Capitol Notebook: Changes set for Indian ed summit

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota’s annual statewide summit on Indian education will be condensed this year to a single day of programs for K-12 educators.

But there will still be a second day dedicated to activities for students.

The 2024 gathering is set for November 15-16 in Pierre at the Ramkota River Centre.

Fred Osborn is director for the state Office of Indian Education.

“I think a one-day conference will have better attendance,” he told the state Indian Education Council at a meeting last week.

Last year’s three-day summit in Huron featured meetings for educators on Thursday and Friday, followed by youth-day activities on Saturday.

However, school officials have indicated they would rather send students on a Friday, according to Osborn.

He said past summits averaged about 150 youth.

“I’d like to increase that this year,” Osborn said.

SPOTTED TAIL HISTORY: A public ceremony on Wednesday in Pierre will mark the donation of various items that are believed to have once belonged to Sinte Gleska, also known as Chief Spotted Tail, who was a major tribal figure in the 19th-century history of the Great Plains.

The 11 a.m. event is set for Georgia Morse Middle School, which happens to be one of the pilot schools participating in the state Office of Indian Education’s Wookiye Project . The donation will be received by the South Dakota State Historical Society, according to an announcement .

Items include a headdress, clothing, moccasins, and other accessories that Sinte Gleska / Spotted Tail reportedly gave to Indian Agent Maj. Cicero Newell.

Sinte Gleska was one of the signers of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 that was intended to bring peace between the U.S. government and several regional tribes. He settled with his people in the area that today is the Rosebud Indian Reservation; Sinte Gleska University at Mission bears his name.

According to the State Historical Society, the items being donated were passed down in the Newell family, and in 2022, James Newell and his son, Eric, in La Center, Washington, contacted Chief John Spotted Tail, the fifth generation first son of Spotted Tail.

The items were repatriated in August of 2022 to Chief John Spotted Tail and his wife, Tamara Stands and Looks Back-Spotted Tail , who will now donate them to the society. (More information about this can be found here .)

“It is our heartfelt belief that these items should be shared with all who wish to learn from and honor our shared history, ensuring that the legacy of our people endures for all present and future generations,” the couple said in a statement. “Their return and subsequent donation symbolize our unwavering commitment to preserving and celebrating our cultural heritage, enriching the lives of those yet to come.”

The society’s director, Ben Jones, said he looks forward to sharing the items with the public. The society is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre, which is closed through some point in 2025, because a major renovation and expansion project is under way.

“Sinte Gleska’s courageous actions in war and diplomacy shaped much of our regional and state history and these artifacts, and their path to us over the past 140 years, tell the story of war and also of friendship,” Jones said in a statement.

JAMES RIVER STUDY: South Dakota’s chief engineer for water rights is taking another look at whether more permits can be allowed on the James River.

Eric Gronlund told the state Water Management Board at a meeting last week that he and his staff are re-examining a 1965 decision that set maximum amounts that can be permitted from the James River.

The overall limit is 300 cubic feet per second between the North Dakota-South Dakota border and the Yankton-Hutchinson county line. Currently, there are 116 water rights permits and two future-use permits appropriating or reserving 298.92 cfs.

There’s also a sublimit of 200 cfs between the Dakotas border and the USGS gaging station at Huron in Beadle County. Currently, there are 77 water rights/permits and two future use permits appropriating or reserving199.19 cfs in that segment.

The board deferred action on four applications seeking to take additional water. The board plans to reach decisions on them after seeing the report from the new analysis.

Gronlund said the James River is the only stream course in South Dakota with a specific threshold. Flow records for the periods of 1945-1989 and 1990-2020 and overall records suggest there’s more flow in the river than those limits, he said.

“This is undoubtedly going to result in more applications being received for the James River,” Gronlund said.

PUC WILL WAIT: The South Dakota Legislature passed a law during the 2024 session increasing the minimum fee that must be filed with the state Public Utilities Commission when an application is filed for a permit to construct an energy transmission and conversion facility.

The fee has been $8,000 since at least 1981. On July 1, it changes to $20,000. Commissioners Chris Nelson and Gary Hanson testified for the higher amount. So did electric utilities lobbyist Brett Koenecke and several others from the industry. No one spoke against it.

The commission wanted the change because the $8,000 hadn’t always covered up-front expenses in the permitting process. In those instances, the commission sometimes had to bill applicants and then incurred interest expenses while waiting.

During consideration of an estimated $6.5 million East River transmission-line pro j ect this spring, the commission decided to charge more than $8,000 initially. The commission on April 24 ordered a payment of $16,290 with any unused portion above $8,000 subject to refund.

Last week, the commission considered a filing fee for construction of a transmission-line project in Grant County by Otter Tail Power and Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency. Commission staff attorney Amanda Reiss recommended a filing fee not to exceed $103,500 with an initial deposit of $20,000, with any unused portion above $20,000 subject to refund.

The higher initial deposit ensures the costs are covered by the company rather than the government, Reiss said. Molly Smith, a lawyer representing the applicants, didn’t object.

But the commission’s chair, Kristie Fiegen, did. She noted that the new law hadn’t yet taken effect: “I don’t want to make this precedence right before July 1.”

Phrased in the form of a question, Fiegen suggested waiting. “We can’t do it in this docket, but we can do it in the next docket,” she said.

Replied Reiss, “This request is an attempt to get ahead of that and save the commission interest costs.”

Nelson then made a motion to seek the still-in-effect $8,000 minimum. He said he had “reluctantly” supported more from East River and described that as an experiment. “It appears we’re going beyond experimenting,” Nelson said, adding that he’d prefer the money stay in the hands of the private sector rather than with the government.

Feigen added that the commission’s interest cost on the Otter Tail-Western Minnesota application would be “very minimal.” “We will have a different type of review July first,” she said.

Hanson said it will be interesting to look back “with twenty-twenty vision” at whether this latest decision proves right.

“Twenty-twenty,” Fiegen remarked, “I wish I had twenty-twenty vision.”

You can reach KELOLAND reporter Bob Mercer (whose vision is very much worse than 20-20) with tips, story ideas, questions and complaints at 605-280-7580 or bmercer@keloland.com or @pierremercer on X or through U.S. mail to 1810 Camden Court, Pierre, SD, 57501.

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