The Garretson 5th/6th grade boys tackle football team punched their ticket to the Championship game for the 2022 Rose Bowl bracket in SD Jr. Football. They took down their opponent 12-0 in a brisk, windy game Sunday in Sioux Falls. They have a winning record with only one loss in their season; 7-1. We hope to see the Augustana stadium jam packed with a sea of blue on 10.30.22 at 1pm when the boys face off and attempt to bring home a championship win. Blue Dragon football has a bright future!
In the picture, quarterback Colton Buchholz #13, hands off to Fullback Thor Zell #32, while Oliver Sterud #40 and Lane Longhenry #71 block for a gain of 20 yards on the play.
It was the last game of the season for the Garretson Blue Dragons on Friday night, and it didn’t disappoint. It was a high action game, lots of plays and lots of flags and penalties on those plays on both ends of the field. The Blue Dragons managed to keep a very narrow lead the first quarter, and then stretched that lead significantly in the second half for a 33 to 14 win!
Carson Clark
“With the cold temperatures and wind that day, we planned to keep the game on the ground and not throw the ball,” said Head Coach Jerry Weiland. “Ball control was the priority in our game plan. We held onto the ball and won the turnover battle.”
Though Centerville made more plays (56 plays for 6.2 yards per play), GHS made more yardage per play (38 plays 8.7 yards per play). This carried the day. Carson Clark gained 186 yards for Garretson and Hunter Abraham also made some good distance with 128 yards gained.
Almost right out of the gate, Carson Clark made a great 20-yard run for a touchdown, and Jenna Van Holland kicked it home for an extra point. Then, for the rest of the half, Garretson fought a battle that was both defensive and offensive.
Defense pushed hard to keep Centerville from scoring while offense tried to get closer and closer for another scoring opportunity, only to be repeatedly checked. And there were a lot of penalty calls, both for Centerville and Garretson. Despite that, the game action was near constant, and the quarters ticked by rapidly with a lot of blink and you missed it moments!
Caleb Westerbur
Following on the heels of a loose ball fumble as they were closing in on the end zone, the closest the Blue Dragons came to scoring again in that half was Van Holland going for a field goal, but it sadly fell short. Just before the half, Centerville’s slow but steady advance finally had a breakthrough with only 37 seconds left on the clock. Their extra point pass was no good, but GHS fans certainly went into half time biting their nails with the scoreboard 7-6.
“I felt like we were aggressive on defense and rallied to the ball well,” said coach Weiland.
It was a good tackling game for the Dragons. Dylan Jessen, Michael Olson, Matt Gilbert, Carson Clark, Jayden Davis, Jaden Richter, Brock Bonte, Hunter Abraham and Blaine Trower all made good solo tackles. Tackles at the right place, at the right time, prevented scoring and crucial third down advances for Centerville.
As the second quarter ended and the third began, GHS wrestled control back. Clark ran through for a 62-yard touchdown, and Van Holland put the extra point between the goal posts. Five minutes later they did it again, Abraham busting through getting the last yard and another successful kick by Van Holland, putting the scoreboard at 21 to 6 in favor of Garretson!
Michael Olson
Centerville pushed back, slowly grinding away, and got a three-yard touchdown and extra point making the score 21-14. Mere seconds later, Garretson flipped the script and Hunter Abraham made a 57-yard run in for a touchdown. Van Holland sadly missed that kick, but the score was now 27-14. That pretty much ended the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was a brawl up and down the field, with no score until 1:27 was left on the clock when Carson Clark broke out of the gridlock for a 40-yard touchdown run. No joy from Van Holland on the extra point, but there was a lot of joy for Blue Dragon fans as this left the score 33-14!
“We kept our offensive plays very basic and did well with all those plays,” said coach Weiland.
The Dragons will not continue into the post-season, but it was very nice to see them finish their season with a hometown win!
These four lady dragons have provided a lot of memories on the volleyball court during their high school career including a second-place finish at State last year. They are Rian Smidt (#7) Grace Hove (#5), Logan Bly (#2) and Anna Jones (#12). Join us this Monday evening cheering on the Garretson Dragon Volleyball Team and honoring these seniors as they play on the home court for the last time.(photo submitted)
Volleyball varies in performance, goes 2-1 last week
by Raegen Altman, GHS Blue Ink
The Garretson Volleyball team (14-7) has only a few more games to make a statement before entering postseason. The Blue Dragons have made improvements but still find themselves in the #5 seed in a stacked region.
The Lady Dragons have played three games last week: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
On Monday, they faced the Orioles of Lennox, which was a 3-0 win in favor of Garretson; then they turned around the next day against the MCM Cougars. In a hard-fought game, the girls were defeated 2-3.
Last Thursday, the Blue Dragons played the Tea Area Titans and defeated them 3-0.
The Blue Dragons are looking to continue their season positively into the postseason.
“I am confident in what our team can do. We have had some extremely close games with some of the best teams in the state but have struggled all season with finishing with the win. We have been working extremely hard in practice to prepare for what’s to come with regions,” said senior Anna Jones.
Junior Kaylin Koch agreed, “I have high hopes for us this postseason. I’m super excited to see our turnout. We proved that we could do it last year so we have to take that confidence and apply it this season. I believe we have a lot of potential as a team and there is still some work to do to get us prepared for regions.”
The Blue Dragons have had a pretty good student section this year which tends to keep their momentum going.
“Be loud, stand, cheer, and show up to the games,” stated Tayler Benson.
As of press time, the Garretson Dragons had four more regular season games left and then will head into the first round of regions, patiently waiting to see who their opponent will be.
Blue Dragon Volleyball will be on the home court tomorrow (Friday) versus Colman-Egan and Monday, October 24 with Sioux Valley. JV starts at 6:00 p.m. and Varsity begins at 7:15 p.m. Their final regular season game will be in Madison on Tuesday, October 25.
This season, the Garretson Cross Country team was small but mighty, running seven athletes in mostly Junior Varsity competitions. However, for the Big East Conference held October 6, senior Preston Bohl was finally recovered enough from injuries to compete, and he came out of the gate as though he'd been competing hard all season and placed third.
Preston Bohl
The team then headed to Salem to participate in the Region 2A meet on Thursday, October 13. Along with Bohl, who competed in Varsity, season veterans Noah Schotzko, Sebastian Deyoung, Nate Roberts, Talon Miller, Emma Hanson, and Eliza Potter competed in JV.
Hanson got 23rd place, Deyoung received 25th and Schotzko got 27th places, respectively, while Roberts and Potter received 33rd and 36th place. Miller, who had a personal record at 17:27.7, came in 56th overall in the competitive field.
Bohl was the only Garretson harrier to medal and receive a place in the State Meet, which will be held this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Huron. He came in 8th overall with a time of 17:40.20 in the 5,000-meter race.
Preston Bohl (photos submitted)
UPDATE 10/20/22: Eliza Potter came in 36th place. This has been updated.
The Garretson High School Marching Band at the 2022 Homecoming Parade, where they performed
Not many people know that the Garretson Marching Band is the most successful fall activity. Since the beginning of the school year the marching band has had some really great competitions and very strong finishes.
They had competitions in Luverne on September 24 where they missed 1st place by one point and got 2nd. Further successes were achieved in Arlington on September 29 and Chester on October 7 where the band won first place both times.
“Mr. Sittig chose the theme ‘Pirates of the Caribbean this year,” said GHS student Ashley Harris. “I really like it because everybody knows this song and it is pretty easy because we already played it.”
The level of success the band is currently enjoying doesn't come from nowhere, it's hard-earned.
Student Martin Welch said, “The key to this great success is to pay attention at all times and to not mess up.”
This has come from many practices, with most taking place during early mornings.
Welch and Harris both describe a typical marching band competition as “A lot of standing and waiting.”
“Most of the time you need to wait for other schools to go ahead of you and wait until it’s your turn,” Harris explained.
“Winning” is what Martin Welch describes as the best part of being in the marching band.
The Garretson Marching Band is an important part of Garretson High and Middle school even though not everyone may know about them.
Last Friday, the Marching band had their last competition of the season. They performed in Volga at Sioux Valley and received third place.
BROOKINGS — Candidates for governor gave wildly different answers when asked to grade the openness of government in South Dakota.
Jamie SmithTracy QuintKristi Noem
Gov. Kristi Noem, the incumbent Republican candidate, said the grade should be an A or B+, noting the journalist's shield law that was passed in the first year of her tenure as governor and her family’s presence on social media.
“Since I’ve been here, in my administration, we’ve been more transparent than any governor ever has,” Noem said.
Her Democratic challenger, Rep. Jamie Smith, gave the government openness a D or C. “I’d say we can do a whole lot better,” Smith said. “There is lots of room for improvement, I think.”
Libertarian candidate Tracey Quint gave the state what she called a “low C or D.” According to Quint, “I think there’s a lot of issues that people are noticing with the transparency of the current government. They just want to know what’s going on behind closed doors and what’s happening with their tax dollars.”
This fall the candidates were questioned individually about a range of open government issues by members of the First Amendment Committee of the South Dakota Newspaper Association. The committee of editors and reporters has held similar sessions with gubernatorial and attorney general candidates in past elections.
Topics included: Governor’s accessibility to the press
Smith said he didn’t want to be held to a strict policy, but that he thought a governor’s accessibility to the press was important, including having news conferences at scheduled times.
“We’ve gotten away from that in the last few years, because, some people, I don’t think want to tell the truth and have that opportunity to speak the truth,” Smith said.
Noem characterized her administration as “extremely accessible,” noting that during the pandemic she held daily news conferences, sometimes more than one a day.
“We’re always giving people the opportunity to have access to us and information and ask the hard questions,” Noem said. “I don’t know that we’ve ever shied away from answering a hard question.”
The only way for government to be open and honest is to have an open and honest relationship with the press, Quint said. “I would definitely be available and want my department heads to be available to talk to the press about issues that the people of the state bring up.”
Role of the press in a democracy
All three candidates heaped praise on journalists when asked to characterize the role of the press in society. Noem, who has had some notable run-ins with journalists, noted that it should be “a fair and free press.”
Quint called the press the liaison between the people and the government.
Smith lamented the demonization of the press: “All press has been lambasted as being part of the liberal agenda in America. That’s not true. Just because you report the truth does not make you liberal.”
Open meetings law and abuses of executive session
Reporters often express frustration at the secrecy of local public boards and commissions that go into closed session for consultation with a lawyer about pending litigation or to deal with personnel matters.
Smith said he participated in executive sessions as part of the impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. “I know that the things that are talked about in executive session, that I’ve been involved in, have been within the letter of the law. There’s a reason we closed that down. When we come back we always report on what went on, that we could talk about, in that meeting.”
Quint said she was open to looking at the issue, calling for more oversight “if they are overusing that closed door policy.”
Noem said she was concerned about protecting attorney/client privilege as well as the personal information that may be disclosed in personnel discussions. She did, however, acknowledge the perception of a problem with executive sessions: “We all hear those stories across the state where executive session gets used every meeting and you don’t know, necessarily, if they’re using it appropriately.”
Requiring boards to review open meetings laws
To varying degrees, all three candidates supported an idea that would require local boards and commissions to annually review open meeting laws.
“If we could figure out a way that they had to do training,” Noem said, “I would facilitate that, so that they knew what executive session was, how it should be used appropriately.”
Smith said he was hesitant to mandate training, but thought it was a good idea: “I would hope that the people that are not using the law correctly are doing it because they’re ignorant.”
In addition to an annual review, Quint said training on open meetings law should be part of the training for newly elected board and commission members.
Reviewing exemptions to open records law
A 2009 law gave state government records and documents a presumption of openness, though there are many exemptions to the law. Among the exemptions are government correspondence, including emails, and many law enforcement records.
Smith said he doesn’t believe government emails should be open records, but as for the other exemptions, he said he would have to study the issue.
Quint said she wants to make public government correspondence: “I definitely think that government correspondence should have a little more transparency. The government works for the people. The people should know what’s going on in their government.”
Noem said she would rely on law enforcement for advice about opening more records: “Our due process, that we’re guaranteed in this country, is incredibly important. I’d want to make sure I didn’t undermine that.”
Access to governor’s business calendar
“I’d like the people to know what their governor is doing,” Smith said.
Noem was far more circumspect about releasing a daily calendar, noting that elected officials, including her, often receive death threats. “I get death threats on a regular basis, so if you want to release my calendar, just know that for every good person who wants that information, there’s about 10 bad people that want it, too.”
As an elected official, the governor has a duty to keep the public informed, according to Quint. “They should know where the governor is,” Quint said. “If they’re spending all their time out of state, not doing state business, they should know about that.”
Access to government information online
Noem said she is open to suggestion about improvements to online access to government information and praised the openness of her administration:
“We’ve been much more transparent than any previous governor has been. We have literally opened up conversations and shown people more of what state government does.”
Smith was less enthusiastic about his experience with trying to find state government information online, saying the state website needs “a huge overhaul” in order to be more intuitive. “I think a redesign of that and putting a platform together that makes that easier would make a lot of sense because we know we can in today’s world.”
Quint said the public needs to be educated about the types of information it has a right to see.
Publishing public notices in newspapers
Required by statute to publish public notices, in almost every legislative session, newspapers fight off attempts to move the meeting minutes and bid notices online only. In the last session, legislators endorsed a law requiring newspapers to publish public notices but also post them to SDpublicnotices.com.
All three candidates supported keeping the requirement that public notices be published in newspapers.
Advertising tax exemption
In South Dakota, advertising is exempt from the state sales tax.
Noem said she has no plans to address that particular exemption: “I think it’s fair. It’s been important to our state.”
As a Libertarian, Quint said she is not in favor of adding new taxes.
Smith said he understands that the exemption would be a tax on businesses that advertise. He would, however, like a review of all tax exemptions: “I think understanding why we’re doing what we’re doing is important for all those exemptions.”
Election integrity in South Dakota
All three candidates voiced their confidence in the state’s election process and officials.
Noem said her office is talking to the Secretary of State’s office about facilitating election audits. She said the state must “make sure that people continue to have faith in our election systems.”
As the Democratic leader in the House, Smith said that with just eight Democrats in that chamber, he should be the one most concerned with the legitimacy of the state’s elections. “The reason we have eight is a lot of different reasons, but it’s not voter fraud.”
Quint said the elections are fair, but the process leading up the election isn’t fair for third parties which are often excluded from debates and polls. “We still exist, even if we don’t have the money for billboards,” Quint said. “If we could be talked about more leading up to the election or be included in the polls that go out, that would lead to more fair elections.”
Election day is Nov. 8. Early voting is already underway in the state.
Article continues below
Enjoy this free article! The Gazette is proud to present the local news of Garretson, South Dakota, giving its subscribers news of interest, school coverage, and local/statewide government coverage. Your support of the Gazette and its advertisers ensures this coverage will continue into the future. Consider getting your subscription today! E-edition subscribers get access to their issues sooner than anyone else, both on this site and in your email inbox.
The Garretson City Council met on Wednesday, October 12 at city hall after a postponement due to the Native American Day holiday. During that meeting, the council discussed upcoming winter strip prices for natural gas and heard from Tad Heitkamp and Levi Schmid about the new firehouse plans.
The historic fire truck for the Garretson Fire Department is a point of pride and is utilized several times per year. The department is beginning to make plans for a new, larger building that would include being able to put the historic truck on display. (Gazette file photo)
Natural gas prices were down from last month, but are still quite a bit higher than they have been in the past. Garretson's natural gas broker, Clayton Energy, is trying to lock in pricing for the remaining 25% of normal winter usage.
"We don't know what [prices] are going to look like over the next 3-4 months," said Economic Development Director and utilities billing supervisor Jessica Fueston. She said that Clayton Energy's president, Bill Lindley, had discussed locking the remaining 25% at $8.50 per decatherm with city employees earlier that day.
Fueston also reported that Northern Natural Gas, Garretson's supplier, is requesting a 121% rate increase at the national level, which will impact prices. She and City Finance Officer Paetyn Dreckman said they do not know if that rate increase will be approved by the Natural Gas Reliability Corporation (NERC).
NERC is an international regulatory authority that is the Electric Reliability Organization for America and is subject to oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. However, until then, Northern Natural is likely to charge a rate that is in between their current rate and their expected increased rate, and any overage once a final decision comes down would be refunded.
Discussion ensued around locking in the remaining 25% at the $8.50 per decatherm rate, and the council suggested Dreckman stay in contact with Lindley and have him use his best judgement in order to lock in 100% of Garretson's normal winter usage. Further reporting on natural gas can be found above.
Dreckman then reported to the council that the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources had awarded a grant in the amount of $92,900 to the city to help with the costs of installing the water main on Dows Street, which will help create redundancy in the system and bring water to Central Valley Dairy. In order to qualify for this grant, the city had to promise a matched amount in ARPA funds. This will cover all but $16,000 of the projected project costs.
Dreckman also reported that the first pre-construction meeting for the 5th Street bridge project will occur on Friday, October 21 at 8:00 a.m. at City Hall. This project will likely begin next spring, and will include replacing bearings and repairing structural weaknesses found a few years ago that caused the speed limit over the bridge to be reduced to 20 mph. It will also lengthen the life of the historic bridge, which is one of only two remaining arch bridges left in South Dakota.
After Park Board Advisor and councilor Greg Franka reported that things were progressing with seeding, mulching, and planting at Split Rock Park, Garretson Fire Department Chief Levi Schmid and Treasurer Tad Heitkamp discussed new fire hall plans with the council.
Mainly, they were requesting they be allowed to purchase a little less than an acre of the land on the corner of Dows Street and Center Avenue.
"We're in a 50-year building that's suited us very well for a lot of years," said Schmid. "But with the change of fire standards and what we're needing to have, it's time [to build something new and larger]."
They are proposing pursuing the purchase of an amount of land that is 200 feet east-to-west by 100 feet north-to-south in order to install a building that would have offices, a display area for the historic fire truck, meeting room, kitchen, parking lot, laundry, storage, and six bays for trucks.
"With the decision of that spot, we're gonna make sure it's not an eyesore for anybody coming into the town," said Schmid. It will not be a pole building, he said, but a well-built and architecturally-stylish facility that would impress out of town visitors. He and Heitkamp also stressed that their plans are for another 50-year building, which will take into account larger truck sizes, a community that will be increasing in size, and continually-improving department standards. They also plan to utilize lessons learned from other communities that have recently built facilities, and utilize what worked and eliminate what did not work.
With planning and construction, the project will likely be another 4-5 years before completion, but the department will need the approval of the council on the purchase of the land in order to continue.
Councilor Bruce Brown had concerns regarding use of that land. "That was one of the areas we had picked out for a dog park," he said. "But if you are not taking the whole thing, there still would be potential to put a dog park in there."
Due to the confusion on how much land the fire department was requesting, the council opted to defer a decision until a rough perimeter or aerial map of the building on the land is produced. For size reference, councilor Franka said it appeared to be the fourth tree along Center Avenue and the fifth tree along Dows, or approximately a quarter of the full open lot.
Councilor Dave Bonte asked the two representatives to plan for a full acre of that corner in drawing up the map. Councilor Bill Hoskins also asked that attorneys be contacted in order to ensure a proper changeover of land rights would occur, whether through a purchase or lease. However, the council appeared amenable to the request.
After that discussion, the council approved the transfer of funds from Capital Outlay to the General Fund in order to pay for the GIS system work that has been completed, as well as approving the Capital Outlay Fund for 2023. They also approved a request to pour cement by Blue Dragon Academy for their garbage bins prior to receiving the formal land survey results, then moved into executive session.
Upon coming back into general session, the council approved a 2% salary increase for City Maintenance Supervisors Jordan Doane and Ryan Nussbaum and Economic Development Director Fueston, and adjourned.
The next regular meeting of the city council will be held Monday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion Dugout.
A discussion about natural gas costs was at the top of last week's city council meeting, as it has been a cause for concern across the United States as geo-political issues impact supply.
A 5-day surge in market prices during a polar vortex in February 2021 wreaked havoc across the United States, and prices have been volatile since.
Natural gas prices for Garretson shows the differences in price since the surge. Garretson locks in costs on its normal usage during the winter months, but the volatility of the market has kept prices higher than they were historically.
Garretson's natural gas broker is Clayton Energy, who locked in 75% of the city's normal winter usage at pre-surge prices of $3.75 per decatherm back in 2020.
The council had opted not to lock in 100%, as any leftover natural gas would have to be sold back when market prices could be lower, resulting in a net loss.
Up until 2021, prices had been relatively stable, so it was a solid gamble.
Unfortunately, that left Garretson customers covering 25% of normal usage plus any overage at normal market prices, which caught many unawares when market prices surged to 8 times their normal rates for 5 days. The price jump more than tripled most Garretson customers' bills for that month.
While those prices did eventually come back down, they never settled back to where they had been historically. Much of this was due to a willingness on natural gas suppliers' part to export to Europe, which had higher profit margins. It was especially true as threats of war came about and tensions rose between Europe and Russia, who supplied much of that continent's natural gas.
Prices for natural gas surged again after the invasion of Ukraine, leaving rates around 75% higher than normal for Garretson customers this past summer. For instance, June's rates, which used to be $0.68-$0.75 per ccf during summer months, were $1.33. July was priced at $1.46 per ccf.
(Ccf is the smaller unit of natural gas that the city uses to determine usage for customers. Decatherm is the larger unit measured to the city from the supplier.)
September's natural gas prices for Garretson were $1.38 per ccf and October's will be $1.27 per ccf. In September of 2021, that rate was $0.9968, and in November 2021 it was $1.186.
These increased rates would be a burden if they continued, but Garretson will have the locked in rates for the winter months, helping to alleviate some of the price volatility.
After the 2021 winter surge, the council decided to accept Clayton Energy's offer to also lock in a price for the remaining 25% for the 2021-22 winter strip. Since prices never came down to their historic averages, that remainder was locked in at a higher amount than the initial 75%. While this increased the average bill last winter, it did not go up by the 50-100% that was predicted for other natural gas customers in South Dakota.
Clayton Energy is again looking to lock in that remaining 25%. At a meeting between Clayton Energy President Bill Lindley and city employees last week Wednesday, he stated that while prices have decreased to $8.50 per decatherm from the $11 seen over the summer, he hadn't locked the amount in yet because they were still high.
That said, Lindley was concerned the prices would again start increasing as the colder months approach.
"If we locked it in at $8.50 our weighted average would be $4.94," said council member Dave Bonte at the council meeting.
"With everything going on I can't imagine it's going to get any lower," said Mayor Greg Beaner. "I would rather have that than have prices blowing up over the winter. That's not fair to customers either."
"Bill's in the business and he's sure given us solid advice so far," said council member Greg Franka.
On top of that, the supplier, Northern Natural, is requesting a 121% price increase on the national level, which is likely to drive prices even higher.
The council opted to stay in contact with Lindley and to continue to have him use his best judgement. Further updates were not available as of press time, but the Gazette will continue to cover this issue as information becomes available.
The Garretson Blue Dragon Football team ended its season on a win, and the cross country team competed hard at Regions while the volleyball team went 2-1 in last week's games. Also, with the cold weather setting in, natural gas prices are at the top of peoples' minds as the market has been volatile, and we have interviews with the three gubernatorial candidates, plus more!
Sample Issue
On-Line Subscribers and Mail Subscribers Access More Features!
The front page is always free! Subscriptions ensure the future of this newspaper, and start at $1 per week or $40 per year. On-line subscribers get access to a Subscribers' Area, and are able to view extra photos, articles, and an issue of this week's paper in both a Flipbook and PDF format. Mail-only subscribers receive access to full front page articles and extra photos, as well as full archives.
The Garretson Blue Dragon Football team ended its season on a win, and the cross country team competed hard at Regions while the volleyball team went 2-1 in last week's games. Also, with the cold weather setting in, natural gas prices are at the top of peoples' minds as the market has been volatile, and we have interviews with the three gubernatorial candidates, plus more!
