A legendary band with members from the Garretson area will be playing a farewell concert on Sunday in Hartford after more than 40 years of music-making and a place in the SD Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; CHS donated over $10,000 to the Garretson food pantry after a successful Harvest for Hunger campaign; local FFA Advisor Alysha Kientopf is honored with awards; and the fall sports season is off and running, plus much more!
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A legendary band with members from the Garretson area will be playing a farewell concert on Sunday in Hartford after more than 40 years of music-making and a place in the SD Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; CHS donated over $10,000 to the Garretson food pantry after a successful Harvest for Hunger campaign; local FFA Advisor Alysha Kientopf is honored with awards; and the fall sports season is off and running, plus much more!
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The City and the Garretson American Legion have been working together to put on the fireworks show for the past two years, after it came to light that there were insurance and liability rules that the city was able to address that the Legion could not.
However, Legion representatives had approached the council at July's meeting and showed there were cracks in the relationship. They were unhappy with the show being scheduled for July 3 for the past two years, and requested that in the future, it be held on July 4 proper.
It appeared at Monday's meeting that the issues in the relationship went deeper than that, and it could not be salvaged.
Unfortunately, no representatives from the Legion were at the meeting.
"We have tried working with the Legion, when there were some legal changes because of insurance," said Mayor Beaner. "We've had some difficulties, [and] I think at this point in time that it's best to let the Legion do their fireworks show however they want to celebrate the 4th of July, and the city can do theirs."
"I think it's too bad, because we'll have two different events, potentially," said Bonte, "where one would be better."
As a part of the teamwork between the city and the Legion, JR Hofer had been brought in to administrate and set up the show, which he did at no cost to either the organization or the city.
When asked by councilor Greg Franka if the date of the event was the real issue, Hofer stated it was not.
"For me, it was the way the Legion has treated this relationship over the past three years," Hofer said. He had pursued and obtained certification for larger fireworks shows so that he could work on the display, and felt rather disrespected by the Legion for his contributions. Hofer pointed out that he had been brought on at the request of a Legion member prior to being employed by the city as building inspector.
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On Monday, the Garretson City Council's regular meeting was dominated by a debate on the contract presented to the city by the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Department, which was identical to prior years except for a $4,000 cost increase. However, some councilors were concerned the city was not receiving the services desired with relation to police visibility and connection with the community, a complaint that has been lodged many times over the past several years.
The conversation happened in two parts, first, after the sheriff's department representative gave his report, and later, during the budget hearing.
Minnehaha County Sheriff's Captain Joe Bosman was in attendance to speak with the council, presenting his arguments for how deputies are serving the community. He and Mayor Greg Beaner both apologized for the breakdown in communication that has occurred over the past year, leading to issues such as a lack of reports, a lack of department representation at council meetings, and reduced deputy visibility around the community.
Capt. Bosman began with a report to the council, pointing out that that trends county-wide show theft continues to rise, and that it often goes hand-in-hand with drug use.
"They're stealing stuff to feed a drug habit...if we find somebody with stolen property, oftentimes they have some sort of narcotics on their person as well," he said.
According to Bosman, the department has also seen an increase in irresponsible use and discharge of firearms, something that used to be rare but has been on the rise.
"We stay on top of that in the rural communities," he said. "We understand that firearms are very big in South Dakota and rightfully so, it's just that unfortunately, some people don't respect the use of firearms."
He then encouraged residents to keep firearms out of vehicles and to lock their doors to ensure their firearms weren't stolen.
When asked about traffic violations and whether they were on the rise, Capt. Bosman noted it tends to rise and fall. He pointed out that the sheriff's department has speed trailers that are available for use which collect and retain data, which helps to "paint a realistic picture of what is going on." He said that sometimes, perception indicates a rise, but the data shows differently.
The council then moved into questions about the number of hours that are contracted, which is a minimum of 187 hours per month. This works out to around 43 hours per week, or two shifts of three hours each day.
Councilor Dave Bonte, who brought up the issue at the special meeting held on July 31, pointed out on Monday that costs equal out to approximately $42 per hour. "That's not out of line," he said, "considering the way everything is going...it just seems like a big number for Garretson, for me."
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It was a brief meeting of the Garretson School Board on Aug. 14, almost exclusively focused on prepping for the coming start of the school year.
The board convened and the first major discussion item was their consent agenda and payment of current bills. Supt. Guy Johnson noted there would be some big-ticket items such as the cost for the new charging station and its installation for the new electric busses. That and the asphalt and concrete repairs that have been part of ongoing school projects. The board approved the payments.
GHS Football hosted a scrimmage with Colman-Egan last Saturday, just days after the renovated athletic complex field was re-opened for use.
Next, they did a review of the budget, though they did not choose to vote on the budget at this time. Business Manager Jacob Schweitzer noted one small increase was to accommodate the cost of dental plans for staff, insurance for which had risen slightly.
Both Tana Clark and Andy Hulscher had questions about certain budget line items which Supt. Johnson and Schweitzer fielded.
“Good to understand the process and ask these questions,” said Board President Nordstrom. “We always want to make sure we’re spending every dollar wisely.”
They had no items of policy review up for first or second readings, but Supt. Johnson brought a list of policies to the board’s attention to be reviewed before the next meeting. Public Participation in Board Meetings, Admission of Students from Unaccredited schools and Placement of said students.
“We had a policy change in 2020 that affects these two other policies, but these two policies weren’t updated so we want to bring them into line or eliminate some language,” said Johnson. “As Wyatt (Compton) is new, a review of the Public participation would be good for him and everyone since that hasn’t had an update in several years as well.”
Moving on to staff reports, Supt. Johnson started with an update on prep for the first days of school, starting with teacher in-service sessions that will start on Thursday this week.
“We’re excited to have the staff back in the building and are all looking forward to having our kids back in the building as well,” he said.
“Our Athletic Complex project is almost complete,” Johnson said. “We had a final walk through inspection last week and there are only minor items remaining such as painting the lines on the track. But it’s functional and is already being used. We had a football jamboree, a scrimmage play against Colman/Egan this past Saturday. Our sports programs are already off the ground and running,” said Johnson. “Our Soccer team has had two games already, west river about as far away as you can go, and the first game of the year was a win against Belle Fouche! Soccer will be our first official event this coming weekend on Saturday at 11 a.m. at our Sports Complex, they will be the official start of our events for this year.”
Supt. Johnson, Elementary Principal Katie Hoekman, and Middle/High School Principal Chris McGregor all gave reports to the board. Notable was an approval for a $30,000 grant of 103 federal funds for the elementary, and that FFA Advisor Alysha Kientopf won the State Ag Teacher of the Year honors, and will continue onto nationals. She was also elected to high office in that organization. More details will follow in a future article in this newspaper.
Because of conflicts Jodi Gloe is no longer able to serve as the Prairie Lakes Coop representative for Garretson, so Andy Hulscher volunteered to take her spot.
The board then had an executive session about a personnel matter, but the only vote they took after executive session was to adjourn.
SIOUX FALLS – Although a plan for a conditional use permit west of Sioux Falls (and southeast of Hartford) was withdrawn, several people still spoke against it at this week’s Minnehaha County Commission meeting.
On April 24, the county planning commission unanimously approved a new rubble dump/tree grinding site by Mueller Pallets, LLC at the intersection of 267th St. and 464th Ave., near the Sioux Falls Regional Landfill.
That decision was then appealed to the county commission in May, but was deferred to the most recent meeting, as the petitioner wanted time to confer with the city of Sioux Falls about an access road to the facility.
However, in early July, the planning staff was informed that the city of Sioux Falls would not be providing access to the site via 464th Ave., so the original petition was withdrawn.
And because of that withdrawal, no action needed to be taken at this week’s meeting.
Still, Commission Chairperson Jean Bender opened the floor to any public discussion.
Five people mainly from the rural Hartford area, did speak against the tree grinding facility.
But it became clear when county planner Mason Steffens was asked by Commissioner Dean Karsky about any timeframe for a new petition, Steffen said that Mueller was in the process of reworking their plan site to include access to 267th St., or what 41st St. in Sioux Falls is renamed once away from the city.
Those who spoke about traffic, “pre-emptively” objected to this, even though there was no proposal being presented at this time.
Should a new plan be put forth from Mueller Pallets, it will go back through the planning commission, and may eventually be brought back to the county commission.
The next meeting of the county commission will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, on the third floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
Fleeing war-torn Ukraine is aided by help from this area
by Tom A. Savage,
Contributing writer for the Brandon Valley Journal
reprinted with permission from their Aug. 9th issue
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, little did Svitlana Klymenko realize that it was relationships she had built over two decades prior that would help get her and her family out.
Klymenko was a foreign exchange student at Garretson and graduated from there in 2001. She worked part-time for Marissa Wollmann at Family Floors and Furniture in Brandon, cleaning on the weekends.
Left, Svitlana Klymenko senior class photo from her time at GHS in 2001. Right, Svitlana today. /contributed photos
During an International weekend for the foreign exchange students in the area from South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, Klymenko met Peter Loehnert, an exchange student from Germany who was taking classes at Luverne, Minn.
The two became fast friends, and although Klymenko said they never officially dated, they did attend senior prom together in 2001.
Facebook has clearly had its ups and downs, its positives and negatives highlighted in recent years, but the social media giant became a lifesaver for Klymenko when her hometown of Severodonetsk was invaded.
Over the years since her senior year and subsequent prom date with Loehnert, she’s connected with Garretson and Brandon friends, and also stayed in touch with Loehnert, who now calls Singapore home.
Klymenko’s hometown of Severodonetsk is on the eastern edge of Ukraine, and took an immediate hit when Russia invaded. After months of shelling, the town now has been infrastructurally wiped off the map.
The Russian/Ukrainian conflict actually began in 2014 that included naval incidents, cyberwarfare and heightened political tensions. Loehnert reached out to Klymenko and offered his help to get her out. At that time nine years ago, she declined.
“I didn’t feel like it was necessary,” she said. “I really loved my home.”
However, when the invasion first occurred last year and Loehnert made the same offer, Klymenko said she accepted as the situation deteriorated quickly.
The first two weeks of the invasion were tough on Klymenko and her fellow Severodonetsk residents. The shelling was brutal, but through Facebook, Klymenko was able to stay in touch with the outside world by sending private messages to Loehnert, Wollmann, and others she had relationships with through her time in the Brandon area.
“We were messaging her in real-time when they were being bombed,” Wollmann said. “She was hiding with her husband and child in the basement. There were just insane messages of what was happening those first weeks of the war. They’re just gut-wrenching. They were going through such terror.”
It took Klymenko two weeks to escape Ukraine after the shelling began. There is no railway service in Severodonetsk, so Klymenko had to manage to take a taxi for her and her son to make it out of her war-torn hometown. Her husband had to initially stay behind to fight for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“People who had cars left the very first day,” she said. “After that, the taxi drivers just refused to go because of the danger. It took a while to find the right people.”
Fortunately for her, the “right people” came from Germany – Loehernt’s parents, who met Klymenko and her son upon arrival after the 4,000-plus mile train ride across Poland. They had never met and had only heard stories about her, but the parents of her prom date made the necessary arrangements to meet Klymenko and guesstimated her time of arrival in Germany.
Wollmann and others in Brandon and Garretson raised money through a Venmo account that was sent via PayPal to help in getting Klymenko and her family out.
Now, through mountains of paperwork and patience, Klymenko’s entire family – except for a sister and nephew – are safe in Germany.
When Loehnert was able to visit and see her for the first time since their time together in the Garretson, Brandon and Luverne area, Klymenko said she thanked him for everything he did for her.
“I told him, ‘I didn’t know you would be so grateful to go to prom with me,’” she said with a laugh.
Wollmann said she continues to stay in touch with Klymenko, who obtained her German citizenship and teaches English. She is helping her husband, who finally arrived in Germany last month, to work towards his.
“All of it came together because of a prom date she met in America,” Wollmann said. “There’s all these connections and relationships she made, so many years ago through foreign exchange. It’s what saved her life.”
The Gazette spoke with Todd Vetter on Aug. 4th, the week before his club was scheduled to come to visit Garretson.
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Organizer Loren Konda was as pleased as was possible for him to be on Friday, Aug. 11th.
“I’m super happy right now,” he said. “We had the biggest turnout for the Garretson tractor ride that we’ve ever had with forty-two tractors! We had five brand new riders who’d never visited us before. Everything went off without a hitch and the weather was absolutely perfect for it!”
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GHS Football broke in the brand-new turf on the Athletic Complex on Saturday, Aug. 12 against Colman/Egan at the Football Jamboree scrimmage game.
“Great day for it,” said Head Coach Jerry Weiland. “Good to get the boys out here and playing against another team in the pre-season.”
“Boy-O-boy are we excited about this new field,” said Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Steckler. “She might just be one of the newest and best fields in the state now. If you take a fall out there, it’s a real soft bed to land on.”
When asked if he’d taken his shoes and socks off to walk on it, Steckler admitted that yes indeed he had. “I sure have, and it was really nice.”
Supt. Guy Johnson was also very happy with the new field.
“Originally the concrete walkway was not on the bid, but we fixed that and still managed to come in only 6 thousand over-budget, which is amazing when you take into account the scope of the project and rising costs,” he said. “Handling big budget projects like this, that low closing cost adjustment rarely happens, and I know our athletes and parents will appreciate the quality of work that was done out here. It’s second to none in my opinion.”
