Statistics show that every bite of food the average American citizens consumes today travels more than 1,500 miles to get to the plate.

On the other hand, gardening greatly shortens that distance and eliminates higher costs associated with food transportation and retail price markup.

In an effort to cut down food costs for residents, officials at the Walnut Hill and East Meadows apartments are beginning to construct a community garden open only to their residents, all of whom are on income-based rent.

“We are trying to give our residents access to produce that is cheap and, for the most part, free,” said Kristal Seeden, property manager at Walnut Hill and East Meadows. “We’re going to also do our best to provide some plants and seeds, and we’re trying to find as many donations we can to help cover those.”

Officials are seeking donations of several different items.

“We need supplies to help build the garden, not just money,” Seeden said. “We’re also looking for volunteers to help set up the garden and gardening and lawn supplies, as well.”

Ace Hardware in Yankton is also set to help officials out by donating about $100 of merchandise for the garden.

Sean Wamble, facilities manager at Walnut Hill and East Meadows said he’s currently going to be the only person constructing the garden.

“The garden will be 50-by-50, so it’s a lot of work to get it going,” he said. “Starting this week, I’ll cut up sod and till it. Getting the gardening going will be a job in itself.”

Despite just beginning to construct the garden, Wamble hopes to have it open at the beginning of July, weather permitting.

The idea came about when Wamble, Seeden and operations manager Christina Pixley were still living in California.

“Community gardens are really common in California,” Wamble said. “The city in California that we are from has community gardens all over, so I think Christina (Pixley) wanted to be able to help out the low-income families that live here. A lot of them don’t get a chance to get fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Seeden said residents have been very interested in the community garden.

“We had a kickoff party a few weeks ago and had a really good turnout,” she said. “So far, we have around 10 people signed up to have a plot, and plots are all free for our residents.”

Wamble added that he thinks the garden can provide a sense of community for residents.

“People can work together and have a common-ground place, as well as meet other residents that live here,” he said. “We’re allowing people to plant whatever they want as time permits and as long as it’s legal. I’m assuming we’re going to have a lot of people planting tomatoes, rhubarb, herbs, lettuce and onions. We also have an area for vertical crops like corn.”

Those interested in donating to the garden can contact Wamble at 562-333-6847 or Seeden at 605-665-4512.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Officials across the region are stressing the importance of safety this summer when you head out on the water — wjether it’s a river or a lake, or if it’s a backyard swimming pool.

Brittany Orr, recreation coordinator for the City of Yankton, said there are a number of safety precautions families should take when they go swimming with their kids, either at a home pool or a city pool.

“I would tell parents that do have a home in-ground pool to have a gate or fence around it in order to prevent neighbors or anyone else from being able to get in there,” she said. “If it’s an above-ground pool with a ladder that goes into it, parents should remove the ladder so their kids can’t get into it at any time.”

Orr said most issues that take place at city pools, including Memorial Pool and the Summit Activities Center (SAC) pool, come from supervision.

“If you bring kids to a pool, especially those who are 5 or 6 years old and younger, our lifeguards aren’t supervisors,” she said. “Lifeguards are there to help, but they do not overtake parental or guardian supervision. We recommend young kids have someone 15 years old or older to supervise them while they’re at the pool.”

She added that parents or guardians watching kids should be actively supervising them.

“This means that parents and guardians should be standing at the edge of the pool, in the water or at the side of the pool,” Orr said. “This allows them to pay a lot more attention rather than if they’re laying on the pool deck.”

Another issue that officials at city pools face occurs when kids show up without wearing sunscreen.

“This is a big issue at Memorial Pool. Kids come without sunscreen and are left there for seven hours,” Orr said. “We’re able to provide some with sunscreen from the lost-and-found, but when at least 200 kids are there, we can’t get sunscreen for everyone. This is really bad for kids’ skin and it’s painful, as well.”

Orr said patrons to city pools should not swim if they’re sick.

“If you’re sick, there is a big risk of vomiting in the pool, which spreads bacteria,” she said. “People also need to wash their hands after they use the bathroom and shower before and after they’re in a city pool.”

Orr added that if you go to the lake or river before going to the pool, you should wash your swimsuit because there are bacteria at lakes and rivers that officials do not want to have transported into their pools.

Officials that work at city pools send weekly water samples to the state to test for bacteria and make sure there is no bacteria in the water.

“We also check our water multiple times a day to make sure chemical levels, including chlorine and pH, are where they need to be,” Orr said. “If something breaks in the pool, we’ll try to fix it in a timely manner but will shut down the pool if it becomes a safety issue.”

She added that it is especially important for parents to watch their kids if they go into deeper areas to reduce the risk of drowning.

“Although we have a rope to keep kids from going into a deep area, it’s not a wall and they can still get through,” Orr said. “Parents should keep an eye out to where their kids are, how tall they are and where they can touch (the bottom of) the pool. They need to be knowledgeable of how far their kid can go in the pool. If they can’t touch, parents should just be in the water with them.”

Orr said supervision is also important at home pools.

“Parents should always supervise their children at home and never leave them unattended in the water, even if they are good swimmers,” she said. “There should always be someone outside just to watch kids, not to pick weeds while watching the kids in the pool.”

Orr said parents need to watch their kids in the pool to prevent “huge risks.”

“There are so many circumstances that drowning can come from so someone should always have their eyes on the kids in the pool,” she said. “If no one is supervising kids in the pool, parents are putting their kids at a huge risk for drowning.”

Not all safety issues occur at pools. There are also a number of precautions boaters should take when they head out on the water.

Brandon Gust, law enforcement specialist for the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GF&P) offered several tips for boaters.

“Boaters should always wear a life jacket,” he said. “Seat belts don’t work if you’re not wearing them and neither do life jackets. In addition, boaters should also make sure they have enough life jackets on board for everyone in their vessel.”

Gust said boaters should always have a safe and sober operator as alcohol accounts for around 17 percent of boating fatalities nationwide.

“Another safety tip I would give to boaters is that if their vessel is more than 16 feet in length, they should have a throwable life-saving device on board as well,” he said. “Also, if your vessel has enclosed gas compartments, make sure to have a working fire extinguisher on board.”

Throwable life saving devices include those that are designed to be grasped, not worn. These include ring-type devices and certain types of boat cushions.

Gust recommends that new boaters should take a boating safety course, and the GF&P offers three online courses that can be taken at a boaters leisure. The courses can be accessed at http://gfp.sd.gov/fishing-boating/boating/default.aspx.

“Boaters also need to know all the laws and regulations before they take to the water,” he said. “They can pick up a free boating safety handbook from any state GF&P office to help them out with this.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Jennifer Johnke is ready to further her career at home at Yankton High School (YHS).

“I taught math at YHS for nine years, before I moved into my current position as YHS assistant principal,” she said. “I know that YHS is a great place to work and when the opportunity came up for the principal position, I decided I wanted to apply for it.”

After four finalists were interviewed for the YHS principal position in May, board members said Johnke stood out as the candidate they wanted to hire.

A few weeks later it was announced that she would take over for Wayne Kindle as YHS’ new principal for the 2013-14 school term.

Johnke had been the assistant principal at YHS for the last three years and had also previously served as a dance coach for eight years.

She said her new role as principal will have a lot more facets to it compared to her current position as assistant principal.

“My main duties as assistant principal have primarily been discipline and attendance,” Johnke said. “The principal of the school oversees everything that happens in the building, so there is a lot more responsibility that comes with the new position.”

She added that she is excited to get started and work with students, teachers, parents and community members.

“I enjoy those relationships I’ve built throughout my time here in Yankton so far,” Johnke said. “However, there is a lot we need to get done this summer. We will have to hire a new assistant principal and then I will continue to work with Dr. Kindle to assure a smooth transition. He’s been a great mentor for me thus far, and I know he will continue to be that.”

YSD board member Jim Fitzgerald said Johnke has been committed to the educational process of students for many years.

“She cares about student achievement across the district,” he said. “Jennifer has also recently received her doctorate in the field, which is an indication of wanting to advance, not only for her, but also for the district and students of Yankton.”

Fitzgerald said that there were other good candidates that applied for the principal position, but few had experience with the size of school that YHS is.

“Dr. Johnke has had first-hand knowledge of what it is going to take to continue the high achievement standards that we expect in Yankton,” he said. “Her time as assistant principal will be quite valuable and she will be able to hit the road running, so to speak.”

Kindle said officials in the district are pleased to have someone who has past experience working with high school students.

“Not only that, she has also taught at a high school and has administrative experience at the high school level,” he said. “Johnke will continue to do well in her new role as principal. She is a good communicator, understands curriculum and will bring some new ideas of her own to YHS.”

Kindle noted that Johnke knows there are challenges ahead in the areas of technology with state-mandated online testing, possible changes to the teacher and administrator evaluation system, and on going funding concerns which have an impact on curriculum and staffing.

“I am looking forward to working with Jennifer and providing as much mentoring as needed to help her be successful and continue our excellence of academics, fine arts and activities for our students at YHS,” he said.

School board president Chris Specht said he’s confident in Johnke’s ability to step up as YHS principal.

“In my experience with her, she has been very student-centered and an excellent team member,” he said. “During her tenure in Yankton, Johnke has demonstrated effective teaching and administrative qualities and worked hard to obtain advanced degrees which qualify her from an education and experience perspective for this position. She, in my opinion, has the talents and personality to be an excellent high school principal.”

Johnke said her main goal as principal is to continue the tradition of excellence that YHS has.

“I’ll need to prepare for a lot of things we have coming down the pipeline … but overall, I want to continue the success that YHS has,” she said. “I really like the community of Yankton it has a lot to offer including education and recreational activities. There are also a lot of ways people can get involved within the community and there are great ways for kids to get active in the community through recreational and service programs. Overall, Yankton has a lot to offer.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

The Yankton School District (YSD) school board discussed elementary school changes at its regularly scheduled board meeting Monday night.

Melanie Ryken, Webster School principal, discussed several changes to the elementary school handbook, which board members approved.

“Last summer, we really revamped the handbooks so there are not too many changes we have to make this year,” she said. “One of the changes we’re making has to do with how inclement weather announcements are made over the new system we have at YSD.”

Other changes to the handbook address parent-teacher conferences and the dates they are held and the visitors policy, which requires visitors to the elementary schools to sign in at the main office upon arrival.

“We decided to hold parent-teacher conferences after the first quarter, in addition to having them between the second and third quarters,” Ryken said. “When we used to have them after the third quarter, we thought they were being held too late in the year.”

She also discussed a pilot study for Webster School during the 2013-14 school year that will deal with holding recess before lunch for students.

“For the longest time, schools throughout the country have been holding lunch before recess,” Ryken said. “(YSD child nutrition supervisor) Sandi Kramer and I have been talking about doing this for about the last 15 months.”

She added that the concept of holding recess before lunch is becoming a trend among schools nationwide.

However, there were several issues that had to be worked out before the plan could be put into place for Webster School.

“We had to get a number of issues working out including schedules with our teachers and custodial staff,” Ryken said. “We also have to deal with the issue of allowing kids to wash their hands after recess. We decided on using sanitary wipes for students which are quick, easy and effective. They’re also pretty cheap and each pack of wipes will only cost us about 1/2 penny.”

Despite the issues Ryken had to work through, she said the program should have a number of advantages.

“The national trend of recess-before-lunch programs shows that kids will eat more and waste less food,” she said. “There have also been trends that show these programs have less problems with students out on the playground during recess.”

Ryken said the staff at Webster School is on board and excited for the pilot.

YSD superintendent Joe Gertsema said he hopes the program has a positive impact and hopes it works.

Also on Monday’s agenda, board members authorized former school district employee Joyce Wentworth to research and index historical records of YSD.

“The project of doing historical work for the Yankton School District has been on my mind for about the last 13 years,” she said. “I’m passionate that the school district should save and archive its history and that kids need to be able to understand the history of the district they attend.”

Also Monday, board members:

• approved a one-time discretionary stipend for all classified and administrative staff who were employed with the district under a work agreement or contract prior to Jan. 1, 2013;

• approved contracts/work agreements and classified professional salary plans for a number of employees;

• accepted the resignations of eight employees;

• approved an addendum to new superintendent Wayne Kindle’s contract to pay him $4,022 for nine days of service in June before his contract takes effect July 1;

• approved Kindle as YSD’s representative for all federal programs for the 2013-14 school term;

• awarded the Prime Food Vendor contract to Food Service of America, as recommended by Kramer;

• approved the 2013-14 official textbook list;

• approved Jennifer Johnke as the Yankton High School principal with the contract salary of $75,665 for the 2013-14 school term.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Officials at South Dakota State University Extension say that the recent rainfall across the region has made a big impact on the drought across the state.

Around one inch of rain fell in Yankton over the weekend, with other areas in the state seeing as much as 10 inches on some crop acres, according to Laura Edwards, SDSU Extension climate field specialist.

She added that the trend in the region during the past several weeks has been significant drought improvement and the concern now is not for a short-term drought.

“There is a little bit of concern with the drought in the long term, due to soil moistures,” Edwards said. “This could become more of an impact in the growing season. But, as of now, I’m not too worried about the drought in the Yankton area.”

She added that the cooler temperatures are also impacting farming.

“The cooler temperatures impacts agriculture, gardens and those kinds of things,” Edwards said. “Standing water is now one of the concerns we have from the weekend. Some of the flash flooding across the state could impact water ponding up in fields.”

She added that flash flooding can erode soils in a field and move seeds around, which could result in farmers needing to replant their crops.

“Longer-term flooding in a field brings on different issues and can hurt any kind of crop that’s starting to grow there,” Edwards said. “Any standing water that is emerged in a field for longer than two days is an item concern. If that’s the case, farmers need to look at that and consider what they can do, as far as replanting.”

She also cautioned that farmers looking at the National Drought Monitor might not see a change in the drought level for several weeks.

“The monitor has some unwritten rules and really can only improve an area by one drought category each week,” Edwards said. “So it may take some time for improvements to show up in the drought monitor, but I expect improvements to be made again this week.”

She added that the eastern side of South Dakota has made big gains this spring, which has led to a dramatically improved drought situations. However, Edwards noted that drought impacts could emerge quickly on the west side of the state as the area enters its dry summer season.

Despite the heavy rainfall across the area in recent days, Edwards said it’s still too early to project crop yields for this season.

“Some of the fields that have been damaged could still have their crops be replanted,” she said. “Farmers should consult their crop insurance agents on the details on what replanting might mean for crop insurance coverage.”

The weather forecast this week calls for more rain for Yankton, which could pose problems for farmers. In fact, the National Weather Service gas issued a flash flood watch for an area that includes Clay, Turner and Union counties through early Thursday morning.

“Conditions aren’t going to let up, at least not in the short term,” she said. “The additional rainfall creates issues with crop insurance because some crops might not qualify for coverage. Hopefully farmers planted most of their corn in the previous week or two.”

Connie Strunk, SDSU Extension plant pathology field specialist said corn and soybeans can generally handle about 48 hours of being completely submerged under water before they start to decline.

“However, that 48 hours number is with overcast skies and cooler temperatures,” she said. “The sun and warmer temperatures can change that number and can change the outlook on plants.”

Strunk said farmers looking to replant crops after the rainfall need to check with their crop insurance agents and look into what herbicides they put down last fall to see if there are any restrictions on crop rotation and replanting.

“If it continues to rain like it has been, we’re really starting to get close to the end of full days of crop insurance coverage,” Strunk said. “Some farmers in some areas also have not been able to get into the fields yet because it has been so wet.”

In addition to the rainfall only making impacts on farmers and the drought, releases from Gavins Point Dam have also been reduced following the heavy rain.

“Gavins Point releases have been reduced over the last few days from 24,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 15,000 cfs,” Jody Farhat, chief of the Missouri River Water Management Division, said in a statement. “Heavy rain across the basin increased flows on many of the tributaries below the system of reservoirs. Gavins Point releases are scheduled to be reduced to 12,000 cfs Wednesday morning.”

Releases were reduced by 3,000 cfs from Sunday to Tuesday.