All is well with the world

Since retiring to the beautiful northern Black Hills region of South Dakota, we’ve become acquainted with many other retirees. Among these new-found friends are Roger and Fran Whorton, who grew up near Waterloo, Iowa, and were wed in 1966.

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Roger served a stint in the Marine Corps and ended up as a career officer in the U.S. Coast Guard as a pilot. He served in a variety of interesting assignments, including one as Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Air Station at Barber's Point in Hawaii. They have three grown children. Roger retired as a Captain in 2002, and he and Fran moved to Spearfish.

In the few years that we’ve known them, the Whortons have had their world altered considerably, due to a life-changing health condition. Roger has reflected upon their experience, and he's been kind enough share it with the Black Hills Journal. That's Fran and Roger in the photo, enjoying their grandchildren before learning about Roger's condition.

In the first of three installments over the next few days, Roger Whorton writes...

A HEART'S STORY

(Part 1)

by Roger Whorton

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Mid-April of this year, 2008, I appeared to be a picture of health at 61 years old. Trim and active, I had never smoked, carefully watched my diet, and had exercised all my life. A month later, I had open-heart surgery and a quadruple Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG).

How did things change so rapidly? (Read more...)

KOTA newsman dies of cancer

A long-time and well-known broadcaster in the Black Hills region has passed away. 74-year-old Larry Dirksen was a native Iowan who found his way first to Pierre (KCCR), Sioux Falls (KSOO) and eventually to Rapid City (KOTA). He died from cancer.

In addition to his radio experience, he had served as Public Information Director for the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. According to his obituary, he had also performed in the Passion Play at Spearfish in years past.

I was not acquainted with Larry Dirksen, but I knew him from his newscasts on KOTA Radio, and it was always clear that he was a professional.

KOTA Radio has posted a few pictures of Larry on their website, and his obituary is also on-line.

Looking for a decent respect...

We're pleased to provide another interesting perspective offered by Spearfish writer Lorraine Collins...

A few years ago about this time I happened to tune in to the end of a patriotic telecast celebrating our Independence Day and I heard a fellow reciting the Declaration of Independence. I hadn’t read the Declaration for a few years, so I listened with interest. I was particularly struck by a phrase in the first sentence. That phrase is “a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind.”

This is what the declarers of independence said they had, and it’s why they felt compelled to explain their grievances and tell the world why they were taking this action, rather than just starting to shoot at Redcoats. When you have a decent respect for the opinions of mankind, you must feel that what you are doing is right and honorable and just, that your actions are reasonable and measured, and that history will agree.

The signers of the Declaration had several complaints about King George, in all I think about 27, and they listed them. Some dealt with the fact that the King did not respect the legislature, did not consult, did not enable legislatures in the colonies to meet and pass laws. One complained that the King was preventing the immigration and naturalization of people because he didn’t want the colonies to become too populated. It’s kind of hard to believe today, eh?

Some of the most interesting complaints to me, today, involve the King’s refusal to establish an independent judiciary. “He had made Judges dependent on his will alone for the Tenure of their Offices.” So now I can understand why appointments to the federal bench have to be confirmed by the Senate, and why our Constitution is adamant about the separation of powers. Anybody who thinks judges should do whatever the president wants, or should not tell Congress when it has passed an unconstitutional law should just read the slender document that is our Declaration of Independence.

Given the continuing controversy about our current detaining of prisoners in Guantanamo for many years without trial I was struck by the Declaration’s complaint that King George deprived people of the benefits of trial by jury and that he transported people “beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.” That’s an interesting thing about reading our historic documents. Quite often they sound like today’s headlines.

Many of us can quote the famous lines of the Declaration about all men being created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are proud of those lines, and we believe in them even though we know some signers of the Declaration were slave-holders, and that in any case nobody thought women had those rights. And today we still can’t agree on just what “the pursuit of happiness” should include. Gay marriage?

Those brave fellows who signed the Declaration, pledging their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, also said they did not hate the British people but held them “enemies in war, in peace, friends.” In my lifetime our country has had many enemies who are now our friends. So I sometimes wonder about the hysterical pronouncements of some pundits and politicians who act as though anyone with whom we disagree today will be our enemy forever, the embodiment of evil.

There are many nations today in which people are slaughtered, tortured, driven from their homes, deprived of life and liberty. The national leaders who do this obviously do not worry about the opinion of mankind. Our Declaration holds us to a higher standard. I hope we can always meet it.

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Lorraine Collins is a writer who lives in Spearfish. She can be contacted at collins1@rushmore.com

A great Mississippian

Grey Ferris has died. I didn’t learn about it until yesterday, when I was surfing the internet and came across his obituary. He was only 62 years old – a victim of cancer – and passed away June 13, 2008, at his home near Vicksburg, Mississippi.
But you need to know more about Grey Ferris. He was one of the most thoughtful and genuinely respectful people I’ve known. I first met Grey after moving to Mississippi in 1993 to head the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (ETV). Grey had just been elected to a four-year term in the Mississippi State Senate from Warren and Issaquena counties.

Our ETV budget was shaped largely by the House and Senate Education Committees. In the House, that was a committee led by the fiery Billy McCoy of Rienzi, one of the hardest-working legislators I’ve ever known. He later was tapped as Speaker of the House – a post he still holds.

In the Senate, the Education Committee was chaired by the soon-to-be Governor Ronnie Musgrove. The Vice-Chairman was a quiet and rather studious Grey Ferris from Vicksburg. During his second term in office, Senator Ferris would serve as Chairman.

Grey’s grandfather, E. B. Ferris, was credited with founding Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Stations, and in 1918 he bought the land east of Vicksburg that became known as “Ferris Farm.” In 1935, his son, Bill, graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson and was soon back on the farm with his wife, Shelby, raising their five children – one of whom was Grey.

After high school in Mississippi and college at Tulane, where he was president of the student body, Grey practiced law for a while, but then returned to the farm. Reportedly, a move to consolidate county school districts rekindled his interest in government and public service. He served six years on the local consolidated school board and then ran for the legislature. It was shortly after that when I met Grey Ferris.

Politics anywhere can be dirty and deceitful, and it’s easy to become disenchanted with government officials. I was fortunate to cross paths with at least two politicians who made me realize that politics need not be bad. That public service is a public trust. And that there are some honest and honorable people who serve. For me, one such person was U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. The other was Mississippi State Senator Grey Ferris.

As a newcomer to Mississippi government – worse, as a “Yankee” – I found there were a few folks who would take advantage of my northern ways. For the most part, however, I found folks agreeable – even helpful – as I stumbled through the legislative process on behalf of public radio and television. No one was more helpful than Grey Ferris. He was adept at resolving conflicts and bringing people together to solve problems. When you visited with Grey, it was as if the rest of the world had been silenced, and he was listening only to you. And he was.

Of course, public broadcasting was a very small part of the over-all education budget, and Grey’s focus was on the big picture – trying to improve the quality of life in Mississippi through public education. He and Senator Hob Bryan (who made even Billy McCoy pale by comparison when considering “colorful” and “fiery” legislators) were among the key folks who pushed through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program in the late 1990s. Understandably, it was one of Grey’s proudest moments.

As an aside, I once had the privilege of sitting at a banquet table with Grey and his brother Bill, also a talented individual (and later head of the National Endowment for the Humanities), and their mother, Shelby Flowers Ferris. It was a rare treat watching the two siblings – both achievers – good-naturedly spar verbally under the watchful and loving eye of their mother.

In 1999, Senator Grey Ferris decided to run for lieutenant-governor. A Democrat, he was given a good shot at winning the post. However, when his 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, died after battling an eating disorder and depression, Grey, understandably, didn’t seem to have his heart in the race. He lost his bid for lieutenant-governor and left the Mississippi Senate at the end of his term.
He returned to Ferris Farm, and news accounts attributed to his wife Jann, indicate that he loved being back on the home place -- 6,000 acres of converted cropland running some 1,000 cows. Much of the farm is bottomland hardwood along the Big Black River. It boasts some historic Native American mounds and was also a site of passage by General Grant’s army during the siege of Vicksburg in the Civil War.

And then, a few short years after leaving Jackson to focus on his family and Ferris Farm, cancer struck. His valiant struggle – surrounded by loving family and friends – is poignantly detailed on the website Ferris Farm.

I was surprised to learn that Grey was only 62 when he died. To the many of us who leaned on him for advice and direction – his quiet wisdom and strength of character made him seem older than his years.

Perhaps it’s human nature. Perhaps it’s just the rush of life, but most of us don’t take the time to reach out while we can to communicate with those who’ve significantly touched our lives. In the seven years since leaving Jackson, I’ve often thought about the warmth Karen and I found in Mississippi. So many close personal friends – many of whom we still see occasionally. But too many others – many folks with whom we worked and did business, like Grey Ferris, fade too soon from our lives.

Grey Ferris made Mississippi – and this earth – a better place. God bless Grey and his family.

A Sirius Mistake

The Federal Communications Commission approved the XM-Sirius merger last Friday (7/25), bringing to an end a 16-month battle over whether or not such a move would be in the public interest.

South Dakotan Jonathan Adelstein was one of the dissenting Commissioners in the 3-2 decision, hailed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin as a move that will give consumers greater choice and greater flexibility.

Sirius and XM are the only satellite radio companies, and they concede that the $3.5 billion "merger" -- really a buyout of XM by Sirius -- will save them lots of money.

For the 18-million of us who are satellite radio subscribers, don't look for a rate reduction any time soon. The deal would freeze basic subscription increases, but you can rest assured the new company will find ways to get around that inconvenience. There were some compromises, but nothing that keeps it from falling into the category of a really bad public policy decision by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC can spell m-o-n-o-p-o-l-y, but they don't understand its meaning.

For more background on this deal, read these articles from Broadcasting & Cable and the New York Times.

The FCC makes a Sirius mistake

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The Federal Communications Commission approved the XM-Sirius merger last Friday (7/25), bringing to an end a 16-month battle over whether or not such a move would be in the public interest.

South Dakotan Jonathan Adelstein was one of the dissenting Commissioners in the 3-2 decision, hailed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin as a move that will give consumers greater choice and greater flexibility.

Sirius and XM are the only satellite radio companies, and they concede that the $3.5 billion "merger" -- really a buyout of XM by Sirius -- will save them lots of money.

For the 18-million of us who are satellite radio subscribers, don't look for a rate reduction any time soon. The deal would freeze basic subscription increases, but you can rest assured the new company will find ways to get around that inconvenience. There were some compromises, but nothing that keeps it from falling into the category of a really bad public policy decision by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC can spell m-o-n-o-p-o-l-y, but they don't understand its meaning.

For more background on this deal, read these articles from Broadcasting & Cable and the New York Times.

On vacation?

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In a phone conversation with my son the other day, he wondered if I were on vacation. He said he'd noticed that I wasn't posting much on Black Hills Monitor of late.

Oh, to be on vacation! The past few weeks have been the busiest since this poor soul found the retirement road out of Hershey, Pennsylvania back to the Midwest.

It seems that some months ago, in a weaker moment, I volunteered some time to another interest of mine -- family research. My Miller ancestors were Germans from Russia who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century. Since my late teens, I've always had a keen interest in them, and I eventually pursued genealogy as a way of finding out more. That was when I became familiar with the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), based in Lincoln, Nebraska.

I was an occasional practicing genealogist while still holding an 8-5 job. But that changed when I retired, and I found myself more immersed in it than ever. Nonetheless, I continued to pursue bicycling, digital photography -- even read a good book. Then, I agreed to co-chair the Publicity Committee for the AHSGR's 2008 joint convention with another group -- the Germans from Russia Heritage Society.

These two organization come together in just another week or so for their International Convention of Germans from Russia. And for these past many weeks, I've been immersed in news releases, phone calls, e-mails and blogging for the German-Russians.

My chores will be done in a couple of weeks, and I plan to resume postings to Black Hills Monitor on a regular and more frequent basis. In the meantime, just in case you have a hankerin' to know more about these German-Russian folks, visit our convention blog at International Convention.

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Oh, by the way, I don't fish - - - -

Nice graphics, but...

We sometimes pick up a copy of USA Today while traveling; otherwise, we seldom read it because most of its stories lack the depth necessary to gain an understanding of the topics covered. That’s okay if they're reporting on the misadventures of Paris Hilton – but a disaster when covering suicides in the military (USA Today, 5/30-6/1, 2008).

Even Pentagon consultants appear to provide data that supports the headline, "Army tallies record number of suicides among soldiers."

Near the end of Gregg Zoroya’s story lie the naked facts that “one in four of the victims had never deployed overseas” and that less than one-third of the 115 Army suicides in 2007 were personnel stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Nonetheless, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash) cites the statistics as “a tragic reminder that repeated deployments …are taking a heavy toll.”

Contrast that statement with the fact – also buried near the end of the article – that the Army suicide rate is lower than among civilians, “when adjusted for age and gender similar to military demographics.”

Loss of life is a very sad event. Suicides are more so. It is unfortunate that the USA Today format doesn’t allow for greater depth on covering such sobering subjects. This story suggests conclusions that on closer scrutiny appear misguided, and it raises even more questions – questions not likely to be addressed any time soon by USA Today.

Have military suicides tracked civilian suicides? What are the longer term trends? How do we reconcile “multiple combat deployments” as a key factor, when the highest percentage of victims have never deployed overseas?

USA Today is an economic success story, with circulation second to none. Perhaps that’s because its glitzy graphics and superficial stories satisfy a citizenry seeking entertainment and superficiality rather then substance. On-the-move citizens apparently find the publication meets their needs. Some of us, however, believe that USA Today nurtures only our shortened attention spans and desire for colorful graphics. It’s like overdosing on sweets and snack foods.

Perhaps it’s time to order a full healthy meal and renew our subscriptions to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Gaining an understanding of complex issues is important, if we are to seriously address the issues facing our country.

Information and Ignorance

The following post was written by Lorraine Collins, a free-lance writer from Spearfish. We're always delighted to include her pieces in the Black Hills Monitor.
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When I was in my first semester as a college freshman, I took a psychology course in which, for some reason, we were given a questionnaire about our opinion of birth control. I hadn’t thought much about that and I really didn’t believe I had an opinion. However, one question was, “Should people who want birth control information have access to it?” I said yes. I was surprised when, according to the way the questionnaire was scored, this put me in the “in favor of birth control” bracket. I protested, saying, “I am in favor of information. That’s all I’m in favor of. Just information.”

Naively, I believed information was good and ignorance was bad. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would be in favor of restricting information. I had never heard of the Comstock Act of 1873 that prohibited using the U.S. Mail to provide birth control devices or information. I also didn’t realize that many states had laws banning birth control. In a subsequently famous case, Griswold vs. Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965 ruled against a law that let police enter a married couple’s bedroom to search for contraceptives. Most states began repealing whatever laws they had about birth control in the 1950’s or 1960’s but key provisions of the Comstock Act weren’t repealed by Congress until 1977.

I’ve been thinking about all this because of the recent report that 46% of South Dakota high school students have had sexual intercourse. They are doing this despite our efforts to promote abstinence through “abstinence only” education. This has caused a lot of comment lately, and a lot of concern. The state epidemiologist, Lon Kightliner, noting that nearly 17% of teenage girls in South Dakota have had at least four sexual partners, is alarmed about the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

I suppose there are several reasons why people object to sex education in the public school. Some think a discussion of such matters should be left to parents in their home. Some may feel that sex education will interfere with the doctrines of their church. Because morality is involved in sexual conduct, teaching about sex is a little different than teaching math or English. The teaching of codes of conduct has often been left to churches and parents and their private organizations. But “character education” has recently become a part of the public school curriculum, so apparently we now want schools to help us with developing ethics and moral standards in our children.

Including “character education” in all aspects of school life can certainly be a good idea, but what about offering information, too? It is a fact that a substantial number of children are engaging in sexual activity, whether we like it or not. A startling statistic widely reported in the press is that, nationwide, at least one in four American girls has a sexually transmitted disease. We cannot ignore such a statistic. Even when our kids do things we don’t want them to do, they still need our protection. They should know not only what the unintended consequences of sexual activity can be, but what their obligations are in preventing them. They should know that it is immoral and unethical to be irresponsible in any activity, including this one. We should not give children the excuse of ignorance. After all these years, I still believe that information is good and ignorance is bad.

Serving our country is a public service

It would be wonderful if there were no conflict in our world – no need for a military. But history has taught us otherwise, and we would do well to pay heed to its continuing lessons.

I was impressed last week by an editorial piece written by William McGurn in Atchison, Kansas for the Wall Street Journal. The commencement speaker at Atchison’s Benedictine College, McGurn contrasted the small heartland school with Harvard University, which has not allowed ROTC on campus since it “was booted off” during the Vietnam War. He reflected upon the nurturing pride that Benedictine showed its ROTC graduates.

McGurn noted that opponents of the Iraq war frequently express the view that they oppose the administration’s policy – not the troops. In fact, most public sentiment overwhelmingly supports the troops. He told of how tiny Benedictine College has embraced its ROTC graduates, recognizing that these young people may soon be put in harm’s way to defend the liberties we Americans enjoy. It was his opinion that Harvard would do well to emulate Benedictine.

McGurn’s observation that the military is one of our nation’s “most open and diverse institutions” rang true. Those of us who have served know all too well that the military is far from perfect. Like all huge organizations, it often succumbs to stupidity. Notwithstanding the views of those who focus upon the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding homosexuals (http://www.bertrandrussell.blogspot.com/), the United States military remains near the top of those organizations where you’ll find a modicum of openness and diversity.

Offering ROTC on campus is a good thing. I still subscribe to the notion that our country would do well to require that all able-bodied young people be required to perform two or three years of public service for their country. It might be the Peace Corps, a CCC-type domestic program, or the military. They – and our country – would be the beneficiaries of such a plan.

In the meantime, Harvard should go back to school and study the wisdom of embracing ROTC students on its campus.