HOUSE COMMEMORATION    NO.  1020  

Introduced by:    Representatives Olson (Betty), Bartling, Cammack, Craig, Cronin, Duvall, Ecklund, Greenfield, Heinert, Hoffman, Hunhoff (Bernie), Kirschman, Kopp, Latterell, May, Peterson, Qualm, Rounds, Russell, Schaefer, Schrempp, Sly, Tyler, Verchio, and Wink and Senators Maher, Bradford, Brown, Ewing, Frerichs, Jones, Kirkeby, Lucas, Monroe, Omdahl, Rampelberg, Rhoden, Sutton, and Welke
 

        
        A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Honoring the memory of Don Hight.

    WHEREAS, the wintery and windswept grasslands of western South Dakota are today mourning the passing of a true High Plains cowboy, Don Hight of White River; and

    WHEREAS, Don was born in Mellette County, in 1920, and served as an Army paratrooper in World War II. After his return from the war, Don married Adeline Fott, and together they started ranching in Jones County where they raised their two children, Dan and Cheryl; and

    WHEREAS, in January of 1962, he made national news when he began a seventy-mile cattle drive, trailing eighteen hundred head of cattle from his Jones County ranch along the White River to Winner, South Dakota, through a blizzard with temperatures below zero and winds reaching thirty-five miles per hour; and

    WHEREAS, Don Hight displayed his strong patriotism following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when he sold one hundred head of calves at Fort Pierre Livestock and presented the check to the South Dakota Stock Growers to buy beef certificates, which were given to the Salvation Army for distribution to the victims' families; and

    WHEREAS, Don Hight was a true reflection of the American cowboy and proof that the cowboy way of life is still alive and well in South Dakota and makes the state of South Dakota such a great place to live:
    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the Eighty-Eighth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that family, friends, and fellow citizens of Don Hight be assured of the Legislatures's deep respect and appreciation of the late Don Hight.