City changes garbage pick-up schedule

Flyers gunning for fourth straight title
No team has ever won four straight titles. Now, with kickoff days away, the Flyers look to overcome odds again

Bobcats look to season with high hopes, experience
Coming off a successful 1998 season, FA looks to continue winning ways

Strong runners gearing up for 1999 cross country season
FA, FHS start season at Beresford Invitational Aug. 27

Editorial
Let’s talk about real substance
 
 

The little booth that could
How a youth group turned homemade ice cream into a very successful enterprise 

It sits somewhere between the midway and the free yard sticks. It’s passed by children and adults and those inbetween.
An ice cream stand. 
Plain vanilla. No syrup. No toppings.
Young people working for their youth group. For their church. For their community. 
Last week, it happened again.
On Aug. 16-19, four youth group sponsors and more than 20 youth group members from the Salem Mennonite (South) Church spent time at the Turner County Fair, mixing, making and serving homemade ice cream to thousands.
It’s not a stretch to call the ice cream stand legendary. It’s not an exaggeration to say many regular fair goers look for the ice cream stand year after year.
The ice cream has become almost as storied as the fair itself. It’s been around for three decades, and last week the ice cream stand was again buzzing. Again, a success.
One doesn’t need to conduct in-depth studies or spend time exploring just what has made the ice cream stand so popular.
“It just tastes good,” sponsor Brad Carlson says.
Indeed. 
In fact, it tastes so good that as things at the fair quiet down each night as the hour grows closer to midnight, a steady stream of people line up at the ice cream stand beyond the midway, converging at the only booth still buzzing to get a dish of the ice cream, creamy and sweet.
Yes, the late hours are the busiest, sponsor Kris Carlson says, due in large part to the crowd leaving the grandstand entertainment. Those are the frenzied hours.
“There’s no time to think,” she says, as people are often standing four deep around the booth, waiting to be served.
“We scoop as fast as we can,” Carlson says. “It’s a very frantic pace.”
It’s impossible to get an exact number of people who stopped by the booth last weekend, or during any of its three decades of existence, for that matter.
 “We don’t keep a running tally,” says sponsor Kris Carlson, “and we can’t go by the money because we serve two different sizes.”
But the youth group went through  nearly 10,000 plastic spoons. And that, Carlson says, is a pretty good indication of the number of people who stopped by the stand.
• • •
While things have changed since the ice cream stand made its first appearance at the fair, the basic idea has stayed the same.
A youth group working hard, giving its time and energy to raise money for service and charitable donations.
And behind it all, the ingredients for classic homemade ice cream.
But changes have been made since the 1970 youth group first set up camp in a tent with crushed gravel for a floor.
When things started — and until the early 90s — all ingredients including eggs and milk were donated. But when the state Board of Health stepped in and nixed the way the youth group got its raw materials, ingredients were purchased instead.
The youth group went from using raw eggs to powdered eggs. That alone made things easier, says Marge Waltner, youth group sponsor in 1980 and 1981, and again in the early 90s.
“It was a horrible, sticky mess,” she says of using raw eggs. The youth group also began using a commercial ice cream mix instead of cream.
One of the most frustrating things in the early years, and even after the youth group moved out of their tent and into its building in the mid-70s, was lack of running water. So hundreds of trips had to be made to the bathrooms to get water for cleanup.
And that water was cold, and had to be heated on a hot plate, which posed a problem.
 “If you leaned against the hot plate,” Waltner says, “you’d get shocked because you were standing in water.”
• • •
Today things are much easier. Through years of trial and error, the ice cream stand has become a smooth running operation.
Each youth group member is assigned to at least one shift. Each takes their place doing something; from crushing ice to mixing the ice cream, to serving it to ... standing around.
Yes, some kids do work harder than others, the sponsors say. And when kids slack off, it can be frustrating.
But some of the kids joke that sponsor Brad Carlson is the worst slacker. He would disagree. In fact, he just laughs.
That sort of good-natured exchange is indication of the positive relationship between the sponsors and the youth, and good attitude that makes the ice cream stand both rewarding and fun for those involved.
Another indication of the spirit of the ice cream stand is the running record that is kept year after year of the fastest batch of ice cream made. Last week, Jarrod, Travis and Brandon Waltner broke the all-time record, making a batch in 5:57, well under the average time of seven to 12 minutes.
• • •
It’s no secret that the ice cream stand is very profitable for the South Church youth group. Last week, the group raised about $12,500.
The money is used for a variety of things, from buying new church supplies to funding youth group service projects and conventions like the recent trip to St. Louis where 10,000 Mennonites from across the country gathered for a week of fellowship and worship.
Through the funds raised, the youth group also supports missionaries from the South Church congregation and provides a supplemental salary for church members who are on staff at Swan Lake Christian Camp.
In the past, the youth group has also purchased a new water fountain for the church, carpeted the church parsonage basement, and last year donated money towards air conditioning in the church.
 “People see how much we make,” says youth group member Jarrod Waltner, “they don’t see how much we give away.”
• • •
It all ended after midnight last Friday morning, Aug. 20, as the four sponsors and members of the youth group fair committee shut down the South Church ice cream stand after another successful year.
Over the course of the four days last week, the youth group made more than 900 gallons of ice cream ... 945 to be exact.
“That’s a lot of ice cream,” Brad Carlson says.
Indeed.
“It gets easier,” says Carmelle Miller, who is in her third year as youth group sponsor with her husband, Myles. “You get a feel for what you need to do to get ready.
“It doesn’t get any more fun, though,” she jokes, but then reluctantly admits that it’s “kind of fun.”
Now that it’s all over, the youth group will meet to discuss how to share its profits with the church, and budget accordingly. The only money that will be held back is for start-up costs for next year’s fair, as well as money to be used for service projects or conventions in the future.
Yes, now that it’s over, the youth group can carry out its mission with resources earned from four days of hard work.
“I think every year we kind of dread the long, sticky hours involved,” says Kris Carlson. “But we’d probably all admit that it’s a bonding experience and a good feeling to do so much financially for the church and its work.”
Indeed.
 

City changes garbage pick-up schedule

The arrival of the city’s new garbage truck, which has greater hauling capacity, has allowed the city to consolidate its municipal pick-ups from three to two days.
The new schedule will begin the week of Sept. 5 and has two pick-up dates: Tuesday and Friday. 
All customers living north of Sixth/Fifth Street — both residences and businesses with either 90-gal. or 300-gal. containers — will have their garbage picked up on Tuesdays. This consolidates the Monday and Wednesday collection which has been in effect in recent years.
All customers living south of Sixth/Fifth Street — again, both residences and businesses with either 90-gal. or 300-gal. containers — will have their garbage picked up on Fridays. This is not a change for residents in that area of the city, but it is a change for commercial customers who used to have their containers picked up on Wednesdays.
Charly Waltner, who heads the city council committee which oversees the city’s refuse collection, said the new collection schedule will eliminate a trip to the Mitchell landfill where the city takes its garbage.
The new, 30-ton truck is more efficient and should help the city hold down waste disposal costs, he said. The new schedule will also eliminate conflicts with Monday holidays.
The city purchased the truck through a lease-purchase arrangement for about $120,000 earlier this year. It is a Mack truck with a Rapid Rail garbage collection system.
The new truck went into service the second week of August and Waltner says the transition is working well. 
“The only problem,” he says, “is when people are leaving the garbage cans in the ditch.”
So the city is reminding customers to make sure the garbage cans are placed on the road grade for collection. Placing them on the shoulder or in ditches can make it difficult to pick them up, Waltner said.
 

Flyers gunning for fourth straight title
No team has ever won four straight titles. Now, with kickoff days away, the Flyers look to overcome odds again

It’s the same story.
A football team coming off yet another state championship without a group of players that helped them earn it.
Yes, as in years past, the Flyers begin their 1999 season on Friday the same way they’ve started the past two seasons. With a winning streak intact, key players graduated, all eyes on them waiting to see how they’ll respond, and every opponent ready to knock off the defending champions in maroon and white.
The Flyers have established themselves as a nine-man powerhouse with three consecutive titles, 39 straight wins, and an attitude and calmness that is just about as impressive as their play on the gridiron.
Establishing themselves as a powerhouse in nine-man football has taken a lot of hard work, focus and determination.
And now, in the final season of a century, Freeman is looking to do it again.
The battle, however, is uphill.
Every team ... every player the Flyers face this year is going to be focusing on one thing. Beating Freeman. 
Aisenbrey acknowledges his team will see the very best of every one of their opponents, but says the team feels little pressure. 
“We take things one game at a time,” he says, a phrase that has become standard for the team in light of hounding questions about the season and 39 straight victories.
“We don’t talk about it in practice,” Aisenbrey says of the streak. “But I don’t know that they forget about it.
• • •
“We’ve got kids who are playing well and looking pretty good,” Aisenbrey says after several weeks of practices.
That’s good news for a team that lost five key players to graduation; Mike Anderson, Dave Hindle, Ryan Klenner, Josh Stahl and Dustin Tschetter are gone. That’s a starting quarterback in Anderson, a key defensive safety in Tschetter, and a chunk of the line in the remaining three.
But for the past three years, that’s the way it’s been. Freeman, faced with the task of rebuilding a part of its game. And so far, the Flyers have done it successfully.  They’ve got a three-peat to show for it.
Anybody who has paid attention to the Flyers the past several seasons knows their strength is on the ground. 
“Our forte,” Aisenbrey says, “is our running game.”
Powered by senior Brett Scherschligt and junior Seth Walter — Scherschligt was named to the Argus Leader elite 45 last season — the Flyers will again look to the ground attack to wear opponents down and put points on the board.
But Aisenbrey says he knows teams will be keying on those two players, which is why he’s got several game plans in place to try and counter what is sure to be an aggressive, hard hitting attack on Freeman’s ground game.
He calls it plan B, and will likely take advantage of a quick, smart Ryan Pidde who will take over as quarterback this season.
• • •
One of the adjustments the Flyers will have to make this season is playing away from the field they have called home since 1981. 
With a half-million dollar track renovation rendering the football field useless for what will likely be the entire season, the Flyers will have to adjust to playing most games on the road. The two games scheduled to be played at home — against Bridgewater and Wakonda-Gayville-Volin — will likely be played on the practice field west of the existing stadium.
“We’re making the best of it,” Aisenbrey says. “We have to.”
Freeman’s opening game will be played in Lennox this Friday against Centerville — one of four tough teams in the region the Flyers will face in the months ahead. The other three are Wakonda-Gayville, Marion and Emery-Ethan.
Aisenbrey says the Centerville game will be a great test of the stability and strength of this year’s team. The Flyers met the Tornadoes in the playoffs last season, and slipped past them 22-6 ... one of the Flyers’ closest contests of the season.
The game will be heavily covered by the media, Aisenbrey speculates, and Centerville will likely be hungry to avenge last seasons loss to the Flyers, as well as the previous two seasons in which Freeman kept the Tornadoes out of the dome.
That’s why the game — originally scheduled to be played in Freeman — will be in Lennox. “You don’t want a game of that caliber to be played on a makeshift field,” Aisenbrey says.
• • •
They’re going for four. Freeman would be the first team to pull it off in South Dakota high school football history.
To the average person, that seems like a lot of pressure.
To the players and coaches on a team filled with skill and focus, it’s just business as usual; this dynasty looking to add to an impressive history that has captured the attention of the high school football world.
 

Bobcats look to season with high hopes, experience
Coming off a successful 1998 season, FA looks to continue winning ways

Never mind their coach has been gone.
Never mind that vacation kept Chris Eisenbeis away from his team until Monday, Aug. 23 ... four days before their first game.
Because it doesn’t matter. 19 athletes have been working their tails off just the same, preparing for a season that follows a successful one in 1998. Last year the Bobcats posted a 13-6 record, winning the only tournament of the year by outscoring their three opponents 9-2.
The players appear to be ready for a season that really doesn’t matter among most schools in the state, but matters greatly to Freeman Academy, as well as the other private schools and clubs they will face in the upcoming six weeks.
Soccer season is here.
Eisenbeis made his return to the team Monday, and the players anticipate his return will be “a smooth transition.”
Brad Brockmueller, who coaches a club team at Dakota State University and played both at FA and DSU, has  served as temporary coach for the Bobcats. He has been running the team through drills and leading scrimmage sessions. 
“Since I took it seriously from the beginning,” Brockmueller says, “the kids took it seriously, too.”
“Brad’s not slack,” says Jarrod Waltner, one of three seniors on the team. “He’s pushing us and everybody is listening to him.”
Waltner is just one of a group of solid players with loads of experience on the field, who will likely carry the team. Waltner will lead a strong, experienced defense; one of Freeman Academy’s strengths.
On the other end of the field, Luke Horner who is skilled with speed and good ball control, will lead the offensive attack. Also playing an important role around the goal will be newcomer Deric Stahl, who transferred to Freeman Academy from Sioux Falls Lincoln and has experience playing club soccer in Sioux Falls.
“He has a real presence around the goal,” Waltner says.
In the rover position — covering “wherever he’s needed” — waits David Rensink, an experienced senior.
Those four will play key roles on the team in their respective positions.
But their are plenty of other players who will be vital to a team who is still adjusting to the loss of three key players to graduation in Brandon Barta, Brent Brockmueller and Levi Ketelsen. 
Just about everywhere you look are players who must step up. Junior Nathan Dockter, “a good team player,” Horner says, will be important to the team.
Only an eighth grader, a talented Bryce Schmidt will have to step up, too. Waltner is confident that he will.
“He kicks harder than anybody else,” he says.
Others too, from freshman Elliot Graber to a slew of seventh and eighth graders will be valuable to a team that is anxious to get on with the season.
“The younger players are ready to pick up the slack,” Brockmueller says. 
Graber will fill one of the most crucial positions on the field; that of goalie. In years past, Brent Brockmueller played that role, and played it well.
“When you have a goalie like that,” says Rensink, “you really don’t have to worry about anything.”
But last season was Brockmueller’s last, and the position was left void. 
Brad — who happens to be Brent’s brother — says Graber, although only a freshman, is an obvious choice to play in the goal. 
“He’s got a natural understanding of the position,” Brad says, noting Graber’s natural athletic ability and quick skills.
And Waltner agrees. “He’s got some experience playing the position,” he says, “but he’s not physically as big as others. That’s tough,” Waltner says, “banging around in there.”
But both Brockmueller and Waltner say Graber will learn quickly, and play the position well. 
• • •
By all indications, the Bobcats have the potential to improve on last year’s solid record using its experience, ability to work together, and depth.
“We’ve got the numbers,” Horner says. 
While FA lost several key players last season, Waltner notes that other teams the Bobcats will face this year have also lost valuable players. That should make for an evenly matched, competitive season.
While there’s no state tournament in soccer, two tournaments are scheduled for the Bobcats this year; one at James Valley Christian — which they won last year — the other the Tri-State Tournament involving teams from South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.
Most of the players who will see time on the field this year for Freeman Academy gained a lot of experience last year, Waltner says. And if the Bobcats have one thing going for them as the 1999 season starts, it’s experience.
“If we all work together and play hard,” Rensink says, “we’ll have a good season.
Things start Friday when the Bobcats host Custer at 4:30 p.m.
 

Strong runners gearing up for 1999 cross country season
FA, FHS start season at Beresford Invitational Aug. 27

They’ve been practicing for several weeks now, not including the summer months in which fine runners from both Freeman Public and Freeman Academy kept on running, staying in shape for the upcoming cross country season, which is only several days away. 
Both Freeman Academy and Freeman Public begin the invitational season Aug. 27 in Beresford at the Beresford Invitational.
Freeman Academy
For the Bobcats, two athletes will be represented at meets throughout the year. Freshman Kaleb Boese and sophomore Sarah Schaefer will run for Freeman Academy, coached by Carol Stastny.
Boese is already a standout at Freeman Academy, placing fifth in last year’s state cross country meet as an eighth grader. He also ran the two mile race at the state track meet last May, and although didn’t place, finished well enough to earn an ovation from the appreciative crowd and high fives from his competitors.
He has been running all summer at various meets, including several national track competitions.
Freeman Public
For the Freeman Flyers and long- time coach Laverne Diede, 1999 sees a healthy, talented group of runners. 
Eight Flyers will  represent Freeman at state meets this year, five of whom are past state qualifiers.
Senior Jeff Neuharth brings the most experience to the team, running cross country in this, his sixth year.
He has qualified for state two years, but was out most of last year with mono, and couldn’t recover in time for the region meet, although he tried, says Laverne Diede. 
Sophomores Megan Schamber and Tim DeBoer bring good experience to the team, as well, running cross country in their fourth year. Each has competed at the state meet three times.
Karalee Evenson, also an FHS sophomore, will be running in her fourth year. She has run at the state meet the past two years.
The other past state qualifier on 1999s team is freshman Jennifer Wipf, who got a good start on her cross country career last year, running state as a rookie.
The other three members of the cross country team are all eighth graders, and looking to use 1999 as a springboard for the years ahead.
Clay Coffey and Kevin Holzwarth are both running cross country this year for the first time, and John Schweitzer is in his second year.
The Flyers first meet will be Friday, Aug. 27 at Beresford. They will host their own invitational Sept. 14 at Valley View golf course south of Freeman, and they will host the Cornbelt Conference later that month, as well.
 
 
 

EDITORIAL
Let’s talk about real substance 

The election is more than a year away, but the campaign is already in full swing.
And George W. Bush, the current leader in the Republicans’ race to gain their party’s nomination for President, is facing relentless media attention about whether he has used illegal drugs.
To his credit, the popular Texas governor is resisting efforts to tell all.
He’s gone as far as to say that he’s been clean and sober since at least 1974 when he was 28. That’s a good enough answer, he says.
He’s absolutely right.
In the 25 years since then, he’s been a well-known public figure who has been under plenty of scrutiny and held accountable for his actions. The voters of Texas have trusted him with the leadership of their state and he is held in high regard.
If, in fact, he used illegal drugs in his youth, he’s demonstrated he’s overcome any problems that might have occurred.
And if, in fact, he didn’t use illegal drugs, he’s making a valid point; there comes a time when enough is enough.
Drug use, like it or not, has become a part of the culture of youth in the last half of this century.
“Have you ever used an illegal drug?” is a question most in the baby boomer generation would likely rather not answer, because most would hve to admit they have.
The real question is whether they are now using illegal drugs and whether they have a chemical dependency problem which could interfere with their ability to serve.
That’s a question that deserves to be asked and answered.
The intrusion into the private lives of public officials has spiraled out of control in the past decade, culminating in last year’s shameful display in the Clinton/Lewinsky matter.
No topic seems out of bounds and those which are pursued most aggressively are those which titillate.
If we’re going to start asking questions about personal life, what about questions like “have you ever driven while under the influence?” . . . “have you ever cheated on your income taxes?” . . . “have you ever engaged in questionable business practices” . . . “have you ever cheated on a test?”
No, it’s pretty much sex and drugs that get the juices flowing.
The substance which deserves to be explored is not the chemical substance, but the political substance.
And there’s plenty to question about George W. Bush and his positions on issues ranging from immigration to capital punishment to gun control to health care.
What someone did in his or her private life 25 years ago isn’t what the American people really need to know to elect the next president.
The American people are looking for responsible leadership and bold statesmanship to address the challenges and opportunities this nation and the world face.
A healthy, free-flowing exchange of ideas of real substance would be a refreshing change.
tlw