Travelling to Presho on July 8th for the Badlands League "B" tournament, the Philip "B" baseball team came home with 1st place out of 6 teams. They defeated four teams in a row starting with the Kadoka 2 team, then Murdo, the Kadoka 1 team and winning the championship game against the Presho 1 team with a score of 2 to 0. Shown are: back row; assistant coach Travis Schnabel and Coach Brad Heltzel. Standing: Cheney Burns, Ryan VanTassel, Riley Engelbarth, Cassidy Schnabel, Riley Heltzel, Brayden Fitch, Tate DeJong and Diante Thorn.

Want to win $1,000? Then you will want to be at Oahe Speedway this weekend for the Pioneer Garage $1,000 Shootout on Saturday. The $1,000 Shootout is open to any car or bike and starts at 2:00 pm on Saturday, July 29. If racing for a trophy is more of your style, then the Pioneer Garage Trophy Shootout is the race you want to enter. Trophies will be awarded to both the winner and runner-up in the Trophy Shootout. The Junior Dragsters will also be racing on Saturday in the Pioneer Garage Junior Dragster Shootout.

Two weeks of lying on an isolated tropical beach with an umbrella-covered drink and not doing a thing. For me, not a chance!

My idea of a vacation is doing something ... so many somethings that I need a vacation when I get back from vacation. I can lie around at home and get a drink (tea or otherwise) here in town. The only time I enjoy not doing something is when I'm avoiding it. A vacation should be what I don't do the rest of my work year. Some people (ladies, you know who you are) enjoy shopping.

God "allows" horrible things to happen for an even greater good! Some people simply write a thank-you note in gratitude for the efforts of support crews and firefighters. In this instance, (the Elm Springs, SD, fires) beginning with the annual Ronald Reagan Memorial picnic fire, there is a complex and intriguing tale to share.

A swather skimming a stone, then a dry lightning storm dancing across Pennington and Meade counties were the bic flickers to catalyze a local Armageddon of OOC's (out-of-control) wildfires.

This year's 54th annual Membership Meeting of Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative scheduled for Saturday, September 23rd in Wall, will find the terms of two directors expiring on the Cooperative's 12-member board of directors.

Terms expiring will be those of Dale Guptill of Interior and Kenneth "Sonny" Zickrick, Jr. in District III.

The fourth annual Quad County Relay For Life event is scheduled for Friday, September 15. The next planning meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 1, in the Senechal lobby in Philip.

The meeting's main purpose is to update participants on the planned activities. All relay teams, or at least their representative, should attend. Any money already collected by current teams should be turned in at this meeting. Encouragement is given for more teams to be created from each and all involved communities.

A persistent lack of rain and expectations that it will continue to be scarce led South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds to declare a statewide emergency July 20.

Rounds made the declaration during a meeting of the state's Drought Task Force. A drought monitor lists much of the north central part of South Dakota as D3 or D4. D4 is the highest drought rating.

The Standing Rock Complex Fire has burned 25,000 acres in north-central South Dakota. Blazes will continue to ignite, experts say, if current conditions continue.

The Board of Education of Midland School District 27-2 has unanimously approved the Reorganization Plan with Kadoka School District 35-1. The Kadoka Board of Education has also approved the plan.

Public meetings to review the plan with patrons are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 1, in Kadoka and for 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 2, in Midland.

The reorganization plan will face public vote this summer on a date established by the Secretary of Education.

Haakon School Board members Kelly Blair, Matt Reedy and Scott Brech began their new terms by taking the oath of office. Reedy is the new president and Bill Slovek is the vice-president for the district.

The July board meeting had been rescheduled from the 17th to the 20th because of area wildfires which affected board member's land as well as the community.

The Cottonwood Roping Club offered its savings and property as principle for scholarships to help students in local communities.

Vern Sampson, age 83, of Midland, died Wednesday, July 26, 2006, at the Hans P. Peterson Memorial Hospital in Philip.

Vern Sampson was born on April 28, 1923, the son of C.J. and Rose (Rada) Sampson, on a farm eight miles south of Midland. He grew up in that area and attended Loyalty School for eight years. He did not attend high school but bought his first truck at age fourteen. Vern worked for neighbors doing odd jobs until old enough to work on the railroad. He worked off and on for the railroad for seven years, while still trucking.