January 3, 2017 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says His Wife’s Final Gift Dear Dave, My wife and I have been married for 12 years. Last month we found out she has terminal cancer and only six months to live. We’ve been fortunate enough to become fairly wealthy during our lives together, and she wants to buy me a boat. We always went fishing together, and her last wish is for me to have the boat I’ve always wanted. Even with this prognosis, I’ll be okay financially when she’s gone. Still, I can’t stand the thought of this. It’s just too painful. Do you have any advice? Andrew Trashing Your Truck Dear Dave, My husband has two trucks, one of which is a work truck at his If they ever give a Nobel Prize for reading about science, construction site. It’s in really bad shape, and he wants to take $16,000 out of savings to buy another one. We only have $17,000 our guy Bert Underwood would be a shoo-in. His own career had been strictly non-scientific, but his retirement absolutein the account. What should we do? ly reeked of cutting-edge discoveries, which he read about Caroline Dear Caroline, Your husband wants to drain your savings to buy a $16,000 vehicle and roll it up to a construction site? I think this guy has been watching too many macho-man truck commercials. In the real world, some hard hat will run into it with a piece of Dave heavy equipment or drop a load of bricks off center and put some big time damage on this truck before he puts 1,000 miles on it. He wants to buy way too much truck. This kind of decision will wreck your finances and spell bad news for the business, too. You can buy a perfectly good work truck for $6,000 or $7,000, Dear Andrew, and that’s what he needs to do. This truck is going to get deBuddy, I am so very sorry. I hope you realize that you have the stroyed, and trashing an inexpensive truck is a much better idea sweetest woman on earth for your wife. Even with all she’s going than trashing the family finances! through, her thoughts are of you and your happiness. That is one — Dave amazing lady. The first thing I’d tell you both is to make sure your faith is intact. Hug her a lot, and keep talking to, praying with, and loving on each other. Be there for her all you can, and keep in mind that * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and busidoctors can be wrong. It happens a lot, believe it or not, so don’t ness, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven bestselling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave give up hope. If she brings up the boat again, just smile and let her know it’s Ramsey Show is heard by more than 12 million listeners each all about her right now. Remind her that she did the nicest thing week on 575 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow possible many years ago when she agreed to spend the rest of her Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramlife with you. If she’s really stubborn about this idea — something sey.com. tells me she is, and in the very best way possible — promise her M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y that whether you win or lose this fight you’ll buy that boat someday and name it after her. In other words, just tell her the truth and be real. If she goes home to be with the Lord, there might come a day down the road when the pain you’ll feel has dulled just a little, and you find yourself sitting on that fishing boat that’s named after her. That would be okay. I’m sure she would be smiling at you while you reeled in a big one. But you’ve got more important things to take care of right now — namely her. God bless you both, Andrew. To place your ad call... 605.665.5884 — Dave RAMSEY MV Shopper CLASSIFIEDS IN PRINT & ONLINE Christmas Storm Outages Update Electric cooperatives across South Dakota continued to make progress last week, according to a report issued Dec. 28, on restoring power to some 10,000 South Dakotans who remain without electricity after a Dec. 25 storm hit the state. Repairs to the lines – which are spread out among counties across the state from the Montana border to the Minnesota border – are slow going as crews encounter deep snow in the west and thick ice in the east. At least one cooperative is reporting discovery of additional damage as they are able to access more parts of their system. The counties affected encompass more than 20,000 square miles – or about the area of the states of Maryland and New Jersey. In northeast South Dakota, cooperatives report ice the diameter of two-liter bottles surrounding power lines, which would fit through the bottle’s opening. Ten distribution cooperatives and one transmission cooperative continue to have outages related to the storm. Employees at those cooperatives have been working since Sunday to make repairs. More than 60 workers from 15 South Dakota electric cooperatives are assisting with repairs, as are 52 workers from 13 cooperatives in Minnesota and Iowa. Private contractors add approximately 75 more workers to the force. The Christmas Day storms brought blizzard, strong winds, freezing rains and even lightning strikes to the state. At least seven other cooperatives had also experienced outages in the storm but were able to make repairs by Monday afternoon. Cooperatives are advising it may be several days before power is restored into all areas. The storm has also affected cooperatives’ transmission suppliers, which bring electricity to local substations. East River Electric Power Cooperative, headquartered in Madison, has damage in northeastern South Dakota from the Watertown and Clear Lake area north to the Sisseton area. Otter Tail Power Company, an investorowned utility, is also having problems in the area, which in turn is affecting East River. Western Area Power Administration lines are also affected in the Summit area. EREPC continues Buy • Sell • Trade Quality... USED Cars, Trucks, Campers, Boats & Consignments NOW $6,500 Bridge City Auto 2007 Chevy Monte Carlo Was $6,995 665-1596 www.bridgecityautoyankton.com 802 Broadway, Yankton to assess the damage, but is aware of nearly 500 transmission structures damaged in the storm, which affect the cooperative’s ability to deliver power to substations serving some of the affected distribution cooperatives. For information on outages at electric cooperatives in the state, go to https://outages.sdrea.coop/outages/ maps Cooperatives urge people to stay away from downed power lines and to not drive over downed lines. South Dakota’s 28 distribution cooperatives provide electricity in each of the state’s 66 counties and serve more than 120,000 South Dakota homes, farms/ranches and businesses. South Dakota’s electric cooperatives maintain more than 68,000 miles of distribution and transmission line and employ more than 960 people. If you read this you know... advertising pays! Call the Missouri Valley Shopper at 665-5884 or stop by to place your ad today! 319 Walnut St. • Yankton and tried to pronounce. It was like that the other night when the Mule Barn closed. We had taken our wives down to split either a chicken-fried steak the size of a saddle blanket, or a fish and chips large enough to feed a cavalry regiment. We stepped out into the chill of the night and looked up at the many stars. “Nice night for neutrinos,” Bert said. His wife, Maizie, groaned quietly and looked for something in her purse. “Neutrinos, Bert?” Doc said. “You know what neutrinos are, of course, Doc,” Bert said. “I think that’s the chess team in Fairweather, Doc,” Steve threw in. “You’re wrong, Steve,” said Mrs. Doc. “Those are the Machismos.” “So the neutrinos … aren’t they dogs that have been fixed?” Bert was ready to bust a gut. “Are you kidding? You don’t know what neutrinos are? You don’t study astronomy?” “Well, no, actually…” Bert smiled in the darkness. “A neutrino,” he pronounced, “is a sub-atomic particle. It doesn’t have an electrical charge, and it flies around at the speed of light going through things. The word neutrino means ‘small, neutral one’.” “Just like Gilbert’s Chihuahua. He charges around going through things… and I’m pretty sure he’s been neutralled.” “I don’t know why I even bother bringing up these scientific things,” Bert said, in despair. “Me neither,” said Dud. “You probably don’t know about charmed quarks, either, I’ll bet.” “Charmed, I’m sure,” said Steve. Doc made wing-flapping gestures. “Quark, quark … QUARK!” Bert got in the car and drove off. Sometimes drive-by knowledge can hurt innocent bystanders. Illegally Dumped Snow Can Cause Problems PIERRE - The South Dakota Department of Transportation reminds the public and commercial snow removal operators that it is illegal to place or dump excess snow on highway right of way, which includes driving surfaces, shoulders and ditches. “The recent snowstorm across western and central South Dakota the past few days has deposited a large amount of snow in some areas,” said Todd Seaman, Rapid City region engineer. ”The space within the right of way needs to be reserved for future snow that may fall on the road. If the department’s plow operators do not have a place to put that snow, it severely hampers their ability to clear roadways.” Violation of the anti-dumping law is a Class 1 misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to one year in jail, $2,000 in fines, or both. It is the policy of the SDDOT to remove snow that has been illegally piled within the highway right of way that may be a safety hazard. In addition, violators will be billed for the costs of removing illegally dumped snow. “Piling snow in the state highway right of way can be very dangerous,” said Seaman. “Snow piles can restrict sight distance, as well as present an extreme hazard if a vehicle leaves the roadway. Snow piles that remain adjacent to the road may cause additional drifting and visibility problems posing more safety hazards to travelers, as well www.missourivalleyshopper.com as additional expenses for manpower and equipment to remove the illegally dumped snow.” Property owners and access users are reminded it is their responsibility to remove snow from the ends of driveways and around their own mailboxes. 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