Lufkins Mystery

We want to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Michelle Lufkins. May you find peace amid the turmoil.

We've been hearing lots of rumors regarding her death, but very little facts.

We have been told by various sources that she was reported missing on November 20 and her body was found in a wooded area behind the Sisseton High School on the evening of December 1.

The city Police were instructed to keep the area under patrol until the following morning of December 2 while her body stayed there.

An autopsy was ordered and completed in Sioux Falls, but still no official statement has been issued. We have heard bits and pieces of those results from a very reliable source, but again...no official statement has been issued. The autopsy has been over and done for more than a week now, with no official statement. Our informant has said it was completed on December 3.

We have heard that she could not have been where she was found more than a day or 2....so where was she since November 20?? How did she get there?? Who else was involved??

Answers....the people want some answers. We welcome any input on this subject, but please keep it clean.

We have plenty of questions....will we get any answers??

RC Sheriff Office: A Family Connection?

Of course we all know that RC Sheriff Tasa has a family tie with CC Navratil (he is Roger's nephew). But did you know that 2 recently hired Deputies are cousins as well? One is part time and one is full time, but both are relatives.

Amazing how quiet those CCs are about the Tasa-Navratil-sheriff staff family connection isn't it? Especially when those same CCs howled and roared when Vince Owen hired someone with ties in the past.

Could it be that the current sheriff is easily directed by our CCs so of course they want more of the same in that department? Or could it be simply a matter of skin color and/or genetics?

Makes one wonder if RC adheres to the "Equal Opportunity" disclaimer doesn't it?

RC Sheriff on Vacation?

We hear that our new sheriff is on vacation. Tasa has been on-the-job now for how long? 5 weeks?

This is the first job we heard of that gives a day of vacation for every week worked beginning from the start.

We don't recall seeing that in the job description so it must have come along with the CC promises made to recruit that particular person for that particular job?

Nepotism in Roberts County??

Did anyone catch the SOTA this week? They have some interesting bits regarding the Opt Out and also one we've been hearing rumors of lately....namely that our new sheriff may be (is) related to one of the commissioners.

Do they call that Nepotism? Or is it Favoritism? Whatever "tism" it is, it is not good.
I would call it a big conflict of interest. Something to be explored further for sure.

Roger N. do you want to address this issue??? Or perhaps Mr. Tasa wants to tell us who his favorite Uncle is???

The story can be found in the SOTA by clicking HERE

Enough

I think it is long past time for everyone to act like adults here. I have stopped the ignorant juvenile from posting for now.
Maybe they will go out and get a life?

Don't lose focus or tempers please. We can discuss without cussing can't we? Now take a deep breath and start over.

Thank you.

New Sheriff Named

A new Sheriff has been appointed we hear. Let's all give Jay Tasa a welcome & a chance to show what he's got. We hope he can get in the saddle quickly as this county needs all the help and leadership it can get. We would like to hear from you Jay.
It isn't his fault that RC is saddled with a bunch of inept power hungry ignorant CC's who think the CC title is rightfully theirs forever. Well at least 3 out of 5 think so.
We know that you read this blog Hull. Why don't you explain how you came to this decision? What made Mr. Tasa get the position over the other applicants? Just what "qualifications" did he have that those others were lacking?
It looks like there is a little over a year for Mr. Tasa to "prove" himself and some of you CCs will be facing elections soon won't you. You have already "proved" yourselves and the voters are ready to VOTE.
It was good to hear from Orville Folk also. Thanks for all you have done for RC Orville. It sounds like you would have been a
good choice, but we are sure those CC feel they know better than everyone else don't we.

And you thought it couldn't get any worse??

Sheriff Applications

Things must be settling down as it has been a month since a post was made. That is a good thing. No comments is not. We must have SOMETHING to discuss?

How about just who are those who applied for the RC Sheriff position? Wouldn't it be nice if our commissioners would announce who applied for this position? And announce it before they choose someone so the voters could participate in the process by their input? Just a list of names and set a date where input could be given before they go thru the hiring process? Just maybe there are among us some who might know something that would be relevant, something that might not otherwise be brought up? Wouldn't it be nice if we, the voters, were INVOLVED in the hiring this time?

The way it was worded in this week's Courier that process may well not take place until next year. Sounds like they are leaving themselves a lot of "wiggle room" there.

Comments anyone??

Check Out The SOTA

Claudia has a very good letter to the Editor in this week's SOTA that makes some really good points regarding what really happened leading to Sheriff Owen's resignation versus what we were told happened.......

It is a "must read" so be sure to check it out! Just click the colored SOTA name in this post to read it.

Thanks to Claudia and of course to Chuck for telling it like it is....

Does anybody see a pattern here?

Does anybody see a pattern here?

In 2006 Moen was voted out as sheriff and Gaikowski elected. Gaikowski was to have begun in January 2007, but the CC decided to create a "new" position suddenly. This "new position" entailed them appointing McClelland
and giving him complete authority over Gaikowski, leaving nothing for the duly elected sheriff to do. Of course Gaikowski resigned (something the CCs were hoping would happen all along). Due to the many complaints from voters over this the CC appointed another Native American, Owen, who was reelected by the voters. Owen endured many months of harassment by the CCs with their vendetta against anyone with any ties to the Oyate.
Now Owen has resigned, leaving the county vulnerable again to the idiotic whims of a few who imagine themselves invincible and all powerful.

This pretty much boils down to white supremacy and a total discriminatory attitude by some of the ccs. They don't want a Native in a position of any sort of power, plain and simple....even if that person was duly elected by the people.

Have we had enough yet? Are we going to allow even more damage done to our county by those who took an oath to work for us rather than against us? The damage done by our present commissioners will live long after we get rid of them so the sooner we get them OUT the sooner we can begin the healing process. Roger and Tim are okay, but the others are not.

How much more of this behavior will it take for the PEOPLE to take back our county??? We need to stand up and be counted and we need to do it NOW!!

Sheriff Owen is OUT!

We hear from a good source that yesterday the CC held a special meeting during which they gave Vince $20,000 and got him to resign.
The Buzz is that the only application comes from Deputy Travis Grajczyk at this time.
We also hear that Chad Ward tried to resign as well, but the CC tabled his request.
The lack of support from the CC, running a large county department without sufficient manpower and the general harassment from those "Good Ole Boys" were the main reasons it was said.
All we can say at this time is "What were they thinking" or perhaps better yet: "Were they thinking at all?"

Please Vince, if you are reading this.....please reconsider!!

A Little Bit Of This 'n That

911:

We hear that it has been proven that 911 would be cheaper to keep it here in RC so LEAVE IT BE BOBBY! The equipment we already have in place will be good enough for several more years and a substantial savings would be made by keeping 911 in local hands. That news ought to free up some of Mr. Horton's time so he won't need to be running all over digging up bones anymore. Perhaps he can begin by earning his paycheck??

JAIL ISSUES:

Poor Horton keeps running all over trying to cut dispatchers down in the jail. Why don't you give it up Bobby? First you used the excuse of 911 and not needing the dispatchers. Then you made a fool out of the entire county by running to neighboring counties to see what their budgets, manpower hours and staffing needs were....but you forgot you were comparing apples to oranges. Now you are running to Pierre trying to meet with state branches to preach your story, only to find nobody will meet with you. Give it up Horton. Even you should see that this is out of your league.

It always seems to come back to the word HORTON. Wherever there is trouble or argument, you will find Horton. Besides making RC look foolish, yourself look ignorant, you are also throwing up stupidity at Hull as well. People think RC must have some pretty slow CCs and a Chair CC who can't even control his own board's idiotic public behavior. It must be a regular circus at the courthouse on Tuesdays.....at least that is what every single county in the entire area is thinking, and they are probably correct.....

911 Follow Up

Our Sheriff, Vince Owen, has made some very good points on this subject *see the previous post* so we would like to "revisit" this subject a little more.

Vince could you please post exactly what issues need to be resolved on 911 as you mentioned in your prior comment? Are these issues that we need to know concerning 911?

Speaking from a citizen's view on this, we understand that RC would need equipment to handle the incoming/outgoing calls plus people to do that, certainly more training involved if RC was to take all incoming 911 calls....but is there more to 911 than what we citizens see? What are the cost ratios as to having the needed equipment/operators compared to costs of paying another county to take the initial calls and notify us?

We've had charges on our telephone bill for more years than I care to recall earmarked for the 911 system, but so far all we have seen from those charges are some road signs (put up when the county was back against the deadline I might add). Most rural residents have gotten a mouthful for a new address and that's about it so far.

Vince also suggested that everyone contact your CC and let them know that you want this very important issue decided by THE PEOPLE and not a few who have shown they don't give a hoot about what is best for Roberts County. Contact your area commissioner (who works for you no matter what he thinks) or go to a county meeting and voice your opinion please!

A big THANKS to Vince for the input on this and kudos to you Vince for yet another productive income-producing month!!

Don't Mess With 911

It seems that our small-minded CC's are trying to use the 911 system to undermine our sheriff. DON'T EVEN THINK OF THIS!!
We cannot stress enough how very critical 911 is and how keeping it local is to our advantage in so many ways.

Having one local call center to accept incoming 911 calls keeps mistakes to a minimum, has much less chance for error when only
one phone call is needed rather than one to call and another to relay that information. A local 911 call center also has the big
advantage of quicker response time, more knowledge of area where the help is needed as well as being less costly.

There really is no advantage to having another county receive the calls, none. In fact it would drive costs up, result in more
mistakes and slower response time. It would not reduce jail staff as dispatchers would still be needed to answer 911 calls whether
coming from another call center or coming directly from those in need of help.

We have been charged a fee for quite some time already for this service so our county ought to be ready to begin this service
without even more monies. What has been done with those monies already received CC? So far the only results we have seen
are those the county has been forced by law to follow, such as the rural addressing signs etc.

Chuck has an excellent article in today's SOTA detailing the jail's county contributions to date. Just click the

SOTA link

It is a pity how much 5 commissioners can mess up a county with their "get-even" attitude. Give us a break! Leave our sheriff
and jail staff alone and let them do the fine job they have been doing. Maybe with the deposits from the jail that Vince & Chad have been
giving to the county we can accomplish this 911 transition without even more money??

Is BIG BROTHER Watching You??

We hear that one of our CCs is attempting to dig up dirt where none exists. It is well known that Horton has been going around to other counties Sheriff departments trying to get comparisons as to costs and/or operating procedures to RCs (and we all know you cannot compare apples to oranges don't we). All he has accomplished so far is to make Roberts County the laughingstock of the entire region.

So now he has branched out.

He was seen sitting at the landfill recently watching activities. Finding nothing worthwhile there he proceeded to watch the 24/7 program at the jail.....which is a state program with no county monies involved. Frustrated with that activity he sat and watched the dispatcher's office all night.

Who will be next? What are the CCs looking for? Could the CC be thinking of cutting our Sheriff's staff when it is already down below the bare minimum already? Is Horton drawing overtime/night shift wages for his nocturnal detective shifts? We will be watching closely to see who the CC throw mud at next and how much of it actually sticks and how much splashes back at them.......we do know that both Zempel and George do not support these underhanded activities. We also know how to rid our county of those CCs who actually encourage this sick behavior don't we?

Jail Revenue & More Questions

Jail Revenue to County:

$44,767 to general county fund from different agencies, work release, telephone cards

$14,281 to general county fund from grant written by Chad and Vince

$28,458 amount county saved by not sending juveniles to other facilities

That is a lot of money to be given back to county funds. Especially when you never hear the CC say anything about it. All you hear them talk about is how broke the county is? Where are the county records? They are considered public now so should be truly public....where are they ? And what do those records say?

More Questions.....

Dept of Labor ordered county to pay overdue overtime hours to dispatchers, jailers & deputies. County wrote checks with no hours or amounts paid. Could this be because county sent a different set of figures to the state than what was supposed to be repaid? Why were employees made to sign forms that were supposed to be for correct names and addresses but were really releases for county so no further action would be taken against county for unpaid hours? Why didn't Auditor inform those signers of what they were signing? Why did Auditors office only allow the employees to see the line to sign, nothing more? Does the Auditor or CC really think this will fly? Do they realize how easily it will be to check the true figures and see who is really telling the truth and who is not?

Incident At County Jail

There has been mention of an incident at the new county jail where a prisoner managed to damage an overhead sprinkler to the extent that it allowed water to get into the booking area. You will find this story on KSFY TV website for one.
Cameron was quoted as saying he had been told a prisoner threw a shoe and another, unnamed source was quoted as saying the prisoner had used their hands to do the damage.
Commissioner Hull was overheard to have said that he knew this would happen, that he didn't want that type sprinkler system installed in the first place....never mind that this breakaway system was designed especially for jails and recommended by Pierre.
My questions would be: Why did the prisoner have access to shoes in a cell and just who is this anonymous, unnamed "source"?

CC Power Play

For those who don't read the local newspaper, there is a small item in the latest CC report regarding the power struggle between the CCs and the Sheriff over the jail maintenance man.
The "new guys" voted to place him where he belongs, under the direct supervision of our Sheriff, while the "old school" voted to keep him under Dawn's supervision aka commissioners. Guess what? Hull cast the tie-breaking vote to keep this guy under Dawn's thumb. It probably would not even have gotten voted on except that George (seconded by Zempel) made a motion to right a wrong.
It would seem that Roberts County is "business as usual" with the county commissioners. Nothing has been changed with a majority being made up of the same old gang.
We need to think about upcoming elections, who will replace those 3 and maybe revive that recall petition that was discussed earlier.....

Seven Commissioners??

Remember when it was said that RC had 6 Commissioners? It sounds like we have another one, making a total of 7 now. It has been reported that 2 wanna-be CCers are attempting to dictate who gets off probation and when in the Sheriff Dept and one of them is insisting on being in on the CC decisions. It would seem this is all a sham so an informer can be kept running between the jail and the courthouse.
I am sure that our Sheriff has nothing to hide so why don't those 2 Counterfeit Commissioners just get back to doing the work they were hired to do? It might not be too early to start thinking of the next elections coming up and who needs to go and who can replace them?

Horton Goes Fishing

The Sota has an editorial this week about CC Horton's latest fishing expedition that you will want to check out.
Just click the SOTA link to read all about Bobby's latest exploits .

Thanks to Chuck for keeping us informed and current on those underhanded CC's.

Town Hall Invitation

We would like to extend an open invitation to ALL Roberts County elected officials to step up and introduce yourselves please.
This is open to those who recently got elected to position, those who were named to one and those who have had the position awhile.

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about you, your title or position, your intended changes or completed changes....what makes you "tick"?

We hope to hear from Tribal officials as well as County officials so we can get to know you a little better and maybe we can truly make this a united community , where we can all work together, with harmony at the forefront.