Issued Bi-Weekly from State Headquarters at Watertown, SD 57201
Ron Boyd – Department Adjutant – Public Relations Officer
www.sdlegion.org Email sdlegion@dailypost.com
No. 2916 February 8, 2006
ENCLOSED FOR ALL RECIPIENTS
Enclosed for all recipients of this Up To Now is an insert that explains The American Legion Department of South Dakota’s position on Senate Bill 156, An Act to Prohibit Picketing at Funerals. The information in this enclosure should be used by members of The American Legion Department of South Dakota in response to any queries related to the position of The American Legion Department of South Dakota on this piece of legislation.
ENCLOSED FOR ADJUTANTS
Enclosed for all Adjutants is a copy of the minutes of the February 20, 2006 Midwinter meetings of the Department Administrative and Executive Committees at the Mitchell Holiday Inn and Convention Center in Mitchell, SD.
Also enclosed for all Adjutants is a letter and instructions from Department Historian Charemon Dunham for those Posts wishing to submit entries for the One-Year Post Narrative and/or Post Yearbook History Contest.
STATE ORATORICAL CONTEST FINALS
The Finals for the South Dakota American Legion High School Oratorical Contest will be held in Chamberlain on Sunday, February 12, 2006. The contest will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church at 314 S. Main St. in Chamberlain.
Representing the Area comprised of Districts 1 and 7 is Brittany Holzbauer of Pickstown, a junior from Wagner Community High School.
Representing the Area comprised of Districts 2, 5 and 6 is Katherine Trewatha of White, a senior from Deubrook High School.
Representing the Area comprised of Districts 3, 4 and 14 is Chris Erickson of Milbank, a senior from Milbank High School.
Representing the Area comprised of Districts 8, 9 and 13 is Courtney McCrellias of Colome, a senior from Colome High School.
Representing the Area comprised of Districts 10, 11 and 12 is McKenzie Shields of Gettysburg, a senior from Gettysburg High School.
Each of the above five finalists has already won a $100 scholarship from the Department. First place winner in Chamberlain will receive a $1,000 scholarship; second place will receive a $500 scholarship; third place will receive a $300 scholarship; and fourth and fifth place will each receive an additional $100 scholarship.
The winner of the contest in Chamberlain will advance to The American Legion National High School Oratorical Contest at Indianapolis Conference Center & Hotel, Indianapolis, Indiana. The national contest is scheduled for April 22-23, 2006. First place at the National Oratory Contest wins a $18,000 scholarship. Second place at the National Contest wins a $16,000 scholarship and third place will receive a $14,000 scholarship.
2006 SPRING DISTRICT CONVENTION SCHEDULE
Although all District Commanders have not yet provided State Headquarters with the specific sites and times for their respective Spring District Conventions, the following schedule is provided for planning purposes.
District 1 – Tuesday, April 18; District 2 – Wednesday, April 19; District 3 – Thursday, April 20; District 4 – Friday, April 7; District 5 – Thursday, April 27; District 6 – Wednesday, April 26; District 7 – Tuesday, April 25; District 8 – Wednesday, March 29; District 9 – Thursday, March 30, Philip Post 173, Social - 5:30-6:30 p.m. MST, Banquet – 6:30-7:30 p.m. MST, Meetings – 7:30 p.m. MST. All functions at Post Home; District 10 – Friday, March 31; District 11 – Monday, April 3, Lemmon Post 66; District 12 – Saturday, April 1, Piedmont Post 311, 1:00 p.m.; District 13 – Sunday, April 2; District 14 – Thursday, April 6.
Additional information regarding sites and times will be provided as soon as it is available.
REMINDER – A constitutional amendment was passed at the 2005 SD American Legion Department Convention that requires the nomination of Delegates and Alternates for The American Legion National Convention to be made at the individual Spring District Conventions. Under the Constitution of The American Legion, Department of South Dakota (2005), each District is entitled to two (2) Delegates and two (2) Alternates to the National Convention. Any Delegate and/or Alternate slots which are not filled with nominees after the conclusion of each Spring District Convention will be filled as Delegates or Alternates At-Large at the Department’s Annual Convention in Brookings during elections on Sunday, June 18, 2006.
VETERAN LICENSE PLATES
The Veteran Service Organizations of South Dakota have depleted their supply of decals for the “Organizational License Plates” that are currently in use as Veterans License Plates. There are no more of these decals available.
State Headquarters is receiving many phone calls and letters on a daily basis from veterans who are renewing their license plates and want to obtain new decals for these license plates. There are none available and the supply will not be replenished.
The Veteran Service Organizations of South Dakota are working to get two bills passed in the legislature this year.
1) SB 183 – will authorize a true SD Veterans’ License Plate. The plate will be a specialty plate and if the bill passes it enable honorably discharged veterans to obtain a distinctive license plate that has the word “VETERAN” imprinted at the bottom center of the plate. The left side of the plate will be imprinted with the service emblem of the veteran’s choosing; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard. Beneath the service emblem, the veteran will be able to select an imprint from a list of choices that will include things like war era, combat veteran, retired, etc.
These plates will be available after July 1 if the bill is enacted into law. These plates are specialty plates and will require the veteran to have a regular license plate in or on the vehicle at all times. The plates will be special ordered from the county treasurer and the veteran will be charged an additional $10 for the plates.
2) SB 182 – will authorize organizations like The American Legion Department of South Dakota to use their organizational emblems on the current Organizational License Plates. The American Legion Department of South Dakota will be filing the required paperwork to be a recognized organization and to have the option of
utilizing our own emblems on these plates. Again – this option will not be available until July of this year.
Persons who are currently renewing their personal license plates have two choices at this time:
1) Purchase a regular license plate and after SB 183 passes, visit the county treasurer after July 2006, and pay the additional $10 fee to order a SD Veterans License Plate with your service emblem on it.
2) Purchase an organizational license plate and use it until July 2006 without any decal on it. The organizational plates are valid and legal without an organizational decal on them. Then after SB 182 passes, purchase an American Legion Emblem decal from Department Headquarters and affix it to the left hand side of the license plates.
NATIONAL REGIONAL BASEBALL TOURNAMENT BIDS
The American Legion Department of South Dakota has been notified that the Department of Iowa was unable to provide a bid for the 2007 National Regional Baseball Tournament. Therefore, the Department of South Dakota is soliciting bids from Posts that would be interested in hosting the event.
Posts that are interested in submitting a bid should contact The American Legion Department of South Dakota Athletic Commission Chairman, Dan Sudbeck at 605-770-4395 or PO Box 2, Dimock, SD 57331. Bids must be received by March 15, 2006.
BIDS FOR 2007 GOLF AND BOWLING TOURNAMENTS
Bids are being accepted for the 2007 South Dakota American Legion Golf and Bowling tournaments. No bids were received prior to the Department Athletic Commissions meeting in Mitchell on January 22, 2006.
The State Bowling Tournament will be held during three or four weekends in March and/or April 2007.
The State Golf Tournament will be held either the first or third weekend in June 2007. This will ensure that it does not conflict with the 2007 State Convention which will be held on the 2nd weekend in June, 2007.
The deadline for bids has been extended until March 15, 2006.
VETERANS FORUMS
To date, we have conducted a total of 7 Veterans’ Forums covering American Legion Districts 9, 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, and 5. A combined total of 300 veterans, spouses and family members have attended the forums to this point.
We have 4 more Veterans’ Forums scheduled in the month of February starting with District 2 at the Flandreau, SD Community Center on Tuesday, February 14, 2006.
All of our Veterans’ Forums will start at 7 p.m. with the exception of the Wessington Springs, SD Farm & Home Show on Monday, February 20th. This particular forum will be a shortened one hour version with a 10 a.m. start time.
Our Veterans’ Forum schedule for February is as follows: District 2, Tuesday, Feb 14, 06 in Flandreau at the Community Center; District 1, Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 in Sioux Falls at the American Legion Post Home; District 7, Thursday, Feb 16, 06 in Irene at the Community Center and District 6, Monday, Feb 20, 06 in Wessington Springs for their Farm & Home Show from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
LEGIONNAIRE OF THE YEAR SELECTIONS
Nomination forms for each Post Legionnaire of the Year in competition for District and Department Legionnaire of the year are to be submitted to the respective District Commander at least 15 days prior to the District’s Spring Convention meeting.
Posts are reminded to select their Post Legionnaire of the Year if they have not yet done so.
Nomination forms can be found in the 2005-2006 Post Adjutant’s Administrative and Awards Manual, between pages 8 and 9. (Three sheets of white paper contain the instructions, report forms and a suggested worksheet/form to use for scoring the candidates during the selection process.)
Remember that all District Legionnaires are eligible for selection as Department Legionnaire of the Year at the Department Convention in June.
VETERANS COMMISSION AND COUNCIL TO MEET
The South Dakota State Veterans Commission and Veterans Council met this week. Members of the Commission are Paul Evenson, Chairman, of Sioux Falls; Don Clarke, Vice Chairman, of Wessington; Don Loudner of Mitchell; Gene Murphy of Sioux Falls; Bill Locken of Spearfish; and Mike Birnbaum of Sturgis. SD Division of Veterans Affairs Director Dennis Foell also met with the Commission
The Veterans Council met on Tuesday, February 7th and run until no later than 4:00 p.m. Members of the Veterans Council represent the major veterans organizations in the state. The American Legion representatives are Department Commander Phil Anderson of Piedmont, Department Adjutant Ron Boyd of Watertown, and PDC Don Young of Herrick.
Both meetings will be held at the Holiday Inn Express in Ft. Pierre.
THANK YOU BEREAVEMENT NOTE
There were friends and family members who were able to be there
With a warm hug to give…a strong hand to hold…an open ear to listen…a happy memory to share.
And others, though not present, did so much to show they care
With a beautiful note…a generous donation…a delicious meal…a lovely bouquet…
Please know your kindness made this sad time easier to bear.
Thank you from the Family of Harold Dailey.
FROM PIERRE
In order to save space a full description of the legislative bills is not being repeated. Bill titles and description of the bills can be found on the SD Legislative Research Council’s webpage or the reader can reference the Up To Now No. 2915 dated January 25, 2006.
HB 1030 – Passed the House, passed Senate. – enrolled
HB 1067 – Passed the House. In Senate Education Committee.
HB 1089 – Passed the House. In Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 14 – Passed the Senate. In House Health & Human Services.
SB 73 – Passed the Senate. In House Ag & Natural Resources.
SB 151/152 – Passed Senate.
SB 156 – Passed the Senate. In House State Affairs Committee.
SB 182 – Passed the Senate. Passed House Transportation.
SB 183 – Passed the Senate. In House Transportation Committee.
SB 184 – Passed Senate.
SB 191 – No action thus far.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
Posts have until February 13, 2006 to attain 100% and qualify the Post to be eligible to win a ceremonial bugle. Membership must be received by State Headquarters no later than February 13 to qualify.
Two bugles will be awarded. One will be awarded to a Post with less than 200 members One will be awarded to a Post with greater than 200 members.
2006 membership stands at 23,297 or 89.56 %.