Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-12-16
SO far this winter we have enjoy.

~ shio VihsOL wv NV OhJoy
ed unusually fine weather. There is
no u on the ground and roads are
In the best of condition. Stock is
running out and doing well, which is
a great help to our farmers who Sc.
cured only a limited supply of coarse
feed the past season. The tempera-
ture, of course, is low enough some
mornings. but without snow there is
very little discomfort, Autos are
still in use, and will be until snow
puts the roads in bad condition. The
/ man who wants a better winter climate
than we have had SO far is hard to
please.
We have heard that it has been
stated recently by some that De Smet
is not enjoying as good a grain market
as formerly. We have also heard this
same statement every year in the
past. 1t seems queer that anyone
living in III town would want to give
circulation to such a report. even if it
were true. But it seems far more
queer that such a statement cold be
made when it is not true. There has
not been a time this season when the
De Smet market was not drawing
trade from territory adjacent to other
towns, aud there has not been a time
when our market was not equal to,
or above, other markets for the same
class of grain.
Wednesday night Of last week
FIVE lads, ranging from fourteen to
eighteen years of age, went to the
school house, forced an entrance
through a locked door, changed all the
books from the desks of one grade in
the high school room to the desks of a
lower grade, turned on the water in
the chemical laboratory and departed.
The result of the water running the
balance of the night, we are told, was
damage to the property estimated at
$500. The school board took the
matter up immediately and finally it
developed that Clarence Dunning,
William Hunt, Lloyd Harmon, Harry
Warner, and Weldon Houck were the
guilty parties. The board held a SEES
sion Saturday evening but came to no
definite conclusions. However, the
parents of the boys were notified to
appear before the board Monday even
ing when the matter would be up for
final disposition The matter was set
tied by fixing the actual and exemplary
damages at $500, which the parents
were pleased to agree to pay. 1t was
then decided to allow the boys to at
tend school during good behavior.
1t is probably true that the boys did
not intend to damage the property
after gaining an entrance to the build
ing, and that the damage from the
flow of water was more in the way of
an accident. But the forcing of an
entrance into the building was Grimm
al, and the boys might as easily have
dropped a match where it would have
set fire to the building and caused its
complete destruction as to accidentally
cause the damage reported. Would
the matter have been settled so readi.
~ if the latter had happened? Ger
tainly not. And yet there would have
been no more guilty intention than
existed in the present case The
whole thing resulted from a lack of
respect for law and regard for prop
erty, and in this case it was a prop
erty that existed as a result of a
~burdensome taxation for the benefit
of those who desecrated it. We think
the board made a mistake in moi i'm
posing a penalty of some kind upon
the guilty parties, instead of placing
the burden upon the parents. The
boys are more likely to wear the smile
that will not come off than to shed
tears Of repentance because dad"
had ia foot the bill.