Hill City Prevailer

Board approves vehicle purchase

Published by admin on Thu, 01/21/2021 - 10:45am

The Hill City School Board unanimously voted to approve the purchase of a 2020 Suburban. The decision came at the most recent board meeting.

The base cost of the vehicle is $43,073 and will be purchased through the state procurement site, which offers vehicles at a large discount. It is unclear when one of the three remaining Chevrolet Suburbans will be removed from service.

Stay safe on the ice

Published by admin on Thu, 01/21/2021 - 10:44am

Ice fishers are still taking to the ice in spite of warmer than average temperatures this season.

But, because of the warm weather, expect a shorter than normal season this year, said Jeff Edwards, Hill City’s conservation officer for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks.

Pot to be hot issue in 2021 session

Published by admin on Thu, 01/21/2021 - 10:44am

Marijuana looks to be one of the major issues to be tackled by the S.D. Legislature in the 2021 session, according to District 30 legislators. Veteran house member Tim Goodwin of Hill City, incoming senator Julie Frye-Mueller of Rapid City and freshman representative Trish Ladner of Hot Springs all identified Amendment A and the legalization of marijuana as one of the expected hot button issues in this session.

Council votes on commercial definition changes

Published by admin on Thu, 01/14/2021 - 10:55am

On Monday night, the Hill City Common Council approved the first reading of commercial zone definition changes.

The changes were first approved by the Hill City Planning and Zoning Commission, who had been discussing the changes since September 2018.

Town continues talk about selling land

Published by admin on Thu, 01/14/2021 - 10:55am

Sale of the ambulance property was discussed at the most recent Keystone Town Board meeting. The ambulance property (land only) was appraised at $75,000. Several sealed bids from electricians for fixing the electric switch over of wells and the cost of a new generator ranged from $34,700 to $46,972.

“We don’t have a ton of money to spend to buy the land,” said ambulance director, Matt Thompson. “We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.”

Thompson discussed a “set dollar amount for the land” instead of providing a land/generator swap.

New restaurant sets up on Main Street

Published by admin on Thu, 01/14/2021 - 10:55am

Main Street Hill City has a new place to eat.

Boxcar Eats and Treats, owned and operated by Dutch and Cerise VanLuven, is the new restaurant located in the old Dairy Queen.

“I bought all the ice cream machines from them,” Dutch said. “So we aren’t Dairy Queen anymore, but we are going to do ice cream cones, malts, shakes, burgers, fries. We are also going to do buffalo burgers, elk burgers, buffalo brats, elk brats, buffalo and elk hotdogs, things like that. Kind of a similar fast food place.”

School district updates

Published by admin on Thu, 01/14/2021 - 10:55am

The second half of the school year is underway.

As of Jan. 8, the Hill City School District is reporting zero active cases.

In the elementary school, two students have been identified as close contacts, which means they were within six feet of someone with COVID-19 for 15 minutes. Per school rules, these students must quarantine for 72 hours.

Citizen of the Year: Sue Anderson

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 10:17am

In a year that had so much uncertainty one thing was known for sure: Sue Anderson will be out there helping in way that she can.

That is why she has been named the Hill City Prevailer News Citizen of the Year for 2020.

“We all went into a challenging year that none of us knew or understood how to cope,” said Dale Householder, president of the Hill City Senior Center. “It was quite a learning curve for everybody. And (Anderson) was right up there, helping lead the learning curve and being a leader in that group.”

Ribbon cut at Bull Run house

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 10:17am

The first family has been granted the occupancy certificate for the first home in the Bull Run Subdivision.

Kara Dunlop and her family are the first people to move into a house in the subdivision, which became official with a ribbon cutting on Dec. 29.

“Thank you for the opportunity allowing me to move here to Hill City. ...I have a daughter who is in the school here who started in the fall. So she’s excited,” Dunlop said.

Dunlop works for the U.S. Forest Service and learned about the houses in Bull Run through a colleague’s husband at work.

Woman fined for climbing Rushmore

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 10:17am

An Indiana woman has been fined for illegally climbing Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Jan. 3.

At approximately 10:15 p.m. on Jan. 3, a woman, identified as Holly Venderley, of Bloomington, Ind., was observed climbing the memorial and was spotted at the base of George Washington.

According to the statement of probable cause, a ranger was watching security cameras when the ranger observed a flashlight moving along the memorial.