FROM THE NORTH END: COMING OFF ONE OF THE LONGEST WINTERS IN QUITE A NUMBER OF YEARS MAKES ONE ALMOST CRAVE THE RECITING OF KWYR’S LEGENDARY “OH SPRING!” The now epic poem, written by the late and legendary pair of KWRY personalities Ben Norman and Ben Viegt, is annually played by KWYR on the first day of spring(tomorrow-March 20th). The poem readily shows the imagination and creativeness of the iconic pair. This corner’s favorite line of the rendition is, “Turn the page Ben.”…..
RELATING TO THE ABOVE, I DON’T EVER REMEMBER NOT ONLY BEING ABLE TO ICE FISH AFTER ST. PATRICK’S DAY, but being able to drive a vehicle on the ice……we won’t reveal “who or where”……Back in the day of “Ben and Ben” we would have guessed the gutty driver would be have been Bud Norman-no relation to Ben. Actually the ice is still over fourteen inches thick and is still rock hard. That may change quickly with the forecasted warm temps for later this week. Fishing remains excellent!!!! And….these spring snows, and last Friday’s rain, has put us in good shape moisture-wise as we enter Spring! We should be thankful for that!
THE ANNUAL BURKE MEN’S CLUB FISH FRY WAS ANOTHER SUCCESS. Approximately 230 folks came through the door despite moving the fry away from Friday due to Friday’s nasty weather, and the weather being not the best. Add another 20 workers or so and “go-boxes” it is likely that the number of folks fed fish topped the 250 mark. This number is probably down 50 or so from a normal year when the fry is held on Friday in good weather. All in all, it was a good night which raised some money for a good cause. The annual Men’s Association fish fry is another sign that spring is lurking around the corner.
ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING, IN ADDITION TO THE OBSERVATION OF A FEW ROBINS, is that the South Central Cougars first track meet was held yesterday, March 20th at the Dakotadome!
THE GREGORY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY CONTINUES TO WORK ON ITS RURAL SCHOOL PROJECT. This corner encourages anyone with stories, memories, pictures etc. to pass along the information that can be consolidated into a book about this important facet of our County’s history. There are questionnaires available from Clark Gies of Fairfax, Doug Spitzenbeger and Dorothy Boes of Bonesteel, this corner and Jerry Peterson of Burke, Dave Dobesh of Gregory, and Richard and Bev Rubel of Dallas to assist folks in “jogging” their memories.
AT THE SOCIETY’S MARCH MEETING TWILA EMME MADE AN EXCELLENT PRESENTATION ON THE NATIVE AMERICAN EPISCIPAL CHURCH located southwest of St. Charles near the Ponca Creek. Ms. Emme spoke on the history and showed pictures of the many improvements made to the Church through the years. The little Church is older than our county and is still functioning.
I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING “THE BIG DANCE” AKA the NCAA basketball playoffs. I particularly love being on and watching the many bracket boards. I was a bit miffed when my point-spread picks and bracket picks went down in flames in the very first round. I’m sure I had a lot of company due to the many upsets as the tourney progressed to “The Sweet Sixteen.” By the time “the Dance” ends, spring will have arrived! See you next week!
Author Jack Broome, originally published in the Burke Gazette on March 21, 2018