The Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce must expect all of the action in the 2016 Legislature to happen in the last third of the Session. The Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee has scheduled its three crackerbarrels all three weekends in a row, February 20, February 27, and March 5. Legislators from Districts 1, 2, and 3 will have rolled up six of their nine weeks before having to come before the voting public and explain themselves, which means the first crackerbarrel could run a bit long.
The Chamber is moving this year’s crackerbarrels from their convenient central location in the student union at NSU to the Ramkota out on the edge of town. (For the record, of the five Ramkotas in the state, the only one that sits in a nicer spot than other local lodging is the Pierre Ramkota, right on the river.) Northern is busy remodeling the Johnson Fine Arts Center, and that construction has apparently shifted events into the usual crackerbarrel space.
So mark those dates, neighbors, keep track of the bills fly by, and bring your questions for your legislators on February 20, February 27, and March 5!