Opinion

ERSPECTIVE Dear Editor, I start with some updates on potential AI uses. Oklahoma schools have AI-generated school programs that promote one view of politics and religion in teaching high school history,” Slavery wasn’t so bad,” cited by a cartoon characterization of Christopher Columbus.

Dear Editor, I learned many things from the “School of Hard Knocks.” But since I moved to my apartment and found apartment mates to make “family” I have learned from “The School of Love” you don’t take money, gold, silver, and jewels to Heaven. You use them here on Earth. Share with those that don’t have much. Donate to the food pantry items that can be used there. Clothing, used or not, and clean blankets. Share a skill or hobby. Be a true human. Even if what you give is not much. It’s from the heart. But that’s just a starting point. Pass this on to others. From my great-grandma that taught me and raised me, Robin L. Waterhouse, Gregory, SD

Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” Our Founding Fathers believed so strongly in civil and open public discourse that they put freedom of speech in the First Amendment. They knew that our American republic could only function if people openly shared their beliefs and the reason for those beliefs – and that had to happen at all levels of society, from statehouses and the U.S.

Soldiers going back and forth on the Military road running to Fort Thompson and points farther upstream on the east side of the Missouri River contributed to the high volume of traffic along the river in the last half of the 1800s. Mule trains hauling supplies for the forts, ox teams with freight for mining camps and settlements, adventurers and home seekers, all added to the travel over this trail.

On September 23, 2025, at a special legislative session, we will be asked to entrust $650 million to the Secretary of the Department of Corrections within the Rhoden Administration. We do not have trust in the leadership of Rhoden’s Department of Corrections. We are renewing the call for Governor Rhoden to clean up his Department of Corrections before the special session vote on the new prison in Sioux Falls.

Growing up on the ranch, you learn that results matter. No matter how much you wish it might rain or wish it wouldn’t hail, the only thing that matters is whether it did—the actual result. And it doesn’t matter whether you planned to do a task—what matters is whether you got it accomplished— the actual result.

Bijou Hills, at an elevation of about 1,980 feet, is a prominent upland hilly area with a valley between the two primary peaks near the southern border of Brule County on the east side of the Missouri River. They were first visited on August 25, 1801 by Perrin du Lac, who planted a cedar post 20 inches square upon which he engraved his name, the date, and the words “Sitis Cognoscendi” and “Deo Nuturea.”

The South Dakota State Fair is something to celebrate. Once a year for a few days, it seems like the whole state is in Huron, and everyone has a smile on their face.

To the Editor, I want to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who attended the special city council meeting on Monday night. The unwavering and positive support for both the Gregory/Dallas Chamber and the Gregory Economic Development (GED) Group was truly inspiring.

Up to about the time Fort Randall was established, no white men had made this area their home except a few fur traders who had Indian wives. In the 1850’s, steamers began to ply the river between places east and the forts upstream, and the wood yard business sprang up.