STURGIS, S.D. – At Monday Night’s Sturgis City Council meeting, three young women were honored for their aid to a drowning male in Bear Butte Lake earlier this month.
The three girls were paddle boarding on the lake on July 5th when they noticed a young man in distress. They were able to get the male up on a board and to the shore where he was treated by Sturgis Ambulance crews.
Sturgis Ward 3 Councilman Jim Thompson asked the three girls to appear and says “Annika Goetz, my granddaughter Gracey Schave and Kaylee Peterson were paddle boarding out at the lake when they saw a young man caught in the tide, I didn’t know there were tides out there, but the girls were able to get the young man on their boards and help him.”
He also had praise for Chief of Police Geody Vandewater and the Meade County Sheriff’s Office for their response to the incident.
![](https://kbhbradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG_5265.jpg)