Allen Lee passed away at home on July 1, 2024 following a quiet,
determined battle with cancer.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024 at 2 p.m. at
the Hayti Fire Hall.
Allen was born to Curtis and Leuella Lee on June 18, 1951 at Watertown
SD. He grew up on the family farm near
Hayti and attended school in Hayti. He
graduated from Winner High School after the family moved to Winner.
Following graduation, he began his truck driving career and worked road
construction for Carlson Construction in Winner. He returned to farming with his dad near
Witten, SD, where he met and married Candy Farris. They were blessed with a son, James Edward
and a daughter, Jessica Lynn.
Allen eventually left farming and returned to full time trucking until he
retired back to Hayti. Not being able to
give up driving or farming, Allen drove school bus for Hamlin School District
and helped area farmers with field work and harvest until his health started to
fail.
Hunting and target shooting were his pastimes and passions. He spent hours reloading ammunition. Every day was a good day if he could drive
the backroads around Hayti in his side by side.
A day out hunting with a good friend only made life that much better.
Family was important to Allen. He
frequently called to visit and check on family members and friends far and
near. Particularly his kids and
grandkids were the focus of attention.
Ensuring they were doing well, safe and loved.
Allen will be missed and is survived by his son, Jim, Becca, Matthew and
Nora; daughter, Jessica, Landon, Eislyn; sisters Deanna(Ken) Schmidt,
Debby(Bob) Jensen and Kim(Doug)
Vogt. He is also survived by a special
nephew, Jon (Julie)Schmidt, as well as nieces and nephew, Becky, Jenny, Ben and
Kate Schmidt. Maverick and Wesley, his
two beloved fur babies also survive him.
Bill Sniffin, former owner of the Winner Advocate, will receive the General James O. Amos award at
the National Newspaper Association Foundation’s138th annual convention and
trade show in Omaha, Neb., Sept. 27.
Sniffin of Lander, Wyo., owned the Winner Advocate for 23 years. He bought
the newspaper from Don Johannsen.
The Amos award has been presented annually for the past 86 years to a
single publisher. It is presented to a newspaperman who has provided
distinguished service and leadership to community press and his community.
Sniffin was nominated by former U.
S. Sen. Al Simpson’s press secretary Stan Cannon and retired publisher Dave
Simpson of Cheyenne, Wyo., plus others.
At 78, Sniffin has has a long career in journalism that started when he
was 17 writing a weekly column for the local Elgin, Iowa, newspaper—The Echo
and was editor of his high school paper.
Sixty-one years in, he is still writing a weekly column for the 73,000
circulation Cowboy State Daily, the dominant media in Wyoming. He was publisher
of this daily digital medium from 2020 to 2022.
Sniffin was born in Wadena, Iowa, in 1946. After high school, he attended
a journalism short course at Iowa State University. He then became the sports
editor in Harlan, Iowa and later sports editor at Denison, Iowa where he
attended Midwestern College.
In 1966, he became editor of the Harlan newspapers, winning several
national awards.
In 1970, he and his wife, Nancy, moved to Lander, Wyo., where he took over
the Lander Wyoming State Journal as editor-publisher.
Over the next 29 years the couple operated the Lander newspaper, founded
three other newspapers and purchased a number of other newspapers, plus he had
a weekly paper in Maui.
Retired publisher and 2021 Amos award winner Larry Atkinson of Mobridge
wrote, “You’d be hard pressed to to find anyone within the National Newspaper
Association who has done more to promote community journalism while working
tirelessly to contribute to his community, his state and even his nation. His
efforts have extended beyond his home state of Wyoming as he has also owned
community newspapers and other media related ventures in Montana and South
Dakota and Hawaii.”
In his nomination letter, community newspaper advisor and columnist Ken Blum wrote that Sniffin
“has been and still at age 78 an affable, extroverted doer of the first
magnitude—a newspaperman and Wyoming lover through and through whose boundless
energy, work ethic, high character and considerable talent make for an ideal
candidate for the Amos award.”
Classes in the Colome School District will begin on Aug. 12.
Classes will run Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3:32 p.m. This is
the second year of a four day school week for students in Colome.
The big news is the new addition to the school will be open. This will
include some of the middle school, all of the high school and administration
offices. It is connected to the elementary school and the gym. The school will
now be one unit.
There will be no classes in the old building.
New paraprofessionals this year will be Jen Dougherty, elementary/title,
Isabell Thieman, elementary special education, Liz Smith, k-12 special
education.
Lori Haukaas will be the elementary special education teacher.
Some elementary teachers will be changing to new grades. Shelby Hrabanek
will teach first grade, Katie Richey, second grade and Teresa Lincoln will
teach both third and fourth grade.
Isabell Thieman will be in charge
of the After School program. This will run Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to
6 p.m. This is for students kindergarten to fourth grade. The cost is $3 a day
or $10 per week.
There will be bussing available to and from Buches Ace Hardware in Winner.
The bus will pickup students at the parking lot of Ace Hardware at 7:25 a.m.
and after school drop them off around 4 p.m.
New enrollment students are to contact the office at 605-842-1624 to
register.
It is estimated the enrollment for this year will be around 145 students
K-12.
The teacher in-service will be Aug. 7-8. The welcome back picnic and open
house will be held Aug. 8.
This year homecoming is set for Sept. 6.
There will be a new sport available in Colome which has been sanctioned by
the South Dakota High School Activities Association. It is esports and drone
racing.
Esports has been surging in popularity the past decade.
Twenty South Dakota high schools started esports pilot programs for the
2023-2024 season.
This fall will be the first year in South Dakota and it will go into
December and January.
Samantha West, K-12 principal, said last year a student survey was taken
to see if there would be any interest. She explained about half of the middle
school and high school students indicated they would be interested.
The Colome School Board voted to add esports as a new sport to the school.
Teams play against each other virtually in school computer labs in matches
coordinated by North Dakota based Fenworks.
Six South Dakota librarians have graduated from the Public Library
Training Institute, which took place in June at Northern State University in
Aberdeen. The institute, sponsored by the South Dakota State Library, is a
program of continuing education for librarian practitioners, support staff, and
trustees of South Dakota public libraries who do not have library degrees.
Misti Burns of the Tripp County Library, was one of the six to earn a
certificate of public library management.
Twenty-two students from 19 libraries across the state, including library
directors, trustees, and staff, attended this year’s institute.
“This year, our students
delved into crucial aspects of library advocacy and administration. They
explored topics such as workplace wellness, grant and policy writing, copyright
law, collection management, and workplace safety. We were fortunate to have
professionals share their knowledge and expertise with the group. This could
not have happened without Brenda Hemmelman and JoAnne Freitag from the State
Library planning and overseeing the event,” said George Seamon, State Librarian
for the South Dakota State Library. “I know that all participants are excited
to bring their new knowledge back to their libraries.”
The Public Library Institute started in 1985 at what was then Northern
State College in Aberdeen. Financial support is provided by the South Dakota
State Library in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services
in Washington, D.C.
Students attend in-person classes for one week in June and then take
additional classes online between summers. No prior formal library science
education or previous college attendance is required.
Librarians who attend all three years receive a Certificate of Public
Library Management and are recognized as certified library practitioners.
Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo The Better Choices, Better Health-SD open house was held July 10 at the regional extension office in Winner. Samantha Schlaffman, community health educator, goes over power point on chronic disease. In front is Chelsea Luse of Winner Regional Health.
The Winner Advocate asked some local people to comment on the
assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president.
Trump was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday when the shots
rank out.
“First and foremost we need to all extend our prayers to all who were
killed and wounded in such a horrendous event,” said Jody Brozik, former Mayor
of Winner
“Although this type of an incident should never happen, we live in a dark
world and these events continue to occur. Precious life was finished or altered
because of this tragedy.
“Thank goodness candidate for president Trump received only minor injuries
in this tragedy. In our current environment this may have become a fuse to a
much more painful scenario for the United States,” said Brozik.
“Looking at only the facts of the event that occurred, there needs to be a
deep dive into all the failures that allowed this to happen. This was a gross
negligence by several different agencies. They must be corrected.
“Measures must be taken to allow any man or woman to speak to the public
during an election campaign about their thoughts and ideas for this country
without fear of such evil. We the people deserve to hear all campaigns and
decide which candidate is best for the future of our country in our personal
opinion.
“Fair and free elections is what sets the United States of America apart
as the guiding light to the world. If we fail in correcting these processes we
will become a Banana Republic and our forefathers vision will be dust,” added
Brozik.
Erin Tobin said the assassination attempt on Donald Trump is a deeply
troubling event that highlights the urgent need for unity and civility in our
country. “Such violence is an attack on our democratic principles and
undermines the very fabric of our society. As Americans, we must come together
to foster a culture of respect and dialogue, ensuring that political
differences are resolved through a peaceful and constructive means. Only by
doing so can we build a stronger, more resilient nation,” said Tobin.
Mitch Miller, public safety commissioner for the city of Winner, said he
was appalled when saw the news. “I was disappointed in a lot of things. I am
think we should work on improving security for Donald Trump and President
Biden. There are a lot of elements in society today that are not pure. Some
people have an evil intent. We need to be more strict and more thorough with
our security procedures. I wish Donald Trump the best. He is a leader,” said
Miller.
Tony Coffman, pastor of the Methodist Church in Winner said, “We shouldn’t
be surprised something like this took place. Words matter. Things we say
matter. The shooter was only 20. So, since he’s been about 10 years old he’s
heard the rhetoric that Donald Trump is a dictator, evil, wants to end
democracy, etc, etc. If someone isn’t stable or mature enough to understand the
idea of nasty political rhetoric, those words can cause a lot of very
unreasonable fear in a person.
“As a country, we need to learn to be able to disagree again and our
government officials need to be examples of this kind of ideal. As long as both
sides throw around such hateful language, we can expect things like this to
continue.”
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said: “Violence of any kind,
whether directed at public figures or private citizens, has no place in our
society. Thank you to the law enforcement officers who rushed to protect former
President Trump and those at the rally. We also extend our condolences to the
families of those who have either died or have been injured as a result of the
shooting.”
The 12th annual Winner Area Chamber of Commerce BBQ pit row and Frontier
Motors car show will be held July 27 on
Main Street.
The first two blocks of Main Street will be blocked off for this event.
Also a portion of Third Street will be blocked off. Persons are asked on Friday
night and Saturday to remove their
vehicles from Third Street.
Grillers will be competing in the categories of ribs, pork butt and
brisket.
This year the BBQ tasting has been moved up to 6 p.m. with awards and team prizes awarded at
7 p.m.
Those in the contest can starting firing up the grills at 4:30 a.m.
The Winner Chamber will provide the meat and contestants can start picking
up the meat at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 26.
There will be $5,000 worth of prizes with payouts to first, second and
third in each category. There will be an overall grand champion chosen.
A prize will be awarded for the best side and the winner will receive
$100.
There is still time for a team to sign up to take part in the barbeque.
Persons just need to call the Chamber office at 605-842-1533.
The big car show is also held on Main Street. Registration is from 2-4
p.m. at the former Stormy’s building at
the corner of 4th and Main Street.
The car show will be from 4-7 p.m. with lots of prizes awarded. There will
be several divisions in the car show.
The BBQ is a full day of activity so come to Main Street and enjoy a full
day of fun.
There will be a Kids Q barbeque. The age categories are 6-9 and 10-14.
Grilling will start at 10:30 a.m. and is to be turned on by noon.
Winner Chamber will provide two pounds of hamburger to each
contestant. The youth can bring their
own grill or the Chamber will provide one.
Dakota Honey of Winner is the Kids Q sponsor.
The Chamber would like parents to pre-register their kids if they are
going to be in the kids Q.
Fun in the sun continues with the bean bag tournament which has become
very competitive over the years. Sign up starts at noon. There will be a 100
percent pay back for first second and third place.
For the third consecutive year there will be a calcutta for the main
barbeque. This will start at 2 p.m.
There will be musical entertainment on Main Street. From noon to 3 p.m. VT
Rockin Country will be playing and from 3-7 p.m. will be Neo Johnsons.
Tickets for the BBQ are $12 in advance or $15 at the gate.
Tickets can be obtained at the Chamber office.
“Come out and enjoy the day,” says Mike Scott, executive director of the
Chamber.
Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo T4 Foundation is a new foundation which is set up to help those in Tripp County affected by drug & alcohol use. Pictured from left are Baleigh Cerv, Cathy Mayes and Andrea Kindt. All three work at Main Gate Counseling in Winner.
By Dan Bechtold
Editor
A new foundation has been established in the Tripp County area to help
those affected by drug and alcohol use.
It is called the T4 Foundation and was started by Baleigh (Turnquist)
Cerv. The co-director is Andrea Kindt.
The T4 stands for the four Turnquist children who lived in a home with
alcoholic father.
Cerv says the new foundation provides trauma support for children and
families that may have a loved one in active addiction.
The new organization has a GoFundMe account and they would appreciate any
donations to help support this endeavor.
The foundation is currently doing a supply drive. Totes have been placed
outside the office of Main Gate Counseling in the city building and on the
second floor of the Tripp County Courthouse. Persons can leave travel size
hygiene products including deodorant, body wash, shampoo, tooth paste, tooth
brushes and soaps. Persons can also
leave books for kids, coloring books.
Cerv explained the aim is to put together packets that have hygiene items,
plus grocery and gas cards and a list of resources that are available to
provide help. These will be given to families who may have a loved one battling
addiction in the hospital.
Cerv explained gas and grocery cards will help for people who do not have
money for gas or to buy food.
Also planned as a fundraiser is a kickball tournament which will be held
on Labor Day, Sept. 2 at McDonald Park. Registration is at 3 p.m. and the
tournament starts at 4 p.m.
Both Cerv and Kindt are addiction counselor trainees who are working at
Main Gate Counseling and work under Cathy Mayes. The two women have to put in 2000 hours of
work before they can take their state board test.
Cerv said they would like to spread the word about the new foundation as
much as they can in the community.
“Our goal is to work closely with local law enforcement, hospital,
Southern Plains, Winner Resource Center and other entities to provide support
by offering resources for healing and education on addiction along with 1 on 1
support meetings,” said Cerv.
She said she has an associate degree in human services and is two
semesters away from getting her bachelor’s degree.
Kindt says she is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in prison.
Kindt said she would like to go to
school to get a degree.
Cerv said the idea of starting a founding has been on her mind for long
time but she finally took the leap to go ahead and start one.
She and her Turnquist sibblings have lived in an environment with an
alcoholic family member.
“I had a rough childhood and there is nothing for the kids and spouses of
the addicted person,” she explained.
Cerv is very open about her life growing up. She says she is sharing here
dad’s story to help people. It is so often you don’t talk about it, you don’t
acknowledge it, you just live with it. I want people to know that is not how
you should have to deal with it.”
Cerv note her fathere, who died in 2022, was a businessman and amazing mechanic who had a “horrible horrible
alcohol addiction.” She noted it was not seen in the community. “My dad hid it
very well until it got to the point
where it was affecting his health,” she said.
Cerv added the four Turnquist children were blessed to have a good family
support system. She noted people have told her how proud they are of the things
the Turnquist children have accomplished.
Cathy Mayes of Main Gate says both Cerv and Kindt are going to make good
counselors because they have walked in the shoes of people who need help.
Andrea said she was that mother who put her kids through hell. She now
wants to give back to the community and be a good resource to provide
information.
“We are a family here at Main Gate. It has been a healing process just
sharing our stories at the office,” said Cerv.
Persons who want to made a donation can send it to Main Gate at 325 S.
Monroe St. Suite 110 or use the go fund me page.
There is all sorts of information on T4 Foundation face book page.
In May, the three ladies at Main Gate went to the state convention. Cerv
had the chance to visit with Angela Kennecke of Emily’s Home and former KELO-TV
anchor.
“I ran my idea for a foundation before Angela and she felt it was great,”
said Cerv. She also did a podcast with
Kennecke.
The foundation is in its infancy but the two co-directors are working hard
to get the word out and get donations.
“We want to make sure kids are taken care of emotionally and physically,”
said Cerv.
For support or more information persons can call 605-842-0312,
605-840-0306 or 605-842-6610.
Submitted Photo Ludwigs + 1 were the relay winners in the Lennox Lapsley half marathon on Saturday, July 13. Their time was 1:41.44. The running event was held in Millboro.
There were several runners and walkers that took part in the Lennox
Lapsley run for health hearts on July 13 in Millboro.
Most of the runners took part in a half marathon.
The men’s division winner was Richard Tilton who finished in 2:07.48.
Taking first in the women’s division was Rachel Mairose in at time of
2:18.48.
The youth winner was James Burma in a time of 1:50.17.
There was a relay team and taking first place were the Ludwigs +1 in a
time of 1:41.44.
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