OUR VIEW: Week in review: the best, worst

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

CHEERS to the new book that prominently features the Corn Palace. The book is titled “Corn Palaces and Butter Queens: A History of Crop Art and Dairy Sculpture” and was written by Pamela H. Simpson, a professor of art history at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. The Mitchell Corn Palace is discussed at length in the book, and that’s great news for Mitchell. Any and all national coverage received by the Palace keeps the site — and the city — at the top of tourists’ minds.

CHEERS to Jarod Uher, who had his head shaved last week. The John Paul II Elementary sixth-grader followed through on his earlier promise, which was that he’d have his head shorn if the school met its fundraising goals for the year. Sure enough, the school raised $10,000 via its carnival and another $3,600 through a raffle, and off came Uher’s locks.

CHEERS to the fundraising campaign under way in Parkston. The goal is to raise $500,000 to help fund a renovation of the Avera Bormann Manor assisted living and long-term care facility. Things are going well, we’re told, and it appears the facility will reach its goal in the next few weeks.

CHEERS to Kevin Costner, who recently purchased a bus to be used by the Lead-Deadwood baseball program. Costner is a baseball fan and made a name for himself in baseball movies like “Bull Durham,” “Field of Dreams” and “For the Love of the Game.” But Costner truly carved out his identity with the movie “Dances with Wolves,” which was filmed in western South Dakota. A documentary about the movie once noted that few actually wanted to pursue with “Dances,” but Costner persisted and even put up his own money for the project. Thank goodness he did, since it became a great marketing tool for South Dakota tourism. Costner continues to do business in South Dakota and we appreciate that he gives back to local communities.

HISSES to the needless crimes that seem to have been happening lately in Mitchell. Election signs are being vandalized, puppies are being swiped from local stores, and the list goes on. Readers, do everyone a favor and call in anonymous tips about these crimes to the local Crime Stoppers number, at 996-1700.

Tags: opinion, editorials