Hill City Prevailer

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for the restoration of Independence Day fireworks at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

In the letter, dated April 13, Noem said she is raising issue with the National Park Service’s (NPS) decision to cancel the fireworks show at the memorial, which Noem described as contradictory.

“I am raising this issue with you because the letter we received from NPS contradicts statements you made in March that held up Independence Day as a target date for Americans to begin returning to normal,” Noem wrote.

This is the third part of our series on looking at the impact of the closure of the Rushmore Forest Products Sawmill

Work is being done to figure out what to do with the location of the Rushmore Forest Products sawmill once it has been shut down.

Ron Rossknecht, a member of the Hill City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and vice president of the Pennington County Commission said nothing has been decided.

The Hill City Prevailer News asked the two individuals running for the vacant seat on the Keystone Town Board to respond to a questionnaire. Their answers are below. The election will be held April 13.

1) What are your goals for Keystone?

Matthew Fullilove: I have only one main goal for Keystone, which is to find a happy medium between the needs of the businesses and the residents.

The 244 Fire is now 100 percent contained.

The 136-acre fire burned up grass and underbrush but did not get up into the canopy, according to Travis Mason-Bushman, public information officer for the fire.

“You won’t see a forest of black sticks,” he said.

Mason-Bushman said the fire wasn’t a “really bad fire.” He described it as a “healthy” fire because it destroyed trees that were already downed and brush that had been worked prior to the July 3, 2020 fireworks show at Mount Rushmore.

“It demonstrates the value of doing work ahead of time,” he said.