Tyndall, SD

There has been many new and reinforcements partnerships in Tyndall over the past year. There are partnerships between youth, funders, school, volunteers, businesses, the city and USDA Rural Development.

How has community leadership expanded since we began Horizons and are more people in the community involved in leadership positions? These are some questions we have been asked to address and we would like some comments from all out there!

Are we training new leaders ? There is a project being researched right now about teaching LeadershipPlenty to our juniors and seniors at Bon Homme High School. I can tell you that this would not be happening at all if we had not participated in the Horizons project. We have certified leadership trainers now in our community that are able to do this. Do you think this is a good idea? Post your comments and tell us what you think.

I recently attended the workshop in Tripp covering entrepreneurship and economic development, facilitated by Horizon’s Carla Trautman and Keri Freuchte. The speakers were from the SDSU economics department-Dr. Larry Swain ( entrepreneur) and Dr. Jerry Warmann ( Economics Department). Dr. Swain talked about co-ops, co-ordinating with other communities on an idea for enterprise, and combining businesses ( partnerships ! ) We have heard a lot about partnerships in our months of Horizons meetings. It is important! And we found out that we already partner alot already when we were not even aware of it! ( For example, some businesses partner on advertising ) Are we partnering with low incomes in mind? Yes-Tyndall is leading the way as our new youth center and the bargain shoppe are partners with success. What other ways can you think of that we are partnering with poverty issues in mind. Comment here at this posting!

Tyndall’s next Horizon meeting will be Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 PM at the Cavalier Center.  Keep working on your projects

Greg Gemar of Gemar’s Market is presenting Janet Wagner of the Cavalier Corner a check for $500 to match a business donation for the Youth Center. Janet and Greg are also working out a partnership to start selling Hot Stuff pizzas at the center. Greg  is working on a pizza size which would work well for the kids as a 12″ is too large and a 6″ is smaller then we want. He is working with different dough ball sizes to find a pizza size which would work for the Center.

More community support for the Cavalier Corner!  Jim Koenig of Koenig Insurance has put a challenge out to the local business community to support the Youth Center.  Jim will match dollar for dollar each money that the local businesses donate to the Youth Center up to $10,000!  It will be $2,000  a year for 5 years and we will be able to use the donations which were given to start the project.  Jim Koenig is shown in the picture presenting Janet Wagner with the first $2,000 donation.

Members of our planning team met with our coach Dave Olson on Jan. 8 and reported the progress of our seven goals we chose to work on for the improvement of Tyndall. He had lots of good ideas and new information on workshops coming up that will help us. Watch for them in the Tyndall Tribune.

Our seven goals are: To create a community foundation, to develop the Tyndall Bargain Shoppe, to influence public policy in SD to reduce poverty, to develop and maintain the Tyndall website- tyndallsd.com, to develop the Cavalier Corner Youth Center, to determine the feasiblility of hiring a community coordinator, to provide a LeadershipPlenty program for High School Students.

Lots to work on? You bet. The committees are working hard, even though all members have jobs and lots on their plates.

The Cavalier Corner is doing well and the students are enjoying the facilities. Ask about renting the space for a party. The board is working hard to secure more funding.

The Bargain Shoppe is doing well, also, with an all volunteer staff-that is incredible. The store is clean and well displayed, and donations continue to come in. They could use more infants and childrens clothing-clean and in good condition. Getting the word out is the key now. They can also use more volunteers to work on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The public policy committee has been compiling information that will be of benefit to those needing food and housing assistance. Be looking for that.

The community foundation committee has presented a “round - up plan” to the city council and the city staff is checking into that-some software issues right now but it looks good. ( Watch for press releases on that too)

The community coordinator committee has some objectives to work on. They will be doing a feasibility study. This is not something you just jump into. It is working in some of our Horizons towns so it is possible.

The website committee is also working hard. Almost all of the pages have been designed and will soon be online.  You can check the progress now by going to www.tyndallsd.com.

We need and can use your comments on these goals. Is Tyndall on the right track? Just go to the bottom of this post and click on comments and sign in. It’s harmless!

The Fort Randall Telephone Company of Tyndall has come to the aid of the Tyndall Youth Center.  Debbie Bures is shown presenting a check to Janet Wagner, Youth Center coordinator, for $817.08 to pay for internet and cable for the next year at the Youth Center.  This is a great educational and recreational opportunity for all to able to use the computers especially with the semester ending and papers due!  Also pictured are Fort Randall Telephone employees, Duane Bachmann and Harley Haukaas.

     Tyndall was the site for a meeting on Dec. 27 to discuss probabilities of setting up wind generators in the surrounding areas.  A nice crowd of people attended to hear Richard Wiebe of Westwood C-Bed Biofuels  and Scott Parsley of East River Power Cooperative speak on the availability of wind energy in this region.  The meeting was arranged by Senator Frank Kloucek and sponsored by Tyndall Development.  “The meeting will help set the tone and direction for wind development in our area and what directions our communities and individuals wish to take in terms of wind and transmission development.  This is another opportunity for economic revitalization in rural South Dakota” as stated by Senator Frank Kloucek.

   Wind power offsets other, more polluting sources of energy.  That is important because electricity generation is the largest industrial source of air pollution in the U.S.  When wind power projects generate electricity, fuel at other power plants is not consumed.

     To generate the same amount of electricity as today’s U.S. wind turbine fleet would require to burning 16 millions tons of coal or 50 million barrels of oil each year.

     Wind energy requires no mining, drilling, or transportation of fuel, and does not generate radioactive or other hazardous or polluting waste.

     A recent New York study found that if wind energy supplied 10% of the state’s peak electricity demand, 65% of the energy it displaced would come from natural gas, 15% from coal, 10% from oil, and 10% from electricity imports.

All who are able to attend the Tyndall city council meeting  to help support the Horizon’s project in establishing the Round Up program please meet at the City Council room January 7,  2008 at 7:45  PM. Hope to see you.