As the calendar turns, many of us feel a familiar pull: This year will be different! Traditionally, that feeling turns into New Year’s resolutions, bold promises to change our habits, bodies, productivity, or lifestyles overnight. Yet by February, most resolutions are abandoned, leaving behind guilt and frustration.

What is now known as the historic city of Yankton in 1857 was an Indian village occupied by the Yankton tribe of Dakota Indians and was the residence of its most influential chief, “Struck by the Ree.” It was the principal village, or capital, of the Yankton tribe. Before and after this time it was known among the whites who traveled on the Missouri River as “Struck by the Ree Camp.” The locality had earlier been designated by traders and steamboat men as the “Yankton Valley.”

I hope you had a Merry Christmas making memories with loved ones! The holidays are a special opportunity to take stock and reflect. The calendar turns pretty quickly to New Year’s, which is often an opportunity for us to peek in the rearview mirror while also looking forward out the windshield.

As part of a new initative by VA Secretary Doug Collins to honor veterans aged 90 and older, Elmer Karl and Vince Berens received a certificate and Collins’ personal coin in a framed presentation..

January: Morgan Painter became the new owner of The Gregory Times-Advocate. Lee Lubbers was the top producer in the South Dakota National Wheat Foundation Contest.

The ninth set of saturation patrols in Operation: Prairie Thunder (OPT) concluded Friday, Dec. 19. The patrols were conducted in Sturgis and Winner. The Sturgis operation was curtailed as troopers were called to other incidents unrelated to OPT in the area.