Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 1

art fc Rapid City 7'ns''te: SS 1 1 fO I Ss 0 Nor Sn 2 8 Qlil ss.f fin k. mm Black Hills Information and Perspective Since 1878 IMMMKlMtiWMMmfjBamK WaM saw shot Randy Dixon on the 14th on November. "The issue is going to be why. Why did this happen?" Stonefield said. Helmer has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to Dixon's slaying.

If convicted, prosecutors will be seeking a death sentence for Helmer while defense attorneys will try to convince the jury to return a verdict on a lesser crime. Stonefield's portrait of Helmer was Fourth Three nights of fireworks Journal photo by Johnny Sundby Danny Thompson, 9, cools off with a splash in the Memorial Park fountain Tuesday evening. Heat fries Southwest By Hugh O'Gara Journal Staff Writer Any suspense over who killed Randy Dixon last November in a gulch outside Hill City vanished Monday. "The issue is not going to be who shot Randy Dixon on the 14th of November," Mike Stonefield, defense attorney in William Helmer's first-degree murder trial told a jury Wednesday morning. "William Helmer Dead man reported woman missing By Dan Daly and Debra Holland Journal Staff Writers Two days before he died under the wheels of a forklift, Thomas Kueter was at the Rapid City police station to report Tina Marie Marcofte was missing, according to investigators.

Marcotte, a 30-year-old mother of three, is still missing and feared dead. Meanwhile, investigators are looking into the cause of Kueter's workplace death Tuesday morning at a wood processing plant southeast of Rapid City. De Glassgow, chief deputy of the Pennington County Sheriff's Department, said his department and Rapid City police jointly were looking into the circumstances of Kueter's death. But investigators won't say whether there is a connection between Marcotte's disappearance and Kueter's death. Kueter, 29, of Rapid City died Tuesday morning at the Forest Products Distributors Inc.

plant while operating a forklift in the yard, said Pennington County Coroner Mike Jacob. Kueter died of head and chest injuries. He was working alone in the plant's yard when the incident happened shortly before 8:30 a.m. The unoccupied forklift somehow ran over him, See Dead on page A2 fifth day above 120. the "Reat radiates from sidewalks up through your shoes, and the air makes your exposed skin feel like you're standing close to a hot stove.

Tourists in shorts move sluggishly from one casino to another or just 'Everything you pick up's too hot to hold John Ballard Carlsbad, N.M., rancher At 93 degrees, Rapid City relatively "cool" Wednesday. By AP and Journal Staff Doug Simmons sagged against an open doorway leading into an air-conditioned casino in Laughlin, and bluffed like a poker player. "It's not hot here," Simmons, an employee at the Ramada Express hotel-casino, said Wednesday as he wiped his sweating brow. "I keep telling myself it's not hot here." Not hot? It was 125 Wednesday in this gambling resort town jammed between the desert and the Colorado River. The previous record of 124, the all-time record for the entire state of Nevada, had been on the record books for just one day.

And Laughlin wasn't even the hottest point in the region. A few miles downriver, Lake Havasu City, fried at 128 degrees, an all-time record for Arizona and the town's one of a troubled youth. Helmer moved to Rapid City with his parents in 1983-84 and graduated from Stevens High School in 1988. By 1987, "There came suspicions there was something wrong with Bill Helmer," Stonefield said, and Helmer began seeing the first of several psychiatrists. After an unsuccessful attempt at Western Dakota Technical Institute, Helmer joined the Army in March See Helmer on page A2 of July all but Skyline residents because of the high fire danger and risk of individuals firing illegal fireworks.

They face a $50 fine, and those who cause a fire can be ordered to pay fire fighting costs. To get the bang without paying the bucks, Hibbard encouraged people to see the Heritage Roundup of July 4th -celebrations Page B3 Festival fireworks and other city-licensed displays: Saturday, night at Black Hills Speedway off S.D. Highway 44. The show follows KOTA's "Thunder in the Hills" series of races. Sunday, the Firecracker Tournament at Fitzgerald Stadium lives up to its name.

The third baseball game at 7:30 p.m. features Lands-trom's presentation of championship rings to Post 22 players for winning the 1993 American Legion World Series. Fireworks will follow the game. Monday, at "very dusk," the Elks Lodge off Highway 44 and Arrowhead Country Club on Sheridan Lake Road will tee off its fireworks programs. If it rains Saturday night, the Star Spangled Spectacular will fire up Sunday night.

Colony By Pat Dobbs West River Editor BELLE FOURCHE Bronc riders Sam Brownell and Yakima Canutt are legends of the Black Hills Roundup. But James Newland thinks Leonard Stroud was the best performer the Belle Fourche rodeo ever saw. And who is to question Newland? The Colony, rancher has seen every Roundup. Even the two he says someone forgot to count. "Figure it up, starting in 1918," he said in a phone interview from Greenwood Ranch.

"They call this the 75th annual, but there are two years they didn't count, '42 and '43." The nation rationed gasoline and rubber for cars during World War II, GOOD MORNING ByPatDobbs West River Editor Rapid City's "Star Spangled Spectacular" launches fireworks from the Executive Golf Course at dusk Saturday. The overhead sprays, the highlight of the Black Hills Heritage Festival, should be -visible throughout the city. And event chairman Owen Hibbard, Rapid City's fire chief, said larger displays had been added this year. The best seating for the show is in Memorial Park, east of the golf course at Omaha and 12th streets. To get a parking place downtown, officials recommend you arrive by 9 p.m.

for the 10 p.m. show. Patriotic music will be broadcast on loudspeakers and over KKMK KKLS radio stations. Crews from Rich Brothers Fireworks will launch the bombs and shells. The Ellsworth Air Force Base 28th Communications Squadron will help with the display.

Three businesses have joined the city to sponsor the show Big Oil, MG Oil and Common Cents stores. Those wanting to watch the show from Skyline Drive are advised that traffic there will be restricted north to south, one way. And Hibbard said Wednesday that officials were considering closing the road to AP Fll Photo rancher has seen Black Hills, too, but "only" in the 90s. And after a high of 93 in Rapid City Wednesday, it is expected to cool gradually heading into the Fourth of July weekend, said a spokesman at Accu-Weather forecasting service. Today's high will be about 90, with afternoon thundershowers possible, especially in the Black Hills.

Friday is forecast to be partly cloudy to sunny, with a high of 86. Saturday and Sunday will be in the mid-oOs, with a chance of thunderstorms. And Monday the Fourth should be a picnic kind of a day, sunny and breezy with a high of about 84, said Accu-Weather. Back in the Southwest, "Everything you pick up's too hot to hold," said John Ballard, who farms and ranches 145 acres south of Carlsbad, N.M., where the temperature hit 111 Tuesday. "It's pretty near that way even in the shade." them all Journal graphicMatty Two Bulls Local scenery and buffalo take center stage for a fleeting moment in Kevin Costner's new film, "Wyatt Earp." Local people also doubled as the stars for scenes.

See Friday's Weekend section. The South Dakota Supreme Court wants a more activist role, as evidenced by one justice's comments in the state video lottery decision. ft, i ilSIBlP stay where they are. Cars parked on the casinos' asphalt parking lots become ovens, their door handles like frying pans. Forecasters blamed the inferno on a vast bubble of hot air stuck over the Southwest.

Heat records have toppled from the Southern California desert to Texas and Oklahoma. Children have suffered bums from falling on hot sidewalks. Water parks and air-conditioner dealers are swamped. It's been hot in South Dakota's Canutt won the showdown with Tipperary in 1920 and 1921. But Newland did not mention the rodeo hall-of-famer and Academy Award-winning stunt man.

"Leonard Stroud perhaps, in my opinion, was the best all-around rodeo hand I ever saw. He could do it all ride broncs, steer wrestling, trick rider and trick roper." Stroud's best trick was standing on his head and roping four riders abreast coming down the arena track. "I've never seen anything else that could compare to that," said New-land. Not even when President "Silent Cal" Coolidge watched the rodeo in 1927 without fanfare. "That's quite a See Roundup on page A2 I Index 4 sections People A2 Opinion A4 Weather A8 Local B1 Obituaries B2 Comics B6-7 Living CI TelevisionHills notebook C2 Amusements C3 Markets C4 Sports C5-8 Classified ads D1-8 cutting rodeo participation.

"But they did hold a two-day show those years; it was a local thing," said Newland. He was 7 years old in 1918 and watched Sam Brownell cheer the first Roundup crowd by nearly breaking the infamous Tip- Newland "In those days they rode them 'till they quit buckin'. It was pretty said Newland. "But he didn't qualify, you understand. He changed hands on the rein.

The judges weren't sure about that and they asked him, and he said, Outside Partly sunny: Today will be partly sunny with highs from 85 to 90. Winds will be from the north at 15 to 25 mph. Overnight lows will be in the mid-50s. See map and details on page A8. JOURNALWeather For currant weather Infonnotlon 24 hours doy tM 348-7200 or 1-800-348-7202 Eric Piatkowskl Joins MBA: Nebraska forward Eric Piatkowski of Rapid City drives past a Colorado defender Jan.

19. Piatkowski was picked by the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association college draft Wednesday. See the story on page C5..