Crazy Horse Monument at night - Nov 12 2009

An Evening With the Artists
Sponsored by the Custer County Democrats

Postponed from October because of blizzard conditions; the event was attended by about 50 folk who passed through the ornate gate of Crazy Horse to enjoy snacks, drinks, music, conversation and a very nice program of authors and photographers from the area: Dan O'Brien - Linda Hasselstrom - Paul Horsted.

ornate gate

Photographer Paul Horsted

David Melmer

Custer County Democratic chairman, David Melmer presided over the evening of friendship and information.

Photographer Paul Horsted did a slide presentation of the similarities and differences of the area's landscape between now and the time General George Armstrong Custer lead an army over it in the 1870's.

Mr Horsted has spend much time doing research and scouting the area to find the same spots from which historical pictures were taken and matching them up with their recent counterparts for a stunning, comparative look. These are the subject of "coffee table" books he has published.

Author Linda Hasselstrom Reading
from one of her books

Linda Hasselstrom read from one of her books - she is at once serious and humorous. She draws on her life on the family ranch in the Hermosa area.

As with all worthwhile literature, her writings inform and call for action.

Her reading was of experiences suffered when an embankment near her ranch failed during a flood. Her ranch is still strewn with the rubbish of a nearby housing development.

Dan O'Brien

Also speaking was the multifaceted author and buffalo rancher Dan O'Brien . Giving another humorous yet serious presentation, Mr O'Brien read his "letter to President Obama", suggesting that spending some time on the wide open prairies with a dog can do much to increase one's perspective, especially one who might

The Ramblin Rangers

become lost in the culture of the big-money environment of Washington DC. He answered "no" to the question had he ever sent the letter to Mr Obama. Several folk thought that he should.

Elaine Whittlesy
looking on

Playing good music for the crowd was the group Ramblin' Rangers.

Happy New Year