Bluestem Prairie

Update: "Front Row Joe" convicted of public nuisance & trespassing in unattended dog case

Randal Thom of Lakefield, joined in State Representative Jeremy Munson's Facebook picture(above), first came to our attention when Lakefield's "Front Row Joe" arrested for disorderly conduct at Elizabeth Warren event in early January.

Following that episode, Thom gained national attention in mid-February, when he implied his dog, Donald Trump, was shot and killed because of the dog's name. As we reported in Warren rally disorderly conduct guy from Lakefield in news again for livestock-chasing dog, the at-large dog was shot by neighbors' defending their livestock.

In April, we posted "Front Row Joe" arraigned after his dogs slaughter cats, goats & flock of chickens in an additional episode in March:

Now Thom's back in the news with the Worthington Globe report by Alyssa Sobotka about two late February and March incidents, Rural Lakefield man faces charges following barnyard slaughter,that

A Lakefield man who made international headlines earlier this year following the death of his dog Donald J. Trump appeared this week in Jackson County District Court on criminal cases related to alleged continued nuisance by his Alaskan Malamute dogs.

According to court records, Randall Thom, 59, was arraigned in two criminal cases related to the death of nearly two dozen chickens, two goats and at least two cats that allegedly occurred as a result of three separate attacks from his unattended dogs. The incidents occurred after the Feb. 10 death of his Malamute named after the 45th president was rumored to have been killed in politically motivated gunfire. The death garnered more than $3,800 in donations on a GoFundMe page. . . .

Sobotka reports Saturday in Lakefield man sentenced in dog nuisance case:

Lakefield man was convicted earlier this month of two charges related to property damage caused by his unattended dogs.

Randal J. Thom, 59, was convicted of public nuisance and trespassing, both misdemeanors, related to a March barnyard attack on a rural Lakefield farm. Nearly two dozen chickens and two goats died, with others injured, due to Thom's Alaskan Malamute dogs. [In a separate incident in February] Thom's dog, named after president Donald Trump, was shot, and the incident gained international attention.

He was ordered to 90 days in jail, which will be stayed for up to one year on supervised probation. He was ordered to pay a $225 fine and $485 restitution to the owners of the barnyard animals.

The condition of Thom's probation includes abiding by all laws and regulations related to kennels and breeding of dogs within Jackson County ordinances.

Let's hope this is the end of fear for Thom's neighbors, their pets and livestock, as well as safe and secure lives for his own dogs.

Photo: New Republican Jeremy Munson, Lake Crystal, was thrilled to be photographed with gentle-as-a-lamb dog owner Thom before a Trump rally in Rochester, MN.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

News digest: CoreCivic courtship of ICE for immigrant detention in Appleton draws notice

While we were gathering eggs and picking tomatoes on Friday, a couple of developments transpired in the case of Tennessee-based private prison corporation CoreCivic's efforts to gain a contract with ICE to detain immigrants in the shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton.

As we posted earlier in Land Stewardship Project: LSP member leaders oppose ICE detention facility at Appleton prison and West Central Tribune coverage of opposition to possible use of Appleton CoreCivic prison by ICE, citizens in West Central Minnesota opposed to the plan are organizing, and it appears they've gotten the attention of DFL lawmakers.

As for the Republicans in the Minnesota legislature, we suspect that CoreCivic's federal PAC has their attention. We earlier posted MN Republican Senate & House federal PACs took $5000 from CoreCivic PAC in 2018.

As a federal political action committee,  CoreCivic's PAC can't give directly to the state level campaigns, but we're thinking where there's a will there's a revenue path.

MPR coverage

At Minnesota Public Radio, Riham Feshir reported Friday in Detainees wanted: Minnesota's closed private prison eyes a deal with ICE:

For nearly 10 years, owners of a shuttered prison in western Minnesota have been keen on bringing inmates back.

They want to fill the former Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minn., and its 1,600 empty beds. One idea the private company has turned to is reopening the prison as a federal immigrant detention center.

It’s hard to say how likely that would be — any negotiations between the facility’s owner, CoreCivic, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, are private. But the proposals have divided this town of 1,300, and alarmed some residents who say the firm is too focused on profit and has a national track record of mistreating inmates.

Putting an ICE detention facility in an agricultural town that relies on immigrants “is not who we are,” said Amy Bacigalupo, an activist leading the effort to stop a proposed contract with ICE. “We are an inclusive and welcoming community, and immigrants are really important in our community.” . . .

It's no different in this part of South Dakota, where large dairies operate as part of the I-29 corridor dairy industry expansion.

Read the entire article at MPR. Tom Cherveny's April report in the West Central Tribune, Appleton prison still at the ready, Local officials remain committed to Prairie Correctional Facility, is worth noting for this aspect of the issue--which should nips "Orange is the New Black" storylines of mixed detainee and criminal populations in the bud:

However, ideas being floated around to possibly hold some county jail inmates in the facility while sharing it with either state inmates or federal detainees are not very likely. State regulations make it very difficult if not impossible to house county inmates in a facility where inmates from other jurisdictions are present, according to Swift County Sheriff John Holtz.

Federal rules are just as stringent. Hendickx said ICE requires a physical barrier if different jurisdictions share a facility. It means that even in the administration area, a wall would have to be built to separate workers dealing with inmates from different jurisdictions.

DFL lawmakers step up to ban for-profit ICE centers in Minnesota

Fox 9 reports in State lawmakers want to ban for-profit ICE centers in Minnesota:

A new bill, being proposed by Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, would ban ICE from using for-profit detention centers in the state.

The push comes after a report that a private prison in Appleton, Minnesota was looking to turn its facility into an ICE center. The law follows in the footsteps of another bill proposed this year that would ban private prisons in Minnesota.

"Profiting from the detention of immigrant families is immoral, wrong, and has no place in the State of Minnesota," wrote Rep. Michael Howard, one of the bill's sponsors, in a statement.

Lawmakers hope to pass the proposal during the 2020 legislative session.

The legislation comes following a failed bid by Sherburne County to house more immigration detainees at its jail. Officials say ICE withdrew its request for proposals.

Here's the press release from the sponsors:

State Representatives Michael Howard (DFL-Richfield) and Aisha Gomez (DFL-Minneapolis) today announced plans to introduce legislation next session banning for-profit ICE detention centers from operating in the State of Minnesota. MPR News reported today that a private prison company in Appleton, MN is actively lobbying public officials to repurpose its facility as an immigrant detention center (“Detainees wanted: Minnesota's closed private prison eyes a deal with ICE”).

“Profiting from the detention of immigrant families is immoral, wrong, and has no place in the State of Minnesota,” said Rep. Howard. “The aggressive and expanding presence of ICE in my community and across the state is causing trauma for too many families and that will only worsen if we permit more cages to be built and operated by a for-profit company. We need to say loud and clear – not in Minnesota.”

“We should prevent private prison companies from making a profit by locking up moms, dads, and children in cages,” said Rep. Aisha Gomez. “We’ve all seen the cruel and inhumane treatment of families on our southern border, and we cannot allow it to spread to our own backyard.”

This year, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) authored legislation to ban private prisons from operating in Minnesota. Howard and Gomez said a ban on for-profit ICE detention centers is a natural extension of that important legislation. In June 2019, Illinois became the first state to pass legislation banning for-profit ICE detention centers. Reps. Howard and Gomez want Minnesota to follow suit during the 2020 session.

We'll keep readers advised of developments, and try as hard as we can to follow the money.

Photo: The prison in Appleton.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

Editorial review: South Dakota should learn to walk & chew gum with regard to industrial hemp

Bluestem looked at South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's heel-dragging on industrial hemp agriculture on August 19 in Knowns & unknowns: SD Gov. Kristi Noem goes full-bore Donald Rumsfeld on industrial hemp.

Since then, news has broken about a driver arrested for transporting hemp from Colorado to Minnesota, a Dakotafest panel considered the debate over growing the benign weed, and editorial boards across the state have grown snarky toward Noem's position.

The pull-over and arrest

In USDA said states can't block hemp drivers. So what happened in South Dakota?, Forum communications capitol reporter Dana Ferguson reported:

Colorado driver hauling nearly 300 pounds of hemp to Minnesota was pulled over last month in South Dakota despite an order from the U.S. Department of Agriculture not to block hemp shipments.

South Dakota troopers on July 16 pulled over Robert Herzberg, 41, as he transported hemp to Minneapolis, a Minnesota hemp trade group said and South Dakota Public Safety Secretary Craig Price confirmed to lawmakers on Monday, Aug. 19.

Herzberg was pulled over and charged with possession of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute, unauthorized ingestion of a controlled substance and ingesting a substance, according to an amended complaint filed Tuesday in Jackson County. A trooper in his report of the arrest said he smelled marijuana in the vehicle when he pulled Herzberg over for speeding and upon inspecting the rental car found two white grain bags full of a "green leafy substance" that appeared to be raw marijuana.

"This person who was driving faces very severe criminal penalties if they’re prosecuted under the existing marijuana laws, and that would be sort of a personal tragedy on that level,” said Joe Radinovich, executive director of the Minnesota Hemp Association. “My expectation is that when South Dakota can move forward with testing this material that they’ll find out that it is legally grown and certified hemp and that they’ll drop those criminal charges.”

Under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp was legalized at the federal level and terms were set for its growth, transport and sale. Hemp and cannabis are in the same family, but industrial hemp plants can't contain more than 0.3% THC, the ingredient that causes psychological effects in marijuana, under federal law.

And in May, the USDA issued a memo clarifying that states, Native American tribes and other sovereign nations have the right to bypass legalizing hemp, but they can't block the transportation of hemp through a state or tribal territory.

Public Safety Secretary Price on Monday told state lawmakers that a field-test marked the bud positive for marijuana and for THC, but police have had trouble finding a lab to test the 292 pounds of hemp for THC content.

Meanwhile, the loss to the Minnesota-based extractor company expecting the hemp exceeded $36,000 for the seized buds and legal fees, Radinovich said. The estimated value of that hemp after processing was $100,000.

“The member involved here did nothing wrong,” Radinovich said. Despite that, the association told members to bypass South Dakota for the time being, he said. . . .

Forty-seven states have approved the growth of industrial hemp, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But South Dakota remains among the few that haven't. Gov. Kristi Noem earlier this year vetoed a proposal to legalize industrial hemp. . . .

The Dakotafest panel

We'd mentioned that the dirty hippies running Farmfest in Minnesota (an LLC owned by the American Farm Bureau Federation) featured a hemp growing demonstration plot. Things were not so blooming in South Dakota's version of the farm show, Dakotafest.

In the Rapid  City Journal, Forum News Service's Ellen Bardash reports in South Dakota's hemp debate moves to Dakotafest:

South Dakota's ongoing conversation about the possibility of legalizing industrial hemp took center stage Wednesday morning at a Dakotafest panel in Mitchell.

The majority of the discussion, like that around House Bill 1191 that was vetoed in March by Gov. Kristi Noem, centered around how hemp might be regulated if a program were to begin in South Dakota and whether the potential benefits to farmers outweigh the strain it could put on law enforcement.

"We've had the benefit, and will have the benefit, of relying on states like Minnesota, North Dakota, Kentucky, even Colorado — they're the ones that have been doing this for the past five years," said Rep. Oren Lesmeister, R-Parade, the primary sponsor of HB 1191. "We will learn from their mistakes. We'll take that into account. The issues that keep arising, I think we can deal with them. I think we'll be fine."

South Dakota is one of three states that does not allow hemp to be grown. The others are Idaho and Mississippi.

South Dakota House of Representatives Majority Leader Lee Qualm, R-Platte, said there are a number of benefits that South Dakotans could reap with legal hemp, both because of the plant's variety of uses after it's harvested and because of the economic effects it could have on the farmers who choose to plant it.

"This is an agricultural product that we're trying to deal with," he said. "Will it have social implications? Yeah, it probably will, because of the nature of the beast. But with that said, I don't think it's things that we can't overcome, that we can't deal with, that we can't work with."

Indeed, 47 states seem to have found a path forward. Bardash continues:

Craig Price, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, said legalizing hemp would put the state's law enforcement officers in a difficult position, as there is currently no technology that would allow them to distinguish hemp from marijuana without sending a sample to a lab and waiting for the results.

Current law enforcement equipment can test for the presence of THC, but not the concentration, which is what differentiates hemp from marijuana. The two products come from the same plant, but a plant with less than 0.3% of THC is hemp, and anything above that percentage is considered marijuana. . . .

Price also expressed concern that legalizing hemp could lead to the decriminalization of marijuana, either as a legislative stepping stone or by causing prosecutors to pursue fewer marijuana-related cases once they have to take the time to prove that a substance is marijuana and not hemp. Lesmeister and Qualm both said they would not support the decriminalization of medical or recreational marijuana.

"I think that we're in a very good position in South Dakota," Price said. "We've held a firm line where we haven't taken that step towards the legalization of marijuana, either recreational or medical, and I'm just really cautious on taking any steps which might lead towards that. I believe this could be one of those steps." . . .

Okay then.

Editorial boards share embarrassment

Editorial boards across the state are not pleased with the Noem administration's inability to walk and chew gum for an agricultural issue 47 other states have managed to tackle. The Rapid City Journal editorial board writes in OURS: Noem should present genuine arguments against legal hemp:

If Gov. Kristi Noem’s team could brainstorm 50 additional questions to impede the legalization of industrial hemp, she could create a novelty calendar covering all 365 days.

Question No. 1 for Jan. 1: “What will USDA requirements be for testing protocols?”

No. 236 for Aug. 23: “How long will plants be allowed to be stored?”

No. 315 for Nov. 10: “Do troopers process the tests or are other staff required to complete the process?”

Not that a hemp calendar would sell any better than Noem’s recent list of 315 questions did to a key Republican.

“It wasn’t questions that were really relevant to where we are at,” said House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, explaining why he didn’t pass them along to members of the Industrial Hemp Summer Study.

Legislators seldom deal with this level of granular detail. Bureaucrats do. Lawmakers address the big picture with help from experienced professionals.

And officials from states actually working with hemp programs testified they have encountered no difficulties with hemp implementation, and no blurring of lines between industrial hemp programs and efforts to legalize marijuana. Zero problems raised by officials who have worked with something will always outweigh 315 potential problems from those who have not.

“I’m not trying to encourage or discourage anybody from growing it; I’m just trying to give ‘em the facts,” said Doug Goehring, North Dakota commissioner of agriculture. . . .

Read the rest at the Journal. The editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader write in Editorial: Time to end Noem's 'reefer madness':

Every so often, a news story emerges from South Dakota that underscores the relative lack of enlightenment among state leadership. The fact that we’ve become accustomed to it doesn’t mean it should continue.

The latest face palm occurred when a Minnesota hemp delivery driver was pulled over while transporting nearly 300 pounds of industrial hemp through South Dakota in July. He was arrested and charged with marijuana possession after a state trooper found two bags full of a “green leafy substance” that the driver was transporting from Denver to a processor in Minneapolis.

City Council: Sioux Falls would benefit from hemp

The Minnesota Hemp Association quickly called out South Dakota for violating the 2018 Farm Bill, which federally legalized industrial hemp to be used in products such as clothing, food and construction materials. Federal guidelines assert that states cannot prohibit interstate transportation of hemp that meets legal standards, including a low threshold of THC, the substance that produces the “high” associated with marijuana.

That’s not a problem in most cases, since 47 states have passed laws to allow for industrial hemp cultivation and production, giving farmers an alternate crop and revenue source in challenging times. . . .

There's more at the Argus Leader. In the Vermillion Plain Talk, columnist David Lias writes in Please Remember, Gov. Noem: Marijuana And Hemp Are Not The Same:

Let’s take a look at what’s going on in Colorado’s agriculture industry right now.

Blue Forest Farms used to grow hundreds of acres of kale, squash and pumpkins. But it has since switched its focus to a different cash crop: hemp.

The farm, which is located in Erie, Colorado, has dedicated 150 acres to growing hemp so far -- and it's still planting. "We're now expanding it to 1,000 acres," said McKenzie Mann, Blue Forest's production manager in a CNN Business report published last April.

About 500 acres will come from land previously used to grow kale and squash.

Farmers across the United States have been rushing into hemp ever since President Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill into law last December. The legislation removed hemp from the government's controlled drug category, triggering a surge in demand for cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical that is derived from hemp and marijuana plants.

CBD is non-psychoactive, meaning it won't get you high. (THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical in cannabis that does that). Instead, CBD extracted from hemp is marketed for everything from pain relief to reducing inflammation, stress and anxiety and it is sold in an array of products from shampoos and oils to pet treats and granola.

We wish we could say there’s a rush going on in South Dakota, too. But there’s not. Our state currently seems mired, instead, in a painfully slow, molasses in January, herd of snails through peanut butter process that appears to be far from reaching a conclusion.

The South Dakota Legislature passed a bill to legalize industrial hemp during the 2019 session earlier this year, but Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed it.

South Dakota lawmakers are currently conducting a summer study of the issue, gathering information so that legislation can be crafted that hopefully will satisfy South Dakota lawmakers and the governor. . . .

South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke said members of his organization are watching the process closely.

"Legalizing the growing of industrial hemp has been part of our policy since 2018, because our family farmers and ranchers need new opportunities. And industrial hemp is a new, potentially high-value opportunity," he said in a statement.

We suggest that Gov. Noem adopt the same stance as Kentucky’s state agriculture commissioner: commit South Dakota to treating hemp as a farm commodity and not as a step toward legal marijuana.

Seriously, Noem's stance about a valuable farm product is not merely a face-palm moment, but a slap in the face to farmers, who could use a valuable crop to add to their rotations. And it's not a partisan issue. Uffda.

Photo: Kristi Noem, the governor with Michele Bachmann eyes. She says the state has more questions than answers when it comes to industrial hemp and that “Other states are struggling to implement their industrial hemp laws," according to Noem has hundreds of questions about industrial hemp. Photo credit:SD Gov/MGN via KOTA TV.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

Freedom Club running internet ad for Munson

Last week, we posted about former state representative Tony Cornish's consideration of another run for his office in Rosen's July 4th parade unit driver may seek old #mnleg seat; or the sorrows of young Munson.

Cornish had retired after accounts of his sexual harassment of a fellow representative and a lobbyist emerged. Jeremy Munson, New Republican-Lake Crystal, gained in a February 2018 special election for the seat.

At the Mankato Free Press, Trey Mewes reported in Cornish considering run for former House seat:

Former Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, is mulling a return to St. Paul.

Cornish confirmed Wednesday he is considering running for his old House District 23B seat in the Minnesota Legislature, saying he believes more needs to be done to address area residents’ needs at the Capitol.

“I’m not happy with how things are being handled in my district,” he said.

Cornish, once a powerful lawmaker who chaired the House public safety committee, resigned in November 2017 after he was accused of sexual harassment by several women.

If he runs next year, he won’t be the first state lawmaker accused of sexual harassment in the U.S. to run for their old job — at least 25 state lawmakers across the country ran in 2018. Yet Cornish’s run also threatens to expose a schism between House Republicans and far-right conservatives. . . .

Cornish acknowledged his seniority is part of why he’s thinking of running for a House seat, but he said he took back his promise not to run against Munson after he heard Munson refused to author several local infrastructure bills for sewer and wastewater projects. Cornish also said he’s concerned Munson doesn’t show up to community events or visit with residents enough.

“The lack of his presence in his district and complaints from citizens and city officials caused me to take back my statement,” Cornish said.

Munson confirmed Rosen was likely “not a fan” of his as he has repeatedly voted against omnibus bills, including a $1 billion infrastructure bill in 2018. He said he opposed the bill as it had too many non-essential projects the government shouldn’t borrow money to fund. . . .

Munson said Rosen has taken up infrastructure proposals within the district and sought out Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, to author the House bill for several projects, including a St. James sewer project and additional money to build a new water treatment plant in Waldorf.

Munson said he supports wastewater funding and was involved in the early stages of securing funding to help clean up Lake Elysian, as well as a bill to help Rapidan Township with ditch cleanup funding.

Rosen disputed Munson’s account Wednesday afternoon. She said she hasn’t worked with Munson on any legislation thus far, including local infrastructure.

“He could have put a bill in and then you match them up,” Rosen said. “But he is not asking for advice, and he hasn’t been around long enough to understand the game and how it’s played.”

Rosen also said Munson should have voted for the infrastructure bill as it contained projects for small towns in his district.

“If you’re listening to your constituents, you’re going to support a bonding bill if there’s projects that are in there such as wastewater and sewer,” she said. “Those are crucial to a community and its vitality.”

The constituent who sent us the Freedom Club online ad touting a different part of Munson's record, wrote in an email that "This showed up on the scroll while I was reading the morning papers on the internet." Our correspondent agrees with Rosen's assessment of Munson's legislative record and lack of attention to the needs of the district.

Obviously, a group of wealthy business people disagrees. The Freedom Club state PAC is regulated by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

The latest data available is for 2018; the group's year-end report notes that it gave two $1000 direct contributions to Munson (one for the special election; the second for the general election). The group spent $41,925.11 in independent expenditures supporting Munson, while dropping a mere $1,382.99 against his DFL opponent in the special election.

Looking back to election year contributions to candidates, we were not able to find a contribution to Tony Cornish by the Freedom Club state PAC.

Looks like the Freedom Club is hoping to protect its investment early.

UPDATE, August 21, 2019: In the discussion of spending above, we realized that we had been talking about Freedom Club State PAC spending. This PAC is regulated by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, but the ad itself doesn't feature a disclosure statement for the PAC. We asked MCFB executive director Jeff Sigurdson about the rules regulating an ad such as this one. Via email, he replied:

Good question, the advertisement does not include any of the words of express advocacy, so the advertisement does not need to be reported as an independent expenditure.   If an advertisement is not an independent expenditure, then the advertisement does not need any type of campaign disclaimer.     

However, you may want to see what happens if you click on the actual online advertisement.   The disclaimer requirement may be met by having a link from the online advertisement to a webpage that contains the full disclaimer.     It is possible that the Freedom Club political committee did pay for the advertisement, and will report the expenditure on the year end report.   Because no words of express advocacy were used, I think that is unlikely. 

We'll ask our source if they are willing and still able to click on the ad and what they see. [end update]

Screengrab: A Munson constituent sent us this internet ad that crept into his news feed.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

Knowns & unknowns: SD Gov. Kristi Noem goes full-bore Donald Rumsfeld on industrial hemp

A phrase in the KSFY report, Noem urged caution on industrial hemp ahead of committee meeting,"Noem . . . [asked] lawmakers to consider the "unknowns" surrounding industrial hemp," reminded us of an unforgettable moment in former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's discourse.

In 2002, Rumsfeld said:

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

Is South Dakota's governor attempting to perform an analysis technique known as the Johari window? We dug deeper.

Rapid City Journal staff reported in Noem submits 315 hemp questions to group studying legalization:

Gov. Kristi Noem has submitted a list of 315 questions to state House and Senate leaders involved in a summer hemp study, her office said Monday.

During a session Monday in Pierre, Noem’s administration planned to urge legislators to consider the unknowns surrounding potential legalization of industrial hemp. . . .

Noem vetoed a bill last winter that would have legalized industrial hemp in South Dakota after the 2018 farm bill adopted by Congress authorized states to adopt their own hemp regulations.

Many other states had already allowed experimental hemp-growing that was authorized by the 2014 farm bill, and others have rushed to legalize industrial hemp since the passage of the 2018 farm bill. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, South Dakota is now one of three states (plus the District of Columbia) that does not allow any hemp cultivation — although some cultivation is occurring on Native American reservations in South Dakota, where growers have asserted rights under federal laws. . . .

Meanwhile, a Monday news release from the South Dakota Farmers Union said it is working with legislators to develop an industrial hemp bill to win Noem's approval in 2020.

The Farmers Union said several legislators met Monday in Pierre with Doug Goehring, the North Dakota commissioner of agriculture, and with leaders from other states where industrial hemp is legal. . . .

Read a PDF of Noem's 315 questions at the Park City paper; the press release announcing the questions is here on the South Dakota governor's site. Drug sniffing dogs are involved.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, those dirty hippies at Farmfest (run by IDEAg Group, a Delaware Limited Liability Company that's part of the American Farm Bureau Federation) explored unknowns using much more hands-on approach, IDEAg noted in Farmfest 2019 to Feature Industrial Hemp Demo Plot.

The Marshall Independent reported in Hemp plot draws interest at Farmfest:

Farmers roamed an industrial hemp plot in the warm sunshine at the southwest corner of the Farmfest grounds Tuesday.

With the cultivation of industrial hemp now legalized, a number of newly-created hemp businesses advertised themselves in a nearby tent, touting the industry as having great appeal and profit potential.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture issued an estimated 310 grower licenses as of July 2019 for producers togrow hemp on an estimated 8,000 acres of land.

It all began with the 2014 Farm Bill that allowed states to run pilot programs to study the grow, cultivation and marketing of industrial hemp.

Minnesota legislators followed suit in 2015, passing the Industrial Hemp Development Act that mirrored the 2014 Farm Bill.

The 2018 Farm Bill legalized the production of hemp nationwide for commercial purposes. It officially removed hemp from the definition of marijuana in the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) now has purview over hemp and recognizes it as an agricultural commodity. The USDA oversees state programs and gives program guidance.

Minnesota will move into a commercial licensing hemp program starting in 2020 but growers will still need a license to legally grow or process hemp through the MDA. Applicants will submit research proposals and field locations, undergo a criminal history background check, and pay program fees.

At the end of the growing season, licenses are required to report agronomic, processing and marketing findings. All fields are sampled within 30 days of harvest by MDA inspectors. Plant samples are tested for total THC concentration to ensure compliance with statutory industrial hemp definition.

Growers and processors are looking to cash in on the lucrative cannabidiol (CBD) market while prices remain high and regulations are few. . . .

But in South Dakota, it's more important to fret about the children. In Minnesota, Forum Communications Dana Ferguson reported in Hemp, hop crops generate strong buzz, sobering reality check at Farmfest:

A day earlier, U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson at a congressional listening session at Farmfest said hemp's future as a Minnesota crop could be promising, but it could also burn out if not enough processors step in to buy the plants.

“I think there’s more interest in hemp than anything I’ve ever seen,” Peterson said. “If everybody buys hemp that is talking about it, you are going to collapse that market and screw that up."

Overproduction a problem in agriculture? Perish the thought of that known.

Photo: Kristi Noem, the governor with Michele Bachmann eyes. She says the state has more questions than answers when it comes to industrial hemp and that “Other states are struggling to implement their industrial hemp laws," according to Noem has hundreds of questions about industrial hemp. Photo credit:SD Gov/MGN via KOTA TV.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

West Central Tribune coverage of opposition to possible use of Appleton CoreCivic prison by ICE

On Thursday, we noted a post by Land Stewardship Project: LSP member leaders oppose ICE detention facility at Appleton prison.

We overlooked Tom Cherveny's typically fine reportage in the West Central Tribune, Opposition forms to possible use of Appleton prison by ICE:

Opposition is forming to stop a bid by CoreCivic to open a portion of its former Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton as a detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

More than 160 people attended a meeting Tuesday evening in Appleton called by an informal network of people who oppose the former prison's possible use as an ICE detention center.

Calling it “morally unjust and not compatible with Minnesota values,” organizer Amy Bacigalupo of Montevideo said a petition will be circulated and presented to legislators, county commissioners and city council members in the area. It will let them know that many in the region are opposed to the possible use of the facility as a detention center, Bacigalupo told the crowd.

She acknowledged that a decision on its use will not likely be a local one. If it happens, she said the opponents intend to organize and protest.

“We have learned over and over again that ICE holds immigrants and exiles in abusive and inhumane conditions. We oppose that,” said Athena Kildegaard of Morris, one of the organizers who addressed the crowd.

CoreCivic told elected officials who toured the shuttered facility in April that it was submitting a bid to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house up to 500 detainees in the St. Paul region. If the bid is awarded, detainees would arrive in 2021, Kelly Durham, state partnership relations representative with CoreCivic, told the elected officials in April. . . .

Read the entire article at the West Central Tribune.

Photo: The fence around CoreCivic's private prison at Appleton. Corrections Corporation of America rebranded itself as CoreCivic several years ago. We looked at some of the corporation's political giving in Minnesota in MN Republican Senate & House federal PACs took $5000 from CoreCivic PAC in 2018.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

Land Stewardship Project: LSP member leaders oppose ICE detention facility at Appleton prison

Earlier this week, we posted Opposition to CoreCivic bid to re-open Appleton Prison as ICE detention center meet to Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Land Stewardship Project posted this account of the meeting, LSP Member Leaders in Opposition to ICE Detention Facility, on its website. Note that over 170 people attended:

The Coalition of Concerned Residents of Western Minnesota held a meeting on Tuesday, August 13, to lift-up and grow the opposition to CoreCivic’s plan to open the Appleton prison as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. Many Land Stewardship Project (LSP) members are deeply involved in this grassroots coalition and have played key roles in organizing and leading the gathering. Over 170 people from all sides of this issue gathered from West Central Minnesota.

The purpose of the meeting was to grow opposition to the Appleton prison being used as an ICE detention center and to share information about CoreCivic’s plan that has not been shared widely with the public.

Equally important was the chance for everyone to have a respectful discussion where all perspectives were heard and people had an opportunity to learn from each other. Participants shared their concerns about ICE detention centers, immigration policies, the trauma created for families and children, as well as the need for economic opportunity and jobs in the Appleton area.

As a rural organization working toward promoting an ethic of stewardship for farmland, sustainable agriculture and healthy communities, it is important that LSP speak up on immigration issues. We depend upon immigrants to contribute to the robust food and agriculture economy in this state. Immigrants are vital parts of our rural communities. As a social justice organization, LSP must speak clearly for the dignity of all people when faced with proposals that impact human rights in agriculture.

LSP is opposed to ICE detention as a practice as well as to the recent raids among foodworkers in Mississippi that left many families broken and communities reeling. LSP recently signed on to a statement that opposes ICE detention until comprehensive immigration reform is passed in Congress and states the importance of immigrants to our food and farming system. . . .

Visit the post for information about on this work and other racial justice concerns

Photo: From the post,"Over 170 people in western Minnesota attended a meeting Tuesday, August 13, to grow opposition to opening an ICE detention center in Appleton, Minn."

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

 

Thousands of acres of Southwest Minnesota counties' farmland didn't get planted

In the Worthington Globe, Julie Buntjer reports in Area counties report thousands of unplanted acres in 2019:

More than 19.4 million acres of farmland across the country didn’t get planted this year due to flooding and frequent spring rains, according to a new report issued Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Just in the six counties of far southwest Minnesota, nearly 224,000 acres did not get planted this spring. Farmers in northwest Iowa fared a bit better, but still had between 7,000 and 8,000 acres unplanted in each of Lyon, Osceola and Dickinson counties.

Murray County had the highest number of acres classified as prevented plant with the USDA Farm Service Agency at 65,250.

David Schreiber, executive director of the Farm Service Agency in Murray and Rock counties, said the largest share of prevent plant acres was through central Murray County. . . .

To add a bit of context to the plight of Murray County farmers, the USDA's 2017 Census of Agriculture profile for Murray County reports that 395,079 acres of farmland are worked in the county, of which 92 percent is cropland. The prevented plant of 65,250 acres is a significant slice of the cropland.

Read the details at the Globe, including the measures the farmers can take to eek out an existance from those idled acres.

Photo: It's been pretty moist in Southwestern Minnesota. Via an earlier report in the Worthington Globe.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

Pop some corn: THEE Book Club Patriot Day guest speaker holds groovy ideas about the left

As longtime watchers of Minnesota's right (the circuit runs through urban and rural areas alike), Bluestem has been deeply impressed by the deep flavor of the KoolAid shared by the THEE Book Club in the Willmar Area.

The group's Patriot Day speaker is up to par. Patriot Day Event: Honoring and Remembering with William Federer will take place at Willmar's City Auditorium, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Here's how THEE Book Club describes the event:

On September 11, 2001 the United States experienced a tragedy that hadn't been encountered since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. With this tragic attack came the deaths of 2,977 people; 412 were New York City emergency workers, (343 NYFD, 37 PAPD, 23 NYPD, 8 medical technicians and 1 patrolman from the NY Fire Patrol). Men and women who made the greatest sacrifice and deserve the greatest of honors and remembrance.

On this 18th anniversary of the events of 9/11/2001 we want to recognize and remember with community and also honor the men and women who have either served or are serving and sacrificing for us.

We are blessed and honored to have as our special guest William Federer. Mr. Federer is a nationally-known speaker, best-selling author and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America's noble heritage. He is an expert in many areas in regards to American and world history, including the US Constitution and our country's foundation and formation. He has written 20+ books and contributed on another 5. His complete bio and accomplishments can be found at americanminute.com/pages/about.

There's more about Federer at Right Wing Watch, which is a project of the People for the American Way. The most recent post, Right-Wing ‘Historian’ Claims Dems Scheme to Force Republicans from Cities, suggests that Federer is just the person to lead the day honoring heroic first responders in New York City and Washington DC:

Right-wing historian, commentator and failed congressional candidate Bill Federer appeared on The Truth & Liberty Coalition LiveCast earlier this week, where he claimed that Democratic lawmakers are intentionally allowing “crime to go up” in cities in order to encourage Republicans to move out. Federer continued by suggesting that this is an attempt to “manipulate the process” in order to control the popular vote.

“Think it through,” Federer said. “You let antifa have demonstrations in the city, you let homeless people come into the city, you let the crime go up; what do people that have the financial means do? They move out. So usually people who are financially responsible, a good percentage of those are Republicans. So in other words, you let the crime go up; a whole lot of Republicans will leave.”

Subsequently, Federer suggested that those who don’t move out of the cities will vote Democratic because they are “looking to the government for a handout,” creating a situation in which “the government basically controls their vote.”

“If you just do that in the big cities,” he continued, “you win the whole state.”

Watch the livecast via the link above, because nothing honors New York City and Washington DC like bashing big cities.

Other Federer posts at RWW include such gems as Bill Federer: Syrian Refugees May Be Part Of Plot To Spark Violence, Impose Martial Law and our fav, Conservative Pundit: LGBT Equality Leads To Islamic Domination:

Religious Right “historian” Bill Federer appeared on the American Family Radio show “Today’s Issues” yesterday to promote his book, “American Minute,” which he said is needed more than ever because Americans are forgetting about their Christian history, leading to Islamic rule.

Federer claimed that Europe “went from a Judeo-Christian past into a neutral-secular-gay-agenda present and now it’s going into an Islamic future,” arguing that “the sexual confusion agenda is simply a transition phase” that will soon “be taken over by Islam.”

The U.S. military, Federer said, is undergoing such a process, claiming that Christian service members are being “pushed out or into the closet” as the result of gay rights laws, “and now we are seeing the introduction of Islam and these proselytizing classes under the guise of teaching you to be sensitive to the Muslim, but they are making large numbers of converts to Islam in the military.” . . .

And we all know how prescient Federer’s analysis of history can be, as he once wondered if Obama will start a war and fake an assassination attempt against him in order to win the 2016 election.

Well, then. Federer will be spending September 11 in Rochester, Minnesota, according to the Eventbrite registration page for the event. No "legacy media" allowed. Rochester host is the Meeting Tree Place.

For background on the THEE Book Club, read our posts Newest Minnesota anti-Muslim speaking circuit venue to host Chris Gaubatz on October 2 and Anti-Ellison speaker scheduled for Sartell & Willmar seems a-ok with Jamal Khashoggi death.

Still: Bill Federer, via Right Wing Watch.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

MN Republican Senate & House federal PACs took $5000 from CoreCivic PAC in 2018

On Sunday, we posted about a meeting this evening in Opposition to CoreCivic bid to re-open Appleton Prison as ICE detention center meet to Tuesday. Here's the place and time:

If you would like to learn what you can do to discourage CoreCivic from opening an ICE Detention Center in our region, you are invited to come to the meeting from 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday at Shooter’s bar in Appleton.

We've been looking in Federal Election Commission and Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board  data to see where CoreCivic, the private prison corporation that owns the Prairie Correction Facility, puts its campaign dollars in Minnesota. Here's the latest, from the October Quarterly Report:

Senate Victory PAC	161 St Anthony Avenue Suite 902 Saint Paul, Minnesota 551032459		09/28/2018	Political Contribution	2500.00
House Republican Campaign Committee	161 St Anthony Avenue Suite 950 Saint Paul, Minnesota 551032341		09/28/2018	Political Contribution	2500.00

The PACs--Senate Victory PAC and House Republican Campaign Committee--are federal political action committees (PACs). The money is intended for federal-level political activity, which of course Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and then-Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt (he lost control of the House in just weeks after pocketing the check) totally need.

Federal level corporate PACs can't give to state-level candidates or committees, but their lobbyists can give. In 2018, four lobbyists were registered to work for CoreCivics. One of them, Richard Gephardt, made no political contributions to Minnesota state-level candidates or registered committees. Lobbyist Todd Hill represented a variety of registered associations, so it's difficult to pair his many contributions to a particular client.

Such is not the case of CoreCivic employees Kelly Durham and Brad Regens, who represent only the private prison corporation. The men gave a total of four identical contributions that add up to $2000: two $500 contributions to Jeff Johnson's gubernatorial campaign and two $500 contributions to Prinsburg  Republican state representative Tim Miller's relection. View contributions for Durham and Regens by clicking on their names.

The contributions to Johnson make sense, given that Johnson toured the prison while campaigning in west central Minnesota, as Bluestem noted in Johnson campaigns at shuttered private prison, touts CoreCivic joint as safety measure for guards. Guards? Not so much.

Miller's CoreCivic campaign cash haul definitely declined from the amount we reported in 2016's Swift Co Monitor endorses Falk, & all Tim Miller got was some lousy cash from CCA execs:

He did manage to snag some campaign cash from Corrections Corporation of America's executives and their spouses, as well as from a couple of CCA corporate lobbyists. From his pre-general election report to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (available here):

There's $250.00 each from CCA Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President David Garfunkle and his wife Carrie, both of Franklin, Tennessee, followed by the same amounts from CCA Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer Anthony Grande and his wife, as well as  from CCA President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director Damon Hininger and his wife (page 4 of Miller's 2016 pre-general report).

Former Appleton warden Daren Swenson, now CCA's Tennessee-based Vice President, Facility Operations, Business Unit 2 also gave Miller $250 (page 6 of Miller's 2016 pre-general report).

Finally, there's the $500 each of CCA's corporate lobbyists (Kelly Durham and Brad Regens, page 7 of Miller's 2016 pre-general report) handed over.

 All that money must be smooth as Tennessee whiskey for blunting the blow of rejection by Swift County's finest news source (We're not being snarly about the Monitor, whose editor is highly respected among country newspaper people).

An we haven't even touched on CCA's contributions to the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has given $755,000 in the last ten days to the MN Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund. Earlier this year, the MN Jobs Coalition tracker Kip Charles Christianson jostled parade volunteers at Raymond Harvest Fest Parade.

Those were the glory days of the CoreCivic gravy train. Perhaps it will return this next cycle.

Photo: The shuttered private prison at Appleton, Minnesota.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.