The hundreds of thousands of bikers that attended last week's motorcycle rally in Sturgis aren't the only ones who were bracing for a post-rally hangover. We here in the RCJ newsroom were bracing for one as well, although ours was quite a bit more metaphorical.
It can be brutal shifting gears from two weeks of turning all eyes toward the Northern Hills and the masses of bikers filing in, keeping an ear acutely tuned to the scanner at all times and reporting all things on two wheels to … well, more standard news.
But that wasn't much of a problem this year. Threatening weather, lawsuits against developers, youngsters plummeting from apartment complex windows quickly cured those post-rally blues and kept readers coming back to the Journal site for more.
That doesn't mean the rally has faded in our rearview mirror. Whereas most of the bikers became making the trek home sometime after Thursday of last week, rally news tends to carry on well past the weekend. Check out our top videos of the past week to confirm that.
Of course, Steven Tyler's fall from the stage at the Buffalo Chip certainly didn't hurt, or the storm that ripped through the rally, and all those folks who wanted to see photos from this past year's event, or the daily Web cam shots from Sturgis main.
Needless to say, there was plenty to bring readers in this past week.
Top Five stories
1. Hail storm damages cars, bikes east of Sturgis
This story combines two of our most popular subjects with readers - the Sturgis rally and really nasty weather. The powerful thunderstorm that dropped baseball-sized hail on the Northern Hills and near Sturgis last Friday injured two, left several cars on the Interstate with their windshields busted out, at least one camper at the Buffalo Chip unconscious with a blow to the head and a whole lotta damage behind.
2. Husband of woman who died after slip and fall at Chadron Wal-Mart sues store
I suspect that the mere mention of the words Wal-Mart and lawsuit in the same sentence made this story so popular for readers. It wasn't even on my radar when I noticed it among the most read stories on Wednesday afternoon. Unaware from where it came, I figured it must be a highly popular AP story, so I went to AP Exchange - our wire service - and looked for it. But it wasn't there.
So I figured I must have missed it from the weekend batch of stories, so I went to our internal story archive and looked for it, but it wasn't there, either.
Then, with options running out, I did what any self-respecting online sleuth would do - I went to Google. Much to my surprise, the story was feeding up from one of our weekly properties, the Chadron Record. I immediately got it on the Journal site, and the story of a Chadron woman's unfortunate fall in the Wal-Mart there slipped on a wet floor and died from injuries sustained in that fall became the week's No. 2 story.
I suspect it did pretty good on the Chadron Record's Web site as well.
3. Rapid City files suit against developer Doyle Estes
Doyle Estes.
Lawsuit.
Potholes.
How could this story NOT be in the top five?
4. Former Rapid City police chief, lawmaker Tom Hennies dies
Perhaps no public figure is as identifiable with Rapid City as Tom Hennies. News of his death Tuesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., surprised many a reader.
The former police chief and state lawmaker had helped see Rapid City through good times and bad, from the 1972 flood to current day. And even though he no longer served in an official capacity in recent years, he still had a strong voice in community affairs.
By reading the Rapid Replies that accompanied word of his passing, it is abundantly clear: Tom Hennies will be missed.
5. Rapid City toddler survives three-story fall, not the first
It's a busy week when the story of a 2-year-old plummeting three stories to ground below from the window of a south Rapid City apartment complex is only the FIFTH most read story of the week.
Fortunately, the boy is alright, but the story tugs at the heartstrings a bit as Mom begins her search for a new apartment and the boy struggles with night terrors and the trauma of the fall.
Top Five videos
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler's Fall From Stage
This was the video I really wanted about a full day before it actually arrived.
Strike that. It was the video I NEEDED 24 hours before it showed up. I figured if I didn't get it in the hours after the Aerosmith front man tumbled into the Buffalo Chip crowd, few would be going to watch it.
I couldn't be more wrong. Already No. 2 on the all-time most watched video on the Journal site - No. 1 was the short clip of the cougar prowling the night near Spearfish with a big ol' deer in its mouth - people are stilling coming to view the video.
There's something about the terms Sturgis rally and reality TV that just don't seem to mix. But that didn't seem to stop a Los Angeles TV production company that was filming around the clock to capture events over the week at the Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis.
I mean, whose days and nights AREN'T filled with scores of scantily clad women selling you expensive beer as you choke down an enormous chicken leg and watch bikers in cages rev their machines to obnoxiously high levels, filling the air with smell of fumes and debauchery?
Aerosmith Guitarist: Tyler Broke Shoulder
It seems people couldn't get enough to Steven Tyler. And who are we to deny them?
The weekly series generally comes in No. 1, but then again, it generally doesn't compete against the rally.
In this week's webisode, the Rapid City Police Department's best track down and arrest accused car thieves, going through the details on how they were able to identify and recapture the vehicle.
Caydo Martinez's Three Story Fall
Videographer/photographer Kristina Barker returned to the scene of where a 2-year-old boy had fallen from the window of a south Rapid City apartment complex. As the video opens with sounds of the youngster cyring, we hear from Mom how young Caydo Martinez became the third youngster in recent memory to fall from the windows of the complex and her travails now as she has a largely immobile and traumatized little one to carry around in a wagon (his cast doesn't allow him to sit in a regular wheelchair) as she looks for a new apartment - hopefully, one that is on the ground floor.
Rapid Reply of the Week
First, a warning: Do not try to contact this person.
It's truly amazing how online scams have fully permeated all forms of the Internet. To understand how prevalent, one has to understand the Rapid Reply system. It does not allow spammers to post replies. Not only is there image verification on our site, but there's also a defense in place that ensures that a reader has entered our site in a way that allows us to deflect almost all spammers.
The only way the following post gets into our system is that someone is taking the time to go through the process of entering a Rapid Reply, not rocket science by any means or even hugely time consuming, but involved enough to the level where the number of spam replies has gone from hundreds a day to one or two - each year.
please try to contact me on 08/12/2009 01:54:53 said:
"my name is martin taylor my contry is Nigeria i live in china this is my phone number in china +86-13556197841 is me doing google and yahoo program in china please i need this goods supplier this goods to Apapa-Lagos Nigeria because i lost my Nigeria passport in china so try to help me because am suffer about American problem in the world this is my business name is smart invesment ltd this is my family phone number 002347038638394 or 002348055174816"
Poll of the Week
Midweek polls don't tend to compete well statistically with the weekend poll or even the early week polls, but this one was the runaway winner of the most popular poll of the week.
Apparently, people feel strongly about the use of cell phones by drivers. And it isn't too positive.
Accidents attributed to cell phone use are up more than 60 percent. Should South Dakota ban cell phone use while driving?
Yes
1,467 72 percent
No
564 28 percent
Editor's Pick
The business blog is nothing new to readers. It is the most successful blog on the Journal site and has seen a couple of different incarnations. And it's about to undergo another.
Started by Dan Daly and nurtured along by Jeremy Fugleberg, it is now landing in the hands of the more than capable Barbara Soderlin, who is just returning from maternity leave and will be a huge boost to our newsroom.
And, for all those who know Barb, when it comes to news, Barb Soderlin means business.
Check her out at http://blogs.rapidcityjournal.com/business.
