Enclosed for Post Adjutants is the list of 2002 paid membership for all Posts as of the Convention Cutoff date, May 29, 2002. The listing also indicates the number of delegates and votes each Post is authorized at the State Convention.

Also enclosed for Post Adjutants is an advertisement and order form for Association Information Management (AIM) software. The enclosed literature explains what the program can do for your Post’s membership tracking and the cost of the software.

The 84^th Annual South Dakota American Legion State Convention will commence Thursday, June 13, and continue through Sunday, June 16 in Rapid City. Events are scheduled at the Ramkota Hotel/Convention Center and the Rapid City Post #22 American Legion post home.

The schedule generally will follow the one from last year.

The convention will start June 13 with meetings of the State Administrative Committee and State Executive Committee at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m., respectively, in the Ramkota Hotel.

Highlights Friday, June 14 will begin with the State Athletic Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m. in the Ramkota Hotel, Lincoln Room. The annual meeting of the South Dakota American Legion Press Association will occur during a noon luncheon in the Ramkota Hotel. Editors of Post newspapers who are not SDALPA members and other Legionnaires who are interested, are invited to attend.

The initial meeting of the Resolutions Committee will be Friday, June 14 at 10:00 a.m. in the Ramkota Hotel, Roosevelt Room. The initial meeting for all other convention committees will start at 2:30 p.m. in various meeting rooms at the Ramkota Hotel (a detailed listing of room assignments will be included in the convention program books and will be posted in the hallway of the Ramkota Hotel prior to the meetings). Convention Committee chairpersons will meet briefly with the Adjutant and the State Commander prior to their committee meetings. The Joint Legion/Auxiliary memorial service will be held at 5:00 p.m. in the Ramkota Hotel and the joint banquet will be at 7:00 p.m. in the same facility. Banquet tickets will be available at the convention registration desk.

The Legion and Auxiliary registration desks will open at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, 9:00 a.m. on Friday and 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday in the Ramkota Hotel. Headquarters personnel will receive delegate credentials and distribute tickets for the Go-Getters smorgasbord at the registration desk.

The schedule for Saturday, June 15 will include an 8:30 a.m. concert by the South Dakota American Legion Band at the Ramkota. The first general session will start there at 9:00 a.m. Line-up for the convention parade through downtown Rapid City commencing at 4:30 p.m. Activities will shift to the Rapid City Post #22 American Legion post home for the Go-Getters cocktail party at 6:00 p.m. and the Go-Getters smorgasbord at 6:30 p.m.

The business session will reconvene at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 16. The highlight will be the election of the 2002-2003 State Commander, five Vice Commanders and a Department Master-At-Arms.

Walt Lindemann of Eureka is currently uncontested as the only candidate for State Commander. G. Dale "Hoot" Gibson is also running, uncontested, for the office of Department Master-At-Arms.

For State Vice Commander the candidates are: Districts 1-7, Paul Jensen of Gingrich-Dixon Post #13 in Wakonda; Districts 2, 5 and 6, Donald Schulte of Potter Post #3 in Chamberlain; District 3, 4 and 14, Donald Smith of Charles Curry Post #49 in Clear Lake; Districts 8, 9 and 13, Ron Millage of Wheller-Brooks Post #173 in Philip; and Districts 10, 11, and 12, Guy Virkula of Homestake Post #31 in Lead.

National Commander Richard "Ric" Santos of Maryland will be the keynote banquet speaker. Commander Santos is a Navy veteran who joined the U.S. Naval Reserve while in high school. He spent two and one-half years on active duty as a radioman with his final stint being an around the world cruise on the U.S.S. Enterprise CVN-65. He is a 35-year member of The American Legion and Honorary Life Member of Greenbelt Post #136 in Greenbelt, Maryland. He has served as a member or chairman of numerous committees and commissions from the Post to Department level. At the National level, he served on the VA&R Commission, Citizens Flag Alliance, Policy Coordination and Action Group, Veterans Planning and Coordinating Committee, and Legislative Commission; as the National Commander's NEC Liaison to the VA&R Commission; and as Chairman of the Public Relations Commission. He is the recipient of Gubernatorial appointments as Commissioner on the Maryland Veterans Commission and the Maryland Military Monuments Commission.

State Headquarters will be closed while the three staff members work at the convention. Headquarters will close at noon on Wednesday, June 12 and reopen at noon on Monday, June 17.

495 boys, all entering their senior year in high school, from across South Dakota converged on the campus of Northern State University in Aberdeen on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27^th for registration and the opening of the 60^th Session of Boys State in South Dakota.

Dan English of Sioux Falls O'Gorman was elected as the 2002 South Dakota American Legion Boys State Governor during the weeklong event. Justin Goetz of Aberdeen Central joined him on the Nationalist ticket as Lieutenant Governor. The session opened on May 27, and concluded on Saturday, June 1.

English and Goetz beat out Federalist Party candidates Ryan Hajek of Huron and Lance Huber of Irene by a margin of 335 to 148.

Other constitutional officers who were successful in the bids for state office included Attorney General – Christopher Timmerman of Sioux Falls Lincoln, Secretary of State – Chris Roby of Watertown, State Treasurer – Dana Kinsella of Rapid City Central, State Auditor – William Maxwell of Parkston and Public Utilities Commissioners Jimmy Timmons of White Owl (student at Faith High School), Jason Frerichs of Wilmot and Adam Grams of Groton.

Non-political election results in the election of Supreme Court Justices were Jon Stange of Brookings, Jacob Seidel of Rapid City Central, Arend Kuyper of Mitchell, Kevin Zinter of Milbank, Christopher Christianson of Rapid City Stevens, Joshua Schmeichel of McLaughlin and Christopher Koopman of Harrisburg. Jacob Seidel of Rapid City Central was named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Eric Rodawig of Dakota Dunes and Brandon Breitling of Sioux Falls Roosevelt were named by Commander Vernon Sip of Wagner to attend Boys Nation at Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia July 19-27, 2002. Commander Sip also named Jason Frerichs of Wilmot and John Boettger of Rapid City Central as the alternates who will attend in the event that either of the delegates is unable to fulfill that obligation.

Justin Goetz of Aberdeen Central was selected as the outstanding speaker and Christopher Timmerman of Sioux Falls Lincoln as the outstanding citizen. The Citizens Forum Award was presented to Jason Frerichs of Wilmot.

Earlier in the week the following boys were elected as mayors of the 21 mythical cities, listed are their Boys State cities, their names and their home towns: Baltimore – Matt Kuyper of Mitchell; Boston – Daniel VanderWoude of Sioux Falls; Chicago – Chris Roby of Watertown; Cleveland – Matthew Hoven of Aberdeen; Columbus – Jared Noem of Spearfish; Dallas – Daniel English of Sioux Falls; Detroit – Tucker Troelstrup of White; Honolulu – Brandon Hathaway of Huron; Houston – Jacob Schaeffer of Huron; Indianapolis – Tanner O`Leary of Eagle Butte; Journalism City – Dan Barth of Sioux Falls; Los Angeles – Kent Johnson of Aberdeen; Memphis – Peter Nesbitt of Sioux Falls; Milwaukee – Christopher Timmerman of Sioux Falls; New York – Andrew Venrick of Sioux Falls; Philadelphia – Jeremy DeWitt of Garretson; Phoenix – Ryan Hajek of Huron; San Antonio – Kevin Zinter of Milbank; San Diego – John Boettger of Rapid City; San Francisco – Joe Kippley of Brookings; San Jose – Justin Goetz of Aberdeen; and Washington D.C. – Mark Braun of Gregory.

Matthew Clark of Yankton was selected as the Editor of the Sunshine Scribe.

Aaron Helmers of Rapid City, a student at Rapid City Stevens High School, was the recipient of the $1,000 Chandler L. Beach Memorial Scholarship. Chandler L. Beach of Huron was selected as the outstanding citizen of the first South Dakota Boys State in 1940. Beach subsequently served as a counselor at American Legion Boys State of South Dakota for 15 years and also as Boys State Director.

With the start of the summer season, 2001-2002 Post Adjutants are reminded that 2002-2003 officers must be certified to State Headquarters. As of this writing, 66 of the Department's 256 Posts, or about 25.8 percent of them, have not yet certified their new officers.

Although this is an improvement over the number of uncertified Posts as of this date last year, it is still much higher than it should be.

Post Commanders and Post Adjutants need to address this situation immediately and make sure that the officer certification for your 2002-2003 officers have been submitted to State Headquarters. Some Posts have submitted incomplete information to State Headquarters - we must have the officer's dates of service and all officers being certified must have paid their 2002 dues.

CONGRATULATIONS to District 3 Commander Bob Ching. Commander Ching is the only District Commander who got all of the Post officers within his District certified by the June 1 deadline. Commander Ching will receive two FREE tickets to the Joint Legion/Auxiliary Banquet which will be held during the 84^th Annual State Convention in Rapid City.

Reverend Stan Gruneich, Department Chaplain, has requested that each person attending the Memorial Service at the State Convention please bring a non-perishable food item to be donated. The items will be collected as you enter the Memorial Service. At the end of the service, all items will be transported and delivered to the KOTA Care and Share Food Drive.

Let's show those in need that The American Legion, Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion care!

PDC Richard Hovorka wishes to say Thank You to all those who sent get well wishes during his recent surgery and hospitalization. He says that he was overwhelmed with the outpouring of support that he received from his friends and fellow Legionnaires.

He reports that he is recovering well and looks forward to getting things back to normal and seeing all his friends in the near future.

State Headquarters has been informed of the death of Ray Clements of Philip. Ray was a 39-year member of Wheeler-Brooks Post #173 in Philip. He had served in most Post offices, as District 9 Vice Commander, District 9 Commander and most recently as State Vice Commander for Districts 8, 9 and 13 during 1999-2000 under State Commander Norman Tapken.

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at the Catholic Church in Philip.

Cards and memorials may be sent to Clements' widow, Teresa, at PO Box 277, Philip, SD 57567.

2002 membership stands at 26,423, or 95.0 percent. Every Post should be reviewing their 2002 membership rosters to determine those Post members who have not yet paid their 2002 dues and making every effort to contact those persons prior to the State Convention. The 2002 membership year is not over yet. Your Post is missing out on the potential of renewing some of your existing members or possibly recruiting some new ones if you have already thrown in the towel.