Writers Note: Last week, we ran Part I about John Garretson from Eagle, ID, a man who has never visited Garretson, SD but has begun to invest in the town with the same last name. While he has recently discovered his ancestry to A.S. Garretson, the railroad investor who is the namesake of Garretson, SD, diverged in the late 1600’s in Pennsylvania, he still feels a connection to this community and has been deepening his relationships with different folks who live here.
John has lived a very interesting life, from experiencing the Roswell, NM “alien incident” of 1947 to his career as a nuclear engineer. The Gazette felt a full profile was a great way for our community to get to know the man with the last name Garretson.
John, who was born in Salem, IA in 1932, moved eight different times before high school due to his father’s job (his father, who was a mechanical engineer, was instrumental in starting three different companies- Bailey Meter Co., Phillips Petroleum, and Sacra Bros Propane and General Tank and Steel). During the years of World War II, he was in Detroit, Michigan before heading to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. However, John was able to settle for a few years in Roswell, NM, and he graduated from Roswell High School in 1950.
Family 1965: John and Carolyn with their three daughters, Cathy, Leslie, and Debra in 1965. At this time, John was at Atomics International in Canoga Park, CA, working on early nuclear development for space-faring projects.
John, 14 years old at the time, was a newspaper delivery boy during the Roswell UFO incident of 1947, when a US surveillance balloon crashed at a ranch nearby, prompting stories and conspiracy theories about alien lifeforms and Area 51 that persist to this day, despite being debunked as Project Mogul.
Project Mogul was a highly classified project that was sending weather balloons into the ionosphere to monitor Russian nuclear activity, according to Smithsonian Magazine in an article written on the Roswell incident’s 70th anniversary.
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Last week was a tough schedule for any team, with three games for the Lady Dragons. But Coach Matt Schrank says that the team came through it a lot better than they did last year at this time.
“It was a tough stretch of games for us last week,” he said. “We lost those 4 in a row last year as well, and the goal was to compete at a high level in those games and come out 2-2, instead of 0-4. We took a couple steps back in some areas this last week, but ended the week with some great intensity and a lot of effort.”
“On Tuesday we played Tea Area who is playing outstanding this year!” he said. “They have a couple of elite players on their roster and shoot the ball extremely well. We had them on the ropes a few different times in the 3rd quarter, but they only missed 3 shots in that quarter as well as finishing with a 10-0 run in the last 2 minutes. We couldn’t overcome our turnovers and their hot shooting and ended up losing 73-58. Lizzie Olson had herself a giant ball game, scoring 32 points and hauling 15 rebounds! Lauren Heesch chipped in with 11 points.”
Thursday Night game against Luverne. We saw another hot shooting team in the Lady Cardinals that made it difficult for our team to compete with. Another night filled with turnovers and poor shooting put us in a 33-21 half-time deficit. They never looked back after halftime and beat us 67-43. Lizzie Olson led us with 14 points, Jaelyn Benson chipped in with 11.”
“Friday night we traveled to Vermillion to take on the Lady Tanagers. We had another bummer of a 1st quarter to start the game and were down 17-11, but had an explosive 2nd quarter and were only down 27-26 at halftime.”
“We controlled the ball a lot better in this game, but had 5 out of 6 possessions in the 3rd quarter where we turned over the ball and couldn’t get any sort of rhythm going. In the end, the 3rd quarter was our crutch again, and we lost 54-44. We had 10 players score in the game, Logan Bly led us in scoring with 9 points, Lizzie Olson had 8, Jaelyn Benson and Mya Long each had 5.
GHS Lady Dragons will host a the Big East Tournament this Thursday and will play at 7:15 p.m.
On January 21st, 2020, the JV Blue Dragons played host to the Tea Titans. In the opening boy’s game, the Titans didn’t take long to flex their muscles as they defeated the home team 61-25.
“We came out flat right from the start and we were never able to recover,” stated Heitkamp. “We showed some fight at times, but we were never able to get things rolling in the right direction.”
Cooper Long was the game’s high scorer with 10 points, while Cadyn Ockenga collected 5 points of his own. Evan Bly and Isaiah Gnadt contributed with 3 points each, as Sam Schleuter and Brady Debates finished the night with 2 points.
Unfortunately, the night didn’t get any better for the Blue Dragons as Tea routed the home team 81-36 in varsity action. The opening quarter set the tone for the whole evening as the Blue Dragons could only account for 3 points, while giving up 22.
“We didn’t have much fight in us tonight,” said Coach Heitkamp. “We had way too many turnovers and didn’t capitalize on our scoring opportunities. When you are playing a team
like Tea...you need to be ready to play an entire 32 minutes, which we just didn’t do tonight.” Josef Zahn (4 rebounds) was the leading scorer with 15 points, as Jake Schroeder and Cooper Long pitched in with 6 points each. Hayden Olofson (2 assists), Lucas Fitzgerald, Sam Schleuter, and Evan Bly all collected 2 points, while Cole Skadsen rounded out the scoring with 1 point.
The Blue Dragons Battle The Luverne Cardinals
The Blue Dragons played a little “Border Battle” game with the Luverne Cardinals on January 23rd, 2020. In the JV match-up the Blue Dragons used some timely shooting and solid defense to take down the Cardinals 30-26.
“I was very proud of these guys on how well they played on the defensive side of the ball tonight. We didn’t give them many second opportunities, which is always a great recipe to success,” stated Heitkamp. “We did have some mental lapses from time to time, but we were able to overcome them at the end.”
Cooper Long once again led the way in the scoring column with 14 points, while Sam Schleuter dented the nets for 7 points of his own. Cadyn Ockenga, Isaiah Gnadt, Brady Debates, and Clay Lardy all chipped in with 2 points, as Triston Rekstad finished the night with 1 point.
In the varsity showdown the Blue Dragons came out firing on all cylinders the first two quarters.
“We played arguably our best basketball of the season the first 16 minutes of this game,” said Heitkamp. “We attacked the rim with an attitude and confidence we haven’t seen in previous games. The kids were playing suffocating defense, which led to easy transition scoring opportunities.”
The Blue Dragons took a 28 to 19 lead into halftime. “We talked to the kids at the half about going out and winning the game, but it was going to take another 16 minutes of solid team basketball.”
Unfortunately, the visiting team didn’t want to throw in the towel as they scorched the net for 21 3rd quarter points, putting the Blue Dragons down 40-38 at the end of the 3rd stanza. The Blue Dragons continued to work hard for the final 8 minutes, but fell short as Luverne defeated the home team 56-48.
“I was so proud how we battled tonight. We never gave up and that is all I can ask for from a coaching stand point.”
Josef Zahn (7 rebounds) had the hot hand for the Blue Dragons as he lit up the score board with 17 points, while Jake Schroeder (6 rebounds and 4 assists) collected 9 points of his own.
Dylan Kindt (6 rebounds) and Cole Skadsen knocked down 7 and 6 points, Cooper Long and Hayden Olofson rounded out the scoring with 5 and 4 points respectively.
Trey Buckneberg had a solid night with 9 rebounds and 2 steals.
Vermillion Defeats The Blue Dragons
The Blue Dragons took to the road on January 24th, 2020, to take on the Tanagers from Vermillion.
The host team took it to the Blue Dragons right from the tip and never looked back, defeating the Blue Dragons 65-33.
“The bottom line...we didn’t match the intensity Vermillion brought to the floor this evening, which was evident on the scoreboard,” stated Heitkamp. Cooper Long led the way for the Blue Dragons with 9 points, as Jake Schroeder (3 assists) hit for 6 points.
Hayden Olofson and Cole Skadsen chipped in with 4 points each, while Evan Bly and Josef Zahn added 3 points of their own.
Sam Schleuter and Trey Buckneberg (4 rebounds and 2 assists) respectively finished the night with 2 points apiece.
Garretson played host to Tea Area on Tuesday January 21. In the first quarter of JV play Tea outscored the Blue Dragons 15 – 11 but Garretson battled back in the second and went into the half leading 21 – 19. In second half action the Titans were able to hold off the Blue Dragons as a last second shot to tie the game by Garretson failed andTeawentontowin41–39. Garretson had a well-rounded scoring effort led by Mya Long with twelve points, Molly Hulscher netted nine and Logan Bly seven. Raegen Altman added five points and Mattea Fiegen and Madden Lardy chipped in three apiece.
On Thursday January 23 the Cardinals of Luverne made a trip to Garretson for a basketball doubleheader. Behind a solid offensive and defensive effort the Blue Dragons kept the Cardinals at bay and went into the half leading 23 – 14. The momentum of the game stayed in Garretson’s favor as the Blue Dragons went on to win 45 – 30. Logan Bly had a team high of twenty points netting five from the three-point line. Mya Long dropped in eleven points and Molly Hulscher and Mattea Fiegen each added four.
Garretson basketball traveled to Vermillion for a doubleheader on Friday January 24. The JV girls first quarter of action was a close one with the Blue Dragons netting two baskets and five points at the free throw line to end the quarter up 9 – 5. The second quarter went in Garretson’s favor as the Blue Dragons outscored Vermillion 11-4 and went into the half up 20-9. Garretson’s momentum carried into the second half and the Blue Dragons went on to defeat the Tanagers 41 – 23. Mya Long lead the scoring effort with eleven points, Logan Bly and Mattea Fiegen each added nine and Molly Hulscher netted seven.
As bad as this score may seem, we wrestle pretty well considering Fairmont is ranked number 2 in Minnesota Class AA. Jayse Miller put up a great match against a top ranked opponent losing by decision. Gabe Johnson stepped up for us at heavyweight giving the Blue Dragons our only win by pin.
Garretson 39 vs Luverne MN 24
This was a hard fought battle and our Garretson wrestlers really stepped up to beat Luverne at their own gym in Luverne. Braxten Rozeboom, Hunter Abraham, and Parker Schlenker pulled out huge wins that contributed greatly to Garretson's victory.
Garretson-SF O'Gorman-Dell Rapids Triangular
1-23-2020
Garretson 21 vs Dell Rapids 49
I thought we wrestled exceptional in this dual. Dell Rapids is currently ranked 7th in Class A so we knew we were in for a hard fought dual. Parker Schlenker had a big pin for us at 160 pounds and Gabe Johnson had a big pin for us at heavyweight against veteran wrestlers.
Garretson 30 SF O'Gorman 41
What a fun dual this was. SF O'Gorman has brought their program around from what it once was and they are a good team. Garretson stepped up and had them 'against the ropes'. Parker Schlenker and Jaden Richter had key pins that contributed to our team’s momentum.
All in all, wrestling dual scores can be deceiving. In 3 out of these 4 duals the point spread is a difference of 1 or 2 matches going the other way. Also we have 4 open weight classes that are not filled so other teams that have someone there get 6 points per forfeit. Our kids know that and we are raising our levels with these schools that are much bigger than ours. I am excited to see what these next couple of weeks bring as we wrestle teams that we match up better against.
North American elk, which can weigh up to 750 pounds, are fairly common in the Black Hills but are now migrating into prairie lands to the east, leading ranchers to experience feed losses and property damage. Photo: Nick Lowrey, South Dakota News Watch
North American elk are returning to the prairies of western South Dakota after more than 100 years of absence, a migration seen as a win for wildlife conservation but which has farmers and ranchers bothered by feed losses and property damage.
The herding of Rocky Mountain elk as far east as Jones and Stanley counties has led to calls for a new hunting season on the prairie to reduce elk numbers and the damage they are causing.
Landowners on the prairies north of Philip and west of Pierre say elk — one of the largest herbivores native to North America — are increasingly grazing in their fields and pastures and are damaging fences and eating food meant for their livestock. Previously, elk mainly resided only in the Black Hills region 175 miles or more to the west.
Spending by the Game, Fish & Parks Department Wildlife Damage Program on elk-related complaints jumped by nearly $100,000 in 2019. Wildlife damage specialists also covered 7,000 more miles to assist landowners with elk damage in 2019 than in 2018.
Partially in response to landowner complaints and in the wake of more elk sightings, GFP officials have proposed that the game and parks commission approve creation of a massive new elk hunting unit.
“We know there’s elk in there, and we’re actually talking about opening that up for hunting at some point,” GFP Secretary Kelly Hepler told News Watch in an interview.
Under the proposal, a total of 10 “any elk” hunting licenses would be made available for use in the new hunting unit. The unit would cover all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River that doesn’t already have an elk hunting season or isn’t managed by one of the state’s tribal nations.
Tom Kirschenmann, wildlife division chief for GFP, said the new unit would be something of an experiment.
The experiment is needed because the department doesn’t actually know much about elk populations outside the Black Hills. In that region, elk are counted every three to four years using aircraft flying low and slow over the mountains. The effort produces a reliable population estimate, biologists say. Current estimates put the number of elk in the Black Hills at around 7,200 animals, well within the population range sought by the GFP.
Out on the prairie, aerial surveys would be too expensive because there is too much ground to cover. Instead, GFP biologists have relied on landowners reporting elk sightings or damage.
If the new West River elk hunting unit is approved during the next GFP Commission meeting scheduled for March 5 and 6 in Pierre, it would be in place for the next two hunting seasons. Information on where elk are killed, when they’re killed and whether landowners still have problems after elk hunting occurs would be used to inform decisions on whether more targeted hunting will be needed, Kirschenmann said.
Hunters will likely be eager to help out. Last year, South Dakota residents sent in more than 17,000 applications for the roughly 1,500 elk hunting licenses issued by the state. Most of those licenses were issued for the Black Hills, where there is plenty of public land for hunting.
Outside the Black Hills, the vast majority of land is privately owned and getting access to that land can be a challenge, said Chris Hesla, executive director of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit that advocates for wildlife and public hunting access.
“The easiest way to control wildlife damage is through hunting,” he said. “We need to look at getting more access so we can harvest enough animals.”
Landowners, though, are worried that 10 hunting licenses won’t be enough to affect what they say is a steadily growing population of large, wild animals that are competing with their cattle for food and decimating crops.
Eric Jennings, a cattle rancher near Spearfish who is president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, said elk populations in western South Dakota have grown faster than GFP has so far been able to respond.
“I have been advocating for them to do more for years,” Jennings said. “It’s just an issue that needs to be addressed.”
Ty Eisenbraun, who raises cattle near the Cheyenne River in northeast Pennington County is one of the landowners dealing with an elk problem. He said elk have shown up on his property every fall since 2012, and that at first he was happy to see the animals. But now that he has counted more than 100 elk at a time in his alfalfa fields, he sees them as a problem.
“I kind of enjoy them. I can step out of my house and hear elk bugling,” Eisenbraun said. “They’re cool, but they’re kind of destructive, too.”
Elk are native to South Dakota. Historical records show elk were hunted on both sides of the Missouri River in the Dakota Territory through much of the 19th century. Over-hunting before the creation of modern conservation practices eliminated elk from both Dakotas before 1900.
In 1916, elk were reintroduced into what would become Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills. The idea was to keep the animals contained to the parks so they wouldn’t compete with area ranchers’ cattle. After 1980, elk management priorities changed and the GFP began trying to expand the Black Hills elk herd to provide more hunting opportunities. Now, the state manages for a herd of between 6,000 and 8,000 animals, depending on weather and range conditions.
Yet elk are naturally transient. As the Black Hills elk herd has grown, more of the animals are moving out and away from the mountains into areas dominated by cattle ranching and farm fields.
Farmers and ranchers in South Dakota have always had to deal with wildlife, such as deer and antelope, eating food meant for their cattle or sheep and eating grain in their fields before harvest. Elk, though, are a little different. They can weigh up to 700 pounds and tend to graze more like cattle.
Unlike cattle, elk will run through fences or knock them over while attempting to jump them. Fence damage has been the biggest problem for Eisenbraun. This year, he’s had to replace more than a mile of fence because elk keep knocking it over. Fences are critical to ranchers because they keep their valuable livestock where they are meant to be, and can be expensive and time-consuming to fix.
“I can go out and fix a stretch of fence and within a few days, they’ll have destroyed it again,” Eisenbraun said.
Fence damage and some raids on his winter feed supply pushed Eisenbraun to start speaking with wildlife damage control specialists within GFP.
There are several things GFP can do to directly help ranchers such as Eisenbraun.
The department, through its wildlife damage program, will help pay for a strong cable to be strung across the top of a fence, which will help prevent elk from knocking the fence over.
To protect stored hay, GFP staff will provide exclusionary panels and help build a protected stack yard. To divert elk away from pastures and hay fields, GFP sometimes will pay up to $6,000 worth of food plots aimed at reducing damage to alfalfa and other crops.
“We want to be a good partner to these landowners,” said Keith Fisk, wildlife damage program administrator.
In the United States, wildlife is publicly owned. Private landowners don’t have any more rights to the wildlife on their property than anyone else. Landowners can control access to their land, but they cannot stop wild animals from leaving their land, they cannot sell wildlife and they cannot just shoot problem wildlife without getting permission from the agency that manages it.
Because 85% of South Dakota land area is privately owned, and because most of the state’s wildlife lives on private land, GFP has to work closely with landowners, especially when wild animals are damaging someone’s livelihood, Fisk said.
In 2019, GFP spent just shy of $300,000 working with farmers and ranchers to reduce and prevent elk damage to their property, up from slightly more than $200,000 spent in 2018.
In all, GFP spent a little more than $3.5 million on wildlife damage control in 2019, including nearly $1 million spent on deer damage complaints alone. Nearly all of the money the department spent on wildlife damage control comes from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses.
“We want to work with landowners,” Fisk said. “There’s a ton of value to having those critters on the landscape.”
Eisenbraun hasn’t taken advantage of wildlife damage assistance just yet. For now, he’s hoping a new hunting unit will help when the elk return to his land next fall.
Newly appointed Minnehaha State's Attorney Crystal Johnson thanks county commissioners during the Jan. 21 meeting. Johnson was originally named as interim state's attorney to replace Aaron McGowan in December, and commissioners made that appointment permanent until the next election in November. (Photo by Dave Baumeister)
SIOUX FALLS – One of the better returns on taxpayer dollars spent by Minnehaha County comes from its association with the Southeastern Council of Governments.
According to a presentation by Lynn Keller Forbes of SECOG, in 2019, the county received over $70 million in grants and loans through the work of her organization for the $152,000 it paid in dues to belong.
Overall, Forbes said, the average return to local governing bodies is $294.92 for every $1 spent.
The SECOG website says its mission is to serve over 40 municipalities in Clay, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, Turner and Union counties.
Every year, to help in budget preparations, organizations receiving money from the county make presentations on what their groups are accomplishing.
Forbes gave her SECOG briefing at the Tuesday, Jan. 21, Minnehaha County Commission meeting.
Through a variety of slides, she showed how SECOG helps entities with grants, loans and planning for water projects, transportation, planning and zoning, among other things.
One of the more recent projects that has been in the news, which SECOG is helping with, is the Maple/Park Street corridor between Brandon and Sioux Falls.
Another function of SECOG that Forbes told commissioners about is their work in selling the “Governor’s Houses” made by inmates at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield.
Another small piece of business at the meeting, which also tied into the county’s legislative agenda, was the approval of a contract with Testpoint Paramedical LLC to conduct on-call blood draws.
These draws are connected to alcohol abuse and related offenses, and that is why the county is closely watching – and lobbying for – a hopeful bill from State Sen. Wayne Steinhauer of Dist. 9 to allow counties to implement a “bed, board and booze,” or entertainment, tax.
In a letter from County Administrative Assistant Craig Dewey, he wrote that as the registered lobbyist for Minnehaha County, he was in Pierre on Jan. 21 working with Steinhauer helping to gather co-sponsors for the legislation.
Commissioner Jeff Barth mentioned the need for the county to be able to tax alcohol to raise revenue for alcohol-related expenses, such as the aforementioned blood draws.
Although it had been announced earlier, Commissioners made the appointment of Crystal Johnson as Minnehaha County State’s Attorney official, replacing Aaron McGowan, after he resigned in December.
Johnson, who has been part of that office since 2005, was named as McGowan’s interim replacement by 2nd Judicial Circuit Presiding Judge Robin Houwman.
As the “permanent replacement,” she will serve as state’s attorney until the next election, this coming November.
On Friday, Jan. 10, several candidates for the position of state’s attorney were interviewed, but at that time, commissioners decided to stay with Johnson.
After her unanimous appointment, Johnson spoke briefly on the work being done by the state’s attorney’s office.
“I look forward to moving that office forward,” Johnson said. “Last week we got convictions at a homicide trial and a violation of a protection order trial.
“We continue to work hard, and I thank you for the opportunity of leading that office.”
The Minnehaha Commission has its regular meetings each Tuesday at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
These meetings are open to all, and public comment is always encouraged.
Writers Note: Last week, we ran Part I about John Garretson from Eagle, ID, a man who has never visited Garretson, SD but has begun to invest in the town with the same last name. While he has recently discovered his ancestry to A.S. Garretson, the railroad investor who is the namesake of Garretson, SD, diverged in the late 1600’s in Pennsylvania, he still feels a connection to this community and has been deepening his relationships with different folks who live here.
John has lived a very interesting life, from experiencing the Roswell, NM “alien incident” of 1947 to his career as a nuclear engineer. The Gazette felt a full profile was a great way for our community to get to know the man with the last name Garretson.
John, who was born in Salem, IA in 1932, moved eight different times before high school due to his father’s job (his father, who was a mechanical engineer, was instrumental in starting three different companies- Bailey Meter Co., Phillips Petroleum, and Sacra Bros Propane and General Tank and Steel). During the years of World War II, he was in Detroit, Michigan before heading to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. However, John was able to settle for a few years in Roswell, NM, and he graduated from Roswell High School in 1950.
Family 1965: John and Carolyn with their three daughters, Cathy, Leslie, and Debra in 1965. At this time, John was at Atomics International in Canoga Park, CA, working on early nuclear development for space-faring projects.
John, 14 years old at the time, was a newspaper delivery boy during the Roswell UFO incident of 1947, when a US surveillance balloon crashed at a ranch nearby, prompting stories and conspiracy theories about alien lifeforms and Area 51 that persist to this day, despite being debunked as Project Mogul.
Project Mogul was a highly classified project that was sending weather balloons into the ionosphere to monitor Russian nuclear activity, according to Smithsonian Magazine in an article written on the Roswell incident’s 70th anniversary.
In that article, author Donovan Webster wrote, “Everywhere you looked in 1947, the global, social and political chessboard was being re-divided. The Soviet Union began to claim eastern European nations for itself in a new post-war vacuum. Voice of America started broadcasting in Russian to the eastern bloc, peddling the principles of American democracy. The U.S. sent V2 rockets carrying payloads of corn seeds and fruit flies into outer space. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the “Doomsday Clock” ticking, and the Marshall Plan was in the making to rebuild war-torn Europe. Small wonder that in the heat of summer that year, flying saucers became all the rage.”
It appears that truthfulness from the US government was low priority during that period of time, which is likely why the distrustfulness in the story continues.
“I arrived in Roswell from Bartlesville, OK in February, 1947 and finished the ninth grade,” said John. “The UFO incident occurred that summer. It was in the paper for a few days and then disappeared from the news cycle. The cover up was in place and nothing further was reported about UFO's. There were several articles about what it probably was (experimental balloon) and no one thought much about it after that.”
However, John doesn’t necessarily think the cover story put out by the U.S. government about the weather balloon and Project Mogul was complete.
“It was not until the 1970's that some of the locals got the ball rolling and the craze was on. Lots of books were written and it turns out that I knew a lot of the people that were interviewed about their knowledge of the event. They sure kept the secret of what they knew well. I had no personal knowledge, but happened to have gone rabbit and dove hunting in the following years several times in the area north of Roswell where the event occurred. I even found a weather balloon sender unit on the desert floor one time. I have read most of the books related to this event and am a believer that they were from outer space. It seems that everything recovered from the desert north of Roswell ended [up] at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.”
Roswell, which is actually not the home of Area 51 (that is 13 hours away north of Las Vegas, NV), was home to two military establishments during John’s childhood- the SAC Air Force Base (which housed the B-29’s that dropped the atom bomb), and the New Mexico Military Institute (NNMI). NNMI has both a high school and a junior college, and is the only state-supported military college located in the western U.S.
Roswell age 16: John, an avid hunter much of his life, shot a prong horn antelope at age 16 twenty miles east of Roswell, NM. His family settled there in the middle of John’s 9th grade year, and John graduated from Roswell High School. Mostly unbeknownst to him, he was intertwined in the Roswell UFO incident as a paperboy for the local newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record.
John lived two blocks south of the campus with his parents, brothers, and sister, and met wife Carolyn as a senior in high school, bringing her to prom that year.
“I started dating in the 10th grade and got to use the family car on special occasions. I was real bashful, so two or three dates with the same girl was about my limit,” John said. “It turned out that when I was a senior, my date for the Jr-Sr prom was my future wife. It was also our first date. We married later when I was in the Army at El Paso, TX.”
The lack of settling that he experienced as a child continued as John entered adulthood, though nowadays he stays put.
“Actually, I don't travel that much. We used to visit my parents during the summer and sometimes on holidays. I had a stretch where I joined my brother in Iowa for deer hunting. We have also visited Canada and made several trips to Mexico. Does a cruise to Alaska and a tour of Hawaii count? Our one big trip was a 10-day tour of England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.”
Before that, though, John attended three colleges, served in the Army, married Carolyn, attended two more colleges, and changed jobs several times.
After his Army service, John finished his degree at Texas Tech with a B.S in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to graduation, a new department head required the seniors to take a course on nuclear engineering. This one-off class didn’t seem like it would benefit him much, but only one week after John started as a draftsman at Douglas Aircraft, he was offered a new position as part of the Nuclear Effects Group that was headed by a Chemistry PhD who had just returned from the South Pacific.
Army 1954: John enlisted in the Army and married Carolyn Bradley in 1954 after attending his father’s alma mater, Iowa State College, and Colorado A&M. He graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech in 1957.
“It seems that Douglas wanted to enter the nuclear field and this was their start. I found out later that when they were looking for candidates to staff this group, someone had looked at my grade transcripts and noticed the Nuclear course,” John said. “Anyway, this was my out from the drafting board and I accepted the position. There were only 4 people to start with.”
John worked happily in that area for three years, but then his father made him an offer he could not refuse- he would pay for John’s schooling if he agreed to obtain a Master’s Degree. This offer allowed John to obtain his Master’s in Nuclear Engineering at Oklahoma A&M. Upon graduation in 1963, he was offered a position at Atomics International in Canoga Park, CA, and began working on the SNAP 8 reactor project. SNAP, which stood for Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power, used a liquid metal mixture of Sodium and Potassium (NaK) as a coolant on a reactor. John’s job was to do a safety analysis in order to see if the reactor could be started safely in the facility where it was kept.
“You better not have any leaks,” said John. He notes that the reactor was later launched into space to simulate a vehicle failure. While the project passed its goals, the contract with the US government went to Russian scientists, who had developed a thermal reactor that used steam power.
John then learned FORTRAN, a computer language that allowed engineers to write their own instructions in order to interact with computers. Originally developed by IBM, FORTRAN was used for scientific and engineering applications for over six decades.
“I became heavily involved with writing computer simulations and followed that path the rest of my career,” he said. He left Atomics International and went back to the team he had worked with at Douglas Aircraft (which later became McDonnell-Douglas), working on projects such as studying electron interference and electronics shielding.
“There was an interesting event that occurred during a test in the South Pacific at Johnston Island,” said John. “We were using a Douglas IRBM Thor missile to launch a warhead into outer space. On the first try the Thor got about ten feet off the ground and blew up. This wiped out the launch and control facility. They went for replacement components stored at Vandenberg Air Force Base and airlifted them back to Johnston Island. After refitting, another launch was tried. This was successful and the warhead exploded in outer space. However, the electrons that were generated streamed down the earth's magnetic field and disrupted the communications in Hawaii and Australia for about two days.”
He also talked of his experience donning a hazmat suit to clean up a mishap in an underground nuclear testing facility in Nevada.
“Every time a new or modified weapon was created, it had to be tested. Companies were allowed to place specimens in some of the tunnels that led to the bomb. When the explosion occurred, the radiation would pass down the tunnel striking the samples mounted on racks. There was a mishap during the test and we had to go and recover our samples. The tunnel closure system partially failed. After the radiation had passed, the tunnel was supposed to collapse and prevent the following shock wave and debris from going any further. The closure was incomplete and the specimens were blown off the racks to the end of that tunnel and also contaminated. The biggest problem was the Beryllium dust, which is deadly if inhaled. We put on a breathing system and then a protection suit with all the joints taped. We then rode a miner’s rail cart to the debris site and gathered what we could find and exited. Once was enough. That was only time I had to do that,” he said.
He also worked with ICBM’s, moving over to Sparta, Inc, which later obtained the government contract for the Star Wars project proposed by President Ronald Reagan. His team studied the best location and methods of placing Minutemen Missiles, which were a major part of the American nuclear arsenal in the 1970’s. A museum dedicated to their history is located by Kadoka, SD.
When work for the ICBM’s slowed, John started work at Northrop (later Northrop Grumman), working on the F-35 design. His project was on sensor fusion and it allowed aircraft to share enemy aircraft radar detection data with each other.
Unfortunately, Northrop “lost the competition with Lockheed due to politics,” despite completing the project successfully and on time (Lockheed was over a year late and crashed a plane), according to John.
He then worked on the Tri Service Standoff Attack Missile (TSSAM) program, which developed cruise missiles. Again, Northrop lost the contract to another competitor, and John moved to developing software for the defensive systems on the B-2 plane, a project that was highly classified until its public release in the late 1980’s. Other than a bomb, the B-2 does not carry any armament, so it relies on evasion to avoid enemies. John’s software helped determine the best flight profile to allow for evasion and help the bomb glide to its target. The B-2 officially went into service with the U.S. Air Force in 1997, though test flights were held in California in the late ‘80’s. The B-2 has enjoyed notoriety due to its high cost of development, which is estimated to be over $2 billion per plane according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the program has been fought over by Congress since 1992, when the Cold War was winding down. While 132 aircraft were originally planned, only 21 were ever built. Twenty remain in service and will be retired in 2032.
“I lived near the El Toro Marine Base before I moved to Idaho,” said John, who retired in 1997 and moved to Idaho in 2003. “Before the base was closed, they used to have annual air shows. The test bed B-2 based at Edwards Air Force base was often used for a flyover during the show. On its way back to base it flew over a hill near my house. We would stand there and wave as they flew over. A spectacular sight since we were so close.”
For a man who had so much of his career shrouded in secrecy, John Garretson was extremely generous to tell us his story. A youth who moved often, enjoyed hunting, married his high school sweetheart, and became a family man with three daughters that enjoyed square dancing, and also worked on some incredible projects throughout his life. Despite not yet visiting Garretson, his legacy continues as he commits to more projects in the town that shares his name.
Loren Schleuter, age 85, of Estelline, SD, passed away on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at the Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD. Celebration of life gathering will be 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Saturday, January 25, 2020 at the American Legion in Estelline, SD. Arrangements are entrusted with the Houseman Funeral Home-Birk Chapel of Hendricks, MN.
Loren Wiley Schleuter was born on February 17, 1934 in Clear Lake, South Dakota to parents Julius and Vera (Weisel) Schleuter. He graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1952.
On September 21, 1952, Loren was united in marriage to Marj Krause in Goodwin, SD and to this union they were blessed with six children. After their marriage, Loren worked for several farmers. He managed the municipal bar in Garretson, SD and then was employed by John Morrell for 19 years. While in Garretson, he served with the volunteer fire department for 19 years. In 1987, they moved to Estelline, SD where the couple owned and operated the Red Carpet Steakhouse for seven years. They then purchased and operated the Kozy Motel for numerous years.
Loren enjoyed life, socializing was his gift. Hunting and fishing brought years of enjoyment as well as his daily therapy coffee sessions at the C-store. Taking in his grandchildren’s events and activities was something he dearly enjoyed. Loren passed away on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at the Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD surrounded by his family at the age of 85 years, 11 months and 4 days.
Grateful for having shared Loren’s life is his bride of 67 years, Marj Schleuter of Estelline; his six children: Randall (Char) Schleuter, Dell Rapids, SD, Rita (Darrell) DeBoer, Beaver Creek, MN, Roxann (Mark) Westover, Garretson, SD, Paula (Jim) Payne, San Antonio, TX, Kimberly (Royce) Harringa, Brandt, SD and Jay (Holly) Schleuter, Garretson, SD and 19 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents; brother, Vernon Schleuter; three sisters: Laurel Kaiser, Lois Stee and Darlene Teal and two great-grandchildren.
The school makes the decision to keep the current boiler and accepts bids for a chiller, the GHS one-act play had its public performance on Sunday and has its first competition today, the South Dakota legislative season is in full swing, and the boys and girls' basketball teams played three double headers last week, plus more!
There's a lot going on in our community. Keep up with all of it with the Community Events Calendar on page 4. You can download it here and have it easy to hand! Community Events Calendar
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