Yankton County faces a secession movement from four townships making up the northeastern quarter-plus of the county.
Continuing the farm-entitlement mindset, farmers in Mayfield, Turkey Valley, Walshtown, and Marindahl townships want to escape Yankton County regulations on big animal feedlots in order to enjoy the apparent relative anarchy—or at least more business- and pollution-friendly regime—of Turner County, which is home to former Ag Secretary and big socialist CAFO operator Walt Bones.
If I were Yankton County, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bunch of CAFOs up and leave… but only if they could take their stink and water pollution with them. Alas, you can change the boundaries, but you can’t change the wind and the impact on property values of living next to giant sewage pits.
If these pro-CAFO secessionists get around to votes, they’ll need to follow the rules laid out in Chapter 7-2 of South Dakota Codified Law. Fifteen percent of registered voters in Yankton County and fifteen percent of registered voters in Turner County would have to sign and submit petitions to their respective county auditors before the first regular July meeting of their respective county commissions. Each commission would place the boundary change initiative on its county’s general election ballot. Win a majority vote in each county, and the map changes effective January 1, 2021.
Note that majority vote requirement. Yankton County has 13,721 registered voters. I estimate 8,800 of those voters—64% of the county total—live in the city of Yankton. Those farm secessionists will need to make a pretty compelling case to their city neighbors to let go of more than a quarter of the county’s land area and all of its richly taxable agricultural land in return for more stink blowing and flowing their way.
I saw there was a meeting about this. I didn’t know the reason so now I wish I had gone. I’m practically in the next township over and already live way too close to 2 huge Dairy operations. I will be sure to vote however.
CAFO-mania aside, has anybody asked Turner County if they actually want to assume responsibility for those four townships and their roads and infrastructure?
I don’t have the figures at hand, but I’m confident the Yankton County tax base is predominantly centered on Yankton city and the Lewis & Clark Lake area, not the four townships in the northeast corner. Also, if memory serves, when the county has previously tried to raise revenue to maintain roads, the city of Yankton supported it more than the outlying areas of the county.
There are rumors that Odessa and Jamesville townships want to move to Hutchinson County. But that would mean Hutchinson County would have to take on the cost of replacing two bridges over the Jim River. Good luck with that.
This want for change is not to build more cafos, and the small family farms in these townships want to get out of the county due to the drama of the county vs cafo operations potentially affecting their small operations. Can the county guarantee there that there are not going to be change(s) in ordinances/zoning, etc. in the future to stop or slow down the cafos (whether right or wrong)? Ag ordinances if changes affect all of the other farmers trying to make a living. Or the young couple trying to start farming but may have to pay permits for the animals they buy to start their family farm?
And turned county seemed in favor of taking on these townships after hearing the amount of tax money the county gets from them and in no way usues that money for those township’s benefit.
Interesting side note:
The lawyer, who represents most of the CAFO Farmers in Yankton County, was the one explaining how to secede from Yankton County. He also said that one thing has nothing to do with the other. Um…something else stinks in this whole matter!
Yes, correct Paul Harens …Karl Shenk Owner Of Nine Count em 9 C.A.F.O. Hog Barns it is one of his Attorneys who was explaining ….Managed to get me kicked off from voting as the claim I am a Bias against Hog Barns because I post on Face a Book..I post a lot of stuff on Face Book..Plus Karl Skenk lives in Dakota Dune about 60 Count em 60 miles away from his 9 Hog Barns…Kettering and a Loest are Commissioners and they LOVE HOG BARNS..LOEST also Loves Kristy Noem …She is now Chairman Loest as of last night…Watch me get banned again..Gary Swensen Yankton County Commissioner…Definition Of Bias is Also CLOSED MINDED …CHAIRMAN LOEST AND DON KETTERING HOG BARN LOVERS…Peace be with you…EVERY THING IN MODERATION DAD ALWAYS SAID Yankton County Farmer….Luvern Swensen…
….
Gary Swensen……..WATER IS LIFE….3-3-3 RULE…..
3 Weeks without food your dead………….3 minutes without Oxygen your Dead……..and 3 Days without Drinking Water your DEAD……… WATER IS LIFE…..
.About 74 percent of the Earth is Water yet only about 2 percent is Drinkable …..most drinking water comes from…..Streams, Rivers, Lakes, and Underground Wells…..
……..WATER IS LIFE…..
Gary Swensen Yankton County Commissioner ……(I) Independent…..
Cathy, are those rumored secessions for the same pro-CAFO reasons?
Chris, I really want to hear more about the fiscal side of this proposed secession. Would the tax base Yankton County loses be offset by much lower road maintenance costs?
Does Yankton County have a breakdown of tax revenues that would show how much comes from town and from each township?
Commissioner Swensen, if those commissioners are CAFO-friendly, do those CAFO advocates need to secede? Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper for them to just recruit a couple more commission candidates to do their bidding on the commission?
…..
Cory Allen Hiedelburger….2018 Election…..Last election year …three Commissioners who were C.A.F.O. LOVERs GOT BOOTED OUT of Office TOAD WOODS, RAY EPP, AND DEB BODENSTAT
This is a poorly researched article at best .I see you did your homework and investigated what’s really going on . Dakota free press is another liberal joke in the making . Get your facts straight. Sincerely the entitled farmer
Cory, from what I’ve heard the answer is yes. But it’s all in the rumor stage right now.
Gary, that has to be one of the most difficult posts I’ve ever read on here. Rambling and making little coherent sense. I don’t know you but based off these writings I find you less than credible.
On a different note I didn’t know the process for changing county boundaries. I think we should merge several counties. With technology we can do most of our county business online there’s no need to be close to the county business center.
Innersting, as my Missouri Aunt Rita used to say. I think I’ll follow along here.
Ah, so the CAFO proponents see they don’t have the voters’ support, so, like our Legislature, they try gerrymandering to choose a more favorable set of voters.
A check of USGS data suggests that the northeastern part of Yankton County is in the Vermillion River watershed, while the rest of the county is in the James River watershed. So if Yankton city voters looked at the issue very narrowly, could they say, who cares what those townships do with their poop; it’ll run to Vermillion, not our water?
Oops—I checked the map Yankton County makes available through Beacon: All of Turkey valley and Marindahl appear to be in the Vermillion watershed, but about a third of Mayfield and two thirds of Walshtown are in the James watershed.
A wind farm is in development in Turner County that would also spillover into Turkey Valley township (so far). No one has mentioned if that is part of the equation or not.
Hey, Chad, instead of just throwing lazy insults, why not take a moment, as I have, and educate us? What did I get wrong about the secession movement or the rules applying to the petition/election process?
CAFOs aren’t helping the rural economies.
“Rural America is ‘the new inner city,’ said Beth Ford, the CEO of Land O’Lakes, and it needs significant investment.”
She lists about the ag economy:
1. Consolidation is happening across agriculture because of oversupply.
2. Widows own about 60% of the farmland in Iowa.
3. Dairy farmers survive by taking other jobs.
4. Farmers are raising wages for help, but can’t find people who want to do the work.
5. She views rural America as ‘the new inner city.’
“The rural communities where farmers live lack investment,” Ford said.
Rural America is struggling with hospital closures, doctor shortages and a lack of quality fresh food, she said. Telemedicine could be a solution on health care, but about 19 million rural Americans don’t have access to high-speed internet.
“We need like a 1930s rural electric initiative going across this country,” she said. “It’s about a $150 billion gap to close this. And it shouldn’t be a jump ball between USDA and FCC, and the states are looking in the couches for pennies and quarters to fill the gap. This should be a priority for an infrastructure investment.”
Taking all this into account, Ford said, “I talk about rural America as the new inner city, because of lack of investment, because of lack of focus.”
Rural Americans comprise 44% of the military, and the country needs to invest in their communities, Ford said.
“If we don’t do that, in the next number of years, we will lose rural America,” she said. “The towns are rolling up on us. That is the truth, and we don’t want that.”
6. Big corn and soybeans aren’t going away soon.
7. She backed government subsidies for farmers.
8. She razzed Cargill.
9. Economies of scale are winning in farming.
10. She prefers meat hamburgers to plant-based.
is.gd/XzSKgP