Category Archives: Local

A night of one act plays will be presented by Winner High School and middle school students Jan. 20, 21 and 22 at the Winner Community Playhouse.

The doors will open at 7 p.m. and the plays will start at 7:30 p.m.

For reservations, call Winner High School at 842-8125.

There will be three plays presented—two high school and one middle school.

The WHS contest one act is “Take Five” directed by Sarah Taggart.

The cast includes Leah Wiechelman, Madeline Watzel, Hayden McMurtrey, Justin Hausmann, Faith Covey and Tessa Mann,

The technical crew includes: Cassie Shutt, Illyana Krabb, Ainsley Henderson, Amanda Blare and Maggie DeMers.

Emily Moser is the assistant director and Dan Patmore is the technical director.

Here is a synopsis of the play: Imagine you are an actor on opening night trying to perform  on a set that isn’t completed. One actor doesn’t show up, the props don’t work and the stage hands are incompetent. A recipe for disaster but also a recipe for a hilarious night.

The other high school play is “Hood, of Sherwood.” This is directed by Sandra York and is sponsored by the Winner Community Playhouse.

The cast includes: Clay Sell, Maggie DeMers, Mallory Thayer, Kierra Bainter, Amanda Blare, Rowdy Moore, Chandler Benedict, Luke Boerner, Iver Boerner and Jacob Manke.

Dan Patmore is the technical director for this play.

The middle school play is “21 Guaranteed Ways to Get Detention” and is directed by Ross Patmore.

The cast  includes: Amanda Edwards, Noah Manke, Addi Heenan, Evan Littau, Shannon Rank, Terrel Chasing Hawk, Grace Brown, Lena DeMers, Peyton Jensen, Jocelyn Soles, Evan Balsiger, Wyatt Winfield, Riley Peppel, Aiden Hespe and Skyler Soles.

The technical crew includes: Chloe Taggart, lights/sound; Skyler Soles, lights; Jaxon Day, stage crew.

Dan Patmore is the technical director.

Government offices in Winner will be closed on Monday, Jan. 17 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Tripp County Courthouse will be closed as well as the county library.

The Winner city office will be closed and the city council meeting has been moved to Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

All state and federal offices in Winner will be closed.

The Winner Post Office will be closed and there will be no mail delivery.

Financial institutions will not be open for business on Jan. 17. Well Fargo, First Fidelity Bank of Winner and Colome, BankWest and Sentinel Federal Credit Union will all be closed.

There will be no meal served at the senior citizens center on Jan. 17.

Southern Plains Behavioral Health Services will be closed on Jan. 17.

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

Josey Blare, who grew up in the Winner area, is the law clerk for the Sixth Judicial  Circuit. This circuit includes 14 counties in the central part of the state.

Blare just graduated from the USD Law School in May and is spending this year as a law clerk.

She is a 2014 graduate of Winner High School and in 2018 graduated from USD with a double major in international studies and Native American studies.

“I have always been interested in history, reading and writing so going to law school seemed like a natural fit,” she said.

Blare was in Winner on Thursday observing court that was being conducted by Judge Bobbi Rank.

Rank was a law clerk for the Sixth Judicial Circuit in 1999. Blare is the first local law student since Rank to hold this position.

“She (Blare) was clearly the most qualified for the job. The secondary benefit is that she is a Winner girl,” said Judge Rank. The judge explained each August she and another  judge go to Vermillion and interview candidates who have applied to be a law clerk.

“Law clerks work behind the scenes and do very important work,” said Rank.

Each year a new law clerk is chosen for the circuit. The term of the contract goes from August to the following August.

Blare helps all the judges with legal research and anything that the judges need.

Rank says the law clerk serve two roles. They are a great help to judges as they can do research to help judge’s write opinions.

The judge added this is a great help to the lawyer because this is the only time in their career they are going to see things from the judge’s side.

“They also get to talk to judges to see what works and what does not work. It is a mutually beneficial agreement,” explained Rank.

Blare says her goal is to travel to all 14 counties in the district before the end of August. Her office is located in Pierre where the majority of the judges in the circuit reside.

Blare noted one of the unique things about the Sixth Circuit is that they handle a lot of administrative appeals. She explained for example that if the Department of Labor issues a decision, that decision can be appealed to the circuit court. In Pierre, there are a lot of administrative appeals more so than any other circuit in the state.

“I am thankful that I get to learn about the law and get to see what the judge’s are thinking. Getting to learn in this environment and experience so many different areas of law is interesting,” she said.

Also, a desire to help others is another reason Blare went to law school.

Blare is able to put all that knowledge she has learned in law school to good use as a law clerk.

The Colome Volunteer Fire Department held its annual election on Dec. 27.

Glenn Sealey was elected fire chief, Kurtis Atteberry, first assistant; Wayne Hofeldt, second assistant; Matt Bolie, secretary/treasurer; Nash Atteberry and Jeff Ohlmann, training officers.

“Survive to Thrive” is the theme of the Winner Area Chamber of Commerce banquet which will be held Jan. 13 at   the middle school gym.

The banquet will be from 5:30 to 9 p.m. The dinner will be served around 6:30 p.m. with Donna Kubik of Anter Ridge Lodge providing the meal.

Holly Hoffman, a competitor on Survivor will be the guest speaker. Hoffman is an excellent motivational speaker.

In addition to Hoffman, Winner High School students Addi Heenan and Amanda Edwards will be presenting their state oral interp selection. The girls won a superior on this duet.

Mike Scott, executive director of the Chamber, says during the social hour there will be some hidden idols and the persons who find them will win a prize.

Also part of the fun will be dessert dash. Each table will have the opportunity to place a bid to pick a dessert.

Scott is asking for volunteers to make a dessert. Those who would like to make a dessert are to call the Chamber office at 842-1533.

Several awards will be presented honoring businesses and individuals.

The awards include: Farm and ranch family of the year, business of the year, employee of the year, volunteer of the year and the achievement award.

In addition, years of service awards will be presented to 32 businesses.

Because of the survivor theme there will be an awards challenge.

“We want to have a relaxed, fun evening to recognize all of our businesses and individuals in the community,” said Scott.

“We have gotten through COVID-19 and sales have been good in the community we felt it was right to have a survive to thrive theme,” said Scott.

Last year there was no banquet due to COVID.

Tickets for the banquet can be purchased at the Chamber office. Persons are to RSVP by Jan. 10.

Hoffman was the last remaining member of the Espada Tribe and the last woman standing on Season 21 of CBS reality show Survivor: Nicaragua.

A professional motivational speaker and the author of “Your Winner Within” and “Write Yourself a Note.”

Hoffman acknowledges that life is made up of challenges and we are oftentimes faced with situations that seem insurmountable. “But within each of us is an ability to focus our thoughts, emotions and energy to succeed—if only we have the knowledge, tools and discipline to do so,” said Hoffman.

A native of South Dakota, Holly’s writing and speaking not only offer encouragement and optimism but a roadmap for self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment. Hoffman travels across the country and internationally speaking to a wide variety of organizations, associations, universities, schools and women’s organizations.

In a season of joy, the Winner Advocate and several businesses enjoy doing a photo greeting ad in the Christmas issue.

However, one ad in this year’s Christmas issue did not bring much joy to the Winner Advocate. Instead, it brought verbal harassment and hatred to the newspaper.   It must be noted that 98 percent of this harassment came from persons living in different states and who were not subscribers to this newspaper.

The picture was of the staff of Winner Welding and owner Brad Assman is holding a coded sign which is anti Joe Biden.

The Winner Advocate received 17 phone calls from California, Massachusetts, Missouri, South  Carolina, Minnesota, New Jersey, Colorado and Washington.

These were people who were screaming at the Winner Advocate and calling us every filthy name they could think of.

The paper received 17 negative e mails.

There was one positive e mail from  woman who was a  Democrat. The lady from Minneapolis said: “I hope you don’t get too much flack  but I really hope some of this discourse, positive or negative, brings attention to the plight of local news.”

Assman said he placed the ad to show his disdain for Biden. He voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020 and said he feels the last election was stolen.

“I am not being profane,” Assman said. “Not everyone knows what that sign means.”

Assman has a sign on his truck with the same words.

When people question Assman on the sign, he shows them a video that explains the derivation of the coded insult.

Assman says he has received both negative and positive comments. He thinks it my attract more welding business in his direction.

In addition, the lead story on a recent KSFY nightly news featured the picture and the controversy over it.

Also, a column that appeared in the Black Hills Pioneer in Spearfish said the Winner Advocate was wrong to publish the ad. “It would help if newspapers, even those so starved for a few dollars to lower all standards, would not publish such trash,” said the news column.

 The following comments are from Winner Advocate publisher and owner, Charley Najacht.
“It’s amazing how three simple words,’Let’s Go Brandon’ can trigger left-leaning people and liberal news outlets in and out of our state, resulting in a liberal feeding frenzy. President Trump was called every name in the book by his opponents for four years and that was fine with these people. Actor and Trump-hater Robert DiNero concluded his anti-Trump rant at an elite Hollywood awards ceremony with ‘F— Trump!’ and received a standing ovation. Where was the outcry then?

“The negative reaction we received for publishing this ad was a gross overreaction. The business owners had every right to say what they said in their ad as long as it was not profane or libelous, and it wasn’t. It was actually two messages: one Merry Christmas to our readers and their customers and another more polite one to President Biden and his administration. Like tens of millions of other people in this country, they do not agree with its policies and are fearful of the direction our country is headed.
“What we learned from this little episode is about the nasty intolerance from the left exhibited by their inappropriate and sometimes obscene phone calls and emails and threats Laura had to field in our office. I’m sure Brad and Deb had to deal with the same. Hopefully, they heard from supporters as well.
“Our office received messages from ‘upset’ people in at least eight other states. We know they never subscribed to or heard of the Winner Advocate before this ad came out in our Christmas edition. Something like this is only possible through the dissemination of news on social media.
“We know how this works. One local person who does read the Advocate was upset at the message in the ad and spread their disdain to all their ‘friends’ on Facebook, who all did the same. These people then lash out with their verbal and printed vitriol at the business and newspaper.
“I’m surprised that media critics of these three Brandon words do not recognize the irony of the origin of this phrase which was created by one of their own. The NBC reporter who was conducting a live television interview with race driver Brandon Brown tried to deflect attention from chants by race car fans of ‘F— Joe Biden’ by telling him they were saying “Let’s Go Brandon.” The original phrase was first heard at college football stadiums around the country beginning last September, so it was no surprise that the more watered down version quickly caught on as being more acceptable in polite company. Even Biden said he agreed with it on a Christmas Eve phone call with an Oregon man.
“We do appreciate all the positive feedback we received as news spread about how our business was being attacked by outside interests who seek to squelch and attack all dissenting opinions. People are banned from social media platforms for expressing opinions other than accepted state-run propaganda. Thank you to the people who subscribed to our newspaper to show their support for the Advocate. Bless all of you!
“Laura told me the ad message was even the lead story on Channel 4 television last Monday evening. Her response was, ‘It must have been a slow news day.’ We tend to concur. It must have been a slow news day for a lot of other people, too. I was amazed at how many people were concerned with  a message expressed by a small business in Winner, S.D., and how it, and we, were attacked from all sides for printing it.
“At the Winner Advocate we still believe in free speech for individuals and businesses and in the freedom of the press. People are free to disagree, but nobody should be vilified or attacked for expressing alternative opinions. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in our country.” Najacht concluded.