Hill City Prevailer

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.

Bridge matches approved at special meeting

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

The Keystone Town Board held a special meeting Dec. 30 to discuss some end of the year fiscal items.

The board passed two resolutions relating to the town’s application for the Bridge Improvement Grant (BIG). Both resolutions are for the Roy Street bridges over Grizzly Bear Creek.

The town agreed to a 20 percent match on the BIG funds for a new double tee bridge. The town’s liability is estimated to be $87,286 of the total $436,430 project.

Bridge two, a box culvert design, would increase the town’s liability to 30 percent of the total project.

Winter at the library

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

“Your success and happiness lie in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties,” Helen Keller

Happy New Year!

The library has purchased another DVD tower, so Shelly has been busy rearranging furniture and DVDs. We are planning a display area that we will use for librarian and patron picks. We will display banned books the week of Sept. 19-25.This will also be an area we can display holiday materials.

Winter events crucial to Hill City

Published by admin on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 3:14pm

In Hill City, there’s almost always something going on.

That’s no different in the winter, as the city will play host to several events this season.

On budget

Published by admin on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 3:14pm

For the first time in the last 5 years all of Keystone’s departments have come in under budget.

Cassandra Ott, Keystone’s finance officer, thinks conservative budgeting and fiscal prudence helped the town get to this point.

“We operated extremely conservatively as we did not expect the revenue to be there due to COVID limiting the tourism season,” she said. “Also, the board passed a very conservative budget.”

Ott feels the town “operated responsibly with tax payer money and the extra funds will end up in the savings accounts for each fund.”

Fatal accident near Keystone

Published by admin on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 3:13pm

A 63-year-old man died in an early morning Dec.27 one-vehicle crash east of Keystone, the South Dakota Department of Public Safety announced in a release

The name of the person involved is not yet being released pending notification of family members.

A 2017 Kia Sportage Ex was traveling on South Dakota Hwy. 40 when the vehicle left the roadway, entered the north ditch and rolled. The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the vehicle’s lone occupant.

Hill City has new benches downtown

Published by admin on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 3:13pm

With the recently renovated and improved sidewalk on Main Street in Hill City, Brett McMacken, city administrator, said he knew there was the need for more.

Trashcans were put up along Main Street toward the end of summer, but over the past month, new additions have popped up: benches.

Forest usage up

Published by admin on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 3:13pm

Hikers in the Black Hills National Forest might have noticed some changes to registration once needed to access the Black Elk Wilderness areas.

The area used to require hikers to register the number of people and stock in their party in addition to the trailhead of entry and exit.

According to Scott Jacobson, public affairs officer for the forest service, these forms have been eliminated — at least temporarily.

“The form being used to register people was an outdated form,” he said.

Sheriff contract under review

Published by admin on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 3:12pm

The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office has presented Hill City with a new contract.

At Monday’s Hill City Common Council meeting, the council discussed the contract and any potential changes.

“This agreement is similar to the existing one,” said Brett McMacken, city administrator for Hill City. “The changes were mostly done to clean up language.”

The existing contract renews automatically, McMacken said, but this one would lock Hill City into a three-year contract followed by two one-year terms, as well.

Vagrant served with notice

Published by admin on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 3:09pm

A vagrant in Keystone was served with a notice of trespassing order during the most recent Keystone Town Board meeting on Dec. 16.

The individual, who according to Pennington County Sheriff’s Office deputy Chris Plawman is moving to Alaska and had been “bouncing between Keystone and Mount Rushmore,” was not a threat, although he had been sleeping in the community center parking lot.