September 27, 2004

Dear Editor,

Once again I am writing a letter to be published in your newspaper, and so I thank you for allowing this forum of communication to the residents of Haakon County.

I would like to briefly mention two issues that will be on the November ballot and to ask local taxpayers to help keep our school’s revenues from being depleted any further.

The first is Constitutional Amendment B, which in essence obligates your local district to fund food and transportation services to school age children who are not enrolled in public school.

“Pioneering Our Future” is the theme for the Philip area and Haakon County Community Assessment to be held on October 12-14, 2004.

“The homesteaders and ranchers who settled in this area took charge of their lives,” says Glenn Parsons, President of the Philip Chamber of Commerce. “They didn’t just let things happen to them, but set about to improve their lives by opportunities available to them. They organized into communities that cooperated in order to improve their lives. The same needs to be true for us today.

I could not sleep.

It was 1:30 a.m. The house was quiet and everyone else was asleep, the bums. Maybe it was the six bowls of chili and the chunks of bread I had for supper. No, that was normal.

My wife was snoring enough to keep the whole house awake. No, she does not snore, but I had to blame somebody.

My married son is in the army. Maybe I couldn’t stop worrying that he might see live action in Iraq. I started debating with myself the pros and cons of the U.S. going to and still being in Iraq. My wife started to stir, so I got out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

Ernie’s Building Center owners Ernie and Laurel Nemec will be celebrating the business 45th anniversary on Saturday, October 2. The Nemecs will be serving a free lunch during the customer appreciation open house.

From a start-up undertaking for high school sweethearts and newlyweds, the business has grown and changed to now serve customers in a 125 mile radius of Midland. Three generations have worked there, with son Randy Nemec growing up in the business and now being indispensible; thus the name of Ernest D.

Cross Country at Kadoka

by Del Bartels

The Philip Scotties cross country team was one of the 18 teams represented at the Kadoka meet on Sept. 11. Though with no individual or team placings, the team showed its fortitude.

Placing 6th out of 38, Holly Iwan ran well in the girls elementary division. Kyle Iwan, in his introductory race of this season, took 10th out of 30 elementary boy runners.

The junior varsity girls’ squad is improving.

Cross Country at Kadoka

by Del Bartels

The Philip Scotties cross country team was one of the 18 teams represented at the Kadoka meet on Sept. 11. Though with no individual or team placings, the team showed its fortitude.

Placing 6th out of 38, Holly Iwan ran well in the girls elementary division. Kyle Iwan, in his introductory race of this season, took 10th out of 30 elementary boy runners.

The junior varsity girls’ squad is improving.

Kevin Graber, County Veterans Service Officer for Haakon and Jackson counties, announces that application forms for the Veterans Bonus are now available at his office.

The new bonus program provides for payment of up to $500 to certain veterans who have qualifying active duty service.

Durward (Dud) Wheeler saw many things in the Korean War. He pauses and says, “Yeah, a lot of them, but didn’t think about it at the time. Now, if you tell too many of those kind of stories, people might think you’re bragging.”

Olaf (Ole) Nelson also pauses and finally says, “I don’t remember some, and some I’ll never forget.”

Nelson was in a headquarters company, but ended up on the front line. He was in several different locations, the last was where the 25th Korean Division was wiped out. Similar to other places, every tree on the hill was blown off.

The Haakon School Board is already aligning its budget and accounting practices toward any possible “scarcity” bill which may be re-introduced in the state legislature.

School districts which have few students in a very large area may be given additional support if a bill similar to last year’s session is introduced and passes in the next session.

Merchants lost no time in rebuilding after the destructive fire on October 6, 1920, as you can see by this picture of the east side of main street in 1921. The fire started in the Schimke Furniture store and was discovered by Henry Hoffman about 3:00 a.m. There was plenty of water to fight it, but it had too big a start when discovered. There were no personal injuries, but the financial loss was heavy, estimated at a total of $225,000. It was about one-third covered by insurance.