Category Archives: State

I cannot grow a beard. Whenever I try, it looks like those photos we all have of our children the first time they grab a pair of scissors and give themselves, or their favorite doll, a haircut: bald spot here, 3 inches of scraggly growth there.

That’s why I sadly never took part in one of my alma mater’s most time-honored homecoming traditions. The One Month Club at South Dakota State University is for students who want to look their hobo-est by the time Hobo Day arrives. Exactly a month before the homecoming game, men stop shaving their faces and women do the same with their legs. It’s all in good fun and a fine way to show school spirit, but I could never compete with my classmates who looked like the guys in ZZ Top after 30 days.

It’s homecoming season at colleges and universities around South Dakota, and when I thought of the One Month Club I wondered what unique traditions students observe at other schools. So I asked around.

One that warms my Scandinavian heart happens at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, where the students nominated for Viking Days king and queen don Norwegian sweaters. It seems appropriate for a school founded by Lutheran Scandinavians, and practical, too. I bet those sweaters take the chill off the cool October morning air on parade day. Incidentally, to celebrate Augustana’s 100th year in Sioux Falls, the school unveiled its version of the popular Monopoly board game, called Augieopoly. One of the game tokens is a Norwegian sweater modeled after one owned by the late Dr. Lynwood Oyos, a longtime history professor.

Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell crowns not one king and queen, but two. In addition to the royal pair that reigns over Blue & White Days, two members of the freshman class are chosen Beanie King and Beanie Queen. They perform many of the same duties as the homecoming court, but wear blue and white beanies, festooned with optional decorations. The tradition began in 1926 and included all members of the freshman class, but over the years has been whittled down to just two.

Students at Dakota State University in Madison enjoy a citywide scavenger hunt. The Student Services department hides a small statue called the Traveling Trojan somewhere on the DSU campus or around Madison. Clues are given on local radio and on the school’s Facebook page. Whoever finds the statue receives a prize package.

West River students incorporate the Black Hills in their homecoming traditions. During Swarm Week at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, students make an annual pilgrimage to a giant letter H that sits on a mountainside near campus. Visitors to Rapid City may have noticed a similar M on a hillside above the city. Students at the School of Mines make a homecoming trek to whitewash the M, a tradition that dates back to the very first M-Day on Oct. 5, 1912.

Alumni of other colleges and universities surely have their own favorite homecoming traditions. Hobo Day will always hold a special place for me. I’m pretty easy to spot watching the parade along Main Avenue or at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium for the football game. I’m the clean-shaven one.

PIERRE, S.D. – Over 15,700 visitors attended the 53rd Annual Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park on Friday morning, enduring the cold weather and the season’s first snowfall in the Black Hills.

Custer State Park also hosted its three-day arts festival in conjunction with the Buffalo Roundup. Crowds assembled throughout the celebration to enjoy a variety of entertainment under the big top, educational programs and vendors from all over the country.

“We weren’t sure what to expect Friday morning with the weather,” said park superintendent Matt Snyder. “Despite the cold conditions, we still had thousands and thousands of people come out and enjoy themselves over the weekend. I heard nothing but compliments from how well the park looked, to the variety of vendors at the Arts Festival. It was a successful event for us.”

The annual Roundup serves as a tool to help manage the park’s buffalo herd. About 250 buffalo will be sold at the park’s annual auction on Saturday, Nov. 17. For information on the auction, contact the park at 605.255.4515 or email CusterStatePark@state.sd.us.

Upcoming Buffalo Roundups will be held on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, and Friday, Sept. 25, 2020.

Written collaboratively by Laura Edwards and David Ollila.

As we remember the fifth anniversary of the winter storm and blizzard that occurred on Oct. 3–5, 2013 (which some call Winter Storm Atlas), the event provides a reminder that it is time to begin preparation and planning for winter weather events that can occur from now through May.

Fall Season 2018

By the end of September this year, freezing temperatures and snow had already occurred in the Black Hills. Many northwestern and north central areas have also reported sub-freezing temperatures. Large, rapid temperature fluctuations can occur in October and throughout the winter season. Rain can turn to snow and quickly begin accumulating, particularly in the fall and spring seasons as temperatures straddle the freezing mark. Climatological studies since the 2013 blizzard have shown that snow can often occur in October, but that year was a truly unusual exteme event, and there is no long-term trend towards earlier large snowstorms in western South Dakota.

This year, much of October will likely be marked with unusually cold temperatures and wetter conditions than we typically experience. Although no one is anticipating a blizzard like 2013, placing focused thought and developing winter storm plans that will ensure safety and security for both livestock and humans will reduce risk of injury or loss. At the same time, a winter storm plan can lessen anxiety and increase producer confidence that the storms will be weathered successfully.

Preparing for Winter Weather

What to consider when making weather preparedness plans:

Time of year. Fall and spring weather events tend to have more moisture in the snow along with ground surfaces that are not frozen. This combination can make areas where livestock concentrate “sloppy” and unsanitary, in addition to impassable roads to access livestock.

Consideration should be given to placement of supplemental feedstuffs which are in close proximity to where livestock are grazing or confined, as well as identified locations to provide natural and/or fabricated protection from weather elements. The ability to provide rumen contentment and wind protection will reduce livestock anxiety and stress. Feed placed nearby that can be made accessible without the need of large equipment will provide an immediate solution until roads and trails become more accessible for larger equipment.

As with all winter storms, in the event of impassable roads, loss of electrical power, necessary supplies should be obtained and stored for a potential extreme weather event that could endure for several days.
Suggested supplies and preparation considerations:

Plenty of diesel fuel, gasoline and propane stored to operate tractors, generators, heaters and vehicles.

Make certain to have alternative heat sources to maintain temperatures above freezing in your home, shop, and lambing/calving warming/tack rooms.

Generators can at the very least provide lighting and communication availability, but planning for refrigeration, heating and power to outbuildings, heated livestock waterers and feed handling equipment especially during calving and lambing become high priorities.

Animal health supplies should be adequately stocked during lambing and calving. Extreme weather can place great stress on young animals resulting in more animals experiencing life threatening infections.

Extreme weather preparation includes making pre-storm plans with your neighbors to insure that both human and livestock needs will be met before, during and following a storm.

Having an extreme weather preparedness plan active and in place will lessen the storm’s impact on livestock and infrastructure, while providing personal safety and financial security to the producer and their family during these unpredictable periods. For general winter weather safety information relating to snowstorms, blizzards, extreme cold and so on, visit the National Weather Service’s Winter Weather Safety website.

By Dana Hess For the S.D. Newspaper Association

BROOKINGS — This November, South Dakota voters will once again decide on an ethics measure. As with Initiated Measure 22 in 2016, backers of Amendment W say it is a needed safeguard to ensure ethical behavior in Pierre. Opponents say it is a dangerous overreach, giving unchecked power to a new ethics board.

If approved by voters on Nov. 6, the amendment would go into effect on July 1, 2019.

“It’s a bad solution for the problem, even as they define it,” said David Owen, president of the S.D. Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “This is like chemotherapy for the cold.”

The wide-ranging amendment would:

• lower campaign contribution amounts.

• prohibit campaign contributions from being spent on personal use.

• place restrictions on lobbyists. • replace the government accountability board with a new board with broad powers.

• limit the votes necessary for the passage of an initiated measure.

• require voter approval for any changes to the initiated measure or referral process.

According to Attorney General Marty Jackley’s ballot explanation, if it is approved by voters, Amendment W will likely be challenged in court on constitutional grounds.

Voters were angry after the Legislature repealed Initiated Measure 22, according to Mitch Richter, co-chairman of Represent South Dakota.

“They repealed what the citizens had voted in,” Richter said.

The ethics panel in Amendment W has been “supplemented with things the Legislature didn’t go far enough on,” Richter said, referring to ethics bills lawmakers endorsed in the wake of the repeal of IM 22. “We’re one of only seven states that doesn’t have an ethics commission.”

The powerful ethics panel and the amendment’s claim to overrule other parts of the state constitution worries Owen.

“This new article has control over the rest of the constitution,” Owen said. “We don’t have any way for other branches to issue opinions or make changes.”

According to Richter, anyone who disagrees with a decision made by the ethics panel can take their concerns to court.

“That’s a red herring they’re throwing out there,” Richter said of the criticism.

Owen agrees with Jackley, that if it passes, Amendment W is likely to be challenged in court. Owen said a judge must decide if Amendment W has sway over the rest of the constitution or if the document’s 125 years of precedence will rule. According to Richter, Amendment W’s language was written to conform to the rest of the state’s constitution.

“It doesn’t conflict with other parts of the constitution,” Richter said.

Owen admits that South Dakota’s one-party rule may cause some frustration, but as a lobbyist in the state since 1999, he hasn’t seen the widespread corruption that the amendment tries to address.

“In this day and age, I think we have a tendency to confuse disagreement with corruption,” Owen said. “They must show evidence of corruption, and up to this point haven’t.”

Richter points to the list of organizations opposing Amendment W and says that many of them have members who hold contracts with state government. “I think they’re really afraid of transparency and open government,” Richter said. “They don’t want the rules of the game to change.”

By Dana Hess
For the S.D. Newspaper Association

BROOKINGS — Two measures on the Nov. 6 ballot would make changes to the way the state’s constitution is amended.

Amendment X would change the threshold for approving an amendment, raising it from a majority vote to 55 percent of the votes cast. Amendment Z would require that each constitutional amendment be limited to a single subject.

The bill that grew into Amendment X was championed in the Legislature by Sen. Jim Bolin, R-Canton, who said that the state’s constitution is of such importance that it should take more than a majority vote to approve amendments.

“This is our foundational document,” Bolin said. “It shouldn’t be changed in a willy-nilly fashion.”

The amendment was endorsed on an 11-2 vote by a task force that studied ballot issues in the summer of 2017. The task force included lawmakers from both parties as well as representatives of municipalities, county commissions, the board of elections and county auditors.

Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls, served on the task force and is spearheading the effort against Amendment X.

Amendment X “assumes that the constitution is too easy to change already,” Nesiba said. “It’s not.”

Nesiba said that 26,000 valid signatures are needed to get on the ballot. In reality, to hit that number, close to 50,000 signatures have to collected. As an example, Nesiba noted two groups that tried to get amendments on this November’s ballot. One collected 33,000 signatures and the other collected 37,000. Neither made it on the ballot.

Bolin points out that Amendment X has nothing to do with ballot access.

Amendment X is patterned after a proposal that was approved by Colorado voters in 2016. Florida has a 60 percent threshold and New Hampshire’s original constitution, written in 1783, requires a two-thirds majority to pass an amendment.

“We’re not breaking any new ground here, at all,” Bolin said.

It’s well-trod ground, though, according to Nesiba with 240 amendments proposed in the state’s history. Of those, 224 were put on the ballot by the Legislature and 16 were initiated by citizens.

From statehood through the last election, 51 percent of all amendments were approved by voters with just six of the citizen-initiated measures becoming part of the constitution.

“Citizens aren’t doing this,” Nesiba said. “Amendment X is another one coming from the Legislature.”

Amendment Z also started in the Legislature, championed by Speaker of the House Mark Mickelson, R-Sioux Falls.

Keeping constitutional amendments to a single subject, according to Mickelson, will keep voters from having to face a decision about voting for a measure because it has some good qualities, but having to accept its bad ideas as well.

“It makes it clear to the voter what they’re voting on,” Mickelson said. “This makes the constitution less able to be abused.”

It’s the voters who are being abused, according to Rebecca Terk, a lobbyist for Dakota Rural Action. Terk said both Amendments X and Z seems to be aimed at the notion that too many wealthy, out-of-state interests are crowding South Dakota’s ballot.

“They’re wealthy,” Terk said. “They have the tools to overcome the hurdles in their path.”

According to Mickelson, rules that allow citizens to put amendments on the ballot were put in place to help people who didn’t think that lawmakers in Pierre were listening to their concerns. Those lawmakers weren’t listening to Mickelson in the last session, so he spearheaded efforts to put an increased tobacco tax and a ban on out-of-state contributions to ballot measure committees on this year’s ballot.

“I couldn’t get those through the Legislature,” Mickelson said, “but the people want these. That’s a healthy process.”

Terk isn’t buying the idea that the constitution needs a higher vote threshold or simpler topics on which to vote. But, like Mickelson, she’s putting her faith in voters.

“South Dakota voters are not dumb,” Terk said. “They take the time to really understand what’s on their ballot.”