The Philip Scotties boys' basketball team opened their 2009-2010 season with a game versus the Eagles in Wall on Friday, December 11. The game ended with a 40-59 loss for Philip.

Philip 11 9 8 12 = 40

Wall 16 18 9 16 = 59

Philip top scorers: Rob Williamson - 16, Brandon O'Dea and Jordan Hauk - 7 each, Jeff O'Connell - 4. Wall Scoring: Darick Eisenbraun - 27; Chavis Shull - 4; Calder Johnston - 17; Zeb Lytle - 7; Collin Huether - 4; Tyler Trask - 2; Tyrel Eisenbraun - 2.

Rebounds: Philip - 37. Wall - 43.

The first basketball game of the 2009-2010 season for the Philip High School Lady Scotties was a 53-50 win over rival Wall Eagles.

Philip 13 5 24 11 = 53

Wall 8 13 11 18 = 50

The Thursday, December 10, match in Philip began with a basket-for-basket leap frog until the last two minutes of the first quarter. Philip then took a 11-6 lead.

The Philip Scottie wrestling team traveled to Gordon, NE, to compete in the Gordon/Rushville Tournament on Saturday, December 12.

The tournament had 14 high schools represented. The South Dakota schools were Philip, Pine Ridge, Oglala, Red Cloud, Bennett County and Little Wound. The Nebraska schools were Chadron, Gordon/Rushville, Sidney, Ainsworth, Mitchell, Valentine, Perkins County and Mullen.

As a team, Philip finished with 182 points to earn first place. Mitchell finished with 123.5 points for second place.

Dr. George J. Mangulis, age 87 of Philip, SD, died December 11, 2009, at the Rapid City Regional Hospital.

Visitation will be held from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16, at the Rush Funeral Home in Philip, and one hour preceding the services at the school on Thursday.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 17, at the Philip High School, with Pastor Martin Rubenis officiating.

Music will be provided by Marilyn Millage, pianist, and Maureen Palecek, vocalist. Ushers are Milo Zeeb, Charles Ekstrum and Darral Brooks.

Golda Lewison, age 96 of Philip, SD, died December 9, 2009, at the Good Samaritan Center in Lennox, SD.

Visitation will be held from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 17, at the Rush Funeral Home in Philip, and one hour preceding the services at the church on Friday.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, December 18, at the First Lutheran Church in Philip, with Pastor Frezil Westerlund officiating.

Music will be provided by Marilyn Millage, pianist, and Elvera Moos, vocalist. Usher will be Loren Kiel.

(This is the fourth in a series featuring this year's Internship program students.)

This week features five students involved in School to Work in the same career field: Kareshia Enders, Krystal Davis, Emma Slovek, Jesse Manke and Dallas Lamm.

Enders, a Philip High School senior, assists in the first grade classroom with teacher Jayne Gottsleben. In this role, she helps Gottsleben correct papers, organize the students' work, make copies, put up bulletin boards and help the students with their art projects.

The Philip City Council met on Tuesday, December 8, at 4:30 p.m. This was a necessary deviation from its usual 7:00 p.m. on the first Monday of each month because of scheduling conflicts with council members.

The South Dakota Department of Legislative Audit has accepted the city's 2008 audit report. See accompanying charts.

An off-site data storage of the city's computerized information has been quoted at $660 per year.

A trial period has been completed for a proposed on-call policy for city personnel.

by Del Bartels

The scheduled Haakon School District 27-1 school board meeting on Monday, December 14, addressed the proposal of making the traditional music trip into a senior-only excursion.

Superintendent Keven Morehart said, "We are under the understanding that a senior-only music trip is a 99.9 percent go for next school year. The question was about this year. The issue has been decided. There will not be such a trip this year. It's a lot easier to send 10 students than 60.

Attorney General Marty Jackley announced Friday, December 11, that a burglary of Zeeb Pharmacy in Philip has led to an investigation by the Division of Criminal Investigation, Haakon County Sheriff's Office and the Philip Police Department.

The incident took place in the late evening hours of December 1 or the early hours of December 2. Large amounts of scheduled narcotics such as oxycodone, demerol and fentanyl were taken by the intruder along with other merchandise.

"Prescription drug abuse is on the rise in South Dakota," said Jackley.

The December meeting for the Philip Chamber of Commerce was held on Monday, December 14.

Election of officers for 2010 resulted in Kent Olson being voted in as president, Ron Larson as vice president, Stacy Pinney as secretary and Matt Reedy returning as treasurer. Exiting president Milo Zeeb said, "I took this job with the idea we would take on some of the old ways of doing things. I think the chamber is better run and more inviting for new members."

Reedy reported that the annual chili cook-off brought in over $250 profit.