead, 91, of Winner, SD passed away peacefully surrounded by family at the Winner Regional Nursing Home on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

A private family Mass of Christian Burial was held on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024 at 10 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Winner, SD.  Burial  followed in the Winner City Cemetery.  An open public visitation was held on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 from 5-6 p.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church with a rosary beginning at 6 p.m.

Mary Ann Redl was born in Iroquois, South Dakota to John and Marie (Brandrup) Redl on Oct. 26, 1932. Growing up in Deadwood, Mary Ann was an active Brownie Scout and social butterfly which continued throughout her life. She was proud to tell stories of her father playing Wild Bill Hickok in the shootout reenactments as well as riding side-saddle in the Days of ‘76 Parade, on her horse named Penny. She hosted her own radio show during her teenage years where her vocals sang any song requested. Her personality shined as a bartender helping her parents at the Inferno, which was built in an old mine shaft near Terry Peak.

On May 24, 1951, she married the love of her life, Gerald Dean Moorhead at the St. Ambrose Church in Deadwood. To this union, three children were born, John, Cindy, and Gerri.

Mary Ann and Gerald moved to Winner, South Dakota to manage Modern Cleaners raising their three children as Winner Warriors. They loved sports; most notably yelling at each other over the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Braves. In 2003, the couple lost their son on a family hunting trip, which Mary Ann never fully recovered from.

Known for her sugar cookies and silly jokes, Mary Ann could warm any room. Her giggle and smile was contagious and her inviting soul welcomed anyone to call her “Grandma.”  She loved to bowl (2005 SDWBA Hall of Fame Inductee), foster any animal (squirrels included), play cards, sing her school song, and spend time with family and friends alike. Her pure joy was watching and cheering on her grandkids and great grandkids no matter their accomplishments, big or small, in-person or on a live stream.

Mary Ann was an expert in the kitchen and in the woodshop with Gerald. Her famous kitchen recipes were: sugar cookies that melted in your mouth, pies that nobody could replicate, and egg rolls that caused family disagreements of who would get the last one. In the last months of her life, she was able to share her joy of cooking homemade noodles for the other residents at the nursing home.

She is survived by her daughters Cindy (Doug) Osborn, Winner; Gerri (Chuck) Mosset, Sioux Falls; special nephew, Billy (Amy) Reiser, Wagner; daughter-in-law, Lori Schrader, Winner, 12 grandchildren: Cody(Brandy), Casey (Laurie), TJ (Michele), Cassidy (Matt), Brady (Jamie), Jamie (Jason), Chelsey (Matt), Dustin, Corey, Rachele (Justin), Randi, and Becca along with 22 great grandchildren, her sister-in-law, Jan Redl, several nieces and nephews and anyone who would consider her their grandma.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Gerald, favorite son, John, parents John and Marie, her sister, Phyllis, and three brothers, Jack, Bill and Donny Redl.

Property Taxes

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
A large crowd attended the property tax meeting held Jan. 10 in Winner. A presentation was made by the S.D. Department of Revenue.

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

A large crowd filled the courthouse community room to learn more about property taxes and what citizens can to help capture growth in Tripp County.

Members of the S.D. Department of Revenue conducted the meeting.

Since all members of the Tripp County Commissioners attended the meeting this was a special county commissioners meeting.

Chairman Larry Wilcox stressed the meeting was not about zoning as the commissioners are not in favor of zoning on the county level.

Giving the presentation for the Department of Revenue was Robin Carlson, education specialist and along with her was Patty Caster.

Property tax is the primary source of revenue for local governments.

Property that is taxed is owner/occupied, other and agricultural land.

Carlson explained that growth and CPI can be used to help with a county’s budget. That growth is new buildings or additions and that is what local assessor Janience Weber wants to capture. She wants people to notify here office when they add onto a build, build a new structure or tear one down.

Carlson went over how growth is calculated. She also explained that if a county does not use the CPI they can store it for three years.

Also explained was the mill levy and how levies are calculated.

Weber talked about discretionary formula that aids in new buildings.

The formula reduces the amount of taxes persons pay over a five year period.

Many of the people attending the meeting said they did not know about this discretionary formula. This formula is an economic development tool.

Weber said new growth helps captures those dollars to make up the budget and hopefully kept the levy down.

Farm family of the year

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
Bill and Joan Ferguson were named the Winner Area Chamber of Commerce farm/ranch family of the year. The presentation was made by Cody Jorgensen. Pictured from left are Joan Ferguson, Mike Scott, executive director of the Chamber, Cody Jorgensen and Bill Ferguson.

The Winner Area Chamber of Commerce Farm family of the year   recently retired but they have proven to be excellent farmers and innovative in farming practices, expense control, crop rotation and conservation practices. Bill and Joan Ferguson have been married for 60 years.

Bill grew up in Idaho and Joan grew up in Quinn South Dakota. In Bill’s early years his family would come back to his grandfather’s farm in the Winner area to help with wheat harvest.

Bill is a graduate of South School of Mines. After college they lived in Indiana and later in Boston, Mass.  During that time Bill worked with computer control systems.

They decided to move to South Dakota in 1975 to start farming.

During 1975 to 1980 they mostly raised wheat, summer fallow and a little milo if needed.

Bill started to make some changes, still raising wheat and milo  but started being more involved in  eco farming and no till practices  Bill started to see the advantages of no till farming practices with improved health of the soil and better land conservation practices.

Another area Bill has been involved with starting back in 1996 was the implementation of precision ag practices. This was the time of the introduction of yield monitors in combines.

Starting in the 70s’ raising primarily wheat and then started raising corn in 2000 and followed shortly by soybeans.  Current crop rotation is winter wheat, milo, corn, soybeans, sun flowers and spring Wheat.

With Bill and Joan’s farming practices their land was ideal pheasant habitat. In 1997 they began doing paid hunting. They opened a hunting lodge in 2000. The Fergusons have some of the best wild pheasant hunting in the state of South Dakota. One of the things that Bill said that helped his pheasant population is the use of a stripper head during wheat harvest.

Bill and Joan have been great supporters of the Winner Area. In 2011 The Chamber started the Sharpshooter Classic, Bill and Joan were and are still strong supporters of the event. Bill and Joan sponsored the first Young Gun team ( a team of 6 kids 12 to 18 involved in shooting sports) that participated in the competition.  Bill and Joan are good farmers are great people.

Marty’s is the Chamber’s business of the year.

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
Marty’s was named the business of the year at the Winner Area Chamber of Commerce annual banquet on Jan. 11. Marty Flakus, owner of the business, right, is presented a plaque by Mike Scott, executive director of the Chamber.

So many times, in our small communities we have the tendency to look at what we don’t have in our community ( Walmart, shopping malls, etc) instead of looking at what we do have and appreciate our businesses and what they do offer.

Winner Area Chamber of Commerce honored a  business  that most other small communities look at and  wish they had a business like this in their communities.

Marty’s is the Chamber’s business of the year.

This business began in Winner in 1989, by a local boy (Marty Flakus)  moving back to his hometown Winner.  At the time he was living in Superior, Wis., working for K Mart. He moved back to Winner and purchased the men’s store from Carl Sperling that was located where the  current Chamber office is. In 1994 he moved to the mini mall his current location and started carrying men’s & ladies fashion. Marty handles men’s, women, accessories, tux rentals, dry cleaning services (if you can remember back when we needed to get our film developed that is where you dropped our film  off to be printed).

In addition to a great selection of fashions to choose from he provides great service and honest opinions. That is how Marty has built his business with quality products, a well merchandised store, and excellent personal customer service.