Category: Uncategorized

April marks Month of the Military Child, an annual celebration where communities across the country lift up the sons and daughters of our military heroes. During this time, we remember that the men and women in uniform are not the only ones who sacrifice for our country – their families sacrifice time together. Sometimes they even sacrifice the life of their loved ones.  

Throughout the month, there will be several events and special recognition days where you can participate in bringing joy to our military families. If you’re not sure where to begin, here are a couple of places to get you started: 

·         Friday, April 8^th: Purple Up! For Military Kids Day in South Dakota. Service Members, families, youth, schools, and community members are encouraged to join the SDNG Child & Youth Program, Ellsworth Air Force Base, and communities everywhere in wearing PURPLE as a visible way to show support and thanks to our military kids. 

·         For a full list of events and special discounts for military families this month, go to https://ellsworthfss.com/special-events/month-of-the-military-child. 

This month comes at an important time as veterans and military families in South Dakota face an uncertain future with veterans’ health services. In mid-March, the Biden Administration announced it was looking to close or cut several key veterans’ health care facilities around the state.   

South Dakota is the number one state for veterans to live and work. We’re also ranked in the Top 5 states for veterans to retire. Why is that? Because we honor our veterans for their service and sacrifice. We honor them not just with our words; we back it up with action.  

My administration started the Fallen Heroes Bridge Dedication program to honor South Dakotans who lost their lives in the line of duty. And we built the first-ever State Veterans Cemetery to give a final resting place to those who served our nation in uniform. We respect the occupational license of active-duty military and their spouses so they can go right to work when they move to South Dakota. We’ve improved readiness facilities and capabilities for our nationally top-ranked National Guard units. We help veterans to receive free technical education classes, and active-duty soldiers and their families get in-state tuition at all our campuses. 

South Dakota also ranks Top 5 for health care for veterans, but that ranking will be tough to hold onto if the Biden Administration follows through on its proposal to downsize and close veterans’ health facilities across our state. In South Dakota, we will continue to back up our support for veterans with action. I will do everything in my power to fight the Biden Administration on this proposal.  

On March 29^th, our nation honored National Vietnam Veterans Day to pay tribute to the brave soldiers who came home from that difficult conflict. More than 27,000 South Dakotans served during the War in Vietnam. Some of them didn’t receive a friendly welcome home. In fact, National Vietnam Veterans Day wasn’t recognized until 2017 under then-President Donald J. Trump. 

That is a powerful reminder that we can always do more to honor those who served on our behalf. We can give them more time; we can give them more thanks; we can give them more energy. Many of our veterans come home scarred in body and mind. Let’s show them that their sacrifice was worth it through our actions. After all, actions speak louder than words.  

I hope you will each take the time to thank our active-duty service members, their families, and our veterans. Find ways to give back or volunteer with organizations that support veterans and military families.

This month let’s all take some extra time to assess how we can give back. Let’s celebrate Month of the Military Child, but then let’s take it a step further and find ways to give back to our veterans. By volunteering to support those who sacrifice everything for our freedom, we can build an even stronger America. 

 

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Well, I couldn’t be happier today. Among the crazy environment going on, I sealed the deal for an item that I’ve wanted for months and have never seen outside the State Cultural Heritage Center’s archives.

I managed to find a near mint version of this broadside/map from the 1889 State Capital fight.

Except, as noted, the one I just sold my soul for is in near mint condition, no chunks of paper missing, and with paper that remains in remarkably good shape for being 125 years old.

The state museum’s copy above, and the one I purchased have the same front, but different reverse sides. This museum’s has newspaper editorials about Pierre as Capital closer to the election, and the one I purchased is more generally promotional, leading me to believe mine might have been an earlier version.

Interesting anecdote I found out today is that there are two known examples of this broadside advertisement that are known to exist in German.

Great piece of South Dakota History that I am very excited to get coming in my direction.

Democrats are in the media today, explaining how they’re “targeting” as they abandon running people for 2/3 of the seats in the state legislature:

“The GOP’s dedication to building in-roads in communities across South Dakota has allowed the party to make historic moves ahead of the midterm elections,” he said in a statement.

Rick Rylance announces candidacy for District 3 State House

Rick Rylance of Aberdeen has announced his campaign for the State of South Dakota House of Representatives in District Three. “As a person who has always believed in serving the communities and the state in which I live,” Rylance said when announcing his candidacy, “I would like the chance to continue by representing the people of District Three in the statehouse in Pierre.

Rylance is a graduate of Aberdeen Central and Northern.  He was born and raised in Aberdeen.  He started with Farmers and Merchants’ Bank in Aberdeen right after graduation from Northern State in 1978.  He continued working for the same banking corporation (now Dacotah Bank) for over 40 years and recently retired.  That collaboration took him and his family to several small and large communities all over South Dakota (some twice).  He held several positions, and he states he was always glad to take on new challenges with each move. The family called Lemmon, Sisseton, Webster, and Rapid City home before he and his wife returned to Aberdeen in 2017.   In those places he volunteered or was appointed to positions such as:

• Member of Lemmon City Council
• Board member and president of Sisseton Economic Development
• Board member of NESDEC of Sisseton, SD
• Board member and president of Webster Economic Development
• Served on the South Dakota Economic Development Finance Authority
• Board member and president of Webster Hospital
• Board member of Sioux Valley (now Sanford) Hospital Regional Health Services
• Board member NSU Foundation
• Board member and president of Junior Achievement Rapid City
• Board Member and president of the Rapid City Economic Development
• Board member and president of the Youth and Family Services Rapid City
• Member of South Dakota Task Force on Elder Abuse
• Board member of Black Hills Works
• Board member of Rapid City United Way
• Board member and Chairman of the South Dakota Bankers Association.

In Aberdeen, Rylance is a member of the Moccasin Creek Country Club Board of Directors and head of the Grounds Committee.  He and his wife Rhonda have two grown children and two grandchildren.

Rylance adds that he believes we need to continue to create a strong economic environment for business and the citizens of South Dakota to grow. We can accomplish this through strong emphasis on:

1. Strengthened support of our educational system, both in K-12 and the regental system (colleges, universities, and technical colleges);
2. Strong economic development to grow communities and the region;
3. Fiscally responsible use of our resources; and
4. A proactive approach to the improvement of Aberdeen, the region, and South Dakota.

“I’d like to take another opportunity to serve South Dakota,” Rylance concluded.

Someone isn’t having a good day. Especially after this morning, when Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken announced who he was endorsing in the races for City Council:

I say someone wasn’t having a good day, as former Brookings Democrat and more recently Sioux Falls resident Pam (Merchant) Cole, who happens to be a candidate not selected for endorsement by the Mayor, had a bit of a public freak-out about the whole thing:

So, not only does she crab about not being an endorsee, she goes hard negative on Rich Merkouris.

I get the impression that this campaign is going to continue to not go well for Pam.

So far there has been one person removed from the ballot so far as a result of a petition challenge, Democrat Alexandra Frederick of Winner South Dakota was bumped from running as a candidate for District 26A State House.

But she wasn’t bumped by Republicans. She was bumped by Sioux Falls Democrat party activist, Cully Williams:

Interesting.

Apparently, the LRC has labored on despite being pestered, and the Majority and Minority Reports of the House Select Committee on Investigation are now available. And instead of having to slog through them int he LRC website, I have them below for your review:

Majority Report:

Majority Report Select Committee by Pat Powers on Scribd

Minority Report:

Minority Report Impeachment by Pat Powers on Scribd

From the Argus Leader, the Director of the Legislative Research Council seems to think there’s a “pestering” exception to the open records laws:

“When we stop being pestered by legislators and the public,” Legislative Research Council Director Reed Holwegner responded to an inquiry by the Argus Leader regarding when more than 70 materials that have been reviewed by the House Select Committee on Investigation prior to issuing a report recommending Ravnsborg not be impeached Monday.

Read that here.

If this is the kind of reverence for open government the head of the LRC has, I’m kind of wondering why they haven’t fired him yet.

Whoof. This does not appear to be a good year for Democrat Legislative chances.

Democrats filed for 44 Legislative Candidates by the end of the day today. To Republicans’ 154 – almost 50 more than there are legislative seats to be had.

And some of those Democrats are obvious placeholders.

Keep reading, as there will be more to come on this.

From the peanut gallery, we have challenger candidates speaking about how they view the petitioning process..

There’s one down, as expected..

Mark Mowry is praying he has enough valid signatures…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thank you Republicans of South Dakota for participating with our historic campaign to Secure Our Rights and to Keep The Republic. Life, Liberty, Property and Defense thereof.
Please read the full Press Release at https://t.co/qgjQZy6Fb6

— Bruce Whalen for US Senate (@Whalen4USSenate) March 23, 2022

And Bruce Whalen also thinks he has enough…

We’ll see how this all goes.