Custer County Chronicle

County considers contracting appraisal

Published by admin on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 9:23am

Custer County may contract help for mass appraisal in the coming year.
At the Dec. 20 meeting of the Custer County Commission the commission heard from the county’s director of equalization Leah Vissia, who discussed with the commission the pros and cons of making new hires to replace two appraisers who left the office as opposed to potentially contracting a company to do a forthcoming mass appraisal for the county.

Record number of cases reported

Published by admin on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 9:21am

Another COVID-19 surge that is sending cases rocketing in the U.S. is putting children in the hospital in close to record numbers, and experts lament that most of the youngsters are not vaccinated, the Associated Press wrote in a recent report.
During the week of Dec. 21-27, an average of 334 children 17 and under were admitted per day to hospitals with the coronavirus, a 58 percent increase from the week before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Nursing home closure brought to county

Published by admin on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 9:58am

Some people in Custer County want answers from Monument Health regarding the upcoming closure of the Custer Care Center (nursing home) with the City of Custer. They want to enlist the county’s help in getting those answers, as well.
At the Dec. 22 meeting of the Custer County Commission, Lea Anne McWhorter came before the commission during its public comment time to talk about the situation, saying while she realizes it’s not a county issue in terms of money, she believes it’s an issue that will affect the entire county.

Demanding transparency

Published by admin on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 9:57am

About 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the last Hermosa Town Board of Trustees meeting of the year, cars began pulling into the parking lot of the building the town office shares with the Hermosa branch of the county library. Minutes later the occupants of those vehicles, mostly residents of Hermosa and the surrounding area, were crowded into the small board room to the point where board president Dan Holsworth had to send people to other parts of the building to bring in more chairs.

‘The Best’ coming Jan. 19

Published by admin on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 9:56am

On Jan. 19, the Custer County Chronicle and Hill City Prevailer News will put a new spin on the year in review when they publish the fourth annual “The Best,” which will feature photos and short descriptions of many of the things that happened in Custer County, Hill City and Keystone.
This separate publication will be printed in tabloid size in color, making for a great keepsake. It will be inserted into the Jan. 19 issues of both newspapers.

They said it: The most quotable quotes of 2021

Published by admin on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 9:56am

The following is a list of some of the standout quotes that happened in the first part of 2021.
“This has been a challenge that no one has faced before, but with Naugle’s leadership, the Custer School District has been able to complete a full in-person semester of school, which many schools were not able to do.” - Custer Elementary School principal Barb Paulson, discussing the Custer County Chronicle’s Citizen of the Year for 2020, Mark Naugle.

Omicron variant now in South Dakota

Published by admin on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 9:55am

The South Dakota Department of Health (SD-DOH) has confirmed the B.1.1.529 variant (“Omicron” variant) of COVID-19 has been detected in South Dakota. The findings were verified by the Public Health Laboratory in Pierre. At the time only one case of the variant had been identified in Minnehaha County among a male in his 20s, but officials said it is safe to assume other cases across the state may exist given the variant’s increased transmission.

Resident relocation underway

Published by admin on Thu, 12/23/2021 - 9:31am

With the recent announcement of the pending closure of the Monument Health Custer Care Center, families of the 30 current residents have begun the task of finding alternative housing for their loved ones.
Among them are the children of centenarian Florence Ellerton who moved to the nursing home just two months ago after several years of living at the nearby Monument Health Assisted Living center. A South Dakota native and a resident of the Custer area since 1974, Ellerton celebrated her 100th birthday last May.

City will raze community center

Published by admin on Thu, 12/23/2021 - 9:31am

After nearly a decade of pouring money into the Custer Community Center in hopes of making the former Custer Elementary School suitable to house the Custer YMCA and city offices, the Custer City Council has voted to tear the entire structure down and start from scratch on a new community center.
At its Dec. 20 meeting the council voted to accept the low bid of RCS Construction to conduct the demolition, which will be complete by the end of April. RCS submitted a bid of $290,000 to tear the structure down.

Sitting down with Scut

Published by admin on Thu, 12/23/2021 - 9:30am

“He had yellow eyes! So help me God, yellow eyes!”
That person whom Ralphie Parker decried as having yellow eyes in the iconic Christmas movie “A Christmas Story” was none other than Scut Farkus, the leather jacket-wearing bully who harasses Ralphie and his friends until he gets his comeuppance in the form of a beating courtesy of an enraged Ralphie.