An Inconvenient Concept?

South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds has many fine attributes. And I like his position on most issues. But listening to him tip-toe around the topic of open records on South Dakota Public Radio yesterday, it was clear that he just doesn’t grasp the concept that our public records should be presumed to be “open records” for the public. His examples of how the Governor’s office would be impacted made it obvious that open records would be inconvenient…..at least for the Governor!

Perhaps he should read the letter about open records written to legislators by Bill Kunerth of Belle Fourche, a staunch advocate of open government.

There’s also a good column written by Chuck Baldwin of Vermillion that appears in the Rapid City Journal and the Black Hills Pioneer. Both the Baldwin and Kunerth pieces are worth a read!

Zombies in a handbasket

When I first scanned the column by Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal last weekend, I thought it was meant to be a bit of satire. After reading it more closely, I discovered it wasn’t satire – it was desperation!

“Teenage Zombies” looked like a lead for a bit of tongue-in-cheek, good-natured observations about how our youth are two steps ahead of us luddites in understanding the “new order” of technology. As I pored over the piece, it was clear that Mr. Moore was joining me and millions of other American parents and grandparents who fear for the next generation.

Fear that they’re becoming flabby in front of the tube.

Fear that their interest in the outside world has ebbed to near zero.

Fear that their perspective of reality is becoming distorted beyond belief.

Fear that there minds are – just as Moore posited – turning to silly putty.

I’d like to think there was a bit of jocularity in the article, and I truly believe there was. There must have been. What else can we do when we feel the earth falling out from under our feet?

There’s small solace in knowing that we’re joining the long ranks of elders from previous generations who thought their kids were going to hell in a handbasket.

The only difference is……we seem to be giving kids the handbaskets.

Teens in the ‘60s rebelled. They "dropped out," but at least they communed with nature. Now they vegetate in the field of lost Game Boy souls. In a final fatalistic rationalization, I find only minor comfort in knowing that those of us who grew up with the evils of television somehow survived.

…or did we? We’ll be back, right after this commercial message.

Zombies in a Handbasket

When I first scanned the column by Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal last weekend, I thought it was meant to be a bit of satire. “Teenage Zombies” looked like the lead for another tongue-in-cheek, good-natured commentary about how our young people are way ahead of us old fogies in understanding the “new order” of technology.

After reading the article more closely, I discovered it wasn’t satire – it was desperation! Mr. Moore was joining me and millions of other American parents and grandparents who fear for the next generation.

Fear that they’re becoming flabby in front of the tube.

Fear that their interest in the outside world has ebbed to near zero.

Fear that their perspective of reality is becoming distorted beyond belief.

Fear that their minds are – just as Moore posited – turning to silly putty.

I’d like to think there was a bit of humor in the article. There must have been. What else can one do when you feel the earth falling out from under your feet?

There’s small solace in knowing that we’re joining the long ranks of elders from previous generations who thought their kids were going to hell in a hand basket.

The only difference is…..we seem to be buying and giving kids the hand baskets.

Teens in the ‘60s rebelled. They even “dropped out,” but at least they communed with nature -- and each other. Now they vegetate with isolation in the field of lost Game Boy souls. In a final fatalistic rationalization, I find minor comfort in knowing that those of us who grew up with the evils of television somehow survived.

…or did we? We’ll be back, right after this commercial message.

Tracking the Media Giants

Media ownership remains a major concern. While the FCC marches ahead with plans to allow even further consolidation of bloated media companies, there is a move afoot in the U.S. Senate to create some restraints. With this in mind, we'll be tracking the ultimate outcome of S.2332, introduced last November. The latest report from GovTrack will be imbedded in our left-hand column under Media Ownership, and we encourage you to check out its status from time to time.

New Open Records Law -- Past Due

Students of history have little problem finding examples where citizens became complacent and ended up losing many of their freedoms.

Bit by bit, seemingly innocent and harmless encroachments occur – almost invisibly – until one wakes up and finds them gone and is either unwilling or unable to reacquire them.

And so it is with South Dakota’s open records laws. In these United States, most of them anyway, public records are presumed open and available for public scrutiny unless action is taken to specifically close them. In South Dakota, government agencies generally operate on the premise that they can close any records that they are not required by law to keep. And that premise is driven by a wrongheaded state law.

As journalists and many genealogists can tell you, it can be a difficult – if not impossible – task to obtain even the simplest of public documents. The South Dakota open records law is confusing to citizens and government employees alike.

According to an article by Bill Harlan in the Rapid City Journal (“Open-records bills coming to South Dakota”) there are several legislative bills in the works to change things, but they may be no less confusing. A Government Openness Task Force was set up to examine the issue but has not yet endorsed any specific plan.

We’ll be watching this issue closely and encouraging folks to do the same. More than that, as the proposals come forward, we need to aggressively support a strong bill, if we find one in the mix.

Change would be good.

How to Help Our State

Lorraine Collins of Spearfish is a free-lance journalist whose work is seen frequently in the Black Hills Pioneer newspaper. Here is her latest offering.

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I’ve been looking for a coat for quite a long time, now. I know just what I want. It’s the coat I had about 45 years ago. Hudson’s Bay, of “car coat” length, in soft wool, with a nice collar that could be turned up against the wind. Every time I see pictures of me in that coat I don’t spend any time looking at how young and slender I was then. I just stare at that coat. I’ve spent some considerable time this fall looking at coats in several cities and towns trying to find one like that, but I just haven’t found any. This makes me feel bad, not only for myself, but for the state of South Dakota.

When Governor Rounds gave his annual Budget Address to a joint session of the legislature last month, he explained that, “our income stream at state government is based on consumption”. We rely on sales tax in this state and people have not been spending as much money as they need to in order to keep the state coffers in good shape. He told the legislators to “go back home and tell people to buy.” I want him and our local representatives to know that I’ve really been trying. Actually, I did buy a new chair, and that was pretty expensive, but I’m probably not doing everything I could to help our state.

Realizing this, I’ve come up with an idea about how to help South Dakota get the income it needs even though I haven’t been able to buy as much as I should. It might help an economy based on consumerism when consumers are not doing their part.

My idea is the “alternative sales tax” like the “alternative minimum income tax” I’ve been hearing so much about. I think the idea of the “alternative minimum income tax” was that very rich people who can hire really good accountants could figure out how to avoid paying the federal income tax. So this alternative tax makes them pay at least something. It worked for a while. But the trouble is that it’s now causing a lot of hardship for people who are not multi-millionaires but still pay a bigger tax. Though this may have given the alternative tax idea a bad name, I would still like to consider an “alternative sales tax” for South Dakota.

Let’s say that you go into a store and look at something, maybe try it on, look at the color but you’re not sure, so you return it to a clerk. Then maybe you pick up something that Aunt Enid might like for her birthday, but decide against that, too. So in the end you buy nothing. As you leave, the clerk gives you a slip of paper that says you owe the State of South Dakota 4% of what you didn’t buy. I know this sounds outrageous, but think about it! You didn’t spend $200 for a coat you didn’t like, but you are still contributing to the state’s wellbeing! And if you take the $200 you didn’t spend and put it in a savings account, you could be reliving that old American idea of thrift, which used to be a virtue before it became our patriotic duty to go to the mall. But even though you’re selfishly saving money instead of spending it, you are still helping South Dakota.

I know this is tough, but we who live here have to do something to help our state. I know our state also depends on the Video Lottery but I don’t like to gamble. And even though the governor is disappointed by the fact that the cigarette tax is bringing in less money than anticipated, I really don’t want to take up smoking in order to pay a dollar a pack in tax to help out. But I don’t want to be accused of being a slacker. So unless the legislature can come up with some new concepts this year, I think they should at least consider my idea and help our state.

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Our thanks to Lorraine Collins for letting us use her material at Black Hills Monitor.