Construction season is here and safety is the number one priority when it comes to digging, excavating, and locating utility lines. Just one strike of a gas line, electrical cable or a water pipeline can have catastrophic consequences for workers and residents.

I was born and raised in West River, and that part of the state reflects the great American West in a lot of ways. The hill crests and valleys are a bit sharper, the prairies have more cows and grass than corn and soybeans, and the Black Hills are similar to the Rockies (though far more beautiful).

Dear Editor, Government is Doing Bad #1 On June 5 my husband and I headed to our state capital building in Pierre to participate along with around 200 other persons in the nation-wide NO KINGS citizen rally against Donald Trump’s governmental actions. The poster of a fellow protester perfectly expressed the reason for our participation: “Things are so bad that this is our first protest.” What we felt to be intolerably bad about Trump’s actions were: 1) his stripping away of social care services from VAST numbers of South Dakotans, particularly rural citizens, and 2) his undermining of fundamental principles of democratic politics.

The first Fourth of July celebration in South Dakota, according to the best available information, occurred in 1876, the same year as the state’s centennial. The merrymaking included a parade of wagons, dances, speeches, lots of food, and a grand ball. It is assumed that only their best wagons were entered in the parade. Mom probably made the children wash all the dirt from the wagons.

DITOR Dear Editor, This letter is to inform people about the dire need of a family from our area. Jim and Donette Lyon’s daughter JeanAnn and husband Beau Bryan have two beautiful boys Sawyer and Wesley who have been diagnosed with the extremely rare disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This rare form of muscular dystrophy is fatal. But there is hope.

Sam Flakus will serve as the honorary fireworks launcher for Gregory’s famous fireworks show this year for the Fourth of July. Flakus graduated from Colome High School in 1986, followed by college at Northern State University.