Black Hills State players PJ Hayes (23) and Sindou Cisse (4) celebrate a basket during the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals against Westminster on Feb. 28 at the Donald E. Younger in Spearfish.
Black Hills State players PJ Hayes (23) and Sindou Cisse (4) celebrate a basket during the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals against Westminster on Feb. 28 at the Donald E. Younger in Spearfish.
Three major street improvement projects worth more than $9.5 million may cause a few traffic headaches in Rapid City over the summer but will alleviate future problems as the city continues to grow.
The Public Works Committee unanimously recommended approval Tuesday of advertising bids for projects on Catron Boulevard, Sheridan Road and Wildwood Drive. The items will move forward to Monday’s Rapid City Council meeting for possible approval.
If the full council approves the recommendation, the projects will go out for bid in April.
One of the projects includes the particularly troublesome intersection of Sheridan Lake Road and Catron Boulevard, which narrows down to two lanes at Corral Drive. City Engineer Roger Hall said Sheridan Lake Road will be widened to four lanes in a future project, but to prepare for that work to begin, the Public Works Department will need to spend approximately $3.5 million to relocate utilities and sidewalks, and build a retaining wall.
"Everybody knows that's a major choke point in the southeast part of town. This year's project is nothing more than taking all those underground utilities that we deal with — you know, your telephone, your cable, the power, the gas — and moving them into a common trench on the east side of the road," Hall said.
The Public Works Committee recommended improvements to the intersection of Sheridan Lake Road and Catron Boulevard, which narrows down to two lanes at Corral Drive.
The retaining wall will also be built on the east side of Sheridan Lake Road because the city will use the entire right-of-way there in the area. Hall said the east side currently has a fence along the roadway to keep pedestrians safe. The new retaining wall will have a fence along the top to serve the same purpose.
"That's going to be a pretty major project. It's going to start the day after school gets out. That's our goal," Hall said. "And the goal is to be done before school starts. That's going to be a real challenge for any contractor that we have out there. So it'll be interesting. It'll be a challenge."
In the same area, work will begin on rehabilitating Catron Boulevard's surface from Les Hollers Way to Sheridan Lake Road, a $1.3 million project. Hall said Catron Boulevard has experienced degradation earlier than expected in that particular stretch.
"We're going to mill the existing asphalt off and then go back and repave with a new surface and restriping. Also, we're going to do some ADA upgrades at Les Hollers," he said.
The Americans With Disabilities Act improvements will include a pedestrian crossing and installation of pedestrian push buttons at the existing traffic signal. If approved, the project will go to bid on April 25 with the project scheduled to occur this summer.
Hall said traffic will keep flowing in both directions on Catron Boulevard and Sheridan Lake Road during the projects, but urges drivers to be cautious.
The Public Works Committee recommended improvements to the intersection of Sheridan Lake Road and Catron Boulevard, which narrows down to two lanes at Corral Drive.
"It will neck down and it will be a bottleneck. So, we just ask people to take their time and be safe. Try, if you can, to find alternative routes... just avoid the construction," Hall said. "Remember, these are our neighbors and our friends that work in these projects and we've got to be safe and take care of them."
Another project that might not impact traffic as much, but comes with a hefty price tag, is phase 2 of reconstruction work on portions of Wildwood Drive, Alpine Court, Greenleaf Court and Vanishing Trail Court. The $4.85 million project includes full street and utility reconstruction.
Hall said this is the final portion of a three-phase project that will include asphalt pavement sections replacement and widening, with gravel shoulders. Existing water mains will be rebuilt and sanitary sewer mains installed.
"Similar to what we've done before, we put in new water and new sewer up through these areas and provide the homeowners there an opportunity to connect to the sewer if they want to," Hall said. "Most of the people in that area are on on site septic things and on site sewer systems. It's a very challenging area."
Hall said the project has been in the works for quite some time and he is looking forward to getting it completed. The anticipated start date will be in May, with an estimated completion date in fall 2024.
Contact Nathan Thompson at nathan.thompson@rapidcityjournal.com.
On the morning of Sept. 3, 2020, Megan Crazy Thunder went to her friend Richard Montanez’s house on East Monroe Street in Rapid City to make eggs and bacon for his kids as he, his roommate and another woman slept.
The morning would end with Montanez fatally wounded, two women severely wounded, and Crazy Thunder calling the police from a neighbor’s phone as she waited with a 7-year-old boy and his 3-year-old brother who would both be without a father by the afternoon.
Dismounts Thrice
Crazy Thunder testified in court on Tuesday during the trial of Allac “A.J.” Dismounts Thrice, 30, of Rapid City, who is charged with the first-degree murder of the 39-year-old Montanez and the attempted murders of Jessalyn Cook and Cody Good Soldier. The state alleges he beat them with a hammer while they slept in their beds and then fled the scene before his arrest later that afternoon.
Crazy Thunder testified she met Montanez two months prior at a casino, and they became friends. By September, she was going to Montanez’s apartment almost every day to help care for his children.
The apartment, which is part of a duplex home, had two bedrooms. One belonged to Good Soldier. That morning she slept on her bed alone. Montanez slept on a mattress on the floor of his bedroom and Cook slept across the room from him on the floor.
Dismounts Thrice was one of several people at the home that day, according to Crazy Thunder and two other men who testified on Tuesday. The house was frequented by meth users and Montanez was known to let people stay with him when they needed a place to sleep, Crazy Thunder said.
One of the people present was Crazy Thunder’s boyfriend, Pharron Piper. Piper testified he and Crazy Thunder stayed at the Budget Inn in Rapid City the night before going to the casino in the morning and then to Montanez’s. While they were there, so was Marcos Vargas, who said he saw Dismounts Thrice bludgeon Montanez. Another woman was also present in the house, but she did not testify.
Vargas testified he saw Dismounts Thrice take a hammer into the bedroom where Good Soldier slept and he heard “ping, ping.” Crazy Thunder described it as “a really ugly sound.”
Montanez’s now 9-year-old son took the stand on Tuesday. With his hands folded neatly in front of him, he described the sound as “a couple thumps” and teared up, dabbing at his tears with a tissue.
Rich Montanez poses in a selfie with his children.
Vargas testified he then allegedly saw Dismounts Thrice go into Montanez’s room and start hitting him in the head as his 3-year-old son laid next to him. An aunt previously told the Journal that both children were sleeping in the room.
During a forensic interview with Tifanie Petro, advocacy and program director at the Child Advocacy Center in Rapid City, the 9-year-old boy said he wasn’t in the room and that he didn’t know where his brother was. He placed himself in the living room and outside at different points during the interview, which the state played in court in its entirety.
Petro testified that inconsistencies like that are not atypical for young children.
When Vargas saw Montanez being hit, he yelled at the others in the house to get out.
The boy testified he went into the bedroom and saw blood on his dad and the walls. During his interview with Petro the boy said, “A.J. hitted everybody that was sleeping,” and, “A.J. hitted my dad in the skull.”
“All I saw was J (Jessalyn) shaking and my dad bleeding. I was like, dad, wake up!” he said.
He told the interviewer that he saw Dismounts Thrice — who he knew by his nickname A.J. — wrap the “wet” hammer with brown clothes and then ran out. Petro asked the boy to draw a picture of what he saw Dismounts Thrice wrap up. After he completed the drawing, Petro asked him what it was.
“The hammer that he hitted the people with,” he replied.
Crazy Thunder also testified to seeing Dismounts Thrice wrap the hammer in what she called a “brown towel." The hammer was never found.
Piper, who arrived from the prison in Sioux Falls where he is serving sentences for eluding a police officer and possession of a controlled substance, testified that he, Crazy Thunder, Vargas and the other woman all ran outside when they heard Vargas. When they got outside, he and Crazy Thunder went back inside to get the two boys.
Piper said he barricaded the door with a couch as Dismounts Thrice knocked on the door and tried to get back in.
Crazy Thunder, Vargas and Piper all testified they had active warrants out for them at the time, which is why Vargas and Piper left. Crazy Thunder said she thought about leaving because of her warrant, but decided to stay with the boys.
When police arrived, they found Montanez, Cook and Good Soldier unconscious with severe head injuries. The three were rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to save Montanez.
During opening statements, Angela Colbath, one of Dismounts Thrice’s defense attorneys, urged the jury to pay close attention to what witnesses told law enforcement. During cross-examination by Greg Sperlich —Dismounts Thrice’s other attorney — Crazy Thunder acknowledged she never mentioned the hammer to law enforcement during interviews.
Piper testified on Tuesday that Dismounts Thrice was quiet in the living room before the incident, but during law enforcement interviews he said that he was laughing and joking. Piper clarified that Dismounts Thrice was laughing and joking, just not with him.
Sperlich pointed out that Vargas didn’t tell anyone that he witnessed a murder even after he had been arrested on another matter and was held in the Pennington County Jail.
“It won’t be clear at all who caused these injuries,” Colbath had told the jury at the beginning of the day.
— Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com —
Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education's recent decision to hire Nicole Swigart is a decisive step away from the status quo. After three decades in the district and an eight-month long interim period, the board is sure they've found the right leader.
With a unanimous vote during last week's meeting, the board named Nicole Swigart the district's newest permanent superintendent. This development came after her eight months as interim CEO/superintendent. Much of Swigart's path to the leadership position is different from her predecessors, including her experience and the process by which she was hired.
In the past, the school board would employ search firms that handle much of the hiring process. They survey school board members to help translate the board’s vision into criteria for candidates and review pertinent data about the district — like its needs and assets. Perhaps most notable is how firms place advertisements in national and trade publications to solicit applications even going so far to reach out to qualified candidates who have not applied. They also screen candidates, performing background checks.
This time, the board posted the position on the district’s website, Associated School Boards of South Dakota, School Administrators of South Dakota, Edweek Top School Jobs and Indeed.
The board also declined to involve other stakeholders in the decision as they have in the past. In 2016, the board included committees representing RCAS administration, RCAS teachers, and Elevate Rapid City. Those groups even conducted their own separate interviews.
Having been involved in the two previous superintendent searches as someone on those committees, Swigart said she felt it was pointless because the district was going to do what they think is best for the community and their constituents.
"What those committees say has no weight with the board. I know administrators who won't serve on interview committees because they don't feel listened to," Swigart said. "In both of the processes, the team I served on did not pick the person who got offered the job. I felt like it was just wasting my time."
During the school board meeting last week when Swigart was hired, a few board members expressed their reasoning for excluding a search firm from the process and also admitting that much of the process was not communicated to the public well. During previous processes, the board would update the public as they narrowed down their candidates.
Michael Birkeland
Board member Michael Birkeland said some of the poor communication was due to privacy rights that disallow the discussion of employees in public forums. He also said the decision not to hire a firm was partly due to timeline and cost. According to him, search firms would have started their months-long process right now.
"Because we decided not to go with a firm, there were differences with the whole entire procedure," Birkeland said. "I can't speak to that anymore for legality reasons, but I wish we would have communicated that more clearly.
Board member Clay Colombe also said the board fell short with communicating the hiring process but is confident in Swigart and the work she has done during her interim position.
"Being entrusted with the district's resources is something I take very seriously," Colombe said. "I am confident in our decision and am very impressed with the work [Swigart] has done during a difficult situation."
Board member Jamie Clapham said Swigart was caught in the decision to either hire a firm or not and has handled it well.
Jamie Clapham
"We wanted to be fiscally responsible. Search firms cost between $50,000-$70,000 and you're not even sure that they will find someone you like," Clapham said. "It speaks to her leadership and character how she handled being in the middle of this battle. We want a leader with a plan that is moving forward. We want to do better and we are doing better with this hiring."
Though she has not earned a PhD like her predecessors, Swigart has two master's degrees, one in literacy and one in educational leadership and administration from the University of Sioux Falls, a private Christian liberal arts university.
Though she has a tremendous respect for those with doctoral degrees, Swigart said her organic progression into the role should not be underestimated. She has had great mentors for many years, she added.
"I love my story. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. When I got done I didn't even know what a master's was," Swigart said. "I've had phenomenal leaders in this district who invested a lot of time and energy teaching me. I especially credit Ken Burnham (a previous principal at Stevens who died two years ago) who said he saw something in me when he gave me my first full-time job."
Dissimilarities with the new superintendent continue with her employment contract. Including less pay, she said there are fewer bells, whistles and cars included.
"The person who makes the most money in the district can also afford a car, right?" Swigart said. "It looks very much like a director's contract. Which I applaud the board for."
Swigart said other superintendents might want to use RCAS as a stepping stone to go somewhere else but she has only one want on her mind.
"I have no desire to ever leave this district. I want to see it succeed," Swigart said. "If I didn't get this job, I would have either gone back to my old job or retired, but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere else."
Swigart agreed with the board members that time was running out to hire a superintendent. Typically, superintendents are hired at the start of the academic fiscal year on July 1. Because many of the budgetary decisions are made in March when the legislative session ends, she said this transition is difficult considering the new superintendent operates under a budget created by their predecessor.
Not only does her presence during budgetary decisions help her hit the ground running into the new fiscal year, but, she added, because she has spent the last 34 years being a teacher or liaison in the district, there is almost no learning curve for her.
"Most superintendents coming into a district spend the first six months learning district staff, where buildings are and the community," Swigart said. "I've always paid attention to what leadership was doing. I don't have to learn names and jobs and how we work together in this district."
Clay Colombe
Colombe said he wanted someone who is local to lessen the learning curve and because they will know the challenges the district is facing. He also confirmed that out of the nine applicants, two were from South Dakota; Swigart was the only candidate from the district.
Though her first days included hiring formalities and media obligations, Swigart said much of her days have been the same as when she was in the interim role. She had meetings regarding the upcoming feathering ceremony of Native American high school graduates, legislative decisions and a considerable amount of time talking with parents about open enrollment for soon-to-be and current students of Canyon Lake Elementary, which will be closing after the next school year.
She said these conversations point to an area of focus for her in the new role: communication. Especially as it relates to how budgeting works and the infrastructure needs of the district, Swigart wants to avoid surprising the community with important decisions, like what happened with the closure of Canyon Lake Elementary.
"I think that I falsely believed that the whole community knew the impending closure because I knew it. I've come to learn that I knew it because I have been really involved in the district," Swigart said. "We invested almost $500,000 in the 'Band-Aid' fix. The community thought we fixed everything that we needed which was not true. There were still many issues and we should have conveyed that information."
The "Band-Aid" fix references the school district's repair of Canyon Lake's HVAC systems, IT server room, four classrooms and two restrooms in the early months of 2022 to keep the school safely operating. Big ticket fixes like it can be more common, according to Swigart.
"Rapid City built over half of the schools in the district during a building boom from the late '40s and early '60s. Because there were so many schools, people thought that the district's infrastructure was fine. Now we're in 2023 and we're not fine," Swigart said. "I promise you that even a million dollars isn't going to fix the problems in some of our buildings. It's going to take a lot more."
She believes the district needs to formulate a bond to put in front of RCAS voters that would build a new elementary school. She said this communal examination and discussion of the district's infrastructure needs can be the start of an era where the board is continually communicating with the community about the district's building needs.
In addition to a new elementary school, Swigart wants Rapid City to build a regional career and technical education (CTE) center where students can get trained in a specific trade like welding, auto body repair, or HVAC work.
"I truly believe that South Dakota needs to look at a third way for kids to complete school," Swigart said. "I would love to see kids who have given up on the traditional path to have another option for success and to have something to hang their hat on."
She had never aspired to be a superintendent but when Dr. Lori Simon announced her resignation in 2022, Swigart asked herself if anyone was to take over, why not her? She was concerned that somebody new would assume the role and not have a deep understanding of the needs of families in the district like she does.
Though her pressing concerns drove her to apply, it was her mother who planted the seed.
"My mom said, 'Honey, you should put in for it. You'd be a really good superintendent.' I told her that I'm not going to be superintendent," Swigart said. "Now she says 'See, I told you.'"
Rapid City Area Schools Superintendent Dr. Lori Simon speaks about the new South Middle School that will be built to replace the old building.…
