Opinion

Dear editor, In your 6/19 issue Eric P. Putnam referenced my candidature and made an astonishing number of false and misleading claims.

The Homestead Act of 1862 opened South Dakota to settlement and development by Americans, explicitly allowing women to own their own land. This opportunity was hard to pass up for some women. They packed up everything they could, joined a wagon train and headed west to the Great Plains to try to “prove up,” their land.

Nothing gives life quite like water. We rely on it every single day for nourishment, for cleanliness, and so much more.

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Commentary by Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds is inviting other senators to join him on a letter calling on Congress to include mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef in the 2024 Farm Bill. We would like everyone reading this message to call their two U.S. senators to urge them to cosign Sen. Rounds’ letter. And here’s why.

Steamboat service for passengers and freight began working its way up the Missouri in the 1820s, reached the mouth of the Yellowstone River in 1832, and the end of the line at Fort Benton, Montana, in 1860. Records indicate that the last steamboat docked at Fort Benton in 1890. The steamboat had been permanently superseded thereafter by the transcontinental railroad.

Farmers are some of the biggest gamblers I know. They go to a bank, borrow money to buy land – borrow more money to buy equipment.

During the thirtysix years and five months that Fort Randall stood on the west bank of the Missouri River, the establish ment and subsequent maintenance of that post was only possible by the aid of the steamboat, freight wagon, and stagecoach. Fort Randall was not the terminus or destination for any railroad which entered South Dakota.

Dear editor, What has happened to Politics today; as a young lad, I saw people have differences of opinion only to laugh and praise one another at the end of a disagreement. My granddad was a very staunch Democrat, but three of his close friends were Republicans, South Dakota Republican Senators- Karl E. Mundt, Francis Case and Nebraska Senator Romain Hruska. It was not uncommon for all of them to be together discussing State, National and World matters drinking a Stor or a Falstaff beer. I know this to be a fact, because as a young boy I personally got to meet these three Senators at my grandparents’ house. I also received a book on marketing from the library of Congress Signed by Karl E. Mundt, which I wish I still had.

This week I had the opportunity to spend time with a group of people who are involved with our Foster Care system and some of the young people who participate in it. Our Secretary of Social Services invited me to attend, as the day was facilitated by his wonderful staff. When I walked into the gym, I was suddenly stuck by the number of young people in the room who were 14-17 years old and were there to learn how to prepare to live independently. Some had foster families caring for them, but many are currently living in group homes in communities throughout the state. I could tell that many of them must have been thinking, “this lady has no idea who I am or even cares.” I saw crossed arms, hard faces, and even some anger.