McPherson County Herald

02/04/2025

FBLA Chili Cook Off

01/28/2025

HB 1052 passed the South Dakota House of Representatives today, on a decisive 49-19 vote. This exciting piece of legislation was prime sponsored by Representative Karla Lems. The bill now moves to the Senate where I am the prime sponsor. This groundbreaking legislation will keep land in farmers hands, and insure the ability to decide what use is best for themselves.

01/26/2025

Donkey Basketball ~ LHS - January 21, 2025

01/24/2025

~Busting a Move
Jacob Kindelspire shows off his elaborate dancing skills during a tie-breaker dance off that was held during the Dairyland Donkey Basketball fundraiser at the Leola School on January 21.

01/08/2025

The Leola School Music Department would like to extend a very special thank you to all of sponsorships and community support in preparation for the upcoming Dairyland Donkey Basketball fundraiser that will be held on Tuesday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m. Contact Nancy Kindelspire prior to January 15 if you would like to help as a sponsor.

Tickets Available:
Tickets for the event are $10 in advance and $15 at the door and may be purchased from Tammy Heupel at the Agtegra Oil Station or from Mrs. Kindelspire at the school from 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. Preschoolers will be admitted free of charge.

Donkey Basketball Event Sponsors:

Bronze:
Marsha Schlepp Ford and Corey
Jeff and Holly Mueller
Ten-45 Grocery
Burger's Place (Ipswich)
TJ's BBQ
T&G Travel

Silver:
Lapka Ranch
Zantow Farms

Gold:
Kevin and Tammy Heupel
Nick and Sam Kallas
Higgins Cattle Co.
Container Pros
Billy's Bar and Grill
Wendi Hatlewick - Plexus
Waltman Farms
Rick and Raquel Harnois
G&G Implement Inc.
Keenan Stoecker

Team Sponsors:
Weiszhaar Ranch
Kindelspire Farms
Sieh Farms
Agtegra

Advertisers:
Cortrust Bank/Corinsurance
Stateline Concrete
Long Lake Bar, Cafe, and Motel
Beck Law Office
Dement Family

$200:
Leola Realty

$500:
Chris Rath Farms

$750 Championship Game:
Piggy Bank Thrift Shop

12/30/2024

12/26/2024

Letter to the Editor

The McPherson County Republicans are trying to create awareness about items of concern in our county. Please attend the County Commissioner’s December 30th year-end meeting at 1pm. December 31st is the storm date.

There is also an application for a conditional use permit for a Data Center west of Leola. It is stated that it will use 50MW of electricity and water usage starting at 200,000 gallons and then 4,000+ gallons per month. An informational meeting is planned for December 27th at 7pm at the Leola Municipal building. Speakers will discuss with concerned citizens the implications to our county. Please feel free to attend and learn.

Respectfully,
Mike Klipfel Chairman
McPherson County Republicans

12/24/2024

Parade of Lights 2024

12/23/2024

“Christmas” By Bonnie Gill
Published in the McPherson Co. Herald cir. mid-1960's
Submitted by Merilee Beck

12/20/2024

Proposed “Leola Data Center” would do more harm than good
By J.R. Cox

It appears we now have a new pipeline problem to worry about in McPherson County. But rather than ferrying liquefied carbon dioxide four feet beneath our shoes, this project intends to streamline data via fiber-optic cable, adding unnecessary strain to an already vulnerable power grid and creating the possibility of further complications.

Euphemistically titled the “Leola Data Center,” this project, intended to be constructed adjacent to Montana-Dakota Utilities’ 115kV substation that is located about 5 miles southwest of the City of Leola, will really have nothing at all to do with the Rhubarb Capital of the World, but will rather be intended to carry out the functions of a Bitcoin mining operation, with tasks related to artificial intelligence – according to documentation made publicly available by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence are a pair of activities that the majority of the residents of McPherson County and South Dakota neither need nor want. But such are the ambitions of out-of-state investors who have developed a keen interest in the Midwest in recent years. South Dakota’s frigid climate is one that is cold enough to reduce the operating costs of cooling the supercomputing functions of mining the digital currency known as “Bitcoin” – a somewhat complex undertaking that offers the prospect of financial gain to the miner and virtually very little gain to almost everyone else.

According to documentation from the PUC, Leola Data Center is a subsidiary of Electric Assets, LLC, a data center developer with sites in the Midwestern and Southwestern areas of the U.S. A petition for electric service was submitted to the PUC this past summer for the project. The construction of the new facility was expected to begin in the fall/winter of 2024, commencing initial operations by the spring of 2025, with an Electric Service Agreement with MDU.
According to documentation submitted to the PUC, the “data center” would utilize up to 50 megawatts of electricity from MDU for peak operation.

The electrical needs of the proposed cryptocurrency mine are a bit more extensive than running a toaster. The peak draw of 50 megawatts is enough to power up to 25,000 households, or a medium-sized city. But instead of heating and cooling the homes of families, this vast amount of energy will be utilized to perform advanced mathematics in order to confirm digital transactions of Bitcoin, for which the miner receives a financial reward for helping to keep the currency decentralized and in the accountability of the public domain – an attractive benefit to the person doing the mining, and for the people who own Bitcoins.

The proposed mine in McPherson County would join neighboring mines already in operation in Dickey County, North Dakota. Applied Digital Designs is a US-based digital infrastructure operator that has developed cryptocurrency mining operations both 7 miles north of Jamestown and 1 mile west of Ellendale. The facilities utilize a whopping 100 and 180 megawatts respectively. Applied Digital also has plans for additional facilities near the same location that will utilize up to 135 megawatts of electricity, with plans for even further expansion.

One must then ask, are there any public benefits of these operations aside from draining valuable electricity from the nation’s delicate and essential power grid? For the most part, it appears the main benefit will be the possibility of some tax revenue and temporary jobs for construction workers, with some long-term security positions for large-scale facilities like that which are located near Ellendale.

But that is really looking at the bright side of a dark scenario.

Negative implications include a strain on a power grid that was never intended to support such operations, resulting in the possibility of rolling blackouts. Additional concerns relate to new and unwanted sources of electromagnetic and noise pollution and the possibility of increased costs for utility customers.

If the overwhelming majority of local and area residents wish to voice their valid concerns in protest of the construction of such a project, similar to the fight against Summit Carbon Solutions, it seems they may have to look to local control for assistance, instead of the state level.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who has remained exceedingly quiet during the ongoing farmer/landowner battle against Summit Carbon Solutions, also recently rejected $70 million in federal funding related to the Home Energy Rebate Program, a funding package that would have helped countless South Dakotans upgrade their homes with high-efficiency electric appliances.

The HEEHRA (High-Efficiency Energy Home Rebate Act) program, in the works for a public rollout for several years, will provide instant rebates to low-to-moderate income families that include up to $14,000 for the purchase and installation of electric heat pumps (even in cold climates), dryers, water heaters, and also weatherization assistance. The 10-year rebate program was designed as a voluntary incentive to replace aging electric and gas appliances with newer ones that are more energy efficient – which would theoretically create less strain on the power grid, not more, or possibly result in a neutral outcome, depending on factors related to the public’s level of participation in the program.

I recently reached out to Governor Noem’s office to express my profound disappointment in the Governor’s decision to reject the Home Energy Rebate Program. The response I received was as follows:

“South Dakota is not taking this money to implement the Green New Deal at the state level. This is one-time money that would be more burdensome than beneficial to South Dakotans. It would be fiscally irresponsible for us to take it. Our state legislature has prohibited cities from banning natural gas appliances, and this program is a workaround to the same misguided goal. Further, this ‘Home Electrification’ incentivizes the elimination of certain types of appliances and will put a strain on our electrical grid.”

And yet Noem’s administration is apparently perfectly fine with allowing out-of-state investors to invade our hometowns to set up self-serving Bitcoin mining operations that will waste enough electricity to light up the largest cities in the state.

Perhaps now Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden will soon be a more favorable source of political support at the state level – if Noem steps aside from her current role to fulfill President-elect Trump’s appointment as Secretary of Homeland Security. But as far as securing federal funding for the HEEHRA program, by then it may be a day late and a dollar short for the only state in the country that has outright rejected the funding.

The door to Bitcoin mining is also a rabbit hole that may soon lead us to bigger problems than many people yet realize. The added strain on the electrical grid, combined with other factors, such as the retirement of coal-based generation, is creating increased consideration for nuclear power – right here in South Dakota.

NorthWestern Energy first considered the construction of a small nuclear plant within state borders back in 2023, following a meeting of the South Dakota PUC in Pierre. A South Dakota Searchlight article published in February of 2023 stated that NorthWestern Energy is targeting a potential construction date in 2030 for a nuclear power plant that would produce between 80 and 320 megawatts – slightly less than half of the 700 megawatts that large nuclear reactors can produce.

I wonder how many South Dakota residents would like to see a nuclear power plant in their backyard. Perhaps we should invite the residents of neighboring Monticello, Minnesota to answer that survey.

They witnessed state officials announce in March of 2023 that the Monticello nuclear power plant leaked 400,000 gallons of radioactive water contaminated with tritium between two buildings – enough water to fill more than half of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Before releasing any information whatsoever to the public about what had happened, officials first waited several months before eventually making the general public aware of the incident, later stating that the contaminated plume had not spread to drinking water reservoirs or the Mississippi River.

And have we somehow managed to forget what happened at Chernobyl? Three Mile Island? Or Fukushima, Japan? That, without change, history is prone to repeating itself?

Like it has done to protect area residents from the dangers of an unwanted CO2 pipeline and the threat of eminent domain, perhaps measures of local control will be the saving grace from the invasion of cryptocurrency investors and whatever threats that may arise in the future that follows.

Discussions regarding the proposed data center have continued at recent meetings of the McPherson County Commissioners. At the Zoning Board meeting held on December 10, commissioners voted to enact a moratorium on any data center conditional use permit until an ordinance can be adopted. Discussions regarding setbacks took place with a motion made and seconded for a 1-mile setback.

That’s a good place to start, but personally, this journalist would like to see a few zeroes added to that figure. Because I truly believe that we need a “Leola Data Center” as much as we need a fraudulent CO2 pipeline. Nuclear power plants have their pros and cons, and may perhaps be a necessity, but I’d rather not have to sleep next to one of those either, especially if it is to support the crude financial investments of oligarchs who are already quite wealthy enough.

For further information and discussion regarding the Leola Data Center, consider attending a community meeting that will be held by area residents at the municipal building next Friday, December 27 at 7:00 p.m.

12/19/2024

Letter to the Editor
By Austin B. Hoffman
McPherson Co. State’s Attorney

This is a response to a “letter to the editor” published on December 12, 2024, on the McPherson County Herald’s page, written by Mike Klipfel, as Chairman of the McPherson County Republicans. Over the last several years, I have seldom responded to inaccurate statements and accusations leveled by misinformed citizens. When I did, I remained polite. However, the disinformation in that letter requires a less than tepid response. Here are the undisputable facts.

First, let me explain what the McPherson County Republican Central Committee is, and what the group is supposed to be doing. We must begin with how the overall organization is structured. At the top is the South Dakota Republican Party State Central Committee and the State Executive Board. Underneath that are the County Central Committees and the County Executive Boards. As of the most recent official filing, the McPherson County Republicans Executive Board currently consists of Mike Klipfel as Chairman, Linda Schauer as Vice Chair, Jodi Waltman as Secretary, Melvin Kallas as State Committeeman, and Marian Kallas as State Committeewoman. I will not list the Treasurer, since I know that person has resigned.

According to the Bylaws of the South Dakota Republican Party, the duties of the County Chairman, Mr. Klipfel, are as follows:
1) Direct county Republican Party Affairs as well as conduct the political campaigns in the county;
2) Carry out the annual plan of party goals and objectives of the state chairman;
3) Seek a full Republican slate for all county and legislative positions, including precinct committeemen and committeewoman in the primary election.

While there are other duties, these are the three that pertain to actual political activity. The main duties of the other Executive Board officers are mainly administrative as well as to aid the Chairman. In short, the McPherson County Republican Executive Committee is meant to find Republicans to run for office, support those Republicans, and carry out objectives as directed from the State Chairman. This Executive Board, however, has taken it upon themselves to arbitrarily expand their activities.

Over the last several years, Mr. Klipfel and other members of the Executive Board have used those positions to push personal agendas. They have used the McPherson County Republican Executive Board as a vehicle to move forward an anti-CO2 pipeline agenda, an unfounded election integrity agenda, and most recently to push a blatantly false and incorrect narrative that myself, as State’s Attorney, am attempting to push a resolution that would violate First Amendment freedom of speech rights. The first two items I mention are inappropriate. The latter is absurd.

If Mr. Klipfel, or anyone else on the Executive Board, wants to make these arguments as a citizen of McPherson County, they have every right to do that. However, to use their positions on the McPherson County Republican Executive Board to do so, is in direct violation of the Board’s bylaws. It needs to stop. They represent the entirety of the Republican Party in McPherson County. I am positive that many Republicans do not share the same viewpoints as they do. Simply put, they are not policymakers.

I also need to address the personal accusations Mr. Klipfel made in his letter. First, he states I drafted a resolution that has “far-reaching implications which would limit our First Amendment right to freedom of speech at commission meetings.” The resolution Mr. Klipfel is talking about is to set policy for how McPherson County Commission meetings are run. As of today, we are one of a very few political or government organizations that has no policy on this. This is the same advice that I have given numerous times to the County Commission. The only difference is that it is now in the form of a resolution. I was recently appointed to the South Dakota Open Meetings Commission and after being a part of two of those meetings, it was very evident that our Commission meetings can and should be run more efficiently and effectively. South Dakota provides that public comment shall be allowed at any governmental meeting “limited at the public body’s discretion as to the time allowed for each topic and the total time allowed for public comment.” SDCL 1-25-1. This is what this resolution does.

Without asking any questions, or doing any research, Mr. Klipfel seems to have an issue with only county commissioners, department heads, and elected officials being able to add items to the agenda. For any board, committee, or council conducting a meeting, it is the agenda of that respective board, committee, or council and they have the right to set their agenda how they see fit. I spoke with various school districts, cities, and counties in our area. There was not a single one of them that did not have some form of policy on how things are added to the agenda. Either a board member needed to request it, a citizen needed to fill out a form that was either denied or approved by the board chair or auditor, or an auditor had full discretion on what did or did not go on the agenda. And in almost all cases, the board chair had the final say on what was or was not on the agenda. In any case, an agenda always needs to be approved at the beginning of each meeting, at which time a commission member has the right to make a motion to remove any item from the agenda.

These policies are in place for the majority of governmental entities in South Dakota. Under the proposed resolution, any citizen could still ask commissioners, department heads, or elected officials to have an item placed on the agenda with the approval of the chairman. This is a policy practice that has never been found to violate any constitutional rights by a court. To say this violates anyone’s freedom of speech rights is not only wrong, it is completely asinine.

Moreover, it would not stop anyone from speaking on any issue that is not on the agenda. There is a required public comment portion of every Commission meeting where anyone can come and speak on whatever issue or issues they deem necessary. Also, this is a resolution. It is not an ordinance or any kind of law that would come with penalties if violated. Resolutions are nothing more than suggestions passed by whatever board or organization they are passed by.

Regarding the legal bill mentioned by Mr. Klipfel, this bill was for legal assistance to deal with a petition put forward mainly by the McPherson County Republican Executive Board. If passed, it was my opinion as State’s Attorney it would have forced the County to violate state and federal law. Earlier this year, I wrote a lengthy letter to the editor regarding the matter. I am not going to completely rehash that issue, however, if passed it would have forced the county to remove the ExpressVoting machines from precincts. These are machines that help disabled people vote and are required to be in every precinct under state and federal law. Removing them would have almost certainly caused a lawsuit, or lawsuits, from various organizations with the potential of costing taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money. As State’s Attorney that was my opinion. I was following the law and avoiding inevitable lawsuits and protecting the county from unnecessary expenditures.

Mr. Klipfel consistently told the McPherson County Commission that my advice to them regarding that petition was wrong. He was asked multiple times to provide where he received his legal advice on the matter. No answer was ever given. After hearing these arguments several times from Mr. Klipfel, I advised the County Commission if my legal opinions were not trusted by the public, the next step would be to hire outside counsel and get their advice. This is what the Commission did. The advice from the other attorney was the exact same legal opinion I offered. If Mr. Klipfel had not pushed the petition that violated state and federal law, as well as him repeatedly telling the County Commission that I was wrong, this bill would never have occurred. It seems to me, he is complaining about an expenditure he created.

Mr. Klipfel also makes the assertion that I “advised the commission not to pass an ordinance to protect the Citizens of McPherson on the proposed Summit Carbon Solution’s CO2 pipeline” at the January 2022 commission meeting. This is an outright lie. Every County Commission meeting is audio recorded and I have reviewed that audio. If anyone would like to listen to it, I would be more than happy to provide it. I never offered such advice. In fact, not only is Mr. Klipfel’s statement an obvious lie, my advice to the County Commission was the exact opposite. Regarding a pipeline ordinance, my exact words were “You can write whatever ordinance you want. Whether or not it’s something you could uphold or not is a different story.” At no point did I advise the County Commission not to write an ordinance in regard to pipelines. Later in the discussion, a moratorium on pipeline construction came up and at that time I did advise the County Commission that because it is a zoning issue, that moratorium should be passed by the Zoning Board, not the County Commission. If it were to be passed by the County Commission and was challenged in court, it would likely get overturned because proper procedure was not followed. The following week, the Zoning Board passed a moratorium. Not only that, using input from the Zoning Board and County Commission, I spent countless hours drafting a 27-page Hazardous Material Pipeline ordinance nearly from scratch that is by far the most detailed and stringent pipeline ordinance in South Dakota.

I have no issues with someone disagreeing with me politically or unhappy with the decisions I make as McPherson County State’s Attorney. Everyone has the right to their opinion. But using one’s role as Chairman of the McPherson County Republicans to make incorrect and false accusations, to push personal agendas, or to complain about legal bills they created, is an entirely different story.

These issues and debates have wasted an outrageous amount of time, money, and energy. Certainly we can find better uses for those things.

12/18/2024

Dean Schock’s Wooden Toys – large and small gifts for all ages & occasions – barns, farm toys, hat/coat racks, wine racks, welcome signs, doll houses, serving trays, and more. Call 605-380-2040.
https://www.schockauction.com/wooden-toys

12/15/2024

Pete's Train Village Open for the Holiday Season

Pete’s Toy Train Village will be open at its north Broadway Street location now through the first weekend in January. Hours are Fridays from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday & Sundays from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Train Village will be closed on Christmas Day and open the day after Christmas. All are welcome to stop by and view the display. Pete has many new additions to share this year!

12/14/2024

Leola School 2024 Christmas Concert ~ 12/12/2024
All-State Chorus Quartet
Samantha Geffre, Kaitlyn Mueller, Gabriel Ketterling, & Jacob Kindelspire
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”