The coronavirus has upended lives around the world. Our routines as we knew them just a few short weeks ago no longer exist. Many of us, including the South Dakota Magazine staff, are working from home. Businesses are shuttered, gatherings of more than 10 people are forbidden and — in the event that folks do need to leave their houses — a 6-foot buffer between humans at the very least must be maintained, all in an effort to slow the spread of the deadly virus.
One refrain that keeps popping up, though, is that the outdoors are never closed. We try to take a walk around Yankton every day that the weather allows (and we all know that the transition from winter to spring in South Dakota can be wildly unpredictable). The movement and fresh air do wonders for both our physical and mental health. With that in mind, here are three favorite hiking trails that I’ve discovered while on the road. Later, in our July/August issue, we’ll have even more ways you can safely enjoy the outdoors in South Dakota during what is shaping up to be an unprecedented summer.
Stay safe and healthy by exploring these or other trails near you.
Stratobowl Trail
It’s a short and easy hike from busy Highway 16 to the spot where scientists made history in 1935. The Stratobowl Rim Trail begins on a gravel maintenance route about 2 miles west of Bear Country USA (look for a closed gate and maybe a parked car or two). The path is wide and well maintained, but there are plenty of large rocks along the way, so be sure to have sturdy footwear.
Nearly every step of the 0.8-mile trail follows the well-worn road through the tall pine trees of the Black Hills National Forest. The trail branches off to the left near the end, and a narrower path leads to four granite slabs that tell the story of the Stratobowl balloon launches of 1934 and 1935 that sought to collect information about the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere. During the second launch, scientists floated more than 72,000 feet into the stratosphere, higher than any human had previously traveled.
An overlook tucked among the limestone cliffs provides a panoramic view of the Black Hills and the bowl below. Plan about an hour for the out and back hike.
Alkali Trail
This short and family-friendly trail takes hikers through a variety of Black Hills landscapes: a creek valley, ponderosa pine forests and prairie meadows, all in the shadow of Bear Butte.
From Interstate 90, take exit 34. Follow a gravel road toward Sturgis known locally as the Old Stone Road or the Fort Meade Backcountry Byway. Around a bend the road crosses Alkali Creek. After another few hundred feet, you’ll find the gravesite of Black Hills outlaw Curley Grimes. Across the road is a small campground and access to the Alkali Trail.
Grab a brochure at the trailhead and follow along to each of 10 marked posts along the path. Starting at the creek and progressing through the woods, into a clearing and back, each stop provides a natural history lesson — Native Americans used the green ash trees to fashion poles, bows and arrows; rocks covered with lichens are slowly decomposing into soil; patches of snowberry provide excellent winter cover for deer.
The Alkali Trail is slightly more than half a mile long. Allow about 45 minutes for a leisurely hike.
Gavins Point Nature Trail
The Gavins Point Nature Trail is a family-friendly path within the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area, about 9 miles west of Yankton. A kiosk at the trailhead offers brochures that explain the types of trees and insects found in the forest. Kids can use them as a scavenger hunt guide as they traverse the 1.2-mile dirt path. They’ll have fun identifying the Eastern red cedars, bur oaks and old cottonwoods that grow thick along the Missouri River bluffs, and the millipedes and spiders that crawl around the undergrowth.
Adults will appreciate the exercise. Two wooden bridges, a set of stairs and several inclines account for the trail’s moderate rating. About halfway through, hikers are rewarded with a magnificent view of the shimmering water and chalkstone bluffs of Lewis and Clark Lake.
Cutline: The Stratobowl Trail overlooks the green meadow where scientists launched record-breaking balloon flights in 1934 and 1935.
Demand for food assistance among needy South Dakota residents has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and donations of food and the volunteers needed to help distribute it are becoming harder to find.
Despite being in an age category that is at higher risk for serious COVID-19 symptoms, longtime Pierre resident Don Zeller has continued to volunteer at the Feeding South Dakota distribution center during the pandemic. Photo: Nick Lowrey, South Dakota News Watch
So far, the food collection and delivery systems in South Dakota have kept up and most families are getting the food they need.
But in early April, the state’s largest network of food banks, Feeding South Dakota, said it expected food donations to fall by half for the month. At the same time, the 211 Helpline Center — a key connection between people in need and the organizations that provide help — has seen its number of calls for help more than double.
During the month of March 2020, the 211 Helpline Center received more than 2,280 calls from people running short of food, said Betsy Schuster, vice president of program development. In all of 2019, the Helpline Center fielded slightly more than 4,600 calls for food assistance, Schuster said.
The pandemic has left thousands of South Dakota families needing help on a number of fronts, both financially and in terms of meeting basic needs.
Many of the people asking for help are doing so for the first time and have no experience in managing a severe financial crisis, Schuster said. For some, the pandemic is the first time they have signed up for unemployment benefits, sought food stamps under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or asked for help from food pantries, she said.
“It just compounds everything,” Schuster said. “Not only are they looking for food, but they’re also just looking for answers on what their next steps are, how do they pay rent, how do they pay their utility bill coming up. They’re tough calls.”
In February, the latest month for which data is available, there were 78,006 South Dakotans enrolled for SNAP benefits. About half those enrolled, 37,763, were children under the age of 18.
The number of people who are now, or soon will be, considered “food insecure” is not expected to fall anytime soon. The number of unemployed people in South Dakota is surging.
The first full week of April saw first-time unemployment claims in South Dakota hit 7,916, which was roughly 40 times higher than the first week of March. Demand for SNAP benefits and other government-run food security programs likely surged as well in March but data from last month won’t be available until April 20, Department of Social Services spokesperson Max Wetz said.
Meanwhile, Feeding South Dakota expects to see higher demand for its services for up to a year.
“We’re going to see the effects of the pandemic, and what we’re doing to respond to it, for six to 12 months,” said Jennifer Stensaas, communications coordinator for Feeding South Dakota.
The companies who make food products and the grocery stores who usually provide most of the food donations to Feeding South Dakota’s parent network, Feeding America, don’t have as much product to donate during the pandemic. Nationally, people have virtually stopped eating out and instead are buying more food from grocery stores, which means there are fewer surplus items for grocers to donate to food banks.
Meanwhile, the separate supply chain that serves restaurants, resorts and even schools has been unable to quickly shift gears and sell products to grocers. The companies that sell foods to restaurants don’t typically have contracts to sell to grocery stores and such contracts are difficult and time consuming to secure. The food would need to be repackaged, too.
Also, creating a new delivery system to move large amounts of fresh food from fields to food banks would take too much time, labor and money for either farmers or food banks to handle while finances are already strained by the pandemic.
“The whole system is in shock,” said Evert Van der Sluis, an economics professor at South Dakota State University. “About half of the money that we spend on food is spent on food away from home. That food away from home, other than the takeout food, that market is pretty well shot. It’s gone. So now, most people are eating their food at home and that’s less expensive but switching to that new system cannot easily be done.”
Still, some suppliers for the restaurant and hospitality industries have been able to donate products locally. In one recent example, Grand Prairie Foods in Sioux Falls, which sells prepared foods for hotels and other businesses, donated thousands of packets of scrambled eggs once destined for hotel continental breakfast bars, Stensaas said. Those packets were distributed April 14 during the first of what will be bi-weekly food distributions at W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls.
Usually, most of the food Feeding South Dakota gives away has been donated either by grocers or manufacturers to its parent organization Feeding America. The donations are then divided among Feeding America affiliates based on need and population. Large donations, such as the recent pledge of 10 million pounds worth of pork products to Feeding America made by the Smithfield Foods Inc, are divided up between states too, Stensaas said. Exactly how the Smithfield donation will be divided up hasn’t been decided yet, she said.
The need for food aid has increased dramatically across America and because demand for groceries has also increased and is projected to cause a decline in food donations, Feeding South Dakota has had to start buying more food than it typically does in order to keep up with the increased need, Stensaas said. The situation has greatly added to the importance of monetary donations and cost-saving volunteer labor.
“We’ve got a couple of different things going on here,” Stensaas said. “We’re seeing fewer donated products, more purchased products and higher shipping costs. So we’re really going to be asking for funds, asking for the community to help us pay to bring this product into South Dakota.”
Lynelle Asher packs boxes with food at the Feeding South Dakota distribution center in Pierre on April 7. She said volunteering is a way to fight back against COVID-19 and help people who are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. Photo: Nick Lowrey, South Dakota News Watch
More volunteers needed, yet harder to find
Feeding South Dakota shuttered its food pantries in the state early on during the pandemic to ensure safety of employees, volunteers and customers, Stensaas said. Instead, the organization has switched much of its operation to pre-packing boxes and delivering them to a more diverse set of distribution sites.
As a consequence of pre-packing food boxes, the need for volunteers to pack the boxes has increased along with the demand for food aid. The pandemic, though, has limited the pool from which volunteers can be drawn.
“We used to benefit from the Department of Corrections work program. We don’t have access to that anymore, and so really we’re relying on everybody working overtime and volunteers coming in,” Stensaas said. “Those are getting fewer and fewer because people are afraid to come in. We’re doing our very best to keep people six feet apart from each other and everyone’s washing hands and using gloves and all of that, but the reality is that our workforce is getting slim.”
The problem has become particularly acute at Feeding South Dakota’s distribution hub in Pierre, which serves a wide swath of the state with its mobile food pantry trucks.
Several of the communities that the Pierre warehouse typically serves have seen up to 50% increases in demand for food aid, said Operations Manager Andy Walz. For example, 300 cars showed up at a recent drive-in food distribution in Fort Pierre, when usually there might be 200 served, he said.
“We’ve seen that rise depending on the community,” Walz said. “It varies location to location, but we’re seeing that greater increase.”
During the week of April 6-10, the Pierre warehouse expected to distribute food to between 750 and 800 households in three communities — Fort Thompson, Pierre and Reliance. Each household was slated to receive two boxes of food totaling 60 pounds; one box for shelf-stable items and another for frozen or refrigerated items. That means about 1,600 boxes with roughly 96,000 pounds of food needed to be packed by hand.
On the afternoon of April 7, two volunteers packed dry, shelf-stable goods into boxes. Long-time Pierre resident Don Zeller, worked at the head of a collapsible conveyor, started the box-packing process with canned goods and juice. Despite being at high-risk of COVID-19, Zeller volunteered three days in a row during most recent weeks.
“This is a whole lot better than playing solitaire at home,” he said.
Lynelle Asher has been a regular volunteer at the Pierre warehouse for years. Asher said packing boxes is one way to do her part in fighting against the disease.
“I’m nervous but I’m still going to keep doing this,” Asher said. “If at least I’m here, I know I’m doing something.”
Asher and Zeller were beefing up the stockpile of pre-packed food boxes. Thousands of the boxes were stacked floor-to-ceiling in the industrial warehouse on April 7 awaiting delivery. There were enough boxes, Walz said, to meet demand for a couple of weeks of mobile food pantry deliveries.
Having a stockpile of boxes on hand helps ensure reserves, but also requires more volunteers to continue preparations, Walz said.
Meals on Wheels, which delivers meals directly to elderly people in need, has also seen a sharp increase in demand for its service and volunteers, said George Larson, executive director of Meals on Wheels of western South Dakota.
In Rapid City, the number of households receiving meals jumped from about 470 at the beginning of March to about 597 in early April. Many communities in his service area have seen up to a 50% increase in demand for meals, Larson said.
“We’ve made some really amazing relationships here in town with Youth & Family Services, with YMCA, and even with the city of Rapid City,” Larson said. “These organizations have actually stepped up and allowed their staff to be able to come volunteer for us.”
Communities stepping up to meet the challenge
Even with a large pool of available volunteers, Meals on Wheels has had to increase the work hours for many of its paid, part-time staff, said Larson, who may hire more workers. All told, the organization has seen an additional $150,000 worth of expenses during the pandemic to pay for more storage space, food and staff, Larson said.
“We have some truly amazing community partners.Through Black Hills Energy, the South Dakota Community Foundation, the Black Hills Area Community Foundation, there have been some very generous donations that have offset a large portion of that,” Larson said.
The future, though, is uncertain. Prominent midwest economists such as Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, say they are expecting the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout to last up to 18 months. If that were to happen, demand for food aid would remain high.
At the same time, outbreaks of COVID-19 in meat processing facilities, such as the shuttered Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, are beginning to slow production of meat products. Processing plant closures threaten to create a longer-term disruption in the meat supply chain, which could drive meat prices higher, Van der Sluis said. Meat is already one of the most expensive items for food banks to obtain.
Similar disruptions are expected in produce markets as fresh fruit and vegetable crops become ready for harvest. Those crops often need to be harvested by hand with workers in close proximity to each other.
“This Smithfield plant closure is just one more thing that points out the vulnerability of these supply chains, whether they are global or not,” Van der Sluis said.
Feeding South Dakota officials are working to make sure the organization is able to keep providing food to those who need it, even if prices rise and supplies run short, Stensaas said. In one effort to control costs, Feeding South Dakota has been working closely with its sister organizations in Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin to avoid bidding wars on food products, Stensaas said.
The organization has sought more monetary donations and has had some success, Stensaas said. Since the beginning of April, Meals on Wheels and Feeding South Dakota have secured large, new financial commitments. The Black Hills Community Foundation on April 13, announced $64,000 in grants as part of its Collective Impact Food Security Initiative. Both Meals on Wheels and Feeding South Dakota were awarded $20,000.
On April 15, MDU Resources Group, a partnership between several natural gas companies, announced it would give $500,000 to food banks and pantries, including the Lemmon, S.D. food pantry and Feeding South Dakota.
“We live in a really great state. People are really stepping up,” Stensaas said. “Some are deciding to change the timing of their annual donations and some are donating in addition to their annual contributions.”
Larson is confident that support from businesses, foundations and government will ensure his organization will continue to provide meals for those who need them. “We are going to be here today, tomorrow and into the future,” he said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic upends the South Dakota economy, leading to temporary business closures and skyrocketing unemployment, one of the state’s most venerable, trusted and beloved institutions is falling victim to the financial free fall: the small-town weekly newspaper.
The recent reductions in circulation and advertising caused by the deadly virus and fear of spreading it have added a new layer of economic hardship to weekly newspaper publishers who were already seeing significant and historic declines in business revenues, staffing, news pages and personal incomes.
The level of risk and potential for finality were borne out on April 1, when the owner of two weekly newspapers in northeastern South Dakota — The De Smet News and the Lake Preston Times — made the painful decision to cease publication of the papers that had been printed for nearly 140 years.
Dale Blegen peruses the final edition of The De Smet News.
All newspapers, including dailies and weeklies, have suffered in recent years from loss of readership and advertising resulting from fundamental changes in how people consume and pay for news.
The emergence of mostly free news on the internet, the shift of classified advertising to websites, and a reduction of readership of printed newspapers by young people have all led to reduced circulation and declining interest among businesses to advertise in newspapers.
Papers like the Rapid City Journal, Pierre Capital Journal and The Huron Daily Plainsman have reduced the number of days they publish each week. Employees at the daily papers in Rapid City, Aberdeen and Sioux Falls have undergone mandatory unpaid work furloughs. And many weekly papers have been forced to cut back on pages per issue, end publication of special sections or keep open positions unfilled.
Dale Blegen, owner and publisher of The De Smet News for the past 43 years and of the Lake Preston Times for the past 36, said the loss of revenues tied to the COVID-19 pandemic was the last financial straw that led him to shutter his newspapers. With a stark, perhaps slightly bitter headline declaring, “THIS IS IT! FINAL EDITION,” Blegen informed his readers on April 1 that the end of the two papers was nigh, including in De Smet, a popular tourism town of about 1,100 people that is famous as the home of author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
“With the internet, Facebook, Craigslist, the local development agency running job ads, and then the COVID-19 shutdown, all of it just added up,” Blegen said. “When I really got to looking at where we were at financially, I said, ‘Boy, we’re in dire straits,’ and at age 76, I didn’t want to retire and go into debt.”
Papers play a big role in small communities
Like any business in a small town, where services are few and options limited, newspapers play a key, singular role in a community. In burgs with only one grocery store, one hardware store and one gas station, weekly newspapers are typically the only source for information on what to buy and where to buy it, on actions (or inactions) of town councils and school boards, on crimes and resulting punishments, on youth sports, on agriculture and industry, on the lives and deaths of community members.
To a great degree, weekly newspapers tie the residents of a small town together and also provide a traceable history of life in the communities they serve. It is a role no other institution can fully replicate.
They also provide the critical role of overseeing government agencies and institutions and watching out for how taxpayer money is spent. Losing a newspaper eliminates in what in many small towns is the only check on government operations and the actions of elected officials.
“A newspaper is as important to a community as a school or bank or any other institution people look at as ‘ours,’” Blegen said. “It’s part of a community’s identity, and to lose the identity, to lose the history that’s recorded in no other way, is a real loss. I feel badly about that, and I don’t think it’s healthy, but I don’t have a solution to it either.”
The pandemic has forced difficult choices among those who have devoted their careers, and their lives, to community journalism, a vocation that is both a business and a calling. Weekly reporters, editors and publishers often work late into the evenings and on weekends to cover government meetings, shoot photos of high school sports, or just to get the paper written, edited and off to the printer.
Jeremy Waltner
Jeremy Waltner is the second-generation publisher of the Freeman Courier, following in his father Tim’s footsteps in running a weekly paper with strong community ties and a reputation for journalistic excellence.
Waltner said he has awoken on recent nights and can’t get back to sleep owing to financial stress, but also the unease of the pandemic. Waltner worries over the safety of himself and his family of four, over the well-being of his community, and over what he fears is an uncertain future for a newspaper he has grown up with and has grown to love.
“It’s an incredible paradox, because right now newspapers are needed more than they’ve ever been, and are also fighting for their survival in a way they have never fought before,” Waltner said. “It seems backwards, but this is our reality.”
Waltner said his “heart sank” when he heard of the closures in De Smet and Lake Preston, and said he felt terrible for Blegen and the residents of those two communities.
“From April 1, 2020, and possibly to infinity, there will not be a record of what happens in De Smet and Lake Preston,” he said. “That’s the loss, and it’s frightening to think about.”
The closures left Waltner wondering about the stability and future of his own newspaper and what its loss would mean to the Hutchinson County community of 1,300 people.
“A newspaper is permanency; it is the unabashed extensive record of a community,” he said. “If you wipe clean the record of the last 25 or 50 years in Freeman, what does that mean? You can’t even comprehend what that means.”
Newspapers face fixed costs in regard to buildings, personnel, paper and ink, and postage expenses that have been climbing steadily. Meanwhile, revenues are restricted to circulation, advertising, legal notices and small printing and publishing jobs outside the newspaper.
Advertising has long been the most substantial revenue stream, so losses occurring at other businesses because of the pandemic have been particularly painful for newspapers.
The stalled economy is threatening the stability of the Native Sun News Today, among the few South Dakota newspapers that focus almost exclusively on coverage of the state’s large Native American population.
Publisher Tim Giago told News Watch that he had to suspend publication of the printed edition for two consecutive weeks in March for financial reasons, and may publish only sporadically as the pandemic continues.
But Giago, who has more than 40 years’ experience in publishing newspapers, said he and his small crew of committed journalists will continue to fight to keep the paper alive and operating.
“Things are tough with no paper sales or advertising, but we are prepared for the long haul,” Giago said in an email.
New ‘news deserts’ created by closures
The recent closure of the two weekly papers roughly midway between Brookings and Huron has created what researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have deemed “news deserts,” or areas with no newspaper to cover local issues, businesses, schools and government and community events.
The number of news deserts has been on the rise as newspaper financial fortunes have fallen. More than one in five newspapers in America have closed in the past 15 years, and half of all journalism jobs have disappeared during that time. In the U.S., 200 counties now have no local paper, and more than 7,000 newspapers are labeled as “ghosts” of their former products due to cutbacks.
The lack of newspapers creates fundamental problems for communities because, as the university reports, “the fate of communities and the vitality of local news … are intrinsically linked.”
South Dakota is home to 11 daily newspapers, and that number has held steady over the past 40 or so years, said Dave Bordewyk, executive director of the South Dakota Newspaper Association. At the weekly level, a few new papers have launched here and there, but overall the number of papers has dipped from 128 in 1995 to 111 now, said Bordewyk, who also serves as CEO of South Dakota News Watch.
Circulation data is more revealing of the steady demise of the newspaper industry, however. Total daily South Dakota newspaper subscriptions have fallen by more than half over the past 25 years, from about 171,250 in 1995 to 83,700 this year, Bordewyk said. Weekly subscriber numbers have dipped by 38% in the past 40 years, from a high of 201,500 in 1980 to 124,950 in 2020, he said. Consolidation of ownership — which can lead to employee reductions — has also taken place in recent years, with only 70 owners controlling the state’s 122 papers now compared with 110 owners of the 139 papers in 1995.
Bordewyk said he is saddened but not surprised that weekly newspaper publishers are feeling increased financial pressures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Newspapers need advertising revenue to survive, and if the businesses in their communities that advertise regularly are closed or scaled back for a longer period of time because of COVID-19, then there’s no question newspapers will suffer,” he said. “It’s sad because I think this crisis clearly demonstrates how critical a newspaper is to keeping their local community informed with vitally important news related to the pandemic.”
Bordewyk said he is concerned that some may not survive the slowdown if it lingers much longer.
“I’m afraid we’re going to see more closures to come; I just think it’s inevitable,” Bordewyk said. “Publishers of small-town weeklies say that in the short-term, they will be able to ride it out, but if this economic downturn goes on longer, some newspapers will not be able to survive.”
Bordewyk said he remains optimistic that readers and businesses have come to understand the value of community newspapers and that they will support them.
Lucy Halverson, who now serves as the owner, publisher, editor and reporter among other various positions at two central South Dakota weekly papers, has seen a significant recent drop in advertising support for her papers.
Without a turnaround soon, Halverson is worried whether she and other publishers, and other local small businesses, can survive much longer.
“I really don’t know how we’re all going to hang onto this, and it’s not just newspapers, it’s all our businesses,” said Halverson, owner of The Chamberlain/Oacoma Sun and Lyman County Herald.
Halverson said many businesses in the Missouri River twin cities of Chamberlain and Oacoma are closed and that tourist traffic is down on Interstate 90.
Halverson said she and other publishers were hoping 2020 would be a bounce-back year after poor weather hurt tourism and agriculture in 2019. That anticipation has been doused by the pandemic, Halverson said.
Halverson is concerned that the pandemic will further widen the gap between readership of printed newspapers and online news sources. She noted that most government updates on the pandemic are taking place on Facebook, and that many news outlets are seeing increased traffic on their websites and offering coverage of the pandemic for free.
“My biggest worry is that this situation is going to change our whole platform of the newspaper business because this has pushed everybody to Facebook,” she said.
That could reduce print readership, she said, but it may also open the door to less accountability for the journalism found online and exacerbate expression of “the meanness” often present on social media.
Halverson remains cautiously optimistic that she and other publishers will weather the pandemic. She said she is looking for positives in this dark time, and is excited that in June she will publish a special section on area high school graduates that may feature unique photos of graduates who are attending school remotely.
Sadness as an era comes to an end
Blegen said he understands why businesses that are closed due to the pandemic cannot afford to advertise in their local newspaper. But that realization doesn’t make the closure of his newspapers any less painful.
“I’m only the fifth publisher in the past 140 years, and I’ve been at it for 43 and my predecessor was at it for 57, so what bothers me is that I’m the guy who shut down a 140-year-old historical newspaper,” said Blegen, a member of the South Dakota Newspaper Association Hall of Fame.
Blegen said he bought the De Smet paper only after numerous visits with former owner and editor Aubrey Sherwood, who knew the Ingalls Wilder family personally, and who treated Blegen to frequent accounts of his memories of the famous local family. After several months, Blegen said Sherwood’s wife convinced her husband that Blegen was worthy of owning The News.
As he approached retirement, Blegen said he tried to sell his paper through a national broker for about a decade ago, and couldn’t get a buyer “at any price.” He said that in the weeks before closing, he was operating at a net loss of about $2,000 a week. Upon deciding to close up shop, and after calculating how to pay his employees and refund subscribers and advertisers who paid in advance, he had only about a month of reserve funding left. Luckily, he said, after realizing that the idea of selling his papers to fund his retirement was folly, he had made investments in retirement accounts in recent years.
Some people, both locally and from outside South Dakota, showed interest at one time or another in buying the papers, but ultimately none would pull the trigger. Near the end, he offered to give the paper to his handful of employees, but none was willing to take the risk. Blegen said he would have sold both operations for the value of the two brick buildings where they were produced — a total of only about $75,000.
Blegen said he has heard from a few locals who are disappointed the papers have died, but he hasn’t experienced any great outpouring of remorse from the community.
“It’s a little like dying; you never knew people thought so much of you,” he said. “Not that I’m not pleased by what some people have had to say, but there’s really been very little reader response that I’m aware of. I guess it’s a little disappointing, for sure, but I’m not surprised by it.”
Merlin Francis Schmidt was born on April 7, 1922 to Nicholas Jr & Emma (Heer) Schmidt on their family farm north of Dell Rapids, SD. He died on April 11, 2020, just 4 days after his 98th birthday.
He lived a quiet, (if you can use the words quiet and Schmidt together), simple life devoted to his family and the community of Dell Rapids. He was Nick Jr and Emma’s 7th of 10 children (3 died in infancy). At the age of 10, his mother passed away, leaving his dad to raise the 7 surviving children, all boys. His Dad never remarried and kept all the kids together, an amazing accomplishment in the 1930s. Merlin attended St Mary Academy through 8th grade. After spending his early years growing up on the family farm north of Dell Rapids, farming and working in construction with the Schneiders brothers, he was called to serve in the US Army on Nov 21, 1942 and served in World War II with the 400th AAA Battalion. After his honorable discharge from the Army on Nov 21, 1945, he returned to Dell Rapids on Thanksgiving Day and resumed construction jobs and farming duties at home, eventually moving to Colman to farm with his brother, Lewie.
He married Mary Heinemann on May 1,1957, and the couple raised their five children in Dell Rapids. During these years he hauled livestock for farmers, worked in construction for Lloyd Welbig, Wayne Bjordahl and Industrial Contractors. He was also employed at LG Everist, drove a school bus for Dell Rapids and spent many years upholstering furniture in his basement workshop.
Merlin was active with the Dell Rapids American Legion Post 65, where he was Commander in 1997 and was honored with a 75-year membership award in November 2019. He and Mary spent many happy years going to reunions with some of his Army buddies throughout the United States.
For many years he and Mary both worked as school bus drivers in Dell Rapids, and he developed a special bond with the kids on his bus route. In 2001, he was honored to receive an honorary diploma from St Mary High School. Many local people knew Merlin as the guy who could fix anything.
He was a devoted member of St. Mary Catholic Church throughout his lifetime; donating countless hours helping with many repairs and construction/building projects at the church and school.
He was a talented craftsman who loved children and enjoyed teaching carpentry skills to his grandchildren. He was often seen wrestling with the grandkids, teaching them to use a hammer, and treating them to ice cream. While he rarely shared stories of his military experiences with his kids, he happily shared them with his grandchildren, giving them a glimpse of why his generation was considered “The Greatest Generation”. His kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids knew he was always happy to see them, he enjoyed visiting with anyone, and always had a project in the works to keep his hands and mind busy.
Grateful for sharing his life are his five children: Kathy Hegge (Dennis Mammenga) of Baltic SD, Nick Schmidt (Connie) of Lewisville TX, Jan Bot (Ben) of Cottonwood MN, Tony Schmidt (Norilee) of Sioux Falls SD, and Bill Schmidt (Denise) of Dell Rapids SD. He will be missed by his 14 grandchildren: Kassy (Dusty) Thorpe, Karly (Doug Nohava) Hegge, Kyle Hegge, Chelsey (Tyler) Koenig, Eric (Kathy) Schmidt, Adam (Bailey) Schmidt, Cole Bot, Ella Bot, Kellen Schmidt (Claire Hemmer), Hailey Schmidt, Jessica (Ryan) Thornell, Casey Schmidt, Ethan Schmidt & Ryan Schmidt. His 14 great-grandchildren also loved visiting Grandpa Merlin and hearing his stories. He will be missed by his sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Joyce Lerdal, Virginia (Dick) Mergen, Ruby (Richard) Nelson, and Arlene Schmidt, and many nieces, nephews, friends and community members. He was preceded in death by his wife Mary in 2006, all of his siblings: Elberta, Alfred, Gertrude, LaVern, Norbert, Bertram, Lewis, Roy and an infant brother. He was also preceded by his son-in-law, Kent Hegge, several sisters-in-law and a brother-in-law.
Due to the current COVID 19 concerns, a private burial was held on Friday, April 17 at Dell Rapids St Mary Cemetery and a Celebration of Life for Merlin will be held at a later time. The family requests that there be no floral memorials and asks that memorials be directed to the Dell Rapids American Legion Post #65 for the Veterans Park Project or Dell Rapids St Mary School in Merlin’s name. Please send memorials %Bill Schmidt 805 N Vermont Ave Dell Rapids SD 57022.
After courageously battling an aggressive prostate cancer for six years, Lee passed away April 13th, 2020 with his family by his side.
Lee was born July 15, 1938 in Dell Rapids, South Dakota to Jens Melvin and Gladys Braa Otterness. He was raised on the family farm near Garretson, South Dakota. Lee was the middle of seven siblings: Christie (Cyril Wilfahrt - deceased), Conrad (Alta), Lorraine (Mac MacDonald - deceased), Kenneth (Terri), James (Elaine Raines), and Gloria (Bob Sanders). Lee was preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother, James.
After graduating from Garretson High school, Lee joined the South Dakota National Guard, where he served 6 months of active duty and five and a half years of reserve duty.
Lee met Nancy Haglund while working towards his pharmaceutical degree at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. She was in the nursing program. Best friends and inseparable since 1965, they would have celebrated their 55th anniversary in November 2020. After college life, they had two children: Liz Otterness (and her husband David Ballance) and Andrew (and his husband Italo Leveratto). In later years, Lee’s life was full, keeping up with his two grandchildren: Everett and Rose.
Lee began his pharmacy career working for Osco Drug in the Chicago area, and through a series of transfers and company buy-outs, he ended his 45-year Rx career with Albertsons in Boise, Idaho. Lee was a long-time member of the Capitol Pharmacy Association in Boise.
Being outdoors was Lee’s primary interest. Whether it be gardening and landscaping at home or camping and fishing in the mountains. After Lee got off work, the family would get in the camper and head for
the beautiful Idaho outdoors as often as possible. At some point, the camper became a boat - with the initial thought of fishing. Instead, it became water skiing and dock-camping with a rare fishing trip. After the grandkids came along, Lee was always pulling them and their friends on tubes and other floating devices. How he loved to hear them scream as he spun vicious high-speed circles at Lucky Peak!
Winter months found Lee on the ski slopes with lifetime friends and his family - too many amazing friends to mention by name. In late February for many years, Lee skied with a group of close friends at Big Sky, Montana. His job was to have the coffee ready when the earlier risers were ready to hit the slopes. He and a couple of others were not “first” trackers! Lee continued skiing well into his late seventies when cancer reared its ugly head again.
Another of his favorite things was brewing beer, sometimes wine, sometimes mead. He dabbled with winemaking when we lived in Downers Grove, Illinois, but after moving to Boise it was all about making craft beer. He was an early member of Ida-Quaffer Homebrewers’ Association. His well-documented brew journal was filled with impeccable notes including temperature, humidity, time of day, how long this boiled or that roasted. David is looking forward to using Lee’s detailed notes to brew a batch; Lee’s IPA’s were always a hit with him. Lee created many award-winning brews. Because of his talent and connections in Ida-Quaffer’s, his orange blossom coriander beer was the inspiration for one of the first beers on tap at Table Rock Brewery in Boise. He also acquired pony kegs of microbrew for Liz and David’s wedding; something ahead of its time. The one-and-only batch of undrinkable beer brewed was the one he and Liz made together with unidentified hops from her yard. We called the batch ‘Dason’ and dumped it in the compost; it was truly that bad.
Lee loved to use his woodworking tools to make useful household things and furniture. His most enjoyable projects were with his son,
Andrew. Early on, they built a three-story pet condo to care for many generations of rodents and other animals that found their way to our home. Later on, Lee, Andrew, and Italo built several pieces for their home - from a contemporary wine rack to a rustic headboard and tables.
After retiring, Lee and Nancy traveled the world with their special friends. One of his favorite trips was a river boat cruise down the Danube/Main Rivers. But the best place ever may have to be the Otternes family farm outside of Aurland, now a Norwegian Cultural Heritage site.
Lee fully restored a 1968 MG Midget that he acquired from his brother, James. After sitting idle for years in Tucson, it was so full of black widow spiders and other crawly things that he had to let it sit out in the cold Boise winter before he was able to start working on it. Bitten by the restoration bug, he then restored a 1974 MGB GT that came out of a pasture near Ontario, Oregon – it, too, was full of crawly things! And the one he was just starting, a 1971 MG Midget, sits waiting for attention from the family. Lee was pleased to learn that Andrew wants to keep the cars and learn how to maintain them - and maybe even finish the ‘71. Lee became a member of the Idaho British Car Club, participating in drives, car shows, and helping other members with their cars. Lee’s beautifully restored cars allowed him to win several 1st and 2nd places. The club brought him many close friendships. The Car Club also pulled off an amazing drive-by tribute to Lee at the family home just days prior to his passing - thirty classic British cars full of his close friends waving and sending their love from a socially distanced cul-de-sac. This was most certainly a final farewell that sent Lee off with a giant smile.
The family wants to thank the St. Luke’s Cancer Institute’s incredible staff - in particular the doctors and nurses that always had his best interests at heart. We also want to call out our gratitude for St. Luke’s
Hospice - especially the superb, compassionate care from Deanna; she took amazing care of all of us.
In lieu of flowers, if you wish, feel free to donate to South Dakota State University’s College of Pharmacy in LeRoy’s name. (https://www.sdstatefoundation.org/give-now)
A celebration of Lee’s life will be held at a future date when hugs and kisses are back in style.
Hey Editor! I wanted to pass along a few recognitions of our Girls basketball program.
The Big East All-Conference Teams were voted on and selected by the coaches. Lizzie Olson landed on 1st team. Jaelyn Benson was voted on 3rd team, and Lauren Heesch and Lily Ranschau made Honorable Mention. Lizzie was voted 1st team last year, Jaelyn and Lauren were Honorable Mention last season, and this is Lily’s first time voted All-Conference.
In addition to being named to first team Big East All-Conference, Lizzie also received the honor of Class “A” All-State. She was voted by coaches around the state and earned 3rd team honors. This is a very prestigious awarded and hasn’t been award to a Garretson Lady Dragon since Hailey Edmundson in 2014.
-Matt Schrank Technology Administrator Head Girls Basketball
Editor’s Reply: That is simply excellent! It was an exciting season, and just fun to watch our ladies working hard and having fun on the court! Well done all!
I want to also take a moment and pass on my congratulations on the Teacher of the Year Award Matt! It’s well deserved. This crisis has been really tough on our school and community. You stepped up to the challenge and took on the problem head on. The whole community is grateful for your hard work, we are lucky to have you working in our school district!
Trap season delayed
Garretson Sportsmen's Club will NOT begin trap leagues until at least Wednesday, May 13th.
This decision was prompted by the increase in cases in Minnehaha county, the ongoing state and federal directives to limit gatherings to ten or fewer people indoors and last, our concern for the significant number of shooters 60 and over.
As May 13th gets closer, please watch for updates in another newsletter, on our website, or on Facebook.
We will implement a sign-up process to limit the number of people gathered together at any given time.
If you have not shot trap in the past, this is the year to try it! A team consists of five shooters. Even if you don't have five, there are many regulars at the club that often shoot on more than one team. You could likely fill your team with these people. We also often have individuals that would like to try it out, but need a team to shoot on.
If you would like to register a new team this year, send us a letter with your contact information, the number of shooters you have interested, and a team name.
As a follow up to the mask creation story that we ran in our April 9th edition, we have another local person who’s been making cloth masks. Judy Hanson has been busy, making masks and distributing them for free to local citizens.
“I read in the paper about folks making masks for hospitals and healthcare workers, and that’s a good thing, but I also thought that we have folks here in town who might want some,” Hanson said. “It started out making masks for friends and neighbors, and I just kept making them. I guess that I’ve made about 50 or so, so far. I guess I’ll stop when I run out of elastic, but my daughter was nice enough to drop off a bunch with me, so I’m well-stocked for a good long time. I’m not a seamstress really, but I can sew.”
And she’s giving them away for free, distributing from the Garretson Food Center. Last week, as shoppers arrived, store staff offered Hanson’s masks to any patron who wanted one. Though at the time of this printing they are out of stock, there will be more on the way.
Hanson didn’t want a big deal made out about this in her local paper, but we at the Gazette think good deeds should be recognized. After all, doing a good deed when times are easy is one thing, doing a good deed when times are hard is something else.
SIOUX FALLS – The Minnehaha County Commission was back in session Tuesday, April 14, and once again, Commissioners Jeff Barth and Gerald Beninga were present remotely by phone.
Minnehaha County Commissioners, from left, Jean Bender, Dean Karsky and Cindy Heiberger were "socially distant" at this week's meeting. Located in the center is the phone on which Commissioners Jeff Barth and Gerald Beniga called in from home. (Photo by Dave Baumeister)
Only this time it wasn’t to test the system, it was due to Gov. Kristi Noem’s order that all people in Minnehaha County over 65 years of age and older should stay at home.
Barth and Beninga, as well as Sheriff Mike Milstead, were present via a conference call, since all fall into that “vulnerable” category.
And the theme of working remotely figured largely in the meeting, as the elected county officials – sheriff, auditor, register of deeds, state’s attorney and treasurer – all reported on what their offices are doing to deal with the COVID-19 spread.
The sheriff’s office is the only one of those not located in the County Administration Building, and since deputies need to be out in the public and around inmates, there are limits on what they are able to do.
Milstead lavished a great deal of praise on his staff for work being done under extremely difficult circumstances.
A main area he discussed was the county jail and working with the incarcerated.
He explained that most of their worries come not from within, but from outside staff bring in any type of infection, and that to help with that, rigorous screening procedures and cleaning are in place, since, unlike other departments, deputies and corrections workers cannot work remotely.
However, for the other elected officials working in an administration building closed to the public, three of the four offices have been working to split shifts and have staff work from home.
IT Director Monte Watembach was cited several times as helping them accomplish this, including having office phones ring through to people’s remote work sites.
State’s Attorney Crystal Johnson told commissioners about changes being made at the county courthouse to help accommodate social distancing in courtroom situations.
One such change she mentioned is that some court sessions are being operated remotely, and additional courtrooms are being used to accommodate fewer people needing to be present at any one time.
Johnson also said that some of the regular state’s attorney’s staff is able to login and work from home.
Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz and Register of Deeds Julie Risty also discussed changes in their offices.
Both said they currently had several staff members working from home, and others who split shifts so there are always some people present in their respective offices, but people are not located too closely to one another.
Risty said she still works with title companies and others based on appointments.
Not all work remotely
The one office that has not transitioned to any remote workers was the treasurer’s office.
Pam Nelson
County Treasurer Pam Nelson told commissioners that her office was down five employees, due to being in the vulnerable category, but she seemed to indicate none of them were doing any remote work.
Nelson said that the staff needed to physically be in the office to do their work, despite the fact that the public is not currently able to go into the treasurer’s office.
Commission chairperson Jean Bender, who has seen the logs of phone traffic coming into the administration building, asked about the large number of calls to the treasurer’s office that go unanswered.
Nelson said this was because staff were inundated with an increased amount of mail.
But this left the commissioners wondering why phones hadn’t been routed to those staff members under the stay at home orders.
“We have people that are at home,” Commissioner Cindy Heiberger said, “Have you looked into having some of them doing some of the phone calling?
“People have said that IT can transfer calls to their homes.”
Nelson replied, “Those are things we looked at, but we’ve not really been doing. One reason is we like to keep things the way they’ve been.”
But Commissioner Dean Karsky wondered at how Nelson’s staff was being utilized.
“I’m appalled,” he said, “(at) your refusal to work with your staff for the benefit of the taxpayers of the county.
“You don’t have lines down the hall – so what are people doing?”
(Government workers who have been ordered to stay at home or deemed “unessential,” are still being paid and are expected to be filling their time with work.)
To answer Karsky, Nelson, again, referred to the increased mail volume and phone calls, even though it was pointed out that some of that work could be done remotely.
But Nelson seemed to be satisfied that she was making correct decisions, even though she, herself, indicated there is a problem, when she said, “The Commission doesn’t have any control over how I operate my office… I work for the people of Minnehaha County, and if they decide in November I’m not supposed to be here, then problem fixed.”
Less intense matter
There were no heated discussions when it came to forgiving a property lien.
When a compromise of lien comes before the county, Commission Assistant Melinda Storley presents information about the lien and the person applying for it.
Liens are put in place against property or person when a party owes the county money, and before a property can be sold or any new property can be purchased, the lien must be paid off.
Oftentimes, during a divorce or similar situation when one party was responsible for amassing the lien, commissioners might move to transfer the lien to a certain person.
Other times the party owing money might come to an arrangement with the county for paying a lien so a property can be sold.
Occasionally, people petition commissioners to forgive a lien when they have made no efforts to pay any part of it.
Those petitions are usually rejected.
However, this time, the petition for compromise came from a single mother of three who listed her employment at a “local casino,” where she brings home approximately $1,300 per month.
She and the children have been living in a home they rented, but as Storley explained, the owner had made plans to sell the property.
Her lease gave her the first right of refusal for the $75,000 home, but she had a lien against her from Minnehaha County of just over $4,500, which needed to be cleared up.
The records Storley presented showed that she had been making payments on the lien all along, but in order to buy the house, she offered to make a final payment of $2,500 if the county would forgive the rest.
But after hearing her story, all five commissioners were ready to do more, even though they weren’t asked.
After a short discussion by commissioners, Barth moved, and Heiberger seconded, to forgive the lien in its entirety.
Heiberger said, “To keep these people in their home and keep the kids in the same school district is extremely important.”
Barth added, “When you own something, you take care of it, and you improve it… we’ll help this person get back on her feet.”
The vote was 5-0 to forgive 100 percent of the lien.
The next meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission will be on Tuesday, April 28, at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota Ave. in Sioux Falls.
These meetings are open to all, and public comment is usually encouraged, although for people wanting to attend, currently, the only way into the building is at the entrance on the west side of the building, and the number of people allowed into the main commission chamber at any one time is being limited.
Starting a new business at any time can be nerve-wracking; starting a new business during these uncertain times means it’s doubly so. However, Rachel Hanisch, a lawyer and Garretson School Board member, is enthusiastic that her new venture will be able to take off successfully this spring. Her new pop-up greenhouse, Rae’s Greenhouse, will be opening on May 1.
The pop-up greenhouse structure for Garretson’s newest venture, Raes’s Greenhouse, has begun taking shape in the parking lot of Nordstrom’s Storage. Owner Rachel Hanisch is planning a May 1st opening.
“I have always enjoyed gardening,” she said. Even before the pandemic, “I was thinking about what my life would look like after my kids are grown.”
She thought she’d like to eventually start a greenhouse.
However, there are times when it seems fate steps in. The pandemic left her with the ability to work from home and some extra time, and a chance connection from a client gave her the resources to pursue that dream sooner rather than later.
That client introduced her to Mensch Floral in Avon, SD, a floral and greenhouse wholesaler. They serve “mom and pop-only” greenhouses in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, and Hanisch said they have been instrumental in helping her pursue the business idea of having a pop-up greenhouse.
She located a 21-foot by 48-foot greenhouse structure, and she is setting it up in the parking lot of Nordstrom’s Storage, right off Dows and Hwy 11.
“It’s supposed to be able to be set up in a day,” she said. Part of the structure was started last week. She’s on track to open on Friday, May 1.
“Lots of people are waiting with bated breath for spring,” she said. The pandemic has forced many to stay indoors, and the weather hadn’t been helping until this week. While gardening is normally a popular activity, this year it’s likely to see even more growth due to some food insecurity and an abundance of extra time on people’s hands.
Local gardening lore has this advice: don’t plant before May 10 (Mother’s Day), because that’s usually when the last frost happens. This places her opening date perfectly before that. It allows customers to get their items and start the planting process after that last frost date has passed.
The items she plans to have on hand include many annuals, some herbs, and some vegetables. She cannot sell perennials and some food items this year because that requires a special nursery license. If this year’s sales go well, she’s planning to obtain that license in the next year or two.
However, she’ll have popular florals such as pansies, geraniums, and dahlias; vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and melons; succulents; and several herbs.
“Avon noticed that people are wanting bigger, nicer plants from the get go because we have such a short season,” said Hanisch. So rather than lots of the smaller plants, her selection will be focused on ½ quart and quart-sized seedlings and flowers, plus hanging pots.
“I think that the Mensch’s have a really great product,” she said. She’s seen their product in prior years at other greenhouses, and was always impressed. “Medary Acres in Brookings carries it, and it’s really nice stuff.”
Due to the coronavirus, simply browsing will be less likely to be encouraged this year. However, she will be taking requests via her Facebook Page, Rae’s Greenhouse, LLC, and will be open to doing curbside pickup and deliveries. She will also take requests. Mensch follows up with their greenhouse retailers weekly, so she will be able to get new items quickly. Currently, hours will be all day Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. To place orders, call (605) 321-4170 or email .
Even with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and the United States, there are still some people who aren’t taking this virus seriously. Thankfully, Garretson does have a resident who is a serious scientist and trained virologist who actually lives right here in town.
Keith N. Haffer, Ph.D., not only owns Rainbow Delight with his wife Jeri, but he also owns two other companies, Braasch Biotech LLC (which savvy readers will remember we did a story about a few years ago) and Advantage Bio Consultants.
“I got my bachelors at the University of Boston, my Masters and PHD at the University of Massachusetts, Amhurst. I have a doctorate in Veterinary Science, Immunology and Virology.”
Dr. Haffer has taught students at the university level and his biotech and consulting companies have been in business since 1994.
“I’ve been in the veterinary vaccine business for the last 20 years,” he said. “I regularly consult with companies for veterinary practices, vaccines and biosafety. I teach biosafety to laboratories. I have also dealt with, and immunized against, the wide family of the coronaviruses for about 40 years.”
To get started, Dr. Haffer first gave a little background on what a virus is, in case it’s been awhile since that lecture in high school biology.
“There are lots of viruses out there, but this is a specific kind of cross-species jumping. We call these Zoonotic viruses, when they jump from animals to human beings. Rabies is probably the oldest known of these viruses. There are pictographs of rabies infections that go back to the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Rabies is extremely dangerous, but thankfully it is now treatable. Also, thankfully it’s a biological dead end for the virus as it can’t transfer from a human to a human. Smallpox is also a classic example. It mutated from a disease that infected horses or cows to then infect humans. It was, and still is one of the most lethal viruses we’ve ever known. Influenza is of course, the most common virus that people know about, mostly because most of us get annual flu shots. It is also a virus that can and has mutated to affect multiple species.”
“The start of the coronavirus family infecting humans began with SARS and then MERS, they’ re all in the coronavirus family. There were some outbreaks of both those, and they were carefully observed, but there wasn’t widespread dissemination. So these things have always been there, but haven’t yet had the opportunity to jump. Animal to human jump is very good, usually, but the human to human transmission has been much less likely. Until now, that is.”
“COVID-19, called that because it was discovered in the year 2019, not because it’s the nineteenth strain of the virus. It infected a bat or pangolin that went to market in China and from there was transmitted to humans, and grew in humans. It’s an unusual situation. The original transmission vector for SARS was a cat, but SARS on the whole was fairly well contained and didn’t spread at a high rate. This one does spread at a very high rate. Interestingly they’re finding this virus can transmit from humans to their cats, but it is unknown if it can be transmitted back from cats to humans.
“Now something that people should understand about viruses is that they are not really living organisms. They are strands of rogue parasitic RNA. They need to grow inside living hosts to replicate. They can’t do anything on their own without a host to expand in, unlike bacterial infections, which are independent living organisms. It’s actually not in the virus’ interest for the host or host species to die out, because then it loses its ability to transfer to other hosts. It’s like many other primary pathogens. It infects cells and replicates, and sets up ideal conditions for secondary infections. The most common with COVID-19 is pneumonia, and that’s what usually kills the patient.”
And though this family of diseases isn’t brand new, it’s certainly new to us as a species.
“There is nowhere in the world where we have any kind of disease blockers. As far as we know, everyone is susceptible. No innate immunity, no herd immunity, and no vaccine for it at the present time. As is typically the case with viruses, the old and the young are the most vulnerable because they have the least immunity. This virus would be particularly deadly in nursing homes, so I’ m glad they are taking the threat seriously. People just aren’t as strong when they hit a certain age, and will have less ability to fight off this virus. There are others who are at higher risk as well. People of African descent, African Americans are getting infected at a higher rate than people of white European descent. It has to do with cellular proteins forming better places for the virus to take up residence. As an example, a person of white European descent is much more likely to contract say, malaria, where many people of African descent are simply immune. Anyone with immune disorders, respiratory problems like asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. These people are all at highrisk for infection. If you’ re a smoker or an alcoholic, I’ m sorry to tell you that you are also at extreme high risk. Those things compromise your immune system in just the right way (or wrong way depending how you look at it) to make you more susceptible to this disease.”
So how bad could this potentially get? In plain English, very bad.
“The death tolls in our state, nation and around the world are changing daily,” Dr. Haffer said, “but here is the thing. Those death tolls are only official tallies, from recorded cases that have had positive test results. These are the people lucky enough to have gotten tested and had some treatment. Most people who get this virus don’t actually get that test or treatment. The number of flu deaths are also climbing, and you know, the symptoms are very similar. Similar enough, one can be construed as the other, and only an autopsy could show for sure. And again, you can get COVID-19 and then develop pneumonia and that is what kills you. Then you died from pneumonia when you may have gotten over your COVID-19 infection. Testing can be hard or impossible to find, or very unreliable too. And many people who contract COVID-19 have only minor symptoms, like a cold or bad flu. Then they go about their daily lives, their cells still producing the virus. The majority of people who have this virus don’t know that they have it and are just spreading it. Honestly, we’re lucky we’ve never seen anything on this scale before, it was a storm just waiting to brew.”
Information changes rapidly here. Just since this interview, some studies have come out showing that about 25% of people are completely without symptoms of any kind. Dr. Haffer had some good practical advice on what the average person can do during this crisis to keep themselves healthy.
“Thankfully this virus is not a very stable virus, structurally speaking,” he said. “Many viruses have a solid structure that’s hard to break apart, but with COVID-19 it’s relatively easy to destroy. The virus has an envelope, think of it as sort of a microscopic balloon. In the center of that balloon is where the RNA resides. A sneeze, cough or just breathing the air that host of the virus transmits, is bad. So, cover your sneeze or cough, and maintain that 6-foot distance. This balloon is the transport mechanism, it floats the virus to get it to new cells. But you can pop this balloon, and anything that destroys the balloon destroys the virus. Good old soap and water will destroy it. Hot water won’t kill it, not at temperatures we as humans can stand anyway, so plenty of soap and scrubbing is what’s called for. Cleaning vinegars also do nothing. Hydrogen peroxide, Lysol, bleach and ammonia-based cleaners will destroy it. (Though please never mix bleach and ammonia as that will create chlorine gas and could kill you.) Alcohol will destroy it, but it needs to be at a concentration of 63% or higher. Vodka won’t cut it, but isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) will. Everclear is a great disinfectant. I’m a big fan of Clorox myself, but any over the counter bleach should do the trick, just be careful and check the label as some off brands have a pretty low bleach concentration. For lab sterilization we use about 10 percent bleach solution. With this disease there is no such thing as overkill.”
There are also some things you should certainly not do that Dr. Haffer stressed in this interview as well.
“I’m certainly not getting on a plane anytime in the near future, and you should not as well. I’m glad to see that our local merchants and businesses are taking it seriously. I’ve seen them installing plexiglass shields, wearing gloves and masks. Most places in Garretson have done a very good job in that regard. When I went to our closest local pharmacy, the Lewis/Sunshine in Brandon I have to say that I was a little less impressed. The Pharmacy itself was well-done, masks, gloves, shields and everything I would expect of medical professionals. Excellent there. But the checkout lines, not excellent at all. Checkers not masked or gloved, and no distance maintained. I don’t know whose call that was, but it was a bad one. Ron and Lori and their staff at GFC are doing a much better job in my opinion.”
“The idea of going to a bar terrifies me in the current climate. That’s not to say anything bad about our local businesses, all of whom are making delivery and takeout options for food. But actually, going inside, having someone serve you and being around other patrons in an enclosed space is a really bad idea.”
The same goes for social smoking. Standing together smoking outside on the sidewalk is also very ill-considered at this time. The smoke makes a great transmission vector between smokers, a group that will be extremely susceptible to the virus already, sharing air that easily could be polluted by more than just the usual unhealthy act.
“Smoking a cigarette doesn’t kill the virus, it just creates another transmission vector for it,” he said. “So, we’ve talked about soap and water, that destroys the virus. If you go out and about, and you will have to eventually of course for whatever you need to keep on living, the most important thing is to keep your distance whenever possible. Distance yourself however you can. Wear a face mask, and keep your hands sanitary and clean. Don’t shake hands. Be clear and precise in your communication with others. Anyone can be a virus carrier, and even if they’ve been cured, they still may be carrying it and can transmit it. If you were out in public, there is no reason that you have to bring your clothes inside your house with you. Take off your gloves, mask, and clothes and just leave them outside your door. Alternately, you can put them straight into the wash after you’ve been out, because soap and water will do the job. Sanitize your doorknobs and anything you own that you touched on the way to and from the store, like keys or your car steering wheel, shifter and door latches. Anything your hands might touch, and keep those hands away from your face until you’ve washed them. Bleach won’t work so well on your clothes without destroying them of course, but alcohol is a great option, and good old detergent in the wash machine gets it done. Be vigilant and use your head. Don’t take chances.”
There is light at the end of the tunnel, but Keith feels that certainly this will have profound changes to the world as we know it, and repercussions we haven’t begun to see yet.
“The good news is that social distance and stay at home practices are working,” he said. “The transmission rate has slowed down. We know it works, which is why it’s frustrating when you see people protesting for their “rights to be free,” and all they are managing to accomplish is provide more opportunities for this disease to infect themselves and their loved ones. It’s just pure idiocy. It’s a scary time for everyone, because we don’t know what to expect from the future. This disease will have long-term consequences too. From people who have needed ventilators to recover, there is scarring from that. People who have high blood pressure might develop more complications post COVID-19. COVID-19 affects the kidneys, so we might see an increase in kidney diseases and especially in those folks who’ve had kidney transplants or just organ transplants of any kind. And in the wake of this disease I’m afraid we’ re in for a major resurgence of some diseases that we’ve thought were all but cured just a few short years ago, things like measles and mumps.”
So, don’t be fooled by people with microphones who have political, social and/or economic agendas, and who don’t have a single care for you or your family’s health. People are more important than things. Care for your neighbors, community, and yourself. Follow this advice and don’t take risks. When you do go out, because you will have to at some point, support your local businesses as much as possible, and take precautions and respect the precautions they must take to protect themselves. If you don’t think the virus is real, you are dead wrong. It’s here. There have been and currently are cases in Garretson and the Garretson area. The reason it hasn’t spread overmuch here, is because our community has banded together well and is taking the right actions! Keep it up!
