4 Broadcaster Press Hatchet Woman By Daris Howard I grew up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in Idaho. Our nearest neighbors were a mile away in one direction, with no one living beyond us the opposite way. I could ride my horse out through the rangeland for miles and never see anyone. So when I arrived in New York and was assigned to work in Buffalo, it was a whole new world for me. “How do we get around?” I asked Walt, the young man with whom I was assigned to work. “How did you get around at home?” he asked. “A horse or pickup truck, mostly. Sometimes a tractor, if it entailed farm work.” “Well, here you walk or take a bus,” he replied. My first bus trip across town was a new experience, and I almost lost Walt when we had to do a transfer. If I had, I probably would have never found my way back to the apartment and would have learned to sleep on the streets among the people our religious work often took us to. But Walt found me, and I was okay. Our work took us into some tough neighborhoods as we tried to serve and help people. That’s why when Walt first mentioned our landlady, it made me nervous. I saw her in her yard whacking at a bush with a big machete. “Who’s that?” I asked. “Oh, that’s Hatchet Woman,” Walt replied. “She’s our landlady.” The name Hatchet Woman made all sorts of ideas run through my mind. I decided it would be best to keep an eye on her. But Walt didn’t seem to give her a second thought. And though over time I found her to be somewhat of a salty woman, the more I got to know her, the more I found her to be just an eccentric old lady. So one day I asked Walt about the name. “Oh, Hatchet Woman?” he replied. “It’s a long story.” Walt told me he and the young man before me had come into the area and looked for a place to stay. They found the ad for the small apartment and went to check it out. Betty, Hatchet Woman’s real name, was very businesslike, and they soon agreed on a lease. Walt said he quickly learned that when Betty was upset, she liked to take a shovel, a hoe, a machete, or a hatchet out to whack at weeds or overgrown shrubs in her yard. She said it made her feel better. But he said the way she went after the bushes was a bit unnerving. Walt said one day he and the young man he was working with came home, and Betty was especially annoyed at something. She had a hatchet and was using it to hack away at a small tree that had started growing in the middle of her roses. As she chopped at the tree, she was getting cut up from the thorns. “We considered helping her,” Walt said, “but the way she was wielding that hatchet made us reconsider how safe that would be.” So the two young men went to their apartment, and watched Betty out the window. “We didn’t think she could see us through the window,” Walt said. “But she would chop away for a while; then she would look in our direction and let out a load of profanity. We were beginning to feel quite nervous, when after one of her outbursts, she stood up and threw the hatchet in our direction. “The young man I worked with turned to me and said, ‘I don’t know about you, but I am out of here.’ He headed down the stairs, out the door, and ran straight into Betty. She looked at us and said, ‘Could you boys get my ladder and get my hatchet down for me?” Walt said they both froze and looked at her. “Finally,” Walt said, “I squeaked out ‘Hatchet?’ She nodded and said, ‘I threw it at a squirrel, and the hatchet got stuck in the side of the house. Dang squirrels! Always chewing holes into the attic.’” Walt grinned. “And that’s how she got the name Hatchet Woman, but I would advise not calling her that to her face.” September 4, 2018 www.broadcasteronline.com A New School Year Begins For South Dakota Students By Sen. Mike Rounds Across South Dakota, students and educators are gearing up for a new school year. While Jean and I no longer have school-age kids, we enjoy seeing how excited our grandkids are for their first day of school. Making sure students get a quality education is very important to me. What they learn in school now can set them up for success for years to come. Teachers, administrators and all other school staff members play an integral role in student success. Their dedication to our young people can make a lasting impact. It has been more than 50 years since I was in grade school and I still remember some of the teachers and staff who taught me not only the school curriculum but also life lessons I still value today. Thank you to all the men and women involved in the education of our kids. You have a very important job, and I will work to make sure you are able to do that job without undue federal rules getting in your way. Congress passed the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act, which was signed into law during the previous administration and was the first major overhaul of our education system since No Child Left Behind was enacted. I supported this bill because it shifted authority for academic standards back to the states and local school districts. I strongly believe that education decisions should be made by parents, teachers and local school boards rather than Washington Agency Expands Compassionate Allowance List Nancy A. Berryhill, acting commissioner of Social Security, today announced five new Compassionate Allowance conditions: Fibrolamellar Cancer, Megacystis Microcolon Intestinal Hypoperistalsis Syndrome (MMIHS), Megalencephaly Capillary Malformation Syndrome (MCAP), Superficial Siderosis of the Central Nervous System, and Tetrasomy 18p. Compassionate Allowances is a program to quickly identify medical conditions and serious diseases that meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits. “For nearly a decade, the Compassionate Allowance list has helped us identify and fast-track cases where individuals have diseases that are most likely to be approved for disability benefits,” said Acting Commissioner Berryhill. “Social Security is committed to ensuring Americans with qualifying disabilities quickly receive the benefits they need.” The Compassionate Allowances program identifies claims where the applicant’s disease or condition clearly meets Social Security’s statutory standard for disability. Due to the severe nature of many of these conditions, these claims are often allowed based on medical confirmation of the diagnosis alone. To date, over 500,000 people with serious disabilities have been approved through this fasttrack policy-compliant disability process. The list has grown to a total of 233 conditions, including diseases such as pancre- A report about a request from USD that has been approved by the Vermillion City Council to remove some parking on a stretch of Dakota Street and to close Rose Street from Coyote Village to the Sanford Sports Center for all five of the University of South Dakota’s home football games in the DakotaDome this fall. A feature about the recent adventures experienced by 16-year-old Skylyn Fitzgerald, a junior at Irene-Wakonda High School. She lived with a host family in Japan for two months during the summer. Coverage of Tanager high school sports, girls tennis versus Lennox, cross country at Beresford, and the Tanagers’ opening football game of the season, a home game in the DakotaDome last Friday against Lennox. PIERRE, S.D. - Gov. Dennis Daugaard will recognize individuals and employers for their contributions to the rehabilitation and employment of South Dakotans with disabilities at the 2018 Governor’s Awards ceremony on Sept. 25. The event will be held in the Capitol Rotunda inside the South Dakota State Capitol Building located at 500 E. Capitol Ave. in Pierre starting at 10a.m. CDT. A reception will follow at the Casey Tibbs Rodeo center OAKWOOD APARTMENTS 605.624.9557 Smoke Free • Rent adjusted to income • Large 2 & 3 bedroom w/AC • O? street parking • Large closets - one walk-in • On-site coin laundry • Playground equipment • Just Blocks from Campus, High School & Prentis Park 1200 E. Clark Street • Vermillion, SD A story about the upcoming 135th birthday celebration of the W.H. Over Museum in Vermillion. The event is planned for Sunday Sept. 16. Coverage of the Sept. 4 Vermillion City Council meeting. Pick up this Friday’s Plain Talk! Local news since 1884! Here for you yesterday, today and tomorrow. 201 W. Cherry, Vermillion, SD 57069 605-624-2695 Represent South Dakota, a nonpartisan group in support of Amendment W the Anti-Corruption Amendment - will be hosting a community volunteer event at the Vermillion Public Library on Wednesday, Sept. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. The public is welcome to stop by to learn more about Amendment W and help spread the word by making phone calls and writing letters. A brief phone call training session will begin at 6 p.m. followed by volunteer activities. For more information, visit representsd.org or contact Field Director Doug Kronaizl at ddkronaizl@gmail.com Read and Recycle located at 210 Verendrye Dr. in Ft. Pierre. Gov. Daugaard will present awards to the following 2018 recipients: • Catherine Greseth of Rapid City - Outstanding Citizen with a Disability • Emma Lemus Arriaga of Watertown - Outstanding Citizen with a Disability • Ryan Bartz of Sioux Falls - Outstanding Employee with a Disability •Burger King #1187 of Mobridge - Outstanding Private Employer (Small Employer) • Global Polymer of Madison - Outstanding Private Employer (Large Employer) • Outdoor Campus West/South Dakota Game Fish and Parks of Rapid City - Outstanding Employer • Dave Halverson of Sturgis – Outstanding Transition Services If you plan to attend or need more information, please contact the South Dakota Deof Human Services PRECISION PAINTING partment605-773-5990. (DHS) at •Interior •Exterior The Governor’s Awards •Commercial ceremony is co-sponsored •Residential by the South Dakota Board Quality Workmanship, of Vocational Rehabilitation, Reasonable Rates Board of Service to the Blind CLINT TUCKER and Visually Impaired, the 624-4621 Statewide Independent Living Since 1983 Council and DHS. NEWS KING REA And if you want to see: A story about the My Prepardness Initiative – MyPI – that will be offered to interested students at Vermillion High School and IreneWakonda High School thanks to a partnership that involves Clay County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Pederson and Lauren Hollenbeck, 4-H youth program advisor for Clay, Union and Yankton counties. atic cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and acute leukemia. The agency incorporates leading technology to easily identify potential Compassionate Allowances and make quick decisions. For disability cases not covered by this program, Social Security’s Health IT brings the speed and efficiency of electronic medical records to the disability determination process. When a person applies for disability benefits, Social Security must obtain medical records in order to make an accurate determination. It may take weeks for health care organizations to provide records for the applicant’s case. With electronic records transmission, Social Security is able to quickly obtain a claimant’s medical information, review it, and make a determination faster than ever before. For more information about the program, including a list of all Compassionate Allowances conditions, please visit www. socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances. To learn more about Social Security’s Health IT program, please visit www. socialsecurity.gov/hit. People may apply online for disability benefits by visiting www.socialsecurity. gov. To create a my Social Security account, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount. Amendment W Volunteer Event Planned 2018 Governor’s Awards Ceremony Scheduled Stories you missed this week because you’re not a Plain Talk subscriber A story about Jozef Vogel of the Vermillion Hy-Vee receiving the Legendary Customer Service Award. The award recognizes exemplary achievement in providing service that exceeds customers’ expectations. Only nine winners are selected each year from among more than 80,000 Hy-Vee employees across eight states. bureaucrats. South Dakota’s educators now have greater flexibility to develop their own curriculum based on the needs of their students. While the Every Student Succeeds Act was a positive step toward limiting federal government overreach into our kids’ education, more can and should be done. Earlier this year, President Trump issued a proposal to shrink the size of the federal government by merging the departments of Education and Labor into a new Department of Education and the Workforce. His goal is to make government more accountable to the American people and stop wasting taxpayer money on redundant programs and agencies. I have long called for the closure of the Department of Education, and his proposal takes steps to make that happen. This would allow for even more local control. Developing a strong, skilled workforce is an important goal of the education system, so it makes sense to combine the Labor and Education departments into one agency. At a time when our economy is soaring and employers are hiring, it’s critical that our next generation is prepared to fill all the new jobs that are being created. South Dakota’s students are the future of our state, and our greatest asset. What they learn in school today will help shape them into the men and women they’ll become. I wish all South Dakota students, along with our educators and administrators, a great 2018-2019 school year! B TEXT ALERTS TEXT: NEWSBULLETIN TO: 20673 Get Breaking News From The Vermillion Plain Talk! *Message and data rates may apply.