Delores Bezug, 92, of Menno, S.D., died Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, at the Menno-Olivet Care Center after a lengthy illness. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Menno with Rev. Brian Mosemann officiating. Visitation will be Friday, Feb. 24 from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Aisenbrey-Opsahl-Kostel Memorial Chapel in Menno. Burial will be at the Menno Cemetery at a later date. Online condolences may be sent at: www.opsahl-kostelfuneralhome.com.

James R. Herman, 79, of Olivet, S.D., entered Heaven on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at Freeman Regional Health Services after a short battle with cancer. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Olivet United Methodist Church in Olivet. Condolences may be sent at www.opsahl-kostelfuneralhome.com. Aisenbrey-Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home of Menno is in charge of arrangements.

A solid defensive effort, like this shown by Rylee Peters (20) and Erin Uecker helped lead the Freeman Public girls to a 62-36 win over Alcester-Hudson in the Region 4B Tournament Tuesday night in Centerville. Here's the full report.

Marion/Freeman head wrestling coach Chris Sayler offers a few remarks during a Tuesday morning sendoff for the state-bound wrestlers, who left for Rapid City at 9 a.m. to get ahead of the incoming winter weather. Also pictured is assistant coach Jeff Wollman and those grapplers heading to state: From left - Brody Gossen at 106, Easton Tschetter at 113, Finley McConniel at 120 and Riley Tschetter, who is going as an alternate at 160 lbs. The competition begins Thursday morning at 10 a.m. MST.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Foul trouble early, poor defensive rebounding in the first half and too many missed shots throughout the game could have doomed the Freeman Academy/Marion girls in the first round of the Region 4B Tournament in Marion Monday night, Feb. 20. But the eighth-seeded Bearcats did just enough to fend off ninth-seeded Gayville-Volin and escape with a 31-28 win. And what do they get for it?

This is the bracket for the Region 4B Girls Basketball Tournament set to begin tonight, with No. 8 Freeman Academy/Marion hosting No. 9 Gayville-Volin in Marion starting at 6 p.m. The Bearcats lost to the Raiders 44-38 during the regular season. Region 4B action is scheduled to continue Tuesday night at two locations — Centerville and Viborg-Hurley — and it appears the games will be able to be played ahead of the incoming storm (although the start time has been moved up). Freeman Public will face Alcester-Hudson at 4 p.m. in Centerville, followed by Menno and Centerville.

Frederick “Fred” Daniel Sarutzki, age 74, died on Feb. 16, 2023 at Avera Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, S.D. A memorial service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24 at George Boom Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory in Sioux Falls. Visitation begins at 9 a.m. on Friday before his service. 

These three grapplers will represent the Marion/Freeman Rebels at the State Wrestling Tournament in Rapid City next week. From left: Brody Gossen, an eighth grader at Freeman, will compete at 106 lbs.; Easton Tschetter, a seventh grader at Freeman, will wrestle at 113 lbs.; and Finley McConniel, a sophomore at Marion, will compete at 120 lbs. All qualified at by placing third at the Region 2B Tournament at McCook Central High School on Saturday. Riley Tschetter, a freshman from Freeman, finished fifth and is a state alternate at 160 lbs.

Marion/Freeman's Brody Gossen (106), Easton Tschetter (113) and Finely McConniel (120) each finished third in the Region 2B Wrestling Tournament in Salem on Saturday and will take the mat at state in Rapid City next week. Riley Tschetter (160), a state qualifier the past two years, finished fifth — one place out of the automatic bid — and is an alternate in his weight division. Alaric Knittel (126), Keaton Preheim (132) and Zac Sayler (145) all finished sixth in Saturday's region tournament.

Estelle Waltner, a freshman at Freeman Academy, removes cheese pockets from their boiling bath of water as she and others prepare the popular ethnic food for Schmeckfest Saturday morning, Feb. 18 in the Pioneer Hall kitchen and dining hall. Volunteers were at it Friday evening, too, preparing the ingredients for assembly. Two hundred dozen will be made today, and another 200 dozen will be made next Friday and Saturday. All will be sold at Schmeckfest on March 24 and 25.