The tribes can legally grow and sell marijuana;
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council this year rejected a proposal to allow marijuana on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Law and Order Committee Chairwoman Ellen Fills the Pipe says marijuana is a drug, and her gut feeling is that the tribe won’t allow its cultivation.
Maybe next time Woster needs to interview an official with the last name ‘Kills the Pipe’ instead.
While I found the campaign partially clever, I guess I would not have used that particular phrasing. But this is not the first time a government agency has come up with a silly motto. Remember the Downtown parking motto, Look for the Gold ‘P’? And who can forget Kmart’s “I just shipped my pants.”
I challenge my readers to come up with ‘other’ phrases in the comment section that don’t refer to bodily fluids, poop or masturbating. I don’t think it should be too hard.
What I find troubling though is that $100K of tax money was spent on an ad campaign that won’t even be launched. Does that mean we will get a refund? Or will Lawrence and Schiller do a new campaign at no cost?
As you remember, L & S is famously known for getting No-Bid contracts with the state for marketing campaigns, millions of dollars of them. I also find it ironic that one of the founders of the company, Craig Lawrence, a self admitted ultra conservative and chair of the SD Republican party wouldn’t have a little pull in getting L & S to come up with better ad campaigns that don’t reference masturbating, peeing or pooping your pants.
Talk about getting caught with your pants down, but not behind the wheel of course.
The ‘official’ L & L logo from the Twitters on the Internets, interesting reverse drop shadow.
Mayor Mike Huether’s December Shut Up and Listen Session for the public will be held at the Roll’n Pin Bakery & Café on Saturday, December 13, 2014, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Roll’n Pin is located at 3015 West Russell Street.
“The Listening and Learning Sessions are one of my favorite things to do as your Mayor,†says Mayor Mike Huether. “Please join me on Saturday for great conversation!â€
Nan Baker, the on again, off again, on again, off again arts director
A brief history for those who may not be aware of the history of this organization, once called the Sioux Empire Arts Council.
It actually ran very well out of the Horse Barn for several years, it was an alternative for visual artists, musicians, poets and actors who couldn’t or wouldn’t participate in activities at the Washington Pavilion.
So when the Pavilion was planning to move the offices of other local arts orgs to their building, they conveniently placed the (former) VAC director, David Merhib, on the board of the SE Arts Council, ironically a Brookings resident, who now runs the Brookings Chamber of Commerce.
It was a planned power grab. Quickly Mr. Merhib convinced the closure of the Horse Barn (a storage shed now) and moved the offices to the Pavilion, with a name change, Sioux Falls Arts Council, then Nan Baker steps in (Nan is part of the Baker family, First National Bank). She is well connected with the monied elite in Sioux Falls, to say the least.
Nan ran the organization to begin with, than found herself suffocating in the big purple building, so she moved it out of the Pavilion, then she left, then she came back, now she is leaving again.
Yeah, like anything involving the Pavilion and its board members, complicated and baffling (and probably a touch of corruption).
Sandra Pay explains the recent exit in this letter to the editor. Â Sandra has served on both the Sioux Falls Arts Council Board and the Executive Board of the Pavilion.
Interesting ‘cover’ story Sandra wrote. There is something bigger going on here, that we are not being told and to be honest with you, I don’t have the slightest clue, but if I had a wild guess, the Pavilion is involved again, and it may be why Nan has exited, again. She has expressed in the past that she wasn’t very happy about the relationship between the Pavilion and the Arts Council. Probably because the VAC was ran by someone who knows nothing about art (he damaged one of the Rockwell’s while unpacking the exhibit) and an arts center ran by a reservist military commander (Jon Loos, Operations Manager at the Pavilion). A recipe for frustration from the arts community in Sioux Falls, to say the least.
Now let’s read Nan’s farewell on the Facebooks;
It has been rewarding to see the Arts Council’s transformation. In 2015 they will be looking for a FULL TIME director. Get your resume or cv dusted off and apply. Great organization. I’ll be spending more time with my fellowship, family and friends. Stay in touch. Get out and enjoy Frist Friday! Happy Holidays!
Maybe I should also apply for this job, in case my bid for the county commission falls through? I actually probably have a better chance at the county job 🙂
I have actually put a plea out there on my blog to have a DaCola interview with the new Pavilion VAC director, Kara Dirkson, with no response. And an artist friend of mine also encouraged her to talk with me. I won’t even print her response to him, because it was so ridiculous, I wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone. But let’s just say, the Pavilion is on information lockdown when it comes to the arts center.
Not sure if the Pavilion is trying to weasel their way back into the Sioux Falls Arts Council, but I think we all better keep a watchful eye.
Michelle (a Democrat) Erpenbach seems to be concerned about councilors serving as party precinct peeps (mainly because they are not serving in her respective party), she says it is a matter of ‘council ethics’.
Funny;
But the city’s Board of Ethics has determined, along with City Attorney Dave Pfeifle, that while the courts have held that the exercise of sovereign power generally refers to someone serving in some legislative or policy-making capacity for a sovereign government, a precinct officer in a political party wouldn’t meet that definition.
So it doesn’t violate the letter of the city charter.
But there’s this Canon of Ethics created by the council that is meant to govern members’ conduct. Right now that canon says councilors have a civil responsibility to support good government by all ethical and legal means.
For Erpenbach, that means staying clear of any hint of political involvement.
“Our charter says we run as nonpartisan candidates,” she said. “When I go door to door, and people ask me if I’m Republican or Democrat, I tell them I am running for a nonpartisan seat.
“Now we’re having this discussion. I do not understand how you can be so active in your political party politics and still be nonpartisan.”
Where does that line ‘Hint’ at political party involvement? Basically what she is saying is that if you are a registered Democrat or Republican and you vote in your respective party’s primaries, you are practicing partisanship as a sitting council member. I know, laughable at best.
Erpenbach isn’t going to vote for it. “Our Canon of Ethics gets to the idea of service,” she said. “It’s really about citizens’ expectations about what they want from the people on the council. … and that is providing equal access to everyone.”
She ‘howls’ about partisanship and ethics but says nothing about the MONSTER conflict of interest Karsky has with the Chamber, and the ethics of him sitting as a board member that does mountains of business with the city. Let’s talk about the equal access of citizens and NON-Chamber members when it comes to councilor Karsky, that is a discussion I would LOVE to have.
Kermit of course blows off Michelle’s silliness, confessing it really isn’t a big deal;
“A precinct committee member, at least in the Republican Party, we don’t do a whole lot but go to conventions. We select people to run for constitutional offices. It’s a nice time,” he said.
Kermit, kind of sounds like your Republicans are ‘Rock’in It’!
l3wis