Sophie and Lawrence West stand inside their new casino located in the back room of the former Doc's Bar on Main Street in Freeman. The casino is accessible off Railway Street and is now open as part of their business, The Whiskey House, which also includes a cafe also in operation in the former Mimi's Diner. A renovation is underway in the main room of the former Doc's Bar and is expected to be open in time for Halloween. 

A Menno 19-year-old has been identified as a driver in a two-vehicle fatal accident east of Parkston Sunday afternoon, Sept. 26.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Charges have been filed against Lopez Zepeda Yeson Edurado, a 24-year-old from Guatemala following a high-speed chase through Freeman, south of town and then north on Highway 81 earlier this month. Edurado has been charged with aggravated eluding — a felony — and obstruction — a misdemeanor — according to Freeman Police Chief Scott Brewer, who was involved in the pursuit. Brewer said the obstruction charge is based on acts of reckless driving like excessive speed and running through yield and stop signs.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER The city of Freeman’s Westward View housing development is expected to begin taking shape soon. Meeting in special session late Monday afternoon, Sept. 27, the Freeman City Council voted 6-0 to award the bid for site prep and utility work throughout the 14-acre tract to Menning Excavating, Inc. of Mitchell. The bid came in at $506,441.80 and was the lowest of four submitted. The other three were as follows: H&W Contracting of Sioux Falls, $520,745.90

BY JEREMY WALTNER  |  EDITOR & PUBLISHER If the goal of the Menno Pioneer Power Show is to demonstrate to today’s generation what life was like once upon a time — and make no mistake about it; it is — then you have to look beyond the massive Minneapolis-Moline or the complicated workings of the corn-shelling operation to get the complete picture.  

This photo was taken at the 2021 Menno Pioneer Power Show and is included in coverage of the annual event published this week. The Courier is available online this afternoon and in print Thursday. Click the "You Can't Google Everything" ad at the top of this page to find out how you can help support The Courier in its ongoing effort to tell the stories of our towns.

Freeman High School seniors Jacob Swensen and Lily Wipf were crowned 2021 Homecoming King and Queen at coronation Monday night, Sept. 27 — the formal kickoff to this week's emphasis on school spirit at Freeman Public. Swensen and Wipf were voted royalty on a 9-12 student vote; the court also included Bradey Kaufman and Justin Wollman for king and Ava Ammann and Paige Auch for queen.

One person died and two others were injured in a two-vehicle crash that occurred Sunday afternoon east of Parkston.  Names of the three people involved are not being released pending notification of family members.

The Menno community’s traditional celebration of its heritage — Octoberfest — has been canceled for the second year in a row. The event featuring food and entertainment was scheduled for Oct. 2 but has been called off because of a Covid-19-related issue. Octoberfest 2020 was also canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.    

Because of a change in how our online edition of The Courier looks and functions by the vendor we work with, there were several glitches with how this week’s edition uploaded — including some who did not receive an email notification alerting them that the new issue was live.