Opinion

As 2023 comes to an end, we may find ourselves reflecting on the last year and looking forward to the year ahead. And as I am thinking about all that South Dakota has accomplished this year, I think of our people.

Senator Erin Tobin District 21 Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Tripp Counties Committees: Chair of Health & Human Services, Executive Board, Agriculture and Natural Resources, State Affairs Capitol Address: 500 E. Capitol Ave.

C ounty C ourthouse N ews Magistrate Court Jerry Wolf, 40, Burke, SD, headlamps required, disposition: judgment on plea of guilty; fail to maintain financial responsibility, dismissed - motion by county (including for no probable cause). Charles Foster Davis, 71, Burke, SD, seatbelt violation, fine $25.00; speeding on state highway, fine $39.00, court costs $50.00, surcharges $28.50.

On December 19, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released their new final 2023 Merger Guidelines. The guidelines are meant to promote fair, open and competitive markets by preventing mergers that would substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly.

During the holiday season, we are surrounded by many gifts. I’m sure we can all remember growing up and not being able to sleep the night before Christmas. The anticipation and the excitement for the presents that would be underneath the tree the next morning was just too much to handle. Through all of that excitement, though, I hope we can all remember the greatest gift of them all: Jesus Christ.

A review of one day’s news of the circus in Congress promoted by Trump’s supplicants to direct the operation of the US government in support of dictator governments around the world would more than fill the bounds of this article. Putin has thanked the Republicans for blocking funding to the Ukraine forces in their war to repel the Russian invasion.

For most of us, we are reminded by the holiday season of an earlier time of memorable and exciting days gone by. Those “olden days” make for especially fond memories to one particular group – those farm kids who attended the one-room rural schools out on the Dakota prairie. This is when we harken back to what was one of the most unforgettable times during the school year.

Europe in the early 1800s was a place of great war, turmoil, and upheaval. The continent was reeling in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. Financial scarcity and insecurity abounded, further stoked by fires, floods, and famine.

Jewish people around the world are concluding their celebration of the miracle of Hanukkah. As they do so, I cannot help but think of them and the State of Israel.

From the very beginning, the rural school in South Dakota during the first half of the 1900’s served as a community center for the local area. The earliest schools were, in fact, the product of local community effort. It was the people who decided where to locate the school, how to build it, and selected a board of local citizens to manage it.