Black Hills

Gary Mule Deer is a busy guy these days. "Yeah, every seven years I get hot for about three months," he said. Mule Deer has a lot of lines like that. "Show business is my life but I can't prove it," for instance. And, "Bigger things than ever have been falling through for me lately. " Just kidding, of course. Mule Deer, who will be opening for Crystal Gayle at the TropWorld Casino and Entertainment Resort tomorrow through Monday, has carved out a comfortable career, even though he is not quite a household name.

In South Dakota, the battle of Wounded Knee rages. More than a century after a shootout between white soldiers and Sioux Indians gave the site a place in history, debate continues over whether it should remain in the hands of American Indians or be given to the National Park Service. Legislation in the Senate and House would pay tribute to Wounded Knee by designating it a national memorial and park. Action is expected in both houses this year. These days, Wounded Knee, in the heart of the extremely poor Pine Ridge reservation, is identified only by a tiny concrete marker put there by the family of one of the dead.

If the stone-faced presidents carved on this mountain could hear people talk, they'd cry an avalanche. In the high plains and Black Hills of South Dakota, people regard Washington, D.C., with a deep rage, a sense that the government has broken trust with them as it broke treaties with the Sioux a century ago. People out here - ranchers, teachers, builders, clerks - are so angry about the state of the nation that many say they would vote for...

Now that Tom Harkin's home-state win in the Iowa caucuses is settled, the Democratic Party faces a potentially critical showdown in a sparsely populated, snow-belt state with no income tax. No, not New Hampshire. South Dakota. The nation's second presidential primary, scheduled in the land of the Black Hills on Feb. 25, is suddenly shaping up as a key contest, perhaps a do- or-die test for two Midwestern Democrats - Harkin and Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey. New Hampshire remains the campaign's first showcase event.

At 98, artist and illustrator Charles Hargens has lost interest in painting, but he still likes to draw in pen and ink. The Carversville resident maintains a studio and sketches the historic spots of the Pennsylvania countryside, especially houses and barns. Hargens first gained national recognition in the 1920s for his illustrations of western scenes for magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers and McCall's His authentic scenes of romance and adventure were also used for the covers of some Zane Grey novels.

This is Dances With Wolves country: rugged, jagged, granite spires and canyon walls rising from the Black Hills, buffalo herds roaming the untamed grassy sweeps of the once-Great Plains. And as if the 1990 Oscar-winning film wouldn't be enough by itself to boost tourism here this summer, South Dakota is inviting the nation to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the epic "Shrine of Democracy" - Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Yes, sculptor Gutzon Borglum's world-famous monuments of Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt are 50 years old. The first formal dedication of Mount Rushmore took place on July 4 - that's right, the monument was never formally dedicated upon completion in 1941 - but the entire summer will be used to celebrate the anniversary before a massive park renovation project commences in the fall.

The American Bus Association has announced its selection of the top 100 events in North America for 1991. The Mount Rushmore golden anniversary celebration and formal dedication in South Dakota has been named the top event in the United States. The "International Gathering of the Clans," provincewide in Nova Scotia, ranks as Canada's top event. The focus at Mount Rushmore is on restoration work on the four 60-foot-high presidential faces - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - carved by sculptor Gutzon Borglum in the granite cliffs of the Black Hills.

Our family wants to visit Mount Rushmore this summer, but we've heard they're doing work on the monument, and we wonder if we should put off our trip until fall. F.W., Hammonton There's no need to worry about scaffolding or any other obstructions of the view this summer, said Jim Popovich, chief of visitors services at Mount Rushmore. There is a study of the monument's "structural stability" under way, but it consists of analyzing photographs and other data recorded late last year.

Self-proclaimed "folkabilly" singer Nanci Griffith casually mentioned progressive West German filmmaker Wim Wenders during her performance at the Chestnut Cabaret on Wednesday night. During the course of a 90-minute show, she also brought up apartheid, Belfast and Dan Quayle. And opening-act James McMurtry's set absolutely rattled with existential isolation. Worldly as well as world-weary, these rising stars debunked stereotypes of folk and country music. McMurtry's guitar-playing is just decent.

Epic landmarks in American history lie everywhere close to the interstate highway system. One of these is Custer Battlefield National Monument. Marking the site where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the 250 troopers of his 7th Cavalry were defeated by the Indians in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer Battlefield is within sight of Interstate 90, a few miles from here in southeastern Montana. It was 110 years ago that Custer and his men made their legendary Last Stand.