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Groton Daily Independent
Friday, May 17, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 3088 ~ 18 of 55
The first attempt to get on the ballot, which was going through the legislative avenue, met a quick demise in Pierre. It moved out of committee without recommendation and then died in the Senate.
In some ways, trying to win over a handful of legislators can be more difficult than swaying a large swath of voters, so the petition process may produce different results.
In a story in Saturday’s Press & Dakotan about the new attempt to get the proposal on the ballot, a lot of familiar rhetoric was used. It was mentioned yet again that there were a lot of people who were in support of it, and we heard that the biggest beef for some lawmakers is that they believed the idea should go through the petition process the same way the Deadwood gaming proposal did 30 years ago.
The story also reported there will be attempts to reach out to possible partners, like other tribes, to make the Port Yankton proposal work in some fashion. That, too, sounded familiar.
Frankly, it all feels a little like the same kind of optimism we were hearing this past winter before the idea was sidelined before it ever got running. And those other partners that Port Yankton boosters tried to woo seemed resolutely opposed to the proposal — mostly, it appeared, to protect their own gaming interests.
But supporters also said they learned some lessons through last winter’s experience.
If this is going to work, those lessons must be taken to heart.
Every bit of that learning process may be needed, as it could be even tougher to get a constitutional
amendment passed in 2020. The public will vote this fall on an idea to require a 55-percent vote to change the constitution, and another proposal may put strict limits on the sources of revenue for campaigns.
Port Yankton has a long road ahead of it, and supporters now must make the case to the public about the benefits this project can produce for the state. And it will have to be a very, very convincing case (depending on what happens this November) for this idea to become a reality.
(Interestingly, one of the arguments proponents have used is that gambling is already available on the Internet, among other places. In a broad sense, Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision about sports wagering might add some weight to that talking point.)
The determination appears to be there. It will be needed.
Gov. Daugaard appointing longtime Huron attorney to bench
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Gov. Dennis Daugaard is appointing longtime Huron attorney Kent Shelton to the bench.
Shelton will become the newest judge in South Dakota’s Third Circuit Court. Daugaard says he’s “a re- spected member of the bar and a well-known member of the Huron community.”
Shelton has been in private practice in his native Huron since 1990. He has worked in criminal defense, family law, real estate and property, estate planning and corporate law. He has a law degree from the University of Montana.
Shelton will succeed Judge Jon Erickson, who is retiring in June. The Third Circuit includes the coun- ties of Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Kingsbury, Grant, Hamlin, Hand, Jerauld, Lake, Miner, Moody and Sanborn.
Fatal weekend crash near Yankton involved stolen vehicle
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — A weekend rollover crash north of Yankton that killed one person and injured another involved a stolen vehicle.
Yankton County Sheriff Jim Vlahakis and Yankton Police Chief Brian Paulsen confirmed to the Daily Press & Dakotan that the sport utility vehicle that crashed about 7 p.m. Sunday had been stolen from a residence in Yankton earlier that day.
The Highway Patrol says the SUV crossed the centerline on U.S. Highway 81, made minor contact with another vehicle and swerved out of control, eventually rolling in the ditch.
Twenty-one-year-old passenger Lucille Casiano, of Sisseton, was pronounced dead at a Sioux Falls hospital.
The 23-year-old Sisseton man driving the car was taken to a Yankton hospital with injuries the patrol says are serious but not life-threatening. Charges are pending against him..