Now that the primary election is over, the first felony arrest warrant has been issued for one of the primary participants. The Black Hills Pioneer notes this morning that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of State Representative Travis Ismay for destruction of a highway, a class 6 felony:
The indictment alleges that on or about May 5, Ismay deliberately dug up, removed, displaced, or broke the highway, which is a Class 6 felony, the least severe category of felonies.
Around the same time as the indictment alleges Ismay damaged the highway, an individual allegedly used a road grader, without authorization, to grade a portion of Wilson Road, near Belle Fourche, Dwayne Heidrich, who was Butte County highway supervisor at the time of the incident, said.
“They took the crown out of it (the road),” Heidrich said.
Read the entire story here at the Black Hills Pioneer.
Try not to be shocked that the moron who was talking about how to poison people with eye drops did something else stupid.
Often, prosecutors are reluctant to bring charges in the run up to the election, as they don’t want to interfere in the election in cases like this, which may have contributed to the delay on charging him.
I think I’ve heard of another matter they’re investigating in another county that might bring felony charges to someone running.. but the case might not be ripe yet, either.
“Do stupid things, win stupid prizes.” Which largely sums up Ismay’s tenure as a legislator.
Update:
From an unnamed source – Got to catch them all!
I think we might need some more Travis on the run memes..
He routinely attacks law abiding librarians and medical marijuana patients. If he wants the law enforced so bad, he can have it.
grudznick is shocked if Mr. Ismay is not a toker of the Demon Weed. He looks it. The handsome devil.
Well now, it looks like the “We, the imbeciles of South Dakota” page will have something to groan about and the entertainment value will be priceless. In worse news, now the average folks who want the state to handle business of the state, will have to endure not only bills to recall county commissioners that we disagree with, we should look for bills to recall sheriffs and states attorney(s) that actually enforced the law he disagrees with.
Aaaandd the idiots are already claiming it’s “lawfare”. That district needs help.
Grove is next.
Unbecoming behavior of someone who’s been the sergeant at arms at the SDGOP gathering of looney tunes
The Trump clowns dont believe the laws apply to them. Just look to the white house as he enriches himself while we all pay higher prices.
How is Trump enriching himself?
Trump crypto. Trump coins. Trump watches. Trump Bibles. Numerous foreign investments and properties. Govt contracts to family members including don jrs drone company. Almost a billion dollars of stock trades that have coordinated messages from his office to spike prices. The most corrupt is likely the crypto schemes where foreign money is flowing to the president. How anyone can’t see this is quite amazing.
Do you need any more? Can you provide examples of previous presidents doing anything close to this? Emoluments clause, anyone?
MMA fight on the white house lawn…
He purchased stock in the ufc parent company. Go figure.
How do you not know this?
It would take less time to list the ways he isn’t.
So true.
So basically he fixed a washboard gravel road. And then the county highway superintendent complains about Ismay not fixing it good enough. It will take a jury 5 minutes to acquit.
To find him guilty, correct. Unless I missed is a clause in that statute that gives the public the right to “fix washboarded gravel roads” as they see fit. And he only made it a whole lot worse if he took the crown out of it.
Does damaging the road mean “not fixing it good enough” where you’re from? If my car mechanic fills my gas tank with sugar, did he “not fix it good enough?”
The amount of gravel he feathered into the ditches will require a supplementary budget request by county highways and roads to try and fix his ef up.
These are the type of people who don’t believe in the concept that “sh!t flows downhill”. He probably was a proud supporter of George Ferebee who said we need less government because he didn’t want government saying his septic tank leaking into Rapid Creek wasn’t fair to everyone else using Rapid Creek. Travis probably thought the same thing here. He wanted the road flat at this location. Now big government tells him he can’t. We must end government (except for all the ways Travis believes he should control people with government).
The early Taxed Enough Already movement in the US was fascinating, and I was on board those first few months of 2009.
When it morphed into the wingnuts, Howie rose up as the Singing Governor, and the main mission was halting state septic tank requirements, I was done.
All this self-road fixing and government-by-nimby is just icing on the cake.
grudznick knew George Ferebee, from the District numbered 30. George Ferebee was a Howite of Gordantic proportions. Mr. Ismay is a bit like George Ferebee.
Someone getting locked up for a victimless crime is a travesty of justice. Here’s to hoping Rep. Ismay remembers that next time he votes to lock people up for ingesting a plant, displaying certain books, or otherwise disagreeing with his worldview.
BAH. Mr. Ismay tokes the Demon Weed, Mr. Oakes. grudznick is sure.
The road may be smoother, but that’s easy when you convert road surface into ditch decoration. Eventually someone will have to pull that gravel back up or buy more. Either way, the taxpayers get to finance this exciting gravel relocation project.
Easily dismissed if Wilson rd isn’ta highway.
Congratulations, you win the most ignorant comment of the day award. SDCL 31-1-1: Every way or place of whatever nature open to the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular travel, is a highway.
A gravel road is a highway. I’m sure the states attorney in those parts understands this.
Well, dufus, the state does not own the road they merely have the right of way, or for imbeciles like yourself, permission from the landowner, to use the ground underneath the road. The adjoining landowners, unless the state or federal government owns the land, own to the middle of the road and pay taxes to the middle of the road. Hope this helps.
The state does own the road which has an easement on the private property. The property owner owns the land under the road. Good luck with that!
This wasn’t even responsive to his point, you just got butthurt and quibbled over something tangential so you didnt feel bad.
His point outs invalid because a county road, per statute, isn’t a highway. Keep up
What statute says a county road isn’t a highway? I’d say we’ll wait, but we’d be here a while because there isn’t one.
Per statute, it most certainly is considered a highway. Must be an Ismay supporter because you’re illiterate, like him.
So a city street is a Highway? An alley is a Highway? According to your reading of this statute it would be. Is a bicycle or a skateboard a vehicle? Is your sidewalk in front of your apartment a highway?
I know this will come as a surprise to you, and probably far too complex to understand, but there is a definition for vehicle as well. “automobiles, motor trucks, motorcycles, house trailers, trailers, and all vehicles propelled by power other than muscular power, except traction engines, road rollers, farm wagons, freight trailers, vehicles that run only on rails or tracks, electric bicycles, multi-passenger quadricycle as defined in § 32-14-17, and off-road vehicles as defined in § 32-20-1.”
Now this is REALLY going to blow your mind. Even section lines are considered highways! 31-18-1 “There is along every section line in this state a public highway located by operation of law, except where some portion of the highway along such section line has been heretofore vacated or relocated by the lawful action of some authorized public officer, board, or tribunal.” I know, WOAH.
So yes, a city street is legally a highway, an ally is legally a highway. Even a section line is legally a highway. A sidewalk isn’t because it’s not meant for vehicular travel.
I know you are probably trying to apply the laymen term “highway” in this case. Which most people would think of as a paved surface with several lanes meant for higher speed traffic. But there is a big difference between laymen terms and what those same terms legally mean.
So literally any farmer that takes care of or farms through a section line is committing a felony. Including Senator Rounds’ right hand man that closed off a section line and was then involved in a lawsuit afterwards. Seems like an archaic law that should be updated.
This is where things can really get fun. There is also a legal distinction between an improved section line and an unimproved section line. There are a whole lot of case by case factual distinctions in this area and no “one size fits all” legal framework. However, generally speaking, a farmer can farm across an unimproved section line as long as it does not obstruct the publics right to travel on it. For example, if a farmer plants beans across an unimproved section line, the public has the right to drive right over those beans as long as they remain within the section line boundaries. Again, generally speaking, a farmer would not have the right to farm across an improved section line. Many gravel roads are actually improved section lines. Unless a section line has been vacated, which there is a legal process for, access to it cannot be blocked off regardless of if it is improved or unimproved. A farmer could put a gate across it. But the public has to be able to open it for access.
The law is not simple. Which is why it is usually best to let the folks who went to school for 3 years to better understand it, took an extremely difficult test to prove they understand it, and work with it on a daily basis handle it.
And when it is updated, they will include gravel roads, streets, highways, and alleys to be considered the same thing. We dont need everyone thinking they have a right to fix a road because it isnt a paved “highway” because you dont understand how legal definitions work. The ismay crowd are some really dense people. This is why we can’t cut public education because we can’t afford more people like this.
So: the Whackadoodles are all about god – given property rights, unless it’s public property: got it. I’ll be shooting off a ton of fireworks on that nice, flat road come the 4th, then. Maybe sight in the 30-06, too. If he gets to do what he wants with a public road, I will, too.
Well there are laws against discharging a weapon within so many feet of certain things. Better check out those regulations before you get too excited about possibly getting yourself in a bad situation.
Was he drunk?
It is illegal to drive a big machine when drunk.
The top of the hole is already above your head. Stop digging. 32-23-1 “No person may drive or be in actual physical control of ANY VEHICLE while: (various forms of DUI). 32-5-1 “ In this chapter, the term, motor vehicle, includes all vehicles OR MACHINES….”
Yes, it is illegal to operate any kind of large equipment on a public roadway while intoxicated and you can get a DUI.
On a road, yes.
Hopefully this scholar of Sun Tzu can get things sorted out or he is confiding with allies everything is going according to plan.
Here’s the bottom line as I see it with individuals like Ismay (and soon-to-be-former Senator Grove): they are not in the legislature to legislate for the citizens of South Dakota – they are in it for personal reasons and egos. Ismay was quoted in a recent news article that “he wasn’t aware of the existence of the law he’s accused of breaking”. HE DOESN’T CARE! He obviously is of the opinion that he is above the law because he’s a lawmaker, not a law follower.
Elected officials should lead with knowledge and humility and an understanding of the law. Elected officials in a republic work for those they are elected by to represent them. Folks like Ismay and Grove don’t get this, or care – laws apply to the rest of us, not to them. Grove got a dose of reality. It’s time for Ismay to get one too.