Custer County Chronicle

County rescinds firearms in courthouse

Published by admin on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 9:22am

The general public is once again no longer allowed to carry firearms into the Custer County Courthouse after a resolution that allowed them to do so was rescinded by the Custer County Commission at its Jan. 27 meeting.
“I really don’t feel this is all worth this,” said commissioner Travis Bies, who was serving at the first meeting of his new term as a commissioner. “All this media...cost back on the taxpayers, the inconvenience for everyone having to go to Pennington County—I think we should go back to where we were.”

Theatre set to return

Published by admin on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 9:20am

If the stars (or perhaps in this case, the stage lights) align as hoped, community theatre may return to Custer as early as this spring. The Custer Area Arts Council has announced a partnership with local playwright Wally Steele to produce Steele’s original play “The First Practice of ‛He’s Dead, He’s Dead!’” later this month with an opening set for April.

Bies sworn in after confusion

Published by admin on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 9:19am

Travis Bies was sworn into his new term as a Custer County Commis-sioner at the commission’s Jan. 27 meeting, but he wasn’t sworn into the two-year term for which he was elected. Rather, Bies will serve only two years before his term expires.

Land transfer for CCH project approved

Published by admin on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 9:19am

A project to bring more affordable housing to Custer took another step forward at Monday evening’s meeting of the Custer City Council when the council approved transfers of land and related documents that will provide Custer County Housing (CCH) with land on which to build said affordable housing.

Vaccine waiting list offered

Published by admin on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 9:18am

Monument Health is rolling out a new way for patients to schedule a vaccination or to place their names on a waiting list to be notified when they can receive the vaccine.

Crackerbarrel set for Feb. 13 at school

Published by admin on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 9:05am

A crackerbarrel featuring all three South Dakota State Legislature District 30 representatives will take place next Saturday, Feb. 13, at 3:30 p.m. at the Custer Jr./Sr. High School Theatre.
The event is sponsored by the Custer County Chronicle and is being held at the theatre so attendees are able to socially distance more readily. It is traditionally held at Custer Senior Center.
Reps. Tim Goodwin and Trish Ladner, along with Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, will all be on hand to discuss what is happening with this year’s legislature as well as to answer questions.

Tourism industry shows resilience

Published by admin on Thu, 01/28/2021 - 9:12am

South Dakota’s tourism industry held its own compared to other states during the COVID-19 pandemic. During a Thursday address, Gov. Kristi Noem and Jim Hagen, secretary of the Department of Tourism, revealed 2020 tourism economic impact numbers.
According to the annual study done by Tourism Economics, South Dakota welcomed 12.6 million visitors, a decrease of only 13 percent from the year before. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, South Dakota was one of the best performing states in the country.

Wastewater plant funding sought

Published by admin on Thu, 01/28/2021 - 9:08am

The City of Custer took the next step in the path to upgrading the city’s wastewater treatment plant when it held a public hearing on the upgrade, the first phase of the project and potential funding for it at its Jan. 19 meeting.
There was no input offered from the public, either by those in the audience or those listening online. Bill Lass of the Black Hills Council of Local Governments (BHCLG), one of the entities working with the city on the project, told the council the funding applications were submitted in December for the multi-phase, multi-year project.

Man sought for exposing himself

Published by admin on Thu, 01/28/2021 - 9:07am

It took only a second or two, but a motorist passing between Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park saw enough to call in an incident of indecent exposure last week. As if sighting a flasher wasn’t remarkable enough, the details of the suspect’s costume get downright bizarre.
Custer County Sheriff Marty Mechaley said he received news of the incident from Custer State Park (CSP) officials who said they had received a call from the woman motorist last Wednesday.

Active cases continue to drop

Published by admin on Thu, 01/28/2021 - 8:57am

Active cases and hospitalizations in South Dakota continued to decline last week, leading to the lowest number of active cases and hospitalizations for months.
Last Wednesday, the number of people fell to under 200 for the first time since September. On that day, active cases fell by over 100 to 4,103, the lowest number of active cases since early October. At its peak, there were nearly 20,000 active cases in South Dakota in November.