Dupree, SD

Plans for the 48th Annual Pioneer Days celebration are in place.  The schedule of events can be found on the Dupree website which is www.dupreesd.com.  Make plans to attend–you won’t want to miss a thing!!

Anyone that would like to donate items for the Ziebach County Historical Society’s 5th Annual Silent Auction can call Dondra Menzel, 365-5124; Robert or Kim Shannon, 365-5286; or Twila Schuler 365-5463.  The auction will be held on Saturday, July 12, at Harry’s Hall from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday, July 13, at Pioneer Hall from 8 a.m. to the closing at 2 p.m.

John Lopez was the featured speaker at the Dupree Community Club meeting at Harry’s Hall on March 24, 2008.  The evening meal was prepared and served by the AAU Wrestling Team. 

John is a local artist and sculptor working with bronze and now scrap metal.  He has done several of the Presidential bronzes that are on street corners in downtown Rapid City.  His new venture is working with scrap metal to create animal sculptures and monuments.  Each September John is the Artist in Residence at the South Dakota Game Lodge in Custer State Park.

John  brought two of his larger scrap metal pieces and some of his smaller bronze pieces for viewing.  He explained the bronze sculpting and casting process which was very interesting.  More information about John’s work can be found on his website www.lopez-ranch.com.

An Alltel cell phone user recently contacted Alltel’s customer support to complain about the poor cell phone service in the Dupree area.  This customer was told that they could see Dupree was in a bad zone for service but they hadn’t received a lot of complaints from the area.  When Alltel is budgeting for additional towers they look at the number of complaints in a given area when deciding where to put up towers. 

Call Alltel at 800-255-8351, option 3 to file a complaint about the service in the area.  Encourage your friends, business contacts, service people and any salesmen you know that travel through the area that rely on good cell phone service to also call about the poor service.  Be sure that the customer service person you talk to submits the request.  Help make a change for better cell service in the area.

Be sure to check the “meeting dates” link to see what’s happening.  If you have an event that you would like to have added to the list or have something you would like to have posted please contact Dondra Menzel, Mandie Menzel, Chelsey Kelly or Daren Stambach. 

If you might have regular items to post you can be set up to do that yourself.  Contact Dondra Menzel for more information. 

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January 2, 2008, 6:00 P.M. at Harry’s Hall

Those attending the meeting were asked to vote with numbered stickers on a few of the issues that were brought out at a community meeting in April 2005 so their current importance to the community could be assessed. The stickers were numbered from one to three with the number one being used to designate the issue of most importance to the voter. The questions and results are listed below:

What type of housing do you feel is most needed in the community?

Motel with monthly rental units:

7-#1 votes 4-#2 votes 7-#3 votes 18 total

Single to Multi-Family Units:

4-#1 votes 7-#2 votes 4-#3 votes 15 total

Owned:

5-#1 votes 4-#2 votes 5-#3 votes 14 total

What would you like to see most in Dupree?

Recreational facility: 10-#1 votes 4-#2 votes 2-#3 votes 16 total

Medical Services: 8-#1 votes 10-#2 votes 9-#3 votes 27 total

Increased Tourism: 6-#1 votes 5-#2 votes 9-#3 votes 20 total

Elderly Care: 1-#1 vote 6-#2 votes 6-#3 votes 13 total

What are the big issues Dupree faces?

Jobs/Businesses: 11-#1 votes 11-#2 votes 9-#3 votes 31 total

Youth Activities: 5-# 1 votes 5-#2 votes 7-#3 votes 17 total

Housing: 4-#1 votes 3-#2 votes 3-#3 votes 10 total

Water Shortage: 4-#1 votes 4-#2 votes 2-#3 votes 10 total

Struggling Economy: 1-#1 vote 1-#2 vote 2-#3 votes 4 total

Out-migration of Youth: 1-#1 vote 1-#2 vote 2-#3 votes 4 total

There was also an opportunity for the group to list other issues that need to be addressed and they were:

Groups working together and having representation to accomplish goals.

Cell phone coverage.

Promote recycling facility

More cooperation/working together of Indians and non-Indians.

The voting was followed by group discussion, questions and answers, and an exchange of information by those present. Better communication was stressed and suggestions for moving forward were presented. The meeting closed with an open invitation to take part in the Creating a Value Added Community sessions.  See note on CVAC Sessions for dates, places and times.

1st Financial Bank is offering a 10% discount on DZ Bucks Celebration Gift certificates.  Complete your gift list by stopping in at 1st Financial Bank in Dupree to purchase the Gift Certificates that are available in $10 increments with a purchase limit of $200 per customer.  The DZ Bucks and DZ Bucks Celebration Gift Certificates were created by the Tri-Community Economic Enhancement Initiative (TREE) to promote local spending.  They can be spent at participating businesses in Dupree, Isabel and Timber Lake.  You can take care of your “difficult to buy for” list, promote your community and save money all at once.

The Ziebach County Historical Society is seeking family stories for the 2010 Centennial History Book.  The Society would like to see every family in Ziebach County be included in the book and urges everyone to gather together their family’s history and write about it.  Let us know how and when your family first came to Ziebach County, where they settled, what they did for a living and what changes your family has seen over the years.  Write about the schools attended, memories of special occasions, natural disasters, wars, churches you attended, people you knew, list siblings and children and information about them and anything else you would like to have recorded about your family. If you have a picture you would like to have included please send a copy along.

If you family has been instrumental in establishing or perpetuating local businesses, tell us about that.  The Society would also like to have any other historical stories about the area.  The old way of life, organizations, church history and any other topic that should be remembered by future generations will also be included.

Send your stories to the Ziebach County Historical Society, PO Box 452, Dupree, SD 57623 or e-mail them to TheZCHS@hotmail.com.  Don’t be left out and don’t wait too long to get your story done.