South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

March 2017

Randy Dobberpuhl SF School District Sioux Falls

Randy Dobberpuhl for Sioux Falls School Board

l3wis 4Comments

My name is Randy Dobberpuhl and I am running for School Board in Sioux Falls, SD. I would appreciate your vote on June 6th.

My family and I have lived in Sioux Falls since 2007. My wife, Kersten, has been in the education field since 2003 and has worked as a teacher, instructional coach, and is currently an administrative intern at Hayward Elementary. My two boys, Coulter and Ryder, attend Harvey Dunn Elementary and are involved in various activities throughout the year. I have been working in the Human Services field since 2001. I have worked with the Boys and Girls Club in Sisseton, SD, the South Dakota Developmental Center in Redfield, SD, Hospice of Havasu in Parker, AZ, and my current role is a case manager for the Safe Home Program here in Sioux Falls. We provide permanent housing to the chronically homeless individuals in our community and offer supportive services to help with any medical, mental health, or addiction needs.

I consider myself a committed community member and love volunteering at various agencies in our community. I currently volunteer as a mentor for the LSS mentor program, a big brother with the Big Brother Big Sister program, I co-chair the government division for United Way, and I have started a “Give It Back” group with our residents at Safe Home and we volunteer our time at the Humane Society and Feeding South Dakota on a weekly basis.

My reasons for running have not changed. I want to bring an independent/neutral set of eyes and ears to the board to allow parents, teachers, and community members an outlet for input. I will fight for access and equity for all our students. I see some areas of concerns with this right now especially with our ELL (English Language Learners) students and our lower income based families and students. Our district will be facing some serious challenges in the coming years such as boundaries, pre-k services, budget cuts, and increased behavior challenges in the classroom. I feel these challenges will need leadership that can focus on true solutions through active communication. I truly believe in Dr. Maher’s path and creativity with the district. He is going to need a board that has the ability to make some hard decisions through gathering input from all levels in our community. I am here to tell you that I am that person. I love listening and visiting with people, I love problem solving through respectful conversation, and I love seeking input. I believe in transparency and open communication. I would be honored to have your support and I hope to earn your vote in the next couple of months.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to any questions, comments, or concerns,

Randy Dobberpuhl

*Randy is the 3rd candidate to announce. Today was the filing deadline.

gambling Sioux Falls South Dakotans Taxes

Expanding Gambling in SD is NOT the solution to Economic Development

l3wis 8Comments

Sorry to see Yankton is doing so badly. I have never understood why, they sit on one of the most beautiful lakes in South Dakota. The economic development options on Lewis & Clark, I would think would be endless. Look at what Okoboji has done without a Casino on their waterfront.

Expanding gambling options in South Dakota is NOT the answer. The irony is that they would only be pulling gamblers from Fort Randall and Nebraska Indian Casinos, they would not be creating any new clientele.

Oh, and Gambling SUCKS and is a poor way to fund government. But what is the most disheartening is that this idea is being pitched by a Democrat that should know the pain gambling has caused our state;

“I think the challenge is we need to compete with Omaha, Lincoln and Minneapolis,” Senator Bernie Hunhoff said.

If that was true, which I don’t think it is, why do it with gambling?

I’m extremely disappointed with the short-sightedness of Yankton’s leaders. There is a reason why the Republicans have had control of this state for over 40 years, because the Dems in leadership roll over and play dead.

Elections Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

Detroit Lewis Prediction; Huether will announce for higher office within the next two weeks

l3wis 3Comments

I think MMM will make his announcement before April 7th. If I was a betting guy, I would say Tuesday, April 4. I still think he is going to announce for US Congressional run, but it seems lately all the right wing squackers in the state seem to think he is running for governor, so I may be wrong.

So why do I think the announcement will take place this soon? A couple of factors. I think Mike wanted to see who was running on the Republican side, and he either KNOWS or THINKS the Democratic challenger doesn’t matter. I think he also wanted to wait until his main man Diamond Jim made his mayoral announcement. There is also the several interviews he did over the past couple of weeks, even one where he did an interview with his ‘bride’ on his bed (living room couch). But I have also noticed some disappearing CityLink YouTube videos lately that feature Mike. He knows from the last time he ran for his second term, it is a no-no to be in any NEW videos after his announcement. He also had to wait to make his biggest campaign speech (the state of the city) on Tuesday.

Maybe I am completely wrong, or maybe he will spite me and announce on April 10th. Either way, it will be soon.

Sioux Falls

Why did Sioux Falls grow so much last year? Lots of Babymaking.

l3wis 6Comments

So this is some interesting stats;

SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO-AM) Sioux Falls was one of the top three fastest growing metro areas in the Midwest in 2016.

South Dakota’s largest city grew by 1.5 percent last year, according to newly released numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, behind Fargo, North Dakota at 1.9 percent, and Des Moines, Iowa at 2 percent population growth.

People are moving to booming Sioux Falls – no doubt about that – but if you dig into the Census Bureau statistics, you find that a baby boom had a lot to do with it. There were nearly 3,900 births in the metro area in 2016.

There are actually a couple of different stories out there. The 3,840 births occurred in the metro area that actually grew to 255,000 last year, not just in the city. This also may explain why tax collection is down. Ironically, this means our property taxes will be going up drastically within the next 5 years due to having to build more schools. I actually encourage my young couple friends who are considering having children to be responsible and limit it to one (or better yet NONE) or adopt. Science doesn’t lie, the number one contributor to global warming is over population.

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