Opinion

Senator Mykala Voita District 21 Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Tripp Counties Committee: Appropriations Capitol Address: 500 E. Capitol Ave.

The Hamilton settlement was the next point where a small colony of white settlers made a settlement on Platte Creek, on the east side of the river above Wheeler. This was the home of Major Hamilton and his sons, along with a few other settlers who were searching for their “Eldorado.”

Living on a ranch, I’ve never had much time for technology. I’ve always preferred riding a horse over on-line entertainment, and at work, I stick to the traditional penand- paper approach.

A call to action. Every year, prior to April 15th, our U.S.

C h a rl e s Mix County was first settled on November 4, 1794 when Jean Batiste Trudeau built the first white man’s house in Dakota country near what would later become Fort Randall. The county was created in 1862 and was reorganized in 1879.

R eport Senator Mykala Voita District 21 Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Tripp Counties Committee: Appropriations Capitol Address: 500 E. Capitol Ave.

Graveside services set for Ronald Johnson, age 82 Graveside services for Ronald Johnson, Sr. (82), of Spencer, NE, will be held on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at 3:00 p.m., at IOOF Cemetery, Gregory, SD. Kotrba-Smith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Daniel Curtis Davidson, 82 years, December 21, 2024, Gregory, SD. Lori Ann Koenig, 59 years, January 11, 2025, Burke, SD.

Milestones are an important part of any process. They’re a good opportunity to reflect on where we’ve come from, assess where we are, and look ahead to what comes next. Every legislative session, there comes a day called “Crossover” that is a major milestone in the legislative process.

Dear editor, Government can do good Federal aid is intricately connected to the well-being – indeed the very survival – of small farms, small livestock producers, and small towns in rural South Dakota. Making up a significant portion of South Dakota’s yearly budget (on average around 31% but up to as high as 43% during the Biden Administration), federal financial aid funds essential land and water infrastructure projects in rural areas, as I have pointed out in my previous “government can do good” letters to the editor. Federal financial aid also comes in the form of cost-sharing grants and low-income loans that enable individual small farmers/livestock producers and small rural communities to modernize, gain new sources of income, and survive natural disasters. Federal policy aid aims to balance the small/ large industrial farm relationship. Federal aid, in other words, supports small farm and community viability, enabling farmers to successfully hold onto their land and communities to hold onto their young people. Federal aid, however, is in mortal danger. Applying the agenda of the Christian Nationalist Project 2025, the Trump/ Musk duo has placed federal aid on the chopping block. Challenging the “government is bad” claim upon which the Trump/Musk action and 2025 Project agenda rests, my today’s letter uses my own small farm experience to factually illustrate the far-reaching beneficial impact of federal government aid to individual small farmers and the tragedy that looms for rural South Dakotans should the Trump/Musk rampage succeed.