Dell Rapids DQ Donor Buys 50,000 Blizzards?

Ice cream scoop of the day: The Madville Times goes rumor-hunting today and hears a secondhand report that a generous and hungry individual donated $150,000 to the Dell Rapids Dairy Queen to buy 50,000 Blizzards on Miracle Treat Day. I check the Dell Rapids DQ Facebook page and find they are reporting 52,528 Blizzards sold. That figure would set the record for one-day charity Blizzard sales, topping even Madison's momentous 21,405 Blizzards sold to benefit the Children's Miracle Network.

What is the proper response to the Dell Rapids store's success? Three hearty cheers for the fact that local competition could spur one individual to that spectacular generosity. Good work, neighbors!

Now, let's figure out who the donor is! Commenters, start your investigative engines!

Marching in Madison: South Dakota Bands at DSU Homecoming Parade

It's a busy band day in South Dakota! Area bands, led by the mighty Spirit of Madison Marching Band, kicked off a big day of music by marching up Madison's Main Street in the Dakota State University Trojan Days homecoming parade.

Madison Bulldogs


Chester Flyers


Arlington Cardinals


Flandreau Public Fliers (thanks, Matt!)


Deuel Cardinals


Madison Middle School

Director Luke Sursely has these kids whipped into shape!

Montrose Irish

Director Justin Whitcomb is a Madison band alumnus. Looking sharp!

Dell Rapids St. Mary Cardinals

The Dell Rapids corps was marching right behind the Dennis Daugaard for Governor campaign vehicle, the only political entrant in today's parade. The Munsterman campaign must have been too busy making up better ad hominem attacks. Isn't there some old campaign saw about catching more votes throwing candy than throwing mud?

Oldham-Ramona-Rutland Raiders

We've been waiting for some cowbell! (Sorry about the battery, kids!)

Howard Tigers

New New Media Coming to Eastern South Dakota

My Web-Spidey sense is all a-tingle! We've got at least a couple new online news ventures coming our way in September:

• ThePostSD.com: My social mediarologist friends at 9Clouds Twittered about their upcoming venture Monday. Their Facebook page promises an "online alternative newspaper that focuses on the rich and unique culture of Eastern South Dakota." I am intrigued!
• Also under development: The Dell Rapids Area News. A WHOIS search shows the website is owned by Debra Henriksen, wife (I'm betting) of well-known South Dakota media dude and Sportscaster of the Year Mike Henriksen of SportsMaxRadio.com. The under construction page shouts local local local: "Local News, Local Happenings, Local Advertisers." Looks like someone is about to give the Argus-owned Dell Rapids Tribune some welcome competition. Saddle up!

Locally grown news—yahoo! So where's Joe Prostrollo nowadays?

Lower Big Sioux Watershed Trail: A Proposal

Our man Alan Van Ormer gets an article in that Sioux Falls paper about delays and possible changes on the proposed Dell Rapids Recreation Trail. Our friends in Dell Rapids are trying figure out where they should run their trail, whether the bank along the river is stable enough to support asphalt and bicycles, and whether they can afford to build it now or later.

So here's the wild thought of the morning: let's think big and build a Lower Big Sioux Watershed recreation trail all the way from Dell Rapids to Madison! We want to expand our own four-mile bike trail; why not turn it into an full-blown adventure tourism destination? Lake County offers excellent bicycle scenery with all of its lakes and stream courses; all that water runs right to the Big Sioux River in the Dell Rapids area. Madison and Dell Rapids could get together with the Minnehaha and Lake County governments, mark out some trails in some of the more interesting terrain, and start paving, from the banks of the Big Sioux in the Dell Rapids ciy park, up through the hilly country to Chester, around Brant Lake and Lake Madison, on west to Lake Herman State Park, Camp Lakodia, and right to my front door by the boat ramp on the west side of Lake Herman.

Or we could just run it straight from the Dell Rapids Dairy Queen to the Madison Dairy Queen, since there's nothing better after a 30-mile bike ride than ice cream. (DeLon! Big sponsorship and marketing opportunity! Think about it!)

You may think our newly declared recession is no time to be talking about more government spending, but hey! An infusion of federal cash and some good CCC-style jobs are just what an economic downturn calls for (Nobel laureate Paul Krugman agrees). Building a nice long bike trail could probably even count as one of President-Elect Obama's green-collar jobs. A wonderful trail like this would make Madison and Dell Rapids destinations for bicycle tourists. That kind of tourism would generate jobs, maybe even bring a good bike shop back to town (Glen Olson, we miss you!).

Tourism, jobs, economic development... and healthy fun! Heck of an idea! Where's that Forward Madison money?

Dell Rapids Voters: No Means No; Second Bond Issue Defeated

Despite KELO's best efforts to promote it, the Dell Rapids school district $17.3-million bond issue failed at the polls yesterday. The vote was 867 in favor, 851 against, a slim 50.5% majority, but still short of the required 60%. The "for" vote declined from the first go-round in May, when a $16 million bond issue got support from 52% of voters.

I suggested back in June that maybe the board would do well to accept the expressed will of the people, disagreeable as it may be, rather than putting faith in a bigger marketing campaign to swing a few more voters. But while the ballots are still warm from the auditor's hands, Superintendent Tom Ludens says the board will bring this issue back again.

Is that really such a good idea, Superintendent Ludens? Your second campaign resulted in a loss of support. At this rate, the third vote might result is a majority voting against the bond issue.

I'm not one to criticize a guy for not giving up the fight. I admire a guy who holds to his principles even when the majority disagree with him. But here's today's open question: as a public servant, is it the superintendent's job to continue trying to change public opinion or to accept the twice-expressed will of the taxpayers?

Dell Rapids Takes Second Swing at School Bond

If at first you don't succeed, campaign, campaign again....

KJAM reports that Dell Rapids voters will go to the polls again this fall to vote on a $16 million dollar construction bond issue. Dell Rapids voters turned down the bond measure in May: a 52% majority supported it, but bond issues require 60% to pass. Superintendent Tom Ludens wants to have another vote in the fall to give bond supporters more time to press their case with a wavering 8% of the Dell Rapids electorate.

I am reminded of conversations I had this spring when I was campaigning for the school board. Some folks were worried that, if elected, I might blog about disagreements with majority decisions of the board. "Once the board votes, that's the decision," folks told me, "and you have to support it." I could see their point: for the school board to function properly, individual members can't sit around rehashing votes they may lose. The board votes, policy is set, and we move on to the next issue.

That thinking is even written into the Madison Central school board's member code of ethics: "Once a decision has been reached by the majority of the board assembled at the meeting, I will support it graciously" [clause 6].

Evidently the Dell Rapids school board doesn't apply the same thinking with respect to the popular will. Dell Rapids voters expressed their will. The Dell Rapids school board didn't like the result, but instead of accepting that vote and moving forward, the board has been pushing for a do-over since the week after the election.

A board member continuing to call for revotes on decided issues might cause meetings to run a little longer. Calling a public revote costs actual tax dollars. Given that added expense and trouble, I would think justifying a repeat public vote would require more than someone's desire to have a few more months to persuade a few more voters.