The stigmatized site was sold four times at sequentially reduced prices after the first buyer bounced a check to the state, the financing was unworkable or the scope of work proved too great. The State of South Dakota had been removing asbestos, lead paint and other hazardous materials even before Brady Folkens died but progress has been slow as the state's gutted environmental division is ill-equipped to advise developers.
The owner of the three former State Treatment and Rehabilitation (STAR) Academy homes that now sit in the right of way on one of the streets in the subdivision on the property that was at one time STAR Academy said moving the homes has been “more of a challenge than he ever imagined.” At the May 10 meeting of the Custer County Commission Tom McDill joined the meeting via phone from Austin, Texas, saying he has been working on moving the homes and would come to the next commission meeting to discuss the situation. The commission earlier in the meeting passed a motion to authorize state’s attorney Tracy Kelley to serve McDill with a notice saying he must remedy the situation within 30 days by removing the homes from the right of way. McDill said he had earlier discussions with Kelley, saying it’s hard to get served with papers in Austin. [County talks Star Valley nuisances]STAR Academy's predecessors, South Dakota Tuberculosis Sanatorium and Custer State Hospital at Sanator have macabre histories of their own. Custer State Hospital was part of my foodservice territory in the 1980s and early 90s so I heard testimony from several employees who knew of the torture and abuse heaped on clients with disabilities many unable to defend themselves.
A cynical observer might see Republican former Governor Denny Daugaard's decision to close two state-owned boot camps as a vehicle to drive kids into the clutches of the Children's Home Society where he and accused child predator T. Denny Sanford enjoy financial interests.
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