America needs to pay its bills, and elected leaders owe landowners an apology: Your letters

Your letters to the editor for May 21, 2023:

Give us both versions of Sioux Falls' sustainability plan for input

For several weeks now, a debate has swirled around the sustainability plan that the City of Sioux Falls and a steering committee of citizen volunteers have been working for many months to create.My understanding is that the first draft of a city sustainability plan was released in March 2022, but it was obvious that the plan needed further work due to very legitimate concerns over several areas, including building and construction impacts, the implementation cost of the plan, and potential effects on affordable housing.The Sustainability Steering Committee, expanded to include additional members with varying viewpoints and perspectives, went back to the drawing board to create a second draft of the plan that incorporated input and comments from the public. That revised document, which sought to address the flaws of the first draft, was nearly ready for release to the public for review and comment in December 2022 - or, at least, that’s what many members of the Steering Committee thought was the case.However, that second draft was never released. Instead, during the first two months of 2023, the City administration rewrote the document without the knowledge or input of the Sustainability Steering Committee. The first insight into the City's rewritten version of the document, presented in summary pages on March 2, watered down the Steering Committee's second draft almost beyond recognition, changing the plan to a "framework" and replacing nearly all action items with vague phrases like "continue to study," "assess," or "evaluate."I respectfully urge the City's administration to make both the Sustainability Steering Committee's December 2022 second draft of the sustainability plan and the full version of the city administration’s new framework draft available to the public. This would allow the citizens of Sioux Falls an opportunity to review both documents and provide informed comments and input.

− James McAdaragh, Sioux Falls

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Civilians shouldn't have access to guns designed for war

I was very disappointed to read Sen. John Thune’s stance regarding the 199 mass shootings in our country since Jan. 1 in the Argus Leader.

The article didn’t cite the vast difference in mass shootings in our country versus the other developed countries with stricter gun laws. The argument that "blue states" have mass shootings despite stricter gun laws ignores the fact that these guns can be obtained in a neighboring state.

We need national gun laws restricting AR15s and other automatic weapons or semi automatic weapons. There needs to be restrictions on the size of clips. Friends in South Dakota, who are hunters, tell me these guns and multiple clips are not needed for hunting.

I am NOT talking about taking all guns away. Simply that civilians should not be able to have access to guns designed for war.

Parents should not need a DNA test to identify their children after a mass shooting. No amount of locks can prevent a determined shooter from entering a school-- they simply shoot out the door. Our children shouldn't have to go schools in a prison-like environment so citizens can own weapons meant for war.Yes, we desperately need better mental health care but that alone will not stop this shooting.

−Laura Larsen, Sioux Falls

Someone tell Rep. Dusty Johnson, 'America needs to pay its bills'

I am very concerned about what is going on in Congress currently. Our country is at risk of defaulting on our debt – in essence, not paying our bills. It would make the United States a deadbeat nation, refusing to pay bills we’ve already incurred.The MAGA wing of the Republican Party is holding our nation hostage, demanding devastating cuts to programs Americans depend on. For example: The GOP bill eliminates 108,000 teachers’ jobs, taking away educational support for 32 million kids.

It would also put healthcare of 21 million people in jeopardy by slashing Medicaid, including for seniors in nursing homes and children with disabilities. Also deep cuts to the VA and services to veterans, and a loss of an estimated 3 -8 million jobs. And it would certainly destroy our international standing, devaluing the dollar, and our reputation as a nation that pays it’s bills.Rep. Dusty Johnson has voted yes to cuts to education, yes to cuts to Medicaid, yes to cuts for our veterans. He seems willing to plunge this nation, and the world, into an economic crisis. Why would he be willing to do that? Please tell him that America needs to pay its bills.

− Joan McMillien, Sioux Falls

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Elected leaders own landowners an apology

Recently, a reporter got fired for sending a prank call to a so-called “friend.” The recipient of the prank call said he felt “threatened” by the call. The reporter was made to apologize and plead guilty to a Class 2 misdemeanor and pay a fine. There is no question that this was a lapse in judgment. But compare this, and the reaction to it, to what is currently being pulled on landowners across the state and political leaders' reaction to that.

I was in Leola on May 15, 2023, for a rally put on by landowners who are having the biggest prank of their lives played on them. There are landowners all over the state that are being threatened with eminent domain by a private company, Summit Carbon Solutions, to build a pipeline to carry highly pressurized CO2 and dump it in the ground in North Dakota. Approximately 15 or so present and past legislators were there to support the landowners and speak on property rights.

Why do I call this the biggest prank of their lives? Because the person who felt “threatened” by the prank call from that reporter, is the same person who a lot of these landowners voted for to represent them as the party chair of the South Dakota GOP, Dan Lederman. He is now one of dozens of paid lobbyists for an out-of-state company who has a stake in this pipeline. Talk about getting pranked!

The constant fear of lawsuits, intimidation, condemnation and threats by the company Lederman represents, Summit Carbon Solutions, are real and now part of the landowners’ everyday lives. Over 80 South Dakota landowners have been served with condemnation lawsuits for their land. Four counties have been sued by Summit because of ordinances put in place to protect their citizens. Jokes aside, it is not actually a prank at all, but an attack on the constitutional liberties of generations of South Dakotans.

Not only do landowners feel threatened by the possible use of eminent domain by a private company, they also feel betrayed by the elected officials, whom they have elected to protect their rights, have voted against bill after bill after bill to protect them from this pipeline company and the loss of their property rights. If we are all honest with ourselves, this pipeline is just the beginning and is part of a bigger issue. I represent District 3, mainly the city of Aberdeen, and I ask you this question: when will it be your house or your business or your church taken by Eminent Domain because someone else determines what is best use of that property?

We as elected officials have been told this will be so good for “economic development.” When people who want to move to our state find out that one of their basic rights, property rights, is not being defended from a private company, they won’t move here. What makes moving to South Dakota desirable is that we honor freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… and owning land and working that land is someone’s pursuit of happiness. Economic Development will happen when we keep our state the most desirable place to live and raise a family.

I believe a HUGE apology is needed from many elected officials who have been trusted by their constituents to protect these rights and many others and have failed to do so. It is not too late for political leaders across the state to protect our constitutionally protected rights!

− Brandei Schaefbauer, District 3 SD House of Representatives

Editor's Note: Dan Lederman is listed as a senior advisor for LS2group, a public relations firm working with Summit Carbon Solutions.

How to submit a letter to the editor:

Letters need to be roughly 300 to 500 words, and will need to include first and last name, address, city and title. Addresses won’t be publicized, of course, but it’s a way for us to make sure those who submit a letter are who they say they are.

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This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: America needs to pay its bills, and elected leaders owe landowners an apology: Your letters