NEWS RELEASE
A Deuel County farmer, Norm Schafer, and the Deuel County Chapter of Dakota Rural Action had applied to the Court for a Writ of Mandamus in which they asked the Court to order the election. The County Commission had refused to honor the Petitions filed by Schafer and Dakota Rural Action, forcing the Plaintiffs to go into Court to ask for the Writ. The attorney for the Petitioners, Sioux Falls lawyer Jim Abourezk said that the new strategy of County Commissions has been to ignore both referendum and initiative petitions filed by county citizens, refusing to call elections as required by law, thus forcing the citizens to hire lawyers and to go into Court. "We had the same strategy pulled on us in Moody County when Dakota Rural Action filed sufficient petitions to have a referendum election, but the County refused. When we went into court to ask that the election be ordered by the Judge, he ruled against us, forcing us to go all the way up to the South Dakota Supreme Court. We are still waiting for that decision," Abourezk said. Norm Schafer, the named Plaintiff in the Deuel County action, said he was very happy that the Court has come down in favor of local control. "We all believe that large scale operations hurt the economy by driving out small farmers and their families and replacing them with low wage laborers who do not benefit the economy of the small towns like the family farmers do. Now we need to get out the vote when the election is held." Schafer concluded. The two Initiative petitions which were filed with the Deuel County Auditor established new setback distances for shelter belts and for feedlots from roadways, established residences and private wells. |