Seth Bullock - Myths Debunked

The late pioneer lawman Seth Bullock came alive for an hour or so the other night (3/4/08) – resuscitated in the graphic narratives of historian David Wolff. It was the latest in an outstanding series of speakers lined up by the Spearfish Historical Society.

Wolff, an Associate Professor of History at Black Hills State University, spoke to a full house of society members gathered at the Spearfish Senior Citizen’s Center.

Using a wide range of little-known facts about Bullock, Wolff focused on just the first year or two after Seth arrived in Deadwood from Montana in 1876. Bullock had a diversified and colorful career as a miner, politician, merchant, rancher, lawman, and forest supervisor. He was an interesting character, but his story has often been needlessly embellished and exaggerated over the years. Wolff debunked several myths, including Bullock’s role as a lawman (he never killed anyone) and his role in creating Belle Fourche (he never lived there). Read more about Seth Bullock as assembled by the Adams Museum and House in Deadwood, a marvelous resource for old west history.

Wolff was asked about the Seth Bullock ghost that supposedly haunts the Bullock Hotel in Deadwood.

“The real story of the hotel,” said Wolff, “is that Bullock had very little to do with it…he started building a hotel and got his name on the building, and he was done. So if there’s a ghost in there, he’s haunting from his hardware days or his sheriff days. Bullock never ran a hotel.”

Wolff is writing a book about Bullock, whom he described as “a man nobody really liked.” He pointed out that Bullock was appointed to his 9 ½ months as Sheriff and was never elected to anything. In fact, he was defeated twice in back-to-back elections for Sheriff of Deadwood.

After his talk, Wolff visited with many of the folks who had attended the meeting and discussed other aspects of Bullock’s life. You'll find a few photographs from this meeting included among other pictures taken at Spearfish Area Historical Society gatherings. Wolff expressed a willingness to return next year to talk about other facets of the legendary lawman's life.

Next month, writer Paul Higbee will share some of his research into the creation of Black Hills State University and one of its early presidents, Lafayette Cook. That presentation will be in the Senior Citizen’s Center at 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 1st – no fooling!

Kunerth: Legislature Has Work To Do!

Good friend Bill Kunerth of Belle Fourche is on a panel that regularly provides viewpoints to the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader on a variety of issues. It's part of what they call Dakota Comments. The Legislature has been studying whether to adopt a code of conduct. Do we need one, in light of Ted Klaudt's actions in the past year? And if we do, what ought to be included in the code? Here's Bill Kunerth's take on the topic.

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The state definitely needs a conduct code for legislators, and more. Some state codes spell out specific conduct prohibitions. e.g. improper sexual activities, alcohol and drug abuse. Others refer to general behavior.

I prefer the latter, such as in the Illinois code (I know, it’s a lousy state to use as an example) which cites “conduct unbecoming to a legislator or which constitutes a breach of the public trust.” Then, allow a bi-partisan ethics committee of legislators and/or an ethics commission of parties outside the legislature to define and enforce the rules.

The South Dakota Legislature does not have a permanent ethics committee but formed an ad hoc group to hear the case against Senator Dan Sutton. It was dissolved after the hearing.

In addition to rules on moral conduct, South Dakota needs to strengthen its accountability and openness laws. Our state ranked 50th in a 2002 Integrity Index of state governments which evaluated these areas. It was conducted by the Better Government Association and the Ford Center for Global Citizenship (check “BGA Integrity Index”) and judged freedom of information laws, whistle blower protection, campaign financing, gifts/honoraria, and conflicts of interest. Not much has changed since the study, except for a commission named by Attorney General Larry Long which is helping close some of the gaping loopholes in the state’s open records law.

South Dakota also received an F in a 2007 study on campaign disclosure by the UCLA Law School and Center for Government Studies. These reports make clear that the South Dakota Legislature has work to do in the areas of ethics, accountability and openness.

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Bill Kunerth is an Iowa State University Emeritus Professor of Journalism.

Lawrence County Next?

On a late winter day earlier this year, the temperature topped 83 degrees at Rapid City airport. It was just March 20th, but that temperature was high enough to land a place in the record books as the warmest March 20th on record – and the warmest day in March since records have been kept.

Now that might sound like a harbinger of “global warming.” As readers of this blog well know, I believe there is global warming, but I doubt we humans have as much impact on it as we might think. And it borders upon the ridiculous to think that we can have much impact on changing the climate.

Nonetheless, as it has done for millennia, climate change will provide us with an endless variety of irregular hot, cold, wet and dry weather. Unfortunately, if the past is any indication, severe weather will take a heavy toll.

While efforts to alter climate change may be laughable, there are many things we can and should do to be user-friendly to Mother Earth. And there are some common sense things we should be doing in anticipation of severe weather that dogs South Dakota constantly, ranging from drought and flooding to severe thunderstorms and blizzards.

StormReady is a nationwide preparedness program created to help community leaders and emergency managers strengthen local safety programs by providing guidelines embraced by the National Weather Service.

It’s encouraging to see our good friends in Butte County take steps to have their county designated a StormReady Community by the National Weather Service. Among other things, that means they have established a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center; they have multiple methods to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public; the have the capability to monitor local weather conditions; and they train severe weather spotters and hold emergency exercises.

Congratulations to Butte County Emergency Management Director Misty Peck and the other Butte county folks who’ve put together the resources to earn this designation. It’s no guarantee for avoiding disaster, but it reflects good planning and meaningful efforts to mitigate the impact of severe storms.

They’ve installed sirens to warn boaters and campers of storms approaching the Belle Fourche Reservoir, developed a safety plan for the Black Hills Roundup Grounds, and have nurtured a high level of participation in the Skywarn spotter program of the National Weather Service. I’m proud that many of my fellow amateur radio operators are active Skywarn spotters.
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On Tuesday, October 2, 2007, Susan Sanders (left) and Dave Montgomery (right) from the Rapid City office of the National Weather Service delivered to the courthouse in Belle Fourche the official designation of Butte County as a StormReady County. Emergency Management Director Misty Peck (center) receives the designation.

We hope other Black Hills counties won’t be far behind.

I Never Liked Belle Fourche

It’s a warm summer afternoon. Soft breezes move gently through the trees. And the sun arches toward the western horizon as day nears end.

We’re at Herrmann Park in Belle Fourche, enjoying yet another pleasant surprise about our adopted home state. Barry Pitt, one of the regions top entertainers, is treating hometown folks to some down home music. Good friend Bill Kunerth had tipped me off about the free show, sponsored by the Belle Fourche Arts Council, the F. L. Clarkson Family Foundation, and the First Western Greater Belle Fourche Foundation.

A transplant from Kentucky, Pitt can do it all. He sings. He plays a mean guitar. And he knows how to pull together all the elements necessary for a good performance, making it look easy. And he does that not only in Belle, where is presides over the Center of the Nation Concert Association, but in Deadwood casinos, on the radio, and in other venues throughout the Black Hills.

His versatility is put to good use in his local recording studio, turning out projects for a range of musicians and cowboy poets. He also serves as theatre manager for the Belle Fourche Area Community Center.

But it’s not just Barry Pitt that catches our fancy. Herrmann Park is a real treasure. A splendid spot to kick back, have a picnic, enjoy the great outdoors, and appreciate what life can be all about in God’s country.

For reasons I’ll not divulge here, I never much liked Belle Fourche. That is, until we moved to Spearfish from back east two years ago. First we took our granddaughters swimming at Belle’s impressive community center. Then we found the rodeo. Soon we were munching lunch at Mish Mash, followed occasionally by an ice cream cone at one of the neatest Dairy Queens anywhere. Then last fall, Karen and I started joining old timers for golf at the Belle Fourche Country Club. And now – as of Wednesday, July 11th – we’ve discovered Herrmann Park!

All of a sudden, Belle Fourche has become a “destination” spot for the Millers. If you’ve not been there lately, you’re missing a treat!

Oh, did I mention the neat coffee shops?