A new massage business is opening in Garretson next Monday thanks to entrepreneur Allison Neukirchen; we continue to follow up on the expulsion story; and it's a big election year next Tuesday, and we're bringing you the issues, the pros and cons, and backgrounds that help you make an informed vote. Plus, congrats on 1000 digs, journalism awards, and more!
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BRANDON, S.D. – On Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, traffic on S.D. Highway 11 will be switched from the existing east lanes to a modified two-way traffic configuration on the newly constructed west lanes and bridge. This new traffic pattern on Highway 11 will accommodate the demolition of the existing structure. This traffic pattern will be maintained through the winter months. Two-way traffic will continue on Interstate 90 while the grading and railroad structure are completed.
This project includes the reconstruction of exit 406 at Brandon with added lighting, signals, and mainline Interstate work. This project also includes three structure replacements. The interchange will be reconstructed as a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI). Westbound I-90 lanes (along with the railroad structure on I-90) will be reconstructed in 2024 and the eastbound lanes in 2025. The interchange and new structure over I-90 will be reconstructed between the 2024 and 2025 construction seasons.
Featured Project Information:
Find more information about this project on the SDDOT website at https://dot.sd.gov/i90-exit406-brandon-pcn-4433.
Sign Up for Text Notifications:
For updates on MAJOR traffic changes about this project, subscribe to a free text-in service. To subscribe, simply text "I90Exit406" to 605-566-4041. Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time.
The prime contractor for this $41.3 million project is T & R Contracting of Sioux Falls, S.D. The anticipated overall completion of the DDI reconstruction project at Brandon (exit 406) is June 2026.
About SDDOT:
The mission of the South Dakota Department of Transportation is to provide a safe and efficient public transportation system.
For the latest on road and weather conditions, road closures, construction work zones, commercial vehicle restrictions, and traffic incidents, please visit https://sd511.org or dial 511.
Read more about the innovative work of the SDDOT at https://dot.sd.gov.
(Pierre, S.D.) – South Dakota’s General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Polls will be open from 7:00am to 7:00pm local time.
For those who intend to vote absentee, the deadline to request a ballot is 5:00pm local time on Monday, November 4, 2024. Remember to allow for adequate mail processing time when returning your absentee ballot to your county auditor’s office by mail. You may also drop off your absentee ballot in-person at your county auditor’s office.
All absentee ballots must be delivered to the county auditors by the time that polls close on election day in order to be counted. If an absentee ballot is received after that time, it may not be opened or counted, regardless of when it was mailed.
Voters may verify whether they have already requested an absentee ballot and check the status of their absentee ballot by searching the Voter Information Portal (VIP), which we encourage you to do, on the Secretary of State’s website: https://vip.sdsos.gov/VIPLogin.aspx or contacting their county auditor. More information on absentee voting can be found at https://sdsos.gov/elections-voting/voting/absentee-voting.aspx.
The following students were selected to attend the 2024 All State Choir on November 2nd. This year the event is held in Sioux Falls at the Denny Sanford. The concert is at 7PM that evening. The students include Anna Ebbing (soprano), Elizabeth Roth (alto), Caiden Maack (tenor), and Ben Wastell (bass). They have been preparing by attending extra rehearsals, putting in practice time on their own, and also participating in the USD choral workshop earlier this month. Those four students (Anna, Elizabeth, Caiden, and Ben) and 4 others also attended the BEC choir, which is students from our region getting together to sing for the day and perform that evening. That took place on Oct. 21st. The additional students are Tasia Westover, Kaitlyn Steinhoff, Madison Waltman, and Mackenzie Sanders. See picture in their choir robes above.
UPCOMING CONCERTS:
Veterans Day Program - HS choir, band, and 5th grade will be performing - Nov. 11.
Middle School/High School band and choir fall concert - Nov. 19th.
Middle School/High School band and choir pie social and holiday concert - Dec. 16th.
K-2 Elementary concert - Dec. 19th.
ALSO, Middle School and High School students are currently selling wreaths to raise money for next year's band/choir trip. Find a student if you are interested in purchasing one!
- Submitted by Taylor Schweitzer, K-12 Vocal Music Teacher
by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
The Employee of the Month for Palisades Healthcare Center, is a senior from Brandon Valley High School, Keith Travis.
Travis is a section lead for the BVHS marching band and was proud of his school’s undefeated football record at the time of this interview. Travis took the job as a Certified Nurse Assistant this past July and has really enjoyed it.
“The residents make the job fun,” he said. “It’s not only good training for me, to understand the medical profession with real world experience, but it’s great feeling to be there for the residents, and to help them with their needs. Before this I worked in the food service industry, but this job is a lot more demanding, both physically and emotionally. It can be tiring to take care of other people, but it’s really worthwhile. At the end of the day you know you made a difference in someone’s life and that’s what I love about it the most.”
Travis lives with his dad, and is the youngest, having three brothers and two sisters in total. He’s volunteered to serve in the SD Air Guard, so he goes off for basic training after graduation. He plans to attend Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, and in his professional life he’d like to pursue a career in Emergency Medicine, aiming to become an EMT on an emergency medical crew.
“Helping people when they need it the most is at the core of what motivates me,” he said. “That’s what I want to do, and working here is a great start for that. I’ve learned so much since taking the job here. We’ve got great people with a lot of knowledge and skill, and the residents are a great community. I’m happy to be a part of it, and love the job.”
by Carrie Moritz and Garrick Moritz, Gazette
Sometimes, people can be caught unawares in a net and not know until it's too late. The lack of gray contained within the school board policy for weapons violation has caused plenty of consternation for the parents of the student expelled from Garretson High School last week.
Joni Heggen, the student's mother, approached the Gazette, wishing to put her son's side into the public sphere, as the policy as applied caught her son in that net, she said.
According to Joni, her son Juul Heggen was unaware that he had an airsoft pistol in his vehicle on the evening of August 29, until his friend called him and let him know that it was left in Juul's console and asked if he could come pick it up.
"He got out of school, he went home and some friends of his from Brandon...asked if they could come out and shoot," Joni said. She pointed out that they have kids over all the time, and are usually supervised for these activities so they don't have an issue with it. Two friends came out, and after doing some target practice, the teenagers ran around on some errands. She said her son was unaware that his friend had put the pistol in Juul's truck, thinking the friend had placed it back into his own vehicle.
The three youths then went to Garretson's volleyball game in two vehicles. According to Joni, the school's cameras showed them walking into the game, and three minutes later, the two friends left. Around 8:36 p.m., the friend called and alerted Juul to the situation, and told him he was going to come get it. The friends came back to the school, but camera footage was not available to show them walking back into the school, she said. However, Joni maintained that Juul never left the school, and did not approach his vehicle at any time until after the entire incident was over.
The school's cameras show the two Brandon teens leaving the school a second time with three Garretson students, who were unable to be identified, according to Joni. The Brandon teens pulled the airsoft pistol out of the vehicle and showed it to the Garretson students. The incident was witnessed and reported to administration, who opted not to call a lockdown as the game finished up.
"Some kids seen it, took and ran to the school, reported it," Joni said. "The sheriff got called. Juul's still sitting in the school, hasn't even come out yet. He had heard through the school that somebody in the parking lot has a gun. Juul didn't even put the connection together.
"So as he's coming home, somebody called and said, 'Juul, they took this out of your pickup."
The next morning, Minnehaha Sheriff's Department deputies pulled him over in the school parking lot.
Joni continued, "They take him, pull him over with guns loaded. Juul stops, and he [the deputy] said, 'Do you know why I pulled you over?' He [Juul] says, 'Well, I'm assuming it's because of this airsoft gun.' He [the deputy] is like, 'Do you want me to arrest you? This is a serious situation. Empty your center console.'
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by Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – At their Tuesday, Oct. 22 meeting, the Minnehaha County Commission declared a property along Six Mile Road, north of Sioux Falls, a public nuisance.
According to Kevin Hoekman from the Planning Department, several attempts were made since last summer to contact owners, Danielle and Royce Ehlen at 1501 N. Six Mile Rd. about the nuisance conditions, but the county never received any response to their letters.
To compound matters, the owners were not present at the Oct. 22 meeting to state a case as to why a nuisance should not be declared.
However, seven of the Ehlen’s neighbors were there, many to speak in favor of enforcing the nuisance ordinance.
One neighbor said that he and others had spoken to the property owners on several occasions to offer help cleaning up the property, but the owner declined any assistance.
In the end, the commission voted unanimously to declare the property a public nuisance.
Going forward, county representatives will assess the work needed, find the proper sources to clean it, and then the cost of the clean-up will be passed on to the owners in the form of a special property tax assessment.
If that is not paid, then a tax lien may be placed on the property.
Two other public nuisance matters came up but were handled in different ways.
The first, at a residence belonging to Kyle Albers on 485th Ave. had been brought before the commission in August, when they decided to defer the matter until this meeting.
During that time, Hoekman reported, the property had been cleaned up to the point that it was no longer considered in violation of any nuisance regulations, and the matter was dropped.
Property owners Robert and Kimberly Redetzke were present to address how they were in the process of getting things cleaned up on their property at 25455 477th Ave.
On a motion from Commissioner Jean Bender, the county board agreed to defer action on the matter until the first meeting in December.
Commissioners will gather next for the canvas of the General Election vote on Friday, Nov. 8, at 9 a.m.
Their next regular meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the third-floor meeting room of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
Next week, Garretson will be transformed into a Treat-tacular town as Halloween rolls around. On Thursday, October 31, area businesses and organizations will be handing out treats in Split Rock Park and Downtown in the annual Trunk or Treat festivities from 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Confirmed businesses downtown include The Treasure Chest, Palisades Art Gallery, The Gulch Bar & Grill, Garretson Gazette, and the American Legion.
More organizations and other businesses will set up in Split Rock Park, where ghouls and goblins will be able to walk around the park to hunt for their treasures.
Palisade Healthcare will be hosting their "Spook Alley" from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Regular trick or treating begins around 6:00 p.m., and plenty of ghouls all ages will be running from house to house filling their buckets and pillow cases.
Please be careful as you drive around Garretson next Thursday, and if possible, place extra lighting around your yard.
First Rate finished installing the sanitary sewer main and water main within Fourth Street. The water main has been pressure and bacteria tested as well. All sewer services are complete and nearly all water services have been installed.
First Rate had also removed the asphalt and concrete surfacing on Center and Canyon Avenues between Third and Fourth Streets.
Now, First Rate finished installing the water services within Fourth Street. They also installed all sanitary sewer and water main on Center and Canyon Avenue between Third and Fourth Street. Base course has been placed along Fourth Street between Main Avenue and Eastern Avenue as well.
Next, First Rate will finish installing water services and storm sewer on Center and Canyon Ave. Once finished, the roadways will be graded in preparation for base course. The concrete subcontractor will be installing curb and gutter, fillets, valley gutters, sidewalk and approaches along Fourth Street.
Sayre Associates is providing on-site construction administration and observation for the project. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this project, please contact Cole at (605) 321-3868 or . Construction bulletins will detail the progress of the project as it is constructed. To be placed on the email distribution list, please contact Carrie at (605) 332-7211 or .
The GHS Football season is over for 2024. This year was a bit of a hurt locker for the GHS Blue Dragons, with multiple injuries really hampering the team. Friday night was their last game of the year, as they didn’t make it into the top 16 playoffs.
That said, Friday night was not without some joy as they played hard against Chester.
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