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?

Accident Input?

We've heard about a bad accident a little north of the Alco corner near Sisseton this morning. Supposedly 4 teenagers hit a bridge abutment over the creek there at a high rate of speed.

Does anyone know more about this? Please share.

Our thoughts are with the families involved and hoping for the best.

Open Meetings or Business As Usual?

It seems our commissioners are taking more and more of our public county meetings into "executive session". Where does it stop?
Just what does constitute "public right to know"?

Our CC chairman was very public with saying the commissioners were discussing public business in executive session.
Who makes the call and how do we know it is legitimate?

Maybe it is time that the citizens of the county protest this behavior by complaining to the state? Maybe it is long past time that our commissioner meetings are
broadcast on local television so more of us can see just what does go on in those meetings? We certainly cannot read about them in our local newspaper as
we all know that what is printed is a far cry from what really happened don't we?

After all, our commissioners should have nothing to hide should they?

Roberts County Will Get Stimulus Check

The Watertown Public Opinion had a very good article in today's newspaper with a breakdown of who gets what of the
much-talked about stimulus money. The link to the newspaper is below:

http://www.thepublicopinion.com/

Roberts county will get a check of $155,185.00

The commissioners will have one year to obligate that money towards specific projects, which they will choose. We would hope they choose wisely.

We certainly hope this goes towards road/bridge repairs and not towards paving some little used road that goes to a commissioner's home, as was done in the past.

The way this money was allocated was not good for the smaller communities. Those cities with populations of under 5,000 will not get anything from this stimulus package....nothing at all. That is a pity since South Dakota is a very rural state, with the majority of our communities having less than 5,000 people.

We would like to thank the good people of the Watertown Opinion for their coverage of our state and our communities. We depend on you for news and you do not disappoint.

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"?

NEWSFLASH

We are hearing rumors about a fatality at the Viking Motel. Supposedly there was a fight with several people involved and someone was killed. We heard it happened a few days ago.

Does anybody know more? Is there truth to this?

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.....

Where Is The News In Newspaper?

There was an interesting letter to the editor in this week's Courier concerning the lack of news reporting. It seems the city liquor store was robbed a few months ago and nothing was printed about it.
That is pretty normal for our local newspaper. One would think since the courthouse is only across the street from the newspaper offices that readers would get news articles that are current, newsworthy and unbiased. Not so.
We figure that the Courier is forced to keep all current news off the printed pages to make sure there is enough room to print all of that useless gossip news. Do people actually read that stuff? Most newspapers quit that archaic printing about the time the telephone was invented didn't they?
There was an obscure mention buried in the city minutes regarding purchasing a better alarm system for the liquor store awhile back, but nothing about why the city needed it.....
The letter brought up some good points. Is news of this being kept quiet because the robbers are related to someone or was this not printed because the police don't want their records to show an unsolved case? Could it be that our "free press" is dependent on someone other than the editor to authorize what gets printed and what does not?

Tribal Concerns

It has been mentioned there was no place for all things Oyate.

Here is where you want to post your tribal concern comments. We have room for all RC citizens on this blog.

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?

Roberts County considering court reforms

The Watertown Public Opinion has an informative article today regarding changes offered by our new States Attorney that warrants reading. The link for this is below:

http://www.thepublicopinion.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/local_news/local06.txt

Some ideas that were brought up by Cameron were a Teen Court and changes in methods for DUI handling, among others. These seem to be worthy of more attention as they would most likely alleviate the overloaded RC court system and help the RC budget as well as being beneficial to those charged.

Good ideas Kerry! We need changes here in RC and it sounds like you have some good ones.

The story also gives a rundown on the newest Grab Game by Kay for that RC county dollar she can no longer call hers. We applaud those commissioners for standing firm on this issue.

Another good article by Joe O'Sullivan of course. It seems we get more RC news brought to us by the Opinion than our own local newspaper.

RC Road Maintenance or Lack Of

We are wondering what the RC road maintenance policy really is? We can't help but notice that most of the county roads have not been touched recently despite blizzards and snowstorms. Gravel or tar, the roads are getting very tough with little or no snow removal.....except that done by local farmers who were forced to move snow in order to get out. We have not seen a snowplow on our county road for well over a week now, almost 2.
No notices have been published nor signs put up stating policy changes that we are aware of. We would think the current upheaval in that department should not affect the roads and the responsibilities RC has committed to the county residents.
In fact, the roads have only been cleared a few times this winter season so far; so the argument of "lack of funds" shouldn't apply.
It is getting rather embarrassing when people from other areas mention the poor shape our RC roads are in.
The city of Sisseton has done an excellent job with snow removal this winter so far and is to be commended for keeping up with what winter has dealt us.
Perhaps they could give the RC Road Dept some advice?

CC New Leadership? HA!

The Watertown PO had an article yesterday that stated our CCs voted against giving themselves a pay raise. Do they think that will give them a good impression with the citizenry in RC? More like they knew if they did vote more money there would probably be some very vocal complaints around the county.
The article went on to say that Hull had been voted Chairman (we knew that would happen) and Navratil is to be Vice Chair.
I think they saved some low-end titles for those "new" guys though.
Enjoy yourselves commissioners, while it lasts.

They also hashed over the dilemma of appointing a deputy States Attorney and appointing a full time public defender. What is this? Didn't our old SA say there was no need for a public defender when she was in office? Suddenly we need a public defender and Kay just might happen to be available? and if that ploy doesn't work, there is always the NEED for a deputy SA isn't there....

In another publication there is quite a story about Richard Glynn returning to Sisseton, perhaps he would be available for one of those positions??

Control To The End....and beyond?

It seems our outgoing CC's are going to hang on to those reins of authority just as long as possible. Perhaps even longer.
The 2 newly elected Commissioners have been denied involvement in the hiring of the new RC Highway Superintendent position
(and we won't even go into that mess). The latest CC report would have you thinking there was actually an interview process for this position, when in fact, the new Super has already been picked by the Old Guard Boys. Hopefully he will do a good job in that capacity, even if he is related to one of our current CCs.
It would seem to me the new CCs are the ones who will be working with the new Super and should be involved in that decision. In any event, we are relieved (and ever hopeful) that this might be the last decision made by those outvoted commish's and RC will begin to heal from the oppression we have been under for too long.

2 States' Attorneys in Roberts County??

We are hearing that our "supposedly" outgoing States Attorney doesn't want to leave her county-paid offices to make room for the new duly-elected States Attorney.
We also hear that our county (which is rumored to be broke ) is actually dallying on evicting the old and bringing in the new.
What is more, the out-voted lady wants to continue working on those county cases she couldn't seem to finish while she was on the county payroll, thus continuing to draw
county funds while she mis-manages even longer.

Apparently your vote does not count in Roberts County. The voters thought they had elected a new States Attorney, one who would be fair, work for the people and do the job he was elected to do.
Instead it sounds like Roberts County (or the few commissioners who think they ARE the only authority in RC) intends to keep the old States Attorney on the county payroll while she continues to waste time and tax monies to occupy county financed offices that properly belong to the incoming States Attorney.

Are we so rich in RC that we can afford 2 States Attorneys and 2 county funded offices? Doesn't SD law specifically state term dates? Maybe it is time to accept that THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.

Happy Birthday Francis Crawford!

We would like to take a few minutes on this Christmas Eve Day to wish Francis Crawford a very happy 100th birthday. Francis was born on December 17, 1908 in Buffalo Lake SD. We recently celebrated with him at Tekakwitha Nursing Home where he now resides.

The picture shows Francis at his birthday party and the man in the photo with him is Harlan Hammer. They both served on the FSA boards together. Francis was a pillar of our community for a long time, serving on various boards. He helped many people along the way and we want to wish him all the best and a long happy future.

The Courier had a small notice, on the back page of course, identifying Francis as a woman. Just wanted to clarify that Francis Crawford is a man, a very tall man, and we are very proud to know him.

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.

Blizzard Bits

We have our first (and hopefully last) blizzard of the 08/09 winter season blasting here in Roberts County SD today. With most roads closed or blocked across the entire state almost, it might be a good time to sit down with a hot cup of your favorite beverage and let us know where you hang your hat. Maybe carry our sense of community just a little further.....
Here in RC I found a little over 6 inches of new snow has fallen (or blown into the gauge as the winds are howling!) A nasty day to be out and about.
A good site to check the snow amounts is CoCoRaHS This is a network of volunteers who report precipitation around the state so you can find local reports there that best reflect your area. Check it out!

Drainage & Ditching Issues

We have a rather backward system for drainage permits etc here in Roberts County and this has led to some
bitter disputes as well as some hard feelings and confusion, to say nothing about lawsuits.

FSA would tell you they must give permission for any and all drainage and our own County Commissioners say
they are the authority on that issue and must be approached before any drainage work is done. There is also
SCS wanting to be asked and don't forget the state water board, Fish & Wildlife and on and on it seems.

It all boils down to the CC handing out permits left and right to almost anybody who will buy them a meal, with
absolutely no foresight in their decisions and certainly no intelligence involved in any of it.

A few months ago there was a CC meeting that garnered newspaper coverage plus many residents to
protest a drainage plan. The Browns Valley mayor pleaded with the CC not to approve more drainage until
MN got some sort of flood diversion in place. Since that time I have lost count on the number of drainage
applications that have been approved by the CC, with absolutely no regard to our neighbors to the east, or any other direction for that matter.

We are posting this subject to see if we can sort out some of the issues and pin down the major problem areas.
Please add your input on this subject. Remember, if all the facts are out in the open, it leaves little room for
shady, hidden projects.