Opinion

In South Dakota today, about 30,000 adults and 9,000 kids live with serious mental health conditions. With nearly every family and every community impacted, it’s overloaded the system. As a result, too many are falling through the cracks. Too often, there is a stigma surrounding mental health.

We have it pretty good in South Dakota. From beautifully laid and intricate landscapes, to revitalized hometown main streets and top-ranked higher education, there is so much that makes South Dakota special. But as the saying goes, “there is so much more.

Rog's Rod & Nimrod I could care less about your love life, net worth, or collection of toys, but if you’re a good fisherman/woman, I’d like to take a peek into your tackle box. Tell you what. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. I actually carry two boxes.

Dear Editor: A few weeks before Memorial Day, I found myself wandering around the Wagner Cemetery. Most of my family are buried there. As I walked around, I was shocked and saddened by the lack of care for the deceased.

For many South Dakota families, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer as we wrap up graduation activities, attend the state track meet, or camp in one of our great State Parks.

Rog's Rod & Nimrod How about something a little different? First the good news. Two of our daughters, three granddaughters, and a son-in-law spent spring break in Cabo San Lucas where they swam side by side with whale sharks. The bad news is that they didn’t invite Betsy or me.

During his 1980 debate with then-President Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan famously asked Americans whether they were better off than they’d been four years earlier. That question has been a measuring stick for elected officials ever since.

MATTHEW 6: 28-34 "Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Just about 4000 years ago, Chinese writings explained the medicinal powers of what is now called cannabis or marijuana, describing its properties to help arthritis, gout, malaria, nausea and psychological stress.

I’m writing this on the morning after while it’s fresh on my mind. Betsy, who is nursing a sore back thanks to my boat piloting mishap, is on the sofa behind me working at her laptop. It all began the afternoon of Monday, May 13th.