Opinion

Making the best state in the nation even better As the 2023 legislative session comes to a close, I want to take a moment to look back at what the legislature and I were able to accomplish working together for the people of South Dakota. We advanced the American dream.

Representative Marty Overweg District 21 Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Tripp Counties Committees: Vice Chair Agriculture and Natural Resources, Member of Local Government Capitol Address: 500 E. Capitol Ave.

The August 1, 1908, issue of the Custer W e e k l y Chronicle contained this headline: “JACK S U L LY ’ S WIDOW WINS FIRST ROUND.” In the news story coming out of Sioux Falls - which was the location of the federal court where Mrs. Sully’s case was being heard - it was reported: “The first round in the United States court in this city in the fight for possession of about 10,000 acres of land, valued at approximately $125,000, had been won by Mrs. Mary Sully, widow of ‘Jack’ Sully, the famous desperado and so-called ‘King of Cattle Rustlers,’ who was shot and killed a few years ago during a running fight with the deputy United States marshal and members of his posse.”

The annual District 3 Spring Meeting of the South Dakota American Legion will be held Sunday, April 16, 2023, in Pierre (this was rescheduled from March 18, 2023) for Legionnaires from Hughes, Hyde, Potter, Stanley, Sully, Gregory, Lyman, Tripp, and Hand counties.

Every time I travel our state, the best part of my day is just meeting people. I run into old friends at Culver’s or HyVee all the time.

The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) recently announced appointees who will serve on the South Dakota USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) state committee. Members of the FSA state committee are appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and are responsible for the oversight of farm programs and county committee operations, resolving program delivery appeals from the agriculture community, maintaining cooperative relations with industry stakeholders, keeping producers informed about FSA programs, and operating in a manner consistent with USDA equal opportunity and civil rights policies.

A short news story of May 7 with a dateline of Wh e e l e r, S. D., appeared in a number of 1906 South Dakota newspapers and reported that Mrs. John Sully had applied for a pension from the government. This application was based on Jack having served in the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War.

There’s a sign on a Platte, SD store: “No winter lasts forever, No spring skips its turn.” What a winter it has been. Multiple storms, tornadoes, floods, and high winds, but we are much better able to deal with it here than in southern California. Watch the price of produce in the store as a result of these storms. And it’s worldwide - major flooding and cyclones in Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. But the climate change deniers still say there is no global warming because of carbon emissions?

The key factors that shaped U. S. Indian policy and led to the fractured state of Indian land tenure in Indian Country today include the countless federal laws and legislative acts. The single most devastating federal policy was the General Allotment Act of 1887.

I talk a lot about the American Dream. Unfortunately, that’s unusual these days.