A reminder to get out and vote in the Gregory School’s opt-out election on Tuesday, June 19th! Coming up the next two Friday’s, the Gregory Fifth Grade Boys Basketball team will hold a burger and brat fundraiser in the Buche Foods parking lot from 11am to 1pm. There will be a blood drive in Burke on Monday, June 25th from 10:45am-4:15 at the Burke Civic Center. To make an appointment call Nikki at 775-8290.

There will be a pole bending and barrel racing jackpot series in Valentine on June 19th, July 10th and July 24th! Entries will start at 5pm and the jackpot will get underway at 6pm. There will be peewee, youth and open divisions. This is a five run series and they will be having a double run for the July events. If you have questions contact Beth Till at 402-389-2424.

Female mentors who are alcohol and drug free are wanted to meet with a group of girls ages 11-16 on a weekly basis. Mentors are needed in St. Francis, Parmalee, Antelope/Mission communities and Ideal/Winner communities. There will be compensation for all meetings and trainings. If you are interested call Cheryl at the White Buffalo Calf Women’s Society at 856-2317.

Winner Summer Nights will celebrate Rosebud Concrete’s 25th anniversary this Thursday, June 14th on the first block of Main Street in Winner! The theme will be an 80’s fun night. There will be voting for the photo contest, a cake walk, kids golf pong, prizes for best dressed, music provided by the Annabelle Band plus much more! Come celebrate!

A Summer Reading Program will get underway Thursday at the Tripp County Library! The program will run through late July. All Tripp County K through teenage kids are welcome to attend. Kids can signup at the Library on Thursday and see the Lego Guy between 10 and 1! All you need is a library card and you can choose how many books you want to read.

Ray Archuleta will speak at a soil health event this Wednesday, June 13th at St. Mary’s Hall in Winner. Things will get underway with a meal at 6pm followed by the presentation. Ray is a farmer from Missouri and he teaches Biomimicry Strategies and Agroecology principles on a national scale for improving soil function. The event is free to all current South Dakota Soil Health Coalition members. To RSVP call Steve Higgins at 842-0603.

The second annual “Fishing for a Cure” Ladies Fishing Tournament will happen in Chamberlain on July 7th. The ladies are seeking contributions to help defray the costs associated with the event so that all the funds can assist any community member that is battling cancer. Donations may be monetary or items for their raffle and auction. All funds raised will stay local and can be used for assistance defray the cost for gas, food, lodging or bill payments of any kind. If you would like to make a donation, please send to Fishing for a Cure, 106 E. Beebe St, Chamberlain, SD 57325.

Central South Dakota and North Central Nebraska saw a good amount of severe weather last night. Here are some rain reports that we had called in or posted online: Donna Howland, two miles southeast of Winner, received 80/100’s. Kelly Pravecek said at the Pravecek Brothers Farm they received an inch and a half, six miles southeast of Winner. Joe Bolton reported an inch 20. Tresh Swedlund had an inch and a quarter fall north of Witten. Janice Gruhn said she received an inch 10 in Gregory. Lou Zimbelman told us an inch 25 fell a mile north of Gregory. Pete Haukaas in Okreek had three quarters of an inch. Alona Burtz, Northwest of Tripp County, received an inch 60. Juli Brown, west of Colome, had 80/100’s. Cheryl Littau, who lives southeast of Carter, received .72. Richard Kingsbury, 13 miles northeast of Wood, received an inch, 10. LaWaynie Hossle received an inch, 5. Greg Assman had 90/100’s 5 miles west of Winner. Jo Carlson, east of the Winner Airport, received .90. Lureen Gran had .45 fall at the Gran Ranch in Okreek. Charlotte Piper received .30, nine miles south of Wood. 71/100’s was called in by Cheryl Schroeder in Winner. Dennis at Carlock received .69. Stan Bicek had an inch of rain fall 10 miles south of Colome. The Roger Evans residence in Hamill received an inch 53. Kara Gregg said she received .75. Rick Odenbach had two inches of rain, 6 miles west of Hamill. Fred Weidner at Dog Ear Lake reported .81. Laura Reuer in Herrick received an inch. Deb Bice said she had an inch 80 fall. Short Haley had an inch fall in Colome and he had .80 at Haley’s Hiway Lumber. Tracy Tritle, inch 70, ten miles east of Winner. Delbert Klein, east of Burke, had .85. Tanner Best received an inch and a half, northwest of Ideal. John Harter, an inch of rain fifteen miles southwest of Winner. Betty Dvorak received an inch and a half 10 miles east of Winner. 2 miles southeast of Presho, Diane Studt had .65. Cheryl Dougherty said she had .90 fall. Boyt Young had an inch and a quarter, 15 miles east/northeast of Winner. Justin Vanneman, northwest of Winner, reported an inch 20. Rhonda Waterbury, just east of Gregory, said she had an inch 30. Sheri Dimond, 7 miles north of Wood, reported 2 and a half inches. Monte Mayes of Ideal had an inch fall overnight. Linda Dimond, northeast of Wood, reported .94. Arianne Boerner said she received an inch 20. Bryan Jorgensen received an inch 35 in Ideal. Liz Farley had an inch and a half while Chris Novotny reported an inch ten. Trent Kubik, east of Hamill, reported an inch 25. Roger Joseph received an inch. Deb Musilek reported an inch 20, northeast of Wewela. Lori DeMers, 10 miles south of Colome, received an inch ten. Darrel Titus, west/northwest of Springview, had an inch 20.

Community Vacation Bible School will be held in Burke next week! It will run from Monday, June 11th through Friday, the 15th for kids ages four through kids in the fifth grade. This year’s theme is “Shipwrecked”. VBS will be held at the Union Baptist Church in Burke in cooperation with the United Methodist Church and the First Baptist Church in Lucas.

We want to tell you about a couple of blood drives that are coming up in Central South Dakota: A blood drive will be held in Platte next Monday, June 11th from 12:30-6pm at the Platte Community Center. To make an appointment call 1-800-287-4903. Later this month, a blood drive will happen at the Bonesteel Community Center on Wednesday, June 27th from 9am-Noon. To make an appointment call Jeff or Laurie at 654-2831.