PRESS&DAKOTANYANKTON DAILY

Volume 139Number 183

FRIDAY n November 29, 2013

The Dakotas’ Oldest Newspaper | TWO SECTIONS | www.yankton.net

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YANKTON RECYCLING THIS WEEK:

NORTHOF 15TH STREET

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of the Press &Dakotan’s monthly series spotlighting occupa-tions, tasks and duties in our coverage area.

———BY DEREK BARTOSderek.bartos@yankton.net

Athletes have agents. So do movie stars, au-thors and musicians.

And thanks to people like Gunnery Sgt.William Janssen, our nation’s heroes do too.

Janssen is a recruiter for the U.S. MarineCorps Recruiting Station in Sioux Falls. Nextspring, the 1995 Yankton High School graduatewill be put in charge of all recruiting in easternSouth Dakota, southwest Minnesota and north-west Iowa.

“That’s how I see myself — like an agent forthe Marine Corps,” Janssen said. “I try the bestI can to help them find what job in the MarineCorps is best for them.”

The different types of jobs available areplentiful, he said, contrary to what many peo-

ple might be-lieve.

“A lot ofpeople thinkthe MarineCorps is onlyinfantry andcombat

arms, which isn’t true,” Janssen said. “That’sonly one-third of it, the other two-thirds is sup-port.”

Careers available in the Marine Corps in-clude musicians, accountants, lawyers, admin-istrative personnel, drivers, mechanics, airtraffic controllers, graphic designers, public af-fairs, instructors and many others, he said.

“There’s a lot of things you can do in theMarine Corps that people just don’t knowabout,” Janssen said.

Another common misconception is thatenlistees are sent directly to boot camp, he

ON THE JOB

By The Associated Press

RAPID CITY — A 50-year-oldSouth Dakota man who lost nearly

one-third of his cattle to a surprise Oc-tober storm fought back tears as he

talked about livestock donations that heand other ranchers have received in re-

cent weeks.“This is a very humbling gift. It’s a bless-

ing,” said Brian Flatmoe, of Meadow. “Peoplehave been so generous, it’s mind boggling.”

More than 450 bred cattle and 150 heifercalves have been donated to South Dakotaranchers who lost livestock in the rare bliz-zard, the Rapid Journal reports. The cowshave come from at least 10 states and 300donors.

The response to the Heifers for SouthDakota project has been “absolutely incredi-

ble,” said Miles City, Mont., rancher TyLinger, who spearheaded the giveaway.

“It has just been so incredible the volumeof people who have volunteered to help andno one is asking for a single penny,” Lingersaid.

South Dakota livestock officials have re-ported losses of more than 20,000 cows and

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIOAND MAE ANDERSONAP Retail Writers

NEW YORK — Gobble down the turkeyand save the pumpkin pie for later.

As more than a dozen major retailersfrom Target to Toys R Us open on Thanksgiv-ing Day, shoppers across the country got ajump start on holiday shopping. The Thanks-giving openings come despite plannedprotests across the country from workers’groups that are against employees missingThanksgiving meals at home.

More than 200 people stood in line at theToys R Us store in Manhattan before its 5p.m. opening.

Green Bryant was first in line at 10 a.m.The restaurant manager ended up buying adollhouse for $129 — $30 off — a Barbie dolland a LeapFrog learning system. Bryant, 28,said she didn’t miss Thanksgiving festivitiesbut was going home to cook a Thanksgivingmeal for her two children.

“It was worth it,” she said. “Now I gotta gohome and cook.”

At a Target store in Brooklyn, N.Y., about25 people were waiting in line at 2:50 p.m. forthe 8 p.m. opening, an hour earlier than ayear ago.

Theresa Alcantaro, 35, a crossing guard,was waiting with her 12-year-old son to buyan Xbox One. It wasn’t on sale, but supplieshave been scarce. She was missing a gather-ing of 40 family members but said she wouldmeet up after shopping. She hoped to be inand out by 9 p.m.

“Honestly if I can get a good deal, I do notmind,” she said about Thanksgiving dayshopping. “I see my family every day. Theyunderstand.”

After shopping at Target and meeting upwith her family, she plans to go back outagain at midnight with family members butwasn’t sure where yet.

The holiday openings are a break withtradition. The day after Thanksgiving, calledBlack Friday, for a decade had been consid-ered the official start to the holiday buyingseason. It’s also typically the biggest shop-ping day of the year.

But in the past few years, retailers havepushed opening times into Thanksgivingnight. They’ve also pushed up discountingthat used to be reserved for Black Friday intoearly November, which has led retail expertsto question whether the Thanksgiving open-ings will steal some of Black Friday’s thunder.

BY KARL RITTERAssociated Press

STOCKHOLM — Once billed as the comet of the century,Comet ISON apparently was no match for the sun.

Scientists said images from NASA spacecraft showed thecomet approaching for a slingshot around the sun on Thurs-day, but just a trail of dust coming out on the other end.

“It does seem like Comet ISON probably hasn’t survivedthis journey,” U.S. Navy solar researcher Karl Battams said ina Google+ hangout.

Phil Plait, an astronomer who runs the “Bad Astronomy”blog, agreed, saying “I don’t think the comet made it.”

Still, he said, it wouldn’t be all bad news if the 4.5-billion-year-old space rock broke up into pieces, because as-tronomers might be able to study them and learn moreabout comets.

“This is a time capsule looking back at the birth of thesolar system,” he said.

The comet was two-thirds of a mile wide as it got within 1million miles (1.6 million kilometers) of the sun, which in

space terms basically means grazing it.NASA solar physicist Alex Young said it would take a few

hours to confirm ISON’s demise, but admitted things werenot looking good.

He said the comet had been expected to show up in im-ages from the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft ataround noon eastern time (1700 GMT), but almost fourhours later there was “no sign of it whatsoever.”

“Maybe over the last couple of days it’s been breakingup,” Young told The Associated Press. “The nucleus couldhave been gone a day or so ago.”

Images from other spacecraft showed a light streak con-tinuing past the sun, but Young said that was most likely atrail of dust continuing in the comet’s trajectory.

“The comet itself is definitely gone, but it looks like thereis a trail of debris,” he said.

Comet ISON was first spotted by a Russian telescope inSeptember last year.

Some sky gazers speculated early on that it might be-come the comet of the century because of its brightness, al-though expectations dimmed as it got closer to the sun.

C H R I S T M A S

Nothing Black About This Friday9 a.m.: 23 | 3 p.m.: 36 | DETAILS: PAGE 2A

The Recruiting Trail

ChimesOf CharityAre Back

GIFT | PAGE 2A

A ‘Humbling Gift’SD Ranchers Embrace Needed Livestock Donations

BY ROB NIELSENrob.nielsen@yankton.net

Volunteers ringing bells in frontof stores collecting donations on be-half of the Salvation Army have longbeen a staple of the holiday season.However, they’ve been absent fromYankton storefronts for nearly 20years.

That’s set to change this year.Carol Pooler of the Yankton Sal-

vation Army said the absence hadbeen attributed to a lack of activityin Yankton and some budgetary con-cerns.

“We haven’t been real active,”Pooler said “The Salvation Army hasa budget that they give to us, but it’sonly about $500 per year. By doingbell ringing, we can bring in moremoney and help more people.”

The plan had originally been torevamp bell ringing in 2012, but de-livery issues sunk that effort.

“We tried to get it started againlast year but we couldn’t get all ofthe equipment in on time,” she said.

Though initial response to the re-boot has been slow, according toPooler, she has seen some interestfrom potential volunteers as well aslocal businesses.

“I have gotten a few calls,” she

Bell Ringers Returning ToYankton For Holidays

CHIMES | PAGE 2A

KELLY HERTZ/P&D

Lexi Madson, left, and Paige Gullikson of Yankton clear away dishes from tablesduring the annual Yankton Community Feast, held Wednesday night at CalvaryBaptist Church. The two 10-year-old Sacred Heart School students were amongthe dozens of volunteers to assist in the serving many hundreds of people whopartook in the Thanksgiving eve meal.

In The Clear

Yankton Native Is A Guide ForRegional Marine Recruits

MARINE | PAGE 2A

KELLY HERTZ/P&D

Gunnery Sgt. William Janssen, a 1995 Yankton High School graduate, will be put in charge of allMarine recruiting in eastern South Dakota, southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa next spring.

HolidayShoppingGets An

Early Start

Sun Vs. Comet: Sun PrevailsScientists: Sun-Grazing Comet ISON Has Likely Broken Up