On Saturday night, a thunderstorm dumped nearly an inch of rain in Mobridge in 38 minutes. The rain and pea sized hail came down so hard at one point, it made driving impossible. Visibility was extremely limited in the wind driven precipitation.

The rain washed out the road along the walking trail, east of the viaduct and locally flooded roads and intersections for a short period.

According to the National Weather Service website, Mobridge received 2.11 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday.

Other rain totals for Saturday and Sunday in north central South Dakota include 1.81 inches in McLaughlin; 2.67 inches in Timber Lake; 1.90 inches in Pollock; and 1.70 inches in Selby.

Swimmer, 27, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The sentence is one of many connected to an incident that began at a trailer in Mobridge in December that escalated into theft, drugs and kidnapping charges for people in Mobridge and on Standing Rock Reservation. Swimmer earlier pleaded guilty in federal to other charges related to the distribution of controlled substances in the area.

Swimmer was indicted by a federal grand jury for intent to distribute methamphetamine on Feb. 14, 2012 and pleaded guilty to the charges on Jan. 3.

The charge stems from an incident in 2011 in which Swimmer knowingly and intentionally possessed methamphetamine and distributed and other controlled substances in the area.

The Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force conducted the investigation.

Swimmer was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service.

Emma Keller makes her way through the obstacle course. Mobridge-Pollock Upper Elementary and Freeman-Davis students participated in field day events on Friday May 10.

Soloists Shawna Madison, Makayla Hardcastle and Callie Slater, accompanied by guitarist John Bakken, sang a song from “The Hunger Games.”

Members of Michelle Wall’s third grade class from Dupree visited Klein Museum, Thursday, May 9, to view the historical displays. Volunteers took the class on the tour where they learned about life on the prairie, including how to churn butter.

Anika Hubbard, daughter of Will and Kassandra Hubbard of Java, was born Feb. 4 and has undergone surgeries and other treatments for spina bifida.

Anika Joe Hubbard was born Feb. 4 with a full suite of surgical team members in attendance. At seven pounds 13 ounces and 22.5 inches long with a full fringe of dark brunette locks like her mom and dad, Kassandra and Will, she was an absolutely angelic child to behold with an enchanting smile and a tenacious spirit.
“She’s definitely a fighter,” Kassandra said.
Although her arrival had been meticulously planned for months, Anika took matters into her own tiny hands and decided to arrive a day prior to the scheduled C-section, sending the staff scurrying. Anika has the distinction of being the first child born in the newly-completed maternity wing of Abbott Hospital in Minneapolis.
Anika means, “grace” and she has been the epitome of grace under fire.
A routine ultrasound at 36 weeks revealed a shadow at the base of Anika’s spine. As she continued to grow within the womb, concerns about her health outside the womb began to grow. The daunting diagnosis: spina bifida.  For some inexplicable reason, extremely early in the pregnancy the two sides of the embryo’s spine fail to close together.
“While the rest of the embryo is grow…grow…growing,” Kassandra said, “the spine does not.”
In most cases, the cause is not totally understood. Some believe that folic acid, a B vitamin available in prenatal vitamins, may help prevent it. In the preparation for starting a family, Kassandra had been taking prenatal vitamins for nearly two years before Anika was conceived. Further studies indicated no family history.
More common than most people think, Kassandra said, the odds are one in every 2,000 births. The reason we don’t hear about the condition more often is that there are several degrees of severity of the condition:  from one, so subtle it is often missed, to three, a cause of more profound challenges. Anika measured three. With a small sac or tumor identified during an ultrasound and attached to the base of her spine, the Hubbards were immediately referred to Dr. Mahmoud Nagib, who specializes in pediatric neurosurgery and spinal tumors at Abbott Hospital.
“He is absolutely fantastic,” Kassandra, said. “Very positive, caring, and supportive.”
It was very important that the sac not rupture during the trauma of delivery, Kassandra said, because Anika might develop spinal meningitis. That’s why a C-section was scheduled, she said. Yet with all their precautions, it did rupture.
Almost immediately after she was born, Anika was scheduled for the first of several surgeries to follow.
The first surgery was to repair the spine, and the second, to install a VP shunt to relieve any buildup of spinal fluid to the brain.
Since the spinal fluid flows up and down the spine and the spine had not formed completely, there was an obvious reason that a problem would occur with the flow.
There is extra tubing nestled in her tiny body from the shunt; it will never have to be adjusted or replaced as she grows, Kassandra said.
Kassandra was able to stay bedside with Anika for the first three weeks until Anika was released from the hospital.
Unique to the syndrome is a condition called clubfoot where the ankle and foot can be nearly reversed and the knees hyperextended. Dr. Geoffrey Haft, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon of Sioux Falls, applied therapeutic soft leg casts up to Anika’s hips, which slowly turned the ankle and foot to the right position.  Free from the casts, Anika now wears braces on her feet 16 hours a day. In the interim, therapy done by mom and dad and physical therapists from the state program, Birth through Age 3, help with muscle tone.
At first the prognosis was not altogether positive.
Physicians were guarded in saying whether they thought Anika would ever have any feeling or movement below the base of her spine.
“Being in casts up to her hips, there was little way of knowing,” Kassandra said. “It’s been a journey.”
The miles traveled are being chronicled by mom. One day Anika will read of her triumphs over adversity.
“I read a quote once that often comes to mind,” Kassandra said, “You never know how strong you are until strong is all you have left.”
Members of the Java Community Club have rallied to the aid of the newest member of their community with a plan to help defray medical and travel expenses for the family. A pork loin dinner with all the trimmings is scheduled for June 8, with a freewill offering. Thrivent for Lutherans will provide a matching amount.
In a separate fundraiser, members of the club are planning a raffle for a half-side of beef.
To everyone’s delight, Anika recently moved her hip all by herself, and then once more just for good measure!  For Kassandra, Will and Anika, Sunday was a most phenomenal Mother’s Day!

Bridge City Coin and Stamp Club members (from left) Cheryl Maisch, Charlotte Anderson and Lyle Walth recently delivered numismatic books to Karla Bieber of A.H. Brown Public Library. The six volumes cover topics for beginners and specialized to advanced collectors and augment the extensive listing of titles at the library.

The Bridge City Coin and Stamp Club held a random drawing from the 15 entries who correctly answered the America the Beautiful Quarters National Coin Week trivia contest questions.
First place, the 1987 Proof Set, went to Evie Pleinis of Mobridge; second place, the 1986 Proof Statue of Liberty Commemorative Half-Dollar, went to Karrie Stroeder Glenham; third place, a South Dakota Souvenir Quarter Set, went to Rhonda Landis of Mobridge. Each winner also received an early 1913-1938 Buffalo Nickel, a 2005 Westward Journey Buffalo Nickel and a 2010 Lincoln Cent, shield reverse with the blank cent planchet.
Club members dropped by the A. H. Brown Public Library and presented Karla Bieber a grouping of numismatic books to upgrade outdated volumes and fill gaps in other collecting interests. Donated were: “Guide Book of U.S. Coins 2014, “Standard Catalog of U.S. Paper Money,” “Circulating World Coins 1901 to Present,” and “Standard Catalog of World Coins 1601 to 1700.”
For the younger collectors there were “Lots and Lots of Coins,” and “Coins for You Old and New.” This is the third consecutive year the club has purchased books for the library, and the numismatic listing now includes 24 titles.
The local club is a member of the South Dakota Coin and Stamp Association, the American Numismatic Association and at the May 2 meeting the members approved the motion to become a member of the Central States Numismatic Society.
The club’s annual summer picnic is scheduled for Aug. 5 at the City Park.
There will be no business meeting during June, July or August.

Kelsey Crouse
Mobridge Tribune summer intern

It’s hard to pin Kelsey Crouse down on where her hometown is. Her father was in the U.S. Navy, and like any military family, they moved around a lot. Kelsey calls Brookings home now because she has an apartment there while attending South Dakota State University, where she’s majoring in journalism.
Kelsey feels that moving from place to place as required by her father’s military assignments gave her a “view of different hatreds.” But she strongly, emphatically feels that it’s okay to be different “especially in religion and race. And if you’re not hurting anyone, you should be left alone. I find it all kind of silly that we fight about things that don’t matter so much.” She is a staunch defender of marriage rights.
Several of Kelsey’s siblings are adopted. One is black. One of her sisters is a lesbian who is married and the couple has a daughter, who Kelsey loves very much. After talking about this sister Kelsey said, “I’m a sucker for equality.”
Of all the places Kelsey and her large family have lived—father, mother,  four older sisters and four younger brothers—she liked the small town of Poyen, Ark., population 292, the least. Kelsey graduated from nearby Sheridan High School, and hated her experience there. In her words, she was “not a popular person. I was a misfit for the misfits.” Kelsey’s diverse family was not accepted or approved in the school. It was not a happy time in her life.
However, after graduating from high school, Kelsey went to college for several years in Boston, Mass., which was her very favorite place to live. She said there are so many different kinds of people living in Boston that nobody cares who or what you are.
Kelsey enjoys cooking, as does most of the family. At one time they owned a bakery, which was the setting for her worst cooking disaster. They were baking pies for the bakery and Kelsey was sitting at the table idly tapping the tabletop with a fork. The fork tapping got on her mother’s nerves and her mother told her that if she didn’t stop tapping that fork, she’d get a pie in the face. Kelsey was 21 years old at the time. (She’s only 22 now!)
Of course, Kelsey didn’t believe her mother would waste an entire pie over a ridiculous noise, and she kept on tip-tapping her fork. A few seconds later her face was covered in chocolate pie, as was her hair. It was down her blouse. It was everywhere.
The bakery was attached to a convenience store at a gas station, so Kelsey’s mom sent her dad over to get some shampoo, then made Kelsey wash her hair in the sink. She didn’t want Kelsey going home with pie all over herself.
Kelsey said the pie tasted pretty good.
Her favorite dish to cook is enchiladas (see below) because that means Kelsey is at home and at least most of the family is there.
In Kelsey’s rare free time, she enjoys reading, but she has to be very careful and restrictive when she has a book by favorite author Pamela Clare. Kelsey can get so engrossed in this author’s story that she devours the book and cannot stop reading. She doesn’t eat, doesn’t sleep, just reads and reads and reads.
She also likes mysteries. Mystic River and Helter Skelter are two of her other favorites.
Kelsey prefers real books that she can hold in her hands as opposed to electronic books and devices.
Eventually, Kelsey wants to pursue a career in journalism. She’d like to live in Texas, Houston preferably, because that’s only six hours away from her family in Arkansas. She wants to have children in foster care and adoption, and getting married is also an agreeable option.

KELSEY CROUSE’S RECIPES

Enchiladas
Cream cheese, 1 8-oz. box
Cream of chicken soup, 1 15-oz. can
Chicken breast, cooked and diced
Flour tortillas
Mix first three ingredients just a little.
Flour tortillas
Put enchilada sauce on the bottom of 9×13-inch cake pan. Put some mix into flour tortillas and wrap. Place tight into pan against each other. Pour sauce over all and put cheese on top of them. Optional: Onions and black olives.

Irish Coddle
1 lb. sausage
1 lb. bacon
About 6 potatoes, peeled and cut up
1 onion or 1 tsp. onion powder
1 cup water
1 cube chicken stock
3-4 tsp. parsley chopped
Cook meat until light brown. Then place the meat, potatoes, onion, water, chicken stock cube and parsley in the Crock-Pot. Cook on low 5-6 hours.

Cabob
Chicken breast (boiled and cut into pieces)
Cheese
1 egg, fried
Sweet chile sauce
Flour tortillas
Place all in a tortilla. Fold like a taco, place in a skillet.

Crab Wontons
Equal amounts of cream cheese and cooked crab
Wonton shells
Mix together cream cheese and crab.
Wet the edges of wonton shells with water. Spoon crab/cheese mixture into shells. Make a triangle and press wonton wrapper together with a fork. Cook in hot oil until golden brown.

My own creation
8 oz. cream cheese
Granulated sugar
3 Tbs. powdered sugar or less
Cinnamon
Flour tortillas
Milk
Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add a little cinnamon and dash of milk. Mix. Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon into tortilla. Place cream cheese mix on tortilla and roll up. Place in shallow hot oil, turning once, until light brown.

Ella Frey

Funeral services for Ella Frey, 84, of Mobridge, were held Saturday, May 11, 2013, at Zion Lutheran Church.
Burial was in Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge.
Ella passed away May 5, 2013, in Sun City West, Ariz.
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
If they gave out prizes for moms, she would have received the gold medal. If you ever needed a friend, there was no one better.
Ella Irene Frey was born on Dec. 21, 1928, the third of eight children to John and Rose (Lein) Rabenberg in Glenham. Ella was raised in rural Glenham. After spending her elementary school years in the local one-room schoolhouse, Ella’s life changed when she attended Northwestern Lutheran Academy in Mobridge for high school. After high school, Ella attended Black Hills Teacher’s College for the summer. She taught at the Amundsen School for one year, then taught for Zion Lutheran School in Akaska for one year and the following year taught at the Rabenberg School for one year.
On Sept. 12, 1948, she married Norman Frey, who was her high school sweetheart. After they were married, they lived in a tiny home on the same farm as Ella’s parents. Four children later and after two additions/remodels of the house, the Frey family moved into a bigger home near Mobridge. In 1967 one more son was born.
Over the years, children and grandchildren added a whole new dimension to family gatherings, and soon great-grandchildren were added to the mix.
Ella and Norman traveled extensively to visit family and friends. She kept a detailed calendar of birthdays and anniversaries and never missed sending cards to everyone on these special occasions.
As devout Lutherans, members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Ella and Norman dedicated much of their life to helping the WEL Synod grow and flourish.
Ella was involved in Ladies Aide, Lutheran Woman’s Missionary Society, Zion Choir, and assisting Norman in Builders for Christ. She was also involved in serving her community by volunteering for Gray Ladies, Hospital Auxiliary and Retired Teachers Association.
With a total of 32 offspring, including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Ella worked tirelessly to keep the family close. She and Norman attended every possible wedding, graduation and celebration, making family their top priority.
It is our wish to have you help us in celebrating Ella’s life that with her heart of gold touched the lives of hundreds of people he came into contact with.
Today she is singing with the angels on high. But here on earth, she will be deeply missed.
She is survived by her beloved husband of 64 years, Norman R. Frey; their children, Virginia (Ronald) Glock, Roger (Sheila) Frey, Thomas (Deb) Frey, Timothy (Barbara) Frey and Andrew (Luna) Frey; 14 grandchildren, Jennifer, Michael, Philip, Abigail, Brent, Jeff, Greg, Darby, Shandra, Kyler, Hannah, Naomi, Nakaia and Magnus; 13 great-grandchildren; two brothers, John and Ted Rabenberg; and four sisters, Dorothy Becker, Laila Arndt, Barbara Giese and Marie Tucker.
Ella was preceded in death by her loving parents and one brother, Donald Rabenberg.

Jodi Liedtke

Memorial services for Joanne (Jodi) Marie Liedtke , 61, of rural Glenham, will be held Saturday, May 18, 2013, at Zion Lutheran Church in Mobridge.
Inurnment will be at Bethany Lutheran Cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge.
Memorial visitation will start at 5 p.m. on Friday with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Mobridge.
Jodi died of brain cancer at her home on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.
Jodi was born in Aberdeen to Clarence and Louan Overbust. She was one of three sisters-Nancy and Wendy.
Jodi married Brian Liedtke on July 23, 1972, in Aberdeen.
She worked as a Special Education teacher, first teaching middle school and high school, then preschool students. She also worked as Special Education Director. She taught two years in Sioux Falls and 30 years in the Mobridge School System. She was also a part-time contract worker for the U.S. Department of Education with the PEELS program.
Jodi graduated Central High School in Aberdeen in 1969. She graduated from Northern State College in 1972 (the dates are right, she got her BS degree in three years!). She received her certification to teach Special Education from the University of South Dakota in 1974.
Jodi enjoyed camping, reading, fishing, playing the piano, sewing and crafts. Her numerous crafts included woodworking with tole painting, woodworking with country painting, deer antler jewelry, journaling and scrapbooking. She enjoyed selling her work on the art fair circuit in the Midwest during the ‘80s. Hobbies she dabbled in included knitting, stitchery, oil painting, cake decorating, stained glass, photography, calligraphy, stamping and card making.
She was active in United Methodist Women, Kopper Kettles Club and Mobridge Birthday Club.
Jodi is survived by her husband, Brian; children, Jed (Tammy) Liedtke and Kisha (Dan) Liedtke-Hoar; grandchildren, Sydnie, Tayla, Sarah and Claire; her mother, Louan Overbust; sisters, Nancy (Larry) Elverud and Wendy (Paul) Meyers; and many friends and students.
Jodi was preceded in death by her father, Clarence Overbust.
Memorials will go to the Mobridge United Methodist Church handicap accessibility remodeling project.