Category Archives: Local

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

The public learned more details about plans to replace the Platte-Winner bridge at a public meeting in Winner on Dec. 12.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation hosted the meeting to outline the proposed plans and the progress the department has made since unveiling the project in May. When the project was first announced last spring a public meeting was held in Winner.

Plans are to replace the long Platte-Winner Bridge sometime in 2024-2025. The new bridge will be in a different location but somewhat close the current bridge. Traffic will be maintained on the current bridge while construction is going on.

Last year the state DOT completed a statewide major bridge investment study. That study recommended the SD44 bridge over the Missouri River should be replaced sometime in the mid-2020s. The existing SD44 highway alignment between highways SD47 and SD50 has also experienced numerous landslides since the current bridge opened in 1966, resulting in extensive repair and mitigation expenses.

The DOT has collected data and used public and agency input from the first meetings to prioritize the area where a new river crossing should be located.

Tim Thoreen of HR Green of St. Paul, Minn., consultant project manager, said since the project will impact the Snake Creek Recreation Area, architects and project managers have been working closely with state officials to ensure the route chosen for the new bridge is as efficient as possible for all entities.

Architects are anticipating the new bridge to be the same style as the current one but expanded from 28 feet wide to 36 feet wide. Architects want the new bridge to last for 100 years.

Figures show that 900 vehicles cross the bridge on a daily basis and estimates are that will expand to 1,400 vehicles by 2050.
Based on input and data analysis, more than 20 criteria were developed for the evaluation of an initial set of bridge location options. The DOT has screened down the number of alternatives to three after a comparison of each alternative.

Some criteria appear to be the key factors that will be instrumental in the final determination of a preferred alternative location. Some of the criteria looked at include geotechnical conditions, impact to recreation resources (specifically Snake Creek Recreation Area) and cultural resources.

Some people at the meeting questioned whether the current Platte-Winner Bridge could be repurposed as a pedestrian and bike path. Thoreen said that will probably not happen. He said the liability of making that bridge a pedestrian bridge is not worth it.

A third set of public meetings about the project are planned for the summer of 2018.

The Winner Elks Lodge held its local Hoop Shoot on Dec. 2 at the middle school auditorium.

Results include:

Girls

12-13—1. Cici Watson
10-11—1. Cora Moss, 2. Ava Craven

Boys

12-13—1. Blake Volmer, 2. Joseph Laprath, 3. Justin Hausmann
10-11—1. Aiden Semrad-Schroeder, 2. Jared Bennett, 3. Zach Olson
8-9—1. Carter Craven, 2. Carter Foster, 3. Langston Dutt

The state Elks Hoop Shoot will be Jan. 27 in Pierre.

South Dakota 4-Hers donated more than 19,000 pieces of clothing to neighbors in need as part of the Head-to-Toe statewide service project launched in 2016.

Organized by the South Dakota 4-H Youth Council, the annual service project provides an opportunity for 4-H members to give back to their communities, explained Amber Erickson, SDSU Extension 4-H Youth Development Field Operations Coordinator.

“4-H proudly promotes service learning,” Erickson said. “Each year the Youth Council selects a project youth from all counties across the state can become involved in to create a state-wide impact.”

To add some friendly competition to the service project, counties competed to see which could donate the most pieces of clothing. Tripp County won, donating nearly 7,000 pieces of clothing.

The club responsible for this win was the Clovervale Club, collecting 6,962 pieces of clothing and distributing them to 15 community organizations, shelters, non-profits and state agencies to help meet community members’ clothing needs.

“When we went to the shelters to donate and we saw people who do not have what we have, it made me happy to see that I could go out of my way to help someone else other than myself,” said Ryan Sell, 14.

Although their entire 4-H club was involved, Sell, together with his brother, Clay and good friend, Rowdy Moore, were the members who dedicated the most time to the endeavor – meeting for about three hours every other Friday for five months to sort clothing donated to the Tripp County Extension Office.

“It was a huge time commitment. I figured it would be a one-time collection and delivery, but then clothes kept coming,” explained Jill Sell, Ryan and Clay’s mom.

4-H’s service to others focus, is a big reason the regional manager for South Dakota Department of Social Services enrolled her sons in the program. “I want my kids to grow up and not be self-absorbed. They need to be willing to help and be involved,” Jill explained.

Because of Jill’s work, her sons knew that there are many South Dakotans in need, however, it was not until Clay, participated in the Head-to-Toe service project, that he really understood what his mom meant when she told her sons they were fortunate.

“I saw the people at one of the places we dropped off clothing and was like, whoa, this is what it means not to have what you need. My mom would tell us that we have a lot compared to some, but I never actually witnessed that,” explained Clay, 12 and seventh grader at Winner School District.

Clay added that because Winner does not have school on Fridays, spending time with his brother and good friend, made the time away from class fun.

“I get bored easily. This kept me busy,” Clay said.

His friend, Rowdy Moore agreed.

“It was fun to spend time with the Sells and it felt good to help people because they don’t have the stuff we do,” Moore, also a seventh grader explained.

Hands for Larger Service
Service to others has been part of 4-H mission since the beginning of the organization more than a century ago, explained Laura Kahler, SDSU Extension 4-H Youth Program Advisor – Gregory and Tripp Counties.

“It’s right here in the 4-H Pledge. 4-H has a lot of resources for volunteers and youth to connect them to projects to help their communities,” Kahler said. “I am wowed by the quantity of clothing this club was able to gather and distribute and by the time the youth dedicated to the project.”

Tripp County did win the state-wide competition. They county will be presented with a plaque and a $50 in 4-H Mall (shop4-h.org) credit the Tripp County 4-H Youth Program Advisor can utilize to cover costs of materials for county programming.

To prevent snow from blocking roadways and intersections during bad weather, Tripp County Highway Department per directions from the Tripp County Commissioners are requesting all landowners to remove hay bales from Tripp County road right of ways.

This holiday season, Winner Police Department will strive to keep vehicle drivers and passengers safe as they search for drunk drivers. From Dec. 13-31 law enforcement is partnering with the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a special year-end Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement mobilization to get drunk drivers off the street and to spread the word about the danger of impaired driving.

“This holiday season, drivers will notice increased enforcement watching closely for anyone who is driving impaired,” said Winner police chief Paul Schueth. “It is vital; we keep our roads and our travelers safe, not just at the holidays, but every day. With extra travelers on the roads and people attending holiday parties, we will likely see an uptick in drunk driving.”

The holidays are a special time in America, full of excitement and endless festivities. Oftentimes, these celebrations bring higher number or drunk drivers to the roads endangering those drivers and others. Drunk driving can have deadly, devastating consequences. Nationally in 2016, 37,461 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes and 28 percent (10,497) died in crashes when a drive had a blood alcohol centration over the limit of .08.

In fact, in Tripp County from October 2016 to present, one person lost their life in a motor vehicle traffic crash due to alcohol involvement along with five other vehicle accidents resulting in injuries reported to have alcohol involvement contributing to the collision.

“This should be a time of happy merrymaking, a time for friends and families to come together for endless laughs, good food, and happy memories,” said Schueth. “We are committed to doing whatever it takes to help save lives by keeping drunk drivers off the road. Choosing to drink and drive is a selfish choice—one that will see harsh consequences.”

Drunk driving offenders often serve time in jail, lost their driver’s license, are charged higher insurance rates and pay dozens of other unanticipated expenses ranging from attorney fees, court costs, car towing and repairs and lost wags due to time off from work. But the ultimate cost of drunk driving is causing a traffic crash that injures or kills.

Linkyn Petersek of Colome is the Rising Stars reserve champion in breakaway roping.

Over Thanksgiving break, Petersek went to Guthrie, Okla., to compete in the Rising Stars calf roping at the famous Lazy E Arena. This is the largest youth calf roping event in the world.

The roping consists of three rounds and a short round. The top 15 make it back to the short go to compete for the average title.

Petersek finished second in the first round with a 2.6 and then had runs of 2.99 and 2.91. He was the fourth high call back for the short go. He roped a 2.75 in the short go to win second in the average with an 11.25 on four head.

Petersek won a saddle pad, a pair of Twisted X boots and $1,718.

There were 381 runs in the breakaway roping on Saturday. Petersek also participated in the tie down calf roping.

Winner High School oral interp team competed at the regional in Chamberlain.

Results of the WHS students include: Presley Foudray and Kayla Natoli, 5th in duet; Andrew Taylor, 5th in storytelling; Megan Brozik, 5th in poetry; Shelby Scott, 5th in humorous; Presley Foudray, 7th in serious and Madyson Morehart, 5th in non-original oratory.

Yvonne Hollenbeck of Clearfield will be among the performers at the Black Hills Cowboy Christmas concert and dance Dec. 9 at the Historic Homestake Opera House in Lead. Hollenbeck will be performing several of her poems.
This year’s event feature 15 performers.

The matinee show is at 2 p.m. and the evening show is at 7:30 p.m.

Tripp County high school students are taking part in the 4-H Science of Agriculture challenge. This is put on by the SDSU extension to encourage a team of middle/high school youth to explore an agriculture topic that is relevant to their community.

In the spring of 2018, participants will attend a statewide event to present their 4-H science in agriculture projects which will be evaluated and judged.

In Tripp County, cattle and pheasants are two important agriculture industries and so the team is looking at how pasture land can provide pheasant habitat. This project is a cooperation between Tripp County 4-H, Winner FFA and Rosebud chapter of Pheasants Forever. Pheasants Forever member worked with landowners to set up sites for the group to visit on Nov. 17 and the chapter sent a lunch along for the participants.

During the field trip, members observed each pasture and took notes on what food, shelter and water may be available to the birds as they prepare for winter.

Pheasants Forever biologist Jessica Downey and Jimmy Doyle, SDSU extension natural resources field specialist attended to help participants identify characteristics of each site that could help or hurt the pheasants survival through the winter.

In the spring, the group will go to the same sites to evaluate their quality for pheasant nesting habitat.

By Dan Bechtold
Editor

Hunting and shooting remain two of the country’s most popular sports and pastimes. Plenty of hunting stories have been told through the generations and across the country. What hasn’t been widely told is the story of hunting—in particular the impact it has on the economy.

Hunting Works for South Dakota is a new organization that advocates for public policy that supports jobs and economic prosperity.

The Winner Area Chamber of Commerce and the local development corporation recently joined Hunting Works for South Dakota.