Connect with us

South Dakota

South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs seeks cemetery expansion

Published

on

South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs seeks cemetery expansion


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The South Dakota Veterans Cemetery is more than just a final resting place for those who served our country and their spouses. It’s also a place where families can grieve, honor and remember the sacrifices that they made in a quiet location.

“It’s just impactful and you notice it as soon as you drive through the gates,” said South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Aaron Pollard. “We call the eagles [at the front gate] the guardians. They’re looking in on the road and those guardians’ job is to welcome that veteran to the cemetery and say, ‘I’ve got the watch now and you can rest.’ ”

It’s important to those who work at the cemetery and the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs to be able to honor the final wishes of a veteran and their family, which means presenting them with multiple options to see what’s best for them.

The cemetery holds more than headstones to Pollard. To him, each space has a story and each space is a brother or sister in arms.

Advertisement

“It’s our goal, it’s our job, it’s our duty, but it’s also our passion to take care of veterans,” Pollard explained. “As a department, we have the ability to essentially take care of veterans in every aspect of their life post-military.”

The department wants to offer every burial option for families to have their loved ones laid to rest.

For now, space won’t be a problem for urn and casket burials, but columbariums, an above-ground placement of about 600 cremated remains, are an option they’ll need more of in a few years.

That’s where Senate Bill 52 comes in. If passed, appropriations will be made to add three more columbarium rows. The Department of Veterans Affairs introduced the bill and it will go through the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs first. It may take a while to be able to use those funds, but an emergency clause puts them on the fast track to adding room for hundreds of veterans and their spouses to be revered forever.

“That will enable us once the bill passes and we know we have the legislative authority to submit the pre-application for the grant to the federal VA and get that process started sooner rather than later,” Pollard said.

Advertisement

Pollard applauded the Chair of the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Senator Larry Zikmund for always supporting the work of the cemetery from the beginning.

Pollard also doesn’t see any major issues that could stall the bill. SB 52 will need to pass through the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, both houses of the state legislature and be signed by the Governor. There has not been any opposition, though, so it might feel like a matter of when, not if it gets passed. The sooner the better to get started on construction under a budget for fiscal year 2025.



Source link

Advertisement

South Dakota

SD Department of Corrections announces high-risk offender release

Published

on

SD Department of Corrections announces high-risk offender release


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The South Dakota Department of Corrections is warning the public about the pending release of a prison offender.

Richie Desersa, 31, is scheduled to be released from prison to suspended sentence supervision on December 3, 2025.

SD Department of Corrections announces high-risk offender release(Dakota News Now)

He was convicted of third-degree burglary in 2017 in Minnehaha County.

“Based on the assessments we conduct during incarceration, as well as his criminal history, including prior sex offenses, Offender Desersa is considered to be high-risk for committing additional violent acts in the future,” said Lamb.

Advertisement

“I am issuing this alert to let law enforcement and the public know about his release.”

Desersa will be released to Sioux Falls with GPS monitoring and must participate in treatment.

He is a Native American male, 5′11″ tall, weighing around 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

This notification is in addition to the letters currently sent to law enforcement and notices provided to the Division of Criminal Investigation each month.

Since 2011, the Department of Corrections has issued a total of 21 public notices of pending high-risk offender releases.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

SD Lottery Lucky For Life winning numbers for Nov. 30, 2025

Published

on


The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 30, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Nov. 30 drawing

03-08-13-17-18, Lucky Ball: 17

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Advertisement

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

  • Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
  • Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
  • Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.



Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

Competition for Nebraska’s ‘Carhenge’ rises near South Dakota’s Badlands

Published

on

Competition for Nebraska’s ‘Carhenge’ rises near South Dakota’s Badlands


KADOKA, S.D. (Nebraska Examiner) — Nebraska’s quirky replica of England’s prehistoric Stonehenge, “Carhenge,” is about to get some new competition in a neighboring state. And a former Nebraskan is behind it.

Rising from a dusty, prairie ridge along Interstate 90 near this Badlands-area town is a collection of firetrucks dubbed “Firehenge.”

Its creator, an Omaha Burke High School grad who runs a Rapid City brewery, said the ring of 10-ton firetrucks vertically arranged in a circle is more about promoting his Firehouse Brewery Company than trying to lure away visitors from Alliance, Nebraska’s popular Carhenge, about 200 miles to the south.

The new South Dakota version of the roadside attraction, which sits just off I-90, also includes a collection of buried fire hydrants called “Doghenge.” By next summer, the new henges will include a gift shop where visitors can purchase brewery souvenirs and canned beer and wine from the Firehouse Brewing Co., South Dakota’s first and oldest brewery.

Advertisement

“We are just having a ton of fun out here. Just come out and see it,” said Bob Fuchs, the co-owner of the brewery who graduated from Burke in 1981. And, he adds, bring your dog.

A city official in Alliance, which took over ownership of Carhenge in 2013, said she doesn’t expect local residents to mount a monumental fuss over a competing “henge” in the general vicinity.

“I think all of these things are fun,” said Shana Brown, the director of cultural and leisure services for Alliance.

As it turns out, both Carhenge and Firehenge have plenty of competition in tourism’s Carhenge-replica category.

There’s a “Foamhenge” (made out of foam) in Virginia, a “Truckhenge” near Topeka, Kansas (made out of farm trucks), a “Phonehenge” (made out old telephone booths) in South Carolina, and a “Strawhenge” (made out of bales) in Bavaria, Germany.

Advertisement

Years ago, a “Twinkiehenge” was built during a Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. There was once a “Snowhenge” in Michigan and a “Fridgehenge” (made out of old refrigerators) once graced the plains near Santa Fe before complaints caused its demise.

A couple decades ago, a reporter was summoned to Chadron, where a suspected “Hayhenge” had been built northeast of town. Round hay bales had been arranged in a circle at a local ranch.

In the kinda-old-henge category, there’s a full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge in Maryhill, Washington, that was built in 1918 to honor people lost in World War I.

And near Carbury, North Dakota, there’s a circle of granite walls that serves as a 21st Century solar calendar, which is the suspected purpose of Stonehenge, a prehistoric circle of stones aligned for ceremonial purposes to indicate the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and fall equinoxes.

Carhenge was built in 1987 by Jim Reinders and his relatives as a memorial to Reinders’ father, who had lived on the farm north of Alliance where the collection of 39 American cars – arranged to align with the solar calendar – now sits.

Advertisement

The off-beat attraction draws about 100,000 visitors a year, according to Brown, and features a staffed gift shop from May through September. An estimated 4,000 people gathered there for the solar eclipse in 2017.

Carhenge has appeared in films, commercials, television shows and in song. Last summer, it hosted a group of muralists, who painted murals on the grey-painted cars, providing a new look for the motorcar monument.

Fuchs, the Firehenge creator, said he’s not haunted by henges but had visited Carhenge shortly after it was first created.

The inspiration for his firetruck circle came during a recent marketing meeting for his brewery, which was established inside a former Rapid City firehouse built in 1915.

Fuchs has long parked old firetrucks, purchased from all corners of the Midwest, next to his brewery billboards to draw more attention to his business. He says that he often hears that visitors to Rapid City’s downtown area ask “where’s the Firehouse?”

Advertisement

“It’s guerilla marketing,” Fuchs said during a recent visit to Firehenge. “It’s very effective.”

At the marketing meeting, one of Fuchs’ aides was playing with a toy firetruck. Once she set it on end, vertically, an idea was born.

He said he has no plans to hoist a firetruck so it sits horizontally across two vertical trucks — like the stones at Stonehenge and cars at Carhenge. Too many liability concerns, Fuchs said. More firetrucks may be planted this spring, though, he said. And a YouTube video, featuring a visit by aliens to Firehenge, is in the works, Fuchs adds.

Over the din of a front-end loader smoothing out a gravel parking lot, he said it’s been a lot of fun.

“I get to explore my artistic side by planting fire trucks in the prairie,” Fuchs said.

Advertisement

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Aaron Sanderford for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.

Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending