Latest news with #JeffBathke
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Memorial Day events set for communities around the area
May 23—Communities across the region will commemorate Memorial Day with public ceremonies and events this weekend. Below is a list of observances open to the public. Mitchell: Memorial Day festivities begin Saturday, May 24, along South Main Street in Mitchell, S.D., with events including a poker run, corn hole tournament, and beer garden at noon. Other highlights include a Show and Shine car show and a ladies poker walk at 1 p.m., followed by a kid pedal pull and family fun at 2 p.m. The BBQ rib Championship opens to public tasting at 4 p.m., with awards presented at 6 p.m. A Memorial Day service will be held Monday beginning at 9:15 a.m. at the American Legion Cemetery, continuing at 9:30 a.m. at the Navy Lagoon, 9:40 a.m. at the Grand Army of the Republic site, and concluding at 10 a.m. at the Serviceman's Cemetery. State Rep. Jeff Bathke will deliver remarks, with Craig Bennett serving as master of ceremonies. Music will be provided by the Mitchell City Band, and Taps will be performed by Kris Enga and Colin Pickett. Alpena: A Memorial Day service will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Alpena Community Center, honoring local veterans and remembering those who gave their lives in service. Artesian: An event will take place at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Artesian Community Center for a Memorial Day observance honoring fallen service members. Burke: The Burke VFW and Herrick American Legion Post will lead a series of Memorial Day services beginning at 10 a.m. at Graceland Cemetery, with commemorations taking place at area cemeteries to follow. U.S. Air Force retired Master Sgt. Rachelle A. Bloom will serve as the featured speaker. A community potluck will follow at the Burke VFW. Canova: Memorial Day services begin at 11 a.m. at the Canova Legion Hall, featuring remarks by retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Stan Rauch. A potluck meal will follow the program. Carthage: Memorial Day service will take place at 10 a.m. at the Carthage Auditorium, with guest speaker Patrick Burger. Chamberlain: A service will begin at 10 a.m. at South Dakota Veterans Park. In the event of inclement weather, the program will move to the Chamberlain Community Center. Delmont: A Memorial Day ceremony will honor veterans at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Delmont Legion Hall. Speakers include Kenneth Wieting and Pastor Stephen Gallo. Ethan: The Ethan Legion Post 261 will host Memorial Day services at 10 a.m. at the Legion Hall. A roll call at the cemetery will follow, weather permitting. A potluck lunch will be served at the Legion Hall. Gann Valley: A Memorial Day service will begin at 9:30 a.m. with colors posted at Duncan Cemetery. The program continues at 10:30 a.m. at the Fire Hall with speaker Gigi Hendricksen. Honors will be held at Spring Hill Cemetery, with a potluck lunch to follow at the Fire Hall. Geddes: A ceremony will take place at 9:30 a.m. at Pleasant Lawn Cemetery. In case of rain, the program will take place at the Multipurpose Building. The annual dinner will follow at Lone Tree Steakhouse in Geddes. Howard: A Memorial Day program will take place at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Taschner Park. South Dakota National Guard Col. Dennis Bickett will be the featured speaker. Kimball: Memorial Day proceedings will take place at 9:30 a.m. at Vega Cemetery. A program will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Legion Hall. The guest speaker is Preston Singrey. Commemorations will follow at Kimball City and St. Margaret's cemeteries, followed by a potluck dinner. Letcher: A Memorial Day program will be held at 10 a.m. at the Letcher Community Center. The service will include guest speakers, music and military honors. Coffee and rolls will be served afterwards. Lyman County: A service will take place at 10 a.m. at the Reliance Cemetery, followed by an 11 a.m. program at the Kennebec gym, followed by military honors at Kennebec Cemetery. A community potluck will follow at the school lunchroom. Menno: The Memorial Day program will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Menno High School auditorium. Past American Legion State Commander Terry Hanson will be the featured speaker. A lunch will follow the program. Milltown: Proceedings will take place at 9 a.m. at the Milltown Cemetery. Music will be provided by Maurice Bueber and the Happy Memories Band. Parkston: A community program will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the Parkston Amphitheater, with a flag ceremony to follow. Plankinton: A Memorial Day program will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Plankinton School, with remarks by The Rev. Terry Weber. A wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery and a luncheon at the school will follow. Salem: A community Memorial Day program will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the McCook Central High School Performing Arts Center. Brett Dickerson, of the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs, will be the guest speaker. Scotland: A Memorial Day program will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Scotland High School Gym. Wagner: A program will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the National Guard Armory. The guest speaker will be State Rep. Jon Hansen, who is South Dakota Speaker of the House. Wessington Springs: A Memorial Day service will be held at 10 a.m. at Hope Cemetery, with remarks by Deach Koch. A second program will follow at 11 a.m. at Prospect Hill Cemetery with speaker Don Grubb. A potluck meal will be served at noon at the Legion Hall. Woonsocket: A memorial ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Eventide Cemetery, followed by a ceremony at the Woonsocket Veterans Memorial at 10:45 a.m. A program will follow at 11 a.m. at the Woonsocket Community Center, with the Town N Kountry Kids 4-H Club presenting. A lunch served by Legion Auxiliary will follow.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
District 20 lawmakers talk prison voting, education bills at Friday cracker barrel
Feb. 28—MITCHELL — Area legislators opined on a number of topics Friday during the District 20 legislative cracker barrel on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University, including the recent failed House Bill 1025, which would have authorized the construction of a new prison in Lincoln County. Rep. Jeff Bathke, Rep. Kaley Nolz and Sen. Paul Miskimins all sat down for a panel question and answer session sponsored by the Mitchell Chamber of Commerce. The audience in attendance submitted questions to the panel, which were then put to the three lawmakers for a response. One of the more intensely discussed topics was the recent failure of HB 1025. The bill would have specifically authorized the Department of Corrections to construct a prison facility for offenders committed to the department in Lincoln County and to make appropriations therefore and to transfer money to the incarceration construction fund. The bill failed in the South Dakota House on Feb. 21 by a vote of 35-34, and was reconsidered, only to fail again three days later on a 35-35 vote. On both votes, Nolz voted against the bill and Bathke voted in favor of the bill. A question from the audience asked both representatives the reason they voted as they did. Bathke, a Republican who spent over 17 years as a licensed counselor inside the prison system and as a private research analyst and is one of the few lawmakers in Pierre who has worked in the system, said he had seen firsthand how badly the current penitentiary in Sioux Falls is in need of an update — or in this case outright replacement. "I worked in the prison and my office was on The Hill. This is a public safety issue. Overcrowding is one thing. Those cells are six by eight, and there's two inmates in a cell. There was a time when I worked there around 2008 our population started to grow and we had three inmates in a cell. Think of that — a 48 square foot room with three inmates in it," said Bathke, referring to the main penitentiary complex in Sioux Falls. "Do we or do we not need a prison? The answer is yes. We need a prison." He recalled the 2011 death of corrections officer Ronald Johnson, who was beaten to death with a pipe by inmates who stole his uniform in an effort to escape. Bathke's office was only a few dozen feet from where the incident occurred. The two inmates were caught, but the conditions at the prison, which was built in the 1880s, makes the facility dangerous for both inmates and employees, he said. The need is there, and the cost of a facility that will serve the state well into the future is only going to keep going up the longer the state puts it off. "The reason I voted for it — one, we need it — but the other is if every year we kick this down the road, inflation is going to kill us. It's going to kill you, your tax dollars. And the women's prison is a perfect example," Bathke said. "It came in one year, here's the price. They didn't approve it, it comes back the next year and gets approved, and it was like 40% more. They're building it right now in Rapid City. So it doesn't make any sense when we have the money sitting there." In its original form, the bill would have sent $182 million toward the proposed 1,500-bed prison in Lincoln County. It also would have cleared the Department of Corrections to tap into a prison fund worth more than $600 million, set aside by legislators in prior years, to begin building it. To build the prison its funding package would need support from two-thirds of lawmakers in both the House and Senate. A later amendment was approved to keep the bill alive with a simple majority. It stripped the bill of everything but a provision moving $148.1 million into the prison construction fund. The original proposal also sought to spend $33.9 million from the state's budget reserves. Nolz, the other Republican representative for District 20, said her vote against the bill came in part due to funding concerns as well as from a desire to get the job done right, even if that doesn't mean getting it done immediately. "I voted the opposite," Nolz said, referring to Bathke's vote on the bill. "With the bill being amended down to just the transfer, I was concerned with how the budget looked and why we transferred money if we're not holding on to what they call Plan A, which was the Lincoln County facility," Nolz said. "I get the huge expenditure, and inflation is a problem, but I also think this is probably the biggest expenditure the state is going to do. I don't see the reason to rush it. If we're to have it for 100 years, let's make sure it's done right, something we can afford and something that is useful for the workforce." The bill did not reach the senate, but Miskimins also chimed in with comments on the topic. He suggested now would be a better time to build a prison than a year or more down the road. Like Bathke, he feared taxpayer dollars needed for construction would go less far every succeeding year. "I'll just give you an example of why waiting is, I don't believe, the best answer. Watertown built a new jail, they had a bond issue. It didn't pass. They brought it back. Finally, after three bond issues, they passed it nine years later, and with the amount of money that was there, they built 40% of the facility that they would have built nine years earlier," Miskmins said. The proposed prison has been a controversial topic, from hard nosed debates among lawmakers to strong opposition from Lincoln County landowners and residents who would be living and working next to the new proposed facility. Another question from the audience asked the panel about teacher retention and legislation affecting state schools. The question expressed concerns about bills such as HB 1201, which establishes requirements for school employees regarding gender ideology, HB 1020, the school voucher bill that sends funds to private schools or homeschooling and SB 51, which is an act to require the display and curricular inclusion of the Ten Commandments and other documents. "As a veteran educator, I am concerned about the number entering the profession of education and also retention and keeping them in the profession," the question read. "I do not feel that the above bills are helping recruit and retain teachers." Bathke said he tended to vote no on school bills unless it directly benefited them. He said he had only voted for one school bill so far this year, and that was a bill that funded equipment purchases for state technical schools. He voted against every other such bill that came along, and was likely to do so in the future unless it directly helped state school districts. He said he was disappointed in many of the education-based bills that came through the legislature this year, such as the bill that would have defunded the Huron School District. "Before I voted, I usually called (Mitchell School District Superintendent Joe) Childs and all the other superintendents in our district. We have a little email group, and the first thing I do is get hold of them and find out what their thoughts are, and they give me very good information back," Bathke said. "It's just crazy some of the things that have come across that we have to vote on. These bills should never get out of committee. But they do, and then they get on the floor. You saw the one to defund the Huron school. That was the biggest embarrassment up to that point." Nolz again differed with Bathke on some points centering around education bills. She said she looked more at the effect the legislation will have on children themselves as opposed to its effect on district administration or operations. She used HB 1239, another bill brought up in the audience question and one for which she voted in favor and Bathke voted against, as an example. The bill would subject schools, universities, museums, libraries and their employees to criminal prosecution and jail time for allowing children to view material defined in state law as obscene or harmful to minors. "Rep. Bathke and I will differ on some of this. Some of these bills, you say they're for schools, but they're really about children. I know the librarian bill was very contentious," Nolz said. "There was a list sent out with all the schools and all these books that are pornographic in nature, and really what we're asking you to do to keep this pornography out of children's hands. I've read from the experts on these books, and I'd be horrified if a child got these." Nolz said she too had issues with some bills that came around in 2025, and she agreed with Bathke about the bill to defund the Huron School District. "I definitely don't agree with the defund Huron bill. I think that was totally unnecessary. It should never have been a bill," Nolz said. "But it really is more about protecting the children. We're not trying to put extra burdens on teachers and administrative staff, but what is most important to me is the children." While the state legislature remains busy doing the work of the people, the three all seemed to agree that there was more division in Pierre this year than in some past years, particularly among the Republican party. One audience question framed the current scene in Pierre as having one Democrat party and two Republican parties. Miskimins, who is also a Republican, said as much in his opening statement at the event. "It is a very contentious year. We're very divided in both bodies on many issues, and the prison is just one example of being divided," Miskimins said. "It's been an interesting year, and we're making difficult choices." Bathke said his voting record springs from his own decisions, saying that he votes the way he sees fit, not how any other individual or group tells him to vote. But the internal division has made it a challenge to get things done, he said. How that can be remedied is a difficult call to make, he said. "Look at the votes. Pull the vote sheets. The Republican party is completely divided. And I don't know how that can be fixed, I really don't. It's bad," Bathke said. The three agreed that they would continue to work with their fellow lawmakers in the best interest of state residents and those of District 20, but it will require continued introspective and work from everyone involved. As with past District 20 cracker barrels with the three current lawmakers, the discussion was lively and cordial. And as with any three individuals, not all shared the same opinion. That's just the nature of doing the people's business in Pierre in 2025, Nolz said. "The split party, the Republic party, it's pretty clear. You can see it with us here, too," Nolz said.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Marshall Mitchell: Mitchell fire union's Chase the Ace smolders out after reaching UTV fundraiser goal
Feb. 21—MITCHELL — Where has the ace of hearts gone? The Mitchell Fire Department union's UTV fundraiser Chase the Ace is missing in action. Union and fire administration have cited department-wide flu, venues falling through and changes in union leadership for dropping the deck on what was previously a regular drawing that raised funds to pay off a UTV that was purchased for the fire department. The Chase the Ace raffle, with the most recent drawing on Jan. 3 and along with donations and grants, reached the fundraising goal and the UTV was purchased. "With the closure of the Back 40, we were as surprised as everybody else," said former Mitchell fire union president Shannon Sandoval, who spearheaded the Chase the Ace fundraiser. "The event had slowed down with winter months. It was good to kind of put a quick pause on it, giving us time to figure out how we could finish it, because at that point, we had had enough donations to finance the project fully." Mitchell's fire union, chapter 4166, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, purchased the $37,700 Cam-Am Defender utility vehicle and installed a skit kit for $5,000. Headlights and other amenities have also been purchased. A commissioning celebration at Iverson Powersports is forthcoming. In August 2024, the fire union organized a raffle during Dakotafest, but was interrupted when a citizen brought the topic to Davison County Administrator Jeff Bathke, who forwarded the concern to the auditor's office , who then called the Davison County Sheriff's Office to shut them down for not notifying their office of the raffle. The current jackpot is $8,366. Under the Chase the Ace rules, one raffle ticket will be drawn, which gives the ticket holder the chance to choose a card off the board looking for the ace of hearts. Drawing that card entitles the winner to 50% of the jackpot. The Chase the Ace raffle was held at the Back 40 Taphouse Grill from September 2024 until the location closed in January. The event started at the VFW Post 2750 in June 2024 and was held weekly until October, when it became a monthly drawing. On Jan. 17, the 4166 union's Facebook page said that Chase the Ace was taking a break. No public update has been released since. The Mitchell Republic inquired to the Mitchell Fire Department about the UTV fundraiser the fourth week of January, and again the second week of February, but fire officials did not have an exact date for the next drawing or the UTV commissioning. Fire Chief Dan Pollreisz told the Mitchell Republic on Feb. 18 that the final Chase the Ace jackpot drawing would most likely be held March 8 at the Masonic Temple following an EMS refresher course in the main hall, but union leaders indicated that this date may not work for the venue as there was already an evening event to be held there. Finally, the temple agreed to let the union use an upper room for the fundraiser. "We just didn't want to put a burden on another business for the benefit of the fire department, so we thought this would be the best way to do that," Sandoval said. Before the recent changes in leadership at the firehouse , Sandoval resigned as union president and went back to the floor. Sandoval had duties as fire marshal, union president, running the weekly UTV fundraiser and a home inspection business on the side. "I had just worn myself a little thin. I needed a quick reset," Sandoval said. The Masonic Temple, which is offering its venue to the fire union for an administrative fee, will have a cash bar open during the Chase the Ace final drawing. Any alcohol sales for the night would go to the lodge and not to the fire union, according to Sandoval. The Chase the Ace fundraiser started with 52 cards and ran for 22 weeks. There are 30 cards left. Union leaders have not decided if there will be prizes for drawing a losing card, as there was for the first 22 weeks, when a losing card would win 10% of the proceeds raised that week. A Pink Ladies dart league in Hudson, a South Dakota town with a population of 311, raised about $350,000 through donations and raffle tickets for a Chase the Queen fundraiser to help cancer survivors. The fundraiser lasted until there was only three cards left. The fire union will share 50/50 of the pot with the person who finds the ace of hearts. For every dollar the pot grows, the more money the fire union will have and the less fundraising they'll have to do. The more opportunities for the pot to grow, the more money for the union and for winning ticket holders. The fire union has a potential 30 more weeks to run the fundraiser, but is choosing to end it in one night. "We talked about removing some (cards) to make it go faster," said Tom Schaffner, who is the union secretary/treasurer and a firefighter/EMT. Raffle tickets can be purchased for $5 at the event or through the union's Venmo account ahead of the event in increments of $10. "We will be doing a rapid fire drawing so someone will win the pot that night. We will keep drawing until someone finds the ace of hearts," Sandoval said. The final drawing will be at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 8 in an upper room of the Masonic Temple.
