South Dakota
Contents of memorial to mountain man Hugh Glass revealed at Neihardt event • South Dakota Searchlight
WAYNE, Nebraska — A “reveal” of what a Nebraska poet hid inside a lonely monument a century ago revealed more of what Mother Nature could wreck over the span of 100 years.
On Saturday, descendants of John Neihardt revealed what they’d found inside an “altar to courage” that the poet and members of a fan club from what’s now Wayne State College planted in the rocky soil of northwestern South Dakota in 1923.
The homemade, concrete monument memorialized the courage of mountain man Hugh Glass, who was left for dead in August 1823 after being mauled by a grizzly bear but then crawled and limped 200 miles to get help.
Neihardt challenged students from Wayne State (then Nebraska Normal College) to return in 100 years to rededicate and open a time capsule he buried within the monument, which he said contained an “original manuscript.”
Drilled, chiseled into monument
His family carefully drilled and chiseled into the thigh-high monument last October after removing it from its location near Lemmon, South Dakota, where Glass was mauled.
But on Saturday they revealed that what they could retrieve from inside were still-wet fragments of a special Neihardt edition of a student newspaper, The Goldenrod, as well as pieces of Neihardt’s book containing his epic poem describing the heroic crawl, “The Song of Hugh Glass.”
Coralie Hughes, a granddaughter of Neihardt, said that despite the lack of a new work from Nebraska’s “poet laureate in perpetuity,” the family had accomplished its goal of fulfilling the “challenge” to open up the time capsule and not destroying the monument in the process.
“I was hoping for a personal note to the world from my grandfather,” Hughes said. “Maybe he did (leave one) because a lot of what we found was unintelligible.”
The paper fragments, when found inside a tin box imbedded in the concrete, were still wet, which she said may have been the result of several times when the monument was flooded.
The monument was originally built on dry, private ranch land near the confluence of two forks of the Grand River, but it ended up on the banks of a federal reservoir that flooded at least four times since 1953.
Hughes said the family was told by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the reservoir, that the monument had to be moved if it was to be breached.
She said the family proceeded gingerly in drilling into the monument so as not to destroy it. The first thing to be discovered— using a snake-like video camera — were fragments of a pop bottle that contained a letter from two newlyweds— J.T. and Myrtle Young of Lincoln — who arrived too late to sign a document Neihardt said was signed by those present and placed inside a tin box.
The Neihardt family decided against trying to retrieve the glass fragments or trying to dig out all the paper fragments inside the embedded tin box for fear of destroying the monument, which was relocated to the John Neihardt State Historic Site in Bancroft, Nebraska.
Some papers remain inside the tin box, Hughes said, but they are just “crumbling” pieces.
“We didn’t want to keep going,” said Alexis Petri of Kansas City, who produced a short documentary on the family’s work to retrieve the monument.
Her documentary and the “reveal” were presented Saturday at the annual spring conference of the Neihardt Foundation held at Wayne State College. Neihardt graduated from the school, then called Nebraska Normal College, at age 15.
‘Wonderful to see something tangible’
The event focused on the saga of the almost forgotten monument, the taking up of the challenge by Wayne State professor Joseph Weixelman and his class to rededicate the monument and the eventual decision to relocate the monument to Nebraska.
Mary McDermott, who drove from Holdrege with her daughter to view the final chapter in the mystery of the monument, betrayed no disappointment that some rare manuscript wasn’t found.
“It’s wonderful to see something tangible from 100 years ago,” she said.
“I’m impressed that there was something still there,” said her daughter Alizabeth.
Marianne Reynolds, the executive director of the Neihardt Center, said the fragments retrieved would be sent to the Ford Conservation Center in Omaha for further analysis.
After that, she said, they would be put on display at the center in Bancroft. A kiosk is envisioned so that visitors can play the documentary produced by Petri, Reynolds added.
(AP) – Voters in Colorado and South Dakota will have a say on abortion rights this fall after enough signatures were collected to put measures on the ballots.
South Dakota voters will get a chance at direct democracy on the contentious issue in a conservative state where a trigger law banning nearly all abortions went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Colorado’s measure, which made the ballot Friday, would enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution. Colorado already has broad protections for abortion, becoming a haven for those in states that have restricted abortion, particularly Texas.
South Dakota’s top election official announced Thursday that about 85% of the more than 55,000 signatures submitted in support of the ballot initiative are valid, exceeding the required 35,017 signatures.
Voters will vote up or down on prohibiting the state from regulating abortion before the end of the first trimester and allowing the state to regulate abortion after the second trimester, except when necessary to preserve the life or physical or emotional health of a pregnant woman.
Dakotans for Health, which sponsored the amendment, said in a statement Thursday that the signatures’ validation “certified that the people of South Dakota, not the politicians in Pierre, will be the ones to decide whether to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of South Dakota.”
Abortion rights are also on the ballot in Florida and Maryland, and advocates are still working toward that goal in states including Arizona, Montana and Nebraska in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe.
Voters of seven other states have already approved abortion access in ballot measures, including four that wrote abortion rights into their constitutions.
Supporters for Colorado’s ballot measure said they turned in over 225,000 signatures, nearly double the required number of just over 124,000. Amending the state constitution will require the support of 55% of voters.
“In this time of uncertainty, we need to secure abortion rights and access in the Colorado Constitution, beyond the reach of politics and politicians,” Karen Middleton, president of Cobalt Abortion Fund based in Colorado, said in a statement Friday.
South Dakota outlaws all abortions, except to save the life of the mother.
Despite securing language on the ballot, abortion rights advocates in South Dakota face an uphill battle to success in November. Republican lawmakers strongly oppose the measure, and a major abortion rights advocate has said it doesn’t support it.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota warned when the signatures were submitted that the language as written doesn’t convey the strongest legal standard for courts to evaluate abortion laws and could risk being symbolic only.
Life Defense Fund, a group organized against the initiative, said they will continue to research the signatures.
Opponents still have 30 days — until June 17 — to file a challenge with the secretary of state’s office.
“We are grateful to the many dedicated volunteers who have put in countless hours, and we are resolute in our mission to defend unborn babies,” co-chairs Leslee Unruh and state Rep. Jon Hansen said in a statement.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Oklahoma State’s first game of 2024 will not be an easy one.
The Cowboys have high expectations going into next season, and they might need to realize their potential in game one. Although they are kicking off against an FCS opponent, South Dakota State is not a typical team.
OSU is 17-2 in season openers under Mike Gundy and has won nine straight. However, the team’s most recent loss came against Florida State in 2014.
The Seminoles entered that season No. 1 as the defending national champions. To begin 2024, the Jackrabbits will enter Stillwater as a two-time defending national champion, riding a 29-game winning streak.
READ MORE: OSU Football: Avoiding Slow Start Imperative for Cowboys in 2024
The Cowboys’ season-opening matchup made ESPN’s list of 10 potential FCS over FBS upsets for next season. Although the game could cause issues for the Cowboys, the team’s position could help it get out of week one with a win.
Perhaps the most important quality for OSU going into next season is the lack of questions surrounding the team. Going into 2023, OSU’s season was filled with unknowns.
The Cowboys had three quarterbacks vying for the starting spot, three running backs looking for an opportunity and a new defensive coordinator for the second straight season. Meanwhile in 2024, Alan Bowman has the starting spot, Ollie Gordon II is a Heisman hopeful and Bryan Nardo’s defense has shown it can be relied on in big moments.
With the third-most returning production, OSU is likely to enter next season ranked. With so much returning talent from a 10-win team, OSU would not be on upset watch against any FCS team other than the most dominant.
The Cowboys have struggled in early season games in recent years, but with an abundance of continuity, they could be ready to hit the ground running against a tough opponent.
READ MORE: OSU Softball: Poullard and Davis Shine; Cowgirls Take Down Northern Colorado
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South Dakota
USD Department of Art Instructor Hosted Arts and Health Program at Mike Durfee State Prison
Ariadne Albright, an arts in health adjunct instructor in the University of South Dakota Department of Art, co-directed an arts and health program at the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield.
The program, I Believe II / The South Dakota Prison Project, was led by Albright and Suzanne Costello, director of the Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theatre Company. It was a sequel to the successful 2022-2023 initiative at the South Dakota State’s Men’s Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
Funded by a South Dakota Department of Health Innovation Grant, the intensive two-week residency included four hours of daily workshops in visual arts, writing, movement and theater, exploring personal beliefs and fostering self-expression. The project culminated in an art exhibit and performance.
“The goals of this innovative program are to positively impact barriers prevalent in carceral settings, promote mental wellness through creative expression and provide tools for personal growth,” Albright said. “Further, this initiative seeks to foster connections and empathy among this community, impacting greater prison culture.”
The I Believe I & II projects extend beyond the prisons and into the community. The artwork created during the residencies will be showcased in a touring art exhibit, Arts & Incarceration, to museums and galleries across South Dakota and Minnesota from 2024-2026. These exhibitions will include gallery talks to facilitate dialogue and understanding for audiences outside the prisons.
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