OUR VIEW: Week in review: the best, the worst

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CHEERS to Mitchell native Jill Young, who this month is finishing her collegiate basketball career at South Dakota State University. As of this writing, she still had at least one game to go — SDSU won in its Summit League Tournament opener Saturday in Sioux Falls. Young, who played for six years at Mitchell Christian High, was a Miss Basketball and has been an exceptional player these past four years for SDSU. She’s done Mitchell proud, not only with her playing abilities but also in the way she handles herself on and off the court.

CHEERS to the South Dakota Legislature’s decision to create a special law regarding juveniles who send sexually explicit photos through their cell phones or other digital devices. The Senate voted 33-0 and the House 65-2 to support Sen. Mike Vehle’s legislation, which would make it a Class 1 misdemeanor to participate in “juvenile sexting.” With this new law, prosecutors would have alternatives to simply charging violators with child pornography, and we think that’s a wise choice. Kids can be stupid, and branding one with the tag “child pornographer” is a label that can damage a life. We feel there is a big difference between child porn and sexting; one is a lewd lifestyle choice while the other is a dumb decision.

CHEERS to the comeback of bald eagles. The Daily Republic last week published a photo spread of bald eagles near the James River. We remember a time not too long ago that even a single bald eagle caused a stir in this region, and now, bald eagles seem to be somewhat commonplace around these parts this time of year. There’s just something about these majestic birds that stirs a bit of patriotism.

HISSES to yet another tragic school shooting. The most recent occurred last Monday in a suburb of Cleveland, and left three students dead and another hospitalized. We are so bothered that these cases continue and urge vigilance on the part of everyone to try to stop this terrible trend.

CHEERS to news that a multi-state air race will launch in Mitchell this summer. The EAA AirVenture Cup race will be held in late July and end in West Bend, Wis. The race has been in Mitchell before, in 2008 and 2010, and we are glad to hear of its return in 2012. To us, it’s a good provider of summertime tourist traffic and just one more way to put our town on the map.

CHEERS to news that an outdoors TV show will show a segment on pheasant hunting in the Kimball area.

“Jason Mitchell Outdoors” filmed the report in the area and it is scheduled to be on one of his programs this month, Mitchell said he found the area beautiful and wanted to share that with his viewers.

Any and all publicity for our signature hunting season is welcome news. It’s always good to remind people that the best pheasant hunting in the country occurs in South Dakota.

CHEERS to news of temperatures in the 50s arriving this week. It hasn’t been much of a winter, but we did receive three storms in a 10-day period recently, so you can’t blame people for looking forward to the arrival of spring. The snow and ice that fell should melt quickly and spring can make its appearance.

Tags: opinion, updates, editorials