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Eight Days in Custer County

Published by admin on Thu, 09/17/2020 - 9:11am
Thursday, Sept. 17
Civil Air Patrol, 7 p.m., Custer County Airport
 
Friday, Sept. 18
COVID-19 Update, 11:30 a.m., Harbach Park
Quarantine Cruise, 6-8 p.m., downtown Custer
 
Saturday, Sept. 19
Buffalo Gap Community Dance,7 p.m., Buffalo Gap Community Center
 
Tuesday, Sept. 22
Zonta, noon, online meeting
 
Wednesday, Sept. 23

Sheriff’s Log July Aug. 18-22

Published by admin on Thu, 09/17/2020 - 8:56am
Tuesday, Aug. 18
8:52 p.m.: A deputy checked on a stopped motorist with trailer lighting troubles on Custer’s Bluebell Drive. 
10:19 p.m.: A deputy checked on a rental van of tourists that suffered two flat tires on the Wildlife Loop Road. A park ranger eventually transported the vanload to a Hermosa lodging place.
Wednesday, Aug. 19
The 911 Misdial of the Day: A person attempting to juggle too many things in their hands somehow set off their phone’s emergency feature. 

Hometown celebration coming Sept. 19

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 10:49am

The inaugural Keystone Hometown Celebration takes place on Sept. 19.

The brainchild of new Keystone Area Chamber of Commerce director Robin Pladson, the celebration is a way to bring the community together and offer a shoulder season event to tourists. Pladson, who began her tenure as chamber director this summer, is hoping to bring one event per month to the tiny town.

Senior center nagivates COVID-19

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 10:48am

The Hill City Senior Center has navigated the COVID-19 waters, and now its ready to return to full activity.

The center was closed for roughly two-and-a-half months, said Mary Walton, executive director of the senior center, and did a light opening in the summer offering exercise two days a week and a coffee hour the other three.

Hill City has public arts project

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 10:48am

Back in July, the Black Hills Film Festival obtained a $5,000 grant from the South Dakota Arts Council with the purpose of doing a public arts project and filming it for distribution to its streaming channel.

The next step has been taken as the film festival selected artist Mackenzie Swanson, herself executive director of the Hill City Arts Council, to carry out the project with filmmaker Randall Iverson. Swanson, as recipient of the grant, also has to do public workshop courses.

Baldwin retires from Search and Rescue

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 10:04am
No one is quite sure just how long Steve Baldwin has been involved with Custer County Search and Rescue (SAR)—not even Baldwin himself—but one thing is agreed upon by those who have served with him over the years: The retiring member and former director of SAR has made a monumental contribution to the organization’s growth and success.  

Chronicle home is 1890 building

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 9:59am
Thomas Van Der Vort Garlock (T.V. Garlock) was born in Newark, N.Y., April 18, 1862, and traveled to Custer in 1876 with Captain Gardner, according to information at the Custer County 1881 Courthouse Museum.
Garlock married Teresa Walsh Nov. 24, 1887, in a double-ring wedding ceremony with her sister Mayme and Henry Monheim. These were reportedly the first weddings performed in the brick 1881 Custer County Courthouse.

Kubler was first editor

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 9:58am
Joseph Kubler, a native of the province of Alsace, Germany, where he was born Aug. 23, 1854, was the first owner and editor of the Custer County Chronicle.
Orphaned at  15, he attended schools in Germany until he was 17, after the Franco-Prussian War, when he left home and came to the United States. He landed in New Orleans and after a short time went to Jackson Miss., where he stayed about two years working various jobs.

C.W. Najacht latest in long line of publishers

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 9:58am
Current Custer County Chronicle publisher Charley Najacht follows a long line of Chronicle newspaper owners dating back to its very first, Joseph Kubler, whose story is told elsewhere in this edition.
Kubler was born in Alsace, Germany, and found his way to America via Jackson, Miss., and Denver, Colo. He hitched a ride to Custer in 1876 and ultimately ended up starting the Custer Chronicle as its first editor and owner Sept. 11, 1880.

Former owner recalls history

Published by admin on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 9:57am
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the Chronicle’s 100th anniversary edition of 1980 written by Jessie Sundstrom
 
The Custer County Chronicle has survived competition from at least 12 (in 1980) newspapers in its lengthy career, to say nothing of fires, floods, droughts, the Depression of the 1930s, the 1929 stock market crash and other economic ups and downs.