Hill City Prevailer

Final preparations taking shape

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:14am
Keystone is preparing for the July 3 Mount Rushmore fireworks in a big way.
The town held the last of its special meetings for the event on June 24. Discussion centered on parking, crowd control and road closures. The town also decided not to designate the event as a special town event, which would have lowered the transient vendor fees from $800 to $25.
At the suggestion of Trustee Kwinn Neff, the board voted to extend the normal 30-day window allowing transient vendors to operate from July 1 to Aug. 16 without getting a second transient license. 

County adopts wheel tax

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:20am
On June 16, the Pennington County Commission adopted a wheel tax for $2 per wheel with a maximum of $24 per vehicle.
The vote, which was a 4-1 vote, came after long deliberation on the tax.
“We are talking about this going into effect Jan. 1, 2021,” said Gary Drewes, Pennington County commissioner.

Main Street to be closed for rally

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:14am
The Hill City Common Council voted Monday to proceed with the annual closure of parts of Main Street during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
The decision was made at Monday’s council meeting after the city of Sturgis voted to have the rally this year but with some changes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Masons grant three scholarships

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:09am
The Tin City Masonic Lodge #112 has granted three scholarships to recent graduates of Hill City High School.
The three recipients — Emily Siemonsma, Sidney Schroder and Julia Satter— were all highly recommended for the scholarships, said Jack Welker, a member of the lodge.
“They’ve very amazing kids,” Welker said. “I’ll tell you that.”
All three recipients will attend South Dakota State University, and all three received a $1,000 scholarship from the lodge.
Schroder, Welker said, received the Watson Parker Family Scholarship.

Keystone gearing up for fireworks

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:08am
Keystone is gearing up for the July 3 fireworks with several planning meetings and discussions about things like parking bathrooms and safety.
The town is in the early stages of planning several parking areas for locals and tourists alike. The town’s state parking lot will charge a $10 fee while the field in old Keystone will be a $10 suggested minimum donation with proceeds to benefit the Keystone Senior Center and the Keystone Museum. 
Most parking lots plan to be attended as early as 6 a.m.

Hill City Senior Center reopens

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:05am
The Hill City Senior Center reopened for some activities on June 1.
The center is offering coffee hours on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. On Tuesdays and Fridays, the center is offering functional fitness classes from 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.
“The exercise class has been very well attended,” said Mary Walton, executive director of the senior center. “The number of people coming to coffee hour has been varied.”

One dead in accident

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:05am
A Guernsey, Wyo., woman died in a motorcycle accident one-and-a-half miles west of Hill City at mile marker 39 the afternoon of June 19.
South Dakota Highway Patrol identified the woman as Holly Montgomery, 57.
According to a release, a 2016 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Montgomery was eastbound on U.S. Hwy. 16 when Montgomery failed to negotiate a left curve, causing her to leave the roadway to the right.
Montgomery was thrown from her motorcycle and later died as a result of her injuries.

More signs coming to Keystone

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:01am
Five new billboards will be making their way to the entry to Keystone along Hwy. 16A, according to the latest town board meeting.
The sign permits were approved after much discussion.
According to Ray French, the billboards will not obstruct any views to and from the tunnel. It is unclear what businesses will be advertised on the billboards.
“I don't know who I’m going to rent to,” French said. “I build this product and I’m selling this to a customer.”

Tourists have options for fireworks

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:00am
Planning for the July 3 fireworks display at Mount Rushmore continues at both the state and local levels
“There were a total of 25,179 applicants to the Recreation.gov lottery, representing a total of 125,787 individuals requesting tickets,” according to Katlyn Richter of Travel South Dakota.
South Dakota residents requested the most tickets, followed by Californians and residents of Colorado. The lottery drew considerable interest from all states. There were at least 500 applicants per state.

Johnson is district teacher of the year

Published by admin on Thu, 06/18/2020 - 10:52am

Astonished. That’s the word this year’s Hill City School District teacher of the year used to describe her reaction to learning about the award.

Kim Johnson found out she is the 2019-20 Teacher of the Year while watching superintendent Blake Gardner’s end of the year PowerPoint. She was drinking a cup of coffee at the time.

“I was not expecting a slide to be about me,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s childhood dream was to become a teacher. She began her teaching career as a library media specialist in Rapid City.