visit our facebook page
call 605-539-1281
Mail: True Dakotan, PO Box 358, Wessington Springs, SD 57382
Subscriptions: In SD $39.22 (tax included) Non-SD $47.00 (no sales tax)
Send subscription checks to: PO Box 358, Wessington Springs, SD 57382
Posts under ‘True Dakotan photo gallery’
Professional horse trainer, Rodney Yost first gets colt’s attention, then his respect
A professional horse trainer, Rodney Yost, of Miller, conducted a starting horse training clinic for colts last Saturday at the Jerauld County 4-H barn in Wessington Springs.
Horse people from the area brought their colts to have Yost demonstrate his training techniques. He is shown at right as he gets a horse’s attention after he worked it out with a run around the pen.
Yost gives a running narrative as he gently gains the animal’s respect to the point where it seems to want to please him.
The clinic gave the horse owners many tips they can take home to work on their own colts.
Happy Hill School….
- TRUE DAKOTAN/DUKE WENZEL
THE HAPPY HILL RURAL SCHOOL sits on land owned by Gary and Linda Wenzel, southwest of Wessington Springs on the Cady Lake road. The school once was the source of elementary education for a lot of Wenzel and Clemetson and other area families as far back as 80 yars ago.
Springs WWII veteran takes Honor Flight to National Monument in Washington, DC
A World War II veteran from Wessington Springs traveled on a Honor Flight to Washington, DC, to visit the World War II Memorial in that city recently. Retired farmer Eldon Beckman spent much of his war years aboard amphibious landing crafts as a young member of the United States Navy. Now 86 years of age, he took the trip on August 20-21, 2010 with his daughter Cindy Rimpo, of Ohio. The trip overlapped the 64th anniversary that he and his wife, Joyce would have spent together, the first anniversary they spent apart in their married years. “Dad had to stay an extra few months in Japan after their surrender, so by the time they got home, there was no welcome home parties. My mom and his parents met him at the plane in Huron. He said that it was a GREAT feeling to be met at the airport by applause, handshakes and thanks from people. He also said that people came up to him in Washington and thanked him for his service, and I think it made him feel very good,” said Cindy. “The people that organize the Honor Flights think of EVERYTHING that the vets might need,” Eldon said, “and it is very well organized. I think he just thought everything was GREAT!!
Hola! Monarchs stop to rest during migration to Mexico
TRUE DAKOTAN/DUKE WENZEL
ANOTHER SURE SIGN of Fall is the annual gathering of the Monarch butterflies for their fall migration at the top of the old grade nature trail.
Some of the butterflies are pictured above on a Russian Olive tree. Hundreds would gather before taking off on their long journey to the mountains outside of Mexico City over the next few weeks.
Grandpa’s tractor
True Dakotan photo/Duke Wenzel
HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN REMEMBER riding on a tractor with their dad or grandfather when they were young? Anthony and Jack Neely will probably remember this day forever as they rode with grandpa Jack Ferguson, Wessington Springs, on an old Farmall tractor on August 6, 2010. They were on their way to the Foothills Classic Car & Tractor Show held here that day.
“Fast Food” when we were growing up was “home food”
FROM THE INTERNET
… or maybe sharing a malted milk shake at the Tastee-freeze
‘Someone asked the other day, ‘What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?’
‘We didn’t have fast food when I was growing up,’ I informed him.
‘All the food was slow.’
“C’mon, seriously. Where did you eat?’
‘It was a place called ‘at home,’’ I explained. !
‘Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn’t like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.’
“Git your ice cold lemonade here!”
TRUE DAKOTAN PHOTO/DUKE WENZEL
FIVE-YEAR OLD ELLIOTT DEAN coaxes a passing motorist to stop for an ice cold lemonade last week in front of his home on College Avenue in Wessington Springs. “Elliott has recently discovered that money can buy many of the things he would like to have,” said his mother, Rev. Sarah Dean, pastor at the United Church of Christ/Templeton United Church of Christ. His family assisted Elliott in setting up his business along the sidewalk in front of the house. A big sign along the street helped draw a good number of thirsty customers on this humid, 95-degree summer day on Monday, July 26. Elliott proved to be a good salesman and business was brisk. His dad is Alex Dean.
Barn and flowers
- TRUE DAKOTAN PHOTO/DUKE WENZEL
A LITTLE FLOWER BED sits in a yard next to a beautiful old barn at the Herman Eilers place, west of Long Lake. Herman’s friend Lori Hoffman helps out with the flowers in the well-kept yard around the house.
Springs Opera House performer hits the top of the charts after recent show
Kali Krohmer, Jerrod Niemann, Kaycee Bergeleen and Dacia Bergeleen enjoy a laugh following a May-2010 show at the Wessington Springs 1905 Opera House. Niemann’s single, “Lover, Lover” has since climbed to the top of America’s country music charts as well as the newly-released album.
A singer/songwriter who performed at the Wessington Springs 1905 Opera House in May has catapulted all the way to the top of the country music charts in a meteoric ride that includes both the top single and album in the nation.