The ongoing fight about vendors continued in Friday morning’s Custer Crusin’ meeting. Opening the meeting was Helen Flora, claiming that the survey administered to local businesses was illegal.

“It’s illegal for the city or state to administer a third party survey,” Flora said, after seeking legal advice. “It’s a slap in the face.”

Flora, who owned Flora’s Jewelry, Gifts and Fine Western Wear for 43 years before selling it to her son, Ron, also questioned the validity of the committee.

After several months of receiving rambling emails about apocalyptic-like letters from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the Custer County Commission has decided enough is enough. The commission voted unanimously to direct county auditor Linda Nelson to refuse to sign for what have become weekly priority mail letters for the commission.

An indoor pool, and events center, a walking track, a racquetball court, a college satellite office and a movie night facility were among the more popular choices as far as what to place on the campus of the new Custer Community Center. At a Jan. 26 meeting hosted by the City of Custer, discussion was held and suggestions were taken from nearly 70 participants as to what Custer needs and what they would like to see on the land.

Custer Mayor Gary Lipp opened the evening with a welcome, followed by a brief talk by Tanya Olson of Tallgrass Landscape Architecture as to the purpose of the meeting. Following that, local architect Gene Fennell of Fennell Design went over the plans for the interior of the building, which will become home to both the city offices and the YMCA.

One acre, or three to five acres, that is the question.

A lively debate over the minimum acreage of a lot in the city’s three-mile jurisdiction out of town was the main topic of conversation during the city’s hearing on its newest comprehensive plan at the Custer City Council’s Jan. 17 meeting. The council meeting debate followed an even livelier debate at the city’s most recent planning commission meeting, where the commission eventually voted to recommend the city’s comprehensive plan call for a minimum size of one-acre lots—which falls in line with state standards—as opposed to the three to five acre lot sizes the plan currently recommends.

Paul Doering, the Hill City shooter, appeared in federal court in Rapid City last Thursday, entering a guilty plea to the charge of evidence tampering following the incident during Hill City’s Wild Bunch shootout on Main and Elm streets on June 17 of last year.  

Doering, a four-time convicted felon who has served time in Minnesota, was originally charged  as a felon in possession of a firearm, but that charge was later dropped in exchange for his plea agreement to the tampering charge.  

On a cold, blustery day, Thursday, Jan. 19, the South Dakota National Guard 82nd Civil Support Team (CST) successfully completed a rescue exercise at Jewel Cave National Monument. The CST, in addition to local responders, responded to a mock set-up which involved an emergency response to hazardous material and a mock rescue.

According to Communications NCO Alex Raber, the CST used the exercise to train in rescue operations and response of chemical, biological or radioactive agents.

Paul Doering, 49, doesn’t know what the future holds for him but he has to know it isn’t going to be good. Doering is facing a potential 20 years in prison and maybe more for his role in a Hill City shootout last June 17 that sent three people to the hospital.

Authorities at the scene located Doering’s .45 caliber revolver which originally contained six live rounds of ammunition with four of the bullets being spent.

The Board of Education for Custer Schools is looking to cut $200,000 from the general fund in the 2012-13 budget as a alternative to relying on impact aide money from the state. Board of Education president Jon Dahlstrom believes that facing this number now will make the voting process easier in April.

“We are now entering a point where state aid doesn’t matter,” he said. “We only get money from the state if our local taxes aren’t collected to the extent the state allows for. We in the Black Hills have greater property values, so in a roundabout way, we are subsidizing other schools in the state. It’s potentially a curse and a blessing.”

Casey Trandem has a simple message to anyone who is on the fence as to whether or not they should sign up for the Custer County Chronicle’s “Biggest Loser”â��contest.

Just do it.

“If I can do it, anyone can,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Custer State Park Resort of Custer, S.D., to pay $93,000 in back wages to 72 workers employed at a major resort in South Dakota’s Black Hills. The action is the result of an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed willful violations of the H-2B temporary visa program, through which the workers were hired. Additionally, the department has assessed $65,000 in civil money penalties. 

 Custer State Park Resort is an authorized concessionaire of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. The company’s legal name is Regency CSP Ventures Limited Partnership, and it operates six major resorts in the Black Hills, including historic lodges, motels, cabins, dining facilities and gift shop

In its Friday morning meeting, the Custer Crusin’ committee unanimously approved the move of vendor row from its current position on 6th Street to a new position on 7th Street from Mt. Rushmore Road to Crook Street. The vendors will all be north of Mt. Rushmore Road, not split between the main road as in previous years.

While deciding their new home, the committee debated over other possible locations, such as 5th and Washington streets and the area by the 1881 Courthouse Museum. Both options were denied, as Washington Street and 4th Street are designated emergency access routes.

The following is a list of the top 10 items in the Custer County  Chronicle’s Sheriff’s Log for 2011, as selected by the staff of the Chronicle. The Sheriff’s Log is written weekly by Custer County sheriff’s deputy Seth Thompson.

No. 10

“He will probably leave out the whole ‘I was naked’ part.”

The demolition of the Custer County Sheriff’s building may be the end of an era for many, but memories of the building still live on in the community. Before the building housed the county’s hardest working crew, it was once the chamber of commerce, a gift shop and, more famously, a tourist attraction — the old tramway station which offered rides to the top of Big Rock.

Ralph Kelley has lived in Custer all his life. His father and uncle founded Kelley and Kelley Contractors in the 1940s. Kelley and Kelly Contractors, along with Clell Elwood, Harold Lang and Bud Brown, three local businessmen, were contracted to build a tourist destination offering rides up to Big Rock in 1962.

Four Custer residents who were recently sentenced to state prison for their roles in the “Operation Pharm School” drug bust earlier this year have received sentence commutations from Gov. Dennis Daugaard. Two other Custer County inmates received commutations as well.

Carel Ashlock, Cody Brown, Amy Clarke and Ray Hilston all received some form of commutation from Daugaard, and all were involved in the arrests that took place in February. All four were subsequently sentenced to various prison terms.

The following is a list of the top 20 items in the Custer County  Chronicle’s Sheriff’s Log for 2011, as selected by the staff of the Chronicle. The Sheriff’s Log is written weekly by Custer County sheriff’s deputy Seth Thompson. Number 20-11 will be listed this week.

No. 20

“And no, it’s not

just melting snow.”

For Dave Ressler, promoting Custer and its people is more than a nine-to-five job. It’s a way of life.

For his tireless hours of going above and beyond the call of duty in making Custer a place people want to visit, and a place they want to return to once they have, Ressler has been named the Custer County Chronicle’s Citizen of the Year for 2011.

Perhaps it is Ressler’s co-worker and friend, Mitch McLain, who sums up Ressler’s work best.

Matt Snyder is the new superintendent at Custer State Park, taking over for Richard Miller, who retired Dec. 23.

Snyder, 43, comes to Custer State Park from Itasca State Park in Minnesota, where he spent the past three and a half years as superintendent. Itasca State Park is around 32,000 acres, roughly half the size of Custer State Park. Snyder said it’s Minnesota’s flagship state park, located at the headwaters of the Mississippi River near Bemidji, Minn.

Building permits for the city of Custer and Custer County stayed close to 2010’s numbers. While many from the previous year were for additions, many this year were for renovations and repairs, perhaps due to the summer storms.

There were 231 permits in the county’s first three quarters. The money received from permits in 2010 amounted to $69,7995 for the entire year. This year the county received $53,722.44 for permits through September.

Sometime in the not-to-distant future, Stan Neugebauer will head off to the store to buy a gallon of milk. When he does, it will be the first time in over 56 years he has purchased milk for himself.

That’s because for the past half-century, Stan, 67, along with brother Marv, 73, has operated Neugebauer Brothers Dairy Farm along Highway 40 just southwest of Hermosa. That all came to an end earlier this month when economics forced them to shut down their dairy operation.

It’s not an election year, but change is coming to the Custer City Council.

After approving the second reading of a new ward redistricting ordinance at its Dec. 19 meeting, the city council will see one alderwoman resign, an alderman change wards and one appointed to a ward when all is said and done.

Tired of endless trash and fighting that seems to get more pervasive every year, the Town of Hermosa and Hermosa’s Town Marshall, Jim Daggett, want to see an end to alcohol at Hermosa’s ball fields, located near the Custer County Fairgrounds. To that end, they came to the Dec. 14 meeting of the Custer County Commission to discuss the situation.

With Christmas only days away, things are busier than ever at Santa’s workshop. Before Santa and his trusty reindeer take flight, however, the Custer County Chronicle was able to land an interview with the “most famous reindeer of all,”â��Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer. Rudolph sat down with our Jason Ferguson to discuss red noses, rooftop landings and other Christmas-related topics.

Jason: OK, let’s get to it. Why is your nose red?

At Monday night’s Board of Education Meeting, Superintendent Scott Lepke updated the board about the progress for the common core standards, a new education model in math and English.

At the end of November, teachers from Custer schools traveled to Rapid City to compare the new standards with the current standards. More training will start in January and February, which marks the three-year plan to implement the program. The common core standards will begin during the 2014-15 school year. 

When the City of Custer’s Custer Cruisin’ Committee meets the last Friday of January, it will discuss the location of vendors downtown during the annual motorcycle rally and whether or not vendors should be moved.

The issue has come to the forefront again after Ron and Tonya Flora of Flora’s Jewelry, Gifts and Western Wear submitted a letter to the Custer City Council at its Dec. 5 meeting asking that the vendors be moved from their usual location on 6th Street. The letter was co-signed by over 30 downtown business members. In the letter, Flora said there were five businesses that refused to sign the letter. 

Over 180 children poured into the Custer Showbarn last Saturday afternoon for Christmas for Kids. Each child who registered got to sit on Santa and Mrs. Claus’ laps and was given a present. Those in the audience were treated to some magic shows by magican Duane Laflin. There was also an appearance by Fred and Barney of Flintstones Bedrock Village.