Ellen Bardash
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BRIDGEWATER—Federal Aviation Administration records indicate that the Sioux Falls attorney who died Sunday when his plane crashed in southern McCook County did not have the medical certificate he legally needed to fly. Comet Haraldson, who was 69 at the time of his death, had flown from Tea to Mitchell earlier that day and was making the return trip when he crashed near the intersection of 263rd Street and 440th Avenue.
A Mitchell man was sentenced Monday morning to spend almost 17 years in prison for killing a man in August 2017. After about two hours of witness testimony and argument, the court sentenced 50-year-old Anthony Lewis to the maximum sentence allowed by his plea agreement for stabbing Quinn Schleuning four times, resulting in Schleuning’s death.
Two men were sentenced in Davison County court Tuesday for unrelated sexual offenses against the same teenager. Both 46-year-old Lance Bult, of Corsica, and 29-year-old Allen Palmer, of Ethan, were granted suspended impositions of sentence for their convictions, in part because the victim in both cases, who was 15 at the time of both men's offenses, presented himself as an adult. "This person was holding themselves out as 18 or older," Judge Chris Giles said during Bult's sentencing hearing. "This goes to show you cannot believe everything you see on the internet."
Gary Van Roekel spent 44 years operating a business in Corsica. Now living in Mitchell, he's spending his retirement in the business of giving back. Between working at the Mitchell Food Pantry and the Prehistoric Indian Village in Mitchell and the Center of Hope in Sioux Falls, driving to and from Sioux Falls for the Disabled American Veterans, pitching in for Habitat for Humanity and completing numerous tasks for his church on a regular basis, Van Roekel, 66, spends between 20 and 30 hours each week helping community members.
A motions hearing addressing more than a dozen proposed questions for potential jurors in an upcoming Davison County murder trial was held Thursday afternoon.
PLANKINTON — The South Dakota Supreme Court issued a decision Wednesday upholding the conviction of a Plankinton man convicted of 26 sexual offenses involving two children under the age of 16. The decision, the court's first of the year, was filed in response to an appeal by Christian Thomas, who was sentenced to 87 years in prison on May 6, 2017. Thomas appealed his conviction by arguing that the court that tried him should not have allowed certain evidence against him and should have granted a mistrial due to an alleged prejudice involving the court's bailiff.
Three of the area's sheriffs lost re-election earlier this year to men who at the time were working as their deputies. Now, the three incoming sheriffs are preparing to begin their terms on Monday, and none of the defeated sheriffs are sticking around long to see what they might do. Beginning on Monday, Mark Maggs will start as sheriff of Bon Homme County, Rob Eggert will become the sheriff of Miner County and Rich Sylva will begin his term as sheriff in Jones County. All three told The Daily Republic on Wednesday that they're hoping to make sure operations run more efficiently.
Davison County's former veteran's services officer is once again taking action to assert that the county commission mishandled her 2017 termination. This time, that action came in the form of an appeal filed with the state's circuit court system, disagreeing with a Nov. 13 decision by the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation which granted the Davison County Commission a summary judgment.
WHITE LAKE — At nearly two months old, Jensen DeLancey is a laid-back baby with motor skills off the charts and several weeks of rolling himself over already under his belt. But as he's also spent about half of his life in a hospital, and his family is planning to hold an event next week that will raise money to offset his medical bills.
During a man’s recent sentencing by a Davison County court to 20 years in prison for sexual contact with a child, the back row of the courtroom was lined with bikers in leather jackets with large, matching patches on the back. Those were just a few of the members of Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA), an international nonprofit that exists with the sole intention of welcoming abused children into their family to eliminate their fear, no matter how much time or how many people it takes.