Russell Ray Bertram Indicted by Gregory County Grand Jury

PIERRE, S.D – Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that Russell Ray Bertram, 63, Sioux Falls, was indicted yesterday by a Gregory County Grand Jury. Bertram was indicted on one count of first degree murder. The penalty for first degree murder is either death or a mandatory life sentence. Bertram formerly worked as a police officer in Colome and Parker and as Chief of Police in Harrisburg.

The indictment charges that on or about October 24, 2009, Bertram murdered his fiancé, Leonila Stickney, then age 26.

Bertram is presumed innocent until such time as proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the Division of Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

From Today’s KCCR, it sounds like the torches and pitchforks may have to go back into the shed, as the State Bureau of Administration announced that it is changing it’s plan for Hilger’s Gulch:

Based on input from the public, the South Dakota Bureau of Administration is revising its plan for Hilger’s Gulch.

The Bureau of Administration will retain Kentucky Bluegrass in the most visible and highly-used areas of the Gulch, including Governor’s Grove and the “sled hill” area along Church Street. These areas will not be changed and will continue to be a mowed and watered bluegrass area.

and…

The main concern of Pierre residents all along has been that they want to keep the Kentucky bluegrass. Holden says lower-lying areas of bluegrass, which are too wet to be usable much of the year due to drainage and watering, will be replaced with warm season grasses, bushes, trees and wildflowers…

Read (and listen to) it all here.

Headline over at SouthDaCola:  Mike Myers to challenge John Thune?

HA HA HA HA HA HA!  Now, that’s a knee slapper! Seriously, I think Dems and liberals have run out of good options, are through mediocre ones, and are now so desperate to push anyone into running against Thune, they’ve been venturing past left field off into crazy for some time now.

Regarding any consideration of a Myers candidacy, it makes me think back to when Myers was running for Governor:

Coolest presser ever. Gov. candidate Mike Myers does 20 push-ups to Pink Floyd.

— Jonathan Ellis (@argusjellis) January 15, 2014

Move along. Nothing serious or worth considering here. Just someone randomly doing push-ups.

I don’t think it’s a stretch that Senator Thune could not only mop the floor with him politically, as Myers throws out gibberish and holds suicide re-enactments as he did during the gubernatorial race, I think Thune would beat Myers at push-ups as well.

And how bad of a candidate is Myers that we’d even have to bring “push-ups” into the conversation?

Enough said.

if you hadn’t heard, a number of people voted at the GOP booth at the state fair in a “presidential corn poll” where fair attendees offered their opinion on who they like in the 2016 Presidential contest. And you can read the full results here!

Voters were age 18+, regardless of party affiliation. As provided to me by the fine people conducting the poll, the Beadle County Republican Women…

Trump 32%
Carson 31%
Bush 5.4%
Cruz 5.3%
Huckabee 5.1%
Fiorina 4.9%
Walker 3.4%
Rubio 3.1%

Kasich 2.6%
Paul 1.7%
Christie 1.4%
Pataki 1.2%
Santorum 1.2%
Jindal .7%
Perry .5%
Gilmore .3%
Graham .2%

2976 total votes

The word I’m hearing is that without Democrats voting in the non-scientific maize plebescite, they were quite convinced that Dr. Ben Carson would’ve been the winner.

What do you think?

Okay, I found the latest plug by the Democrats to get their minions to attend the Bill Maher event a bit funny.

This week is your last chance to purchase tickets to the Bill Maher show, taking place Sunday, September 13 at the Washington Pavilion. Tickets are still available through the South Dakota Democratic Party until Thursday, September 10 at noon. We can’t wait to see you there!

Samuel Parkinson

Compliance Director

The plug for Democrats to attend the show, and the pre-show reception (with no one famous attending) is being pushed hard today by their compliance director.

So, if the minions don’t attend, are they out of compliance with the party’s Liberal-speak?  And someone will put a checkmark in a box? 🙂

Here’s a good one submitted to me from “Personal Capital” – What is the candidate’s net worth?

Executive Summary:

The 2016 presidential primaries are ramping up, and with those races come a slew of public awareness events aimed at positioning each candidate in the best spot to win their party’s nomination. As Americans begin to learn more about the people hoping to run the country, Personal Capital wants to see how money may help decide our next Commander-in-Chief.

In 2012, about $7 billion was spent on political races across the United States. More than a third of that total ($2.6 billion) was spent on the presidential election alone. For reference, about 129 million people voted in the 2012 election, and if the money spent promoting Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were split between every voter, they would each receive a check for more than $54 dollars! This and more can be seen in our exclusive blogger community infographic.

GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump has by far the highest net worth, sitting at slightly more than $4.1 billion. On the Democratic side, current frontrunner Hillary Clinton holds a personal net worth of about $30 million. Members of Congress all also pretty well off. The median net worth of a member of Congress is more than $440,000, while the median U.S. adult has only about a tenth of that!

Lastly, unless Trump wins the election the net worth of the country’s next president will be dwarfed by those of Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt. In 2010 dollars, President George
Washington would have been worth an astounding $525 million, more than doubling (and then some) his closest rival, Thomas Jefferson.

What are your opinions on money, power and this year’s candidates? If you want to know what you’re worth, check out Personal Capital’s net worth calculator.

A candidate’s wealth isn’t necessarily a indicator of how they would run government as public sector isn’t the same as private sector experience. But it does provide food for thought, as those who have earned or managed that type of wealth over their lifetime have a sense of what truly matters, and what’s merely minutia. In a Macroeconomic sense, one might argue.

What are your thoughts?

Attorney General Jackley to Deliver National Keynote Address at Alcohol Law and Policy Conference

PIERRE, S.D – Attorney General Marty Jackley will deliver the keynote address at the 8th Annual Alcohol Law and Policy Conference hosted by the Center for Alcohol Policy on September 11th in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will focus on better understanding the role of state attorneys general in policy debates over alcohol. The annual conference attendees include experts in the field such as state regulators, attorneys general, legislators, public health leaders, educators and industry official to discuss and debate current law and policies.

“This is a great opportunity to focus on the role of the State Attorneys General and the importance of polices that safeguard against the abuse of alcohol. I intend to highlight the success of South Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Program to cost-effectively addressing addiction. It is also important to recognize the strong efforts of the Center for Alcohol Policy in working with law enforcement to safeguard against the abuse of alcohol,” said Jackley.

South Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Program has reduced the likelihood for alcohol re-offenses by implementing drug and/or alcohol testing for first-time DUI offenders with a high blood alcohol concentration and any repeat DUI offenders. The 24/7 Sobriety Program exists in 61 of South Dakota’s 66 counties and due to the success of the program, it has been replicated statewide in North Dakota and Montana and is at different stages of implementation in 9 additional states.

Click on link below to view Center for Alcohol Policy event release:

http://www.centerforalcoholpolicy.org/2015/05/18/south-dakota-attorney-general-marty-jackley-to- deliver-keynote-address-at-alcohol-law-and-policy-conference/

From Today’s KCCR, Attorney General Marty Jackley is weighing in on the new thorny issue of the 2018 Gubernatorial race. The issue of whether or not Hilger’s Gulch in Pierre should go back to a natural state, or continue being watered like a golf course:

Gov. Dennis Daugaard has earned his share of scorn, mainly from Pierre residents, since the Hilgers Gulch initiative announcement.

and…

An organized resistance sprung up fast. Hundreds of citizens railed against the plan, voicing their disgust during community meetings and lodging complaints directly to the Bureau of Administration and Daugaard’s office.

One elected official Attorney General Marty Jackley, whom many believe to be running for Governor in 2018, says the Hilgers Gulch initiative should be a local decision…

Read, and listen to Marty Jackley’s comments here.

Marty notes that personally, he thinks “rather than the state making that decision, the local folks should make that decision.”

Wait, what?  Isn’t this state property?  Here’s one issue where Marty and I probably will disagree. I’d say the local people can make the decision – but conditionally.

It’s easy to say you want it kept green with other people’s money. If the city and/or all the people protesting and making it an issue want the area kept lush & green in the punishing Pierre summer heat, I’d say “pony up, and bring your proposal to the table.” Offer to pay for the watering and mowing. That makes it an easily solved decision.

But otherwise, don’t tell your neighbor how he needs to design his landscaping to meet your personal preference.

Here’s an interesting one. I heard a complaint from the State Fair this weekend that one of the petition measures might not have had people out there being…. precise in their explanation of the ballot measure they were pushing.

Word I’m hearing is that one person out there allegedly explaining the redistricting panel petition explained their measure as something along the lines of “the people not being represented by the present system.”

Uh… yeah. That would be one person’s opinion. Not a real explanation of a ballot measure.

Larry Kurtz, who throws out nonsense in support of South Dakota Democrats has long been banned from this and other South Dakota related web sites because of a constant string of profanity, bigotry and other hate speech.

After Kurtz, who writes the ‘South Dakota Progressive‘ blog recently claimed that exposure to plastic makes people gay, it was hard to think that such a ridiculous (& offensive) statement ciuld be topped.

But somehow, he managed to say something more offensive. Especially after a recent string of incidents where police have been injured or killed in the line of duty.

Those in the law enforcement/corrections industrial complex eke out existence on the public dole, are overwhelmingly Republican, are alcohol and domestic abusers living violent lives, most are obese and usually die early after miserable careers.

Read that here.

I’m not sure what to say, except if that represents the opinion of the Democrat rank and file in South Dakota, there’s a good reason their support continues to erode in the state.

And it says more about the person throwing out offensive statements like an attention seeking child than the law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line for the public on a daily basis.

9/8/2015 Update

I notice Larry has rewritten his post 2 or 3 times, now chasing after me like a kid who just can’t admit his mistake, but still squirms in his chair.

A few are asking me why I point it out, as it probably generates 10 times the attention he’d otherwise get. Yes, I know that, and it’s a bit of a double edged sword.

My response is that whether it’s Brad Ford spouting racist commentary on Gordon Howie’s website, Kurt Evans’ anti-Catholic bigotry, or Larry Kurtz calling cops drunken wife beaters, wrong is wrong, and evil must be challenged.

Agree or disagree on issues. But there are just some things you can’t ignore.