Steve Norgaard of Badger plays in a country band with his wife, Bev, playing bass. On Halloween night they entertained at ScatterGun Lodge, which is owned by Steve's sister Sheila and her husband Chuck Ross. They opened the evening at 8 p.m. playing a favorite, "I Ain't As Good As I Once Was." Then Steve had a request for a Hank Williams song, "Family Tradition," ... and as he started the song Hank Williams Jr. stepped on stage and joined the band.

HW was staying at the lodge, on a pheasant hunting vacation, and was invited by the Rosses to surprise Steve and Bev and the crowd. Those in attendance say it was a great night of music and fun ... and lunch was served.

As reported from this week's Wessington Springs True Dakotan

Running the shop are (from left) Belva Matthews,
Maureen McFarland and Marsha Bonfleur.

I had some time to kill in Pine Ridge late on Monday afternoon, so I looked around town and saw a little red building with bear tracks painted on it. It's called Higher Ground, a yuppie-like coffee shop on the rez of all places.

The founder is Belva Matthews (shown at left). She learned the coffee shop business as a regular customer in the Twin Cities of Minnesota while attending college. Higher Ground developed when she noticed that people really appreciated a tiny coffee shop that was started for fellowship in a local church.

She's been successful for two years even though she insists there's no business plan. "It's mostly a place to inspire hope in the people, and to encourage them and show them God's love," she said. Thus the name, Higher Ground.

Now 41, she grew up just two blocks away and came back as a teacher in 1995. Belva has a small staff, but she does all the baking — muffins, breads and cookies from scratch. She also sells some Lakota crafts like beaded pen holders. We'll tell you more about Belva's shop in a future issue of the magazine.

Oh, those aren't bear tracks on the exterior. They're coffee beans.

Vine Deloria Jr. died a year ago this month; but he'll not be forgotten by all who knew him. His thoughts and writings will live forever.

Deloria was a longtime reader of South Dakota Magazine. Occassionally, he called or wrote to suggest that we feature the town of Martin. He was born there in 1933 and he always called it home. At first he joshed about how we were ignoring the most important city (to him) in the West. We always promised we'd get to it (and we've had stories on Martin, just not an all-encompassing piece), but as too often happens in life ... we didn't get to it in time.

I'm caught up at the office so I'm on my way to Martin. Some of Vine's old buddies and classmates are going to show me the town he never forgot, even though he became a thelogian, lawyer, writer, professor and perhaps the intellectual leader of the American Indians. We'll try to find exactly why he never forgot the little town that lies between the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations.

"The 20th century has produced a world of conflicting visions, intense emotions and unpredictable events, and the opportunities for grasping the substance of life have faded as the pace of activity has increased." (Deloria's intro to "Black Elk Speaks.")

Kevin Woster has a very good writeup on today's Rapid City Journal website on Sioux Falls photographer Greg Latza's new book, South Dakota Spirit. Latza is one of several young and very talented photographers who've used entrepreneurial savvy to make a living here in their home state. Many very good photographers shy away from trying to capture people. They prefer landscapes and wildlife and flowers. Greg is good at nature photography, but he also excels with people. He obviously enjoys South Dakotans, he knows them, and thus he can capture their personalities on film (or digits).

Here's a link to Latza's peoplescapes website for some samples of his work.

You've seen his photography many times in South Dakota Magazine. In fact, he provided our July/August cover (kids in the cornfield) and our Nov/Dec issue (cattle roundup).

Rep. Herseth, in the Wagner
Labor Day Parade.

Esquire
has a story (scroll down on this link) on Stephanie Herseth, "the golden girl" of South Dakota politics. It's quite complimentary of our congresswoman, and she seems to have handled the writer very well. She even got in a plug for ethanol.

Esquire calls her one of five "Women of America," the best and brightest young female leaders. The others include an educator, scientist, nursing leader and water district manager.

John Richardson, the writer, followed Stephanie to the Wagner Labor Day Parade. He doesn't say much about Wagner, except some goofy quip about the "farmers and housewives ... dressed in cheap, clean clothes."

Hey, if breweries and seed corn companies gave away better quality stuff we'd be better dressed, Jack.

A major effort is underway to name the Seven New Wonders of the World. Twenty-one finalists have been selected, and much to our chagrin neither Mount Rushmore or Crazy Horse made the cut. But in the spirit of being a good loser, we'll admit that the competition was stiff and lots of other very impressive places were left out. Not many states in the U.S. have two sites that surely could have been finalists: we can be proud of that.

Visit the link. It is a neat project. The new list of seven will be announced on July 7 of next year (7-07-07).

Maybe we should also compile a list of South Dakota's seven wonders? Here are our suggestions:

l) Mount Rushmore
2) Crazy Horse
3) State Capitol
4) Washington Pavilion
5) St. Joseph Cathedral
6) Jewel Cave
7) Needles Highway

How bad is the sedimentation problem on the Missouri River's lakes? At a meeting last Friday in Pierre, it was suggested that 92,500 acre feet of sediment lands in the lakes each year. That would be 10 square miles of mud, 14.5 feet deep. See the Pierre Capitol Journal if you need to know more.

"If you can walk in front of thousands of people in a swimsuit and on five-inch heels, there's not much else you can't do."



Suzie Heffernan, the new Miss South Dakota (crowned last week in Watertown) came up with that quip, when questioned about the value of beauty pageants. She's a student at South Dakota State University in Brookings. It was a good week for Brookings. Marie Meland, a junior at Brookings High School, was also selected Miss Teen South Dakota. See the story in the Brookings Register.