Most incumbents on the ballot for the June 7 Primary Election were successful in keeping their chance at running in November to keep their seat. John Thune, Dusty Johnson and Kristi Noem all beat their opponents quite easily. Although Incumbent Lance Koth, District 20 State Representative, lost to both his challengers in Sanborn County, he did win a chance at re-election throughout the district. Incumbent Rod Weber lost his seat as a Sanborn County Commissioner to his challenger Duane Peterson. Finally, the only part of the primary that was non-partisan was Amendment C, and it was defeated in Sanborn County and all over the state. Please see full results for each precinct in Sanborn County on page 8 of this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal.

In the upcoming primary election on Tuesday, June 7, citizens of Sanborn County may see some unfamiliar names on the ballot. A couple of those names appear in ads in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal, as the men are running for the District 20 seat in the House of Representatives. The reason they may be unfamiliar to most of Sanborn County is because, until this election, Sanborn County has been a part of District 8, but that changed in the redistricting that was done last fall, and Sanborn County is now in District 20 with Davison and Jerauld Counties. 

Currently, District 20 is represented by Lance Koth and Paul Miskimins, both of Mitchell. Koth is running for re-election, but Miskimins is not. With there being no one else running in the race from another party, the primary election on Tuesday will decide who serves for the next two years in Pierre for the new District 20. The June 7 election is a closed primary, meaning only registered Republicans are able to make their choice. However, Amendment C will also be on the ballot, so everyone, regardless of party registration, needs to exercise their right to vote on Tuesday. According to the Argus Leader, “if Amendment C passes, it would require any future ballot measure that increases taxes, or spends $10 million over five years, to pass by at least 60 percent.”

District 20’s sole senator in Pierre is Josh Klumb, but he is not up for re-election this year, so he will be working for Davison, Jerauld and Sanborn Counties in the state senate in the next legislative session, and the election on Tuesday, June 7, will determine who joins him on the side of the House of Representatives.

On Thursday, May 12, South Dakota was hit with some serious weather, and Sanborn County was included. At around 4:30 p.m., the clouds and magnitude of the storm literally rolled into the area and did serious damage in some areas and then completely left other areas alone. Trees were torn out of the ground, roots and all; buildings were flattened, and powerlines were knocked down. The sky was black as night, and the storm raged for a little over an hour before things started to die down and get back to “normal.” Crews were out almost immediately working on cleaning up the debris and turmoil caused by the forceful winds and torrential rains. 

The aftermath included the destruction of some outbuildings and power outages in some areas of the county. Forestburg was without electricity until Saturday evening. Woony Foods was without power, so the store had to close early on Thursday due to the storm and didn’t reopen until Friday morning. However, Sanborn County fared better than other parts of the state as Castlewood’s school was destroyed, a few people in Salem lost their homes, and a teacher in Sioux Falls lost her life when a tree fell onto her car. It was a storm like most have never seen and hope they never have to experience again.

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!