Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 10

Contact our regional staff Randy Hascal: Minnehaha and Lincoln counties. 331-2320 Metafile BrandertTumer and McCook counties, 977-3926 Allca P. TWele: Correspondents coordinator, 331-2376 SOUTH DAKOTA Argus Leader EGION AND THE Sioux Falls, South Dakota 2B Thursday July 3, 2003 YANKTON Aberdeen SOUTH DAKOTA courthouse Pierre Chamberlain 1 AY Rapid City NEBRASKA IN TODAY'S HEADLINES If you have a news tip, call the Argus tipline today and let us know about news happening in your town. Call 800-530 NEWS, ext. 376.

Messages must include a contact name, address and phone number. Parts of As old building gets demolished, memorial planned BY LORETTA SORENSEN For the Argus Leader A 1905 courthouse building that served the Yankton County four times longer than originally planned is nearly demolished. County workers moved into the new, $3-million Yankton County Government Center, adjacent to the old building, in February. "We went through a lot of old documents that were still in the building," said Paula Jones, Yankton County auditor. "One of them described predictions that the building would last 25 years.

To think that we were still using it nearly a hundred years later is pretty amazing." Demolition of the old courthouse will take about 30 days, according to Jerry Bienert, Yankton County Commission chair. "Hauling the debris away takes more time than the demolition," he said. Several pieces were rescued from the building before demolition began, including the newell posts from the staircase, original courtroom chairs, the original judge's chair and some desks and tables. Metal ceilings, window trim, and doors and door hardware were among pieces sold at a public auction in April. Bienert said he thought more care could have been taken by the demolition crew to bring the pillars down, but they did survive.

They will be stored at the Yankton I I SiOUX Yankton I LORETTA SORENSEN FOR THE ARGUS LEADER During the next 30 days, the former Yankton County Courthouse will be demolished and removed fromthe comer of Third Street and Broadway, where It stood since being constructed In 1905. The new facility Is directly south of the old building. completed, alley is paved and some lighting is installed. A few other issues in the new building, including function of the fire alarm system and proper closure of the two main entrances, will also be addressed. "Obviously it's wonderful to move into a new building, and this one is certainly more efficient than the old one was," Jones said.

"But despite all its shortcomings, that building is where we went every day for quite a few years. It's hard to watch it come down, but I think it's definitely served its purpose." Cathy Lynch of Yankton said she knows some people were unhappy with the building's demise. "A lot of them are people who MINNESOTA Marshall Mitchell Sioux City VWA KYLE Vehicle-pedestrian fatality investigated Authorities are investigating a hit and run crash on Wednesday that killed a 17-year-old pedestrian near Kyle in southwest South Dakota. The victim's name has not been released. According to the state Highway Patrol, the boy was struck on BIA Highway 39 in Bennett County.

He was pronounced dead at the Bennett County Hospital. The Kyle Police Department was notified of the crash late Wednesday afternoon. TEA Benefit auction July 19 for man A benefit auction will be held July 19 to help pay for a bone marrow transplant for Randy Harvey of Sioux Falls. The event will begin at 2 p.m. at the Lakota Events Hall one half mile east of Tea.

The auction will include a variety of merchandise and services. There also will be a pork feed, bake sale and kids carnival. Harvey, 44, has AML, a form of leukemia. SOUTH DAKOTA Holiday counting period starts today The Fourth of July holiday period for reporting motor vehicle traffic crash counts will begin at 6 p.m. today and end midnight on Sunday.

This will be a 78-hour period. Last year, during a 102-hour holidav Deriod. South Dakota recorded 189 motor vehicle traffic accidents, 95 injuries and three deaths. The highest number of deaths on record is 11, occurring during a 102-hour period in 1967. The last death free holiday was 1992 during a 78-hour period.

SOUTH DAKOTA PUC wins case against grain dealer The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has won a $119,158.17 judgment against an out-of-state grain dealer and received an injunction stopping the company from doing business in the state. In addition to issuing the judgment and injunction, state Circuit Court Judge Lori Wilbur also fined Midwest Marketing, a Kansas-based company, $4,200 for 42 violations of state law. According to PUC lawyer Kelly Frazier, Midwest Marketing picked up grain from South Dakota elevators, delivered it out of state and sold it, but never paid the elevator that originally provided the grain. At least eight South Dakota grain elevators were victimized. f.

WatertownJ iRrookingsC I I I I Garret son! Worthlngton --TeaY Lawyers haggle over flow of Missouri River County Highway Department facility. Planners hope to use the pillars and other salvaged items to create a memorial just north of the new building. "People have shown a lot of interest in the memorial," Jones said. "Some members of the Questers Club helped with the removal of the clock and bell tower. A local mason, Bob Hansen, made a special effort to find out if the brick could be cleaned and saved.

I think people probably have ideas about what they would like to see. I think it's an excellent idea to memorialize the building in some way." Bienert said the memorial will not be built until the parking lot is of reckonine for the Missouri Riv er," said David Hayes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. "We're at least 13 years into this process, your honor, and it's really an outrage." The government argued lowering river flows would make it more difficult to control flooding and allow barge traffic on the river. "The corps does not have the discretion to implement the low summer flows the plaintiffs are seeking," said James Maysonett, a lawyer for the government, which was backed by officials from Nebraska and Missouri. During a 3V4-hour hearing, the two sides argued over which priorities should dominate operation of the river, the Endangered Species Act or navigation and flood control.

The corps was ordered in 2000 to switch to a more natural flow, with heavier water releases in the spring, lighter in the summer. The GARRETSON 1957 Chevys at auction fetch up to $9,000 The auctioneers who sold 60 1957 Chevys and more than 140 other cars last weekend at Art Nordstrom's auction in Garret-son have compiled results. The highest-priced sale was an Indianapolis 500 pace car for $9,500, auctioneer Yvette Van-derbrink said. The highest amount paid for a 1957 Chevy was $9,000 for a two-door, hardtop Belair sold to a man who owns about 40 other '57s. Some of the '57 Chevys were purchased by a man in Kentucky who owns the '57 that was used in the movie "Macon County line." Buyers paid from $500 to $3,000 for '57 parts cars.

And a 1967 Chevelle sold for $6,200. Vanderbrink said one buyer spent about $33,000 on cars that he plans to restore as gifts for his family in Iowa. Garretson police estimated that 3,000 people were on the grounds for Saturday's auction, Vanderbrink said. They came from 17 states and Canada. Auctioneers gave out 1,049 numbers to prospective bidders.

SOUTH DAKOTA Voters will decide fate of permit law The fate of a pending law on lo cal livestock permits is in the hands of South Dakota voters. Opponents have collected enough valid signatures to put the measure on the November 2004 general election ballot, Kea Warne, the state election supervisor, said Wednesday. Warne said her office verified 16,728 valid signatures, the number required to keep the law from going on the books July 1. The measure, passed by the 2003 Legislature, prevents county residents from circulating petitions to require local elections on special permits provided within the guidelines of zoning ordinances. Opponents have said citizens should continue to have the right to force local elections on county approval of such permits.

BROOKINGS SDSU promotes department head Mary Kay Helling will become assistant vice president for academic affairs at South Dakota State University. She replaces Edward Hogan, who is retiring after 37 years at SDSU. Helling has been at the university for 22 years and is leaving her position as head of the Human Development, Consumer and Family Sciences Department and take the academic affairs position. BROOKINGS Aerospace camp will be July 13-17 Stargazers, future pilots and maybe even future astronauts will learn more about careers in the aerospace industry at the Aerospace Career and Education Camp 2003. The camp will be held on South Dakota State University campus in Brookings July 13 through 17.

Twenty-six students are registered for this years' camp for grades nine through 12. Brandan Giles, camp coordinator, said activities are flying the Cessna 172 Skyhawks, flying the F16 flight simulator at the South Dakota Air National Guard base and riding in a tethered hot air balloon. Those interested in volunteering at ACE Camp 2003 may contact Giles at 688-6341. have lived here all their lives," Lynch said. "There's a lot of nostalgia connected to the old building.

It's been a landmark for so many years." Lynch said the county's plans to preserve the clock tower and cupola as well as other parts of the building are worthwhile. Support for a memorial was so great that offered matching funds were not needed. That support indicates the community valued the old structure, she said. "It's hard to make the transition," Lynch said. "Especially for some of the older people.

But once this is done and we start thinking of the new facility as our courthouse, I think people will be happy with that." for an injunction that would require low flows by mid-July. ine is expected to rule soon. Nebraska, Missouri and other states along the lower reaches of the Missouri are resisting the changes, which they say will flood homes and farmland and devastate the barge shipping industry. Maysonett argued while the corps has discretion over many aspects of the river, its master water-control manual requires at least enough water in the Missouri to allow barges to navigate. He said the Endangered Species Act does not provide authority to the corps to lower the river's water level.

Kessler, the judge, disputed that point. "How can I ignore an act of Congress?" she asked. "One way or another, I have to recognize that Congress passed the Endangered Species Act" Acute Care c'7 nrrlpr came in a bioloeical opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the endangered species law and said the changes are the only way to protect the piping plover, interior least tern and pallid sturgeon. The service gave the corps until last year to make the change, but instead, the Bush administration postponed the changes indefinitely by launching ongoing talks between the corps and the wildlife service.

Then this year, the Fish and Wildlife Service said the corps could vary releases from upstream dams in order to keep drought-stricken downstream waters deep enough for barges throughoutthe summer. American Rivers, Environmental Defense, the Izaak Walton League, the National Wildlife Federation and a half-dozen other groups are suing the corps. They are asking Judge Gladys Kessler L-; tjtVJ and South Uinics BY LIBBY QUAID Associated Press WASHINGTON Conservation groups asked a federal judge Wednesday to order a lower flow of water in the Missouri Fiver this summer to protect birds and fish on the federal list of endangered species. The hearing in U.S. District Court forthe District of Columbia was part of a lawsuit to force the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers to return the Missouri to a more seasonal ebb and flow, mimicking natural river conditions that existed before the construction of dams and channels. It is the latest front in a legal and political battle between variant interests over water level in America's longest river, which stretches from its headwaters in Montana to its confluence with the Mississippi River at St. Louis. "In many respects, this is a day Gas leak caused by lawn mower FROM STAFF REPORTS Sioux Falls Fire Rescue responded to a gas leak late Wednesday night after a homeowner struck a gas line with a lawn mower at 5708 W. Wren Place.

The gas line, near the gas meter, was struck about 9:23 p.m. Due to the wind, thegas was homes were evacuated. The gas line was crimped to slow the flow of gas. MidAmerican Energy Co. dug up the line and was in the process of replacing it late Wednesday.

Sioux Falls Fire Rescue was on the scene for about Vh hours, officials said. OUR i Sioux Valley Clinic East, West, Start a subscription. Open July 4th 10am 4pm (605) 332-2883 Sioux Valley Clinic 0er Tervice INTERACTIVE SUBSCRIBER SERVICE www.argusleader.com Acute Care PA23-0008 3797".