Custer County Chronicle

Thoughts on the prison-building process

Published by admin on Wed, 07/23/2025 - 9:21am

Gov. Larry Rhoden issued an executive proclamation calling for a special session of the South Dakota legislature Sept. 23 starting at 9 a.m. Legislators of both the House (70 members) and the Senate (35 members) will consider authorizing funds for a new men’s prison; not that its necessary as the present men’s prison was built in 1881! That’s even before South Dakota became a state Nov. 2, 1889. My point is we all know it’s way, way past time to build a new men’s prison. It’s just the best, most efficient way to “git ‘er done.”

Nothing wrong with educational trips

Published by admin on Wed, 07/23/2025 - 9:20am

I have just returned from a trip to the three-day annual conference for The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators from across the U.S. who are dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism (local government). 

Welcome, one and, all to Gold Discovery Days

Published by admin on Wed, 07/16/2025 - 8:42am

It’s Gold Discovery Days time again here in Custer. Can you believe it? Where does the time go? It seems like we were just covering graduation, and now, here it is, the middle of July. From all of us here at the Custer County Chronicle, welcome to Gold Discovery Days! This is truly one of the most magical weekends of the year in Custer, if not the entire Black Hills.

There’s no place like home

Published by admin on Wed, 07/16/2025 - 8:36am

In college, I fancied myself a traveler. I have since realized I am much too much of a homebody for that, and conveniently I married a man who “never left the farm,” as they say. But I was much younger then, and I fantasized about being a world explorer.

Championing property tax relief again

Published by admin on Wed, 07/16/2025 - 8:27am

Greetings!
There is a property tax meeting this Thursday, July 17, at 9 a.m. at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Beck ballroom. The intent is to come up with draft legislation to present before the entire legislative body when session starts in January 2026. 

Still proud to be an American

Published by admin on Wed, 07/09/2025 - 8:58am

A recent Gallup poll indicates that American pride is at a record low, with only 58 percent of U.S. adults reporting they are “extremely” or “very” proud to be American. This is a decrease from previous years and a significant drop from earlier in the century. In fact, the 58 percent figure represents the lowest percentage of Americans expressing high levels of national pride in Gallup’s polling history. 

Faith, freedom and fireworks

Published by admin on Wed, 07/09/2025 - 8:56am

I’m convinced that no one celebrates the Fourth of July quite like Custer does. Perhaps that’s because here, it isn’t just the fourth day in July. It’s Independence Day. It’s the day we commemorate the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in 1776, declaring that the 13 colonies were no longer subject to the monarch of Britain. 

Happy new year—for the state, anyway

Published by admin on Wed, 07/09/2025 - 8:46am

What kind of headline is that? Crazy, isn’t it? Well, leave it to the state and federal governments to mess up our calendar. Our normal citizens’ calendars go from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. Our state year is from July 1 to June 30 and our federal government year is from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. It seems like a governmental bureaucratic shell game to me, but I didn’t get to decide. So, of course, the reason I’m saying Happy New Year is that our state’s new year just started July 1.

Our public lands must not be for sale

Published by admin on Wed, 07/02/2025 - 1:13pm

Americans have long enjoyed the practical and romantic aspects of the West. The West has provided us with minerals, timber, energy and space to roam freely for generations. We have a wonderful asset in the West—our public lands – which are owned by the people of the United States and held in trust for us by the federal government. Anybody can go out there and recreate, for free, any time and that is a good thing for all of us.

We can’t let West Dam stagnate

Published by admin on Wed, 07/02/2025 - 1:10pm

Stagnant.
That was the word used at the most recent meeting of the West Dam Committee, which meets every Thursday to discuss the ongoing rebuild at West Dam and fundraising efforts to that end.
The word wasn’t used in terms of the rebuild—that is going just fine. It was used, rather, to describe the fundraising being done to facilitate the construction.