Ellen Bardash
Primary tabs
Contact Email
History
- Member for
- 11 months 1 week
Author Content
The South Dakota Supreme Court issued an opinion last week upholding a Douglas County court's decision not to require an insurance company to pay to represent a man in a separate case involving a hog barn. On April 10, the Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's ruling that the case brought against Delray Geidel by his neighbors in 2014 did not fall within the scope of his insurance policy's coverage, meaning that De Smet Farm Mutual Insurance Company had no obligation to defend him.
SALEM—A Watertown man originally believed to be the victim of an assault and robbery at an interstate rest stop has been indicted on charges of assaulting the people initially arrested for the incident. A McCook County arrest warrant was filed earlier this month for 30-year-old Kurtis Duke in connection with events that allegedly took place the night of Feb. 13.
A man was arrested Wednesday in Mitchell after ambulance personnel revived him from a heroin overdose. According to a press release from the Mitchell Department of Public Safety, a woman reported at about 4:13 p.m. that 40-year-old Jamie Bowen was not breathing. Mitchell police and ambulance personnel responded to a residence on East Havens Avenue, where they determined Bowen was having an opioid overdose and administered Narcan, an opioid antagonist.
After 35 years in education, Gertie Belle Rogers Principal Vicki Harmdierks is ready to move on. Harmdierks' career and retirement were celebrated Wednesday afternoon during the Mitchell School District's employee recognition event at the Mitchell Career and Technical Education Academy, as were the milestones of 11 other Mitchell School District educators. Harmdierks has been an educator for 35 years, teaching in Wessington Springs and Armour before serving as Gertie Belle Rogers' principal for the past 12 years.
PIERRE—The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe's treasurer pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning to federal charges of sex offenses. Roland Hawk Sr., 50, of Fort Thompson, was arrested on a warrant Monday after being indicted by a federal grand jury last week on charges of aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact. He was released on bond into the custody of his mother. As conditions of his release pending trial, he is not allowed to have contact with three women who are listed as victims or witnesses in the case, and he cannot go to Chamberlain.
WINNER—A Winner man was arrested over the weekend and charged with attempted murder. Jacob Antoine, 22, is accused of stabbing a man in the back repeatedly with a kitchen knife in a woman's apartment and later resisting arrest. At 3:21 a.m. Saturday, Winner police officers were dispatched to a trailer park for the reported stabbing. When officers arrived, they found several people, including a man lying on his stomach with three one-inch-wide stab wounds on the left side of his lower back, according to court documents.
FORT THOMPSON -- A Fort Thompson man indicted last week for sex offenses has been identified as a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Council. Samuel Wounded Knee, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, told The Daily Republic on Monday that Roland Hawk Sr. represents the tribe’s Fort Thompson District and currently serves as the council’s treasurer. His term is set to expire in April 2020.
A Mitchell church may get to hold services in its sanctuary again just over a week after it was struck by lightning. A structural engineer will not be done evaluating the First Lutheran Church sanctuary's structural integrity until Friday. But Pastor Lon Kvanli told The Daily Republic on Wednesday that with the work that's already been finished since Friday's storm, there's a chance the engineer could declare the sanctuary structurally safe.
The number of criminal offenses reported in South Dakota's schools has increased across the board in recent years, and the number of assaults in particular has continued to climb. Statistics from a report released by the South Dakota Attorney General's Office last week indicated more simple assaults occurred in the state's schools last year than in bars, nightclubs, hotels and a number of other locations.
It's been a difficult few days at Mitchell Middle School, Superintendent Joe Graves said at the Board of Education's meeting on Monday. The middle school property was struck by lightning during Friday's storm, destroying between $60,000 and $65,000 worth of technology, Graves said. The damage affected door security systems, phone systems and servers. Graves said that the school is currently operating on surplus equipment and is working with its insurance company to cover what was lost. Doors are being locked pending repairs.