Black Hills Pioneer - Capital for a Day: Local Issues Discussed at Governor's Spearfish Dinner
Capital for a day: Local issues discussed at governor's Spearfish dinner
BY ANNA KOOISTRA, Black Hills Pioneer May 18, 2006
SPEARFISH - Around 350 people responded to Gov. Mike Rounds' invitation to a community dinner at the Spearfish Convention Center last night.
The event was the culmination of Spearfish Capital for a Day, and area residents had the opportunity to dine in style as well as ask their governor questions and offer advice on issues affecting their communities.
"Now we know the government can be touched, that he's (the governor) a real guy," said Ben Pisani, who moved to Spearfish from California in November. Pisani added that it was a nice change from big-city life, where people never get the chance to meet their elected officials.
Several attendees stood up to ask the governor questions during the dinner. Some of the questions were about out-of-state contractors bidding on local projects, the laptop pilot program, budget cuts in education and Medicaid reimbursement.
A graduate from Black Hills State University asked what the state government is doing to keep young people like himself in the state. "I want to stay in South Dakota but I can't find a good job," said the young man, who holds three degrees from BHSU. Rounds replied by elaborating on the 2010 initiative, which includes efforts to create meaningful jobs in the state. "The biggest challenge for us today is to keep our young people in South Dakota, but Spearfish is poised to do just that," Rounds said.
Rounds also said he really enjoyed meeting people during the Capital for a Day and that it was interesting to find out which issues were important to people in this area. "Spearfish really rolled out the red carpet for us," Rounds said. He added that a lot of people also had questions about Homestake and the deep underground science laboratory, the mumps outbreaks, how to keep the economy going, and how to preserve Spearfish Canyon and Bear Butte.
Local officials were happy with how the day unfolded. "It went great. 120 percent," said Spearfish Mayor Jerry Krambeck, who appeared pleased and a bit tired after a day of hosting the state government.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16658094&BRD=1300&PAG=461&dept_id=156925&rfi=6