In our current issue we have a short article on the mystery that surrounds Harvey Dunn's iconic prairie painting The Prairie is My Garden. Mary Lou Banner, of Roseville, Calif., wrote us to say she believes the characters in the painting are her aunt and two cousins on their farm near Isabel.

Since the issue appeared, we've gotten another letter from Melanie Parsons in Viborg. She tells us her husband's family as always claimed it's their relations in Dunn's painting. Parsons explains further in her letter, which will appear in our March/April issue (due out at the end of the month).

Not much is known about Prairie. A friend and South Dakota State University classmate of Dunn's donated it to the university between 1950 and 1970. No one can say for sure who is in the painting, but staff at the art museum say visitors often tell them it's their family or the family of a friend. Before the short article appeared in our current issue, the art museum warned us to be prepared for a flurry of letters from people claiming to know the identity of the woman and two children. So far we've only gotten one.

Perhaps it's a mystery that will never be solved.

Our thoughts were pleasantly vaulted to spring today when we received an advance copy of a new book about baseball.

We're Gonna Win, Twins! tells the story of the first 50 years of Major League Baseball in the Twin Cities. A good chunk of South Dakota lies within "Twins Territory" (another of those abstract geographical regions with fuzzy boundaries, like KELOLAND), so many folks around here might find the book entertaining.

The book's author is Doug Grow, a Watertown native who covered the Twins as a sports columnist from 1979 to 1987 and as a metro columnist from 1987 to 1991. He now writes for MinnPost.

His book begins with the old Washington Senators moving the Cities and goes through the lean years, the World Series in 1965, more lean years, more World Series and ends anticipating the first season in the new outdoor Target Field. It even covers the remarkable one-game playoff last year against the Tigers to determine the Central Division winner (a game I had the chance to attend via the WNAX bus, but declined. It's just further proof of my innate ability to make really dumb decisions).

Grow's book will be published in April, just in time for the first pitch. We're looking forward to both.

It's a bright and sunny day in Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania, which means that when Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his hole this morning and saw his shadow, we were all doomed to six more weeks of winter. I'm not sure how much stock I put in the prognostications of groundhogs, woodchucks, whistle-pigs or whatever you want to call them. Even certified meteorologists have expressed amazement at our cool summer, frigid October, warm winter and blizzard-filled December and January.

Maybe we should turn to onions. Today's Yankton Press & Dakotan carries a story about Ken Peters of Scotland, who uses onions to predict precipitation in each month of 2010. The process is somewhat elaborate: select a large, South Dakota-grown onion and peel 12 sections representing each month. You have to do it on Christmas Eve at 4 p.m. (there's no telling what mayhem might ensue if the onion is sliced earlier or later). Then put table salt on each section and let it sit for two hours. If the salt remains dry, the month will experience below-normal precip. If the salt is wet, the month will be too.

Peters says onion forecasts were popular among Czech old-timers in this part of the state. But a few years ago we found retired county agent Joe Schuch predicting the weather with onions in Sisseton. He cut his between 11 p.m. and midnight on Christmas Eve, so there must be a little wiggle room.

Peters says his onion forecasts have been 75 to 80 percent accurate, so maybe you don't want to rely solely on them, but they do make a nice complement to groundhogs and weathermen.

By John Andrews

Yesterday's Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star carried a good article about the newest efforts to solve the problem of Whiteclay. Bruce BonFleur, who runs a Christian outreach group in the tiny village, wants to clean up the town and build businesses, including a recycling center.

Whiteclay and its liquor stores have long been a thorny issue (watch filmmaker Mark Vasina's two-hour documentary The Battle for Whiteclay for a good account). The town sits just a few miles across the Nebraska border from the Pine Ridge reservation. Alcohol is not allowed on the reservation, so many people walk to Whiteclay, where stores sell an estimated 4 million cans of beer every year. It's not uncommon to find people sleeping in the streets, alleys and abandoned buildings. BonFleur would like to put those people to work at a new recycling center or one of the other businesses he hopes to establish in town.

The article says the Nebraska attorney general is helping find funding for BonFleur. And since the legislatures of both states are now in session, lawmakers have been meeting to discuss Whiteclay. Two bills have been introduced in the Nebraska legislature. South Dakota's legislators are "open to discussing" the issue further.

There have been countless good ideas presented when it comes to solving the Whiteclay problem, and so far BonFleur's idea is just that - an idea. But with some more creative thinking it may grow some legs.

Photo from The Battle for Whiteclay.

By Bernie Hunhoff

Seldom does the tenor of the South Dakota state legislature rise to the level of outrage. Lawmakers here can argue life and death issues without waking the lobbyists in the back row.

But on Friday some wronged auto dealers came to the House State Affairs Committee to lament their treatment by auto makers Chrysler and General Motors. It became an emotionally charged event in committee, and the issue will probably remain so as it winds through the House and Senate chambers.

Some dealers were cancelled after 70-plus years of selling cars and trucks for GM. They lived and breathed for the company — and for their home communities. The GM bosses couldn't have ever afforded to buy such loyalty. And apparently they didn't even appreciate it.

When GM filed for bankruptcy, the chiefs decided it was a good time to shed dealerships because the bankruptcy gave them an end-run around state franchise laws that would have normally prevented such arbitrary actions.

A dealer from Sturgis told the committee that a friend said, "You must feel like lambs being led to slaughter."

The dealer said that he replied, "No, I don't feel like a lamb being led to slaughter. I think it's more like the Jewish people being led to slaughter. A lamb doesn't know where he's being led but we knew exactly what was happening...."

Steve Biegler, a third-generation Aberdeen dealer, said that it's easy to find his father's and grandfather's graves in the local cemetery. "They both have Jeeps on their graves. But I don't think there will be any more Jeeps in that cemetery."

For too long, most of us in Rural America have looked the other way as Corporate America has decimated our Main Streets. We shrug and say, "That's Free Enterprise. That's Capitalism." Decisions by monopolistic meatpackers, lawsuit-happy seed companies, heavy-handed insurance companies and other entities won the argument years ago that all should bow to their so-called efficiencies.

So we've gradually lost our retailers, our farms and ranches, our schools, hospitals, churches and now our car dealers. Efficiency is a great thing. If this keeps up, we might as well pack up our Fords and Hondas and head for one of the coasts. Whoever is the last to leave should open the gates at Custer State Park so the buffalo can reclaim the prairie.

By John Andrews

I don't remember how old I was when I made my television debut as a member of Captain 11's crew. I do know it was my birthday, so my family drove from Lake Norden to Sioux Falls for the show. I also remember we had this new-fangled contraption called a VCR on which we could record the show and I could watch myself afterward. Thrilling seems too tame a word.

Every kid in the studio was in awe when the Captain appeared in his blue uniform. I'd never a sound as loud as the roar that erupted when he asked, "How's my crew today?" I was always fascinated with the little switchboard where kids "selected the cartoons," so I was excited to flip one of the switches. I even managed to coherently say my name and age when he came around with the microphone. And even though I didn't get to try the treasure chest, being on Captain 11 was an experience I'll always remember.

Dave Dedrick was Captain 11 from 1955 to 1996, making his show the longest running children's show in television history. Three generations of kids who grew up in KELOLAND have the same memories I do, and now we can relive them at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. When Dedrick retired in 1996, the time converter and other props from the show were donated to the State Historical Society. After Dedrick's death on Jan. 22, a temporary exhibit went up in the Heritage Center's lobby. It features a giant Tootsie Roll and the popular treasure chest, photos, posters and other memorabilia. His blue uniform is on display in the museum's "Changing Times" exhibit.

So if you have fond memories of the Captain, visit the Cultural Heritage Center. And don't feel ashamed if you find yourself waving with both hands and both feet.

By Bernie Hunhoff

There's a hand-written sign at the Pit Stop convenience store in Wessington Springs that reads "39 Days Since Our Last Break-in."

I stopped there for gas earlier this week and thought it was a joke, but proprietor Kelly Gran wasn't laughing. And she says rural crime seems to be on the rise, even in places like hers — which sits very near Highhway 34 and is well-built and wired with alarms.

She's experienced break-ins on July Fourth, rodeo weekend in May and on opening day of pheasant season. The thieves seem to arrive when she is well-stocked with cash and merchandise.

The bad guys got away with her ATM machine last time. When it was found in the hills near Fort Thompson, about an hour's drive to the west, it was broken and $7,000 in cash had been removed. That constituted a bank robbery, interestingly enough, and now the FBI is interested.

Wessington Springs seems like one of the safest little communities in the Great American West. Sadly, even there a small business isn't immune. Kelly said the thieves appear to be pros. They knew when to strike and how to maximize their burglary in a few minutes inside.

It's a small world in more ways than one.

By John Andrews

Big things have happened to Kevin Locke since we wrote about him and his newest CD in our November/December issue, not that we really had anything to do with it.

Locke's album Earth Gift won a NAMMY (Native American Music Award) in the Record of the Year category. He was also nominated for Artist of the Year and Flutist of the Year. The NAMMYs are the music industry's largest recognition of Native audio recordings. Locke previously won a NAMMY in 2000 for his album First Flute.

The CD is also up for an Independent Music Award for best album in the World Traditional category. Fans select the winners, so vote for Kevin here.

Earth Gift features traditional songs about nature and creation mixed with contemporary music. Locke is a well-known hoop dancer and storyteller from Wakpala on the Standing Rock reservation. He performs at schools and other venues across the country. He is also one of the last people who can play traditional songs on flute. "It's a very highly developed, formulaic style of composition, like pentameter or haiku," Locke told us. "It's a long standing literary tradition, but it almost died out during the early reservation period."