Halloween is coming up, with a trunk or treat in the park this Saturday and trick or treating on Tuesday. We explore the results of the Dept of Education's state assessment results for Garretson School District; Navigator CO2 has pulled its project for good; Under the Hood has hit 2,000 shows; and volleyball wraps up its regular season this week, plus more!
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A company that sought to build a $3 billion carbon sequestration pipeline in South Dakota and several other states announced Friday that it’s giving up on the plan.
“Given the unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved, particularly in South Dakota and Iowa, the Company has decided to cancel its pipeline project,” said a news release from Navigator CO2.
The route of the proposed Heartland Greenway pipeline. (Courtesy of Navigator CO2)
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission unanimously denied a permit for Navigator’s Heartland Greenway project on Sept. 6 after a hearing that lasted from July 25 to Aug. 8.
Friday’s news release from the company included comments from CEO Matt Vining.
“I am proud that throughout this endeavor, our team maintained a collaborative, high integrity, and safety-first approach and we thank them for their tireless efforts,” Vining said. “We also thank all the individuals, trade associations, labor organizations, landowners, and elected officials who supported us and carbon capture in the Midwest.”
A similar but separate proposal from Summit Carbon Solutions to build a carbon sequestration pipeline through South Dakota and other states is still active, even though Summit’s permit application has also been denied in South Dakota. Summit has said it plans to modify its route and reapply.
One of the main points of contention in both the Summit and Navigator permit applications in South Dakota was the passage of county setback ordinances, which mandate minimum distances between pipelines and existing structures and property. Summit’s filing of dozens of eminent domain cases, which the company has since withdrawn, have also been controversial. Eminent domain is a legal process to gain access to land from unwilling landowners.
Navigator did not file any eminent domain cases. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company announced its plans in 2021, hoping to capture carbon dioxide from 21 locations — ethanol and fertilizer plants — and transport it in liquefied form via 1,300 miles of pipe to Illinois for underground sequestration.
In eastern South Dakota, Navigator’s pipeline would have covered 111.9 miles in Brookings, Moody, Minnehaha, Lincoln and Turner counties. Pipeline segments also would have stretched into Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.
Project backers sought to capitalize on annual federal tax credits of $85 per metric ton of sequestered carbon. The credits are intended to incentivize the removal of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
The Garretson High School Marching Band finished up its competition season last Friday with a second-place finish in Volga.
Homecoming Parade 2023 //Carrie Moritz, Gazette
The band had an outstanding season, performing in five competitions and coming away with two first place wins in Arlington and Chester, along with the People's Choice award in Chester.
Under the direction of Director Nick Sittig, they played through sun, rain, heat, and cold to get ready. In Volga, the competition happened indoors due to the weather conditions.
"In Sioux Valley there were five other bands in our class," said Sittig. "We had to play inside, so we were not able to play like we were used to. But we placed 2nd in our class."
The week before, they placed first in Chester and won People's Choice, a huge accomplishment as that was out of all classes.
Sittig noted that the flag corps and the drumline worked extra hard this season. "I got to give a lot of props to the drumline and flag corps," he said. "They put in a lot more work. The flags/color guard learned the routine over the month of August. And the drumline has been working with me one day a week starting in June."
Sittig was full of praise for the band participants. "Marching with a band size of 37 total, and for us to perform as well as we did is huge. So, the entire band deserves praise on performing excellently this year!"
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SIOUX FALLS – This week, the Minnehaha County Commission once again revisited the issue of a conditional use permit for a tree grinding operation with Mueller Pallets of rural Sioux Falls.
And after over an hour of public testimony, again, the matter was delayed, although not due to governmental issues, but to the absence of Commission Chair Jean Bender.
While the commission still had a quorum for the meeting, the even number of commissioners deadlocked approving or denying the CUP.
In past months, variations of this issue have been heard several times by both the planning commission and the county commission.
In August, Mueller put their plans on hold for the tree grinding operation located just east of the Sioux Falls Municipal Landfill at the intersection of 267th St. (W. 41st St.) and 464th Ave.
At that location, the entrance to the landfill and the Mueller operation would have been right next to each other, although Mueller looked at a different location after the city of Sioux Falls refused to let them put in a driveway entrance on 464th Ave., which is the road that leads to the landfill.
At that time, a big concern of the neighboring landowners was the traffic of large trucks that would be turning into both the landfill and the Mueller locations, even though it had been unanimously approved by the planning commission.
But this public hearing for the CUP was for a location one mile west at the intersection of 267th St. and 463rd Ave.
While a room full of people against the new grinding site gathered, Paul Tschetter, attorney for Mueller Pallets, pointed out that this new site was much farther away from the nearest neighbor, and a mile west of what had been cited as a problematic traffic area at the entrance to the landfill.
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The 2nd Annual Harvest Festival was a success this past weekend, with plenty of people able to enjoy shopping, hot drinks, hay rides, or a 5k. Despite a cold start to the day, turnout was wonderful, and in some places, standing room only.
GHS at Big East honor choir!
Back (L to R): Calvin Larson, Ben Wastell. Front: Elizabeth Roth, Gracie Fiegen, Anna Ebbing. //photo submitted
The Big East Choir involves high school students from our region. Students get together and rehearse music together with a guest conductor. They perform the songs they rehearsed all day that evening in a public concert. The students involved were sopranos Anna Ebbing and Gracie Fiegen, alto Elizabeth Roth, tenor Calvin Larson, and bass Ben Wastell.
All State Choir is the last weekend of this month out in Rapid City. -Submitted by Taylor Schweitzer, K-12 Vocal Music Teacher, Garretson School.
Splitrock Bowling
The Splitrock Ladies bowled on October 10, 2023, with the following results: High Team Game & Series - Garretson, Ins. - 854 & 2513. High Individual Game & Series - Kathie Franz - 189 & 514. Vickie Wielenga picked up the 5-6-10 split. Bonnie Kramer picked up the 4-5 split. Diane Fueston picked up the 4-7-10 split.
Minnehaha County Farmers Union Minutes
Minnehaha County Farmers Union held its quarterly meeting September 16 at Ed and Wanda Artz home.
The meeting was called to order by President Paul Hotchkiss and the members present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Wanda Artz read the minutes of the previous meeting and later gave a Treasurer report.
Education Director Myrna Hotchkiss gave an extended report of the day camp held at the City Park in Hartford, SD on June 28, 2023. Twenty-six campers spent the day studying the fundamentals of Farmers Union, playing cooperative games, gaining information about layers of soil and learning of items made from soybeans. They also received items from SD Corn Producers. A noon lunch of hot dogs and chips and healthy snacks were served. Campers also enjoyed swimming. Another successful camp.
Delegates were chosen to attend the Annual Meeting of District II South Dakota Farmers Union which will be held Sept 20, 2023 at Mitchell, SD.
Everybody who has read our paper knows we’ve had a lot of stories about the Carbon Dioxide pipelines in the last two years. We did our first story about these pipelines back on Jan. 19, 2022. Since then, Carrie Moritz, Dave Baumeister (our County reporter) and I have all done multiple stories and we’ve published from SD Searchlight and SD News Watch as often as possible about these topics because I know it’s important to our readership in the Garretson Area.
Before I went on air I prepared a bunch of research on the stories we’d done and got my thoughts in order in notes before I did the show. I felt it would be worthwhile to give you a chance to read the thoughts that I didn’t have time to share in a fifteen-minute interview.
The first story we did on this issue was on Jan. 19, 2022 following the public meeting hosted by Navigator, hosted at the Garretson American Legion Post #23 dugout. There were 130 local residents and farmers. It was Tuesday noon on a workday, so super inconvenient for most people (especially a newspaper whose final deadlines are Tuesdays), but the Legion was full.
The project was 1,300 miles of underground pipeline. The main thrust of that story was how flat the company’s presentation fell with local residents and ag operators. They had an opportunity to win people over to their side and they failed fairly badly. They didn’t answer questions in an open forum, people had to line up to ask questions of engineers and reps who didn’t have the information they wanted. What these local residents and Ag operators heard at that meeting was that they should sign the lease and get paid, otherwise the casual threat of eminent domain was bandied about.
I’m sure you know this, but South Dakotans are a very independent kind of people, and folk don’t like being threatened.
About a dozen miles down the road from Garretson in Valley Springs, locals organized a meeting to get organized to oppose these pipelines. I went to the meeting and did a story about it.
From there we continued publishing stories as things continued to progress. Other news organizations around the state saw what we did and started to do likewise. South Dakota News Watch and SD Searchlight have also done some stellar coverage. Whenever either of those organizations has done a report, I’ve published them in my paper.
With that all under my belt, I got a fairly solid general working knowledge of the situation. As a journalist, you must be objective and fair, and not take sides on an issue. But when the facts speak for themselves, there isn’t much wiggle room. People were angry and afraid.
Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator are companies brought into existence to spearhead this project. They did not exist before that time, and though they may have hired local employees and/or consultants and lawyers, they most certainly are not a locally and organically created business in South Dakota. They came from out of state interests and a have admitted under oath to having foreign investors such as the United Arab Emirates.
These companies wanted local farmers and landowners to sign leases that granted them use of their land into perpetuity for a one-time easement payment. These payments were several thousand dollars, but varied from plot to plot, place to place and person to person. The underlying message was, let us survey your land and accept this payment from us to use it or we’ll invoke eminent domain just as soon as our project is approved by the Public Utilities Commission. If you don’t let us onto your land, we’ll sue you. And if your county commissioners ban our pipelines, we’ll sue them, and that’s just what they did all across the state, at least in the case of Summit Carbon Solutions.
If you’re thinking this smells fairly rotten, then you’d be right. A one-time payment for perpetual (i.e., forever) use of property for the pipeline is just a pittance. Especially since these companies stood to make billions of dollars in tax credits on this project. This is to say nothing that if the pipeline was built and then shut down, any future company with the easement document could do whatever they wanted with it, and the landowner couldn’t do a thing as their rights would have already been signed away.
Say what you like about wind power generation, and it has its detractors, but those folks pay an annual rent to the farmer in question whose land they use and also, at least in our area of rural Minnehaha County, make sizable grants to local charities and community organizations for the betterment of the community.
These out of state companies had no plans to do that. Rather, it seems the plan was to gobble up that sweet tax credit cash on the backs of the people who actually own the land. Why they wanted an easement or lease rather than ownership, is because then they could avoid liability. All pipelines will eventually leak and need constant maintenance. Their stated plan was a shutoff station every 100 miles or so. How they think that would be enough to save lives in an emergency, I just cannot fathom. The industry safety video of a simulated leak I saw of a test in the United Kingdom was like a carbon dioxide bomb going off, and that was for a pipeline half the diameter of the one proposed and under much less PSI. Half a mile is really not safe enough and their initial proposals were only a few hundred feet from an occupied building.
They were asking people to risk their lives, the lives of their families, their livestock and livelihoods (because a concentrated carbon dioxide gas will kill your crops, wreck the airable soil and create carbonic acid in any open water), all for a one-time payment that if they didn’t take, they’d be sued and eminent domain used against them, before the PUC permit was even approved. And they wonder why people were so angry and afraid…
This is the kind of thing that crosses political boundaries. It doesn’t matter which flavor of politics you subscribe to, this is about rights of citizenship and property rights. Something that’s enshrined in the State and Federal constitutions.
This said, the groundswell of public opinion that happened is heartening to me. Here in Minnehaha County, one of the staunchest opponents to the project, Rick Bonander of Valley Springs, was elected to the Public Utilities Commission for Minnehaha County. The county commissioners increased setback requirements, although they were leaned on politically to not pass an outright ban by the Chair of the Republican Party of South Dakota at the time. Jeff Barth was the only commissioner that really stood up to that, and he left office shortly thereafter and made a brave but unsuccessful run to be elected to the State Public Utilities commission. However, this year, Minnehaha County did manage to pass setbacks and restrictions on the project that made it a bit safer. Many other counties did the same, and some passed outright bans. Counties were sued and landowners were sued. The police got involved. It got ugly, especially up in Brown and Spink counties.
These farmers and landowners across the state made the legislature and the state Public Utilities commissioners well aware of their anger and fear. They asked to be protected. They asked not to have their rights as landowners taken away for a project that was not only potentially very dangerous, but had questionable merit as being good for the environment in the first place.
SD Ethanol was a supporter of these projects and it’s likely that the wheels were well greased for them to be so. I suppose it could have been construed as a win/win for them, they get hooked up to the network to dispose of their carbon dioxide waste as well as monetary incentives. Meanwhile, SD Ethanol testifies before the legislature that it helps them go green, get a better taxation bracket and pass that savings along to the customer and producer. There was no guarantee however that they would lower their fuel prices or pay the farmer more for their corn.
North Dakota PUC’s decision was excellent, in my opinion, and it gave our PUC good precedent to stand on. If you’d have asked me a year ago if our PUC would have green lit Summit and Navigator projects in South Dakota, I’d be lying if I told you I thought they'd turn it down. I was very pleasantly surprised when they rejected them both. The entitles that own Summit and Navigator have donated a significant sum of money to high office holders' campaign funds in South Dakota, and usually that means that office holder will do what they want them to do.
I’d just gotten the news that Navigator had been unanimously voted down by SD PUC. I was going on errands, and ran into a local supporter of the anti-pipeline movement in SD. She did a little dance and cheer on main street Garretson. She said she’d been biting her nails and pacing all day waiting to hear how it went, until finally she had to walk away from her phone, radio and TV and get some fresh air and maybe do a little shopping at the Treasure Chest.
Another local landowner and excellent friend of the paper, Oran Sorenson, a former legislator, wasn’t an in initial fan of the project either. However, he told me that his son did sign and take the cash. Oran said the fellow he talked to was kind and courteous. To me that speaks that Navigator was at least savvy enough to realize you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I’ve heard of several local landowners and operators who did the same. Who can blame them? If you didn’t know, farming is expensive, and most famers don’t have the resources to fight this kind of thing. Cash up front is something I don’t know if I’d refuse myself. We’ve all got bills to pay.
Now that Navigator has, at least for now, ceased all their operations, Oran told me that he and his family are not going to cry any tears at all if it is never built, and are meanwhile happy to have taken their money. He’s not the only person I’ve heard make that comment either.
It’s telling that in 2022 the only thing the legislature passed on this issue was to make sure they had the rights to tax this pipeline, nothing was passed about protecting the people or the landowners in question. The majority of Legislators didn’t come out strongly against these pipelines until after the session was over in 2022 and there was a lot of talk and precious little action in 2023. Giving credit where credit is due, Tom Pishke and Jon Hansen have both publicly voiced strong support for landowners’ rights, but committee hearings regarding reforming property rights of the landowner did not get the needle moved. When the rubber met the road, the legislature failed the landowner so far on this issue.
But this issue faced enough public backlash that the Public Utilities Commission denied the proposals. Or maybe they had what I like to call the Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles political reaction, “Holy underwear! Innocent women and children at risk! We’ve got to protect our phoney-baloney jobs gentlemen, harrumph, I say, harrumph!”
What’s next? People know that this isn’t going away. They’re going to come back at this and I know that the people who have opposed it are gearing up for another battle. I’ve watched the number of signs saying “No eminent domain for private gain!” and “No Carbon Pipelines! Stand up for Landowner rights!” grow constantly, now more than ever before.
In June of 2024 the agency of Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, PHMSA, a, part of the Department of Transportation, will be publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking to set new standards for the construction, operation and maintenance of CO2 pipelines. This does not set new rules, but it will give a heads up to what the new rules may be. They did this because in 2022, groups concerned about safety like the one right here in SD, wanted better regulations on the books. This is directly from the Congressional Research Service, in a document prepared for members and committees of congress.
Hopefully this means we have better regulations on the horizon. More than one person has speculated that might be the reason that Summit and Navigator pushed so hard to get these pipelines approved and constructed quickly here in South and North Dakota, so that they could get these projects grandfathered in rather than have to comply with more strict regulation.
Whatever the case may be, you can bet I’ll be watching and reporting.
Unless that changes, South Dakota will fall behind in its workforce and economic development, according to legislators, child care providers, and economic leaders who participated in a recent panel discussion hosted by South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
The state matches around $800,000 a year (the minimum requirement) to receive federal dollars for low-income child care subsidies, and the state used millions of dollars in federal COVID relief for child care provider grants over the last few years. The latest state effort, using more COVID relief money, is another round of grants for communities to find “innovative solutions” to address child care’s accessibility and affordability issues in the state.
Panelists for the SDPB Child Care Crisis Town Hall pose for a picture after the production in Sioux Falls on Oct. 3, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
But that federal money is running out, and the state doesn’t have a plan to replace it. Even then, providers say the money didn’t fix underlying problems.
While the urgency and the need for collaboration between the public and private sector was front and center at the SDPB panel, the need for more state involvement was also loud and clear.
Something needs to change, said President of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry David Owen.
“Inflation coming out of COVID is a threat and that’s a domino this economy can’t afford,” Owen said. “If we don’t figure something out, we’re going to go from child care being marginal and on the edges to ceasing to exist. This needs to be addressed.”
SD’s current subsidy program is ‘perpetuating the problem’
Of the roughly 29,000 South Dakota children who qualify for subsidized child care, only 1,800 receive assistance — about 7%.
That’s “abysmal,” Early Learner South Dakota Executive Director Kayla Klein told South Dakota Searchlight.
Klein says there are two main reasons for the poor subsidy participation rate: paperwork and reimbursement rates.
The first step to increasing the low participation rate of children in the child care subsidy program is to address regulations that disqualify otherwise low-income families from the program. Current regulations often disqualify people who need subsidized child care the most, Klein said, such as single parents, teen parents and homeless families.
Nicole Weiss, early learning director for the YMCA in Rapid City, explained that of the roughly 50 people in the organization’s child care programs for homeless families and children with teen parents, only three receive subsidized child care.
That’s because regulations require that single parents pursue child support payments before they qualify for assistance — though some mothers might not want to because they don’t know who the child’s father is to collect payment, they may not want to push for child support because of an abusive relationship, or other factors. Teen parents especially are less likely to pursue child support, according to national nonprofit Zero to Three.
The child care subsidy program also requires parents work or attend school a certain amount of hours, Klein said. In the case of a homeless parent searching for work, that can be difficult. Homeless parents sometimes do not have the necessary documents needed for the program application, either.
If homeless parents can’t put their children in care so they can search for work, they can’t afford housing or escape poverty, Klein said.
“It’s like the system is perpetuating the problem,” Klein said.
Those fixes can be made administratively, Klein said, but they won’t fix everything.
Child care providers lose money when accepting state subsidies
The second reason participation rates are so low in the state is because child care providers lose money when they accept state subsidies, Klein said.
About 60% of child care providers in South Dakota are unregulated by the state, which means those providers don’t have access to subsidy dollars. Even then, state-licensed providers can opt out of the subsidy program.
Providers can choose to be unregulated for a variety of reasons — facility requirements that are difficult to achieve in an in-home setting, they don’t want state involvement, or there’s no financial incentive. The latter is what Klein hopes to change.
“People tend to want paying parents and don’t want to deal with subsidies because there are so many flaws in the system,” she said.
State subsidies typically do not cover a child’s entire tuition. Providers can either accept that they’ll lose money by taking on the child, or they can require the family to pay the remaining balance after the subsidy is paid.
If providers try to have the family pay a co-pay, they risk not getting fully paid — causing a headache for the provider, a fight with the family, and eventually leading to the child being kicked out of the facility.
“Because we know that the parent is on child care assistance because they can’t afford it, why would I anticipate they’re able to afford anything more than the state is subsidizing?” Klein added.
A lag time in being paid by the state also contributes to providers being hesitant to accept subsidies, she said.
Additionally, the state reimburses providers on an hourly basis, but most families don’t keep their children in day care for the entire time the provider is open. If parents who are eligible for a subsidy pick up their child early, the provider doesn’t get the full day’s amount, even though the spot is reserved for a full day.
Basing child care subsidy rates on true cost, not market rates
Sen. Tim Reed, R-Brookings, is spearheading the child care discussion in the supermajority Republican Legislature. He says there is a drive within his caucus to address the issue in the coming session, which begins in January.
Reed’s concern, as the CEO of the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, is that South Dakota isn’t investing in its own workforce, he told South Dakota Searchlight. Research shows that early learning is essential to a person’s development.
“I’m afraid other states will get ahead of us and have a better educated workforce,” Reed said of other states’ support for child care.
New Mexico approved a constitutional amendment devoting a portion of the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund — fees the state collects from oil and gas development on public land — to early education and child care, generating an estimated $150 million a year for early childhood programs. Since August, the state has made child care free for all families making up to 400% of the federal poverty level, or $120,000 for a family of four.
The Washington Supreme Court upheld a 7% capital gains tax (passed in 2021) that will pay for early education, child care and public school construction projects. The state collected $850 million from the tax in its first year.
And Minnesota passed a host of bills this legislative year dealing with child care improvements, including a continuation of previous grant programs for child care workforce programs funded through federal COVID relief money and creating the new Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Vermont increased reimbursement rates for child care providers and expanded low income child care assistance subsidies to 575% of the federal poverty level ($172,500 for a family of four). New York similarly expanded its low income child care subsidies to 300% of the federal poverty level ($90,000 for a family of four).
Reed’s focus is to increase provider reimbursement rates for child care subsidies.
Child care subsidies for low income families at or below 209% of the federal poverty level ($62,700 for a family of four) are reimbursed to providers through a regional market rate. The issue with that, Reed said, is that the public already recognizes that child care providers aren’t charging enough to properly pay their employees and keep their businesses afloat.
Instead, he said the state should base its subsidy reimbursements on the “true cost” of doing business, thereby increasing the state funds to providers to more accurately reflect how providers should be paid. He likened the reimbursement model to how nursing homes are currently reimbursed at 100% for Medicaid residents — a decision the Legislature made last session.
“We at least have to get to the true cost,” Reed told South Dakota Searchlight. “Even at that point we’re not necessarily giving enough money to pay the employees enough.”
Klein hopes increasing subsidy rates will incentivize more providers to register with the state — which would then hopefully lead to a higher subsidy participation rate in the state — but it won’t immediately address the issue since subsidies only account for a fraction of the need.
Mike Bockorny, CEO of the Aberdeen Development Corporation, said during the panel discussion that he hopes something is done in the next year.
“The answer can’t be at the end of this legislative session, ‘We don’t have the money,’” Bockorny said. “We can’t not do anything. That’s not going to work. I think the people who are saying ‘Oh, this is going to cost a lot of money’ are looking at it wrong. It’s not a cost. This is an investment.”
Finding more data and evaluating funding options
Reed was one of six legislators who traveled to Nashville this summer for the Hunt Institute’s Early Childhood Leadership Summit. It was there he realized how much other states contribute to child care.
The takeaway from the event for Rep. Linda Duba, D-Sioux Falls, is that South Dakota needs an evaluation of what the state is already doing.
“What are the sources of funding? Where are they coming from? Who administers them? Are they strictly federal pass-through dollars? What are they and how many families are we leaving behind?” Duba said about the state involvement.
The group plans to present a proposal to Gov. Kristi Noem this year on how to partner with the Hunt Institute to analyze South Dakota. Noem campaigned on child care accessibility and affordability last year.
Legislators are determined to use grants or business donations to pay for the analysis, so it won’t be taxpayer-funded.
“A lot of this hinges on getting a thumbs-up from the governor,” Duba said, “but I think what we’ve proposed is a good starting point. We don’t know what we don’t know. Emotions are fine, but data is what drives good policy decisions.”
Beyond subsidies: What about the 60%?
Duba is doubtful increasing subsidy reimbursement rates will increase the number of state licensed providers.
“With licensing and regulation comes other things an in-home provider needs to do,” Duba said, referencing facility requirements, such as square footage and bathroom requirements. “I understand encouraging providers to become licensed and I’m not pooh-poohing that, but is that an immediate fix? Not necessarily.”
That’s where the state and private sector can play a role, Duba said. Businesses can make child care part of a benefits package for employees, like Black Hills Energy in Rapid City, which partnered with Rapid City YMCA to offer child care.
Faced with 21 staff openings, the YMCA has decided to temporarily close three classrooms and cut 10 positions while trying to hire the other 11. The organization has several private partnerships, and it offers benefits, substantial paid time off and retirement packages.
But it’s not enough, said YMCA Learning Director Nicole Weiss, calling for more state involvement to help boost pay.
“If you can’t buy your groceries, you’re not looking at what your benefits are,” she said.
It’s the same issue in Sioux Falls at Embe, which serves up to 400 children.
“Our starting wage is higher than average, but it’s not enough,” said Brandon Hanson, executive director of child care and school age care at Embe. “On a daily basis, we are choosing between pushing our families into poverty or pushing our employees into poverty.”
As an independent, in-home child care provider in Sioux Falls, Karen Rieck said she makes about $7 an hour after factoring in the other expenses and the hours she works off the clock. She has to work a second job.
The state has to help “take the financial burden” off of child care providers to properly support the economic ecosystem, Weiss said.
“We have to do something right now,” she said. “In a year or two years we’re not going to have employees, because we won’t have child care. The time is now.”
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
Last week was another triple play week for the Lady Dragon Volleyball team as they faced Lennox, McCook County/Montrose, and Tea Area. While the Orioles took the Garretson team for a tough takedown, the Dragons prevailed when pitted against the Cougars and the Titans.
On Monday, the Lady Dragons headed south to Lennox to take on a team they had handily beat earlier in the season. The Orioles were out for revenge, and squeezed the Dragons for four sets to take the win. Final set scores were 25-27, 25-23, 24-26, 22-25 as the teams kept the fans on the edge of their seats.
Bella Sysa on the jump. //Carrie Moritz, Gazette
"We started out the game strong and had a good lead in set 1, but unforced errors were our big downfall," commented head coach Lauren Stoterau. "We need to keep focusing on being aggressive when we're able to be on offense, but also smart when the game gets tight."
Despite the loss, Garretson athletes racked up the individual accomplishments. Tayler Benson found the sweet spot with 2 aces and 21 digs, Kaylin Koch and Bella Sysa were on point with 4 and 3 blocks and 10 and 8 kills respectively, and Sydney Olson assisted 10 times and dug out the ball 12 times. Rounding out accomplishments were Maci Rotert with 2 aces, Aleah Wagner with 13 digs, Ashley Harris with 3 blocks, and Addison Hove with 11 assists.
The team didn't take the loss easily, and came out for a win on Tuesday in the Dragon's Lair. Garretson had faced MCM earlier in the season at the Big East Conference, and won in three sets. This time, the Chargers slipped in a win on set two, reminding the Dragons not to rest on their laurels.
Garretson won the first set handily, though it looked for the first few points like the teams would stay even. The Dragons didn't take long to pull ahead as they widened the gap to 10-4 before allowing MCM another point. The home team kept the lead, widening to 19-10 as MCM's errors built up. The Chargers made a valiant effort to regroup, gathering two points when Garretson was at set point, but the Dragons took the first set 25-14.
The second set went to the Chargers. Early in the set, the teams were tied 4-4 then 6-6, but MCM took the lead and widened it to 6-12 before the Dragons were able to start closing in again. The Chargers had the upper hand at 14-23 when Garretson began to fight back and went on a four-point run, closing the lead to 17-23. The teams battled it out but MCM took the set 19-25.
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Now chastised, the Dragons regrouped and won the third set 25-18.
Going all out, the two teams kept the audience on the edge of their seats as they continually tied the score in set four. Garretson finally grabbed a two-point lead at 15-13 and refused to let go, ending the game and snagging the win 25-23.
"We played scrappy enough defense to keep us in the game, and our offense was aggressive when we were able to be," said Stoterau.
Wagner had a superb game, gathering 3 aces, 21 digs, 4 blocks, and 9 kills. Koch had 11 kills, and Sysa stopped the opposition with 10 kills and 3 blocks. Rotert and Hove kept up the pressure with 2 aces each, Benson kept the ball in the air with 20 digs, and Olson notched 9 more assists onto her belt.
On Thursday, the team headed down to Tea to take on the Titans. There, they showed their prowess as they took home the win in four sets. Garretson took the W on the first two sets 25-17 and 25-16, but played with their prey as they allowed the home team to win the third set.
"Our defense and blocking were locked in during this game," Stoterau said. "Our defense was reading the hitters and picking up tips and pushes, and our block was watching the right things to help get them in a good position to get up and over the net."
The Dragons got the final set locked down as they again took a solid lead and won with a score of 25-13, leading Stoterau to comment, "Our overall energy was high, and the girls were having fun and enjoying playing. It was a breath of fresh air!"
All the athletes did well during the game, racking up the tallies on individual accomplishments. Olson led with 3 blocks, 8 kills, and 18 assists. Benson took home 2 aces and 21 more digs. Wagner dug out 27 balls and had 11 kills, while Sysa blocked 3 and killed 10. Hove and Rotert kept up their service game with 3 and 2 aces each, respectively, and Koch showed the Titans who was boss with 17 kills. Hove put 18 more assists onto her season total.
This week, the Dragons took their game to West Central on Tuesday (results not available at press time). They are deviating from the schedule a bit, and will be playing at home on Friday, October 20. The 13-8 Varsity team will begin their game at 7:15 p.m. against 23-4 season holders Colman-Egan.
The team finishes up their regular season with a home game next Tuesday, October 24 against Madison.
Even though it was a brutal year, they learned a lot
Garretson Football had a tough season in 2023, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good one. A sweet victory was earned on Friday Oct. 6th on the home field and had fans pumped up. This final game of the season against Centerville the boys fought hard and didn’t give up the game easy, with a final score of 7-14.
“We had plenty of opportunities…we just fell short,” said Coach Jerry Weiland. “Turnovers hurt our chances. We easily could have kept it close if we would have maintained possession of the ball. It was a cold, rainy and windy night. But, Centerville played in the same conditions.”
Centerville carried home the first touchdown, but Blue Dragon defense kept them from a two-point conversion.
Grinding their way up the field, GHS’s Blaine Trower tossed a six-yard pass that tied the score, and we kicked it in to take the lead 7-6!
The second quarter was where the game was ultimately decided. Centerville made a 24-yard pass for a touchdown, and successfully completed the two-point conversion, putting things at 7-14.
This is where the scoreboard stayed for the rest of the game. The Tornadoes pushed for a total of 166 yards whereas Garretson had only 72 yards gained this game, with 10 Tornado first downs vs only 4 first downs for the Blue Dragons.
GHS Tackling game was pretty good, with 22 total tackles, three by Trower, three by Brock Bonte, and two by Ian Buettner. The team did their job and stopped the ball, but couldn’t get it moving for them. Perhaps like a brave young Dragon flying into the teeth of a raging windstorm, they held their own and kept in the sky, but could make no progress on their journey.
The game against Centerville will be the last of the 2023 season. This season has been hard on the team and the fans, but it’s also been a great learning year for them too. Hard fought games that end in a loss on the scoreboard teach a student athlete much more than an easy victory. Love of the game and support of the team means more to the boys on the field when there is struggle and striving, so don’t be shy with the praise for the things they did right this season and treasure the good moments.
Last Wednesday, October 11, the Garretson Cross Country team headed to Yankton Trail in Sioux Falls to participate in the Region 2A meet. While the weather was cooperative, the competition was hot, with the top times for Boys' Varsity hitting 16:02 and 16:13 and Girls' Varsity getting 17:56 and 18:19. Those top times were athletes from Sioux Falls Christian, West Central, Sioux Valley, and Flandreau.
"Unfortunately, Garretson did not qualify a harrier for [the] State Meet," said Head Coach Jason Bohl. "We had a great season and every athlete improved drastically as the year went on. We will have everyone back for next year and with more summer miles, we should even see more improvements."
Varsity ran three athletes. Final results saw Emma Hanson take 40th place with a time of 23:24.8, Sebastian Deyoung in 40th with a time of 19:43.5, and Noah Schotzko in 50th place with a time of 20:31.2.
Junior Varsity had six athletes compete. Eliza Potter was 62nd with a time of 21:34.2. Talon Miller placed 56th with Nate Roberts shortly behind in 57th, gathering times of 17:20.3 and 17:21.0. Rounding out the team were Lukas Ludewig and Isaiah Coburn.
