Bat Make & Take Event On October 31st at both 10:00 a.m. and again at 1:00 p.m. the Pipestone County Museum will be hosting a Children’s Bat Make & Take event. The event will include a story, information on bats and a bat craft. Registration is REQUIRED and LIMITED. COVID-19 approved masks required. Halloween costumes optional. Recommended for ages 3-10. Cost is $10.00 per crafter; adult helpers attend for free.
The Museum is located at 113 S. Hiawatha Ave. in Pipestone. If you have any questions, please call the Pipestone County Museum at (507) 825-2563 or email the Museum at pipctymu.net. You may also visit our website: pipestonecountymuseum.com.
GHS Blue Dragon Football is now 2-5 this season, and this last Friday they lost to the top ranked team in their division, the Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan Seahawks who are undefeated this season with a 7-0 record.
This is not to say that Garretson didn’t give them a good game. This season the Seahawks have trounced several teams with their 7-0 record, and at least the Blue Dragons were able to give them a fight.
“We again did some nice things on both sides of the ball,” said Head Coach Chris Long. “We continue to work hard and play hard and that’s what we ask from our kids. I’m proud of our effort, we just have a hard time putting things together for a full 4 quarters. We worked hard to implement a game plan that would put us in positions to be successful. Our kids executed it well and we took away a lot of what BEE likes to do. But they’re a good team and found other ways to hurt us."
The Blue Dragons started the game with a fractious first quarter. After the Seahawks first touchdown and extra point, GHS rallied after an interception run by Jayse Miller and then a follow-up end zone catch by Cooper Long for a touchdown. Cody Erikson had an initial kick that was good, but there was a flag on the play for offsides on the Seahawk defense, so he was obligated to re-kick and that kick went wide, leaving the score 7-6 for the first half.
Erikson made a field goal in the second quarter for three more, but the Seahawks scored 20 points in the second and 14 points in the third quarter. It should be noted that the
Dragons kept the Seahawks from scoring again in the last quarter of the game.
“Jake Schroeder has had a great year for us at the linebacker spot,” said Coach Long. “He is leading us in tackles and his hard work is a great example to his teammates.”
Other Blue Dragon leaders this game were Dylan Kindt, passing for a total of 82 yards, Hunter Abraham who carried the ball for a total of 27 yards, and Cooper Long who had a total of 59 receiving yards.
This Friday, Garretson hosts 3rd ranked Sioux Valley (6-1).
Update 10/15/20: The article published at press time had Josef Zahn on the intercept, when in actuality it was Jayse Miller. This has been corrected.
GHS Volleyball is continuing to have a great season, with a 13-3 record going into this week. Their game against Dell Rapids St. Mary was canceled last week because of a confirmed COVID-19 Case with St. Mary, so the only game played last week was against Canton in a non-conference game. The Lady Blue Dragons won with a match score of 25-18, 25-19 & 25-15.
The Lady Dragons traveled to Salem to face McCook Central/Montrose on Tuesday, Oct. 13. (Results not available by press time) and tonight, they face the Tea Area Titans here at GHS starting at 6:15 p.m.
Employees of Earthscapes install a tree near the south softball field. Eight trees were planted at the Jaycee Complex, thanks to generous donations by the Senior Citizens Club and Roxann and Mark Westover.
by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
On Monday, eight trees were planted at the Jaycee Complex, thanks to the generous donations of the Senior Citizens Club of Garretson and Roxann and Mark Westover.
Several ash trees were removed this past summer in order to prevent destruction by the Emerald Ash Borer. While it has not been found in Garretson yet, the City has been working closely with the SD Forestry Dept to ensure no ash trees on City-owned property become a hazard. Once the beetle is found in an ash, the tree usually falls over within five years. Being pro-active saves taxpayers’ money, as tree removal is cheaper in areas where the beetle has not yet been found. Tree replacement was determined to be more economically viable than treatment.
The trees, which were acquired from Earthscapes, were 1.25-1.75” trunk width, and two were 2” trunk width. Earthscapes gave a generous discount, and worked closely with the City to ensure the likelihood of future disease would be reduced, as well as choosing varieties that would thrive in their new locations. The types of new trees include Lindens, hybrid elms, maple, and a Ginkgo Magyar.
The trees were planted along the new sidewalk, which was laid this summer by Crete Pros. This will help replace some of the shade that was lost when the ash trees were removed.
Crete Pros also laid new cement pads underneath the bleachers, the concession stand and picnic shelter were painted, and the playground received new surfacing this past summer, all of which provided some nice upgrades to the complex. The Garretson Parks Advisory Committee (GPAC) states it intends to do some further landscaping in front of the concession stand by next summer, and the City is intending to connect the sidewalk to Dows soon. GPAC is also looking to make other improvements to the Jaycee Complex as funds become available, but states it is not ready to release those plans yet.
Garretson Cross Country Runners attended the Big East Conference Cross Country Meet held in Volga Oct. 8. Both the girls and boys teams finished fourth overall.
GHS XC top runners were Kylie Christensen (11), Tayler Benson (14), and MaKayla Heesch (15) for the ladies. For the boys, Preston Bohl (2), Evan DeBates (12), and Devon Leedy (14). Each of these athletes placed All Conference status for finishing in the top 15 at the meet.
Our next action will be today, Thursday Oct. 15, when we travel to Sioux Falls to compete in the Region meet held at Yankton Trail Park. The meet will begin at 3:00 with the varsity girl's race and followed by the varsity boy's race at 3:30. Girl's and boy's JV races will follow at 4:00 and 4:30 respectively.
“We are hoping to get everyone back to full strength by then because we will have to be at our best to qualify our kids for the state meet,” said coach Jason Bohl.
At a time when many are experiencing “COVID fatigue,” public health officials in South Dakota are appalled at the recent increase in cases in the past two weeks.
“It [active cases] has been significantly increasing over the past couple of weeks,” said Sioux Falls Public Health official Jill Franken at a press conference last Monday, October 5. She also noted that hospitalizations have had a significant increase as well, which is very concerning.
“Bottom line, we’ve gotta reverse these trends,” she said.
The numbers for Minnehaha County as a whole surpassed 1000 active cases on Friday, October 9, and as of Tuesday were at 1,354. Prior to that, active cases had only surpassed 1,000 back in early May, when most of the activity was from the Smithfield Foods outbreak.
Last week, asphalt trucks and rollers began to pave the rest of Main Ave. After painting lines, parking spaces and letting it dry, the new road was ready for business on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
The City Council for the City of Garretson met on October 5, 2020. While most of the items were a continuation from the September meeting, Mayor Greg Beaner introduced Jordan Doane to the council, the newest full-time employee with the City.
“We’ve done some restructuring with the City,” Mayor Beaner said. “[Current City Utilities Manager Craig Nussbaum] is going to be retiring in a year, and we’re taking his job and splitting it into two positions, so there will be a natural gas, parks, and buildings Utility Manager, and there will be a streets, water, and sewer Utility Manager.”
Mayor Beaner continued by noting that Doane would be taking the position for natural gas, parks, and buildings Utility Manager. “He worked for the State, he’s familiar with GIS, so he’s got a lot of experience in that area,” Beaner said.
The meeting began in executive session for contract negotiations, with the council meeting representatives of ISG, the architects chosen for the community building project. No decisions were made in public session regarding this portion.
Once the meeting opened to the public, the council quickly approved a Cable Franchise Ordinance, a replat of land in the Coburn Addition, a fence request at 5th and Canyon, and an amendment to Resolution 2020-15. This modified the amount of the loan for the water and sewer project to $458,500, a $500 change.
They also adopted a resolution to request reimbursement for costs incurred by the pandemic. The funds were given to the state by the CARES Act, and it allows cities to make updates and improvements to their infrastructure in order to allow for better operations while socially distancing.
City Finance Officer Anna Uhl explained that most small towns and cities were opting to utilize their funds for laptop computer upgrades and phone upgrades so employees could work from home as necessary. Uhl said she planned to do the same, as well as utilizing some of the funds to cover the extra costs incurred with the June and November elections, such as extra pencils, plexiglass protectors, and hand sanitizer. The amount that will be requested from the State was not given.
The final resolution the council approved was a resolution allowing for the deed transfer to the Garretson Volunteer Fire Department (GVFD), the final step to ensuring the land the GVFD building occupies is owned by that entity.
GVFD 1st Assistant Chief Levi Schmid was on hand to give the committee report as well, noting that they’ve had a year-to-date total of 82 calls and 1100 hours of training. Between June, July and August they fielded 35 calls.
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Cindy Garretson Shurtleff on the John and Carolyn Garretson bench outside the Garretson Gazette office.
Last Friday, the Gazette was pleasantly surprised when Dwayne “Jake” Jacobson sent a couple of visitors to us. Cindy Garretson Shurtleff and her husband, Rob, of Seattle, WA, were visiting Devil’s Gulch and staying at Palisades State Park.
Upon some questioning, we discovered that Cindy was of the same descendants’ line as John Garretson of Eagle, ID.
John, who passed away this past June, had impacted the Garretson community greatly in his short time affiliated with us, providing yearbooks for Garretson students, prizes for Garretson Sportsmen’s Trap Shooting Youth, random gifts to local community members, and much more. John was a first cousin to Cindy’s father, Ronald Garretson.
Cindy noted that while this was her first visit to Garretson, she had heard about it when her parents visited the area approximately 25 years ago, and it had piqued her interest. Despite extensive travels, until now she had never had the chance to stop and visit.
“South Dakota is my 47th state [to visit],” Cindy said. She loved how positive the people were, and loved the rolling hills in this area. She and Rob also enjoyed hiking and biking in the Black Hills, at Custer State Park, the Badlands, and Farm Island State Park in Pierre.
Like John, Cindy is very interested in her genealogy, and had traced their family’s lineage back to the 1650’s, when an ancestor accidentally landed in New York (he was aiming for Delaware). This past January, John had discovered that their line had parted from Garretson’s founding father, A.S. Garretson, in 1684.
Despite having branched over 300 years ago, it’s still great to meet those who bear the same namesake as our small town’s founder, especially since none of the lines were ever established here.
Main Avenue is paved and open for business! After two summers and another 13 weeks of road closures, the road between 3rd and 5th Streets is complete. First Rate continues its work on the Truck Route, aiming to complete the full project by mid-November. We've also got updates from the Minnehaha County Commissioners regarding the resignation of Auditor Bob Litz, the GHS Volleyball team continues to beat out the competition, and much more!
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This fall the Garretson Girl Scouts Troop voted to complete activities that improve our community. On a beautiful but windy afternoon the girls met after school let out to pick up litter at the city parks.
They determined that the most litter was found at Splitrock while the cleanest was the school playground. Each girl carried a GFC grocery bag to empty in a larger trash bag as we worked.
The most common trash we found were plastic water bottles and wrappers. The weirdest trash found was a Sioux Falls Rec Area patch and a softball.
The girls differed in opinion on how far they walked and left it at somewhere between 1 to 105 miles! While picking up litter the Girl Scouts discovered a cave and a walking bridge they had not seen before.
Last week the Garretson Troop provided a large variety of individually wrapped treats for the Garretson school teachers. The girls hoped it would make the teachers a little sweeter and their day a little brighter.
