Mitchell Republic news bits, Oct. 5: A tip of the cap to our subscribers on newspaper week

It’s National Newspaper Week, so we want to take a moment to thank all of our subscribers. On Monday night, reporter Sam Fosness sat at the Mitchell City Council meeting for hours. He sorted through everything that happened to deliver to our website this important story on medical marijuana dispensaries soon after the meeting ended. Next week, we’ll have reporters Erik Kaufman and Hunter Dunteman at the Mitchell Board of Education meeting for live streaming and reporting purposes.

We’re also rigorous sports reporters, we capture great moments with photos and video and tell feel-good stories about small towns.

All of that work takes time, and it’s our subscribers who help make that happen. You’re supporting our work, and we really appreciate every person who sees the value in community journalism.

Also, thanks to U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds for their weekly columns acknowledging National Newspaper week.

And, if you don't subscribe, please give us a try.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and our newspaper did an awesome feature on this Bridgewater woman who had some witty quips.

“They set me up with a breast cancer doctor and I had a bilateral mastectomy. I figured what’s the sense of worrying about it in the other one? Might as well go whole hog,” Kathie Clarey said.

Additionally, the Scoreboard Pub and Grille in Mitchell is supporting Avera’s boot benefit in hopes to kick cancer. On the counter of the Main Street restaurant sits a polka-dotted boot for people to throw in their change to benefit the Avera Cancer Institute.

The Mitchell High School girls tennis team is absolutely rolling at the state tournament.

The Kernels did not relinquish a loss in singles play and sit 34 points ahead of second-place Rapid City Christian in the team standings at the tournament played at McKennan Park and Kuehn Park in Sioux Falls.

Here’s the Day 1 recap and wonderful photo gallery , and expect to see plenty more coverage from Tuesday, the final day of the tournament.

Kernel Korn was a popular children’s character on the Mitchell TV Station – KORN. George Blum was an engineer/announcer for KORN radio before he helped to build the KORN TV Station in Mitchell. He developed and was “Kernel Korn” as Mitchell’s version of “Captain 11.” KORN TV was founded by Ray Eppel in 1960. In 1972, the station was sold to Buford Television, Inc. of Tyler, Texas, and the call letters were changed to KXON. KORN’s offices and first tower was located south of Mitchell on Highway 37. The Carnegie Resource Center has the Kernel Korn uniform in its collection. (Photo courtesy of the Mitchell Area Historical Society)

On Oct. 5, 1921, a large crowd of members of the Farmers Union Association attended their convention in Mitchell and gathered in front of the old City Hall. The Farmer’s Association was concerned with the prices of hogs and grain that year and blamed the poor roads and rail freight costs for the low prices.

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) is seeking public comments on its Riparian Buffer Initiative. It’s an interesting way for South Dakotans to support conservation efforts.

The goal of DANR’s Riparian Buffer Initiative is to improve water quality through increased use of riparian buffers in the Big Sioux watershed and impaired waterbodies across South Dakota. Riparian buffers, vegetated areas adjacent to streams and lakes, are an effective conservation practice filtering out pollutants and capturing nutrients before they enter waterbodies.

Information on DANR’s Riparian Buffer Initiative is available at https://danr.sd.gov/Conservation/WatershedProtection/RiparianBuffer.aspx . Comments may be submitted via email to DANRmail@state.sd.us and must be received by Friday, Oct. 29, 2021.