JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER A 51-year-old with a 17-year career with the state of Maryland/Maryland Transportation Authority in Baltimore will be the new chief of police for the city of Freeman. Meeting in regular session Wednesday night, Dec. 2, the Freeman City Council voted to offer the job to Scott Brewer, who early this week accepted it. Brewer, who served in the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991 before beginning his career in law enforcement, said he hopes to begin what will be his first-ever chief of police job the second or third week of February.

The elementary concert by Menno students scheduled for Monday night, Dec. 7 will be online only. Students will tape the concert during the school day on Monday and it will air at 7 p.m. that evening. To view the concert, there will be a link on the school’s webpage: https://menno.k12.sd.us and it will also be posted on social media.  

A large threshing machine was the backdrop for a stimulating conversation about the agrarian roots – as well as the future – of a rural South Dakota community at Heritage Hall Museum & Archives in Freeman last week.

Freeman Regional Health Services (FRHS) would like to inform the community that additional FRHS Oakview Terrace nursing home residents have tested positive for COVID-19. These residents were likely to test positive because they live in Southview Secured Memory Care Neighborhood, the same area as the resident who previously tested positive.

A Mexican restaurant that had been scheduled to open in the former Chislic House earlier this fall is still in the works, property owner Sherilyn Ortman confirmed Tuesday morning, Dec. 1. While an opening date was not specified, she said the plan is to have it open by the end of the year. The restaurant will be an extension of Tienda CentroAmerica, a Mexican grocery store owned by Irma Siyes that has been in operation on the north side of the Chislic House building since the end of August.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Doc’s Bar, which has operated as such from the 200 block of Freeman’s Main Street since the spring of 2019, announced on Facebook last week that it will be closing on Jan. 2, 2021, with a liquidation sale starting this past Monday, Nov. 30.

JEREMY WALTNER  -  PUBLISHER Those who want to get into the spirit of Christmas will have an opportunity to do so in Freeman next Friday, Dec. 4. A “Frosty Fest” is being planned from 5 to 8 p.m. that will include a number of family-friendly activities as well as retail specials from local businesses.

JEREMY WALTNER  -  PUBLISHER The South Dakota High School Activities Association is expected to approve a new football cooperative between Menno and Scotland when the board meets in January. School boards from both schools unanimously OK’d the agreement at their regular monthly meeting held Monday, Nov. 9. The Menno vote was 5-0 and the Scotland vote was 7-0. “That was a very joyous night for me,” said Menno Superintendent Tom Rice. “We are optimistically looking to the future.”

From the City of Freeman: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Friday, Nov. 27 garbage route for properties south of Sixth St. will instead take place on Mon., Nov. 30. The same Friday-to-Monday schedule shift will also be in place following Christmas and New Year's Day. Tuesday garbage routes will not be impacted.    

Freeman Public Schools will suspend all instruction — both in-person and remote — as well as all school-related activities the week of Nov. 23. Instruction will resume Monday, Nov. 30, although the district has not determined in what form.