Category Archives: News

Shannon Duffy is the newly elected president of the National Rural Letter Carriers Junior Auxiliary at this years convention held in National Harbor, Maryland. Her father, Brad Duffy, is a member of the South Dakota Rural Letter Carrier organization and one of its past presidents.

The National Rural Letter Carriers organization is comprised of three areas: Association, Auxiliary and Junior Auxiliary. The Junior Auxiliary is made up of children and grandchildren of rural carriers between the ages of 6 and 20. When the child/grandchild reaches the age of 14, he/she is able to run for a spot on the board, vote on new members of the board and policy changes. As president, Shannon will be responsible for the planning of activities for next year’s convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In addition, she will appoint people to several offices at the national level and run the business meetings. Other board members include: 1st Vice President Cassandra Lynn of Missouri, 2nd Vice President Ruby Halcomb of Colorado, Secretary Josh Hackett of New York and Treasurer Chavannah Chesnut of Indiana.

Mel Lee was recently honored for his community service by Modern Woodmen of America.

As a volunteer, he is one of the first to step up when needed. Lee, the owner of Mel’s Auto, received a bouquet of candy and good wishes just in time to share with his regular buddies during the social time at the shop.

Lee graduated in 1971 from Gregory High School and joined the National Guard the same year. He completed officer candidate school in 1981. While in the guard, he served in operation Desert Storm as a liaison officer where he received the bronze star. He retired in 1991 as a captain.

He has continued his service to veterans as a volunteer driver for the DAV van and spearheads the annual fundraiser to keep the van going.

Also, Lee is a member of the VFW and the Legion and often serves as a member of the honor guard. He is a member of the retired officers association of the National Guard.

Most recently, Lee and his crew organized and served the annual Labor Day barbeque. In addition to his connection to the military organizations, he presents Winner’s bid for the Legion baseball tournament at the state meeting.

Lee is a member of the Methodist Church, the Izaak Walton League, Winner Area Chamber of Commerce, Pheasants Forever and Shriners. He said “volunteering comes easy; it’s fun to do good things.”

He received the candy bouquet and a $100 gift for his favorite charity from the fraternal department of Modern Woodmen chapter 4414 of Winner.

Linkyn Petersek won fourth place in the tie down calf roping average over the Labor Day weekend at the South Dakota timed event championship.

Petersek roped a 14.10 to finish sixth in the first go around. He had a 13.66 second run in the second go to land him in fourth in the average with a 27.76 on two runs.

This is Petersek’s first time to compete in the timed event championship as he is now 14 years old. He also competed in the team roping and breakaway roping events.

The South Dakota timed event championship is not just an average rodeo. Approximately 100 youth compete for the title during the State Fair in Huron. They must be between the ages of 14-19 years old to enter.

Thousands of dollars worth of prizes including a championship trophy, Featherlite trailer, scholarships, trophy saddles, jackets and jeans, just to name a few were awarded.

Contestants will choose 3 to 6 timed events to compete in. These events include: calf roping, breakaway roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, team roping, and goat tying.

Boys and girls compete against each other to determine South Dakota’s timed event champion.

Champions are determined based on a point system

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

Justin Wheadon is the new pastor of First Baptist Church of Winner. He was installed as the pastor on Sunday, Sept. 17.

There was an opening at the church when Pastor Bruce Miller moved.

Wheadon said he heard of the opening from the Moody Bible Institute job site.

In July, Wheadon came to Winner as a candidate for an interview and also preached one Sunday.

Originally from Miles City, Mont., Wheadon was the visitation pastor at Grace Bible Church in Miles City before moving to South Dakota.

The pastor says his goals for Winner are to see God work through this church and expand and reach more of the community and surrounding area. He wants to build on the Awana program and youth program.

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

Svend Jensen had never seen the beauty of the Black Hills or the expanse of the South Dakota Badlands.

The retired banker from Denmark was one of 13 people on a Rotary Friendship Exchange that spent part of their time in Winner.
The Denmark guests arrived in Rapid City on Sept. 7 and on Sept. 22 will return home after a stop in Sioux Falls.

A Rotary Friendship Exchange program provides a means through which Rotarians in one part of the world can experience life in another country or culture. Its goal is to advance international understanding and goodwill all through person to person connections across national boundaries.

A group of Winner Rotarians met the Denmark group in Wall where they had a tour of Wall Drug and then a tour of the Badlands before arriving in Winner on Sunday, Sept. 10.

Colome students in grades 2nd through 12th took part in an essay contest titled “Why I love to be Colome student.”

Here are some excerpts from the students’ essays.

“School is a building with four walls with tomorrow inside”—Lon Watters. Being a CHS student is the best thing that has ever happened to me and its because I went to bigger schools and got bullied a lot there, so I would think it would be the best thing that could happen to anyone. Colome is a small town with very nice people and no one seems to get bullied and “everyone” is very excepting and you can get to know “everyone” in the school. The teachers are great and can understand you if you just talk to them.