The school year is winding down (the last official day is tomorrow), and Custer High School has already said goodbye to another 64 students, as the annual commencement ceremony was held last Saturday afternoon at the Armory. The Custer High School Class of 2024 has its diplomas in hand, and is officially off into the real world. Now is when the work really begins.
In this week’s issue, you’ll notice a special graduation section inserted into the paper. It represents a lot of hard work on our end putting it together, but more so, it represents the years of hard work and learning on the part of the graduates. I also graduated from Custer High School, so it makes me happy to see another class advance to the next exciting stage of their lives.
Am I the only one who wants to vote for Dennis? I know he’s not running but I sure wish he was.
As a constituent Dennis always got back to me. Yes, I know I’m a reporter, but when I reached out to him it was always as a constituent and he always replied. That’s what I want from my representative, somebody who takes the time to listen to my concerns.
Whether it’s the local fire department, service group or even a booster club, organizations throughout the country are struggling to find enough volunteers to stay alive. It’s no different in Custer, where you will frequently hear that certain events or organizations are in danger of going away due to a lack of volunteers. Perhaps exhibit A of that is that there will be no arts and crafts fair this year during the Old Time Country Fourth, and our 1881 Courthouse Museum has scaled back hours as it relies entirely upon volunteers.
May 6–10 was Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to celebrate our educators and thank them for everything they do for our students.
But there’s an ongoing problem in South Dakota – teacher salaries have not kept up with increased funding to education. In fact, teacher pay lags far behind the 26.3 percent increase in funding to K-12 education since I have been governor. Our teachers deserve better—so we’re giving them better.
I’ve been fascinated with the creation of pottery ever since middle school. One year while at a living history fair, I stumbled across a potter’s tent. I remember being mesmerized as the potter worked with swift, sure motions to shape something out of nothing. He talked as he worked and explained the process to a group of kids.
If you read last week’s issue of the Chronicle, you saw the story across the top of the front page written by John Hult of South Dakota Searchlight that told of how the Preserve French Creek group took its opposition to the City of Custer’s plan to discharge city effluent into French Creek to the South Dakota Supreme Court.
I am always appalled when my iPhone tells me how much time I spent on my phone per day during any given week, and I vow that I’m not going to just mindlessly pick up my phone and scroll and scroll anymore.
I couldn’t imagine shooting a puppy. I read what the media reported about Noem and her puppy Cricket. It made me really sad. I’ve been mad at my dog before, both Zeus and Sadie. I’ve maybe had moments where I hated them. And the idea of shooting either one of them never entered my head.
I couldn’t even fathom this.
For the 22nd time in American history, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached a federal official: U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The House put forward serious charges regarding the secretary’s actions as a chief architect of the Biden administration’s lax border security regime. The case deserved to be heard and decided on the merits, but the Senate was not given a chance to do so. Instead, Senate Democrats chose to rush to dismiss the charges without a trial.
