W'all be drugged: proposed truck stop plows into conflict of interest

When Ted Hustead the Elder founded Wall Drug in 1931 his family brought catholic clergy to eastern Pennington County who then abused and exploited American Indian children. 

Yet, Wall Drug was part of my foodservice territory from 1981 to 1990 and one day I sold them a thousand cases of french fries and a hundred boxes of beef roasts on another so it was usually my biggest account every year. The late Mike Huether was general manager and sometimes did the ordering but Wall Drug co-owner Rick Hustead did most of the buying. They bought the Dawn doughnut mixes, deep fry shortening, pie fillings and much of their fresh produce needs from me twice a week. 

As Sysco was buying us in 1990 Rick was poking the woman not his wife who ran the ice cream shop in the massive rambling bazaar that is Wall Drug, she herself married to a Badlands National Park supervisor. Rick’s divorce from Kathy who was the pharmacist in the actual drug store was quite the messy affair. 

Rick’s brother Teddy only rarely sat down with me. Later on, their father Bill became too frail to be a practicing druggist but enjoyed being just another relic in the display who wore a white embroidered apothecary’s coat bearing his name until the very end.

In addition to its tourist trap downtown Wall Drug also owns a travel center at Exit 110 on the north side of I-90, today Mike’s brother Marty Huether is Mayor of Wall and Rick Hustead sits on the council. 

I also called on Stan Anderson, who I knew from South Dakota State University. His family owns the Elkton House Restaurant in Wall and he, his brother Dennis (who owns the Wall Dairy Queen last I knew) and their Estes cousins went on to build the Gold Dust Casino in Deadwood. Stan sits on the council, too and owns property, as do the Husteads and Huethers, adjacent to a proposed truck plaza.

Monday evening the Wall City Council meeting was attended by a larger than average group of citizens and business owners, and was held in the community hall to accommodate everyone. Among the issues drawing the larger crowd was an agenda item for the building permit which Oklahoma City based Love’s has applied for, in order to build a truck-stop. This discussion has been ongoing, and has drawn the city into litigation requiring the acquisition of special legal council, at the expense of the City of Wall, and by proxy its taxpayers. At Monday’s meeting Jeff Collins, the attorney representing Love’s called for the council to vote to determine whether conflicts of interest exist for members of Wall City Council in relation to the decision at hand, and potentially prompt members to recuse themselves from the vote. The proposed location on the south side of Interstate-90 near the Kelly addition residential area has drawn criticism from residents of the immediate area, citing a number of potential issues from noise and light pollution, to congestive traffic, safety issues involving how exit 110 is situated, and property value impact. [Pennington County Courant]

Tom Love is a billionaire who could sue Wall Drug and the City of Wall into the dirt.

Above image is of Republican Governor Kristi Noem and Wall Drug's Teddy Hustead.

South Dakota’s culture of corruption is baked right into Pierre’s pay to play pie. Frank Farrar was the architect of South Dakota’s dynasty trust industry. Bill Janklow put it into law then Denny Sanford and Dana Dickhouse Dykwhatever bought the rights and sailed into the sunset. Mrs. Noem is simply the Ghislane Maxwell of South Dakota. Today, South Dakota Republicans have their heads crammed so far into Frank Farrar's colon they can all kiss Teddy on the lips in there.