PIERRE — South Dakota is oneof only 16 states to earn the high-est ratings possible under bothParts B and C of the Individualswith Disabilities Education Act,according to information recentlyreleased by the U.S. Department ofEducation.

IDEA Part B monitors the effec-tiveness of special education serv-ices at the preschool and K-12 lev-els, while Part C refers to thestate’s Birth to Three program,which serves younger childrenand their families.

South Dakota’s special educa-tion programs met the establishedtargets on 16 of 18 public report-ing areas required under Part B.The state demonstrated that itprovides valid and reliable dataand has high levels of compliancein the eight areas of the StatePerformance Plan.

The state must also keep trackof determinations for each of thepublic school districts it serves. InSouth Dakota, all the public schooldistricts met requirements as well.Nearly 18,000 children, betweenthe ages of three and 21, receivedspecial education services frommore than 150 school districtsstatewide.

“Our districts are a huge rea-son why the state met require-ments. If it was not for their hardwork and dedication, we would

not have such high and accuratestandards,” said Ann Larsen, direc-tor of the South DakotaDepartment of Education’s SpecialEducation Programs.

The South Dakota Birth to 3program is evaluated on 14 indica-tors under Part C of IDEA and had100 percent compliance on feder-ally mandated requirements. StateBirth to 3 Director Susan Sheppickalso said credit was due at thelocal level.

“The Birth to 3 program has 27

service coordinators statewide,and it is because of their hardwork that we were able to hitthese benchmarks,” Sheppick said.

During the reporting year, theSouth Dakota Birth to 3 programserved approximately 2,000 chil-dren ages birth to three, who havedevelopmental delays or disabili-ties. If further services are needed,the child will transition into Part Bspecial education services at age3.

BY TRAVIS GULBRANDSONtravis.gulbrandson@yankton.net

MISSION HILL — The severe thunderstorm thatswept through the Yankton area the morning of June11 left a lot of damage in its wake — damage withwhich some area residents and businesses are stillgrappling.

One of those businesses is the Farmers ElevatorCompany of Mission Hill.

“We lost approximately one-third of our main grainstorage,” said elevator manager Jay Cutts. “We’ll haveto replace all our support equipment and replace atleast three bins if we want to be back up to the samestorage capacity that we were before.”

The elevator consists of five 50,000-bushel binsand several smaller bins. During the storm, two of thelarge bins were ripped off their foundations, leavingthem completely destroyed.

Another bin was dented when one of the otherbins crashed into it, and two smaller bulk bins thathad yet to be installed were blown into the city park,which is next to the elevator.

Cutts said the estimated cost of replacing the threelarge bins is $250,000.

“Hopefully we can get them ordered and get themhere in time for the fall harvest,” he said.

Cutts was alerted to the damage at “about 2:30a.m.” that day, he said.

“One of my neighbors was out looking around afterthe wind came through, and he called me and saidthere was a sheriff down here on the highway with hislights flashing,” Cutts said.

The sheriff was on the scene because fallenbranches and portions of the grain bins had blockedthe road leading into town.

At the time of the storm, Yankton CountyEmergency Management Director Jeremy Dangel hadsaid the heaviest damage was sustained in a line thatbegan just north of Yankton and made its way eastinto the Mission Hill and Volin area before moving onto Wakonda.

Despite the heavy damages sustained in the storm,officials say there were no tornadoes, Dangel had said.

The recorded rain total at Yankton Middle Schoolwas 1.83 inches.

For his part, Cutts was unaware of just how severethe storm was until he arrived at the elevator thatmorning.

“At 2:30 in the morning you can’t see a whole lot,”he said, laughing. “But where I live — about a milesouth of town — it was just a storm with a little bit ofwind. We didn’t lose any branches or anything downat our house. So I didn’t really anticipate anything ofthat magnitude when I drove up there. But when I gotthere, I said, ‘Oh, well, that was a little windier than Ithought’.”

Cutts and a local contractor cleaned up most ofthe damage that Friday.

Although the outcome of the storm wasn’t good, itcould have been much worse depending on what timeof year the storm struck.

“It won’t affect us at all during the summer,” Cuttssaid. “We’re basically just delivering grain during thesummertime. It’ll affect us more this fall when we goto harvest time and (need) enough storage for ourlocal customers. ...

“It’s a lot better that it hit now than in the fall,because if it hit in the fall, we would have no chanceto rebuild at all. But now we do have some time tomake a few plans,” he said.

This was not the first time the elevator sustainedsevere damage in a summer storm.

“It was pretty close to 20 years ago from the dateof the storm that they lost three bins in the samearea,” Cutts said. “They blew to the north rather thanto the east last time. You could basically say they lostall four bins last time because the other one was dam-aged, and the roof was torn off of it.”

Cutts said that his current focus is on getting theelevator back to its original capacity in time for thefall harvest.

“Putting the equipment up won’t take that long —probably about a week per bin,” he said. “So that’s nota real long process. It’s the estimates and planningand getting it here that takes a long time.”

———Nathan Johnson contributed to this report.

OUR TOWNSYankton Daily Press & Dakotan ■ Thursday, June 24, 2010www.yankton.net PAGE 7

GayvilleMission HillVolin

■ To get a news item published on this page, contact Travis Gulbrandson at 665-7811 (x121) or e-mail travis.gulbrandson@yankton.net

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Picking UpThe Pieces

Elevator manager Jay Cutts stands on one of thenow-empty foundations Wednesday. Behind him adent in another grain bin is visible. The bin apparent-ly was dented when one of the other bins crashedinto it. LEFT: Two empty grain bins at the FamersElevator Co. of Mission Hill lie mangled after beingblown off their foundations in June 11’s storm.

Farmers Elevator Co. In Mission HillBouncing Back From June 11 Storm

PIERRE — The South DakotaDepartment of Military andVeterans Affairs will hold a summiton Tuesday, July 13, inAmphitheater II at the RamkotaHotel, Pierre. The summit runsfrom 1-5 p.m. CDT.

The summit, “Meeting theNeeds of South Dakota'sVeterans,” is an opportunity tobring together Department staffand partners within the veterans'network to review services, goalsand visions, as well as developdialogue and identify needs to

ensure that, collectively, the bestpossible service is provided vet-erans.

“This summit provides a won-derful opportunity for veterans'advocates to build a strong foun-dation to assist in meeting theresponsibilities and challenges ofproviding veterans the best careand service possible,” said SteveHarding, deputy secretary for theSouth Dakota Department ofMilitary and Veterans Affairs. “It isour hope that the informationobtained during this summit will

guide the Department in buildingbetter lives for veterans, spouses,and their families living in SouthDakota.”

The South Dakota Departmentof Military and Veterans Affairs, asit has done for the past 66 years,will assist veterans of SouthDakota and their dependents inobtaining all benefits to whichthey are entitled, both federal andstate, either by direct contact orthrough the assistance of theCounty and Tribal VeteransService Officers.

Veterans Summit Slated For Pierre July 13

NATHAN JOHNSON/P&D

TRAVIS GULBRANDSON/P&D

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