Monthly Archives: March 2018

Attorney General Marty Jackley announced that SB 63, a bill to strengthen the sentences for Distribution and Manufacture of Methamphetamine in South Dakota has passed both houses of the Legislature.

“America is living a methamphetamine epidemic and it is directly affecting South Dakota and hurting our families and communities. I want thank both the Governor and our legislators for joining our law enforcement in keeping South Dakota communities safe,” said Jackley.

Senate Bill 63

• Increases the penalty for the distribution and manufacturing of 5 grams or more of methamphetamine that includes to minors.

• Provides for a mandatory state penitentiary sentence for the distribution and manufacture of methamphetamine. Current law provides for mandatory sentences that are not consistently applied.

• A court would have discretion to go below the mandatory sentence if the court makes written findings that a defendant meets the following criteria that are designed to protect communities and to assist law enforcement in stopping drug distribution:
(1) the defendant does not have a prior violent felony
(2) the defendant did not use violence or credible threats of violence or possess a firearm or other dangerous weapon
(3) the defendant did not induce another participant to use violence or credible threats of violence or possess a firearm or other dangerous weapon in connection with the offense;
(4) the defendant was not an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of others in the offense; and
(5) the defendant has truthfully provided to the State all information and evidence the defendant has concerning illegal drugs;
(6) the offense did not result in death or serious bodily injury to any person.

By Jim Zachary
CNHI Deputy National Editor
Editor, The Valdosta Daily Times

Open government is not a political platform.

It is a basic American right.

The political landscape is more polarized than ever and there seems to be little common ground for conservatives and progressives.

Transparency — keeping the light on the people’s business — ought to be something everyone can agree on.

Instead, conservatives want to reveal the secrets of liberals and liberals want to expose the actions of conservatives.

Openness in government is not a liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, independent, Libertarian or freedom caucus issue.

It often appears that whatever party is in the minority becomes the champion of transparency right up until the time it is in the majority.

Politicians stump on transparency and are all about open access, until they have something they want to keep secret.

The need for transparency in local, state and federal government transcends parties and political ideologies.

Checks and balances provide few checks and little balance when officials broker deals behind closed doors and conceal documents that contain important information that the public has the right, and often the need, to know.

Local government has the biggest impact in the lives of people on a day-to-day basis.

Whether it is in the form of property taxes, sales taxes, business taxes, state-shared dollars or federal grants, loans and funding, local government is 100 percent taxpayer-funded.

The public has the right to know how its money is being spent.

The decisions being made, the dollars being doled out and the records being kept by city hall, the county commission, the board of education or the utility district all belong to liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, independents, Libertarians and even politically disinterested individuals.

All stakeholders have a stake in open meetings and public records and should care about transparency issues.

The lack of and need for true government transparency should be about the most bipartisan cause that exists.

Any elected official who truly cares about public service in a real and meaningful way and fully understands what a representative form of government is all about, should not only champion openness in government, but should be the most effective watchdogs, looking out for the public trust.

Sadly, those kinds of elected officials are hard to find.

The press tries to keep an eye on government and expose clandestine actions and in response journalists are often ridiculed, belittled and even threatened for just doing their jobs, as they work to keep government honest by making use of access laws.

But, the public needs to understand that access to government documents and actions is not just a media right.

It is your right.

Do you know where the largest fish has ever been caught in South Dakota? Or how about where you’d find the concrete donkey known as the Depression Nag? At South Dakota Magazine, we have spent 33 years traveling, studying and writing about our state. Along the way we’ve grown fond of testing our readers (and each other) with a bit of trivia. The following 14-question quiz is a little sampling. You can find more trivia on our Facebook page every Tuesday and in every edition of the magazine. Feel free to contact us if you think you have trivia that would stump our staff.

1. A sculpture known as “The Potato Man” stands in tribute to the thousands of Irish immigrants who settled in South Dakota in the late 1800s. Where can you find him?

2. What town is known as the birthplace of democracy west of the Mississippi River?

3. Established in 1867, what pow wow is the oldest continual event in South Dakota?

4. Ten murals by Oscar Howe decorate what arena?

5. How many steps does it take to reach the top of South Dakota State University’s Coughlin Campanile?

6. Fairways on what town’s golf course also serve as airport runways?

7. Geographically, which county is South Dakota’s largest?

8. Scotty Philip is known as the man who saved the buffalo, but from which South Dakota rancher did he buy his first animals?

9. What famous town founder is said to have discovered a cave filled with riches somewhere on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?

10. At what bar is it a tradition to smash your empty beer bottle under the dock before ordering another?

11. During their journey up the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark explored what natural feature that Indians believed was guarded by “little devils?”

12. The exact center of the United States is found northwest of what city?

13. Mildred Fiksdal O’Neill’s collection of 10,000 pairs of shoes is housed in what museum?

14. Geographically, which is South Dakota’s largest Indian reservation?

Answers The largest fish ever caught in South Dakota was at White River and the Depression Nag is located in Tinkertown; 1. McKennan Park in Sioux Falls; 2. Elk Point; 3. Sisseton Wahpeton pow wow; 4. Scherr-Howe Arena in Mobridge; 5. 180; 6. Kadoka; 7. Meade County; 8. Fred Dupree; 9. Ed Lemmon; 10. The Ice House in Yankton; 11. Spirit Mound; 12. Belle Fourche; 13. Museum of Wildlife, Science and Industry in Webster; 14. Cheyenne River Indian Reservation (4,267 square miles).

Katie Hunhoff is the co-publisher and editor of South Dakota Magazine, a bi-monthly print publication featuring the people and places of our great state. For more information visit www.SouthDakotaMagazine.com or email Katie at editor@southdakotamagazine.com.

A state Game, Fish and Parks Department official delivered a slide presentation Friday on the past, present and future of pheasants in South Dakota.

The discussion came as South Dakota prepares for its centennial season of pheasant hunting in 2019. Governor candidates recently announced plans to spur a ringneck revival.

“We need to get everybody involved. Everybody in South Dakota should realize how important this resource is to us,” Barry Jensen of White River said in an article written by Bob Mercer.

“It’s important to the state economically,” the chairman told the other commissioners. “It may be an area we can get out there a little better.”

Kirschenmann, chief of terrestrial habitat for the state wildlife division, stresses habitat is essential for survival and production.

One slide showed the ups and downs of federal soil bank and conversion reserve program acres in South Dakota and the accompanying rises and declines in annual pheasant per mile estimates.

A new effort has some wildlife division staff analyzing game production areas. Their recommendations will be brought to the game commission later this year.

Encouraging landowners to grow short trees, shrubs and bushes that act as thermal barriers help pheasants get through bad weather.

Insects are the main food young pheasants eat the first eight weeks and the top source of hens after they’ve hatched their clutches of eggs.

“We know winter wheat can provide very valuable nesting habitat, “ Kirschenmann said.

Another chart showed locations for 19 habitat advisors from various organizations and governments throughout South Dakota.

Sioux Falls hosted Pheasant Fest last month which Kirschenmann said was “great timing.”

U.S. Senator John Thune wants the federal government to increase CRP acres to 30 million in the next farm bill. The current level is 24 million. 
While South Dakota pheasant numbers have dropped in the past decade, they’re still better than anywhere else.

More people from outside of South Dakota bought pheasant licenses year after year in recent times than hunters who live in South Dakota.

“Our tradition of pheasant hunting is none like anybody else has,” said Kirschenmann.