Opinion: Mourning the dearth of enigma

WASHINGTON — My favorite thing about J.D. Salinger wasn’t his seminal work — or his most famous character, Holden Caulfield — but how little I knew of him, thanks to his relentless pursuit of privacy.
It’s the same thing I also love about two other favorite writers, both, coincidentally, great Southern dames — Harper Lee and Florence King.

Opinion: Weather not cooperating with schooling this year

Stupid groundhog.
Yes, I am fully aware that it really doesn’t matter whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not, that it’s just a bunch of silly folk lore. And even if it did mean something out East, it wouldn’t work in South Dakota. If we only get six more weeks of winter after Feb. 2, we count ourselves fortunate.

Our View: Exceptions needed in sexting cases

Sexting is a serious topic that’s gaining national attention. A member of the Dakota Wesleyan University faculty is doing his part to raise awareness even more.
Jesse Weins, a Dakota Wesleyan University assistant professor, says state laws are not keeping up with the realities of sexting, which is the act of sending sexually explicit texts, particularly photos or videos, via cell phones.

Opinion: President should have known better

A few months ago I wrote an article for Parade magazine about what President Obama can teach America’s kids. Basically, the piece told children that despite having no father present and a rather loopy mom, the president was able to prosper and achieve the most powerful position in the world. If young Barry Obama could overcome his rather chaotic upbringing (which included a stint in Indonesia), most American kids in difficult circumstances can do the same.

Our View: Week in review: the best, worst

CHEERS to Mary Gohring of Wessington Springs, who last week was named the South Dakota Physical Science Teacher of the Year. Gohring is a veteran teacher who has had stops at Huron, Alpena and Wessington Springs and plans to retire at the end of the 2010-11 school year. This is the second time in three years a Wessington Springs teacher has been honored. In 2007, Charlotte Mohling was named South Dakota Teacher of the Year. Congratulations, not only to Gohring, but once again to Mohling and the entire Wessington Springs School District.

Opinion: President Obama finds himself at crossroads

WASHINGTON — It was toward the end of President Obama’s riveting visit on Jan. 29 with the House Republicans in Baltimore — a rare 90 minutes of candor on both sides that produced the most fascinating and revealing politics in memory — when Rep. Peter Roskam of suburban Chicago was called on for a question.

Opinion: Kernels came up just short in cluttered ESD title race

With an easy end-of-the-year stomping Aberdeen will likely put down on Brookings Thursday, the Eagles will claim their second straight Eastern South Dakota Conference championship. For most of the year, though, it was a crazy, cluttered conference, which was completely up for grabs.

Captain 11 is gone, but not soon forgotten

Sometime in the mid-1970s, Captain 11 made a personal appearance at Burke Real Estate here in Pierre, and I took Jennifer and Scott down to see him in the lot across the street from the old junior high school. We can prove we did it, because somewhere in the albums in the basement, we have a photo of the Captain, the two kids and me, standing there mugging for the camera.

• Terry Woster

Opinion: State's smaller schools again come under fire

State funding for smaller schools in South Dakota is in the crosshairs of a number of lawmakers who see new reductions as one way to help balance the state budget. This targeting of small schools, though troubling, is not new.

Letters to the Editor

Empower, protect small businesses To the Editor: South Dakota lawmakers pushing for an Internet sales tax fail to recognize how such a tax would devastate the smallest online retailers in the state and across the country. Many large online retailers in South Dakota already collect and remit sales taxes because of their vast “brick and click” networks that allow consumers to purchase online and pick up or return in-store.

Opinion: Reform’s option, amid the ruins

WASHINGTON — The economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 did so much damage to the United States that only now can we begin to measure the devastation.
A sentence buried in the budget that President Obama submitted to Congress this week screamed for attention. “Household net worth fell from the third quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2009,” it said, “by $17.5 trillion or 26.5 percent, which is the equivalent to more than one year’s GDP.”

Opinion: Reducing national deficit requires tough choices

Families all across the country are tightening their belts during this recession, and they are looking for Washington to do the same. The bottom line is that current levels of federal spending are unsustainable. We saw this firsthand as President Obama put forth his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. It included some tough cuts for worthy programs. But it also aims to bring down our ballooning deficit after nearly a decade of out of control spending by the previous Administration.

Our View: We're with minority in proposed land trade

The City Council has decided against a plan to swap north Mitchell land with a resident landowner.
In a 4-3 vote earlier this week, the council declared it would not take up the proposal from Jerry Thomsen to take over Thomsen’s 3-acre lot and 11,000-squarefoot building adjacent to the Pepsi Cola Soccer Complex near the airport. Thomsen offered the land and the building in exchange for a wooded 9-acre lot across from his home near Lake Mitchell, as well as a $150,000 payment to Thomsen from the city.

Opinion: U.S. future is rooted in past

WASHINGTON — On Day One of his vow to take “meaningful steps to rein in our debt,” Barack Obama asked Congress to freeze portions of discretionary domestic spending. This would follow an astonishing permanent expansion: Republicans on the House Budget Committee say appropriations bills Obama has signed, along with his stimulus spending, have increased discretionary domestic spending 84 percent. He almost certainly will not keep his promise to veto spending bills when Congress, as it almost certainly will, largely disregards his request.

Opinion: NBA’s Arenas: ‘I am truly sorry’ for handgun incident

The Washington Post suggested on Dec. 31 that I send a message to young fans “about guns being neither glamorous nor desirable.” I am grateful for the opportunity to do something good in the face of the very bad situation I created.