Rapid City Journal - Winter Storm Atlas by Ernie Wood

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013

CLASH OF UNDEFEATEDS

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Record snowfall, blizzard conditions expected Jennifer Naylor Gesick Journal staff

A powerful storm expected to hit western South Dakota early this morning could break a nearly 100-year record. Rapid City may see the earliest major snowstorm in recorded history, according to the National Weather Service in Rapid City. Records date back to 1888. This very powerful storm prompted a blizzard warning stretching from Belle Fourche to Pine Ridge to be issued Thursday afternoon effective 6 a.m. today to 9 a.m. Saturday. Winds up to 50 mph are expected with 70 mph gusts. Snowfall amounts in Rapid

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City could reach up to a foot, obliterating the record of nearly three inches. “If Rapid City gets more than 2.8 inches of snow, it would be the earliest significant accumulation on record,” Melissa Smith with the National Weather Service said Thursday.

The record for the most snow in one day in October goes back to 1919. On Oct. 19 of that year, Rapid City received 10 inches. Smith said this storm is a continuation of the weather patterns the area has seen all summer. “We’ve been in a very active weather period,” she said. “There were a lot of storms this summer. We saw a lot of hail and winds, and this stormy pattern is continuing into the fall bringing us an early season winter storm.” The storm is expected to dump more than two feet of snow in Chris Huber, Journal staff portions of the Black Hills. The heaviest snow is expected to fall New Underwood football student mangers Lexxy Niederwerder, left, between Lead and Custer, with Kyra Keimig, Roni Parsons and Courtney Albers bundle up with jackets » Snow, A6

Thursday afternoon during a windy football practice. More cold weather is on the way with much of the area in a blizzard warning on Friday.

JACKSON BOULEVARD CONSTRUCTION HEADACHES

Road project stirs rage John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff

As Jim Davis watches more and more traffic whiz past his Arrow Street home, he finds himself worrying more about the safety of his two young children. And now he expects it will only get worse with the closure of the southern portion of the Sheridan Lake Road intersection Thursday. The work could take as long as the next two months as part of the Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of Jackson Boulevard. Davis’ home is on Arrow Street, one of two main detours that has seen a spike of traffic as a result of the nearly $17 million Jackson Boulevard rebuild. Motorists seeking the southern stretch of Sheridan Lake Road from Jackson Boulevard — which has been burdened with bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion for months now — will be rerouted onto Mountain » Detour, A6

Bob Mercer Journal correspondent

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Construction workers lay concrete on a new sidewalk on the corner of Sheridan Lake Road and Jackson Boulevard. The closure of the intersection will divert traffic onto West Flormann Street.

Local wedding to air tonight on ‘Bridezilla’ Kayla Gahagan Journal correspondent

From her wedding dress fitting just a tad too snugly to butting heads with a relative, the days leading up to Adrianne Chalepah’s wedding to South Dakota native Waylon Plenty Holes continues to play out on national TV this week. The couple, who now live in Colorado, was selected by the WE TV cable channel for its popular “Bridezilla” show and

Fishing, hunting license fees may go up

Want to watch? What:

Bridezillas on WE-TV When:

will appear at 7 p.m. today in the second episode, titled “Misery Loves Company.” The reality-based TV show chronicles the drama — some might say melodrama — and lives of zealous, stressed-out brides as they approach their “special day.” Joanne Wagner, owner of Black Hills Receptions and Rentals who helped the couple with wedding plans, said about the

7 p.m. today Adrianne Chalepah wed South Dakota native Waylon Plenty Holes in May. Courtesy photo

SPEARFISH | The state Game, Fish and Parks Commission decided Thursday to propose raising hunting and fishing license fees for 2014. Health care and salary increases were cited as t h e re a s o n Inside the increases are needed. A Find the Game, public hear- Fish and ing will be Parks’ new held Nov. 7 mountain in Pierre on lion limits and the proposal, more on A5. which seeks to raise an extra $2 million. “The budget we put together was a flat budget,” said Tony Leif, director of the state’s Wildlife Division. Proposed increases include: • The annual fishing license would go from $25 to $28. • The annual small-game license would go from $30 to $33. • The combination license (fishing and small game) would become $55 from the current $50. Big-game license prices would increase, too. The standard deer and antelope licenses would increase by $4. Furbearer licenses would rise to $30 from the present $25. For non-residents, the annual fishing license would climb to $67 from $60 and big-game licenses would see increases, but there wouldn’t be any change in the small-game and preserve license prices. Those licenses are primarily used by non-residents who hunt pheasants. Those prices went up last year for non-residents to the present $121 for the 10-day small-game license and to the » Licenses, A6

» ‘Bridezilla’, A6

COMING TOMORROW

Sports Complete coverage of Friday night’s high school sports

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A6 | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

LOCAL » From A1

Snow

Weather closures Journal staff

Benjamin Brayfield photos, Journal staff

Construction along Jackson Boulevard slows the morning commute. The intersection at Sheridan Lake Road is closed, forcing traffic diversions. » From A1

Detour View Road to either Flormann or Arrow streets, all of which have been equipped with temporary street lights. In 2012, Jackson Boulevard had an average daily traffic count of more than 45,000 vehicles between Sheridan Lake Road and West Main Street, according to the Public Works Department. Sheridan Lake Road from Jackson Boulevard to Flormann Street, meanwhile, saw about 17,500 average daily motorists last year. But that count will certainly surge in the next few weeks, which puts a frown on the face of the 31-yearold Davis. “I’m not too happy about it,” Davis, who owns a handyman business, said Thursday. “I have a couple of kids. It’s kind of rough going through a residential neighborhood. I don’t think they should do it.” B re n d a F l o t t m eye r, project engineer for the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said the closure is due to the installation of underground utilities at the Sheridan Lake Road intersection of Jackson Boulevard. While she said she agrees that residents will be inconvenienced by the increased traffic, traffic engineers had few choices when it came to finding alternative routes for one of the busiest intersections in Rapid City. Flottmeyer said the closure’s time frame has been set for two months, but the intersection could be reopened after just 37 days, weather permitting. “If we get significant snowfall or rain, initially it won’t have an impact on us,” she said, adding that

Jim Davis, 31, pets his dog bear outside their home on Arrow Street in Rapid City. Davis is worried the increased traffic because of construction could be a risk to his children or dog.

initially construction crews will be breaking concrete. “We’re kind of watching the weather is what we’re doing.” She said snowfall and rain coming when crews are digging up and installing utilities could set back the project. Davis also takes issue with what he says was the lack of notice he received about the intersection’s closure. He said he didn’t get any warning. Thirtyyea r- o l d K a t i e Oa ke s agreed. Oakes, a stay-athome mom, moved to her Mountain View Road home in June. “So, we are going to have a lot of traffic on our street for the next two months,” she said Thursday while at home with her 1-year-old son perched on her hip. “We’re really annoyed.” Oakes said she got a letter just one day before the intersection was set to close that said public meetings will be held for the neighborhoods being affected. “We wish we had known about the meetings well before they were going to close the street,” she said. Closing the intersection at Sheridan Lake Road and Jackson Boulevard is something that the Department of Transportation and Rapid

City officials have known since the reconstruction of Jackson Boulevard started in the spring. Flottmeyer said to avoid a closure of the entire intersection at one time, construction crews were given a total of 80 days to work on the intersection without closing the entire intersection. Public Works Director Terry Wolterstorff said the north portion of the intersection has been closed since around Labor Day to install underground utilities. “Now, they’re going to switch over and do the south side of the intersection,” he said. Despite that section of the intersection closing, 85-year-old Emil Magnuson said he doesn’t really mind whether there’s more traffic moving past his Arrow Street home. Magnuson, a rancher who still works as an insurance agent, said he’s just happy that Jackson Boulevard is being rebuilt. “It won’t bother me,” he said. “There will probably be a lot of traffic. I’ll probably stay home.”

areas as far as away Lemmon and Winner expected to see five to six inches. T h e m os t d a n ge rous part of the storm is the high winds, said Jeff Schild, meteorologist with NWS in Rapid City. “I would not have travel plans tomorrow,” he said. “The blizzard warning covers the Sturgis and Spearfish area too. If you have any travel plans, I recommend changing or delaying them if at all possible.” The storm was expected to transition from rain to snow late Thursday evening in the upper elevations and before sunrise today near Rapid City. Snow is expected to continue all day today and into Saturday morning. Temperatures Thursday night were set to hit the mid 20s in the Hills and the low 40s in Rapid City. Today, those are expected to fall to the low 30s for Rapid City and 20s in the Hills. The forecast had officials at the South Dakota Department of Transportation scrambling to prepare Thursday. “It’s fairly early in the year for an event like this,” said Gary Engel, Rapid City Area Engineer with DOT. “But they got the plows

The South Dakota State Railroad Museum in Hill City will be closed on Friday. The Black Hills Central Railroad has cancelled scheduled departures for the 1880 Train Friday between Hill City and Keystone. The Rapid City Fire Department cancelled the cooking fire demonstration at Fire Station 6. West River Electric Association has postponed its annual meeting scheduled for Saturday in Wall. The meeting is now scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. and sanders on the trucks ... We’ve had to move some staff around within the state because it is so early.” Not only will there be driving hazards and visibility problems. Heavy snow falling on trees that still have their leaves could cause branches to break and trees to fall. Power lines could face the same problems. Officials at Black Hills Power began preparing crews and equipment early Thursday to deploy Thursday night and today in case power lines are taken out by the powerful storm.

19, at the Wall Community Center. Rapid City Area Schools expected to make an announcement about school before 5 a.m. Friday. This statement was posted to their website: “Rapid City Area Schools is closely tracking the winter storm and will be making a decision regarding the closing of schools before 5 a.m. Friday Oct 4. Please monitor the district website and other media sources for the announcement. Do not send children to school until you have checked the website or media sources.” “ O b v i o u s l y, we ’ re real concerned with this storm,” Mutch Usera, senior manager external affairs for Black Hills Power said. “The high winds and heavy snow creates many problems. Not just trees, but debris flying around and the snow on the power lines causes stress. Our crews will be on call ready to go, and all our equipment is ready to tackle a storm.” Contact Jennifer Naylor Gesick at 394-8415 or jennifer.naylorgesick@ rapidcityjournal.com.

» From A1

Licenses present $46, $76 and $121 respectively for the oneday, three-day and annual preserve licenses. Leif said the division also recommends expanding use of the $5 fee on preference points for unsuccessful biggame applicants. “These would not be required,” Leif said. “They Journal file would have the option to decline the preference point The cost of health care and salaries has been cited as a and the payment for those.” reason to increase hunting and fishing license fees for 2014.

Contact John Lee McLaughlin at 394-8421 or john.mclaughlin@ rapidcityjournal.com

» From A1

‘Bridezilla’ first episode, “Adrianne is true to herself, and I think it is a true depiction of Adrianne. “However, I wouldn’t call her a ‘Bridezilla.’ She was totally stressed out and was reacting a lot to her fiance and (to) the best man. He was a ‘bestmanzilla,’” she said. Chalepah, who is a selfprofessed “control freak,” said she’s not worried about seeing the final episode. “I’ve come to terms with whatever I will see,” said the 27-year-old, who hopes the show’s lighthearted look at wedding planning will cast her in a true light. “The show is entertaining. I love the sound effects. It’s an awesome show. It’s funny, and I hope that’s how I’ll take it,” she said. The couple, who were married at Black H ills Receptions in a concertthemed wedding on May 26, is not new to the camera. As a stand-up comedian, Chalepah said she is

used to crowds, cameras and questions. Her husband, who grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, works with Chalepah doing film-production work. National television, however, is a whole different ball game, she acknowledged. “There’s an awareness,” she said. “It would make anybody nervous.” Working with the TV video crew and being followed wasn’t a problem, she said, and it turned out to be a great experience. Adding to the stress was the fact that Chalepah was in the beginning stages of a pregnancy. She said she is due in December. “I was in the peak of morning sickness and fatigue in the weeks leading up to the wedding,” she said. “I wasn’t feeling good, so I was a ‘Bridezilla.’ I think every woman can be; it’s in us.” And for those closest to the bride, she said, it can be the worst. “The family, unfortunately, they’re the ones

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who catch the ‘Bridezillaness,’” she said. “But my family loves me and will put up with me.” Stephanie Silva, of WE TV, said the brides apply to appear on the show and, if selected, are followed during the weeks leading up to the wedding. The wedding itself is also taped. “Each bride has a different experience,” Silva said. Chalepah said she hopes that when people see her on the show, they realize it is only a small snapshot of one season on her life. “I wanted to be my normal, quirky self,” she said. “But there was no way. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody has bad days.” Microsoft retires Windows XP April 2014 and ceases Windows XP SECURITY UPDATES. Unpatched business systems become vulnerable. Security holes will never be eliminated. Businesses who rely on client security may not pass a security compliance audit in regulated industry. CONSIDER MOVING OFF WINDOWS XP in 2013 instead of spending money on Custom Support for Windows XP in 2014 – 2015.

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A little snow in the a.m.; clearing. Complete forecast on B5

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2013

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Region smacked by blizzard Power was out, travel was treacherous and records could fall in early October snowstorm Andrea J. Cook and Jennifer Naylor-Gesick Journal staff writers

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Tanner Hoffman shovels snow in the parking lot of Super Lube on Mt. Rushmore Road during the snowstorm Friday morning. The National Weather Service forecast 7-11 inches of snow.

Northern Hills hit hard Tom Griffith Journal staff

Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Neal Abernathy, an employee with Family Thrift Center on Mountain View Road, keeps the walkway clear Friday morning.

DEADWOOD | Staying true to the topography of the region, the blizzard that raged in from the west on Friday battered the Northern Hills the hardest, downing trees, hampering travel and knocking out power in its wake. Fallen tree branches and arcing power lines were the norm Friday in Lead-Deadwood, as well as Spearfish and Belle Fourche, after the Northern Hills received more than two feet of heavy, wet snow on Friday. Power was out in several communities where stoplights were off or only blinking red. Trees

and limbs came down onto cars or properties across the region, and roads were closed in numerous locations. A large segment of Interstate 90 was closed, and authorities in Spearfish and Belle Fourche warned motorists they could be ticketed if they were caught on the streets. Deadwood resident Vicki Johnson said a large branch from an oak tree succumbed to heavy snow and toppled onto her house early Friday. “It felt like an earthquake when it hit my house,” Johnson said. “I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ It shook » Northern, A6

Editor’s note Due to the blizzard that hit the region on Friday and to ensure the safety of our employees, the Journal published this edition of the paper far earlier than normal. That will affect coverage of news that broke later in the day Friday, reporting of stock market results, and coverage of sporting events held Friday night. Road conditions may also slow delivery of the paper this morning. We apologize for any inconvenience. Meanwhile, for breaking news or sports updates, go to rapidcityjournal.com.

A cameraman records Jeopardy’s Clue Crew on Tuesday on Deadwood’s Main Street. The crew includes, from left, Kelly Miyahara, Jimmy McGuire and Sarah Whitcomb Foss.

Jeopardy’s Clue Crew films in Deadwood Tom Griffith Journal staff DEADWOOD | If someone was in jeopardy in this town’s earliest days, a six-gun was probably involved. But this week, three friendly members of the Clue Crew who actually are in “Jeopardy” filmed on historic Main Street and safely walked away with a new

appreciation for the Black Hills. After spending Monday at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Clue Crew and its entourage of producers, cameramen and audio engineers for the long-running TV quiz show wrapped up three days of shooting clues for the next season of the Emmy Award-winning show.

Tom Griffith, Journal staff

» Jeopardy, A6

COMING TOMORROW

Tamara Gorman’s parents allowed her to find her own passion for sports

STOCKS Due to the early deadline as a result of Friday’s blizzard, the stocks are not in today’s paper.

THE BIG NUMBER

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OBITUARIES

A6 | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2013

TODAY’S OBITUARIES · · · · ·

Kathy G. Brumley, 64 . . . . . . . Wichita Falls, Texas Curtis Chasing Hawk, 60 Eagle . . . . . . Butte Aaron J. Kiefer, 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rapid City Alvah L. Macer, 93 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clark Jim Nelson, 67 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Timber Lake

Curtis Chasing Hawk EAGLE BUTTE | Curtis Chasing Hawk, 60, died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, at the Cheyenne River Health Center. Survivors include son, Vincent Chasing Hawk, and daughter, Angela Chasing Hawk, both of Eagle Butte; 11 grandchildren; a brother, Dale Chasing Hawk, Eagle Butte; and sisters, Carol Chasing Hawk, Eagle Butte, and Doris Chasing, Mobridge. Visitation will be for two hours before services. Services will be at 11 a.m. today at Rooks Funeral Home in Eagle Butte, with the Rev. Sam Owen officiating. Graveside services will follow at 1:30 p.m. at Eagle Butte Community Cemetery. Rooks Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. An online guestbook is available at rooksfh.com.

Alvah L. Macer CLARK | Alvah L. Macer, 93, died Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013, at Golden Living Center. Survivors include his children Carol Stobbs, Miller, Rodger Macer, Rapid City, Kendall Macer, Cloverdale, Calif., and Jennifer Aalbers, Harrisburg; 10 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and special friend, Doris Geise, Clark. Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. CDT Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Furness Funeral Home, with a prayer/sharing time at 6 p.m., and for an hourand-a-half before services at the church. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Robin Schaunaman officiating. Burial with full military honors will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery. An online guestbook is available at www.furnessfuneralhome.com.

Jim Nelson TIMBER LAKE | Jim Nelson, 67, died Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, at Mobridge Regional Hospital. Visitation with the family present will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. CDT Sunday, Oct. 6, at Kesling Funeral Home. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7, at Timber Lake Gym. Burial will be at Timber Lake Cemetery.

Today’s services · Vivian R. Alcorn — 10 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Hot Springs · Curtis Chasing Hawk — 11 a.m. at Rooks Funeral Home in Eagle Butte · Kim Ann Colhoff — 10 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pine Ridge · Gerald “Gary” Fuller — 11 a.m. at Pine Slope Cemetery in Belle Fourche · Valerie “Val” Fuller — 11 a.m. at Pine Slope Cemetery in Belle Fourche · Delbert Goodwin — 1:30 p.m. at First United Congregational Church of Christ in Belle Fourche · Carol E. Greco — 1 p.m. at Lead-Deadwood High School Auditorium in Lead · Joyce M. Hanson — noon at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home in Rapid City · Byron Hinman — 2 p.m. at Carter Full Gospel Church · Arline M. McLearie — 9 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Spearfish · Claude N. Miller — 11 a.m. at Southern Hills Evangelical Free Church in Hot Springs · Edna L. Short Horn — 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Sorrow Catholic Hall in Kyle · Monica Young Bear — 11 a.m. at Cultural Center in Eagle Butte

Services Changes · Services for Carol Greco are rescheduled for 1 p.m. today at Lead High School Auditorium. · Services for Joyce Hanson are rescheduled for noon today at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home. Burial will be Wednesday at Black Hills National Cemetery. · A gathering in memory of Blakely Anne Scherr will be at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home for those who could not attend Friday’s service. Burial will be at 2 p.m. at Mountain View Cemetery. · Services for Delbert Goodwin are rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. today at First United Congregational Church of Christ in Belle Fourche.

Aaron J. Kiefer RAPID CITY | Aaron J. Kiefer, 44, died Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013, in Lincoln, Neb. Survivors include his parents, Jennifer and Steven Hanson, Rapid City;

a brother, Neal Martz, Sioux Falls; and a sister, Janet Call, Silver Lake, Kan. Arrangements are pending with Kirk Funeral Home.

Obituary policy The Rapid City Journal offers obituaries as a way to inform friends throughout the area about the death of a person. Obituaries also offer families the opportunity to provide a final public memorial. The Journal offers two kinds of obituaries: · A standard obituary will list the name, age and residence of the deceased, along with surviving or deceased spouse; surviving children, parents or siblings; number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren; military service; and funeral arrangements. Obituaries for veterans will detail their service and display an American flag. There is no charge for this obituary. · A memorial obituary, for which there is a charge, allows family or friends to fashion the obituary to their particular specifications. In addition to information for the standard obituary, you may add information about the person’s life, work, community activities, awards or honors, special interests or anything else you feel is important. Obituary information must be provided by the funeral home handling arrangements. If you have questions about this policy, call 394-8420 between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

Kathy G. Brumley WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS |

Kathy G. Brumley, 64, of Wichita Falls, passed away Tuesday, October 1, 2013. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. CDT today in the chapel of Owens & Brumley Brumley Funeral Home with The Very Rev. John Payne officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Owens & Brumley Funeral

Home of Wichita Falls. A daughter of the late George and Doris (Whitehead) Monsen, she was born January 24, 1949, in Hot Springs, South Dakota. She graduated from Custer High School in 1967, and in 1971, she graduated from Black Hills State University with a BS in secondary education and a major in English and art. On September 12, 1970, she married Dean Brumley. She was a member of the TAEYC and the CAEYC, and enjoyed doing arts and crafts, and making

cards. Kathy had a kind, sweet, and Godly spirit about her. She loved her family dearly, and adored her grandchildren. She was also preceded in death by her son, Chris Brumley. She is survived by her husband, Dean Brumley; two sons, Nate Brumley and wife Shelly, and Tony Brumley and wife Mandy; a daughter-in-law, Jennifer Brumley all of Wichita Falls; six sisters, Mari Hendrickson, Georgene Teller, Judi Cole, Joen Painter, Jane Monsen, and Laurie Morgan; five

grandchildren, Alyssa, Judson, Chase, Clayton, and Thomas; and numerous nieces and nephews. For those desiring, the family suggests in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to Child Advocates, 808 Austin, Wichita Falls, TX 76301 or online at casa. org; Children’s Aid Society of Wichita Falls, 1101 30th Street, Wichita Falls, Texas 76302; or a donation of books to your local children’s library. Condolences may be sent to the family at www. owensandbrumley.com.

not assess the most recent damage because heavy snow continued to fall Friday morning. “I really can’t tell yet what damage the branch caused,” she said when contacted by telephone. “I now see I have a different branch lying in my power line. This has been quite a morning.”

Some residents of Lead and Deadwood reportedly lost power at 1 a.m. Friday and were still without power by late morning. Tree branches and iced power lines were keeping crews from Black Hills Power busy and the Deadwood Volunteer Fire Department responded to several calls of burning smells and

dangerous, downed power lines. Other residents of Deadwood continued to experience intermittent power outages throughout the morning. The town was at a virtual standstill, although plows were out working to keep main arterial roads open.

» From A1

Northern my house and made a huge crashing sound. I went out and shoveled for a bit and you could hear branches snapping all over town.” Johnson said she recently had her entire roof replaced because of hail damage, but she could

Milo Dailey, Butte County Post staff

Tree limbs of various sizes fell on parked vehicles throughout Belle Fourche and Butte County Friday morning as heavy, wet snow dropped on the Northern Hills.

» From A1

Jeopardy South Dakota was the last U.S. state in which the Clue Crew has shot on location, producer Brett Schneider said. As many as three dozen South Dakota clues filmed this week will appear in episodes scheduled to air in coming months and appear in the clue segment where players watch a video clip and then guess answers, Schneider said. “This is our 50th state, so it’s a milestone,” said Clue Crew member Jimmy McGuire, a graduate of Ohio University who has appeared in 13 seasons of the program. “I’ve never been to South Dakota, and its gorgeous here,” said Clue Crew member Kelly Miyahara, who has only been on Jeopardy for nine years. “After Los Angeles, with the traffic and all the people, this is wonderful. Through this filming and our clues, millions of viewers around the world will have a chance to see how beautiful South Dakota truly is.” Miyahara said she got the job on the Clue Crew nine years ago shortly after graduating from the University of Washington School of Business when she answered an advertisement her mother saw on television. Miyahara said she applied, sent in a demo tape and went through a series of call-back auditions. Weeks later she received a call at her department store sales job from a producer who told her to put in her two-week notice. “Come on, who gets a job from an ad they saw on TV?” Miyahara laughed. “It’s still a dream come true.” Two weeks after starting work with Jeopardy, Miyahara said she was standing in a gown on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards, where Jeopardy wo n b e s t ga m e s h ow. Since then, she said she’s entertained troops on USO

Tom Griffith, Journal staff

After wrapping up filming in Deadwood, Jeopardy’s Clue Crew took time to pose for a photo with Travis Pearson, who portrays Wild Bill Hickok at the Old Style Saloon No. 10.

tours to Japan and Europe with host Alex Trebek and visited 230 cities in 45 countries. “I’ve never seen most of these places, except on TV,” she said last week. “Coming from the big city, I’ve found the Black Hills so refreshing, so peaceful, and the people are so friendly.” To commemorate its 30th season that kicked off in mid-September, Jeopardy is bringing back 45 champions who will vie for a $1 million grand prize Jeopardy Clue Crew members, from left, Kelly Miyahara, Jimmy over the course of the sea- McGuire and Sarah Whitcomb Foss said South Dakota was the last of the U.S. states in which they have filmed on location. son, producers said.

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LOCAL & STATE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2013 | A7

Contact the editors

Have a news tip?

Patrick Butler, managing editor, 394-8434, patrick.butler@rapidcityjournal.com.

Contact the Journal news team by email at news@rapidcityjournal.com.

» From A1

Blizzard

restorations will take place,” Usera said.

to the Wyoming line was closed Friday morning. Winter storm warnings extended from Ziebach County in the north to Bennett County in the south due to a storm that was the earliest accumulation of snow in Rapid City history and by the end of the day could be the single worst snowstorm in October in more than a century. The dense snow, combined with the wind, battered power lines, plunging scores of homes and businesses into the dark across the region. Nearly 9,000 calls reporting power outages were received by Black Hills Power from late Thursday night to early Friday morning, according to company officials. With almost 24 inches of snow on the ground, the cities of Lead and Deadwood were virtually shut down. Authorities in Butte and Meade counties warned drivers they could be ticketed if they ventured out unless in an emergency situation. A weather spotter at Deerfield Lake reported 12 inches of snow by 9 a.m. Friday and at least 8 inches were on the ground in Hill City by 7 a.m. A 59-mph wind gust was reported near Wind Cave National Park on Friday morning.

Another storm on horizon? While the storm marched across western South Dakota, National Weather Service forecasters predicted that remnants of the storm could linger in areas east of Rapid City into this afternoon. Moderating temperatures will accompany the sunshine on Sunday. Temperatures should be back into the 60s in Rapid City by Monday. But forecasters warned residents not to get too comfortable, however, because long-range predictions hint that another blast of cold could slide into the area next weekend. At least for some residents, the blizzard wasn’t a big deal, and more snow on the horizon is no cause for concern. Dustin Dunn and Matthew Wenzel, both students at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, were out walking along Canyon Lake Drive Friday morning without coats and wearing only sneakers. “We’re actually pretty warm if we stay moving,” Dunn said with a grin.

Unusual storm system T h e s to r m to o k a n intriguing path to becoming a blizzard — starting as sprinkles of rain Thursday afternoon, then progressing into a thunderstorm, and finally a snowstorm by early morning. Rapid City measured a record daily rainfall of .96 inches on Thursday, outpacing the 1930 record of .76 inches. At Rapid City Regional Airport, a new Oct. 3 record of .92 inches was set. The previous record was .66 in set in 1983. Don Drumbaugh, streets superintendent with the city of Rapid City, said plows were running on many major streets Friday morning. Plows will continue to maintain the streets that need it the most, he said. Neighborhoods getting most snow removal attention on Friday were in north Rapid City along Maple Avenue and Anamosa Street and in open areas, particularly Country Road where drifts typically form. Because the snow is so wet underneath, ice was not a major problem initially on Friday. “Our main lines are all pretty good in town, if people just take it easy,” Drumbaugh said. “It’s wet underneath so people need to just adjust their driving accordingly.” Drumbaugh said that the forecast looks good for the streets starting today when the weather forecast calls for temperatures of near 40 today and near 50 on Sunday. “The forecast looks good for us as far as snow removal,” Drumbaugh said. “Ground temperatures are still warm and the air temperatures should stay in low to mid-30s, so we should be in good shape.” Drumbaugh could not say how many plows were out working Friday, but the city has 30 or 40 pieces of equipment available if needed, he said. Rapid City road crews were busy Thursday night installing traffic-detour signs and barricades along Sheridan Lake Road near the intersection of Jackson Boulevard for a construction project. Early Friday as the winter storm intensified, the morning commute went relatively smoothly from Sheridan Lake to West Flormann Street to Mountain View Road and on to the newly installed temporary traffic signal at Jackson at Mountain View. Power lines a problem Trees were down and power was out across the

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

A statue of Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States, is halfcovered in snow at the Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff corner of Nionth and A view of a residential neighborhood from Signal Drive during the blizzard Friday morning. St. Joeseph streets.

Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Sweetie Pie, a poodle, romps through the slushy snow on Bel Aire Drive Friday morning.

Northern Hills most of Friday morning, with LeadDeadwood getting the most snow but Spearfish and Belle Fourche losing the most trees. Snow was falling at a rate of a half-inch to an inch per hour in the Nisland area Friday morning, according to a National Weather Service spotter. At least 22 inches of snow was on the ground in Lead as the storm whipped the Northern Hills, the Weather Service said. The mix of rain, snow and eventual freezing temperatures challenged power companies as snow and ice piled on trees and power lines, knocking out power across the area. Traffic lights in various areas of

Rapid City worked intermittently as the power blinked off and on. The Rapid City Fire Department issued a reminder that overburdened trees can create dangerous situations. They urged the following precautions: do not try to remove tree branches from power lines; watch for overhead hazards, such as trees and tree branches over homes and structures; be cautious about parking under trees. If a power line falls, officials said residents should stay clear of the line, and call 911 to report it. Over 5,000 customers were still without power Friday morning, according to the Black Hills Power

website. Nearly 700 customers in Custer were without power from midnight through Friday morning. And over 1,500 were without power in Belle Fourche. Spearfish residents were being hit the hardest, a total of 1,757 were without power early Friday. Most of those were reported around 9 a.m., but 455 customers have been without power since 4:30 a.m. Deadwood was experiencing a lot of power outages as well. A total of 1,093 customers are without power, and about half of those were reported just before 1:30 a.m. Friday. Fewer outages were reported in northwest Rapid City early Friday. About 100 customers in that area were without power. “It’s been a challenge,” Mutch Usera, senior manager of external affairs for Black Hills Power, said Friday. “The stress from the snow is causing extreme weight and the lines can snap.” He said there are three key challenges with this storm: The leaves on trees

and dead pine beetle trees, the heavy snow and wind conditions. Usera said the crews work to fix the issues that are the easiest and quickest to fix, and work their way to the hardest. “We have snowcats and ATVs that can get us in to some of those areas, but sometimes we have to wait until snow lightens so we can get in there and assess the damage in specific areas. That’s why it’s really hard to tell customers when

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STRANDED

Chris Huber photos, Journal staff

ABOVE: A lone pedestrian walks by West Boulevard in Rapid City Saturday morning. BELOW: Chad Hoffman clears snow from the entrance to his apartment building Saturday morning in Rapid City. The drift in front of this building reached more than four feet high.

Worst storm on record wreaks havoc on Black Hills Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Journal staff

Trees were torn apart, drivers were stranded on highways, and more than 38,000 homes were without power during subfreezing temperatures Saturday morning, following the worst October snowstorm in the recorded history of the Black Hills. G o v. D e n n i s D a u g a a r d declared a state of emergency for Western South Dakota and has National Guard assets helping to clear roads. He also stressed a no travel advisory is in effect for Western

South Dakota. Interstate 90 remained closed from the Sheridan, Wyo., to east of Murdo. Empty streets littered with snapped limbs and downed power lines greeted those who were able to dig out of their homes Saturday. Starting Friday afternoon, a low front from southeast Colorado thundered over the region, dumping 21.5 inches of snow in Rapid City and up to 43 inches in Lead — lashed by 60 mph gusts — that often reduced visibility to zero.

Editor’s note Due to the blizzard that hit the region and to ensure the safety of our employees, the Journal published this edition of the paper far earlier than normal. That will affect coverage of news that broke later in the day Saturday. We apologize for any inconvenience. Meanwhile, for breaking news or sports updates, go to rapidcityjournal.com See reader and staff photos of the storm at rapidcityjournal. com/photo

Inside See more photos from the worst October snowstorm in history on E1.

Send your storm photos to news@rapidcityjournal.com

» Storm, A4

Storm catches residents by surprise despite warnings

Blizzard paralyzes Northern Hills Tom Griffith Journal staff

Jennifer Naylor Gesick Journal staff

DEADWOOD | The Northern Hills remained paralyzed Saturday night in the grip of a record-breaking October blizzard that stranded motorists and visitors, left thousands without electricity and led one town to request a disaster declaration and state assistance. As much as four feet of heavy, wet snow pumCourtesy photo meled the region beginning Thursday night.

Shock and disbelief were the dominant reactions from people around the area after Friday’s massive snowstorm. Even people who prepared for the blizzard were caught off guard as the record-breaking storm dumped more snow than anticipated and high winds caused widespread damage and thousands of » Residents, A5

Main Street in Sturgis, looking east from the Loud American Roadhouse, is blanketed in snow on Saturday.

COMING TOMORROW

Digging out Black Hills residents continue to recover from the weekend’s blizzard

THE BIG NUMBER

400K The number of furloughed civilian employees going back to work. » Read about it on E3

» Hills, A3

Inside · Windows broken at Sturgis hospital · Butte County digs out, worries about flooding » Read about in on A3

INSIDE Black Hills Journal Business Classifieds Life & Style Nation & World Obituaries Opinion Sports

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“We had a lady go into labor at the Days Inn Motel on Jackson Boulevard and we had to get a snowcat to her to get her to to the hospital.”

» From A1

Storm Pe n n i n g to n Co u n ty Sheriff Kevin Thom said Saturday that authorities responded to more than 700 calls Friday night, many from people who required emergency medical attention. “We had a lady go into labor at the Days Inn Motel on Jackson Boulevard and we had to get a snowcat to her to get her to to the hospital,” he said. “And I think we have one other labor situation going on right now.” Thom said authorities remained extremely busy, particularly responding to calls from drivers who were stranded on snow-packed roads. Sixty to 70 people were rescued Friday night and, by Saturday afternoon, more than 20 remained stranded. He said rescue efforts were hampered throughout the day by roads in Rapid City that still remained largely impassable. Don Brumbaugh, Rapid City’s street superintendent, said the city’s plows were being slowed by fallen trees, stranded cars, and unusually heavy snow. “This is a wet heavy snow and not all the equipment can push this heavy of snow,” he said. “So it’s taken specialized equipment to do the work.” Brumbaugh said it could take days to clear the snow – not hours. For those with family members that were still stranded, those factors combined to create, at times, particularly dire situations. Jessica Carter, 25, said her parents were driving to their home in Piedmont from work in Rapid City on Friday afternoon when visibility became so bad that the couple veered off the road. Carter called an emergency dispatcher but was told that authorities were overwhelmed with calls. “They said ‘We’re at a standstill and there is nothing we can do right now,’” she said. “They said they are prioritizing emergencies.”

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

LocAL

Kevin hom, Pennington County Sheriff

Benjamin Brayfield photos, Journal staff

ToP: Greg Nielsen, left, and Clyde Cochran find shelter after trying to dig out a vehicle. Cochran is in the process of converting this horse trailer to livable quarters. The wood burning stove belonged to Nielsen’s father. LEFT: Lori Mehlberg shovels snow to clear a pathway to the font door of her home on Fifth Street. Record levels of snow covered the Black Hills. Thousands of people were still without power 24 hours after the storm started. RIGHT: Janet Cooley, of Longmont, Colo., wades through a large snow drift in downtown Rapid City Saturday morning. The area was inundated with a blizzard that brought more than 20 inches of snow and high winds. Cooley is staying at a downtown hotel and ventured out to get a bottle of wine from her vehicle.

As of Saturday afternoon, Carter’s parents remained stranded, clad in jeans and zip-up hoodies, and equipped with cellphones that had long-since run out of power. “I’m scared for my mom and my dad,” Carter said. “I don’t know if they’re going to be able to make it through the night. They

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only had half a tank of gas. I’m really scared.” Meanwhile, the situation was equally precarious for some Black Hills residents who did make it home Friday. B l a c k H i l l s Powe r reported 28,000 of its customers were without power

Saturday – equating to about a third of its customers. Getting power restored will be difficult. “At this point, I would say it’s in the time frame of days not weeks,” Black Hills Power’s Vice President of Operations Vance

All engagements, weddings, birthdays and anniversaries will run online for 4 months and appear once in our Life & Style section. All formats will be standardized as follows: Birthdays & Anniversaries – Will include a photo and be one column in width and 3-1/2 inches tall. One time charge of $30 per announcement includes 100 words. Engagements & Weddings – Will include a photo and be one column in width and 4-1/2 inches tall. One time charge of $45 per announcement includes 135 words. Deadline – Noon the Wednesday before the Sunday you want it to run. For more information on formatting, go to:

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Crocker said. However, he cautioned the time frame could be extended. Mutch Usera, the senior program manager with Black Hills Power, compared the complications from the storm to those from the Rapid City Flood of 1972.

West River Electric, which largely covers rural areas of Pennington and Meade counties, reported 10,500 of its customers were without power – about 90 percent of its customers. Veronica Kusser, a marketing manager for West River Electric, said they didn’t expect power to be restored to most homes until today and advised families to stay warm as best they could. “Pipes are not going to freeze at this point because the temperatures are not cold enough outdoors, but be safe and stay hydrated,” she said. Dave Barber, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said today will be likely be a slushy one for most of the Black Hills. “We should get temperatures around 50 so there’s going to be a lot of melting going on,” he said. “But it will start off slow in the morning, so it should still be pretty chilly.” The rest of the week will average daily highs of about 50 degrees. But while the snow may depart, the Black Hills will be left with something that will linger far longer. Barber said that Rapid City’s 21.5 inches of snowfall Friday night was the highest single-day snowfall for October since record keeping began around the 1890s. The previous record for snowfall in Rapid City was 9.9 inches, set on October 19, 1919. Barber said the blizzard was the result of the merging of a low front in the Rockies with a larger low front in Southeast Colorado that moved towards central South Dakota. The system was compounded with an unusually high amount of moisture to the south and east, which helped produce something else unusual for a snowstorm: thunder. “That’s another sign of how much water vapor was being pulled into this storm,” Barber said. “And how intense the storm was.” No reports of any serious injuries or deaths have been reported, according to Terry

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Call our Rapid City office at 484-6479 and ask for Jeret.

West River Life Managing editor Patrick Butler, patrick.butler@rapidcityjournal.com or news@rapidcityjournal.com

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2013 Rapid City Journal rapidcityjournal.com

Phone: 394-8434 or 1-800-843-2300, ext 8434

Chris Huber, Journal staff

David Haile takes video Saturday morning of the snow in downtown Rapid City using his iPad.

Winter Storm Atlas breaks snow record in the Black Hills Journal staff

inter Storm Atlas left six-foothigh snow drifts, downed trees, and 25,000 properties without power in the Black Hills. The October record snow storm dumped 21.5 inches in Rapid City Friday night. Winds reached 60 mph and first responders

received hundreds of calls for service. Saturday morning residents were left to shovel out driveways and rescue stranded vehicles. An emergency travel ban kept most traffic off the streets until snow plows are able to clear the neighborhoods. Winter Storm Atlas beat the existing 9.9 inch record for single-day snowfall in October that was set in 1919. Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Todd Esquibel, left, Jim Dowty and Lyle Jacobs shovel snow to clear their driveway. Dowty has living in Rapid City for more than 20 years and has not seen a storm nearly this bad, he said. Broken tree branches feel on this snowcovered vehicle Saturday morning. A travel advisory barred any travel on roads in Pennington County. Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Don Stritecky clears the sidewalk in front of his home with a snow blower after record snowfall from Winter Storm Atlas.

Chris Huber, Journal staff

People staying at the Alex Johnson in Rapid City venture out to their cars Saturday morning after a blizzard Friday kept them inside for several hours. LEFT: A man walks down the middle of St. Joseph Street in Rapid City on Saturday morning after a blizzard inundated the area. Chris Huber, Journal staff

Online Go to www.rapidcity journal.com for storm updates and photos.

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BLIZZARD CONTINUES TO TAKE ITS TOLL Residents dig out after recordbreaking storm buries area John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff

Misty Droppers spent a freezing and frightening Friday night with her family in their truck, snacking on KFC chicken while stranded in Black Hawk during the historic blizzard that crippled the Black Hills over the weekend. Droppers had been picked up from work by her daughter and husband around 3 p.m. Friday but soon the family was stranded off Sturgis Road, keeping warm by intermittently running their truck throughout the night. “I was lucky to have a full tank of gas,” the 35-year-old said. With as much as 48 inches of heavy, wet snow in parts of the Black Hills, Droppers and crew had to be rescued Saturday morning by an area resident with a snowmobile and eventually taken to an ad-hoc emergency shelter at Rapid City’s Central High School. Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff “It wasn’t uncommon to have people in here that have been Theresa Schroeder shovels out her driveway along St. Frances Street. A large limb of the tree in her front yard broke during the storm, which extendstranded in their cars between 14 ed into the street. Her street probably won’t get plowed for a few days, but the main roads that lead to emergency services are a priority, she said. and 16 hours,” said Richard Smith, executive director of the American Red Cross of the Black Hills, which opened emergency shelters in Rapid City, Lead and Spearfish unprepared seeking provisions at any throughout the weekend. Bart Pfankuch Journal staff store they could find; and overall a region recovering from a blizzard that was one » Storm, A4 Black Hills neighbors who already of the worst in terms of winds and heavy, knew each other became friends anew wet snow that many can remember. Sunday as they combined forces to While no one was reported dead or Daily snow counts recover from one of the worst storms to injured as of late Sunday, the storm The Rapid City area’s normal affected the daily life and commerce of hit the region in a century. average snowfall is 2.3 inches What bound them after the storm the entire Black Hills in a major way. for the month of October. was the inevitable sense of teamwork Businesses remained snowed-in that arises during any natural disaster or across the area; families were out shovelFridays total snow actragedy in South Dakota. ing or snow-blowing to clear their drivecumulation came in at 13.4 After the snow stopped and the ways; and some people were just trying to inches, with Saturday’s Bart Pfankuch, Journal staff whipping winds died down, Black find normalcy. Snowmen popped up in a snowfall coming in at 8.7 Curtis and Shana Pourier used dirt shovels to good Hills residents finally came out of their few front yards. inches, according to the effect to dig out their pickup that was stuck on Paha homes Sunday, and scenes were plentiNational Weather Service. ful of neighbor helping neighbor; the » Recovery, A5 Sapa Drive in North Rapid City.

After skies clear, residents help others

Travelers spend Sunday waiting for I-90 to open Deb Holland Meade County Times-Tribune S T U RG I S | Bobby Adams of Orlando, Fla., sat in his pickup truck Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of Campbell Supply in Sturgis waiting for westbound Interstate 90 to open.

Adams was headed to Montana to meet with a mechanic who was building an engine for an Offshore Racing Powerboat named the Spirit of Qatar. “I was supposed to be in Montana on Friday,” he said. “I just missed tornadoes in Nebraska City, Neb., and then spent two

nights in a motel in Rapid City with no power.” Adams was anxious for the gate to lift at the on-ramp to westbound I-90 Exit 30. Brad Vesbach and his nephew Erik Vesbach were in a vehicle parked behind Adam’s in the parking lot. The two, from

ONLINE

Blizzard photos See more reader-submitted and Journal staff photos of the snow storm at rapidcityjournal.com/photo

Virsqua, Wisc., were headed to Gillette, Wyo., to hunt antelope. “We’ve been planning this trip for about six months. We watched the weather ahead of time but they were saying three to six inches,” Brad Vesbach said. They, too, were stuck in Rapid City until the interstate reopened

THE BIG NUMBER

Sunday morning. Meanwhile in Sturgis, residents were busy moving piles of snow from driveways, sidewalks and tops of cars. They also were tossing tree branches to the curb. Because trees » Travelers, A5

INSIDE Number of Utah mountain goats that have been released in the Black Hills. » Find out more on A3

Advice/Comics Crosswords Classifieds Obituaries Opinion Sports Weather

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» From A1

Storm And the blizzard was a record breaker, coming in at the second greatest amount of snowfall ever recorded in a three-day period by the Rapid City office of the National Weather Service. The Northern H ills received the brunt of the storm, with reports of as much as 48 inches of snow in Deadwood, 44 inches in Lead and 26 inches in Spearfish. The Weather Service also reported that as much as 30 inches fell on the west side of Rapid City. The blizzard eclipsed October’s monthly snowfall record of 10 inches, which was set on Oct. 19, 1919, according to the National Weather Service. The heavy snow paired with trees still full of foliage resulted in thousands of downed tree limbs and downed power lines throughout streets and neighborhoods. The peak wind gust recorded over the weekend was 68 mph, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flood warning Sunday, citing excessive snow melt as the temperatures climbed into the 50s on a clear blue Sunday in Rapid City. But stranded motorists and residents weren’t the only fallout from the re c o rd - s e t t i n g we e k end storm. Gov. Dennis Daugaard declared a state of emergency for Western South Dakota and readied National Guard assets to help clear the roads. As of Saturday, more than 28,000 Black Hills

Kristina Barker photos, Journal staff

Pedestrians walk down Park Drive near Canyon Lake on Sunday. FAR LEFT: Neighbors work to clear an exit to South Canyon Road from San Marco Boulevard on Sunday.

Power customers were without power, equaling about one-third of its total customer base. Black Hills Power spokesman Mutch Usera said Sunday afternoon that 13,000 customers remained without power. Usera said that included 7,200 Rapid City residents, around 4,900 Northern Hills residents and 1,500

Southern Hills residents. “We are basically still in that assessment mode, however, we are restoring power,” he said, adding that the company is relying on helicopters and on-theground scouts to assess the damage. West River Coopera- down, with 2,900 meters tive Telephone Company still without power. reported Sunday that more The Rapid City Fire than 1,500 poles were Department also reported

LEFT: The side streets of the neighborhoods east of 5th Street haven’t seen a plow, and may not for a few days. Plowing the main roads are the city’s priority.

Sunday that crews responded to nearly 200 calls over the weekend from medical calls to downed

power lines and firefighters responded to numerous structure fires. With the weekend’s ban on driving lifted Sunday to an advisory not to drive, road crews struggled to remove snowpack from Rapid City’s streets due to motorists and stranded vehicles blocking the roadways. Motorists determined to drive during the blizzard and early Sunday frustrated efforts to help residents who needed medical attention and other assistance, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. “The problem we are dealing with is stuck cars and the plows cannot get t h ro u g h ,” Pe n n i n g to n County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jay Evenson said Sunday morning. R a p i d C i t y ’s P u b lic Works Department reported Sunday that it has no timeline for when all the streets will be cleared. The department is working with private contractors to get caught up, according to a news release issued Sunday. Crews worked first on major, emergency and hilly roadways within the city limits before moving to residential streets. “All available men and equipment will continue to work around the clock until all the residential streets have been made passable,” according to the statement. Pe n n i n g to n Co u n ty E m e rge n cy M a n a ge ment officials have asked residents to leave downed branches and other debris on their curbs or elsewhere on their properties until roads are safe to travel and drop-off sites are open.

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Nathan Kveene, left, talks with his North Rapid City neighbor Alan Field about Many roads that had how to cut been closed for 36 hours down a tree that were plowed open by midfell.

Recovery

day Sunday – some only to single-lane status. But as a whole, with plowing and melting, vehicle travel became much easier on Sunday across Rapid City, at least. Green grass could soon be seen on yards where snow melted to give way to more typical October conditions. Longtime locals were unmoved by the snowfall but surprised by the weight and wetness of the snow and the extensive damage to trees. “The snow we’ve had before, but the tree damage, that’s new,” said Nathan Kveene, a north Rapid City resident whose family lost a cherry and apple tree during the storm. Those who ventured out Sunday had mixed results; some roads were still impassible. On the west side of Rapid City, some people still did not have power Sunday and were coming to Safeway to get things like instant coffee and milk – which they had to store in the snow. In the store, long lines held dozens of people, some waiting 20 minutes to buy a gallon of milk. The Walmart was open on North LaCrosse Street and people were buying items like frozen pizza, cosmetics and medical products, and a whole roasted chicken. But most businesses were closed throughout the day because lots weren’t plowed, employees could

Bart Pfankuch, Journal staff

not make it in, or there were few customers anyway. But some businesses were still heavily trafficked. Mainly gas stations, most which were closed, that drew people looking for petrol for snow blowers, chainsaws and perhaps even cars. Arrivals at closed stores only increased after more people stopped to see if the store was open. At North Rapid stores, many drivers pulled up and then pulled off after seeing dark pumps. Others were more desperate for gas. At mid-day, a man and a woman were pedaling hard on their bikes, riding against traffic on the now one-lane North Haines Avenue, with one cyclist towing a child carrier that contained two gas cans. A l a n Fi e l d , 4 3 , o f Seahawk Drive in North Rapid City stood with his neighbor, Kveene, as they both stared at a huge tree limb that was covered with snow and had fallen on his yard and driveway. He had a chainsaw and was preparing to get to work. “I’m trying to get it to

MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013 | A5

LOCAL

where at least one car can get out of the driveway,” Field said. “I’ve got a long way to go.” He had just survived one night without power and another mostly without it. He and Kveene were both worried because they had rented movies that were now late. A c ro s s t h e re g i o n , motorists whose cars had gotten stuck on Friday or Saturday were returning to dig them out. Many cars were left in intersections or traffic lanes when roads became impassible on Friday. Curtis and Shana Pourier, who were using dirt shovels to extricate their stranded pickup on Pahasapa Road west of Haines Avenue, were working hard but having fun Sunday. Their truck had become stuck in a travel lane there behind a police car and another vehicle during the blizzard’s raging winds on Friday evening. They had ventured out to get their daughter from work, but she ended up staying at the home of her boss.

The Pourniers were in good spirits Sunday morning, with a bright sun shining and their daughter safe. Their mood was heightened further when a neighbor came by with an offer to bring a shovel, soda and water. The couple wasn’t trying to dig their vehicle out completely; rather, they just wanted to cut a path to get it on the side in case a plow came to clear the street for all. “The last thing I want to be known for is being the neighbor who blocked the plow from coming,” Shana Pourier said. Her husband had that motive and another one. “My relief is to get this done and maybe catch some football or baseball on TV,” he said, grinning. Less than a half hour later, after a few more folks arrived, the Pourier’s truck was safely on the side of the road. Thousands of area residents spent a frigid night in homes without power on Saturday. Some of those folks, as well as others, came out in droves Sunday into temperatures that topped 50 degrees just to see what the storm had wrought. “It’s kind like cabin fever,” said Mary Miller, who stopped with her husband, Bob, to see if Don’s Valley Express on North Haines Avenue was open (it wasn’t.) “We’re just really out to see how bad it is.” It was pretty bad, but for all the snow that fell, how much wind blew, and how many trees and power lines were down, many on Sunday would acknowledge that this big storm could have been much, much worse.

Deb Holland, Meade County Times-Tribune

A road crew worker blows open a lane on Lazelle Street in Sturgis near the entrance to Interstate 90. » From A1

Travelers still had leaves, the weight of the more than two-feet of snow snapped branches and sent them downward onto cars, lawns and roofs. The weight of the snow was responsible for the collapse of at least three roofs in Sturgis. The roof on the UPS building on Whitewood Road west of Sturgis gave way Friday evening. The roof on Flex Fitness on East Main Street and the ceiling in the commons area of Sturgis Williams Middle School also gave way Saturday. Keith Keffeler, a longtime Sturgis resident, said he has never seen anything like the blizzard of 2013. “We had one the last of October about six years ago, but nothing like this that knocked down so many trees,” he said. Chris Meland pushed a snow blower along a wall of snow near his home on Pine Street on Sunday afternoon while his

“We had one ... about six years ago, but nothing like this that knocked down so many trees.” Keith Keffeler, Sturgis

children played on piles of snow in the yard. Meland said he had struggled to move the heavy snow. “It’s like trying to blow snow cones,” he said. Sturgis city officials said that as of 1:45 p.m. Sunday, most streets in Sturgis had at least one lane open. City manager Daniel Ainslie said crews continue to work on opening those few that remain blocked and that curb-to-curb clean up would take place starting today. Ainslie said he also heard from Black Hills Power that most power had been restored in the city. The city council meeting scheduled for tonight has been cancelled and Meade School District has cancelled today’s classes.

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STATE OF EMERGENCY

Council declares winter storm disaster Unanimous vote at special meeting comes as city attempts to recover John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff

The Rapid City Council on Monday night declared a winter-storm disaster as the city moves into a multi-million dollar recovery effort after the weekend blizzard that dumped up to 30 inches of snow in parts of the city. The council’s unanimous vote came after Rapid City Fire

Department Chief Mike Maltaverne urged city officials to declare a state of emergency during a special meeting earlier Monday. The city’s declaration is a first step toward a disaster designation by Gov. Dennis Daugaard and eventual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which requires approval from President Barack Obama. The Pennington County

Sarah Diaz pulls tree limbs out of the street in front of her home. She was with her family in Nebraska for her niece’s wedding during the storm.

Commission will discuss its potential emergency declaration at 1:30 p.m. today in the commission meeting room at the Pennington County Courthouse. The fire chief’s request came when the Rapid City Council met with public safety and city department officials at noon to discuss the next steps after the historic October blizzard.

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

» City, A4

BLIZZARD CLAIMS THOUSANDS OF CATTLE Ranchers, experts say losses are devastating for ranchers Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Journal staff

Tens of thousands of cattle lie dead across South Dakota on Monday following a blizzard that could become one of the most costly in the history of the state’s agriculture industry. As state officials spent the day calculating the multimillion dollar impact to the regional economy from Friday’s storm, ranchers began digging up hundreds of cattle that were still buried beneath feet of snow. “This is absolutely, totally devastating,” said Steve Schell, a 52-year-old rancher from Caputa. “This is horrendous. I mean the death loss of these cows in this country is unbelievable.” Schell said he estimated he had lost half of his herd, but it could be far more. He was still struggling to find snow-buried cattle and those that had been pushed miles by winds that gusted at 70 miles per hour on Friday night.

Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Downtown Rapid City was busy Monday morning, despite many businesses being closed.

ABOVE: Dead cattle are frozen in

the ditch along Highway 34 east of Sturgis Monday afternoon. LEFT: Josh Schumaker, 27, left,

and Karl Knutson, 25, ride through pasture east of Sturgis along Highway 34 on Monday. Knutson and Schumaker were checking on cattle at Knutson’s father’s place. Kristina Barker photos, Journal staff

» Cattle, A3

Blizzard roundup: First storm deaths reported Journal staff

Here is a quick round-up of storm-related updates: • Fatalities: The first fatalities associated with the blizzard came to light Monday. The Lawrence County Sheriff said a 62-year-old Lead man died Sunday while clearing snow from his collapsed roof. Three people from Nebraska and Kansas died in a car wreck on Friday when they hit storm conditions on U.S. 20 near Crawford, Neb. A 76-year-old woman was found dead in her home near Terry Peak on Sunday, but it

was unclear if storm-related. • Outages: About 12,000 people across the region remained without power Monday; the National Guard was called in to help restore it. • Search on: The South Dakota Civil Air Patrol is working with Game, Fish & Parks officials to look for two confirmed lost hunters and probably many more who got lost while hunting elk in the Black Hills. Planes were scouring the hills on Monday. • Fires: Firefighters across the region battled blazes that damaged or destroyed homes

or ranch buildings. Rapid City authorities alone answered 300 calls and worked 13 structure fires over the weekend. • Collapses: A middle school roof in Sturgis collapsed, leading to classes being canceled all week. The entire TMone company building in Spearfish fell in on itself, putting dozens of employees out of work. A mobile home roof fell in on Snowcat Road near Deadwood; residents escaped. • Shuttered: Many government offices remain closed; mail delivery has been spotty; and many schools across the

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region will not re-open today. • Snowfalls: The National Weather Service said final we e ke n d s n ow fa l l to ta l s include: 55 inches in Lead, 48 inches in Deadwood, 35 inches in Sturgis, 32 inches in Hill City, 31 inches in Rapid City and Spearfish, 18 inches in Custer, and 15 inches in Oglala. • Flood worries: The next storm fallout could be flooding as higher temperatures melt all the snow that fell. A flood warning was issued for the region on Monday, though no immediate damage or injuries were reported.

Restoring power a tough task Could be end of the week before all power is restored Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

It had been 48 hours since the last snow fell, but Melissa Reckling’s home still didn’t have power on Monday. Reckling, a 37-year-old jail worker, doesn’t live in Lead, which got 55 inches of snow, or anywhere else in the hard-hit Northern Hills. She lives just off bustling Jackson Boulevard in Rapid City. Reckling bought a propane heater Sunday and used it to grill up chili and Ramen noodles. Before that, it was “a lot of granola bars,” she said. On Monday, she swapped out the propane heater for a generator. Meanwhile, she waits for Black Hills Power to get to her. “You can’t get any answers as to where anybody’s at,” she said Monday evening, standing on her front porch. Reckling is one of just under 12,000 people who still lacked power Monday. About 6,500 » Power, A2

THE BIG NUMBER

55 » Read about it on A3

INSIDE

Inches of snow reported in Lead.

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A2 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013

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Your two cents. In two sentences.

Thank you, Black Hills Red Cross, for all that you do. Kudos to the wonderful nurses, pharmacists, techs, food service, housekeeping and plant operators at Rapid City Regional Hospital for keeping things running smoothly and tirelessly caring for patients during last weekend’s devastating snowstorm. The members of the Red Rock and Country Side Home Owners Association

JOB: Pennington County reporter EMAIL: daniel. simmonsritchie@rapidcityjournal.com

THE BUZZ

Give us your Two Cents’ worth by calling 394-8288 or emailing twocents@rapidcityjournal.com. Rather than wasting money on expanding the civic center, perhaps it’s time for a feasibility study on how much money the taxpayers would save by privatizing the snow-plowing duties. It’s definitely time to replace the mayor and council with ones who are more in touch with what the people hired them to do, which is to plow our streets.

Daniel SimmonsRitchie

Johansson named ‘sexiest’ by Esquire NEW YORK | Seven years after

would like to thank the mayor and his emergency management team for not sending one snow plow out to our 1,000 homes following the latest storm. We really appreciate the great city services we get for our annual $4 million plus in property taxes to Rapid City.

Scarlett Johansson was named Esquire magazine’s sexiest woman alive for the second time this year.

If you have to hunt in someone’s yard, try not to include a building in the kill site photo you put on the Internet. Gives real hunters a bad name. A good snowstorm brings out the good in some neighbors and the selfishness of a lot more.

Halle Berry gave birth to a son on Saturday.

God bless all the snow plow drivers for their hard work in clearing us out after the storm.

being named Esquire magazine’s sexiest woman alive, Scarlett Johansson has earned the title for a second time. Johansson, who also won in 2006, is the first woman to get the honor twice. Last year’s winner was Mila Kunis. Johansson jokingly tells the magazine she’s “gotta hustle” and “pretty soon the roles you’re offered all become mothers. Then they just sort of stop.” The 28-year-old actress is also off the market. She recently went public with her engagement to former French journalist Romain Dauriac. It will be her second marriage. She split from Ryan Reynolds in 2010.

that the couple welcomed their son on Saturday. This is the second child for Berry. She has a 5-year-old daughter with her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry. The two settled their custody battle over the child in 2012.

Fox anchor apologizes after Obama gaffe NEW YORK | A Fox News Chan-

nel anchor has apologized for falsely saying that President Barack Obama had offered to pay for the operation of a museum of Muslim culture “out of his own pocket” during the government shutdown. Anchor Anna Kooiman made the remark Saturday on “Fox & Friends” during a discussion about closed facilities. She said it didn’t seem fair that a World War II monument in Washington was closed, especially in the context of other things funded. Halle Berry gives Kooiman tweeted an apolbirth to baby boy ogy Sunday. It’s not clear yet LOS ANGELES | It’s a boy for Halle whether the mistake will be Berry and Olivier Martinez. addressed on the air. A representative for the 47-year-old actress confirms — Associated Press

ON OCT. 8, 1934 , Bruno Hauptmann was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for murder in the death of the son of Charles A. Lindbergh. 1871: The Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wis., and in several communities in Michigan. 1918 : U.S. Army Cpl. Alvin C. York led an attack that killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 others in the Argonne Forest in France. 1944: “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, made its debut on CBS Radio. 1945: President Harry S. Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada. 1956: Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0. 19 5 7 : T h e B ro o k ly n Baseball Club announced it was accepting an offer to move the Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles. — Associated Press

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS: Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist, 72; Chevy Chase, comedian, 70; C.J. Ramone, rock musician, 48; Matt Damon, actor, 43; Bruno Mars, singer, 28

Uranium hearings postponed due to snow Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

The weekend blizzard led to the cancellation of the state’s permit hearings on uranium mining after all. After assembling briefly on Monday morning in Rapid City for the kickoff of its scheduled hearings, the state Water Management Board decided to postpone due to the clean-up from the storm. The WMB hearings are one of two sets of state hearings on the

proposed Dewey-Burdock uranium mine near Edgemont. The board, representatives of Powertech Uranium Corp., the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources and opponents had gathered as scheduled Monday morning at the Best Western Ramkota. About two dozen mining opponents, along with some supporters of the mine from the Edgemont area also made it to the hearings. But mining opponents asked that the proceedings be

postponed, saying they worried that not enough of their ranks would be able to dig out from underneath the snow and fallen tree limbs to attend. Out of 200 informal opponents to the project, only seven had made it to Monday’s meeting, according to Clean Water Alliance attorney Bruce Ellison. Ellison also asked that the hearings be postponed because he said the storm left him without access to his notes. The delay frustrated Mark

Hollenbeck, an Edgemont area resident and project manager for Powertech. “The affected parties live in Edgemont,” Hollenbeck said. “And we are bending over backwards for the opposition to have their day in court in Rapid City. “The oldest play in their playbook is death by delay,” he added. “And they’re doing pretty good at it.” The board’s decision means it will now use what was scheduled as the second week of hearings in

place of this week. That means the water permit hearings will now begin Oct. 28 in Rapid City. The board also scheduled a new second week of hearings for Dec. 9 in Rapid City. The other set of state permit hearings, conducted by the state Board of Minerals and Environment, are scheduled to resume in Rapid City during the week of Nov. 11. Contact Joe O’Sullivan at 394-8414 or joe.osullivan@rapidcityjournal.com

» From A1

Power of those customers are in the Rapid City area, with another 4,100 in the Northern Hills, and fewer than 1,000 in the Southern Hills. Battling lines downed from trees and ice, Black Hills Power at its peak on Friday lost service to 28,000 of its 68,000 customers. ”We’ve made some substantial progress over the last two or three days,” said Vance Crocker, vice president of operations for Black Hills Power. Crocker called the blizzard an unprecedented storm. The company expects to have power restored to all but a handful of its customers by the end of the week, Crocker said. The company currently has more than 200 contractors, including 100 tree trimmers working the streets to remove downed branches from power lines in an effort to restore power to thousands still without electricity. Mutch Usera, a spokesman for the company said that while extra line workers have come from the company’s sister utilities, some customers who have regained power may lose it again as the electrical grid is rebuilt. Crocker said that BHP is

Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Snapped power poles and downed lines could be seen along Highway 34 east of Sturgis on Monday.

not the only electric provider in Northern Hills. It does serve Newell and Belle Fourche. “In Belle Fourche, we’re still doing a lot of assessment there,” he said. “We’re looking to have a portion of that back on line by the end of the week.” In Newell, he said, “We anticipate having 50 percent of the Newell area restored by today

ACE LOAN 343-1632 1315 Haines Ave., Unit B, Rapid City

(Monday).” One potential problem with restoring electricity concerns tree damage to homes. The utility handles only from the street pole to a “mast” at the home or business. If damage occurs between the mast and the building, the customer needs to get a private electrician to help restore power. About 9,000

Midcontinent customers were still without their communications plans, as of Monday. And power outages in Butte County were blamed for Belle Fourche schools deciding Monday to cancel Tuesday classes. Rural electric cooperatives have also been hit hard. Grand Electric Cooperative, Inc., based in Bison, estimated Monday that about 1,400 of its customers were still without power. At C a m p R a p i d o n Monday, Maj. Corey Norris said the National Guard is responding to calls for assistance moving their equipment to rural sites where lines are down. He said about 60 National Guardsmen are operating under state authorization to aid in blizzard recovery. Sgt. 1st Class Blaine Anderson at the Northern Hills-based 842nd Engineer Company said all 11 of the unit’s big dozers have been called up to help

restore power in Western South Dakota. “I don’t know who we’re working for out of Rapid City, but in Bison, I know we’re working for Grand Electric,” Anderson said. Crocker said BHP has its own heavy equipment for restoring power to areas they cover. Anderson said Grand Electric employees are used

to working with the 842nd. When they get as close as possible to a work site, the bulldozers hook onto the power company’s trucks and literally drag them where they need to go to restore power. Butte County Post staff writer Milo Dailey and Journal staff writer John Lee McLaughlin contributed to this report.

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Northern Hills in mop-up mode

Governments open; schools closed

M a r t h a Wi e rz b i c k i , emergency management director for Butte County, said the trail of carcasses was a gruesome sight across the region. “They’re in the fence line, laying alongside the roads,” she said. “It’s really sickening.” Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, said most ranchers she had spoken to were reporting that 20 to 50 percent of their herds had been killed. “I have never heard of anything like it,” she said. “And none of the ranchers I have talked to can remember anything like it.” While South Dakota ranchers are no strangers to blizzards, what made Friday’s storm so damaging was how early it arrived in the season. Christen said cattle hadn’t yet grown their winter coats to insulate them from freezing wind and snow. In addition, Christen said, during the cold months, ranchers tend to move their cattle to pastures that have more trees and gullies to protect them from storms. Because Friday’s storm arrived so early in the year, most ranchers were still grazing their herds on summer pasture, which tend to be more exposed and located farther away from ranch homes. Ultimately, Christen said, she believed that more than 5 percent of the roughly 1.5 million cattle in Western South Dakota had been killed. Jodie Anderson, executive director of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, said the pain for ranchers is now compounded by dysfunction within the federal government. W h i l e t h e gove r n ment has programs to help ranchers who suffer losses from catastrophic weather events, those programs are in limbo because Congress has failed to pass a farm bill. The legislation is normally passed every five years and controls subsidy and insurance programs for the agriculture industry. Making things worse, because the government is currently in a partial shutdown, ranchers are unable to ask federal officials questions about how they might be reimbursed in the future. “A lot of the government agencies that we would normally be turning to for those answers are furloughed,” she said. “So there’s this sort of timing issue that’s enhancing the frustration out there in cattle country.” T h e s h u td ow n wa s caused after House Republicans, including U.S. Rep Kristi Noem, R-S.D., refused to pass a resolution

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the commission meeting room in the Pennington County Courthouse. In addition to discussing the state of emergency, county officials will be briefed on the county’s response to the storm. Offices reopen Pennington County and Rapid City government offices will reopen today. In addition, the 7th Circuit Court will be open but no jury trials will be held. The county’s 24/7 program resumed its normal operations on Monday evening. Classes cancelled again Classes at Rapid City’s public schools and at Western Dakota Tech have been cancelled again today. According to an email sent to Rapid City Area Schools personnel, the administration said it is concerned about impassable bus routes, power outages at schools and residences, and “infrastructure damage to schools.” Classes were also

to fund the government unless Democrats weakened or delayed parts of President Obama’s 2010 health care overhaul. On Monday, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., pointed to South Dakota’s battered ranchers as another example of why House Republicans needed to continue funding the government without preconditions. Whether they are eventually reimbursed for their losses or not, however, ranchers are likely to feel the pain for years. Dav i d U h r i g , 3 1 , a rancher in Folsom, said he estimated about 25 percent of his herd had been killed, which meant far fewer calves this spring. Like most ranchers, he spent most of Monday searching his land for stray cattle or sorting out cattle that had drifted into neighboring herds. D u s t i n O e d e kove n , South Dakota’s state veterinarian, said that the next immediate challenge for ranchers would be disposal of carcasses. “That can be a significant source of disease spread, so we want to make sure those carcasses are burned, buried or rendered as quickly as possible,” he said. Oedekoven said disposal was primarily be the responsibility of ranchers themselves. However, the state was also helping ranchers get in touch with haulers that would take carcasses away for rendering. He added that, while the federal government was in

rapidcityjournal.com

cancelled on Friday and Monday due to the blizzard. Debris disposal

The Rapid City landfill will not be accepting yard waste debris from this weekend’s storm. Instead, the city is asking residents to take the debris to one of the three collection sites: the overflow parking lot at Fitzgerald Stadium along Sheridan Lake Road; the Fairmont Street Yard waste site; and the Civic Center overflow parking lot across from the Club for Boys where debris can be put directly on the pavement.

Two found dead; most power restored, streets passable Tom Griffith Journal staff

Park closed

Hanson-Larson Memorial Park in Rapid City has been closed indefinitely while officials assess the damage to trails and trees. According to a press release from the HLMP Foundation, it could be several weeks before the park is reopened. Free showers at YMCA

The YMCA of Rapid City is offering free showers from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. today and use of its locker rooms to residents without power, according to a press release. Towels and shampoo will be available and residents must have a photo ID when they check in to the facility at 815 Kansas St.

poor shape to offer assistance because of the shutdown and a lack of a farm bill, ranchers should thoroughly document all cattle deaths. He sa i d t h a t co u l d include taking photos, collecting cattle tags, or bringing in a veterinarian or farm service provider as an eye witness of deaths. “If you don’t keep good records about your losses you won’t be available for indemnity funds should they become available,” he said. Milo Dailey contributed to this report from Belle Fourche. 20237-1013

Cattle

Emergency meeting Pennington County commissioners will be asked today to declare a state of emergency, according to a press release from the Emergency Operations Center.

SPEARFISH | Life was slowly returning to normal Monday afternoon in the LeadDeadwood area after a devastating blizzard dumped as much as 55 inches of snow on the Northern Hills late last week. “We were able to get through this pretty well, as far as what it was,” Spearfish City Administrator Joe Neeb said Monday. “We’re in clean-up mode right now. Our plows have gotten through all the neighborhoods and today we’re out widening streets and getting everything back to normal.” Neeb said power remained out to some neighborhoods and the city that saw 31 inches of snow is assisting crews from Black Hills Power to restore those without electricity. He said BHP had lost service to a couple transmission lines, some transformers and numerous overhead lines. The Spearfish Recreation Center has served as a warming area for the past three days, taking in an average of 15 to 45 local residents each day, Neeb added. The Red Cross arrived there on Sunday and began serving hot meals and he encouraged anyone needing warm food and a hot shower to visit the center. Two people were found dead in the area on Sunday. Lawrence County Sheriff’s officials said a 62-year-old man died while clearing

Tm Griffith, Journal staff

Pedestrians walk down the middle of historic Main Street in Deadwood on Sunday afternoon as city crews continue to remove more than 4 feet of heavy snow that fell in last weekend’s record-breaking blizzard.

snow from his collapsed mobile home roof on U.S. 14A south of Lead. A 76-year-old woman was found dead in a home near Terry Peak, but it was unclear how she died. Investigations are ongoing; names were not released. The only structural casualties in the storm were an older, unoccupied house on Myers Avenue which burned to the ground Saturday when firefighters were unable to reach it due to downed power lines and deep snow, and the TMone building in Spearfish, a corner of which collapsed due to heavy snowload, Neeb said. City officials were working Monday to find a temporary site so TMone employees could return to work, he said. “We had all hands on deck,” Neeb said of the weekend clean-up. This week, city crews likely will start curbside collection of hundreds of downed trees and branches caused by the storm, Neeb said, and the city rubble site would be open later in the week to those residents wanting to drop off debris.

He estimated the cleanup would take two to four weeks. Deadwood Mayor Chuck Turbiville said Monday that power had been restored to most businesses and residences in the area, but that tonight’s city commission meeting was cancelled due to the storm. “After 48 to 55 inches of snow, our city crews plus a private contractor have most of the residential streets cleared, we’ve got parking lots and Main Street cleared and the only way would have done that was by having the best snow-removal crew in the state,” Turbiville said. “Other towns are struggling just to get people around. We’re open for business.” B e s i d e s n u m e ro u s down trees and branches, the mayor said the only major storm damage he was aware of occurred at a closed hardware store located across the street from Lead-Deadwood Regional Hospital. Heavy snow apparently caused the rear portion of the building to collapse.

Ranked Top 1%

in Clinic Satisfaction Nationwide!

Congratulations

to Regional Health Physicians (RHP) and its Regional Medical Clinics and providers across the Black Hills for receiving the 2012 HealthStream® Excellence through Insight award in Clinic Satisfaction. RHP was recognized in the Overall Clinic Satisfaction category and ranked in the top 1% of the nation based on patient survey responses.

BELLE FOURCHE

Regional Medical Clinic WESTERN HILLS PROFESSIONAL BUILDING

NEWELL

Regional Medical Center

BUFFALO

Regional Medical Clinic

QUEEN CITY

Regional Medical Clinic

(Rapid City)

Regional Medical Clinic

SPEARFISH

(Spearfish)

FOOTHILLS Regional Medical Clinic

LEAD-DEADWOOD Regional Medical Clinic

Regional Orthopedics (Spearfish)

Regional Medical Clinic

SPEARFISH Regional Medical Clinic Dermatology

Regional Medical Clinic ASPEN CENTRE (Rapid City)

MASSA BERRY Regional Medical Clinic (Sturgis)

congratulations

And, to the following Regional Health Physicians clinics and their outstanding care providers for being recognized as the BEST in clinic satisfaction for their category: LEAD-DEADWOOD REGIONAL MEDICAL CLINIC

REGIONAL ORTHOPEDICS (SPEARFISH)

FAMILY PRACTICE

ORTHOPEDIC

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Peggy Hubbard, PA-C

Rapid City Journal (USPS 455-560) Tuesday, October 8, 2013 Number 43744

Kipp Gould, DO

Richard Little, MD

Wes Broeder, PA-C

Mark Heine, PA-C

Joanne Millis, PA-C

REGIONAL MEDICAL CLINIC WESTERN HILLS PROFESSIONAL BUILDING (RAPID CITY) GENERAL SURGERY

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to all the patients who responded to surveys on their care experience. We hope to continue to provide some of the best care in the nation to you and your families in the Black Hills. Recognition based on patient surveys conducted by HealthStream®.

Shannon Williams, MD Larry Wehrkamp, MD

www.regionalmedicalclinic.com

OBITUARIES

A4 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013

TODAY’S OBITUARIES · · · · · · · · · · ·

Stanley Bahr, 72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spearfish Robert Paul Benoit, 67 . . . . . . . . . . . . Custer Creighton Britton, 94 . . . . . . . . . . .Rapid City Virginia Lorene Burleigh, 90 . . . . .Rapid City Larry B. Fahrni, 74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sturgis Michael Green, 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lead Clifford Elmo Janke, 85 . . . . . .Bellevue, Neb. Richard ‘Buzz’ Johnson, 67. . . . . . .Rapid City Jean Madden, 74 . . . . . . . . . . Sundance, Wyo. Harriet Pearl Schneider, 83 . . . . . . . . Sturgis Merlin Lee Williams, 67 . . . . . . . White River

Services changes

Today’s services

A gathering in memory of Blakely Anne Scherr is rescheduled for 1 p.m. today at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery. Services for Isabella Rose Mary SwallowAntelope are rescheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at St. Timothy Episcopal Cemetery in Potato Creek. One night wake services for Vera Jane Mousseau are rescheduled for 2 p.m. today at Father Pauly Hall in Porcupine. Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the hall. Two night wake services for Samuel Phillip Brave are rescheduled for noon Thursday, Oct. 10, at Brother Rene Hall in Oglala. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at the hall.

· Patricia ‘Patti’ Childers — 7 p.m. CDT at Feigum Funeral Home in Pierre · Carol Ruen — 1 p.m. CDT at Lutheran Memorial Church in Pierre · Blakely Anne Scherr — 1 p.m. at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home in Rapid City · Harriet P. Schneider — 1 p.m. at Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Sturgis · Marion E. Wilson — 10 a.m. at St. Therese Catholic Church in Rapid City

Merlin Lee Williams WHITE RIVER | Merlin Lee Williams, 67 died Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, at Winner Regional Long Term Care Facility. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. CDT Saturday, Oct. 19, at White River Cemetery. Mason Funeral Home in Winner is in charge of the arrangements.

Stanley Bahr SPEARFISH | Stanley Bahr, 72, died Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Survivors include his daughter, Julie Preusser; and a son, Jerry Bahr. Arrangements are pending with FidlerIsburg Funeral Chapels and Crematory Service.

Richard ‘Buzz’ Johnson RAPID CITY | Richard “Buzz”

Johnson, 67, died Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, at his home. He served in the U.S. Army. Survivors include his wife, Mary Johnson, Rapid City; a daughter, Kimberly Wong, Rapid City; sons, Robert Johnson and John Johnson, both of Rapid City; nine grandchildren; brothers Robert Johnson and Alvin Meyer, both of Rapid City, and Randall Meyer, San Diego; and sisters Ruth Sperlich, Rapid City and Patricia Cunningham, Savannah, Ga. Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, at Kirk Funeral Home, and for one hour before services at the church. Services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at South Canyon Baptist Church, with the Rev. Paul Lloyd officiating. Burial will be 2 p.m. at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, with military honors by VFW Post 1273. An online guestbook is available at www.kirk funeralhome.com.

Obituary policy If you have questions about the Journal obituary policy, call 394-8420 between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Larry B. Fahrni STURGIS | Larry B. Fahrni, 74, Sturgis, died Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013, in Anoka, Minn. He served in the U.S. Navy. Survivors include a sister, Gloria Vietl; and a son, James Fahrni. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis.

Jean Madden SUNDANCE, WYO. | Jean Madden, 74, died Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, at Crook County Long Term Care Center Arrangements are pending with Fidler-Roberts & Isburg Funeral Chapel.

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

Virginia Lorene Burleigh RAPID CITY | Virginia Lorene Mathis Burleigh, age 90, died Friday, October 4, 2013, at the Rapid City Regional Hospice House in Rapid City, South Dakota. She was born June 20, 1923 to Ernest Arthur and Carlotta Minerva Michaelson Mathis at Gordon, Nebraska. She was raised on the family farm near Clinton, Nebraska, and attended school in Clinton. She graduated from High School in 1939. She married Milton Charles Burleigh on March 21, 1941, and to this union two daughters were born, Carole Jean Coon, Rapid City, and Marlene Sue (Brad) Pisha, of Tuthill, SD.

She loved to sew and garden; she also raised beautiful African violets. Her cooking was enjoyed by friends, and especially by her family. Many students of Gordon High School appreciated her cooking while she was employed there for 15 years. Traveling also highlighted her life; she and Milton enjoyed trips to Europe, New England states, Hawaii, Canada and other trips in the states. Virginia was a talented self-taught pianist; she played for her own enjoyment and also for the Clinton United Methodist Church, of which she was a member for most of her life. She was an active

member of the Clinton United Methodist Women for 75 years; she so enjoyed being involved with the Annual Lord’s Acre Dinner, Bazaar, and Auction. She enjoyed a lively game of cards, whether it be pinochle or cribbage. She was a Husker fan and listened to the games or watched them on television when she could. She also listened on the radio to the local high school games. She was a loving grandmother to Michele Dishong McCormack, Salem, OR; Pamela Dishong, Centennial, CO; Caitlin Pisha, Sioux Falls, SD: Allison Pisha, Brookings, SD; and Benjamin Pisha,

Brookings, SD: and greatgrandmother to Griffin McCormack, Salem, OR. She was preceded in death by her parents, Carlotta and Ernest Mathis, her brothers, Harold and Robert, and her husband, Milton. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at the United Methodist Church in Clinton, Nebraska, with Pastor Abigail Eltzroth officiating. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery, Rushville, Nebraska. Memorials to the Clinton United Methodist Church may be sent to the Chamberlain-Pier Funeral Home, PO Box 366, Gordon, NE 69343.

November, 4, 1951, in Rapid City. They were married 61 years. He worked Britton for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad in Rapid City, which brought them back to Chicago, where they raised their family. They retired back in Rapid City, where

he enjoyed the Model Railroad Club, gardening, traveling with family and working on his model railroad layout. He was a member of South Canyon Lutheran Church, where Phyllis was a secretary and he volunteered much of his time. Creighton is survived by his bride, Phyllis, daughters Kerry Britton of Hill City and Noelle of Chicago, Ill., and two granddaughters. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to until 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at South Canyon Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Bruce Thalacker officiating. Burial will be at 2 p.m. at Black Hills National Cemetery, with military honors rendered by Rushmore VFW Post 1273. In Creighton’s memory, volunteer your time to visit an elderly shut-in or person in a nursing home; especially remember those with Alzheimer’s as many do not have visitors. His online guestbook is available at www.osheim schmidt.com.

Creighton Britton RAPID CITY | Creighton Britton, 94, of Rapid City, went to be with his Lord and Savior on October 4, 2013, at Rapid City Regional Hospital Auxiliary Hospice House. He was born on May 6, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois. He loved Jesus, his family, country and the railroad. He served in the Army during WWII in the South Pacific. Upon his return from his service, Creighton worked for the Rock Island Railroad where he met Phyllis Williams of Faith, SD, the love of his life, and married her on

Harriet Pearl Schneider STURGIS | Harriet Pearl Schneider, 83, Sturgis, died Thursday, October 3, 2013, at Sturgis Regional Hospital. Visitation was Monday, Oct. 7. Funeral services Schneider will be at 1 p.m. today at Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Sturgis, with Brother Randy McCormick officiating. Burial will follow at Black Hills National Cemetery. Harriet was born June 29, 1930, on a farm in Bowman County, ND, to Lester and Ethel Potter. She

married Joseph Heinrich Schneider on January 29, 1952. She always said the birds were singing on this lovely 52 degree day in Dickinson, ND. She entered this marriage with a son, Roger, who Joe raised as his son. They settled in Garrison, ND, where they had an additional seven children. Every year, she would end up in the hospital because of her asthma. In 1979, her sons encouraged them to move to Whitewood, SD, where the weather conditions were better and she no longer had to be treated for asthma. Joe died after they were married for 50 years. She continued to live in Whitewood until 2012

when she entered the Sturgis Regional Senior Care. They all loved her there and said they wished there were more like her. She never complained. Harriet became one of Jehovah’s witnesses on November 23, 1963. Through the Christian congregation, she had a large spiritual family. She liked to be one of the first to arrive at services and would stand near the door and welcome everyone and give them a hug. She is survived by seven children, Barbara of Rapid City, Henry (Chris) of Bridger, MT, Dennis of Mitchell, SD, Leo (Mackie) of Rawlins, WY, June and Diane (Paul) Kerr, all

of Sturgis, and Marshel (Shannon) of Whitewood; and daughter-in-law, Marie Schneider of St. Onge. She also leaves behind 23 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; one brother, Wilbur (Marcella) Potter of Rapid City; and one sister, Elaine Buchholz of Stanton, ND. Many of the people who were touched by her called her “Mom.” She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe; son, Roger; grandson, Joey; granddaughter-in-law, Paula; brother, Lavern; and sister, Fern. Condolences may be sent to the family at www. kinkadefunerals.com.

of Wishek, N.D., Donna Pleinis, McCook, Clifford Janke Jr., Fairmont, Minn., and Byron Janke, Rockford, Ill.; stepchildren, Kevin Zulauf, Bellevue, Kenneth Zulauf, Alliance, Christine

Payne, Rapid City, S.D., and Lawrence Zulauf, Salem, N.H.; grandchildren; great grandchildren; two sisters; and one brother. His wives, Elsie Katherine Sukut and Jeanette

Zulauf, preceded himin death. Private graveside service will be at Mountain Lawn Cemetery in Lead. A memorial service will be held in Wishek at a

later date. Lead-Deadwood Memorial Chapel in Lead is in charge of the arrangements. An online guestbook is available at www.fidlerisburgfuneralchapels.com.

Clifford Elmo Janke BELLEVUE, NEB. | Clifford Elmo Janke, 85, formerly of Lead, S.D., died on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Survivors include his children Wayne Janke and Maryann DeWald, both

» From A1

Michael Green LEAD | Michael Green, 65,

died Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, at his home. Survivors include his brother, Dan Green, Spearfish. Arrangements are pending with the Lead-Deadwood Memorial Chapel.

Robert Paul Benoit CUSTER | Robert Paul Benoit, 67, died Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, at Custer Regional Hospital. He served in the U.S. Air Force. Survivors include his wife, Sharon Benoit, Custer; a son, Chris Benoit, Massachusetts; a daughter, Jodi Parent Cdena, Massachusetts; a stepson, Todd Miller, Custer; stepdaughters Rebecca Urick, Tina Miller and Jami Thompson, all of Custer; a brother, “Skip” Benoit, Texas; 15 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Memorial services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Mountain View Baptist Church, with the Rev. Matt Furse officiating. McColley’s Chapels of the Hills is in charge of the arrangements. An online guestbook is available at www.mccolleychapels.com.

City Sioux Falls emergency management officials in attendance at the meeting likened Rapid City’s devastation to the $9 million in damages Sioux Falls suffered from its April ice storm. Maltaverne said the blizzard was the worst he’s seen in his career. “In my 24 years in Rapid City this storm, in my recollection, is u n p re c e d e n te d , c e r tainly on behalf of the fire department,” he told the council at the emergency meeting. “We reached a level Friday and into Friday night that I certainly haven’t seen in my tenure at the department in terms of the scope of the storm, the lack of access that we had.” While city and county offices plan to reopen today, Rapid City’s public schools and Western Dakota Tech will remain closed due to what the school district said were impassable bus routes power outages at schools and residences and “infrastructure damage to schools.” Hanson-Larson Memorial Park will also be closed as crews assess damage to the trails and trees of the park. The closure could last several weeks, according to a press release from the nonprofit that manages the park. As of noon Monday,

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

A pile of snow towers over the sidewalk on 9th and St. Joseph Streets in downtown Rapid City.

about 80 percent of the city streets had been p l owe d , a cco rd i n g to street superintendent Don Brumbaugh, who added that the remainder of the streets should have been cleared by Monday night. The blizzard created a number of problems for the Fire Department, according to the chief. “There were dozens upon dozens upon dozens of calls for service that went unanswered, again a position that I don’t like to be in,” Maltaverne said at Monday’s meeting. He said the fire department had to transition to tracked vehicles to respond to the most critical calls and reached out to the Black Hills Snowmobile Association for help delivering oxygen to residents and other emergencies. On a high note, he

said no fatalities occurred due to the storm. T h e s to r m wa s s o severe, he said, that the department had to leave some equipment behind. “We literally had to leave our equipment out in the field,” Maltaverne said. “That was not a comfortable position to be in as a fire chief. I had assets out in the field that we can’t use and literally the rescuers were in need of being rescued. The city was in bad shape for a little while.” Overall, the fire department responded to 300 calls over the weekend and 13 structure fires, according to Calen Maningas, the department’s public information officer. “A few of those turned out to be pretty significant,” Maningas said Monday.

The city is still developing plans to pick up debris and tree limbs in order to address the thousands of downed branches that now litter the streets and neighborhoods, Landfill Superintendent Karl Merbach said Monday. Merbach said debris centers were being set up Monday afternoon in the overflow parking lot at Fitzgerald Staduim on Sheridan lake Road, parking lot of the American Legion Post 22 baseball fields, the Fairmont Street yard waste site and the overflow lot of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center across from the Club for Boys. The city landfill, however, will not be accepting yard waste from the weekend storm. Vince Mason of Mason and Sons Tree Care said he barely dug himself out from the snow Monday morning and now faces the prospect of working into the night, a situation he said could go on for weeks. “We going to be working on this for a long time,” he said. “I’ve seen some severe thunderstorms in the past, but I don’t remember this much damage. All we can do is get done with what we can and take it a day at a time.” Contact John Lee McLaughlin at 394-8421 or john.mclaughlin@ rapidcityjournal.com

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BLIZZARD OF 2013

Rapid Creek to rise from new Pactola releases Andrea J. Cook Journal staff

Rapid Creek could become dangerous in the coming days as more water is released from Pactola Reservoir to increase the reservoir’s capacity after the weekend blizzard. The prospect of rising water levels in Rapid Creek prompted Emergency Management officials to issue warnings Tuesday to stay away from the creek. The Rapid City fire and police departments were prepared to monitor the creek through the night Tuesday. As the water level rises, storm debris could clog bridges and create small dams and sieves according to Calen Maningas of the Rapid City Fire Department. “It’s a huge concern for us,” he said. “We want people to stay away from the creek.” » Creek, A7

Share storm your stories Do you have a story to tell about the Blizzard of 2013? A tale of tragedy or triumph? Stories of survival or perseverance without power? Examples of kindness or neighborliness? We at the Journal want to hear about it — and we want to hear it straight from you! The newspaper is compiling as many stories as possible for a commemorative storm edition that will look back at the blizzard and its effects on local residents. To gather the stories, we encourage you to visit the Journal offices at 507 Main St. today and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reporters will be on hand to interview people for five minutes each, and portraits of storytellers will be taken. All stories and photos will appear on our website and in the commemorative edition to be published this Sunday. We’ll also have extra newspapers from the weekend available for purchase. Snacks and beverages will be served, and anyone who shares a story will be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to a local business. All are encouraged to drop by, so please share your story for an edition of the Journal that will surely be remembered for years to come.

Chris Huber phots, Journal staff

Brothers Scott, left, and Jeff Boal unload branches from a downed crabapple tree Tuesday afternoon at the yard waste collection site on Fairmont Boulevard in Rapid City.

Massive debris piles grow at drop-off points City to hold emergency meeting on debris plan

More storm coverage

Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

Scott Boal was among hundreds of city residents trying to clean up Tuesday. The 44-year-old Rapid City resident was adding branches that had littered his Oak Avenue property to a growing pile of broken tree limbs at the drop-off point on Fairmont Boulevard, one of three designated by the city. The experience is far from over.

An unidentified Dove Christian Center member tends the sheep captured Monday night after a month on the loose.

» Trees, A7

Meade and Pennington counties declare states of emergencies, C1 TMone building in Spearfish collapses, C1 7,500 in the region still without power, A3

Scott Boal takes a break after unloading a trailer full of broken branches Tuesday in Rapid City.

Some schools resume today despite building damage, A3

Blizzard leads to capture of sheep Jennifer Naylor Gesick Journal staff

It took a blizzard to corral the wayward sheep that escaped a month ago from a church rodeo in Rapid City. The ewe, which has been spotted several times since its disappearance, was captured Monday evening in a snowbank by a group of men from the church, according to Kent Brown, an animal control

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officer supervisor with the Humane Society of the Black Hills. “They surrounded it with pickups,” Brown wrote Tuesday in an email to the Journal. “When it ran, it got stuck in a snowbank and one of the men at the meeting jumped out of his truck and grabbed it by the wool and hung on till they could all get there to help.” The sheep had eluded and

THE BIG NUMBER

100 Number of tennis matches won by Kristina Hammerquist of Stevens High School. » Read about it on D1

frustrated the leaders of the Dove Christian Center since it escaped on Sept. 7 after a mutton-bustin’ event during the Dove Christian Center’s bull riding show. The animal got away while being loaded into a trailer, according to Timothy Stuen, one of the church pastors. The sheep disappeared in the area surrounding the church » Sheep, A7

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IN BRIEF Most reservation roads now open The process of digging out from the recordbreaking snow storm continues on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where at least 85 percent of the roads were clear and open on Tuesday, according to Dave Kelly of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Transportation Department. Reaching residents who are dialysis patients and those with other medical issues was a priority, according to an OST news release. Tribal officials also face the daunting task of removing thousands of downed trees, according to Toni S. Red Cloud, OST public information officer. Emergency Management Director Delbert Brewer has called a meeting with the Emergency Management Team to discuss the storm and its aftermath at 10 a.m. today at the Prairie Wind Casino.

Hot meals served at local shelters Residents staying at emergency shelters in the Northern Hills were provided with a hot lunch Tuesday from the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. “A hot meal is a basic comfort support that many of our friends and neighbors have not received since last week,” Mark Kirkeby, director of development with the Salvation Army, said in a press release. About 300 hot lunches were prepared Tuesday at the Salvation Army’s Corp office on North Cherry Avenue in Rapid City and taken to the shelters in Spearfish and Lead. The Salvation Army, which is looking for volunteers, also is prepared to supply up to 2,000 daily meals for home-bound elderly through a partnership with the Meals on Wheels program.

Civil Air Patrol called into action A report of two hunters stranded in the Black Hills after the weekend storm proved erroneous, according to a spokesperson for the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol. Game, Fish & Parks officials contacted CAP for help in locating the hunters, only to learn later that the report was inaccurate, according to Public Affairs Officer Maj. Bruce Kipp. Kipp said CAP had two planes in the air Monday, one searching for the hunters and the other checking on cattle herds. The Department of Public Safety contacted CAP to fly over state highways to check for wandering or dead cattle along roads, Kipp said. “They are apparently not seeing anything good,” Kipp said Tuesday morning. Crews reported lost and confused cattle wandering the highways and “lots of carcasses.”

Western Junior shows canceled The Western Junior L ive s to c k a n d Fa m i ly Consumer Science Show scheduled for this weekend has been canceled due to the blizzard. “We are very disappointed that we have to cancel this event, which many look forward to each year,” said Tiffany Meyer, South Dakota State University Extension Pennington County 4-H Youth Program advisor. Since the fairgrounds are booked for every weekend through next summer, the event can’t be rescheduled, according to Western Junior organizers. Western Junior Livestock secretary Jackie Maude said refunds will be issued to anyone who requests a reimbursement. -Journals staff

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 | A3

Power continues to be restored Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

As power crews scoured the Black Hills Tuesday, t h e re g i o n co n t i n u e d crawling toward a state of normal. But days after Blizzard Atlas headed east, many residents remained without power. About 4,500 residents in the Rapid City area — including Black Hawk and Piedmont — still lacked power as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to Black Hills Power. Elsewhere, about 2,500 Black Hills Power customers in the Northern Hills were without electricity, and fewer

than 400 lacked power in the Southern Hills, according to Vance Crocker, vice president of operations for the company. That is down from 28,000 customers without out power at the height of the storm on Friday. Crocker said that task of restored electricity to customers was moving more toward working on individuals homes. “We’re having to hit houses one by one,” he said. The power cooperative providing electricity to rural West River areas were also still reporting many shortages. Among the larger outage numbers,

according to the South Dakota Rural Electric Association: n In Meade County, 1,253 customers lacked power and 724 utility poles were down. n In Pennington County, 1150, customers lacked power and 355 utility poles were down. n In Perkins County, 855 customers lacked power and 1,735 utility poles were down. n In Butte County, 210 customers lacked power and 260 utility poles were down. n In Lawrence County, 209 customers lacked power and 5 utility poles were down.

Rapid City schools to resume Jennifer Naylor Gesick Journal staff

Rapid City schools will resume a full day of classes today, but there will still be some kinks to work out. Power outages are still possible in some schools, according to Superintendent Tim Mitchell. “We have been told there will be a possibility of intermittent power outages,” he said Tuesday. Many Rapid City schools suffered some damage from the storms but none of it was “catastrophic,” Mitchell said. Several buildings that were already awaiting roof repairs for hail damage experienced some flooding from this weekend’s storm. Central High School was damaged the most, Mitchell said. North Middle School had several classrooms with one to two inches of standing water from a leaky toilet, he added. All of the food had to be discarded from two major production kitchens at East and North Middle Schools after they lost power for more than 50 consecutive hours. Milk had to be discarded from all but four of the elementary schools after they lost power as well. Because of that, today’s menu will be slightly different than planned and may not have as many choices, Mitchell said. The total amount of damage is still being assessed and M itchell expects a clear estimate in the coming days.

Today was scheduled to be an early release day, but because of the storm it will be a regular day. Children have missed a lot of school already this year. Three snow days in October is unusual and unusually hot temperatures prompted school officials to release students early at least four days because of the lack of air conditioning in the buildings. M itchell said early release days do not have to be made up. The impact on the school calendar of three snow days from this blizzard is still not known, though. There are days built in to the calendar to allow for a few snow days, but having so many this early in the year might mean days will have to be added. “We still have a long winter yet,” Mitchell said. Douglas School District will resume classes today as well and will not have an early release as scheduled. Two buildings still did not have power on Tuesday morning, but it was restored by later in the afternoon. None of the buildings suffered any major damage, but Vandenburg Elementary School had several trees down around it, according to Superintendent Loren Scheer. Vandenburg and Douglas Middle School were without power Tuesday at noon. Scheer said in phone interview early Tuesday that classes would

resume today if power was restored, and the large amounts of snow from extremely high drifts could be removed. With many Box Elder residents on a fifth day without power, Scheer said buses will do their best to get to those students if school is held today. “Our goal will be to try to get buses where we can,” he said. “If there are kids still out there without power, we can at least get them in a warm building for a little while.” He said the process of figuring out the school calendar after missing so many days has not started yet, but if days need to be made up, they will likely be added to the end of the school year. Contact Jennifer Naylor Gesick at 394-8415

n In Shannon County, 139 customers lacked power and 199 utility poles were down. West River Electric Association, Inc. crews focused on restoring power to the Rapid Valley and Box Elder areas, according to a release Tuesday by the company. But downed trees in power lines, as well as snow and mud are presenting challenges to restoring power. “Our crews are making good progress today, restoring power to Box Elder and getting poles replaced east of Rapid City out to Caputa,” said Dick Johnson, chief executive officer and general

manager of the association. “It is tough getting around, but with the help of the National Guard it has been made easier. They are there to pull us out and make a path in the snow filled roadways.” The company is also adding a crew in the Black Hawk, Piedmont and Sturgis, according to the company’s automated phone greeting Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday afternoon, about 1,600 WREA customers were still without power, according to the statement. Contact Joe O’Sullivan at 394-8414 or joe.osullivan@ rapidcityjournal.com

rapidcityjournal.com The Rapid City Journal is published daily by the Rapid City Journal Co. 507 Main St. Rapid City, SD 57701 Call 394-8300 Outside Rapid City call 1-800-843-2300 TO SUBSCRIBE Call 1-877-525-6397 5:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays 5:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. weekends We offer redelivery for the Rapid City Journal to most areas 7 days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Please contact customer service at 1-877-525-6397 for your redelivery options. HOME DELIVERY RATES Seven-day home delivery $4.50 weekly Monday-Friday business delivery $3.00 weekly Sunday Only Home Delivery $2.50 weekly Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday $3.00 weekly Call customer service for information on mail subscription rates. Please note that the home delivery of our Thanksgiving Day edition will be priced at the premium rate of $2.00. Home delivery subscribers will see a reduction in their subscription length to offset this premium rate. For any questions, Please call customer service at 1-877-525-6397. TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT Classified: 394-8383 Retail: 394-8379 Online: 394-8444 Place your classified ad online at rapidcityjournal.com TO REACH THE NEWSROOM Breaking news: 394-8293 or 394-8434 Community Events: 394-8400 Sports: 394-8440 Email: news@rapidcityjournal.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Rapid City Journal 507 Main Street, Rapid City, SD 57701 Periodicals Postage Paid at Rapid City, SD 57701 and additional offices. Rapid City Journal (USPS 455-560) Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Number 43745

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 | A7

Burglaries discovered Trees after snow storm » From A1

Andrea J. Cook Journal staff

Several business and vehicle burglaries were reported over the weekend, police spokeswoman Tarah Heupel said Tuesday. One would-be thief’s plans were curtailed when a citizen spotted a group of three breaking into cars in the 2400 block of Maple Avenue on Saturday. Two of the three ran, but the citizen nabbed a 17-year-old boy who was charged with car burglary and minor consuming. Burglaries reported after

the storm included: • Cash taken during a break-in at A&A Professional Property, 1402 W. Rapid St.; • Guitar stolen when a window was broken at Haggerty’s Music Works, 2520 W. Main St.; • Purse taken when a window was broken in a vehicle at 311 E. St. Joseph St. In addition, a 28-yearold Rapid City woman was arrested for driving under the influence when a police officer stopped to check on her when he spotted her vehicle stuck in a snow bank.

» From A1

Sheep at 1213 Harmony Heights Lane on the southwest corner of the intersection of Interstate 90 and I-190. It is surrounded by residential homes and apartments as well as hilly open spaces with several tree groves. Brown estimated the wilderness area to be about 2,000 acres. A search began days after the sheep’s escape. Church members, church officers, neighbors, animal control and the church’s cowboy pastor combed nearby hills and valleys for hours before giving up. Neighbors periodically reported spotting the sheep over the past month, but it

always disappeared again. Brown said the sheep was is pretty good shape when found. “Of course, it’s probably a little weary,” he said. Brown said during the stretches of time where no one reported seeing the animal, he feared the worst. “When no one said they had seen it for a couple of weeks, I thought the mountain lions got it,” Brown said. “Then when the storm hit, I figured it was for sure a goner. But it survived and it’s captured so that is one less thing to worry about. I even caught myself looking up on that hill today when I drove by even though I knew it was caught.”

Drop off your limbs

“Another trailer at my house, and then I think we’re going to let the madness settle before we start doing my folks’,” he said. As they dig out from the weekend blizzard, residents like Boal are confronted with the daunting task of finding a place to dispose of all of their snapped and split tree limbs. And as the piles there and at the other drop-off locations grew Tuesday, the Rapid City Council decided to hold an emergency meeting at noon today to determine if the city should implement a curbside pickup program for yard debris or let residents fend for themselves after the biggest October blizzard in the city’s history. Boal, a federal worker currently furloughed due to the government shutdown, expects he’ll be contributing to the pile all week. Not just with his own debris, but with debris from his parents’ Anaconda Street property. “That was a nice street in the summer, with all the trees,” he said. By late afternoon Tuesday, the city announced it was closing the Fairmont drop-off site and opening a new location this morning at the Central States Fairgrounds Midway. Two other sites open Tuesday — the Fitzgerald Stadium parking lot off Sheridan Lake Road and the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center overflow parking lot — will

The Fairmont dropoff location for tree and brush debris is now closed. As of Wednesday morning, according to the city of Rapid City, here are the sites accepting debris: SOUTHSIDE: Central States Fairgrounds Midway and waste directly onto the parking lot. Chris Huber, Journal staff

WESTSIDE: Unload waste directly onto the pavement at overflow parking lot of Sheridan Lake Road, Fitzgerald Stadium parking lot.

Royce Shields uses a chainsaw on a broken branch in the front yard of a house he owns on Anaconda Road in Rapid City as Bob Williams hauls away debris. Shields said he would be keeping the larger pieces to use as firewood.

Hearing the trees break NORTHSIDE: Use Civic apart broke the hearts Center overflow parkof some Rapid City resiing lot across (south) dents like Lisa Cook, who from the Club for Boys, endured the sound of a unload branches and large silver maple breaking yard waste directly up in her front yard. onto the pavement. “For a while I thought it was thunder, and then after The sites will be open a while I thought, ‘Wait, during daylight, approxwhat is that?’” said Cook, imately 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. who lives on Third Street off Jackson Boulevard. The Landfill will not “They’re wonderful be accepting yard trees, and they just give so waste. Please: follow much shade,” said Cook, directional signs; be 52. “There’s a bunch of patient due to the large widow-makers up in the number of vehicles; tree still.” and make all tree and For Brittany Huggins, brush debris less than the loss of her trees was six feet in length. nothing short of painful. If you have any ques“We were standing tions regarding either outside late Friday and of these schedule one branch was blockchanges, please ing right in front of my contact the Rapid City house and one down the Solid Waste Departroad,” said Huggins, a ment at 355-3496. 29-year-old Third Street resident. “The cracking was heartbreaking to hear. And you’d hear them every Staff writer John Lee few seconds all over this McLaughlin contributed to this report. neighborhood.”

remain open today. Landfill Superintendent Karl Merbach said that any decision on curbside pickup of debris would have to be made by the Rapid City Council. In the meantime, residents were not only clearing their property of tree debris but coping with the headaches that come with a massive cleanup effort. Underneath a large tree at John Gordon’s Anaconda Street home are a pair of dead birds. Gordon spent Tuesday morning cleaning up limbs from an elm tree at least 20 feet tall square in the front of his yard. “It took a lot of chainsaw work to get some of the stuff cut up to where we could get it in the back of the pickup,” said Gordon, 37. “Obviously, with that wet, heavy snow and the amount that it was, it just collapsed a lot of these great, established trees in these older neighborhoods,” he added.

» From A1

Creek Police planned to sweep bridges and low-lying areas where people normally camp out, police spokeswoman Tarah Heupel said. Releases from Pactola could increase from its prestorm rate of 18 cubic feet per second to as much as 200 cubic feet per second by Friday as officials adjust the reservoir’s level to compensate for the storm that dumped first rain then record amounts of snow over the reservoir’s drainage area. The storm could have long-range consequences on the reservoir’s capacity by next spring, Curt Anderson of the Bureau of Reclamation said Tuesday. The fall snowstorm foiled a management plan for the reservoir. The reservoir’s water level was lowered 6 feet to 4,574 to control Rapid Creek during the reconstruction of the Canyon Lake Dam, according to Curt Anderson of the Bureau of Reclamation. “This fall we positioned the reservoir with a certain amount of space with a minimum winter release (into Rapid Creek) of 18 cubic feet per second,” Rapid City Water Supervisor John Wagner said Tuesday. “We wanted the space for next spring, but also to accommodate the reconstruction of Canyon Lake Dam.” Without the project, more water could have been released from the reservoir through the winter, Anderson said. When the storm hit, Rapid Creek was flowing at a rate necessary to allow the

contractor to work on Canyon Lake Dam this fall and next spring, according to Anderson. The plan was to continue releases at that rate through the winter, he said. But the heavy, wet snow in the hills draining into Pactola changed that plan. “We’ll get some inflows that we hadn’t anticipated,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of an unusual event for this time of the year,” Wagner said. “Normally, we wouldn’t see spring runoff until April or May.” Since reconstruction work is not being done on the dam, the decision was made to “go ahead and get rid of some of the water that is going to be a result of the storm,” Wagner said. Releases from Pactola started increasing Tuesday afternoon. Wagner expected Rapid Creek to be flowing at a rate of 70 cubic feet per second this morning. At that point, Wagner and Anderson will reevaluate the water level in Pactola to see how fast the reservoir is filling. It is possible that Pactola’s releases could boost the creek’s flow to 200 cubic feet per second by Friday, Wagner said. The runoff from the weekend storm is just beginning, but most of the badly needed moisture is soaking into the soil, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Melissa Smith. “It’s a very balanced melt,” Smith said Tuesday. “Our ground is not frozen, so our water is soaking into the ground.” Going into the winter with an abundance of

moisture and saturated soils does increase the flooding potential for next spring, Smith said. The ground will be freezing in the next month, trapping a lot of the new moisture in the upper soil levels.

“It won’t have time to soak down, which will worsen the danger of flooding in the spring,” Smith said. It’s hard to predict how much water will run into Pactola in the coming

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 Rapid City Journal rapidcityjournal.com

Managing editor Patrick Butler, patrick.butler@rapidcityjournal.com or news@rapidcityjournal.com

Phone: 394-8434 or 1-800-843-2300, ext 8434

Belle Fourche evicts chamber from center Chamber leader’s pleas can’t sway council from eviction Milo Dailey Butte County Post staff

An apparent rift between the Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce and the Belle Fourche City Council came to a head at a meeting Monday with the chamber

facing eviction from the visitors center it had helped run. C h a m b e r P re s i d e n t Je f f Otterman opened Monday’s city council meeting by promising to operate the visitors center with no city funding at all, offering to forgo the $78,000 contribution the city was to allow for operations in 2014. But despite his emotional pleas to work out a deal, when the meeting closed he left with an

eviction notice from the offices the city built two decades ago for the chamber and its visitors center operation. The council passed the resolution to evict the chamber with no debate or comment. The eviction notice is for April 11, 2014. Council member Chrisann Mateer made the motion to put the funding into an as-yet unnamed “existing city department” and to evict the chamber. Frances Hays

seconded the motion. Mayor Gary Hendrickson declared, “The motion carries” on a voice vote. There were no “nay” votes. Council members Larry Schuldies and Toni Moncur were absent. The chamber earlier had volunteered its staff to clean up the Center of the Nation monument to have it ready for a Belle Fourche Area Community Center Camp Oasis state kickoff for an

after-school celebration. Tree limbs downed during the blizzard last week litter the monument, which has grown into a regional, and even international, tourist attraction. T h e m o n u m e n t ca m e to include an avenue of flags, brick plaza and disc golf course. All had been developed and promoted as chamber projects. » Chamber, C3

Counties request disaster funds Pennington and Meade counties seek aid from federal government Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Journal staff

Kristina Barker photos, Journal staff

The TMone building collapsed this past weekend in the blizzard that buried much of the Black Hills. Now, Spearfish city officials are looking for a new home for the call center’s 225 employees.

Spearfish scrambles to keep 225 local jobs TMone building may be total loss Tom Griffith Journal staff SPEARFISH | Insurance adjusters were inspecting the TMone call center Tuesday, assessing whether the $4.2 million building was a total loss after heavy snow collapsed almost the entire skeleton of the structure. But perhaps the more pressing issue Tuesday was trying to find a new home for the company’s 225 Spearfish employees so the region doesn’t lose that employment base, Spearfish Mayor Dana Boke said. “We don’t want those jobs to leave the city,” Boke said. “We want to partner with them to do what we can to protect the employee’s jobs and not be a huge disruption on the company as well.” Located near Walmart off Interstate 90, the TMone building is owned by the city

building,” Neeb said Tuesday. “My gut says it’s in very bad condition. All the roofing support beams warped and then broke. I expect we’re going to have to rebuild.” TMone Spearfish Center Director Catrina Rodgers praised the city and its economic development agency Tuesday for their timely assistance. She said significant progress had been made to get the call center up and running. “The entire building is damaged. As far as the structural side of it, there were collapses on the northwest side of the building along with the southeast side, which has created severe structural instability,” Rodgers said. Bernie Butcher, left, and Lacy Carson stopped Monday at TMone in T M o n e re p re s e n ta t ive s Spearfish to take pictures of their former workplace and see the damappeared Monday night before age first-hand. the Spearfish City Council seeking assistance in finding a new of Spearfish and leased to the The structure was donated home. Spearfish Economic Develop- to the city by Premiere Bank“We are looking to be up and ment Corp., which in turn sub- card when it closed its Spearfish operational in some form by leased the building to TMone, operations in 2011, he said. early next week,” Rodgers said. said City Administrator Joe “We’re trying to determine if there is any value left in the Neeb. » TMone, C3

As the cost from the weekend’s blizzard climbs into the millions, Pennington County and Meade County both petitioned Tuesday for emergency funds from the federal government. Meeting in their respective county seats in Rapid City and Sturgis, the board of commissioners each passed emergency declarations that will be forwarded to Gov. Dennis Daugaard. The governor will then petition President Obama for disaster status that, if approved, would reimburse Pennington and Meade for the cost of emergency rescue operations during the storm and damage to public infrastructure from the storm. Lyndell Petersen, Pennington County Commission chairman, said after the meeting that he was confident the president and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would approve the county’s request. “Because of the amount of snow and the size of the area,” he said. “It definitely fits the parameters that FEMA maintains.” However, it remains unclear how the ongoing government shutdown — which took effect last week — will impact that declaration process. “At this time, we don’t have a time frame with the government shutdown or know whether it will be a factor or not,” said Calen Maningas, a spokesman for Pennington County’s Emergency Operations Center. County officials and disaster coordinators on Tuesday also delivered a general update on the clean-up effort in Pennington County. Pennington County Highway Superintendent Heine Junge said it was a race against time to clear thousands of fallen trees from county roads. “If we don’t get those trees out in a couple of weeks and they freeze, they’re going to be there all winter,” he said. Dustin Willett, director of the Emergency Operation Center, said he was analyzing ways the county could help ranchers » Aid, C2

Spearfish Council votes to annex valley Special election likely Dec. 10, officials say Tom Griffith Journal staff SPEARFISH | After listening to more than an hour of arguments against annexation from residents of the Upper and Lower valleys on Monday night, the Spearfish City Council voted 5-1 in favor of annexing 658 acres and adding some 1,653 new residents to the city. City leaders have said they expected the action to compel valley residents to begin gathering signatures for a referendum and ultimately a public vote on the annexation. On Tuesday, City

Administrator Joe Neeb said he expected a special election to be held Dec. 10. On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Dana Boke defended the city’s decision to hold Monday’s hearing in the aftermath of the historic October blizzard and said she expected a public vote. “If we had postponed the hearing it would have delayed the vote until right before Christmas,” Boke said. “This way the issue will be resolved by the end of the year.” The mayor characterized testimony at the hearing, none of which favored annexation, as heartfelt and honest. “I thought it went extremely well and that people shared from their heart and provided

some examples of how annexation would affect them,” Boke said. “It was really good to hear them, they had prepared and they shared from the heart what their grievances were.” Councilman Dave Baker was the only vote against annexation. Neeb said he expected the resolution approving annexation to be published Friday, triggering a petition drive by opponents who would have 20 days in which to gather approximately 150 signatures. Once those signatures are certified as coming from at least 5 percent of the registered voters of the city and the proposed annexTom Griffith, Journal staff ation area, the council will set a The Spearfish City Council listens to testimony at a public hearing special election date, he said. » Spearfish, C3

Monday night over annexation of portions of the Upper and Lower valley. A special election on the issue is expected Dec. 10.

Find more news online at rapidcityjournal.com

wednesday, october 9, 2013 | C3

LOCAL & REGION

» From C1

To that end, the city and its economic development officials have been exploring options to re-establish the call center, said Bryan Walker, executive director of the economic development group. On Monday, eyes were cast on the 18,000-square-foot Pioneer Room of the Spearfish Recreation Center, he said. “The priority is making sure we have a suitable location for the 225 employees to go back to work as soon as possible,” Walker said. “TMone

provides services for Fortune 500 companies throughout the country and it’s vital that they continue to provide their clients with reliable, highquality services.” Wa l ke r a n d M ayo r Boke said TMone representatives on Tuesday were investigating whether fiber optic lines necessary for call center operations could be installed in the Rec Center this week. “This is very, very fast track,”Boke said. “We hope to have it all worked out by Thursday and to have connections established and their team members ready to go by Saturday.”

“he priority is making sure we have a suitable location for the 225 employees to go back to work as soon as possible. tmone provides services for Fortune 500 companies throughout the country and it’s vital that they continue to provide their clients with reliable, high-quality services.” Bryan Walker executive director of the economic development group

» From C1

Chamber They are on the previously empty flood plain just north of the chamber offices, visitor center and, for the past 10 years, the Tri-State Museum. Otterman’s offer to operate the visitors center with no public funding came in the open forum period before regular council agenda items. Otterman’s open forum appeal to the council began, “The key to our city doing well in the future comes down to trust and whether or not people trust what you are doing; it is my hope that you are indeed listening to the entire public.” He said, “I do believe that the Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce has bent over backwards to meet the demands of those in the city that are the most vocal critics.” He added, “We are

invested in the location that both entities made happen so many years ago, not only to serve businesses, but to serve the community of Belle Fourche.” Chamber operations at the location actually predate the current visitor center building that went up in the early 1990s. When the state closed its port of entry there, the property was turned over to the city and the chamber turned the port of entry office into a visitor center. Otterman’s offer for the chamber to fund the center noted, “My hope is that you continue to fund the chamber to run the visitors center, but if not, we will continue to run the visitors center without any assistance from the city; we will continue to run it well.” In the end, the chamber was pushed out of the center completely.

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snowmobile tracks could be see in the snow between fence lines and Highway 34 on monday as area ranchers raced to find cattle that drifted beyond fenced pastures during the blizzard. both meade and pennington counties are seeking emergency federal aid to assist in the clean up and rebuilding after the devastating blizzard that pounded the region over the weekend. » From C1

Willett said the county could create drop-off points for ranchers to dump carcasses that would then remove thousands of dead be hauled away to rendercattle that died during the ing plants. storm. Ultimately, Willett said,

Aid

ule appo your intme nt.

sandy Geffre contributed to this report from sturgis

“We anticipate that they will have no trouble gathering the necessary signatures to put the question to the people,” Neeb said. “We anticipate that we will hold the special election likely on Dec. 10 if everything goes as we expect.” Tom Griffith, Journal staff

more than 70 residents of the upper and lower Valley attend monday night’s public hearing before the spearfish city council, which intends to annex much of the area. Following the hearing, the council voted 5-1 to move forward with annexation.

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City: Curbside pickup of debris weeks away John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff

Terry Wolterstorff informed council members at the noon meeting. “If you don’t want to see branches sitting in front of your house, I suggest you get it out to the drop-off sites. If you don’t have the means, please be patient. It will take some time to get through that.” The public works director said the city first needs to establish

Inside See the sites that are accepting

debris in Rapid City. PAGE A6. Rapid City residents who need help removing broken limbs and uprooted trees will likely have to wait weeks before the city can “I’ve come to the conclusion that help pick up their debris, the City we probably do not have the option Council learned at an emergency other than to do some curbside cleanup,” Public Works Director meeting Wednesday.

bidding and contracting processes for the work, and that the city has to be sure to follow specific guidelines in order to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement. In the meantime, he said South Dakota Division of Wildland fire crews have been mobilized to remove dangling branches in the

UTILITY COMPANIES START TO SEE THE LIGHT

Power slowly being restored after storm

city. Wolterstorff urged residents not to place branches in alleyways and to stack limbs away from fire hydrants and mailboxes. He said the city also is looking for commercial grinders and haulers to tackle the debris buildup at the city’s three drop-off sites. » Council, A6

Couple sentenced for horse abuse

Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

Andrea J. Cook Journal staff

The so-called easy work is done. Now as power crews go house to house and struggle through snowdrifts and mud, electricity is being restored more slowly to area homes and businesses. At the blizzard’s peak on Friday, 28,000 Black Hills Power customers lost electricity. As of 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 4,500 of the company’s customers remained without power. Half of those are in Rapid City. “It’s really a process of going house to house at this point,” said Mike Theis, director of operations for Black Hills Power. Out in the countryside, the large open spaces and accumulation of snow and mud keep Chris Huber photos, Journal staff efforts moving slowly. And in Dean Whitney of Black Hills Electric Cooperative works on repairing a downed power line the sparsely populated areas, the from the storm Wednesday morning on Spring Canyon Trail outside of Rapid City. amount of infrastructure needed to restore power goes up. Tell us your storm stories In one instance near Philip, 10 utility poles needed to be The Journal wants to hear your stories of repaired to get power back to how you made it through the 2013 blizzard. a single customer, according Those who want to share their tale can to Brenda Kleinjan, director of come to the Journal offices at 507 Main St. communications for the South in Rapid City from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today Dakota Rural Electric Associaand meet with a reporter and have their tion. picture taken. Those who cannot make it “Pretty much there’s a pole downtown can call reporter Jennifer Naylor down for everybody who’s withGesick at 605-394-8415 and tell her about out power right now,” Kleinjan Kent Barker tightens a power line as Black Hills Electric how you survived the storm. All stories will said. Cooperative crews work to restore power to resident be published on rapidcityjournal.com and in a

A Rapid Valley couple convicted of abusing nine horses was sentenced Wednesday to a total of 6 years in county jail and 12 years probation by a judge who was surprised they didn’t bother to show up at their own hearing. “Where are the Harwoods?” Magistrate Judge Shawn Pahlke said at the opening of the hearing. “It’s unfortunate at best that the Harwoods are not here.” Don Harwood’s attorney, Robbie Rohl, told Pahlke he advised his client not to attend the hearing. Rohl said he was concerned that the 51-year-old Harwood’s “heated, spirited personality” would come out during the sentencing. Later, the judge sentenced Don Harwood to five consecutive oneyear sentences in the Pennington County Jail and four years probation. He also is not allowed to own or possess horses while he is on probation. His wife, Terri Harwood, was sentenced to one year in jail and eight years probation. After the judge asked why the couple didn’t attend the morning court hearing, Rohl reminded the judge that the Harwoods had each provided their attorneys with waivers allowing the attorneys to represent them at court hearings.

» Power, A6

along Spring Canyon Trail Wednesday morning outside of Rapid City.

special commemorative edition on Sunday.

» Harwood, A6

Rain, strong winds forecast for upcoming weekend Andrea J. Cook Journal staff

On the heels of last weekend’s brutal blizzard, wild weather is once again expected to strike western South Dakota. A n o t h e r s to r m sys te m will move into the area later today, packing more rain and the promise of high winds on

Friday, according to the National Weather Service. A large, low pressure system is on its way. The storm is expected to cut a soggy swath out of the southwest through the central and northern plains, according to NWS meteorologist Jeff Schild. “This will be a warmer system, so the only snow we expect

at this time should be in the very high elevations of the Black Hills at this point,” Schild said Wednesday. Rain will start later today and continue through Friday. Temperatures are expected to linger in the mid-40’s to 50s today and Friday. » Weather, A6

COMING SUNDAY

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Blizzard of 2013

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Journal to publish commemorative storm issue

  

Forecast at a glance A FLASH FLOOD WATCH: Thursday evening through Saturday morning for Butte, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Pennington, Perkins, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington and Ziebach counties. A HIGH WIND WATCH: Friday morning through the afternoon. Northwest winds of 35 to 45 mph with guests of 60 mph are possible.

Periods of heavy rainfall are expected beginning Thursday night into Friday. There’s also a possibility of thunderstorms with this system.

THE BIG NUMBER

$1M Estimated cost of damage the autumn blizzard caused to the Sturgis Williams Middle School building » Read about it on A3

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Council Wolterstorff said those drop-off sites will be open seven days a week for at least the next month. Those are located at Fitzgerald Stadium off Sheridan Lake Road, at the fairgrounds and at the civic center. Residents can call 211 to coordinate volunteer services for debris removal as well as the city information line at 394-9300. The city council did take some action to address problems mounting in the wake of the blizzard that dropped as much as 30 inches of snow in Rapid City. It approved, emergency measures will allow the city to award contracts of more than $25,000 for storm remediation without council approval. This would sidestep the bidding process to make those funds available as soon as possible and allow the shuffling of money within departmental budgets to help cover the costs. City Attorney Joel Landeen said there’s ample money in the city’s budget to handle initial remediation costs. He said, however, additional budget appropriations may be needed. No cap has been placed on the emergency contracts, but the city council will later review them, he said. “I would just reiterate that anything that we

» From A1

Debris drop-off sites The Fairmont drop-off location for tree and brush debris is now closed. As of Wednesday morning, according to the city of Rapid City, here are the sites accepting debris:

Power

SOUTHSIDE: Central States Fairgrounds Midway and waste directly onto the parking lot. WESTSIDE: Unload waste directly onto the pavement at overflow parking lot of Sheridan Lake Road, Fitzgerald Stadium parking lot. NORTHSIDE: Use Civic Center overflow parking lot across (south) from the Club for Boys, unload branches and yard waste directly onto the pavement.

The sites will be open during daylight, approximately 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Landfill will not be accepting yard waste. Please follow directional signs, be patient due to the large number of vehicles and make all tree and brush debris is less than six feet in length. If you have any questions regarding either of these schedule changes, please contact the Rapid City Solid Waste Department at 355-3496.

can do through the normal process that we have time to do, we will do it through the normal process. This would only be for things where it’s determined that there was not time to go through the normal process,” Landeen said. With an inch and a half of rain expected over the weekend and continued snow melt, Wolterstorff also warned of the potential for flooding in the coming days. Dustin Willett, director of Pennington County Emergency Management, said the biggest concern for the county is livestock carcasses, which supercede downed branches as

life-safety concerns. He said carcasses on private land are the producers’ responsibility and that carcasses in the right-of-way will be taken care of by the county. “A tree branch is going to be a tree branch three weeks from now,” Willett said. “A bloated animal carcass is going to be a source of disease and contamination in just a few days. So there’s a huge time constraint on dealing wit the number of livestock carcasses on the public right-of-way.” Contact John Lee McLaughlin at 394-8421 or john. mclaughlin@rapidcityjournal. com

» From A1

Harwood Pahlke responded that it is “unusual” for a defendant not to show up for sentencing. Don Harwood had also refused to cooperate and appear for a pre-sentence meeting with Court Services, Pahlke said. “He doesn’t feel that he’s done anything wrong in relation to the horses,” Rohl said. The judge, however, did not agree. Don Harwood is a “terrible horse person,” Pahlke said before sentencing him. In addition, Harwood’s felony criminal history, which includes drug and driving under the influence convictions, prompted the judge to order drug testing during his probation. “It appears he has not done well on probation,” Pahlke said. The judge also reminded the Harwoods’ attorneys that a jury had found the couple guilty on all counts. That was a strong message, she said. “I have to listen to the jury,” Pahlke said. Pahlke said the most compelling evidence of neglect for her was the Harwoods’ failure to even water the horses. There was no water or feed in sight when the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office seized 69 horses at a property the Harwoods rented in Rapid Valley. They were charged with nine counts of inhumane treatment of animals. “Not getting up and going out to provide water is not the action of a caring person,” Pahlke said. The Harwoods apparently never broke the ice on a nearby creek or tried to thaw water hoses. The lack of water was the most compelling circumstance, the judge added. This was not the first time the Harwoods were investigated for abuse, according to Pahlke. They state Animal Industry Boa rd h a d p rev i o u s ly investigated complaints against the Harwoods in Custer County, the judge said. Although she chose not to come to court, 43-yearold Terri Harwood did fare better than her husband. She did cooperate with Court Services and has no criminal history, Pahlke said. While ordering her to serve one year in jail, the judge made her eligible

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for electronic monitoring. With electronic monitoring, Terri Harwood can continue to work. She is a hard worker who was supporting the couple, the judge said. But her failure to water the horses disturbed the judge. “There’s no reason the horses didn’t have water,” Pahlke said. “It’s inexcusable.” Te r r i H a rwo o d w i l l serve eight years on probation. During that time she cannot own or possess

a horse. With the approval of Court Services, she will be allowed to work with horses during her probation, Pahlke said. Pahlke told Rohl to have Don Harwood turn himself in to begin serving his sentence at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Te r r i H a rwo o d wa s o rd e re d to m e e t w i t h Court Services at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Contact Andrea J. Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@ rapidcityjournal.com

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Ve ro n i ca Ku sse r, a spokeswoman for West River Electric Association, said National Guard trucks are having to pull the association’s bucket trucks out of the snow and mud after they work on a utility pole. The space between people in the open country makes the work difficult, too. “When you take a look about the counties being covered, it’s bigger than a few states back east,” Kusser said. Theis said Black Hills Power hopes to restore more power to Hill City and Keystone by the end of Wednesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, the entire town of Wasta remained without power, according to Kusser. She didn’t have an update available on how quickly power is being restored to Wall. WREA crews started earlier in the week by checking the substations to make sure they were operational, according to Kusser. Then, the crews worked their way along

the lines strung along utility poles, making sure each segment has power, and restoring electricity segment by segment. Lastly, crews make repairs to secondary lines that feed individual houses. As of Wednesday afternoon the larger outage numbers, according to the South Dakota Rural Electric Association, included: • In Pennington County, 1,525 customers lacked power and 415 utility poles were down; • In Meade County, 1,372 customers lacked power and 1,055 utility poles were down; • In Perkins County, 615 customers lacked power and 3,151 utility poles were down; • In Lawrence County, 209 customers lacked power and five utility poles were down; • In Butte County, 187 customers lacked power and 552 utility poles were down; • In Harding County, 138 customers lacked power and 274 utility poles were down; • In Custer County, 70 customers lacked power and 22 utility poles were

down; • In Corson County, 50 customers lacked power and 374 utility poles were down; • In Shannon County, 32 customers lacked power and 177 utility poles were down; • In Ziebach County, 29 customers lacked power and 80 utility poles were down; • In Fall River County, 25 customers lacked power and five utility poles were down; • In Jackson County, five customers lacked power and 36 utility poles were down; • In Haakon County, three customers lacked power and 10 utility poles were down. Black H ills Power’s Theis said the windy weather expected Friday could slow the company’s efforts by possibly pulling down trees already damaged by the blizzard. “We’re going to see a lot of tree issues pop up that aren’t apparent today,” he said. Contact Joe O’Sullivan at 394-8414 or joe.osullivan@ rapidcityjournal.com

» From A1

Weather “On Thursday afternoon and evening, there may be some thunderstorms with this system,” Schild said. Some of those storms could be severe in southwest and south central South Dakota. Forecasters have issued a Flash Flood Watch for the central and northern Black Hills, Pennington County plains, Meade, Haakon, Jackson, Harding, Perkins and Ziebach counties extending into Sa t u rd ay m o r n i n g . A broad section of the region could see an inch or more

of rain, Schild said. “There’s a concern that having this rain on areas that are already quite saturated and still have some snow on the ground,” Schild said. The combination could produce some flooding, he said. “We already have higher stream flows from the runoff that is occurring from the spring storm,” Schild said. Along with the rain, residents should brace themselves for strong northwest winds of 35 to 45 miles per hour and gusts of up to 60 mph across the region, Schild said.

“You might want to be a little selective about where you park,” said Schild, referring to all the hanging tree limbs from last weekend’s blizzard. There’s a promise of sunshine and temperature in the 50s on Saturday, before the next system moves into the area bringing more rain late Sunday and a soggy cool down for the beginning of next week. Daytime temperatures are expected to dip into the 40s before reaching into the 50s again by Wednesday. Contact Andrea J. Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@ rapidcityjournal.com

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HILL CITY LOOKS FOR FIFTH WIN

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High winds threaten outages As the region celebrated the restoration of electricity to 80 percent of homes that lost power during last weekend’s blizzard, Pennington County Daniel Simmons-Ritchie officials warned Thursday that Journal staff high winds forecast for today The Black Hills can’t seem to could bring a fresh round of catch a break. blackouts.

County, utility warn of more power problems

Dustin Willett, director of the county’s Emergency Operation Center, said that sustained winds of 35 to 45 mph, due to begin around 9 a.m. and taper off in the late afternoon, could loosen tree branches already weakened by blizzard Atlas. “We have a whole lot of

branches holding on by a piece of bark,” he said Thursday during a meeting of the Pennington County commissioners. The National Weather Service forecasts that gusts could reach 70 mph. » Power, A7

Tribe calls shutdown a major disaster Oglala Sioux say they will be forced to release prisoners, furlough employees, suspend aid

GOVERNOR, SENATOR GET AERIAL TOUR OF STORM DAMAGE

Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Journal staff

Courtesy photo

During an aerial tour of Meade County’s devastation from the weekend blizzard, Sen. John Thune said in a tweet that the scene of cattle killed during the storm was “gut-wrenching.”

County takes steps to dispose of dead cattle Andrea J. Cook Journal staff

After taking an aerial tour Thursday of storm-ravaged Meade County, Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Sen. John Thune said it is hard to get a handle on

the immense loss of livestock for area ranchers. “Normally, when you have these storms, you always have some loss, but I was dismayed to hear about and see the pictures and see myself the large groups of animals,” the

Reporting livestock losses The South Dakota Animal Industry Board is documenting livestock losses from the Oct. 4-5 blizzard.

governor said at a press conference following the flight at the South Dakota National Guard Aviation Support Facility at Rapid City Regional Airport.

Producers are urged to report their losses as soon as possible by calling 773-3321 or using the online form at: http://aib. sd.gov/pdf/LivestockDeath LossReportOctober2013.pdf

Guidelines for livestock disposal are posted at: http://aib.sd.gov/

The partial government shutdown will force the Oglala Sioux to release prisoners, furlough hundreds of tribal employees and suspend heating assistance to elderly tribal members still struggling after Friday’s blizzard, the tribe warned Thursday. While the Oglala Sioux has already said the shutdown would severely impact its members on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the statement is the first time the tribe has officially criticized Congress and fully described the shutdown’s impact. “It is a devastating situation, not a political debate,” President Bryan Brewer said in the statement. “Our people suffer the worst poverty in the country. It is unthinkable to have to close programs, stop services and turn people out of their jobs. In an area with 80 percent unemployment, furloughs are a humanitarian disaster.” The shutdown was caused after House Republicans, including U.S. Rep Kristi Noem, R-S.D., declined to pass a resolution to fund the government unless Democrats weakened or delayed parts of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Democrats have refused to make concessions over the law. The tribe’s statement warned that more than half of their programs are affected by the shutdown: a USDA food distribution program would be terminated, a suicide prevention program would be cut, emergency programs for homeless veterans and homeless youths would be suspended, and a lack of funding from the Department of Corrections would force the tribe to release prisoners.

» Tour, A7 » Tribes, A7

Governor weighs federal offer to reopen Mount Rushmore At least two other states plan to open national parks Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Journal staff

Gov. Dennis Daugaard says he is considering an offer by the federal government to reopen Mount Rushmore during the partial

government shutdown. However, a spokesman for his office said Thursday that it depends how much it will cost. On the eve of last week’s government shutdown, Daugaard offered to let the state manage the

iconic monument so it wouldn’t have to close, but the federal government rejected that offer. In a turn of events, the Obama administration said Thursday it will allow South Dakota and other states to use their own money to reopen national parks. Tony Venhuizen, a spokesman

COMING TOMORROW

STOCKS

Mount Rushmore

Dow +323.09 S&P +36.16 Nasdaq + 82.97

What would life be like without South Dakota’s iconic monument?

for Daugaard, said while the offer was welcome, it was different from the state’s original proposal. Venhuizen said Daugaard had offered to run the park on a scaled-back basis using personnel from the state park service. Visitors would be able to access the monument, but amenities like

   thousand

the gift shop and museum would probably have been closed. “Their offer is that the Park Service is willing to reopen Mount Rushmore but not on a scaled-back basis and not with state personnel,” Venhuizen said.

THE BIG NUMBER

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» Read about it on A6

» Rushmore, A7

INSIDE Acres of federal land pheasant hunters won’t have access to this weekend because of the government shutdown.

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Tour

just one of them, Zion National Park, said Herbert’s deputy chief of staff, Ally Isom. A spokesman for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said the Republican governor is committed to finding a way to reopen the Grand Canyon, one of the state’s most important economic engines. “It’s not ideal, but if there’s something we can do to help reopen it, Gov. Brewer has been committed to trying to find that way,” said spokesman Andrew Wilder. I n Wyo m i n g , G ov. Matt Mead’s office said the state would not pay to reopen two heavily visited national parks or the Devil’s Tower national monument. “Wyoming cannot bail out the federal government, and we cannot use state money to do the work of the federal government,” Mead spokesman Renny MacKay said Thursday.

» From A1

Rushmore

Under that plan, the state would simply pay for the park’s operating costs and it would run normally, using the park’s existing 60 employees, most of whom are currently furloughed. Venhuizen said that plan would likely be significantly more expensive than the state’s original plan and it would have to assess those costs. “Most significantly, they do not know what that cost would be,” he said. “So the governor is not really able to respond to this until he knows what the cost to the state would be.” Governors in two other states said they will accept the offer. In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert will reopen the state’s five national parks. Utah would have to use its own money to staff the parks, and it will cost The Associated Press $50,000 a day to operate contributed to this report.

» From A1

Power Power companies are also wary that today’s winds could undo some of their restoration work. “We’re fully expecting some of those trees are going to come down on our lines again,” said Mike Theis, director of operations for Black Hills Power. On Thursday, 5,500 homes, including 1,700 in Rapid City, are still without power across the Black

Hills, a significant decline over the more than 38,000 properties that lost power during the storm. But if the wind doesn’t get the Black Hills, the rain could. The National Weather Service predicts that one to two inches of rain will fall from Thursday night until this afternoon. On the back of the blizzard’s snow melt, creeks across the region could flood. “Mother nature is not vindictive,” Willett said. “She’s just relentless.”

Cattle burial sites Starting today, Pennington County is offering two sites for private ranchers to bury livestock that were killed in Friday's blizzard.

Rapid City

New Underwood

44 Base Line Road

Wasta Wall

197th

The entrance to Mount Rushmore remains blocked with traffic cones Thursday afternoon but Gov. Dennis Daugaard says he is considering an offer by the federal government to reopen it depending on the cost.

Courtesy photo

Crews loaded dead cattle into a truck on Highway 44, a scene visible from an aerial tour taken by Sen. John Thune and Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Thursday.

173rd Ave.

Chris Huber, Journal staff

Thune said livestock losses from the blizzard affected producers and their families in the 17 counties where an estimated 6,000 ranching operations were home to 1 million cattle and more than 100,000 sheep before the storm. “There’s a tremendous amount of economic value that’s attached to what’s going on out here... $600 million a year is what they figure this means for these families,” Thune said. While the governor and senator were measuring the scope of the storm’s damage, local governments continue to handle the situation on the ground. In a bid to help ranchers dispose of thousands of dead cattle, Pennington County commissioners voted Thursday to open two mass-burial sites to the public. Both are currently being excavated just south of New Underwood and Quinn. The sites were originally intended to handle the estimated 200 to 300 cattle that lay dead on Pennington County roads, but the board decided that it will also open the pits to the public when excavation is complete. “To me it would be government at its best to work with people to make that happen,” Commissioner Ken Davis said. S p ea k i n g a f te r t h e meeting, Calen Maningas,

237th PENNINGTON COUNTY CUSTER COUNTY

a spokesman for Pennington County’s Emergency Operations Center, said that the county was still determining if ranchers would be charged to dump at the sites. He also clarified that disposal of dead cattle on county roads would take priority over carcasses on private ranches. M a n i n ga s s a i d t h e county planned to release more public information about when and where

Cattle carcass drop off sites

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of a natural disaster is frustrating enough, but it’s even more frustrating in the midst of the political stalemate in Washington, D.C. that has blocked the passage of a farm bill, Thune said. But the senator is optimistic that progress is being made on the farm bill. “We’re battling as hard as we can to get a farm bill enacted into law,” Thune said. Once the House of Representatives appoints a conference committee, both sides can get to work on enacting a farm bill that includes the Livestock Indemnity Program designed to help producers during disasters, he said. Once differences are hammered out and the farm bill is authorized and funded, then it’s just a matter of waiting for the United States Department of Agriculture to issue regulations, and the Farm Service Agency can start getting assistance out there, Thune said. Thune has also asked Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to declare FSA staffers in the stormi m pa c te d co u n t i e s a s essential so they can get back to work and start assessing the damages and the losses. “That’s going to happen. I hope it’s sooner rather than later, but we’re working as hard as we can to make that happen, and I understand their frustration,” Thune said.

ranchers could dispose of carcasses shortly. The Haakon County Commission, meanwhile, declared a countywide disaster on Wednesday. Commissioners also authorized the Highway Department to dig pits on private property to assist producers with livestock disposal, according to the county’s Emergency Manager Lola Roseth. Contact Andrea J. Cook at Watching your liveli- 394-8423 or andrea.cook@ hood slipping away because rapidcityjournal.com

» From A1

Tribes In addition, the tribe added, an energy assistance program for low-income people has been cut, which will imperil some of the tribe’s most elderly and vulnerable members who are still recovering from Friday’s blizzard. The statement also said that Brewer and other tribal members are in Washington this week to press Congress to reopen the government. “We need Congress to do its job,” Brewer said. “Fund the government.” At present there is no clear sign when that might happen. House Republicans have passed a series of bills to reopen certain services, like national parks, but Senate Democrats have rejected those bills, arguing that Republicans should reopen the entire government. South Dakota’s Republican representatives, Noem and U.S. Sen John Thune, have issued repeated statements this week that those House bills show that Republicans are trying to end the shutdown.

SOUTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO ADOPT RULES

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BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION S 613_M

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Front pages: A look back at the Journal’s front-page storm coverage.

Facts/figures: A by-the-numbers look at the blizzard and its fallout.

Page A8

Helping out: Acts of kindness were plentiful during the storm.

SNOWSTORM WAS WORST IN DECADES

Storm stories: Tales from the front lines of the worst storm in decades. Page A9

A special look back at a historic blizzard Rural struggle: Black Hills homesteaders face unique challenges. Page D1

Financial news: Who won, and who lost, in business during the storm. Page E1

In any human life, there are moments that become historical benchmarks. For many older folks, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan and the assassination of President Kennedy form the basis of some of those “I remember where I was when...” moments. For the younger set, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 clearly fall into that category. Those events, of course, were of worldwide significance. And yet, there is another category of watershed moments that happen on the local level and linger in the mind for years to come — and natural disasters fall easily into that class. In the Black Hills, it’s likely no Page E1

Back in time: Those who were there recall the blizzard of 1949.

The worst: A glance at the worst snowstorms in Black Hills history.

disaster will ever touch the devastating flood of 1972, which took hundreds of lives but also changed the course of growth and development of an entire community. But in a way, especially for those who were stuck in cars, endured cold nights without power, lost valuable cattle, or just had to shovel through a six-foot snow drift, the two or three days surrounding the blizzard of 2013 have become one of those unforgettable periods of time. To help capture and preserve those memories, the Rapid City Journal offers this special Blizzard of 2013 Commemorative Edition. We hope you enjoy this keepsake issue of your community newspaper. — Bart Pfankuch, Journal editor

Page E1

Hardest Hit: The deepest snow fell in the Northern Hills. Page A9

Powerless: How a family survives, and thrives, without electricity. Page E6

Wild weather: Meteorologists explain how this storm arose.

Camera eye: A photographic look back at the storm and its effects.

Surprising storm will linger in our memory Journal staff

The Blizzard of 2013 will remain etched in our memories for many reasons. Starting off as a rain storm, its arrival just four days into October was unheard of for the Black Hills, and it set

numerous snowfall records as a result. It came on suddenly, and by dumping several feet of heavy, moistureladen snow it toppled hundreds of power lines and thousands of trees. It brought travel to a near standstill, as even walking through the mush was nearly impossible. Roofs collapsed,

INSIDE

Sports Rush win preseason home opener 4-2 Read about it on F1

buildings burned, and cattle perished thousands. Commerce was crippled. Four people died, three in a wreck and one while clearing a roof. The high winds and horizontal snows put a veil over visibility. Folks spent nights stranded in cars, or in homes without power. Even as the weather warmed, it took a full week

for the community to recover. But the storm also revealed truths about our community and its people. Emergency personnel stepped up to the daunting task, and individuals helped their neighbors — as well as complete strangers — survive or simply recover. In the end, it truly was a storm to remember.

THE BIG NUMBER

Number of cars involved in a fatal crash on E. North and Spruce streets in Rapid City on Friday night. » Find out more on A3

INSIDE Blizzard Special Classifieds Commentary Business Life & Style Markets Obituaries Opinion Sports Weather

E1 B1 E4 D1 C1 E3 E8, 9 E5 F1 F6

BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

A4 | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013

[ PAGES OF HISTORY

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

A look back at the Journal’s front-page storm coverage

]

BY THE NUMBERS A look at the blizzard and its fallout

OCT. 5, 2013 A_01_RO_RA_100513_MS

Journal staff

OCT. 6, 2013

On the Web rapidcityjournal.com

Today High 36 Low 27

A_01_RO_RA_1006 13_MS

A little snow in the a.m.; clearing. Complete forecast on B5

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2013

deaths associated with the storm; a man clearing his roof near Lead, and three people in a wreck in northwest Nebraska

Woman shot at nation’s capitol called delusional

A-ROd CRIes FOUL, sUes MAJOR LeAGUe BAseBALL

Today

» Read more about it on A2

» Read more about it on B1

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Power was out, travel was treacherous and records could fall in early October snowstorm

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We all were warned, and yet it was still shocking on Friday to see the horizonta l snowflake s, downed trees, powerless homes, wrecked cars and an entire region nearly brought to a standstill by a raging blizzard that send hit Western South us your Dakota just four days snow into October. photos Black Hills resiat news@ dents who went to rapidcity sleep to the sound journal. of thunder and the com. blaze of lightning bolts on Thursday night awoke Friday morning to more than a foot of snow in some places and wind gusts up to 70 mph across the region. The storm made travel Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff a challenge, daily duties a chore, morning. The National Weather Road during the snowstorm Friday and commerce impossible. parking lot of Super Lube on Mt. Rushmore Tanner Hoffman shovels snow in the The snowfall was expected to snow. of Service forecast 7-11 inches intensify and temperatures were ditor’s note editor’s likely fall further through the Due to the blizzard that night Friday and into this mornhit the region on Friday ing, but then quickly subside and and to ensure the safety give way to a massive melting by came down onto cars limbs and of our employees, the Tom Griffith the end of the weekend. or properties across the region, Journal published this Journal staff The storm system that raged numerand roads were closed in numer edition of the paper far in from the west dumped wet, the ous locations. to trees true earlier than normal. That downed Staying | d that snow deAdWOO heavy A large segment of Interstate will affect coverage of topography of the region, the blizs and closed roads across the area 90 was closed, and authoritie news that broke later in zard that raged in from the west but particularly in the Northern Fourche in Spearfish and Belle the day Friday, reporting on Friday battered the Northern Hills. Schools and government be could they warned motorists of stock market results, Hills the hardest, downing trees, offices were closed in several on caught were they if sportticketed and coverage of sport hampering travel and knocking West River counties and travel streets. the ing events held Friday out power in its wake. was treacherous. Vicki resident d Deadwoo night. Road conditions Fallen tree branches and arcing According to police scanner branch from large a said Johnson may also slow delivery Friday kept power lines were the norm traffic, numerous accidents succumbed to heavy mornmorn this tree oak paper an the of as t well as throughou in Lead-Dea dwood, emergency crews busy snow and toppled onto her house ing. We apologize for Spearfish and Belle Fourche, after the day Friday as wet slush built up early Friday. any inconvenience. the Northern Hills received more on highways and sometimes froze. “It felt like an earthquake when for , than two feet of heavy, wet snow Meanwhile Travel was particularly treacher“I it hit my house,” Johnson said. on Friday. breaking news or ous on U.S. Highway 16 south and ‘Oh my God.’ It shook Kristina Barker, Journal staff Power was out in several com- thought, sports updates, go to west of Rapid City, and the stretch Family Neal Abernathy, an employee with munities where stoplights were rapidcityjournal.com. of Interstate 90 from Sturgis west orthern, A6 » northern, Thrift Center on Mountain View Road, off or only blinking red. Trees

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Northern Hills hit hard

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Tom Griffith Journal staff

in deAdWOOd | If someone was jeopardy in this town’s earliest days, a six-gun was probably involved. But this week, three friendly members of the Clue Crew who actually are in “Jeopardy” filmed on historic Main Street and safely walked away with a new

inches of snow in Custer

COMING TOMORROW

Tamara Gorman’s parents allowed her to find her own passion for sports

inches of snow first predicted by National Weather Service

pedestrian walks by West Boulevar BELow: Chad Hoff d in rapid City satu man clears snow rday morning. from the entrance to his apartment Tom Griffith, building satu

Worst storm on re wreaks havoc on cord Black Hills Journal staff

» Jeopardy, A6

sTOCKs Due to the early deadline as a result of Friday’s blizzard, the stocks are not in today’s paper.

THe BIG nUMBeR

1,671 Career wins by Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker, who was fired on Friday.

rday morning in rapi

C6, 7 Advice/Com DanielicssimmonsC5 ritchie Business Journal staff C8 Classifieds C6 Crosswords Health Trees wereC3 torn apart, drivers were strandedC4on Markets highways, and B4 mor & World Nation e than 38,0 00 Obituaries without powerA6duri homes were C4 Opinion ing temperatures ng subfreezSatu C1 rday mornReligion ing, following the B1 worst Octo Sports ber snowstorm in the B5 recorded Weather

Sou th Dak ota. Inte rsta te 90 remained closed from the Sheridan, Wyo., to east of Mur Emp ty stre ets litte do. red with snapped limbs and downed power lines greeted thos e who were able to dig out of thei r homes Saturday. Starting Friday low front from soutafternoon, a heast Colorado thundered over dumping 21.5 inch the region, es of snow in Rapid City and up to 43 inches in Lead — lashed by 60 mph gusts — that often redu ced visibility to zero. » storm, A4

front of this build

1919

Chris Huber phot os, Journal staff

ing reached more

than four feet high

year of previous record October one-day snowfall in Rapid City (10 inches)

Editor’s note

Due to the blizzard that hit the region and to ensure the safety of our emp loyees, the Journal published this edition of the paper far earli er normal. that will affec than t coverage of news that broke later in the day saturday . We apologize for any inconven ience. Meanwhile, for brea king news or sports upda tes, to rapidcityjournal.c go om

from the worst octo

Journal staff

Shock and disbelief were the dominan from people arou t reactions nd the area after Frid snowstorm. Even people who prepared ay’s massive zard were caught off guard as the reco for the blizstorm dumped mor rd-breaking e winds caused wide snow than anticipated and high spread damage and thousands of » resi eside dent nts, s, A5

A_01_RO_RA_100713_MS

ber snowstorm in

history on E1.

Blizzard paralyzes

or Gesick

Tom Griffith Journal staff

send your storm photos to news@rapidcityjo urnal.com

northern Hills

DEADwooD |

The Nor lyzed Saturday nigh thern Hills remained parat in the grip of a reco ing October blizz rd-breakard that stranded motorists and visitors, left thou sand one town to request s without electricity and led a disaster declarati assistance. on and state As much as four feet of heavy, wet Courtesy photo Main stree treett in sturg turgiis, mel ed the regi on snow pums, looking east from beg inni ng Thu rican road oadh hous ouse e,, is blanketed in snow the loud amersday nigh t. on saturday .

» Hills, A3

CoMInG ToMorr ow

THE B BIG nUMBEr

Digging out

rapidcityjournal.com

Today High 56 Low 42

about it on E3

MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013

COLTS HAND SEAHAWKS FIRST LOSS OF SEASON

mph of top wind gusts during storm (at Ellsworth AFB)

· Windows broken at sturgis hospital · Butte County digs out, worries about flooding

» read about in on A3

Black Hills Journal Business Classifieds life & style nation & World obituaries opinion sports

the he number of furlo ughed civilian emp loyees going back to work. » read

Weather, C1

Inside

mph of winds in Category 1 hurricane

InsI DE

400K

Black Hills residen ts continue to recover from the weekend’s blizz ard On the Web

13.4 new record single-day snowfall total in Rapid City in October (Friday, Oct. 4)

see reader and staff photos of the storm at rapi dcityjournal. com/photo

Inside see more photos

storm catches res ide surprise despite wa nts by rnings Jennifer nayl

OCT. 7, 2013

d City. the drift in

InsIde

history of the Black Hills. G o v. D e n n i s declared a state of D a u g a a r d emergency for Western South Dak National Guard asse ota and has ts helping to clear roads. He also stre ssed advisory is in effe a no travel ct for Western

» Read about it on B1

75,000

F6 D1 B1 C1 e3 e6 e5 F1

early estimate of number of cows killed in the blizzard

191

Powertech water permit hearings to start

miles of Interstate 90 closed in state; Murdo to Wyoming border

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» Read the story on B1

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BLIZZARD CONTINUES TO TAKE ITS TOLL Residents dig out after recordbreaking storm buries area

minimum number of homes without power after the storm

OCT. 8, 2013

12,000

A_01_RO_RA_100813_

homes still without power on Monday, Oct. 7 Today High 58 Low 41

John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff

On the Web

Weather, A8

rapidcityjournal.com

Misty Droppers spent a freezing and frightening Friday night $1.00 • To subscribe, call us at (877) 525-63 with her family in their truck, TUESDAY, OCTOBE 97 R 8, 2013 snacking on KFC chicken while stranded in Black Hawk during the historic blizzard that crippled the Black Hills over the weekend. Droppers had been picked up from work by her daughter and husband around 3 p.m. Friday Unanimous vote at spec ial meeting comes as but soon the family was stranded city attempts to recov John Lee McLaughlin er off Sturgis Road, keeping warm Department Chief Journal staff Mike Mal- Comm by intermittently running their ission will discu ss taverne urged city officials to potent its ial emergency declar declare a state of The Rapid City truck throughout the night. ation emerg ency Coun cil during a on Mond ay night special meeting earlier at 1:30 p.m. today in the comdeclared a Monda “I was lucky to have a full tank mission meeting room y. winter-storm disast at the er said. as old Pennin the gton County Courth The city’s declaration of gas,” the 35-yearcity moves into a multiis a first The fire chief’s reques ouse. dollar recovery effort million step toward a disaster design t came With as much as 48 inches of a- when the Rapid after the tion by weekend blizzard that Gov. Dennis Dauga ard met with public City Council heavy, wet snow in parts of the up to 30 inches of snowdumped and eventual assistance from safety and city the department officia in parts Federal Emerg of the city. ls at Black Hills, Droppers and crew ency Management discuss the next steps noon to Agency, which requir mornThe after counc Saturday the es approv il’s unani mous from had to be rescued President Barack Obam al historic October blizzard. vote came after Rapid a. City Fire The Penni ngton ing by an area resident with a Coun ty » City, A4 snowmobile and eventually taken to an ad-hoc emergency shelter at Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff Rapid City’s Central High School. storm, which extendthe tree in her front yard broke during the “It wasn’t uncommon to have along St. Frances Street. A large limb of driveway are a priority, she said. her out services cy shovels r emergen to Schroede lead Theresa main roads that people in here that have been won’t get plowed for a few days, but the ed into the street. Her street probably stranded in their cars between 14 and 16 hours,” said Richard Smith, executive director of the American Red Cross of the Black Hills, Ranchers, experts say which opened emergency shelters in Rapid City, Lead and Spearfish losses are devastatin unprepared seeking provisions at any g Bart Pfankuch throughout the weekend. store they could find; and overall a region for ranchers Journal staff recovering from a blizzard that was one Daniel Simmons-Rit » Storm, A4 winds and heavy, of terms in worst the of chie already Journal staff Black Hills neighbo rs who wet snow that many can remember. knew each other became friends anew Tens of thousands While no one was reported dead or to of Sunday as they combin ed forces lie dead across South cattle as of late Sunday, the storm Dakota injured to storms Daily snow counts worst the of on one Monday following recover from of affected the daily life and commerce zard that could becom a blize one of The Rapid City area’s normal hit the region in a century. way. major a the in most Hills Black costly entire the in the history of the state’s agriculture average snowfall is 2.3 inches What bound them after the storm -in snowed d indust Busines ses remaine rk As state officials spent ry. for the month of October. was the inevitable sense of teamwo the day calcu lating the or across the area; families were out shovelthat arises during any natural disaster millio n dollar impac multi ing or snow-blowing to clear their drivet Fridays total snow acregional economy from to the tragedy in South Dakota. to trying just were staff people 13.4 Journal , at some in and came Pfankuch n Bart storm, ranchers began Friday’s cumulatio snow stopped and the ways; the digging After a in up popped n up hundr to good eds of cattle that were find normalcy. Snowme inches, with Saturday’s Curtis and Shana Pourier used dirt shovels still buriedPaha whippin g winds died down, Black on beneath feet of snow. few front yards. snowfall coming in at 8.7 “This is absolutely, effect to dig out their pickup that was stuck Hills residents finally came out of their devastating,” said Steve totally inches, according to the in North Rapid City. homes Sunday, and scenes were plentia 52-year-old ranch Schell, Recovery, A5 Sapa Drive » Service. Weather er from National Caputa. “This ful of neighbor helping neighbor; the

STATE OF EMERGE NC

A publication of Lee

Enterprises

Council declares win ter storm disaster

is horren I mean the death loss dous. of these cows in this count ry is unbelievable.” Schell said he estima ted he had lost half of his herd, but it could be far more. He was struggling to find snow- still cattle and those that buried had been pushe d miles by winds that gusted at 70 miles per hour on . morningFriday night.

S T U RG I S | Bobby Adams of

Orlando, Fla., sat in his pickup truck Sunday afternoo n in the parking lot of Campbell Supply in Sturgis waiting for westbound Interstate 90 to open.

nights in a motel in Rapid City with no power.” Adams was anxious for the gate to lift at the on-ram p to westbound I-90 Exit 30. Brad Vesbach and his nephew Erik Vesbach were in a vehicle parked behind Adam’s in the parking lot. The two, from

ONLINE

Blizzard photos See more reader-submitted and Journal staff photos of the snow storm at rapidcityjournal.com/photo

Virsqua, Wisc., were headed to Gillette, Wyo., to hunt antelope. “We’ve been plannin g this trip for about six months. We watched the weather ahead of time but they were saying three to six inches,” Brad Vesbach said. They, too, were stuck in Rapid City until the interstate reopened

Number of Utah mountain goats that have been released in the Black Hills.

l staff

Restoring power a tough task Could be end of the week before all power is restored Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

Kristina Barker photos , Journal staff

It had been 48 hours since the last snow fell, but Melissa Reckl ing’s home still didn’t have power on Mond ay. Reckling, a 37-year-old jail worke r, doesn ’t live in Lead, which got 55 inches of anywhere else in the snow, or hard-hit Journal staff Northern Hills. She lives just was unclear if storm » Travelers, A5 off bustling Jackso -related. or ranch buildings. n Boulevard • Outages: Abou t Rapid City region Here is a quick round in Rapid City. 12,00 0 authorities will not re-open today. alone answered 300 storm-related update -up of peop le acros s the regio Reckling bought a • Snowfalls: The Natio n calls and worke s: propane remained withou d 13 structure Weath nal • Fatalities: The first heater Sunday and er Servi ce said final fatali- day; the Natio t power Mon- fires over the weeke used it to ties associated with nd. nal grill Guard up we chili and Ramen noowas e ke n d s n ow fa l l the • Collapses: A middl to ta l s zard came to light Mond bliz- called in to help restore it. e school include: dles. Before that, it ay. The roof in Sturgis 55 inches in Lead, was “a lot INSIDE • Searc h on: The Lawrence County 48 of granola bars,” she South ing to classe collapsed, lead- inches in Deadwood, Sheriff said Dakot said. On 35 inches s being canceled a Civil Air Patrol is worka 62-year-old Lead Monday, she swapp in Sturgi man died ing with ed out the Sunda Game, Fish & Parks all week. The entire TMon e 31 inches, 32 inches in Hill City, omics y while cleariC3,4 propane heater for Advice/C ng snow officials a generator. from his collapsed to look for two con- company building in Spearfish Spearf s in Rapid City and Meanwhile, she waits roof.10 C3, ish, 18 fell in on itself, puttin Three for Black Crosswor peopleds g doz- and 15 inches inches in Custer, from Nebraska and Kan- firmed lost hunters and prob- ens Hills Power to get to of employees out of in Oglala. her. ably many sas more C5 died work. who got lost A mobil “You can’t get any Classifieds in a car wreck on Friday while huntin • Flood worrie e home roof fell in when they hit storm g elk in the Black as to where anybody’s answers on storm fallout coulds: The next condit at,” she be flooding on U.S. 20 near Crawf A6ions Hills. Planes were scouring the Snowcat Road near Deadwood; as highe Obituaries said Monday evenin ord, Neb. hills on residents escaped. r temperature g, standing Monday. A 76-ye ar-old woma C2 on her front porch. all the snow that fell. s melt n was Opinion • Shuttered: Many • Fires: Firefighters A flood found dead in her govern- warni ng Reckli across ng is one of just under homeB1 ment office s remai was issued for the near the region battle Terry Peak on Sunda n closed ; region Sports d blazes that mail 12,000 people who y, but it damaged on Mond still delivery has been spotty ay, or destroyed home power Mond ay. About lacked ; immediate damag though no C1 s and many schoo Weather e or injuries 6,500 ls across the were reported.

Blizzard roundup: Fir st storm deaths repor ted

» Power, A2

» Find out more on A3 COMING TOMORROW

Call us Do you recall the snowstorm of 1949? If so, call 394-8293

  

STOCKS

Dow -60.24 S&P -2.54 Nasdaq -2.97

THE BIG NUMBER

55 » Read about it on A3

INSIDE

Inches of snow reported in Lead.

28 low temperature on Saturday, Oct. 5

37 66

Kristina Barker, Journa

LEFT: Josh Schumaker, 27, left, and Karl Knutson, 25, ride pasture east of Sturgis through along Highway 34 on Monda y. Knutson and Schumaker were checking on cattle at Knutson’s father’s place.

6,156 number of power line poles downed in storm

high temperature on Saturday, Oct. 5

Downtown Rapid City was Monday morning, despit busy e businesses being closed many .

ABOVE:

Sunday Meanwh ile in Sturgis, resiCattle, A3 dents were busy moving piles» of snow from driveways, sidewalks and tops of cars. They also were tossing tree branches to the curb. Because trees

THE BIG NUMBER

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Dead cattle are frozen in the ditch along Highw ay 34 east of Sturgis Monday aftern oon.

open Travelers spend Sunday waiting for I-90 to Adams was headed to Montana to meet with a mechan ic who was building an engine for an Offshore Racing Powerboat named the Spirit of Qatar. “I was supposed to be in Montana on Friday,” he said. “I just missed tornado es in Nebraska City, Neb., and then spent two

Sarah Diaz pulls tree limbs out of the street in front of her home. She was with her family in Nebraska for her niece’s wedding during the storm.

BLIZZARD CLAIMS THOUSANDS OF CAT TLE

After skies clear, residents help others

Deb Holland Meade County Times-Tribune

inches of snow in Sturgis

18 12

A cameraman records Jeopardy’s Clue Crew on Tuesday on Deadwood’s Main Street. The crew includes, from left, Kelly Miyahara, Jimmy McGuire and Sarah WhitABo comb vE:Foss. a lone

appreciation for the Black Hills. After spending Monday at Mount Rushmor e National Memorial , the Clue Crew and its entourage of producers, cameramen and audio engineers for the long-running TV quiz show wrapped up three days of shooting clues for the next season of the Emmy Award-winning show.

inches of snow in Deadwood

inches of snow in Rapid City and Spearfish

keeps the walkway clear Friday morning.

Jeopardy’s Clue Crew films in Deadwood

55 48 35 31

inches of snow in Lead

Cancer preventio n study is looking for volunteers

» read about it on F1

Andrea J. Cook and Jennifer naylor-Gesick Journal staff writers

Advice/Comics Classifieds Crosswords Obituaries Opinion Sports Weather

A6, 7 B4 A6, B8 A4 B3 B1 A8

normal high temperature for that day (Oct. 5) in Rapid City

300 calls for service to Rapid City Fire Department during storm

8,600 calls to regional 911 center during 72-hour storm period

1,100 emergency responses made in Rapid City during that period

1,000S multiplier of trees damaged during the storm

$1MS multiplier of damage done to property across the region

BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

FIND MORE NEWS ONLINE AT RAPIDCITYJOURNAL.COM

[ GOOD DEEDS

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013 | A5

Acts of kindness were plentiful during the storm.

]

Our Good Deeds: Blizzard of 2013 special edition Storm brings out the best in neighbors, family and strangers

The Journal highlights local acts of kindness To submit an item for consideration, visit rapidcityjournal.com/gooddeeds or email claudia.laws@rapidcityjournal.com

Claudia Laws Journal staff

Couple rescues women stranded in their car “They saved our lives.” Jodie Cowman, who was stuck in a car during the Oct. 4 blizzard with her roommate Stevie Blatchford and a 4-yearold dachshund named Waylon, puts things that simply. The snowstorm had not yet started when Cowman and Blatchford started driving “It was to Black Hawk to amazing. pick up ... We were a friend. But soon just about after they to pass left their place, they out when quickly Stevie found themselves said stranded ‘What’s off Interthat light?’ state 90. “We I looked couldn’t out my get through window, a drift,” and it was Cowman Erika just said. “We just got standing completely there.” stuck.” The Jodie women had almost Cowman, who was stuck in no gas her car during left, and the blizzard could see other cars that were stuck. Some folks assisting another traveler said they would help them, but left before doing so. With nowhere to turn, they decided to walk to a gas station they believed to be about a mile away. “We went 20 feet, lost the light we were using, and couldn’t see,” Cowman said. “This is how people die,” she said she thought to herself. They turned back toward the truck, but couldn’t find it. After a short search, they found the truck and huddled inside, their clothes soaked through, for five hours. Cowman’s father, Mike Schmidt, Sr., who lives in Pierre, was able to contact a friend, Jim Winchester, who lived a couple miles away from where the women were stuck. He and his wife, Erika, immediately prepared to go get the two women. It was nearly 10 p.m. by the time the Winchesters headed out on snow machines, after readying warm clothes and helmets for the women and losing one snowmobile to a snow drift. It took 30 minutes to get there, but the couple made it to the stuck vehicle. “It was amazing,” Cowman said. “We were just about to pass out when Stevie said ‘What’s that light?’ I looked out my window, and it was Erika just standing there.” Erika Winchester also will never forget that moment. “I asked them ‘are you ready?’” Winchester said. “I didn’t have to ask them twice.” They bundled them up, stuck Waylon the dog inside Blatchford’s coat and made the treacherous trip back to the Winchesters’ home where two other men the couple had rescued were already warming up. The Winchesters made the girls sandwiches and cookies that night as they warmed up in front of a fire, and Erika Winchester whipped up some pancakes in the morning. On Saturday, the Winchesters joined a huge number of snowmobilers taking

Photo courtesy Erika Winchester

Jim and Erika Winchester, right, sit on their snowmobiles next to Cody and Roger Secrest, two people they helped return to their home on Saturday. The Winchesters helped rescue two women who were stuck off Interstate 90. Roads were nearly impassable in the Black Hawk area after the storm. Courtesy photo

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Interstate 90 experienced a whiteout on Friday, Oct. 4.

helped him. I thought this was extra special because he is a huge Broncos fan and it was during the last couple minutes of the Broncos/Cowboys game. My neighbors across the street helped dig our cars out. — Sharon Neva

but treacherous stretch during the blizzard. On Sunday, while the sun was out trying to melt the gravel and partially paved roads, many of the residents went out with trucks, ATVs, snowplows, and small front-loaders to remove the numerFourteen people, one ous berms of wet snow house Despite a night without blocking the streets and keeping residents from power, Ben and Melissa getting out of the subdiviVaughn woke up in their Box Elder home the morn- sion. Right now, some are trying to figure out how to ing of Saturday, Oct. 5 get the stranded vehicles ready to go. out of the snow banks. They shoveled a path to each of their neighbors’ We’ve got good people in Timberwood Park Estates. front doors to make sure they were all OK, accord- God bless them all. ing to Travis Hirchert. — Linda Morgan, Timberwood They also offered for any- Park Estates resident one to come stay at their All the power went out. home, where they had We had the heater worksupplies. ing and four plug-ins in “This is going beyond our activity room. What neighborly,” Hirchert we did was hook up eight wrote in an email to the crock pots and people put Journal. “And I would food in them, made coffee. like them and others to We asked neighbors if they know this. Thank you very had food, needed to be much.” warm or needed to charge For Ben Vaughn, their their cell phones to come generosity is just what to our dinky little room people are supposed to and warm up. God must do in an emergency. He have blessed us. We have and his wife were able to 41 units and 84 people. get out of their home, but — Carrie Suthern, manager, since no one else could, Fremont Apartments they felt it was their North Anderson responsibility to help out Road has its own special the neighbors. neighbor in Bill McElroy. “It just felt like the Mac, thanks so much for right thing to do,” he said. clearing the roads and The Vaughns had a driveways of all of your generator, so they invited neighbors and for all of 14 people from three fam- the other thoughtful and ilies, including Hirchert, helpful things that you do back to their home to stay. for all of us. stranded residents home or to the fire department. They also dropped off supplies or helped out in myriad other ways. One snowmobiler even donated gas to those helping out.

My neighbor is elderly and had a tree go down in front of his driveway. He and his wife would not be able to get out. My husband went over and helped get the tree out by using a chainsaw and cutting it up and moving it piece by piece. It took hours. My husband also climbed fences to get to my folks’ home to shovel them out as my dad just had back surgery not too long ago and could not shovel. He then went out once the roads were somewhat open to get to his mom in the valley. — Kim Dahlke-Deyo

I went to an eatery for lunch yesterday and found the credit card machine was down. I didn’t have enough cash on me and a guy behind me handed me cash, no questions asked. Really nice! — Leanne Olson

We are all electric with no source of heat. We closed off one of our rooms to try to keep the heat in it. All three of our kids climbed in bed with us to try and stay warm. As it got dark, it was getting colder and I was scared not knowing how far temps would drop, so I made the kids go to bed early thinking if they were asleep they would not feel the cold. When we woke up the next day our room was very cold and there was just talk at that time of how long the power would be out. So of course we were nervous about being stuck in there one or more nights. Then about 8 a.m. we heard a knock at the — Dale A. Shay Of note from readers front door, our neighbors All my neighbors came What follows are stories together to help us dig out had dug out our front that readers and residents of the over 7-foot drift door and told us to come across the region sent to that went from our garage over. They had a generator the Journal to give thanks to the middle of the street. where we could be warm to those who helped them Then, the next day another and stay safe! They had or others out during the gone to many neighbors neighbor asked his son to storm and in its wake. come over to clear the rest and did the same thing. They are displayed here They ended up with 14 of the drift with a Bobcat. just as written in the people that they fed, Great neighbors! Very emails; many of the disgave blankets and pilthankful for them. patchers were sent to us lows to, one of which was — Staci Burchett through the newspaper’s On Monday, my fiancee a 5-month-old. It was a Facebook page. The names and I were going to head great way to bond with of those who submitted our neighbors and I am outside to clean up the follow the items they sent. tree branches when two eternally grateful. The Timberwood Park guys in a pickup pulled up — Rhiannon Hirchert Estates subdivision in Someone in my squadand rang our doorbell and Piedmont has residents ron took in two ladies for asked if they could clean who are the epitome of two days when everyone up the tree branches and good neighbors. Durlost power. Their car was haul them away for us ing the past three days stuck and they had no way (granted, they could not of severe weather there to get home. My other get all of them, but they were numerous phone buddy was stuck at a hotel got most of them). That calls between neighbors (his job) and took care of was definitely something to check on each oththe people stranded there we didn’t expect, but it ers’ heating status, food for the entire period. He was very nice of them status, etc., and calling dug out cars and kept to come haul away the around to see if anyone people safe and informed branches so we didn’t could help residents stuck have to. about the real travel conin the snow just a mile ditions. — Jean Highland from the subdivision. — Chris Madson The elderly neighbor That stretch of the All of the neighbors on across the street was digroad is surrounded by ging out his driveway and our street pitched in to pasture land, not houses, help dig each other out of my next-door neighbor’s and became a short, the snow. Best part is we teenage son ran out and

met some neighbors we hadn’t yet. — Angelyn Muko

The people from our community helped get our dog back after she had jumped the fence and other dogs were running around, so everyone was helping each other. — Araceli Memije Bahena

My brother was stuck out on Liberty Boulevard in Box Elder on Friday night. He sat in his vehicle four or five hours, running out of gas. A guy that my brother had built a house for walked for 1.5 hours to his vehicle and brought him winter gear. The guy warmed up in my brother’s vehicle and my brother put the winter gear on, then they headed out on foot to the gentlemen’s house. They walked for 1.5 hours and finally arrived at his house. He gave my brother a place to be overnight until late Saturday when he lent my brother the winter gear again so he could walk to his family in Antelope Ridge. Thank you for rescuing my brother. — April Veley

On Saturday, I saw my 16-year-old daughter look out the window, throw her shoes on, grab her jacket, and run outside in the pouring rain. I had no clue what she was doing until she came home 20 minutes later and said that she spotted a dog wandering through our yard. She looked at the ID tag that was hooked to the collar, saw the address of the owner and walked the dog to its home five blocks away. In the pouring rain. I am extremely proud of her.

This is a true community business owner. Days Inn-Lead, Deadwood Gulch, Perfect 10, Longhorn Steakhouse and the YMCA are all businesses that deserve some recognition. Toni Johnson has been helping dig people out and get food and supplies. Another lady went walking 2.5 miles in the blizzard to bring formula to a baby stranded at a babysitter’s house. Robert, a man with four-wheeldrive, trekked up Merritt Road to rescue my brother and his two kids who were stranded at home without any power, heat or water. So many amazing things for this town, I could go on and on. — Lindsey-Star Duhé

We wouldn’t have heat if it wasn’t for our neighbors. They had two Little Buddy heaters. — Leanne Olson

We live behind Douglas High. A man named Shannon Thomas rented a front loader out of his own pocket and plowed paths for us all to get out. We had 10-foot-high and deep drifts over here, and too hard-packed to shovel. We would all still be stuck until it melted if it wasn’t for him and the guys on four-wheelers who followed him in to help scrape behind him. God bless you guys! — Sheila Dasch Baumgardner

My friend, Toni Johnson, was active and always is active in helping others. She is a true hero. — Bobby Bjerke

Someone in North Rapid put a generator on a sled to take to a neighbor who needed oxygen.

I lent a neighbor my snowblower, helped another cut down tree branches and I helped push a lady’s van into her blocked driveway. I also saw many neighbors helping snow blow other neighbors’ driveways.

— Jayme Rolof Stuen

— John Jenkins

While stranded at a friend’s house, the two men took a walk to see if the gas station half a block away was open so they could get things like cereal. The attendant there had slept in the gas station overnight to ensure people were able to get supplies. The next day he was there again after having slept there overnight again and was helping people, doing math in his head and helping get people supplies.

I would like to add that the electricians, EMTs, police officers, firefighters and all other emergency personnel and their families deserve a big thanks. They did such an amazing job and all of them put their communities before themselves. Thanks, guys.

— Stephanie Briggs

— Amanda Friar

Don Turner, owner of Don’s Valley Market stayed the night at his store and saw there were people stranded in their vehicle. He said, “I signaled them with a flashlight last night. The one guy was about out of gas. He is very happy with me. There is a 10-foot drift the length of the lot.” Then, he said “I have five people at the store who were stranded. Search and rescue was just here and found a lady in the carwash bay and another in a car. They are going to come back and get these five I have at the store.”

— Toni Johnson

My neighbors rescued a family with a 1-monthold baby and on Saturday walked door-to-door asking if anyone had diapers for her. I gave them a pack of size 4’s (mind you this is a 1-month-old baby) they said it didn’t matter — that they would make it work. Then the whole family walked mom, dad and baby up to the main road in 6-foot snow drifts on Sunday to make sure they got to their ride safely. — Jess Lee

My neighbor went with me to pick up my best friend across town to take her to Walmart because she was still without power. And then he and another neighbor came and helped shovel my driveway to get us out. They were amazing. — Krista Stine

BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

A6 | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013

[ STORM STORIES

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

Tales from the front lines of one of the worst storms in a century.

]

Bride pushes through blizzard for nuptials Jennifer Naylor Gesick Journal staff

As the snow began to whip up on Friday, Oct. 4, a young bride-to-be was having breakfast with her bridesmaids when her phone rang. Her salon called to cancel their nail appointments. Throughout the morning, her phone kept ringing, and one by one her weekend wedding plans unraveled. Stephanie Schumacher, 26, and Josh Reed, 25, were like a lot of people in Rapid City when they heard the news of an approaching storm. They thought there might be some snow on the ground, and they would go about their day as usual on Saturday. The couple met and began dating their sophomore year of high school. After some time apart, they reunited after college and dated for four more years before Josh proposed last year. Stephanie called the K Bar S Lodge in Keystone the

day after the proposal. “We loved it up there,” Stephanie said. “We always knew that is where we wanted to have our wedding.” Little did she know that her year of planning and preparation would never come to fruition — or that in the end, ruinous would become wondrous, and her special day would ultimately turn out beautifully. But they did immediately know on Friday night there were going to be problems for their planned Saturday event when the K Bar S Lodge lost power. “We thought that maybe we can do it in Rapid,” Stephanie said. “We woke up Saturday and looked outside, and we were just really depressed.” As the hours passed on what was supposed to be her wedding day, Stephanie retreated to her room while Josh worked to lighten the mood. “Everybody was trying to be so positive,” she said. Her mom called and tried

Photo illustration by Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Stephanie Schumacher and Josh Reed show off the marriage license they were able to obtain despite the several feet of snow that fell in the hills during the blizzard. The couple married in their living room with about 35 friends and family members.

to change the ceremony to Sunday. But with the lodge still without power and a full calendar for Sunday events, there was no hope to squeeze in Stephanie and Josh’s nuptials. On Saturday night, some

members of the wedding party stayed at Stephanie and Josh’s house to hunker down and play games. Josh and one of the groomsmen attempted to cheer Stephanie up by building a Bridezilla out of snow.

But by Sunday, even the unflappable Josh was frustrated. But suddenly, a simple solution emerged: what if they just had the wedding anyway, right there in the living room? “It kind of ascended on us,” Josh said. “On Sunday morning, all I wanted to do was get the documents signed and then people just came out of the woodwork.” Stephanie called her parents, who live in Rockerville, to tell them that they were thinking of signing the papers as soon as the officiant and groomsman were able to make it to the house. Her parents refused to miss such an occasion. So they hiked a quarter of a mile from their home to the highway in waist-deep snow. Once there, a family member picked them up off the road and drove them in to Rapid City. Stephanie’s bridesmaids began making phone calls and cleaning and decorating the house with wedding

decorations. Other members of the wedding party went outside and began hanging lanterns on the trees and shoveling snow. Before they knew it, a b o u t 35 p e o p l e we re crammed in to their living room while they said their vows. Three family members attended via Skype and Facetime. “I have never felt so much love in my life,” Stephanie said. “It went from a day that was really depressing to the happiest day of my life because it really showed how much everyone loved us.” After the ceremony, they were able to cut their actual wedding cake and enjoy delivered pizza for dinner. “Then our family went home, the wedding party stayed around and we danced to a couple of good songs in our living room,” Stephanie said. Contact Jennifer Naylor Gesick at 394-8415 or jennifer.naylorgesick@ rapidcityjournal.com.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINES Those who bore the brunt of the blizzard share accounts of survival and revival Jennifer Naylor Gesick Journal staff

Hiking miles to help grandma Reuben Adkins is one of many heroes that emerged from the blizzard of 2013 — though he says he just d i d wh a t was necess a r y. Ye t others may see heroism in his a c t i o n s , Adkins when he walked four miles in waistdeep snow, dodging cars and downed power lines, to save his cancer-stricken grandmother. The 32-year-old knew his grandmother, who is in her 70s, was cold and trapped in her home without power Saturday, Oct. 5 after the storm died down. His sister and her two young children were there, too. After what he calls, “McGyvering” by using a 32-volt car battery and speaker wire to give his cell phone just enough charge to make two calls, he found out how bad the situation really was. So he packed a duffel bag and took off on foot to walk the four miles through damp, thick snow from his place on Benjamin Street in Rapid Valley to his grandmother on Scott Street. He packed up a camping stove, propane canisters, canned goods and, as a special treat, a percolator. “I knew my grandma would want her coffee,” he says. “My plan was to go to their house, check on them to see what they needed and walk to Family Thrift because no convenience stores were open.” But he quickly found out it was worse than he thought. “I’d step on the snow and it would seem pretty hard, but then I’d fall through to my waist and I had to take the duffel bag off and throw it ahead of me and crawl out,” he says. He nearly stepped on a downed power line near the railroad tracks on Highway 44, and was splashed multiple times by cars traveling down the dangerous roadways. But in what he calls “good time,” he got to his grandmother and dug her front door out with the help of a neighbor. Soaking wet and frozen, Reuben decided it was best to take his family members with him back to his home. So he braved the roadways,

got stuck a couple of times, and found a safe place to park the car and helped carry his grandmother the four blocks to his house. “For family, I got no problem with that,” he says. A funeral for the trees Diana Goehring, 66, was in Rapid City visiting her elderly mother, Fritzie Goehring, 91, at the West Hills Retirement Center on Friday, Oct. 4 when the blizzard Goehring struck. Diana has a photo of herself as a toddler during the infamous storm of 1949, but said by her account the 2013 storm was worse. Diana grew up in Rapid City, and said the reaction of residents during the storm reminded her why she loves this area so much. “It was nice to see everybody go in to help-you mode,” Diana said. “I was so proud of Rapid City and proud to have been from here.” After the storm, she was most saddened to drive down West Boulevard and see all the trees downed or maimed. “I thought maybe we should have a funeral for the trees,” she said. “I know it sounds silly, but it was really sad to see them like that.” She said since moving to California she forgot what real weather was like. But her mother had not, and was well prepared for the storm with flashlights, batteries and candles when they lost power for about five hours Friday night, Oct. 4. The retirement home was prepared as well and the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy made the rounds before the storm to make sure every resident had plenty of medication. “They did a really good job and many of the staff stayed overnight and they all had really good attitudes, which is comforting when your mother is in their care,” Diana said. First toboggan ride at 79 Joyce Quinn lost her husband last month and was home alone in Rapid Valley and when she lost power early d u r i n g the storm. Quinn, 79, stayed in bed for two d ays Quinn and nights covered with blankets while trying to keep warm. She kept informed and entertained by a small battery-powered radio she kept near the bed. “I just stayed

covered up good,” Joyce said. “If I kept my head covered, it was warmer.” Neither her front nor her back door would open due to incredibly high snow drifts. But she had a cell phone to keep in contact with her family members, who eventually came with neighbors and friends to dig her out. Roy and Audrey Monnot, Jerry Quinn, Tanner Fode, Roy and Diane Westby and Andy Fitzgerald were all instrumental in getting Joyce from her cold house to the warmth of her daughter’s home, she says. They dug her out with s h ove l s Sa t u rd ay a n d brought a toboggan to help Joyce, who usually needs the assistance of a walker, to get to the truck they had waiting about a quarter of a mile away. “They said that’s quite a feat,” Joyce recalls. “Seventy-nine years old and taking your first toboggan ride.”

Photo courtesy Amanda Mitchell Photography

Karen Heupel and Mike Kreitman of Gordon, NE were married Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Springhill Suites in Deadwood.

Fall wedding fiasco Early October is usually a wonderful time to get married in the scenic landscapes of the Black Hills, with the leaves turning vibrant shades of yellow and red. But the freakishly early snowstorm turned many couples’ ideal autumn ceremonies into a white, wet mess. Karen Heupel was set to marry Mike Kreitman on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Indian Springs Gazebo in Spearfish across from the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery. “There is lots of trees and it’s just beautiful,” Karen said. “That’s really what we were going for, a nice fall wedding.” The couple now resides in Gordon, Neb., but met while attending college in the Black Hills. “We got to Spearfish on Thursday and once we woke up on Friday things started getting a bit panicky,” she says. “I still had a little bit of hope all day Friday. I thought ‘It’ll be OK, we will just move it inside.’ But after Pennington County put their no-travel order on, I gave up. It was a mess.” But this determined bride was not giving up. When it was all said and

done, they had their wedding ceremony and reception for 150 guests whittled down to 40 as they all gathered Sunday inside the Deadwood Springhill Suites. “I wasn’t gonna be like, ‘OK, everyone go home and come back in three weeks and we will try this again,’” she says. “Really we just wanted to be married. We wanted that next step. It’s not about the wedding, it’s about everything else.”

Courtesy photo

Craig Bowen, 30, and his bride Beth Shaw, 30, both of Lead, pulled together a wedding with the help of a minister who just happened to be staying at the hotel at which they were snowed in.

Is there a minister in the house? Craig Bowen, 30, and his bride Beth Shaw, 30, had family coming in from all over the country to be at their wedding Saturday at Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon. But when they lost power at their home near Lead Friday, they headed to the Fairfield Inn and Suites where many family members were staying. The storm got progressively worse and Beth was unable to pick up her dress, flowers or cake Friday. When the sun came up Saturday morning, it was clear that the ceremony wasn’t going to go as planned, but they weren’t letting that stop them. “We made the call that we would have it that day because my family couldn’t fly back,” Craig said. News that their minister was trapped and unable to join them at the hotel could have been a devastating blow, but Craig had an idea. “We posted a sign on the Marriott door asking if anyone was a minister,” he said. Whatever the odds were of finding one, Craig got lucky. An 82-year-old man from Arizona named Bill contacted the couple. And the race was on. They crammed what would normally take months of planning into five hours. Food, drinks, decorations, dress — everything on the list was checked off thanks to some shuffling by wedding guests staying at the hotel and an open gas station across the street. The gas station also happened to sell champagne, wine, cheese and crackers. “The hotel was great,”

Craig says. “All the people staying there watched the ceremony. We set up on a table where they normally have breakfast and waffles and decorated them with bed sheets. And it was wonderful.” Just like Christmas Alan Ellingson, 53, was remarkably upbeat about the storm when he walked out of his home on Meadowlark Drive, past Sheridan Lake Road on Saturday, Oct. 5. Ellingson A lot of people worried about downed trees and electric lines. But this snowboarder describes that Saturday as just like Christmas Day. “Saturday morning was beautiful,” he says. It didn’t matter that Alan, a 53-year-old airport worker, didn’t have electricity in the A-frame house he rents. Alan, a wiry man who looks like the actor William H. Macy, helped his roommate’s children spend quality time on a snow slope fashioned out of Meadowlark Drive. Snowmobiles had packed a path down the street. Alan perfected the slope by building a little snow jump downgrade. Before letting the kids loose, Alan taught his roommate’s daughter the basics: squat down on the board and swing your arms like a monkey. “I just left the snowboard out there all afternoon,” he says, adding: “The kids had a blast. That was the best thing in the world, watching a 7-year-old do that.” The euphoria followed them inside, too. Alan and his roommate and the kids hung around inside by the fire. Alan brought out his sketchbook and collection of Star Wars figurines for the kids to play with. Says Alan: “I haven’t felt that feeling, not even with my own family.” Trees crashing all around As the pine trees crashed down, Elizabeth and Aaron Eiesland, retreated deep into their house in the Carriage Hills neighborhood. They took their daughter Grace and rounded up their animals – a cat, a Yorkshire terrier, two guinea pigs, a cockatiel, a goldfish and a pair of hermit crabs – and gathered around a wood stove in the basement. “We had 100-plus year old trees coming down,” said Aaron, 39. “The big pines; we’ve never seen them come down.” “You didn’t know which one was going to hit next,” said Elizabeth, 42. So they

kept to the safety of the basement, and watched out a window while another Grace big tree became uprooted. T h e p i n e s smashed i n to t h e house, fell o n to t h e f a m i l y ’ s Aaron pop-top c a m p e r, crushed a basketball hoop, and blocked their driveway. Their b oa t wa s Elizabeth damaged, too, despite attempts to preserve it. “We moved the boat so the one tree wouldn’t hit it,” Aaron says. “And where we put it, a different tree hit it.” The fallen pines broke up the deck, covered the roof, and water began leaking through the eaves. “We’ve been through huge storms,” he says. “But not this kind.”

Courtesy photo

Phil and Eva Syverson celebrated Phil’s 87th birthday and their 60th anniversary shortly after the storm hit.

Birthday blizzard Eva and Phil Syverson celebrated Phil’s 87th birthday while still stranded at home on Monday, Oct. 7. Eva, 83, said they were just grateful to be able to get the doors of their home open after they were shut in for two days by deep drifts. “It was kind of scary when you can’t get out,” she said. “We woke up Saturday morning and we couldn’t even see outside. There was about a six-inch thick layer of ice and snow over all of the windows.” On Sunday, Eva was able to get the attention of some neighbors moving around outside who then dug out their front door. The couple has lived in their home on East Indiana Street since shortly after they were married in 1953. In the aftermath of the storm, the couple also celebrated their 60th anniversary on Oct. 11th. » Front lines, A7

BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

A8 | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013

[ RURAL STRUGGLE

Blizzard brings hard work and a need for ingenuity upon Black Hills homesteaders

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

]

There’s hardship among those hills containers to collect water dripping off the roof. And after a couple days of going without, Neubauer even BETWEEN MYSTIC AND stepped outside and turned ROCHFORD | Roy Schiefer the icy snowmelt running knows better than to wait off her roof into a shower. for any government agency “I had my towel, my to come clear the roads shampoo, my Miller Lite around his property. and I got going for it,” she The Oct. 4 blizzard said. “If that isn’t hobo, I dumped more than three don’t know what it is.” feet of snow along his Clearing the snow was stretch of highlands and another matter. It fell three the gravel road connecting feet deep in the yard, with Mystic and Rochford to Hill berms as high as eight feet City. So, Schiefer fired up near the road. his Caterpillar earth mover “We can’t shovel that,” and cleared part of the Neubauer said. “It’s ‘heart county road, then opened attack snow’ is what we up Silver Creek Road and call it.” the road heading up Bloody So on the Saturday of Gulch. Chris Huber, Journal staff the blizzard, it took her “Nature kind of took Roy Schiefer, 80, talks about the storm at his home between Mystic and Rochford. Schiefer husband, Mark, three hours over on us,” Schiefer said was still without power on Thursday and said it’s the worst blizzard he has seen since 1949. to comb through more than last week. four feet of snow to find Rural living in South their snowmobile so they Saturday evening, accordDakota makes life during a could initially get around. ing to a press release. blizzard highly unpredictThe next day, they dug To get to some areas able. For thousands living out their pick-up truck to without power, National deep in the Black Hills or use for a snowplow. Without on the plains, the stakes Guard trucks were pulling out chains for the tires, they during a bad storm are high. West River Electric bucket made “a Black Hills chain” trucks from pole to pole, Some have lost days or — their own substitute out a week of work. Others lost through mud and snowof bright yellow rope. Using drifts and downed trees. their four-legged livelithe pickup’s back bumper hoods as tens of thousands to clear snow, Mark opened of cattle died from exhaus- Tough on rural their driveway up to Mystic commerce tion or suffocation during Road. It took about seven Ranchers are still trying the high winds and heavy hours. to recover after the blizsnowfall. Without water and zard killed off a large, but While power and road still-unknown number of access was restored rather Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff power, the Neubauers made good use of nature’s cattle that were caught in quickly in the urban corJay Reading, left, Paul Balderston and Cody Riggs repair wares. They employed the summer pastures. Ranchers power poles in Wasta. They work for Highline Construction, ridors of Rapid City, it’s outhouse that still sits near different out in the country. in contact with the South one of many contractors who have been working in Wasta. the home. They opened the Dakota Stockgrowers AssoRural counties that lost doors to their trucks and since the loss of wireless power have more combined ciation have estimated that been slow as ranchers dig cranked the radio to get internet. But her bigger out and count their losses between 20 to 50 percent square mileage than the challenge has been the loss news or some music. They and aren’t ready to begin of their herds had died; states of New Hampshire, paying for meals or relaxing of electricity to provide her took chicken, steak and froan early estimate put the Vermont and Connecticut zen vegetables and plunked and her husband with a with a cold one. The blow statewide loss at 75,000 put together. to the community hangs in source of water (many rural them into a cooler Joanne head. When you live far from set outside, which she filled homesteads have wells but the air, stifling any cheer That doesn’t include the city, surviving a blizwith snow. A snowdrift some animals that endured that might have come with rely on electric pumps.) zard means falling back on nearby was stocked with So Neubauer and her being dug out. self-reliance. Schiefer, who shock, or inhaled water husband Mark have turned Miller Lite and Mickey’s Wagner had booked during the storm or wanhas lived up here since he the outdoors of their Roch- malt liquor. some weekend entertainwas born in the early 1930s, dered far off in the gustWith the road open ford home into a freshment for the hunters — a knows that, but isn’t always ing winds, which are still from-the-sky water supply. Thursday, Neubauer and burlesque act called the slowly dying. thrilled by it. her husband planned to They set out pans and California Dolls — but she “Ranchers are working “It sure makes it inconaround the clock right now wasn’t even sure the act venient,” Schiefer said. would make it as scheduled. to take care of those ani“The loss isn’t over,” mals and get them healthy ‘The loss isn’t over’ again,” said Silvia Christen, Wagner said. Schiefer, a wiry man executive director of the with icy blue eyes, a ‘Heart attack snow’ association. scruffy chin and a melJust up Mystic Road Rural retail businesses low demeanor, has been from Roy Schiefer lives are feeling pain, too. logging in the Black Hills Joanne Neubauer. A Lisa Wagner, owner of since Harry Truman was Smokey’s Bar and Grill near 50-year-old graphic artist, president. she’s lost some work days Bison, said business has While the government shutdown has slowed the timber trade on federal forest lands, Schiefer still had some logs to run through his small sawmill. That was, at least, until the blizzard covered his wood piles. The hassle has hurt business, but the slowdown hasn’t exactly afforded Schiefer the opportunity of lounging around. EWIS ONFERENCE “Man, there’s no end to keeping busy,” Schiefer said as he fiddled Thursday at a “SURPRISED tool truck. Plowing snow, BY JOY” working on equipment, burning brush, opening up The Enduring Legacy the roads and clearing his of C. S. Lewis neighbors’ driveways. “It takes a little time when you do that. You OCTOBER 25-26, don’t just go over and in 20 2013 minutes you’re done,” he said. . . . marking the 50th anniversary of the death of the Meanwhile, his gas generator burns a gallon an great literary scholar, philosopher, apologist, and hour to keep his refrigerator author C. S. Lewis and freezer running. Near Schiefer’s home WITH SPECIAL GUEST Thursday, a few Black Hills DR. GENE FANT, UNION UNIVERSITY Power trucks with trailers were pulled over on Mystic FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 Road, their crews taking all-terrain vehicles into 2:00pm Registration/Reception the back country to try to 3:30pm Opening Plenary Session with Dr. Gene Fant restore power. 4:30pm Breakout Sessions The challenge getting 6:00pm Banquet and Keynote Address by Dr. Fant rural communities back SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 on the grid is gargantuan. At one point, an estimate 7:15am Continental Breakfast by the South Dakota Rural 8:15am Plenary Session with Dr. Fant Electric Association said 9:00am Breakout Sessions that as many utility poles 10:30am Lunch/Closing Plenary Session with Dr. Fant were down as there were customers without power. $33 Adult In Perkins County, about $22 Student 570 people Friday, Oct. 11, 12 and under free (and students halfstill lacked power, but the price!) if accompanied by parent county had about 3,300 poles down. The town of Wasta, a Pre-Register Today at community of about 80 www.JohnWitherspoonCollege.org people near Wall to the east of Rapid City, still TEACHERS: John Witherspoon College is pleased to didn’t have electricity as offer the Surprised by Joy Conference as a one-hour conof Friday, a week after the tinuing education course (HUM 395), at a special tuistorm. West River Electric 341-4300 oice tion rate of $75. Find the syllabus and registration form Association had to rebuild 391-4890 cell online at www.JohnWitherspoonCollege.org. the entire electric grid, Visit and they hope to have 4021 RANGE ROAD • RAPID CITY, SD 57702 • (605) 342-0317 power restored in Wasta by www.paulaklewis.com Joe O’Sullivan Journal staff

stay a night up in Deadwood to catch a show — blues singer Keb’ Mo’ — and enjoy some luxury. “I’m gonna be a queen. I’m gonna take two showers because I can,” she said. Since they’ve dug out, Neubauer and her husband drive up at night to play cribbage at the Moonshine Gulch Saloon in Rochford. She’s hoping Moonshine owner Betsy Harn will hold some of Neubauer’s meat in the store’s freezer. “Betsy got her power back at the Moonshine a couple days ago, so I’m going to bring some up there,” Neubauer said. Past hardship brings knowledge During the blizzard, Betsey Harn slept on the floor of the Moonshine restaurant next to a wood stove made of two large barrels stacked atop each other. When the snowdrifts ran all the way up the north side of the Moonshine and onto the roof, threatening to collapse it, friends came by and helped clear it. By Thursday, she had a large bag of sugar out waiting for a friend to pick up. Her restaurant, which also stocks canned goods and other staples, kept the community supplied with provisions. After living deep in the hills for decades, Harn stays prepared enough to deal with whatever circumstance Mother Nature will bestow upon the Black Hills. “When you rough it, you rough it, you know?” Harn said, adding a minute later, “we’re fortunate to have had enough hardship to deal with the future.” Contact Joe O’Sullivan at 394-8414 or joe.osullivan@ rapidcityjournal.com

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BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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[ POWERLESS

How a family survives without electricity.

[

]

Preparation pays off Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Journal staff

His family had gone six days without power due to the blizzard, but you wouldn’t know that from Howie Euneau’s attitude last week. “C’mon, we live in the woods,” the 37-year-old said, standing in his kitchen, a coffee cup cradled in his hands. “You just got to expect it, you know.” Euneau, who lives a mile south of Hill City, lost power in the Oct. 4 blizzard. His family wasn’t alone: they were among more than 38,000 other property owners who awoke on Saturday morning to find no power to heaters, refrigerators and freezers, and a host of other basic amenities they didn’t know they needed until they were unavailable. But where some families might see crisis, or even worry over survival, for others like Euneau and his kin, the week without electricity was just another part of rural living. It’s something most people who live on the outer edges of urbanity in Western South Dakota prepare for. On Thursday at 7 a.m., the family’s wooden cabin looked like a scene from a postcard. A thin trail of smoke poured off the chimney; snow ringed a wooden porch; autumn foliage burns yellow and orange in the background. Standing outside, clad in a woolen cap and a red jacket, Euneau motioned towards the family’s lifeline — a generator. Gray and footstool-sized, the device is not nearly a replacement for the power grid. It burns about a gallon of gas every 11 hours and only runs a few things: some lamps, a fan-forced woodstove, and the refrigerator. But Euneau said that’s plenty to get by on. “We do cheat in the technology department a little bit,” he said. “We don’t have DISH network; we don’t have internet; we don’t watch TV. You know, really, it’s pretty easy to entertain

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013 | A9

HARDEST HIT

Chris Huber, Journal staff

“The time it takes just to make sure we’ve got everything running, it’s like you’re walking in circles.” Howie Euneau, who lives one mile south of Hill City and lost power in the blizzard

yourself when you’re not used to watching television.” If Euneau was easy going about the lack of power, his two children, at times, seemed downright nonchalant. As they got ready for elementary school, Euneau asked them how they feel about the outage. “Was it fun or not fun?” “It was fun,” Emma, 9, said thoughtfully, “cause we got to use lanterns and play inside Ethan’s room.” The family does admit that living in ‘the woods’ is not always convenient. On mornings like Thursday, Euneau gets up early to power up a secondary generator, this one

a gas-guzzler that heats enough water so the family can shower. Euneau added that juggling electronic devices, generators, and a sea of orange and black cables, isn’t always easy. “The time it takes just to make sure we’ve got everything running, it’s like you’re walking in circles,” he said. Euneau’s meager lamps are also little match for the perfect darkness of woodland life. With no street lamps and only distant neighbors, getting home and getting inside the house is a stumble-along affair. Euneau pointed to his headlamp. “These have got to be one of the best inventions on the planet.” Even Emma, who managed to get through half of a Harry Potter book over the past six days, said it would be nice to have more lights in the house. So when will the power return? Euneau doesn’t know. He hasn’t even called the power company. He figures enough people are calling already. “That was my thought,” he said with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure they’re aware the power doesn’t function.”

[

Northern Hills had the lone local fatality Tom Griffith Journal staff

Howie Euneau and his daughter Emma, 9, talk about being prepared for the storm and how they have gotten along without power in their rural Hill City home for the last week.

The deepest snow fell in the Northern hills

Pummeled by a freak fall storm, virtually every resident of the Northern Black Hills experienced lasting impacts from the early October blizzard. From minor inconveniences such as school and store closures and broken branches, to major issues like impassable roads, lingering power outages and the collapse of outdoor decks, canopies, carports and buildings, the blizzard delivered a devastating blow not soon to be forgotten. The storm turned fatal for a 62-year-old Lead man who died while clearing snow from his roof on Sunday, Oct. 6. And then, exactly a week later, the Northern Hills was slammed with more than 2 inches of rain mixed with sleet and snow driven horizontally by gale-force gusts. On Friday, Oct. 11 the second round hit with gusto, triggering renewed fears of swollen creeks, leaking roofs, downed power lines and more tree damage. As cattlemen lamented incredible losses, city, county, state and private plow operators struggled to keep canyon roads clear and emergency lanes open. In Spearfish, heavy snow collapsed TMone’s call center, sending city officials and company management scurrying for a new location to accommodate 225 local workers. Ten days later, a temporary call center is expected to be open for business in the Spearfish Rec Center. Sturgis Williams Middle School students were disp l a c e d wh e n t h e s to r m dumped nearly three feet of snow on the town causing a portion of their school to collapse, breaking a water line

and doing nearly $1 million in damages. Those students are expected to be back in class on Tuesday, albeit in three different schools. Snow also destroyed a warehouse and historic filling station in Deadwood, caused minor flooding at the Adams Museum, bumped the annual Oktoberfest celebration and closed gaming halls, restaurants and stores for days. A week and two storms later, some normalcy returned to Deadwood. Residents witnessed the first Walking Deadwood Zombie Run as well as the second annual Wild West Songwriters Festival. Lead was buried under nearly five feet of snow. Some areas remained without power for more than a week. In the midst of the blizzard, stories of selflessness and sacrifice abounded. Neighbors knocked on d o o rs to e n s u re eve r yone’s safety, shoveling and s n ow b l ow i n g p a t h s fo r house-bound friends. Drivers stopped vehicles next to pedestrians, offering a lift. Volunteers called city public works departments, just to see how they might help. And the ever-present sound of chainsaws and front-end loaders reverberated through the snowed-in streets and sideyards. Hotel staff, stuck in their places of employment, entertained motorcoach passengers stranded by the storm. “ So u t h Da ko ta n s a re a tough lot,” Gov. Dennis Daugaard said during a visit to the Northern Hills on Friday. “These are tough times and, right now, we are all pulling together to help our friends and neighbors who have suffered losses. That’s what makes South Dakota strong and that’s how we will get through this together.”

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Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the Black Hills affected by the storm. We wish everyone a safe and quick recovery. ~ Fr

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013 | D1

Business

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013 Rapid City Journal rapidcityjournal.com

Phone: 394-8293 or 1-800-843-2300, ext 8293

BLIZZARD OF 2013: COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

Benjamin Brayfield Photos, Journal staff

LEFT: WoAbba Potter returns to her home in Dark Canyon to collect clothes and other essentials. She is staying in the Hotel Alex Johnson with her family after Winter Storm Atlas took out the power to her home. Potter wasn’t expecting power to be restored for at least a week after the storm, she said. RIGHT: Tree services are one business that is benefitting from Winter Storm Atlas. Broken tree limbs damaged homes and vehicles during the storm but now arbors are working to cut limbs that haven’t fallen before they cause damage.

Winners and Losers Some businesses profited, while others were hurt, during the blizzard and its aftermath John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff

During and after any natural disaster, the world of commerce is always affected, as some businesses and entrepreneurs find opportunities to make money, while others suffer stinging losses. That was true in the Black Hills over the past week as the blizzard that dumped up to 55 inches of snow in some places proved beneficial for some sectors of the economy, but but took a devastating toll on other industries. Rapid City residents and woefully stranded tourists proved to be extra thirsty during the record-breaking blizzard that crippled the Black Hills last weekend, and Delight Teppel was there to accommodate their needs. “We did a lot of beer,” said Teppel, the store manager of Boyd’s Liquor Mart off Mount Rushmore Road. Despite losing

power on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4 and 5, the store quickly rebounded. “We almost had double sales Sunday when we reopened, and they were in line outside waiting for me. People were waiting in cars to come in.” Boyd’s wasn’t the only shop that cashed in on the storm. Murphy’s Pub and Grill hostess Samee Dewitt said folks were still flooding into the Main Street bar for several days after the storm. “We had to close Friday at 1 p.m. because we lost power,” Dewitt said, adding that Murphy’s remained closed until 11 a.m. Sunday. “I was told Sunday was pretty crazy. Tuesday was actually pretty busy. We had a full restaurant all night long.” Hotel Alex Johnson front desk clerk Kali Parker said the hotel was booked solid throughout last weekend before finally slowing down after streets were open and most

Winners and losers WINNERS:

· · · · · · ·

Bars Liquor stores Restaurants Tree trimmers Snow removal services Hardware stores Gas stations and convenience stores

LOSERS:

Doug Williams, left, helps Bailey Cleland and Cody Brink purchase new chains for a chainsaw at Willy’s Saw Shop. The shop lost power for six days, but stayed open to service the demand after Winter Storm Atlas. They now have a backlog of chainsaws needing repair, Williams said.

people had power returned by Thursday. “I was stuck here like most of the employees,” Parker said. “We were very, very busy. We were sold out every night. It really did help our revenue.” Most businesses in town were closed Saturday and Sunday. But Aspen Ridge Lawn

and Landscape co-owner Jeremy Walla’s crew and others were swamped with the task of plowing the city’s streets and parking lots. “Since Thursday, it’s been non-stop, all crews,” Walla said. “We’ve seen the volume of snow before — but not all at once.”

· · · · · ·

Grocers Tourist attractions Tour bus services Ranchers Farmers Golf courses

Rapid City was hit in the morning of Friday, Oct. 4, with a blizzard that escalated through the night and into Saturday, dumping more than 30 inches of wet, heavy snow across the region. And trees, still full of foliage that had only hinted at a fall color change, took the brunt of the damage. » Blizzard, D2

Chain saws grow scarce as Unique salon Casper cleanup continues concept coming TALKING BUSINESS

Laura Hancock Star-Tribune Staff CASPER, WYO. | Chain saws – well, saws of any type, really – shovels and generators are in high demand in Casper, as folks clean up from last week’s snowstorm and prepare for the early winter season. Clerks described empty shelves at local hardware stores Tuesday and said they’re waiting for new inventory to arrive. Meanwhile on the Internet, you can find anything – for a price. Elsewhere, life is returning to normal for those affected by the record-breaking storm. Insurance claims are being filed and the power is

coming back on. On Tuesday, someone who was identified as living in Gillette posted an online ad with a picture of a shiny red Multi-Power brand generator rated at 6,500 watts and seeking $5,000 or the best offer for it. The price is “a bit high” according to Vicki James, who works in customer service at The Home Depot on Second Street. The Casper store sold generators priced from $299 to $700 — when they were in stock over the weekend, James said. Online, the Home Depot sells a 7,500-watt MultiPower generator for $1,199. Se l l i n g eve n fa s te r than generators are chain

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

See what local employees have received awards for their good work. Read our weekly Names and Faces column on D5

to Rapid City Bart Pfankuch Journal staff

Dan Cepeda, Star-Tribune

Joe Wistisen pulls tree branches and logs out of his truck at a city drop off area near Mike Sedar Park in Casper, Wyo., on Saturday morning. Wistisen, who lives near the Municipal Golf Course, had made nine trips and guessed he had several more after that.

saws, which had disap- said. A new shipment peared from store shelves arrived Tuesday mornby 8:30 a.m. Friday, James ing and was gone in hours.

Professionals who cut hair, do nails, give massages or even ink tattoos have long rented a chair or space in an existing salon as a way to ply their trade without the expense and hassle of launching their own business. But a new salon concept coming to Rapid City this fall has taken that time-honored tradition and given it a massive make-over. The new Sola Salon Studio that has a target

YOUR CREDIT RESOURCE I want to caution you about using a debt settlement program versus a debt management program. They are not the same thing, but unfortunately some companies purposely confuse consumers by using the terms interBonnie changeably. See Bonnie Spain’s column on page D2. Drop us your business news at rapidcityjournal.com/bizblog

Spain

opening of December at 507 Main St. in downtown Rapid City is “the hot new thing” in salon setups, according to project partner Nicole Ossenfort. Instead of sharing space, each service provider rents their own customized, climate controlled and sound-insulated boutique salon space within the overall Sola complex, Ossenfort said. Each of the 27 salon sites now under construction will have separate entry doors and be » Salon, D2

LOCAL STOCKS Black Hills Corp. Daktronics MDU Resources Safeway US Bancorp Verizon Wells Fargo Medical Facilities Corp See more stocks on D3, 4

49.12 11.33 28.41 33.75 37.05 47.09 41.43 15.33

D2 | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

COMMODITIES ROUNDUP

YOUR CREDIT RESOURCE

How does debt settlement work? Ethanol change Q. I’m struggling with a lot of debt and getting further and further behind. I’m confused about the alternatives I see advertised on TV, especially debt settlement. The company I called uses terms I don’t understand. I need help. A. Struggling with your debt can be very trying. It’s good that you are actively looking to do something about it. However, I want to caution you about using a debt settlement program versus a debt management program. They are not the same thing, but unfortunately some companies purposely confuse consumers by using the terms interchangeably. A debt settlement company offers to settle your debt by paying only a portion of the debt to your creditors. A debt settlement company will tell you it can help you if you stop making payments to your creditors and make monthly payments to the debt settlement company instead. The company holds your payments in an account until you have built up enough money that the company can offer a settlement to one of your creditors. It typically takes many months just to build

up enough money to offer a settlement to one creditor. Meanwhile, the rest of your creditors are not getting paid or getting a settlement offer. There Bonnie are several Spain problems with this situation. When you stop making payments to your creditors, your accounts become delinquent. The further delinquent your accounts are, the more fees your creditors charge you. As a result, your balances are increasing and you’re getting further in debt while you’re in a debt settlement program. Delinquent accounts damage your credit score. Some creditors will not wait for a settlement offer and will take action against you, such as suing you. A settlement also shows up negatively on your credit report. You also need to be aware that if you settle a debt, and the creditor forgives part of your debt, the IRS considers that forgiven debt as income. That means that, because it’s

considered income, you have to pay taxes on the portion of the debt that was forgiven. Something else you need to know is that debt settlement companies charge consumers fees for their services. Sometimes, these fees are charged illegally. On Oct. 3, 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, took enforcement action against Meracord, a company that collects payments for debt settlement companies. Meracord was helping debt settlement companies collect fees up front from consumers – a practice that is illegal. According to the CFPB, Meracord helped debt settlement companies collect millions of dollars’ worth of illegal fees from more than 11,000 consumers. Nearly 5,000 of those consumers had accounts closed without any of their debts being settled. The CFPB has been pursuing action against several debt settlement providers that charge illegal fees. You can avoid paying these by contacting your creditors directly to offer them a settlement. However, most people don’t have the funds to offer settlements to all

drags corn lower

of their creditors. That’s why a debt management program is often a better solution for helping people get out of debt. Debt management programs help you pay off your debt. You could avoid paying costly fees, falling further behind on payments to your creditors, and having to pay taxes on forgiven debt. Debt management programs typically are offered by credit counseling agencies. Find an agency that will explain its services to you in terms you understand, and that will answer all your questions. If the agency staff doesn’t answer your questions and clearly explain their services, talk to other agencies. Find an agency that will explain things in terms you understand. Don’t sign up for a program you don’t understand. Look for additional options. You should be able to find options that are easy to understand and help you resolve your debt issues. Good luck. Bonnie Spain is the executive director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Black Hills, a United Way member agency. For more information, email credit@ cccsbh.com.

the EPA reportedly proposed this week to cut the ethanol mandate to 13.0 billion gallons next year, a significant decrease. Although the proposal has yet to be approved by the White House, corn prices plunged when the news hit the market, falling to $4.33 per bushel by Friday, the lowest price in over three years.

Among U.S. farmers, corn is king – more acres of corn are planted each year than any other crop. Yet very little of that corn is sweet corn that ends up directly on your plate. Nearly half of all domestic corn use is devoted to creating ethanol, a gasoline additive Walt that’s use Breitinger is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Based on a law passed in 2007, the amount of corn-based ethanol produced next year was set to rise to 14.4 billion gallons. Rising ethanol production and corn consumption has been cited as a major factor in high corn prices over recent years, a welcome boost to farmers. Other corn consumers, like the livestock industry, which accounts for about 40 percent of domestic use, have criticized the ethanol mandate for its impact on corn prices. As a result of these concerns,

Opinions are solely the writer’s. Walt Breitinger is a commodity futures broker with Paragon Investments in Silver Lake, Kan. He can be reached at (800) 411-3888 or www.paragoninvestments. com. This is not a solicitation of any order to buy or sell any market.

Scott Ossenfort from Rapid City, and Lydia and Richard Van Horn of Spearfish — who all have extensive experience running businesses. All four, who together invested about $750,000 in the new venture, met through their work running local offices of the Liberty Tax Service franchise. Ossenfort said she personally likes the idea that Sola can help launch service providers with varied backgrounds into running their own business. “I saw this as an opportunity to change peoples’ live,” she said. To rent space in Sola, or for more information, call Scott or Richard at 605550-4883.

State gets positive ranking South Dakota continues to rank near the best in the nation for having a positive tax climate. According to the latest annual report from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, South Dakota was second in the nation for having a tax climate that is not onerous or which inhibits growth. The state has held that spot for two years in a row. In the report, Wyoming was number one, followed by South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, Florida, Washington, Montana, New Hampshire, Utah and Indiana. The bottom five were New York, New Jersey, California, Minnesota and Rhode Island.

the same experience as we did. We did have tours scheduled, but they all cancelled, as a matter of fact.”

Contact John Lee McLaughlin at 394-8421 or john. mclaughlin@rapidcityjournal. com

Washington talks, gold balks Gold prices were clobbered late this week as news emerged that Republican leaders were meeting with President Obama to discuss solutions that would lead to a short-term extension of the government’s borrowing authority. By Friday, gold had fallen under $1,260 per ounce, the lowest price in three months.

» From D1

Salon

but not by themselves.” Sola is a franchised concept that began in Denver and has launched connected to a comabout 120 salons nationmon waiting area and ally. hallway. Each studio will The Rapid City Sola have luxury styling with will operate in space that a hydraulic chair, stylish used to house part of the fixtures and individual offices of the Rapid City retail space. “The stylist Journal. The Journal will customizes their studio; continue to operate at 507 each studio rented is taiMain St., but the eastern, lored specifically for each ground-floor part of its stylist,” Ossenfort said. building is undergoing a The other new concept massive renovation that is that the professionals will give Sola a sharp, prowho rent space in Sola get fessional but welcoming technical, business and retail training to help them Submitted photo look and feel. Both businesses will have customer succeed. For a monthly This is similar to what the new Sola Salon Studios in Rapid entrances that front Main rental payment that starts City will look like when it opens on Main Street later this fall. Street. at $700, they essentially The new salon is self-employed,” Ossenfort and maternity insurance get an all-inclusive busisaid. “I like to say they are being launch by two area ness package and can even through Sola. in business for themselves, couples — Nicole and “They’re actually get access to disability » From D1

Blizzard Enter Gabriel Avila. The owner of A Cut Above Tree Care and Removal has been working nearly non-stop at cleaning up the thousands of downed and hanging branches. “It’s been very hectic,” said Avila, who’s offering free estimates for debris removal. “We’ve been very busy. We started working Monday, I believe. We have had to get out and start helping people. We have 15 to 20 calls a day. We can only answer so many.” He said his business and most other tree trimmers are booked for at least two weeks. The storm led to an influx of out-of-town tree services that were hoping to make a buck by removing trees and limbs; one Minnesota tree service offered to clean up a yard for $3,000. Locals who want to do the work themselves helped boost sales at area hardware stores. “We’ve been very busy; anything storm related,” Dan French, store manager at Hardware Hank in Baken Park, said Thursday. “This morning I got my third truck in.” French said he’s had three product deliveries since Monday. “I usually get one. My supplier was absolutely

JENNER

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fantastic,” he said. “We put an emergency order in Sunday afternoon and that was able to get here Monday morning. I put another order in Monday afternoon, and it was sitting here Tuesday morning when I came in.” But not all area businesses have weathered the storm so well. Don’s Valley Market owner Don Turner said he lost nearly $100,000 in refrigerated goods after losing power for about 40 hours at his store off Elk Vale Road. “That storm, it just seemed like it came real fast, real bad,” Turner said. “A few people got stuck in their cars out here. I ended up being stuck here myself.” And when Turner saw some of his store patrons stranded in the parking lot, he flagged them indoors with a flashlight. “At one point, we had, I think, 12 people in here,” he said. “I spent from Friday at about 11 a.m. to Sunday to about 7 p.m. here.” Tu r n e r wa s a b l e to regroup fairly quickly. He said his dedicated staff stayed until 2 a.m. Sunday to restock the store to

reopen Monday. “It was quite an accomplishment by these people,” he said. “By Monday noon, we opened the doors.” Seasonal business and providers of outdoor activities also suffered from the storm. Hart Ranch Golf Course said on its Facebook page Thursday that it is closed indefinitely “due to the severe damage sustained during the recent storm. Damage is still being assessed and no re-opening date has been scheduled.” The downed trees and damp conditions have made area courses unplayable at a time when course operators were still seeking revenue from what lately has been an extended fall playing season in the Black Hills. Area ranchers likely suffered the most from the storm, losing tens of thousands of cattle to the weekend blizzard. Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, said most ranchers she had spoken to were reporting that 20 percent to 50 percent of their herds had been killed. Cattle were soaked by

12 hours of rain early in the storm, so many were unable to survive an additional 48 hours of snow and winds up to 60 mph. In addition, Christen said, during the cold months, ranchers tend to move their cattle to pastures that have more trees and gullies to protect them from storms. Between the government shutdown that closed national parks and the freak weekend storm, Ann Thompson’s Affordable Adventure bus tours has seen no business. “ Be twe e n t h e two of them, it was quite a whammy,” Thompson said. “There was absolutely no tours going out. It is kind of a slow season anyway. I’m sure everyone had exactly

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BLIZZARD OF 2013: COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

Fast, ferocious and thankfully infrequent Blizzard of 2013 was a rare, yet well-forecast weather event Chris Orr Journal correspondent

The blizzard that blew down upon the Black Hills on Oct. 4 was an extreme weather event — both in magnitude and time of year. It is not unusual to get several inches of snow in early October Chris Orr i n We s t e r n South Dakota, but accumulations of more than two feet on

the foothills and more than four feet at the higher elevations of the Black Hills are very unusual. In meteorological terms, the storm was created when a powerful upper air disturbance crossed the Pacific Ocean, reaching the West Coast on Tuesday, Oct. 1. As the storm system consolidated over Colorado on Wednesday, warm, moisture-laden air flowed into it from the Gulf of Mexico. Cold air was then drawn into the storm from the north, changing the precipitation into snow across Wyoming, Utah and Montana. The cold air pressed eastward early Friday morning as the storm’s center moved from western Kansas to Nebraska, changing the rain to snow across western South Dakota.

A blizzard like the one that began last Friday rivals the records set by one-day snowfall during a storm back in 1919. Photo courtesy TwisterData.com

Just how rare of an event was the blizzard? You have to go back nearly a century to Oct. 19, 1919, for the next deepest one-day snowfall at 9.9 inches. The next deepest snowfall was

on Oct. 20, 1906. Meteorologists use several computer models to help them forecast the weather. The models began to pick up on the possibility of a storm in the waning

days of September. The path of the storm and the amount of snow became clearer a few days before the snow began to fall. » Weather, E2

Which snowstorm was the worst ever? A glance back at major blizzards in South Dakota’s history Bart Pfankuch Journal staff

Journal file photos

A train engine remains encased in snow despite attempts to free it after the devastating blizzard of 1949.

INFAMOUS STORM OF 1949: ‘IT WAS HELL’

Survivors of blizzard of 1949 insist it was worst in region’s history Bart Pfankuch Journal staff

Dwayne Hollibaugh wants anyone who thinks the Blizzard of 2013 was bad to know that it was nothing compared to the infamous snowstorm of 1949. Now 85, but still tough enough to chew nails, Hollibaugh was 21 and living on a ranch about 35 miles southwest of Chadron, Neb. when the historic storm hit. That storm, which remains etched in the memory of those who survived it, was far harsher than the latest blizzard because it brought not just snow but also high winds and below-zero temperatures for more than a month. At least three separate major storms struck during January. “It was hell,” Hollibaugh said flatly of the storm that hit on Jan. 2, 1949. “These storms we just had, these people think it was tough. They just don’t have any idea what it was like then compared to now.” State records show that the entire state of South Dakota and a large part of Nebraska were affected by the storm. About 24 inches of snow fell in South Dakota that month, winds gusted to 73 mph and temperatures routinely dropped to minus-8. Some snow drifts reached 35

ON THE BLOGS

Another look The Hill City football team was undeterred by more than two feet of snow. Read more on the web at www.rapidcityjournal. com/blog/photo

Just like the blizzard of 2013, the storm of 1949 led to the loss of thousands of cattle. Freezing temperatures were the main culprit in the 1949 snowstorm.

feet and stretched for thousands of feet, state records say. Trains were snowed in; roads were closed for weeks and some buildings were buried under snow that reached their roofs. Hollibaugh had to take care of

his family’s ranch almost by himself because no one could get to him. His family lost about 15 percent of its herd of 200 cattle, mostly due to animals that froze to death. “We had no electricity, no phone, and I never talked to anyone for 30-some days,” he recalled. Grace Roberts was also stranded in a precarious setting during the 1949 blizzard. Roberts, 95, who now lives in Rapid City, was a schoolteacher in 1949 and was able to get to the North Creighton School where she taught just as the storm turned violent. Creighton was a small town about 25 miles north of Wall that no longer exists. She and her 4-year-old daughter hitched a ride to the school, and then they became trapped. “We were marooned in that oneroom schoolhouse for 38 days, all through January and into February,” she remembered. Roberts’ husband was on the ranch 10 miles away and could not get to her. The one road to her that was plowed a few times during the month would snow over again almost immediately due to high winds and the continued battering of successive storms, Roberts said.

May 1905 Western South Dakota was snowed under and winds created blinding conditions that were particularly hard on ranchers. Thousands of cattle wandered through the Badlands and fell to their deaths after walking off bluffs. Estimated cattle deaths topped 16,000. » Worst, E3

Courtesy photo

Readers shared their photos of past blizzards, including this shot from 1977.

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Jan. 12, 1888 Up to 10 inches of snow fell during a cold snap where temperatures dropped to 28 below zero. The temperature dropped from 12 degrees to minus 20 in five minutes. Winds were so strong that people were blown off their feet. Many people became so disoriented they wandered out and got lost. Four hundred people died across the Dakotas, 174 of them in South Dakota.

» 1949 storm, E3

GAS TRACKER Saturday Week Ago Month Ago Year Ago

When it comes to snowstorms, or any major burst of bad weather, determining which was the worst ever is nearly impossible. In rating blizzards, is the amount of snow that fell the key barometer? Is it wind speed? The height of drifts? The number of people without power? The number of people who died? The number of dead cattle? Trying to rank a storm is akin to trying to declare the best game in NFL history, or naming the best or worst president, or even deciding which local restaurant has the best steak. To fuel the debate about where the Blizzard of 2013 ranks, here is a look back at a number of bad snowstorms in state history. All storm information presented was cataloged by the State of South Dakota in a report called the Multi-hazard Mitigation Plan.

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BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

E2 | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013

[ WEDDING BELLS

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

Wedding held at Chapel in the Hills despite damage from the blizzard

]

Determined bride weds at blizzard-battered Chapel Kayla Gahagan Journal correspondent

Even as the blizzard bore down on the Black Hills the first weekend of October, bride-to-be Megan Benter of Rapid City didn’t panic. When the best man became stuck en route from Winner, she still didn’t worry. It wasn’t until Sunday, Oct. 6, when she realized that she was just 24 hours from her wedding and was snowed in at her father’s Rapid City home, that Benter started to fret. “It was a mess,” said the 25-year-old, who wed her boyfriend of four years, Winner’s Bryce Benter, 25, in an outdoor ceremony at the historic Chapel in the Hills just two days after the devastating blizzard had pummeled the region. Even with broken tree limbs, shingles torn from the roof and damage to the

Megan and Bryce Benter married at the historic Chapel in the Hills only days after the blizzard hit.

“It wouldn’t have happened without great family and friends.” Benter said several of them spent the day decorating the reception hall at the Dahl Arts Center in downtown Rapid City and her mother spent long hours on the phone negotiating deliveries. An order of cotton candy for the vintage circus-themed wedding was of particular concern because it was supposed to arrive Friday and had gotten stuck on its way from Nebraska. “It was a miracle that it came through,” Benter said. But the sweetest moment, she said, was when her brother arrived from Denver. “He was a groomsman and he got there 20 minutes before the ceremony,” she said. “I just started crying because then I knew it was going to be OK.”

popular bell, the wedding at the chapel was perfect, Benter said. “It was beautiful,” she added. “I couldn’t have asked for a better day.” The couple had chosen Monday, Oct. 7, because it was the day they had started dating. And even with the blizzard being forecast several days before the nuptials, Benter was set on moving forward. “When you have a date set in your mind and everything is ready, you don’t want to change it,” she said. “You just have that vision in your head.” It took that vision, and the help of family and friends, to pull it off. As the storm began to wane and Benter and her fiancé were able to dig themselves out of her father’s house, they headed straight to the chapel, where they helped with clean-up alongside

manager Craig Lewis. “She was determined to get married at the chapel,” he said. The couple recruited bridesmaids, groomsmen and more family and friends to help with the debris removal and the straightening up. Several trees and limbs had fallen on the property,

to snow in and around Rapid City by 5 a.m. on Friday. As the center of the storm approached southcentral South Dakota Friday afternoon, thundershowers rotated east to west towards the Black Hills, enhancing the rate at which the snow fell. The wind grew stronger, gusting to 70 mph at times, combining the falling snow with blowing snow to drop the visibility to 100 feet. Moisture continued to feed in from the northeast throughout most of Friday night, while the wind continued to howl at up to 70 mph as the center of the storm moved into eastern North Dakota. The blizzard dumped 55 inches of snow in Lead, 48 inches in Deadwood, 35 inches in Sturgis and 31 inches in Rapid City and Spearfish. The snow tapered off

Saturday morning but the see the heavy loss of live- Consulting Meteorologist SovereignSociety.com. He strong wind continued stock endured by ranchers. and is the editor of Weather also writes the weather blog throughout the afternoon, Chris Orr is a Certified Trader service at www. for the Rapid City Journal. causing drifts several feet high. By afternoon, the sun was shining and melting of some snow began. Schild agrees with me that the computer models did an excellent job predicting the amount of snow. For its part, the National Weather Service did an excellent job issuing blizzard warnings well in advance of the storm. A meteorologist feels a SPECIALTY: Neurosurgery lot of excitement when the “big storm” strikes, espeMEDICAL SCHOOL: University of Maryland cially when the forecast School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD – 1985 holds true. The excitement — the glee of a job well done RESIDENCY: General Surgery–Case Western — of the accurate forecast of Reserve University, Cleveland, OH–1985-1986 the blizzard quickly fades as Neurosurgery–University of Saskatchewan, we see the devastation; hear Saskatoon, Canada–1986-1990 reports about fellow residents living without heat FELLOWSHIP: Neurosurgery/Oncology–University and refrigerated food; and of California, San Francisco, CA–1990-1992

Photo courtesy Lisa Jenner

and a tree had hit the historic bell tower, which was built along with the chapel in the 1960s. The bell was a gift from a church in Presho. Lewis said chapel managers are still trying to ascertain how much damage the storm had caused to the buildings and how much the insurance will cover.

“It will be fun for a while,” he said. The wedding was smaller than had been anticipated because so many people were not able to attend after the storm, but 50 were still able to join the celebration, Benter said. “Everybody really came through for us,” she said.

» From E1

Weather The computer models do not always agree on how much snow will fall or the track of a storm’s center. This time, however, the models were in close agreement, enough so that the National Weather Service issued a special weather statement Tuesday for northeast Wyoming and northwest South Dakota to highlight the possibility of significant snow on Friday. As the storm developed over eastern Colorado and western Kansas, National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Schild decided to put out a winter storm watch Wednesday morning for northeast Wyoming and western South Dakota. The watch was expanded eastward Wednesday evening. “A couple of things caught my eye when I got to work Thursday,” Schild says. “It was obvious that there was going to be a lot of precipitation and the wind was going to be quite strong.” That was when Schild upgraded the watch to a blizzard warning. Still, Schild, who has worked at the Rapid City National Weather Service office for 10 years, says he kept looking at the calendar, finding it difficult to believe that a blizzard could strike in early October. It is difficult to forecast an event so rare. As a fellow weather forecaster, I know the feeling I had as the Halloween blizzard of 1991 formed and I called the Minneapolis Street Department with a forecast of at least 20 inches of snow. Something in the back of your mind as a forecaster says, “this cannot be right.” Predicting a huge neverbefore-seen blizzard seems absurd, yet as a forecaster, the warning has to go out and any thought of hesitation has to be shrugged off. With this system, rain began to fall Thursday, Oct. 4, becoming heavy at times and accompanied by lightning during the evening. By 3 a.m. Friday, the rain changed to snow over parts of the Black Hills and Spearfish. The rain switched

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BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

bust open a snow pile that had stopped up Whitewood Creek. The length of the storm and its aftermath led federal and state authorities to use planes to drop hay to stranded cattle and packets of yeast onto city streets so people could make bread. Food and clothes were also dropped from planes to people trapped in their cars for days. Dynamite was used to clear railroad lines packed in by several feet of snow. One woman who called the Journal to share her

story but who did not want to be named told a tale of how she was a high school student in Mobridge when the storm hit. She recalled that the Olympian Hiawatha passenger train that ran through town was delayed for days in the city. “The train stalled, and Sophie Tucker was on it,” she said, referring to the singer, comedian and radio personality who was known as “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas.” “She kept everyone entertained for days,” the woman said.

he’d bring us some bread or when he milked a cow, he would bring some milk.” The school had a small bed, and they had coal for a stove to beat back the below-freezing weather. They kept clean by melting snow in a pan and washing with it. They had a small battery-operated radio, but the two mostly spent time talking and reading books. Roberts, then 30, taught some school lessons to her daughter. “I would read a story to her at night before bed, and eventually she said, ‘I can

read that now,’” Roberts said. “She learned to read at age four during that storm.” She and her daughter still speak often of the storm and their time together, Roberts said. “We say, ‘I wonder how we survived,’” she said. “And now, this storm we just had, it was bad. But I’ve told people that I’ve seen worse.” Jim LeMar of Rapid City remembers that the worst elements of the 1949 storm were the drifting and its longevity. LeMar, now 73, was a

boy growing up in Deadwood when the 1949 storm struck. He said his family home had a balcony that looked out over downtown, but after the storm hit he was able to walk right off the balcony onto solid snow. The entire region was locked into place because so many roads and rail lines were blocked for weeks, he said. “We’d no sooner get dug out of one storm and another would hit,” LeMar said. He remembers workers from the Homestake mine using dynamite to

common. Six people died during three major storms. In November, a snowstorm toppled a 1,400-foot TV tower and derailed several January, 1949 For many older Black freight cars. Hills residents, this remains the all-time worst. This March 29, 1981 blizzard affected the entire This storm preceded state and lasted for weeks. a bad blizzard that would Snowfalls were heavy but strike mostly in the Black not record-setting, but Hills in October. The March the freezing temperatures storm featured a tornado crippled transportation and near Martin and more than delivery of services across 10 inches of snow in the the state. northwest. More than 1,500 Roads, railroad engines, power poles snapped after cars and entire buildings becoming coated in snow were engulfed by snow and ice. Cars and trucks drifts that were in some were overturned on Interspots 35 feet deep and sev- state 29 in the East, and eral thousand feet long. No a railroad tanker car was one died in South Dakota, overturned, spilling phosbut five were left dead in phoric acid. nearby states. November/December 1983 March 1966 This storm mainly affeWeeks of sub-zero temcted eastern South Dakota peratures culminated in with winds up to 70 mph and blizzards in November and 100 mph recorded in Gettys- December that were parburg. An estimated 100,000 ticularly bad on the Rosecattle and sheep were lost bud and Pine Ridge Indian at a value of $20 million. reservations. Travel on the Several hundred people in reservations was shut down Pierre were evacuated due completely, and tribal governments opened shelters to a mass power outage. High winds broke win- for thousands who did not dows and snow entered have heat. One death was many buildings. A 121-car reported. train was halted by snow drifts. Ten people died in Oct. 22-24, 1995 the storm. About 22 inches of snow fell, but ice that snapped trees and power lines was Winter 1977 An unusually high num- the main problem of this ber of heavy snowfalls hit early-season snowstorm. during 1977. Interstate Thirteen rural electric co90 was often shut down, ops reported major damand power outages were age. Power outages led to

a cutoff of water to many rural homes. Highway closures led to the opening of many government shelters so motorists had a place to go during the transportation shutdown.

74 inches and Deadwood and Rapid City. Deadwood across the Black Hills. had 55. Some drifts were received 30 inches and 28 Nearly 40,000 homes lost reported to reach 15 feet. fell in Rapid City over three power, tens of thousands days. April 2013 became the of cattle died and transsnowiest April on record portation came to a nearApril 25, 2008 Eastern South Dakota cit- statewide with a total of standstill. Four deaths were ies saw many snowfall reco- 39.5 inches for the month. associated with the storm. rds broken, including an Seven counties enacted Commerce came to a stop as employees could not get all-time record single-day disaster declarations. snowfall in Watertown of 19 to work and stores could not inches. Travel was hamper- Oct. 4-5, 2013 open. Thousands of trees ed across the state for days. O u r l a te s t b l i z za rd were downed, and several brought 55 inches of snow local communities declared to Lead, and several feet disasters. Nov. 5-7, 2008 The Black Hills took the brunt of this storm that brought snow then rain and FREE SIGN-UP freezing rain to the region. FEE PLUS ONE Travel and commerce were shut down as major highMONTH FREE With Purchase of With Purchase of ways were closed for days. With Auto-Withdrawal 6 Month 12 Month Membership A van carrying school Membership Membership (New Members Only) (New Members Only) (New Members Only) students rolled, injuring Not valid with any Not valid with any Not valid with any several. Gubernatorial and other offer. Expires other offer. Expires other offer. Expires presidential disaster dec11/30/13. The Weight 11/30/13. The Weight 11/30/13. The Weight Room larations followed due to Room Room heavy commercial losses.

» From E1

1949 storm Just like the recent storm, in which neighbors and strangers stepped up to help those in need, Roberts and her daughter were kept alive through their wits, but also with help from people who lived nearby. “We ate a lot of canned soup,” Roberts said. “The closest neighbor was a mile away, and he would ride over on horseback and when his wife baked bread » From E1

Worst

Nov. 13-26, 1996 This slow-moving but meddlesome storm struck primarily in the Black Hills. Rain and fog mixed with snow made travel precarious. More than 10,000 homes lost power due to snapped lines. Both interstates were frequently closed. January 1997 Two storms in a single week brought freezing temperatures and snow drifts up to 20 feet deep. Some roads were blocked for more than two weeks. Livestock losses were estimated in the millions of dollars in damages. Nov. 27, 2005 Labeled one of the worst ice storms in state history, this storm dropped 20 inches of snow in some places but freezing rain did the most damage as the state was nearly completely iced over. Power outages were common. Air traffic was halted, and icy roads led to numerous accidents in which two people were killed. Ice on top of snow was up to three inches thick in places.

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Jan. 20-26, 2010 This storm centered on East River caused an estimated $40 million in property damage and $10 million in clean-up costs. High winds and heavy snowfalls stalled transportation and led to power outages. At least 31 emergency shelters were opened statewide. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe had a water system failure that left reservation residents without drinkable water.

April 8-10, 2013 A surprising spring April 18, 2006 Wet, heavy snow came storm dumped heavy snow down hard in this three- that drifted to several feet day storm. Lead recorded mostly in the Black Hills

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BLIZZARD ASSISTANCE FOR ASSISTANCE OR TO VOLUNTEER People needing assistance or those who would like to volunteer in Pennington, Lawrence, Meade, Custer, Fall River, and Butte, were asked to call the Helpline Center at 2-1-1. For assistance or to volunteer in any other counties not listed, please call the Helpline Center, toll free at 1-877708-4357. Those in need of assistance will be asked to complete a short form identifying the type of help that is being requested. Individuals and volunteer teams will be contacted by volunteer coordinator and assigned projects.

800-727-2482 (605) 342-9362 I-90, Exit 55 Rapid City, SD www.blackhillshd.com

Tuesday-Saturday 9 am-5 pm Closed Sunday & Monday

LIVESTOCK Disposal site plans and disposal sites are currently being constructed. The priority for disposal will be for livestock along county road right-of-ways. Needs can be registered by contacting 2-1-1. Once registered, residents will be contacted to address areas of concern. For information on documenting and tagging live stock for disposal visit SD Animal Industry Board: http://aib.sd.gov/. DONATIONS The Black Hills Disaster Recovery Relief Fund will help those affected by the disaster through the coordinated efforts of SDVOAD (South Dakota Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster). Contributions can be made online at https://www.giveblackhills.org/27678, or can be mailed to BHACF/BH Disaster Recovery Relief Fund, P.O. Box 231, Rapid City, SD 57709. CITY OF RAPID CITY Terry Wolterstorff, Public Works Director for the City of Rapid City, said that crews from the South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire have been mobilized to remove dangling branches that are endangering residents. Crews have been identiied and are working in quadrants beginning with the schools. Residents were asked to report hazards immediately to 2-1-1 who will report the hazard to the city for assessment.

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BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

E6 | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013

[ ICONIC IMAGES

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

A look at the Blizzard of 2013 as seen through the camera’s eye

]

Chris Huber, Journal staff

Chad Hoffman clears snow from the entrance of his apartment building Saturday morning in Rapid City. The drift in front of this building reached more than 4 feet high.

efore the first snowflakes fell, Rapid City Journal photographers were out in force to capture images of what we thought would be a simple fall snowstorm. But as the storm morphed into an all-out blizzard, and a community almost completely par-

alyzed, the “shooters” took aim with heightened interest and commitment. Over the four-day period from Friday, Oct. 4 through Monday, Oct. 7, and beyond, Journal photographers (and reporters with cameras) scoured the Black Hills to capture the signature moments of the storm. Here, as part of this special edition, we present some of the best, most iconic images captured by our professionals, including Photo Editor Kristina Barker and staff photographers Benjamin Brayfield and Chris Huber. In addition, we’re including some of the most interesting snapshots taken by readers and amateur photographers, who made their own lasting memories and shared them with Journal readers on our web site. — Journal staff Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Sarah Diaz pulls tree limbs out of the street in front of her home in Rapid City, Oct. 7, 2013. She was with her family in Nebraska for her niece’s wedding during the storm and came home to a yard full of broken tree branches, she said.

Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Josh Schumaker, 27, left, and Karl Knutson, 25, ride through pasture east of Sturgis along Highway 34 on Monday. Knutson and Schumaker were checking on cattle at Knutson’s father’s place. Chris Huber, Journal staff

Cars abandoned in the middle of streets is commonplace on some of the residential areas in Rapid City.

[ READER PHOTOS ]

BLIZZARD OF 2013 COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

Greg Nielsen, left, and Clyde Cochran find shelter after trying to dig out a vehicle. Cochran is in the process of converting this horse trailer to livable quarters. The wood burning stove belonged to Nielsen’s father.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013 | E7

Kristina Barker, Journal staff

Frozen cattle could be seen along Highway 34 east of Sturgis, another casualty of the early October blizzard.

Benjamin Brayfield, Journal staff

The side streets of the neighborhoods east of 5th street were not among the first to be plowed. Plowing the main roads was the city’s top priority. Photo courtesy Scott Gengler

Reader Scott Gengler took this photo of his neighbor’s house burning early Sunday morning at Morse Place.

Chris Huber, Journal staff

Pickups line up to unload branches at the yard waste collection site on Fairmont Boulevard in Rapid City.

Some readers tried to make the best of a bad thing, like this reader who helped show how high the drifts were at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

The blizzard offered sights you don’t always see: allwheel drive vehicles stuck in the snow while snowmobiles ruled the main roads.

We always get a lot of photos of snowmen, even snow dragons and snow crocodiles, but this was easily one of the biggest we’ve ever seen from our readers.

4. 5.

One reader didn’t have snow pants readily available, so she made do with what she had for warm clothes.

Even though almost everyone was stranded wherever they happened to be when the storm hit, photos of windwhipped apartment buildings, cars, and neighbors made for telling photos even if it was the only view.

Pedestrians took advantage of the absence of vehicle traffic on otherwise very busy thoroughfares like this group of people on Lacrosse Street.

7. 8.

Wind seemed to come from every direction at some point over the weekend, rendering this weather vane useless.

Readers from across the region sent in photos of how they were coping and not coping with the snow. These freshman at Chadron State College carried snow off the football field in an effort to prepare for an already postponed game. In addition to wedding plans and travel plans being halted by the storm, dozens of schools had to postpone fall sporting events.

9. 10.

Some readers took advantage of the alternative travel styles offered by the fresh layer of snow on the ground. These readers were among many who made the best of the early winter weather.