Opinion

Trading offhanded comments for kindness

Published by admin on Wed, 07/10/2024 - 8:48am
I’m getting rather tired of offhanded comments. You know, those comments that we and others make without really planning or thinking ahead. It just sort of slips out before we know it. Sometimes these comments are funny. Sometimes we’re surprised by their insightfulness. But other times, these comments are just hurtful. 
Wickionary defines offhanded comments as “careless; without sufficient thought or consideration,” or “curt, abrupt and unfriendly.” 

Remembering America’s light

Published by admin on Tue, 07/02/2024 - 11:55am

A Gallup Poll conducted last year around this time showed that only four in 10 Americans reported they are “extremely proud” to be an American. This matched the previous year’s record low, and is down from seven in 10 as little as two decades ago.
What has changed over the past 20 years? Why are so many Americans reporting the pride in their country is on the decline? We may not see that type of declining patriotism in this neck of the woods, but it’s clear patriotism is on the decline in other parts of the country.

When the math isn’t mathing

Published by admin on Tue, 07/02/2024 - 11:37am

It wasn’t but a few hours after last week’s issue of the Custer County Chronicle came out that a reader dropped by the office to tell me about a mistake I had made in last week’s issue.
The error was in the story regarding the proposed Custer Fire Protection District, in the paragraph where I attempted to break down how much a person could expect to pay in taxes should the fire district pass. Therein lied the first thing I did wrong—I attempted math.

Why does Keystone need a chamber?

Published by admin on Tue, 07/02/2024 - 8:55am
Do you know what’s going on in Keystone for Independence Day? 
Nothing.
Yes, that’s right. 
Up the road at Mount Rushmore National Memorial visitors can celebrate the birthday of the country with music and dancers.
In the town?
Nothing.
Residents and visitors can see fireworks in Custer after spending the day in Hill City enjoying a parade and ice cream social.
And in Keystone, the closest town to the Shrine of Democracy…nothing.

Cell phones should be out of classrooms

Published by admin on Wed, 06/26/2024 - 11:33am

Ask any educator, superintendent, etc., what they think about cell phones in the classroom. We venture all of them (OK there’s always an outlier) will tell you they are a distraction and need to go away. More and more schools, and school districts, are doing just that.

Making hay

Published by admin on Wed, 06/26/2024 - 11:32am

The heady perfume of sweet clover and alfalfa is thick down in the hayfield, the landscape painted vividly with yellow and all shades of purple. The green is fading, slowly but surely, in the summer heat, but it is still greener than it usually is. Kingbirds with their white-tipped tails, dickcissels with their yellow bibs, and bobolinks, all black and white and wheaten, dip and dive, singing lustily, skimming the tops of the clustered flowers, coming to land gently on the thicker stems before lofting skyward again.

Rethinking baby steps

Published by admin on Wed, 06/26/2024 - 8:49am
Just take baby steps—this seems to be the most common suggestion whenever we are feeling overwhelmed or struggling to overcome something. And yet, what do we mean by baby steps? 
According to Wiktionary, baby steps are “A small effort made toward the completion of a much larger task.” 
So effectively by telling someone to take baby steps, we’re encouraging them to take small steps toward their end goal, which is often good advice. As Aesop said, “Little by little does the trick.”

Sprawling scapes

Published by admin on Tue, 06/18/2024 - 9:39am
As I rode down to Rapid City today I got to thinking about the Catron Boulevard/ Moon Meadows corridor. I don’t think I realize how much it’s changed in the last few years. 
It used to be that only an energy company was there. And now there is a bank and a couple of hospitals/ clinics. A  coffee cabin and a strip mall. A storage facility and an entire housing development. I bet I missed a couple of things, didn’t I?
 I can remember passing the maze when it was still open and now wondering what it’s going to be in a few years from now. 

Machine-counting ban unnecessary

Published by admin on Tue, 06/18/2024 - 8:45am

Three South Dakota counties went to the polls during the primary election to vote whether or not those counties would ban the use of vote-counting machines in their counties, which would in turn force the auditors and election workers in those counties to hand-count each ballot during the election. All three of those bans failed.
As reported by South Dakota Searchlight, the unofficial election results from the secretary of state’s office were:
• Gregory County, 587 votes (54 percent) against the petition and 509 (46 percent) in favor.

A wild cactus chase

Published by admin on Tue, 06/18/2024 - 8:43am

I’ve recently set out on a mission with my plant-finding buddy to find all six native species of cactus in South Dakota—the plains prickly pear, grasslands prickly pear, brittle prickly pear, green flower hedgehog cactus, Missouri foxtail cactus and the spiny star cactus. I bet you had no idea we had such cactus diversity all the way up here! For an extra challenge, we’re looking for them while in bloom and all within the borders of Custer County.