Letcher

The communities of Artesian, Letcher and Woonsocket all held Memorial Day programs to honor local heroes who have served and are serving their country in the military. The day started with a program in Letcher, where Todd Welch was the guest speaker, and this year’s Miss Poppy, Isla Swenson, was honored with placing the commemorative poppy wreath at the podium.  Jill Pulkrabek provided music during the program, and Shelby Olson played Taps after the firing squad saluted the departed soldiers.

Woonsocket held their program next, and prior to the program held in the Woonsocket Community Center, Legion members gathered at the cemetery and courthouse lawn to honor the “Unknown Dead,” and a ceremonial salute was made to honor the deceased. The program for the event at the community center included Kaylie Robinson, American Legion Scholarship winner, presenting her winning essay, and Girls’ Stater Emilie Lindgren and Boys’ Stater Camden Rassel presenting “In Flanders Field” and “America’s Response.” The Town ‘N Kountry Red Group 4-H Club then presented their part of the program with a message focused on “Freedom Isn’t Free” and “We Will Never Forget.”

The Artesian American Legion conducted their program on Monday afternoon with Lara Brink and Kara Mernaugh providing the music. The grandchildren of Post Commander Karen Lambert and Post Chaplin Karen Klinkner placed poppies on the Cross of Remembrance. Jeremy White of Letcher was the featured speaker. Quilts of Valor were presented to three individuals from the same family who are all veterans of war – Patrick Mernaugh, a Vietnam Veteran, and his sons, Seth Mernaugh and Guy Mernaugh, both Iraq War Veterans. A Quilt of Honor was presented to Joyce Olson. Olson and Jill Olson shared a moving tribute to David Olson who passed away 19 years ago from service-connected cancer. 

At all three services, the local American Legion Auxiliary served lunch for all attendees. 

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

On Saturday, March 1, hundreds of people from all over Sanborn County, from other areas of the state and visitors from other states all congregated at Wes and Sherri Stekl’s shed on their farm east of Letcher to raise funds to help Brady Larson and his family as he goes through treatment and recovery from severe aplastic anemia. Brady’s sister, Brooklyn, has been determined to be a perfect match to donate stem cells to help him fight the blood disorder that makes it so he can’t produce enough red blood cells of his own; therefore, the family will have a lot on their plate for the next few months. 

The entertaining event on Saturday raised over $125,000 for the family. They also raised a little over $15,000 to help Bob Steckel of Letcher who is fighting his own form of leukemia. Earlier in the week prior to the event at Stekl’s, Mitchell Livestock Marketing sold a heifer 55 times and raised $31,000 to donate to the Larson family. There have also been other fundraising events, and people have sent in donations directly to bank accounts setup to help Larson, so there will be a good financial foundation to help the Larsons work their way through this as a family. 

Sanborn County has a lot to be proud of with all the work volunteers put into these events and for the thousands of dollars raised. It is truly second to none. There is an account setup at Dakotaland Federal Credit Union that is still taking donations if there is anyone who would like to donate but has been unable to attend any event to do so. 

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

PICTURED ARE Stephen Escobin and Ginger Manke, the new owners of Buckshot’s in Letcher.

After 16 years of running Buckshot’s Roadhouse in Letcher, Shirley Enfield and her daughter, Angie, decided it was time to hand over the spatula, so they put the place up for sale in April of 2024. As with most businesses in a small town, it took a little time for someone to decide if it was an endeavor they wanted to take on and to get everything in order to do so. Well, the wait is over as Stephen Escobin and Ginger Manke have stepped into the role of business owners as they took over operations of Buckshot’s in Letcher earlier this month. 

According to the new owners, Letcher has always felt like home to them. Manke didn’t live in Sanborn County full-time growing up, but she spent every other weekend of her childhood on the family farm located about six miles north of Letcher. When she moved here permanently in 2017, she wanted to find different ways to integrate with the community as she stated, “Letcher is a very cute little town, and I really like the people here.”

…Read on in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!

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