South Dakota is never short in 'This and That' topics

By Gordon Garnos

AT ISSUE: South Dakota newspapers are never short of subjects to write about, or at least they shouldn't be. Still, a lot of stories, while they are significant, don't catch the reader's eye as they should and are sifted to where dead stories go, wherever that is. In gleaning newspapers for the last couple of weeks while recovering from some surgery the following jumped out at me as possibilities for that dead file and they shouldn't have had to go that route. They are too important.

A RECENT REPORT by the South Dakota Board of Regents has probably shaken more than a few parents whose kids either have or are trying to get one of the state's Opportunity Scholarships. They amount to $5,000 if they keep their grades up and carry at least 15 credit hours per semester in one of South Dakota's higher education schools.

The staggering report, complete with numbers, revealed that 30 percent of the students who have received these scholarships have failed to meet the Legislature's requirements and have lost their scholarships.

Perhaps the most profound response to come out of this report was uttered by my friend, Regent Jim Hanson. He said, "Here we have the top kids in the state and they can't get the GPA (grade point average). That should bother us. We'd better start taking a look at whether we have too many kids not ready for college and finding out why that is."

Of course there are other extenuating reasons for some of that 30 percent losing their scholarships, but Hanson couldn't be more on the mark when he said it must be discovered why so many of our kids are just not ready for college.

THE MITCHELL CITY Council is now under the gun with its daily newspaper, the Daily Republic. It's the same issue still facing the Watertown City Council and the paper here. Executive sessions and what can and can't be discussed in them haunt city councils across the state. A state-wide committee has been set for some time to hear such cases, but early answers don't seem to be forthcoming.

Having been the editor of a daily newspaper and now sit on the Watertown City Council, I can understand both sides of what should be public information. What is needed is a better state law defining this thing called public information. South Dakota's open meeting laws need a lot of work and it seems the Legislature doesn't want to write a good law in this regard.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT that the closing of the state minimum security unit at Redfield is interesting enough, but a recent news report that with the closing, which will come at the end of the year, more than half of the 115 inmates will be released and the rest of them will be sent to similar units in the state.

Do we need to be concerned about the "more than half" will be released? We probably don't need to be concerned, but aware of what will be happening in the next several months. More than likely these people will be returning to their communities. For some time these people have been on work release at Redfield's South Dakota Developmental Center, formerly the Redfield State Hospital. What that "more than half" needs now will be a chance once they are back in those communities.

GENERALLY, THIS column does not dwell on the national political scene, but now with the primary election being history, the Chicago Tribune published an interesting piece listing five major differences between our two presidential candidates, McCain and Obama.

"1. McCain supports the Iraq War; Obama opposes it.
2. McCain opposes abortion rights; Obama favors abortion rights.
3.Obama favors talking with hostile regimes; McCain does not.
4. McCain would make the Bush tax cuts permanent; Obama would not.
5. Obama favors more restrictions on gun ownership than McCain."

Of course in this General Election campaign, both sides, I am sure, will be doing some adjusting to these differences, but in the meantime it will give our readers some help in determining whom to support and a basis of what will be discussed by the two candidates from now until November.

JUST A TIDBIT here, whatever happens, whoever moves into the White House come January, he will be left-handed. I found that interesting since I'm one, too. A little research here showed that 70 percent of our presidents have been left-handed while only 10 percent of the people in this great nation are. Could it be the water?....

P.S. I would like to urge my fellow Vets, your families and friends to attend this weekend's All American Salute to the Troops in Sioux Falls.

Friday's and Saturday's events will be at the W. H. Lyon Fairgrounds where there will be exhibits, demonstrations, vendors, etc. Sunday's event will be the 9:30 a.m. Warriors' Worship Service at the Veterans Memorial Park.

Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.