Broadcaster Press 13 February 28, 2012 www.broadcasteronline.com Lion Eyes Olsons shoot mountain lion on their property - with a camera By David Lias david.lias@plaintalk.net They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That phrase needs to be reworked just a bit when one considers the image captured by the Matt and Dawne Olson family of rural Vermillion last month. It has been the talk of the town this past week. For Christmas, the Olsons presented their son, Cody, with a digital “game” camera. It’s designed to be hidden outdoors and can be programmed to take photos at a certain rate over time. The Olsons mounted the camera in a tree on their acreage near the Vermillion River, about eight miles north of Vermillion, and simply let it snap away as Cody, a student at South Dakota State University, returned to Brookings after his holiday break ended. When he returned home last Friday for the long President’s Day weekend, Cody retrieved the digital card from the camera, and began reviewing them on his computer. “We set it (the camera) up during the first part of January, right after Christmas,” Matt said, “and we hadn’t checked it since then. He took the card out of the camera ? LION, Page 14 A camera specially designed to operate outdoors and collect photos of wildlife captured this image of a mountain lion on the Dawne and Matt Olson property north of Vermillion. This big cat was roaming on a trail along the Vermillion River at 8:04 p.m. Jan. 16 when the camera snapped this photo. (Courtesy of Matt Olson) Citizens Academy begins today By Travis Gulbrandson travis.gulbrandson@plaintalk.net Beginning Feb. 28, a group of approximately 10 Vermillion residents will have a chance to learn firsthand how the various city offices work. The city is offering Citizens Academy, a fiveweek program that offers a combination of tours and meetings with department heads that aim to give the participants a greater understanding of city government. “The department heads will have the opportunity to give a presentation about what the day-to-day operations are in their department,” said Jordan McQuillen, intern to the city manager. “They’ll be able to give tours of their facilities, and they’ll also answer questions the citizens will have.” Each session will be two to three hours long, and each week of the course will focus on a different office, McQuillen said. “The first is about the city manager and the finance officer,” he said. “The second is about law enforcement, and we’re going to have the police, fire, EMS and communication. The third session is about the street department, the light department and engineering. The fourth session is about water and wastewater.” At the final session, participants will be presented with a certificate of completion and a “key to the city.” “It’s a small pin they receive as a token of their participation,” McQuillen explained. There are several requirements participants must fulfill. First, they have to be a citizen of Vermillion. They also will be asked about felony status. “They are also required to explain their interest in local government and participating in the academy,” McQuillen said. The program is open only to citizens over the age of 18. “We only have the age requirement because they might do a police ride-along among the other things they’ll be doing,” City Manager John Prescott explained at the Feb. 6 city council meeting. Initially, the academy was set to begin Feb. 21, but the city had not received enough applications by that time, McQuillen said. “We’d like to cap it around 10 (participants),” he BULL SALE SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2012, 2:00 P.M. 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They might come because they’ve had interaction with the city, or maybe they’re studying government and administration at the university.” The course has been held twice in the past, the most recent time being in 2010, McQuillen said. “It’s usually something that the interns head,” he said. “It kind of depends on their schedules.” “We found the first two sessions we had to be a pretty favorable program,” Prescott said at the city council meeting. “People enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about their city.” McQuillen said participants will receive a number of benefits from taking the course, including “the sense of being informed about what their city does so they can have a better understanding of what goes on at city hall. It should be a good class.” Coyote Village evacuation investigation continues By Travis Gulbrandson travis.gulbrandson@plaintalk.net There’s still no word as to when or if charges will be filed against a former University of South Dakota student whose room contents led to a partial evacuation of Coyote Village. Calls made to Clay County State’s Attorney Teddi Gertsema were not returned as of press time, but she had said last week that she was waiting on information from the Division of Criminal Investigation, which is conducting the investigation. On Tuesday, Feb. 7, Coyote village staff members were checking a room that had been vacated by a former student when they uncovered items “possibly considered explosive in nature,” said Phil Carter, manager of media relations for USD. According to a story filed Feb. 14 by The Volante – the USD student newspaper – the student’s former roommate described seeing a jar containing “some kind of liquid” during the search. Campus police and the Vermillion Police Department were notified, and authorities from Sioux Falls – along with a “bomb squad” vehicle – appeared on the scene that same night. Approximately 20 students were evacuated from Coyote Village as a safety precaution, Carter said. Elan Haba, a 19-year-old sophomore from the Rutgers-Newark campus in Newark, NJ, was arrested later that night after he was connected with the USD student by officials. Haba was arrested on charges that include theft, and possession of fireworks and a prohibited weapon. He was released on a summons by Feb. 8. The name of the USD student has not been released to the public. SH Monastery to host Theology Institute Sacred Heart Monastery announces its Spring Theology Institute, to be held in the Monastery Chapter Room in Yankton on Saturday, March 24, from 9 a.m. to noon. Sister Dawn Nothwehr O.S.F. will present “Moral Matters: A Brief Introduction to Key Concepts of Catholic Moral Theology.” Nothwehr will introduce us to basic principles of moral decisionmaking and apply these to the ecological issues that we face today. This Institute will be the first in the series entitled, “Faith Impacting Action.” Sister Jeanne Weber, event coordinator and subprioress at Sacred Heart Monastery, states “As followers of Christ, we are faced with complex moral issues which require thoughtful decisions informed by our faith. The purpose of this series is twofold: to present the foundations of moral decision-making in the Catholic faith tradition and to apply these to particular issues facing us today” Nothwehr is the professor of Catholic Theological Ethics and Director of the Certificate Program in Healthcare Mission Leadership at Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, where she teaches courses in moral theology and ethics. She holds an M.A. in Religious Studies from the Maryknoll School of Theology and a Ph.D. from Marquette University. Her current area of research is global climate change and environmental ethics. Nothwehr is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, Rochester, MN. All are welcome to attend this free event. For planning purposes, please register by e-mailing Weber at jweber@mtmc.edu or calling (605) 668-6000.