News

School enrollment down

Published by admin on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 9:00am
After a sharp increase in enrollments last year, the number of students in the Custer School District is down for the 2019-20 school year. Supt. Mark Naugle made that report at the regular October board of education meeting Monday evening. 
Naugle reported the official enrollment number — calculated by the number of students enrolled as of the last school day of September — is 926 when the 12 students enrolled in the district via Black Hills Online are included. 

Chamber awards banquet Thursday

Published by admin on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 9:00am
The Custer Area Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Membership Awards Banquet will be held Thursday, Oct. 17, at Sylvan Lake auditorium. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the dinner at 7 p.m. and awards presentations.
Several awards will be handed out to local businesses, citizens and organizations. They are:
• Government Employee
• Community Team
• Individual of the Year
• Extra Mile
• Lifetime Achievement
• Business of the Year
• President’s Choice

W.E.A.V.E. to walk against violence

Published by admin on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 8:59am
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and to bring awareness to that issue, Women Escaping A Violent Environment (W.E.A.V.E) will host a Walk Against Violence next Thursday, Oct. 24, at 5:30 p.m. starting at the intersection of 5th Street and Mt. Rushmore Road. The walk will end at the 1881 Courthouse Museum on Mt. Rushmore Road.
The walk will be followed by a candlelight vigiil to show support for survivors and loved ones who are victims and the women who die every day of domestic violence.
For more information, call 673-HELP.

County roads get five-year review

Published by admin on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 8:59am
Bridge replacement and preservation are a big portion of Custer County road projects next year, it was revealed Oct. 9 at the most recent meeting of the Custer County Commission.
County Highway superintendent Gary Woodford, joined by Jason Hanson of Brosz Engineering, went over the 2020-24 highway and bridge improvement plan, which shows that three bridges in the county are scheduled for either preservation or replacement in 2020.

Couch questions Wind Cave road

Published by admin on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 8:58am
Custer County Highway superintendent Gary Woodford said a recently improved section line that travels into Wind Cave National Park is just about as good as it’s going to get.
For a resident along the section line, that’s not quite good enough.

Eggers, Polzine lead golfers at state

Published by admin on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 8:51am
The Custer High School golf team wrapped up its season Oct. 7-8 at The Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion. And although the team didn’t meet its stated goal of finishing in the top five of the meet, head coach Paul Kelley said he was proud of the way the Wildcats performed and competed.
“I’m proud of the way they handled themselves and represented themselves, their families and the community,” he said.

Sign ordinance sent to attorney

Published by admin on Thu, 10/10/2019 - 12:32pm

The Hill City Planning and Zoning Commission took the next step to updating its electronic sign policy.

At its regular meeting held on Monday, the commissioners present unanimously voted 4-0 to send the revisions to city attorney Frank Bettmann for his comments. Commissioner Rollie Noem was not present at the meeting.

Sidewalk project braces for snow

Published by admin on Thu, 10/10/2019 - 12:32pm

With snow and colder temperatures in the forecast, work is being done quickly on the Hill City sidewalks to prepare, although crews are predicting lost days due to weather.

At their weekly sidewalk meeting held Monday, however, both the crews working on the sidewalk and city officials expressed their pleasure with how the project is going.

“Everyone seems pleased,” said Brett McMacken, city administrator for Hill City. “We haven’t heard any negative feedback.”

BBB ordinance up for first reading

Published by admin on Thu, 10/10/2019 - 12:32pm

The Town of Keystone’s Bed, Board and Booze (BBB) Ordinance 35.10 will be up for another first reading at the Oct. 16 Keystone Town Board meeting.

There were no changes to the draft at the most recent town board meeting although there was a small amount of discussion.

Audit of Keystone chamber complete

Published by admin on Thu, 10/10/2019 - 12:31pm

The audit of the Keystone Chamber of Commerce is complete.

The Keystone Town Board decided at its most recent town board meeting to make the document public. 

The report contains two documents: the independent accountant’s report on applying agreed-upon procedures and a letter of recommendation. The audit looked at a time period of Nov. 1, 2017 through Feb. 28, 2019.