Former Custer resident Darla Thompson has been sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to one count of an 11- count federal indictment leveled against her in 2021.
A bipartisan consensus has emerged in the South Dakota Legislature that the time is right for some form of tax relief to be passed as part of budget negotiations in Pierre.
But questions about which tax is reduced, and who will benefit, are still in debate and will be resolved largely on political inclinations and differing perceptions of whether the recent surplus of state revenues is temporary or a trend of continuous growth.
After being the only county in South Dakota that wasn’t assessing property at 85 percent of property value in 2022, Custer County property will be assessed at 85.19 percent of market value this year. That’s if the math is right, cautioned Custer County equalization director Leah Vissia at the Jan. 25 meeting of the Custer County commission, as she delivered her department’s assessment intentions.
Custer and Hermosa Elementary fourth grade students honored three area elders through the annual Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song program on Monday with a performance at the Hermosa gym in the afternoon and again at the Custer High School auditorium in the evening. French Creek Folk provided entertainment before the program and during breaks. This was the 15th year the program has run in Custer schools.
The fate of the Triple T Trailer Park east of Custer has been the subject of various recent rumors. For now, it is to remain a trailer park—at least for a year —before it may be converted to an RV campground, says resident Joey Bucholz.
With housing availabilty a rising concern in the Custer area, the rumored short time allowed for Triple T residents to leave their homes before renovation of the property caused some to become upset. However, any major changes are still up in the air.
A Custer man died last week after the vehicle he was driving crashed on the east side of town, but authorities don’t believe his death was caused by the accident. Rather, they believe a medical emergency on the part of the driver was the cause of the crash.
One of the key tenets of juvenile justice reform in South Dakota – keeping low-level youth offenders out of custody in favor of rehabilitative services and a return to public school attendance – is causing headaches for South Dakota education officials, who say they are not equipped to deal with habitual offenders in school settings.
District 30 constituents once again have representation in the state Senate after Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller was reinstated.
In a unanimous decision the South Dakota State Senate’s “Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion” voted to recommend to censure and reinstate the Frye-Mueller. The vote would limit her access to the Legislative Research Council (LRC) office and its staff for the remainder of the legislative session.
District 30 Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller is being investigated by a Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion after allegations by a Legislative Research Council staff member.
The developing story began Jan. 25 when Frye-Mueller was stripped of her committee assignments. Frye-Mueller sat on Senate Local Government and Senate Health and Human Services.
The decision, which came from Watertown Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, came without comment.
For the past several years, the Custer County Commission and those within fire service in the county have discussed the eventual need for a fire district in Custer County for a variety of reasons.
Now, those same officials say, that day has come.
