All-State Choir practic-es today and performs tomorrow in Sioux Falls. More next week.

Garretson High School Student Newspaper - Garretson, SD - October 27, 2017 - Volume 5, Issue 9

Blue Ink This Week’s

Need to Know

FACT OF THE WEEK: Q is the only letter of the alphabet that does not appear in any US state or terri-tory name. LIFE HACK OF THE WEEK: If you are stuck on a project or presenta-tion, ditch the computer and write by hand instead. The experience has been proven to help creativity. JOKE OF THE WEEK: Why does a milking stool only have three legs? BRAINTEASER OF THE WEEK: What invention lets you look right through a wall? Answers to joke and brainteaser are on the bottom.

Upcoming Events

Friday, October 27 - All-State Choir Practice @ Sioux Falls (8:00) Saturday, October 28 - All-State Choir Performance @ Sioux Falls (7:00) Monday, October 30 - Oral Interp @ Harrisburg (4:00) Tuesday, October 31 - VB Playoffs @ Baltic (7:00) - HAPPY HALLOWEEN Thursday, November 2 - School Dismissal @ 1:30 - Parent/Teacher Conferences (2:30-8:30) Friday, November 3 - No School

Worth Mentioning

Yesterday officially marked the first day of the second quarter. As a reminder, shorts can stay in your closet until fourth quarter. All-State Choir participants are practicing at the Denny Sanford Premier Center all day today and have their public performance to-morrow. If you are unable to attend in person, you can watch the All-State Chorus and Orchestra concert on SDPB. Weather is changing so bundle up. Today’s high is lucky to reach 40 degrees. While the extended fore-cast struggles to get into the 50s any day but Sunday.

Three harriers compete in state meet Full team did not qualify, but Garretson still sent three athletes to the state cross country meet

by Greg Arana staff writer Last Saturday, October 21, three run-ners from the Blue Dragons Cross Coun-try Team traveled to Rapid City to run in the state meet. The runners were senior Carmen Bohl, sophomore Rachel Kindt, and seventh grader Preston Bohl. With a time of 21:50 Carmen Bohl, finished 62nd out of 123 girls. That was

her sixth time going to state and her last time running for the Blue Dragons Cross Country Team. Mirroring the results during the sea-son, Kindt and

Bohl finished within seconds of each other. Kindt finished 77th out of 123 girls with a time of 22:15. Kindt has been

to State all four years that she has ran with the Blue Dragons and hopes to work her way back up to all-state status in her final two years with the Gar-

retson harriers. Preston Bohl had a time of 18:42 and finished 74th out of 123 boys. As a sev-enth grader, obviously it was his first time going to state, but Bohl isn’t satisfied with just quali-fying, “It was fun going out there and I hope to be in

the top 25 next year.” Their coach Jason Bohl said, “Hopefully they learn upon what hap-pened this year and hopefully we can grow on it for next year.” Bohl also said, “The goal for next year is to have a boys team and a girls team at the state meet.” As this year was the first time in recent memory that neither team had qualified, and Garretson only sent individuals. The Cross Country Team had a good season this year but know there is much room to improve next year and come back to State with more runners. Winner on the girls side was senior Cait Savey from Beresford, a Big East Conference school, with a time of 18:35.75. For the boys West Central’s Derick Peters took home top medalist with a time of 15:06.20. Full results from the cross country state meet can be found on South Dako-ta Public Broadcasting or click on this link.

Eagles soared over Blue Dragons during second half Despite having an early lead, Garretson was unable to hold and come out with the win

by Peyton Sage staff writer After beating the Hamlin Chargers 34-6 last Thursday, the Garretson Blue Dragons made it to the quarterfinals where they faced off against the Irene-Wakonda Eagles. This is the first time since 2014 that Garretson has made it this far into the playoffs. With the weather dropping to 30 degrees, the wind blowing at 40 miles per hour, and the wind chill making the air so much colder, the GHS football team struggled to stay warm. Nearly the entire team had layers on, blankets, and windbreakers to try and suppress the cold. Irene-Wakonda was the third seed in

the second round of playoffs and Gar-retson was the sixth seed but the Blue Dragons were confident that it would be an even game. In the first half, Brennan Mudder ran in the first touchdown, Di-ontae Lymon scored the next two on his way to a 70-yard game, and Keisean Deehr-Thornton intercepted the Eagle’s pass near their end zone and ran the ball almost the entire length of the field, scoring the fourth touchdown. Garret-son was in the lead 28-14 at the half. Irene-Wakonda came back strong the second half, with the wind to their backs benefiting them. They were able to get their passing attack going and forced turnovers. Garretson battled their hard-est, but many players were getting in-jured by the last quarter and the Blue

Dragons were unable to put any more points on the board. In the end, the Eagles prevailed, win-ning 42-28 and will continue on to the semifinals next week, hosting Kimball/White Lake. Deehr-Thornton, Marc Rattenborg, Trenton Karli, and Keaten Wagner each had six tackles on the evening. Ratten-borg also added 72 yards on 19 carries. Deehr-Thornton had 83 yards on the ground and another 36 in the air. The Eagles forced a Blue Dragon fum-ble on defense and had three intercep-tions in route to their second half come-back. Trey King was the big playmaker for the Eagles, running for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

JOKE: Because the cow has the udder (“other”) BRAINTEASER: A Window

Quarterback Brennan Mudder (#12) hands it off to runningback Marc Rattenborg (#32) in last week’s game against the Hamlin Chargers in the first round of playoffs. The Blue Dragons, #4 seed coming out of the region, took down Hamlin, #1 seed out of the region, by a score of 34-6. The Blue Dragons playoff push ended last night, dropping the game to the Irene-Wakonda Eagles.

Photo by Sylvia Larson

Garretson High School Student Newspaper Page 2 October 27, 2017

Fires still ravaging California residents and economies Billions of dollars in damage doesn’t come close to the gravity of the long-term effects from these fires

by Heather Huether staff writer Due to all the wild fires in California over 8,400 homes and building were de-stroyed. 285 people are still missing and over 40 people are dead. More than 20,000 people had to evacuate their homes. And about 170,000 acres of land have been destroyed in the fires. An estimated 8,000 firefighters worked to contain and put out the fires. They used about 550 fire trucks and at least 170 of those trucks came from out of town. There were also 73 helicopters and over

30 planes used. These fires were so difficult to control because of a few factors including high winds and multiple outbreak areas. There were many fires in California this month but one of the larger ones was Tubbs. Tubbs began on October 8th and as of Monday firefights had it 94% under control. Tubbs destroyed at least 5,500 structures and over 3,600 acres of land. It also took 22 peoples’ lives. Total damage is estimated at $1.045 billion. Another large damaged are was Foun-tain Grove, which is in northern Santa Rose. About 1,800 structures were de-

stroyed. Ironically, Tubbs also happened to have destroyed a new $4 million fire house. Larkfield-Wikiup, which is five miles north or Santa Rose, was also hit hard; 750 structures were destroyed and 13 people were killed. Another large fire that hit California was the Pocket fire. It began October 9th and burned over 17,500 acres of land but luckily most buildings avoided severe dam-age. Most recent reports state that it is 90% contained. The Atlas fire started on October 8th. It burned 51,624 acres, destroyed over 800 structures, and six people died concen-

trating most of its destruction north of Vicky Springs and north of Napa. The Nuns fire also began on October 8th, and it merged with many other small-er fires. The Nuns fire became the largest of the wine county fires. It destroyed over 56,00 acres, close to 100 structures were also destroyed, and two people were killed. The Nuns fire spread to Sonoma and Napa county, but most of the damage was right by Annabel State Park which is only a few miles east of Santa Rose. 93% of the fire was contained on Tuesday, Oc-tober 24th.

Senior Spotlight Lana Braswell

Quiz: Life Grade, where do you fall? A fun, non-scientific quiz created by the journalism class

1. How often do you shower? A. Twice a day B. Once a day C. Every other day D. Only after workouts E. Rarely

2. How often do you wash hands after using the restroom? A. Every time B. Occasionally C. If hands are already dirty D. If there are people around E. Never

3. How often do you use please and thank you? A. Every chance B. Sometimes C. If it is a person I like D. Only if it is REALLY nice E. Never

4. How do you make money? A. Full-Time job B. Part-Time job C. Chores D. Parents E. I don’t

5. How are your academic grades? A. All “A” B. Some “A” and some “B” C. Some “B” and some “C” D. Some “C” and some “D” E. Mostly “F”

RESULTS:

Mostly A: You received yet an-other A, nothing new to you! You have your life together and are on the right track to a life of over-achieving, success, and

practically sainthood.

Mostly B: You are put together most days, which puts your life grade at a solid B. There are moments of brilliance but it is hard to do it all the time. Your visits to perfection are enough to assuage your drive and keep you moving forward.

Mostly C: You are sometimes great and sometimes not. You average out to be

pretty okay, pretty much most of the time, earning a C. There is room for improvement if you really want to, but want is the key.

Mostly D: You do want you need to in order to scrape by, your just

barely passing with a D. But hey, that’s good enough right?

Mostly E: This life grade is less than stel-lar. I think you know what it is. But the upside is, there’s lots of room for im-provement & really nowhere to go but up.

SENIOR PROJECT: Volunteering as an activities director at a nursing home ACTIVITIES INVOLVED IN: Band, Choir, Oral Interp, FFA, Mentoring Program WHO/WHAT WILL YOU MISS THE MOST: Band, Oral Interp, and some of the teachers PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR: Go to STI for a double major in auto mechanics and transmissions

SENIOR PROJECT: Horse Therapy ACTIVITIES INVOLVED IN: Volleyball, NHS, Mentoring Program WHO/WHAT WILL YOU MISS THE MOST: Harley (my dog) and maybe Kenz ;) Homecoming week PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR: Attend college for physical therapy

Senior Spotlight Madisen Northrup

Misconceptions about school funding Garretson experienced multiple exceptions to still qualify for state aid

by Isaiah Miles Mader staff writer In recent news, Garretson High School has made headlines for a largely misunderstood topic. In 2016 our state passed a bill to raise teachers pay to a statewide average of $48,500. Accord-ing to the new legislation our school did not comply; however, our school faced a different situation then was originally planned. As a state law, all schools are re-quired to follow all the rules in order to keep the funding, yet some schools were allowed an exception if certain circumstances applied to their school. The Garretson School District had three of the four situations happen to them this year which has caused them to cur-rently be in violation of the rule. Garretson was among a slough of other schools who did not comply with the law. Yet, many schools had multiple reasons for not meeting the expecta-tions. The reason for Garretson not fol-lowing in accordance was due to teach-ers retiring, fewer students than pro-

jected, and sharing a teacher with an-other school district. In an interview with the Argus Lead-er, superintendent Guy Johnson com-mented, “We're trying to satisfy all of the rules that are set forth with the state, but also, when we see an oppor-tunity where we can be fiscally respon-sible, obviously we want to take ad-vantage of those situations.” In order to receive state funding school districts had to adhere to two rules. First, use 85% of the money from the new sales tax to pay for teachers salaries and additional benefits. And second, meet salary targets based upon the percentage of their budget is from the new money. If the school was not able to follow, they have the option to apply for a waiver. The Garretson School Board voted unanimously to file for a waiver with the accountability board due to our unique circumstances. The hearing will take place on November 16th and 17th and if their waiver is accepted, Garret-son will move to the legislature for ap-proval.

World Series setting records Dodgers and Astros have even series, both shown moments of dominance in first two games

by Mason Hofer staff writer As the crazy MLB postseason is coming to an end, only two teams remain. The Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodg-ers face off tonight at 7:09 in Houston. This postseason has had blowouts and close games, sweeps and full series and

the World Series looks to be just as inter-esting. The series is tied at one win a piece for both teams. The American League Champions, Hou-ston Astros, met with the National League Champions, Los Angeles Dodgers for game one of the world series on Tuesday Octo-ber 24 in Los Angeles, California. The final score was 3-1, Dodgers win. Game two the

next day was a nail biter, going 11 innings with eight home-runs, the most in World Series history. Astros stole the win to even the series. This game was Houston’s first ever World Series win. The anticipation of this series is high. These two teams are some of the most elite teams in the MLB both having 100 plus wins this season.

The Dodgers team is also filled with sluggers as it is a usual sight to see a home run hit by one of the ball players. Thursday was the first time the Dodgers have lost this season while leading going into the eighth inning. Making their record 99-1 in that category. Game three is tonight on FOX where the winner takes control of the series.