OUR VIEW: Week in review: The best and worst

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

CHEERS to the donors recently recognized at an event at Mitchell Technical Institute. Mark and Kathy Hofer were honored as Donors of the Year; Dick and Darlene Muth/Muth Electric were honored with the Donor Legacy Award, and Raven Industries was recognized as Corporate Donor of the Year. MTI is an important cog in this region’s economy, not just in the students it brings to Mitchell but also in the hirable workers it churns out each year. It’s vital that companies recognize MTI’s role, and we’re glad to see donors coming forth to lead the way.

CHEERS to the Excelling Though Ethics program, sponsored by the Mitchell chapter of Junior Achievement. The event was held last week and included local business leaders coming to Mitchell High School to talk to students about the link between ethics and business success. Junior Achievement, which spends its time promoting financial education and entrepreneurship, has been sponsoring Excelling Through Ethics for four years. This is a good program, and one that truly is trying to point students down the straight and narrow path toward success in adulthood.

HISSES to news that revenue from South Dakota’s tourism tax came in a bit low in July, September and October. Although revenue was higher in August, those are an important four months here in the Rushmore State, which relies heavily upon the tourist trade during the summer months. According to a report last week in The Daily Republic, revenue for three of those four months was lower than the same period a year ago. It’s too bad, since there was general growth January through April while May and June remained steady. Once again, we wonder how 2011 flooding affected this important revenue source, and we hope things rebound in 2012.

CHEERS to the moderate weather conditions that have continued in eastern South Dakota throughout the fall and these weeks of unofficial winter. The last few years were brutal, both in terms of chilly temperatures and snowfall. It’s been nice to leave the shovels in the garage, but we have to admit that it won’t be long before we will wish for some heavy snows to bolster creeks, dams and fields as we prepare for the 2012 growing season. It would be nice to have a bit of snow for Christmas, and then maybe a somewhat dry January just to delay the inevitable shoveling season. But once we get into February, we say “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”

HISSES to a decision by the federal government that has left the city of Chamberlain in the lurch. The federal Army Corps of Engineers failed to give the city appropriate notice that Chamberlain’s American Creek Campground would flood; then, after the flood, the Federal Emergency Management Agency decided it wouldn’t help fund repairs to the campground, because the corps still holds an easement on the land. Thus, the city of Chamberlain is left to find $150,000 to fix a campground that possibly could have been protected with better notice from the corps.

Tags: opinion, editorials, updates