News

Hespen is new hospital president

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:36am

Barb Hespen has been selected as the new President of Monument Health Custer Hospital and Market. Beginning March 21, She will lead Monument Health’s health care operations in the southern Black Hills.

‘This is about our freedoms’

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:31am

The ongoing trucker Freedom Convoy to Washington, D.C. has at least one Custer County connection. Former 18-wheeler driver Eric Butler, a recent resident of the Argyle area, and his wife Linda Brayton Butler traveled by pickup truck to the nation’s capital last week to participate in the rally, taking along a load of donated food and water for those who are demonstrating for freedom.

Mail thefts reported locally

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:29am

Stage coach robberies involving mail have been a part of Black Hills history for nearly 150 years and now 21st Century bandits are putting a new twist on the practice. Using a process known as check washing, those who steal outgoing mail from mailboxes erase the name of the payee on a check with common household chemicals and then rewrite the checks to the order of themselves. The fraud can result in hundreds or even thousands of dollars stolen.

High school soccer kicks off this fall

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:28am

Supporters of restarting coed high school soccer crowded into the Custer School District Board of Education meeting room on Thursday night to lobby for their cause and eventually got what they wanted. The board voted to fund a soccer team for grades 8-12 with games starting this fall.
The reason for the crowd of nearly 40 people became evident in the opening moments of the meeting during the open forum time. Five community members rose to speak in favor of adding soccer to football and cross country as a fall sport.

BA.2 on the rise in some areas

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:27am

The BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant now makes up nearly a quarter of new COVID-19 infections nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control  (CDC) and Prevention estimated last week, up from around one in 10 new cases just a week prior.

Board celebrates state wrestling qualifier

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:15am
During the Hill City School District Board of Education meeting Mar. 14, the board celebrated Tanner Davis’s achievement at the state wrestling meet. Davis finished eighth in his weight class. 
Although Davis was unable to attend, superintendent Blake Gardner shared Davis said “to say thank you for the support this year. It was a great experience.” 
“Tanner is an awesome kid,” said Gardner. “He had some great teammates with Eli and David and coach Hunsaker did a nice job stepping in in his first year. All in all, it was a successful wrestling season.” 

Assessments may not rocket taxes

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:12am
Pennington County residents have received their 2022 property tax assessments and many are disturbed by the large increase in their assessed value. The increases in assessed value, however, do not necessarily mean that property tax bills will be much higher next year than they are this year.
That’s because as values go up there is a bigger pot of money from which the mill levy gets created. State law, for example, does not allow counties to raise their budgets by more than 3 percent.

Man found guilty in Keystone shooting

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:10am
A Rapid City man has been found guilty of first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of a 19-year-old Keystone man.
Maxton Pfeiffer, 22, now faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced sometime next month for the shooting death of Ty Scott at a Keystone apartment June 13, 2018.

Emotions thick over RX pot

Published by admin on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:09am
A packed house came out to revisit the Hill City Common Council medical marijuana dispensary resolution 2022-0 5.
About 35 people packed into the conference room at city hall March 14 to air their opposition to having more than one dispensary in Hill City.
Ben Larsen began the conversation outlining three requests. He asked that the new resolution be changed to allow for only one dispensary license and no additional licenses.

County ‘turning into a Vail or Breckenridge’

Published by admin on Thu, 03/17/2022 - 9:26am

The Custer County Commission knows property assessments and taxes are rising at an unsustainable level. Custer County Department of Equalization director Leah Vissia knows that, as well. The around 60 people who packed the Custer County Commission meeting room, with some spilling out into the hallway, at the March 9 meeting of the commissioner definitely know that’s the case.