Hunhoff: Obama visit ignoring 'moral obligations'

SDPB's Dakota Midday discussed President Obama's visit to Watertown and what it means to the community with Mayor Steve Thorson. But some like District 18 Sen. Bernie Hunhoff believe the president could be missing some opportunities in South Dakota.

"Watertown is the right place for the president to shine light on workforce development," he began — before launching into a diatribe about the failure of Washington to address the "150-year-old problem in South Dakota that was directly created by Washington — the seemingly hopeless cycles of poverty and despair in our Native American communities. ... Treaty obligations are not being met — but even worse, moral obligations are being ignored."

Read it here.

Hunhoff said Onward Yankton's call for the 'Next Big Idea' comes down to attracting youth to Yankton.

“Yankton really has two choices because a town our size cannot grow without young people and young families,” Hunhoff said. “There’s really two ways we could (retain youth) in Yankton — we could build a fence around the town and tell you it’s scary outside beyond that fence. ... I don’t think that’d work so well anymore. Or we could build Yankton as the kind of town you want to live in, where young people want to stay or come back to, and that’s the idea behind the big idea. We want to find a big idea that makes Yankton the kind of town everybody wants to come to, everybody wants to live in, everybody wants to stay in.” Hunhoff said ideas like this are critical, not only for the city’s growth, but also for its very survival as well. “All cities our size are suffering a brain drain — especially rural states and rural communities like Yankton — and we’ve got to fight back,” he said. “Communities like Yankton serve a great value, not only to South Dakota, but to the nation.” [Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan]

Hunhoff knows the best way to keep young people is to ask corporations to pay their fair share and fund projects that build trust instead of instill fear.

District 18 Sen. Bernie Hunhoff (D-Yankton) to deliver Mount Marty College commencement address May 9, 2 p.m. in Cimpl Arena on MMC campus.

— Randy Dockendorf (@RDockendorf) April 30, 2015