Opinion

‘News’ is matter of opinion today

Published by admin on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 9:37am
We used to be able to count on the news of the day to be presented in a totally objective manner on television. The days of Walter Cronkite reading the evening news on CBS are long gone. Today when we see and listen to the so-called news on television, we don’t know whether we are being given the straight facts or “fake news.”

It’s a beautiful day ... in Chicago

Published by admin on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 9:33am
Growing up, there were several things I could count on hearing from my mother.
One of those — regardless of the weather — was, “It’s a beauuuuuutiful day in Chicago.”
I knew at the time the phrase was something she heard on the radio every morning, but I never knew the full story, which I now share with you.
The phrase goes back to Everett Mitchell, who was born March 15, 1898, and grew up impoverished on a small farm near Chicago in Oak Park, Ill., just eight months after radio was invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897. 

Barbara Burgeson

Published by admin on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 9:30am
Barbara Ann (Keupp) Burgeson was born Oct. 11, 1943, in Sioux Falls, S.D., to Vern and Rose Keupp. At age 5 she moved to Custer, S.D., with her parents, where they opened Vern’s Body Shop. Barbara’s school years were spent in Custer.
In 1967, she was married to Donald Burgeson in Custer and moved to his rural farm in Onida, S.D., where they were had three children; Tammy Osborn, Mike Burgeson and Mark Burgeson. In 1992, they retired from farming and moved to Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.

Keystone is the bestest!

Published by admin on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 4:58pm

Gray must have something delicious cooking for you next week, because he’s asked me to write back-to-back columns. And I knew exactly what I wanted to write about...I figured I’d fill you in on how cool Keystone is year-round.

Now I know you all know Keystone is the best place to hang out in the summer...we have the best museum in the Hills (and it’s free!). We have like a gazillion ice cream stores. And of course the largest mirror maze north of the Texas border.

Let’s not fall backwards anymore

Published by admin on Thu, 11/14/2019 - 11:38am

So I have a brilliant idea on how to unite the country. Well, two really.

This column will focus on the most important...the dreaded fall back!

I don’t know if it means I’m for daylight saving or against daylight saving (that’s more confusing than background checks for gun owners).

Honoring our nation’s veterans

Published by admin on Thu, 11/14/2019 - 9:03am
Ronald Reagan once said this: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” South Dakota has a proud history of military service – generations who volunteered to protect and defend liberty. It’s one of the thin

SAR has dedicated membership

Published by admin on Thu, 11/14/2019 - 8:57am
I had the opportunity last week to attend the open house of Custer County Search and Rescue (SAR) in its new digs in the former Custer Regional Hospital physical therapy clinic at 1039 Montgomery Street. The all-volunteer organization finally has a training facility to call home. 

Combating the ‘holiday creep’

Published by admin on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 12:20pm

I think either Carol or Bev wrote about this very phenomenon a couple of years ago, but I think it’s worth revisiting.

As you very well know, last Thursday was Halloween. You know Halloween—the holiday where kids get dressed up and walk door-to-door asking for candy. The holiday where horror movies are as common as flies on a buffalo. The very holiday that caps the time of the year that is now know by today’s youth as #SpookySzn.

Drastic action needed in California

Published by admin on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 9:19am
The internet is awash in questions and ruminations about the continuing nightmare of endless California wildfires. People sense that something is fundamentally and profoundly wrong with the picture of massive flaming fronts eating miles of homes and businesses and leaving once pristine oak woodlands in ruin. The hyperbolic news reports last week of the worst fire anybody ever saw is replaced by the new worst fire anybody ever saw this week.

My mother’s tubeless turkey

Published by admin on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 9:16am
It has been said the celebration of Thanksgiving in the 21st Century is defined by the four Gs. On Thanksgiving Day most families in America will Gather, Gab and Gobble, after which they will watch the Game...and then gobble some more...until they wobble. 
It wasn’t that way in our house when I was a growing up, at least not the “game” part. We weren’t football people in the Burtz household—in fact we weren’t sports people at all. So, after Santa cruised in at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the TV was generally turned off for the rest of the day.