The memorial service was streamed on Facebook by Stop the Spread SD:
For the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Trevor Mitchell reports in Empty chairs sit on Capitol grounds in memory of state's COVID-19 victims:
Hundreds of empty chairs sat on the grounds of the South Dakota State Capitol on Thanksgiving morning, a memorial for the more than 800 people in the state who have died of COVID-19.
The memorial, put on by Stop The Spread SD and sponsored by the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was livestreamed on Thursday morning, with in-person viewing discouraged to promote safety.
"Shown by this memorial is the massive loss that we have seen and will continue to see in South Dakota," said an organizer who spoke before the event who said his name was Joseph.
"We stand vigil to show families that their loved ones are not forgotten, that their hurt is not ignored," he said. "We sit at the heart of our state because the hurt caused by COVID-19 is in the heart of all of us." . . .
Read the rest at the Argus Leader.
Dakota Free Press's Cory Allen Heidelberger muses in WV GOP Gov. Justice: We Don’t Want to Be Like South Dakota:
Sanford Health’s new CEO, Bill Gassen, is a registered Republican and a big-dollar donor to Governor Kristi Noem, but Gassen says masks help prevent coronavirus and should be required statewide. West Virginia’s Republican Governor, Jim Justice, implemented such a requirement in July and continues to support that requirement with passion.
In his Wednesday briefing on coronavirus and what we need to do to fight the pandemic, Governor Justice rebutted the comments he says he gets from some of us people saying they want to be more like South Dakota. Pointing to the CBS report in which Sioux Falls mayor Paul TenHaken says he can’t enforce mask rules in South Dakota because, “This is cowboy country, man,” Governor Justice said that attitude has led South Dakota to be the deadly model of exactly how not to fight a pandemic. Far from taking away people’s rights, mask requirements are part of Governor Justice’s effort to do everything he can to protect people from getting sick and dying and not being able to exercise their liberties . . .
Governor Justice sounds more like our old Governor Norbeck than our current Governor Kristi Noem.
To recognize the toll of Governor Noem’s relative indifference to the worst public health emergency to hit South Dakota in a century, somber South Dakotans placed 849 empty chairs, one for each reported coronavirus death in our state, in Hilger’s Gulch, across the street north from the State Capitol. The event was mostly silent, but participants also offered prayers both Lutheran and Lakota. . . .
Read and watch more at Dakota Free Press.
Stop the Spread SD describes its mission:
Stop the Spread SD's primary goal is to STOP THE SPREAD of COVID-19 in our great state. We encourage South Dakotans to practice adherence to the Centers for Disease Control recommendations of handwashing, social distancing, and mask-wearing.
Video: Via Facebook.
Image: From the Stop the Spread SD Facebook page; the photo speaks directly about the participation of the singers. Some background--on Wednesday, the Hill reported in Native Americans feel 'trapped in a house on fire' as coronavirus surges in South Dakota:
While Native Americans in South Dakota make up only 9 percent of the state’s population, they make up 14 percent of all cases and 15 percent of all deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Donate: From the group's Facebook page:
Help us to give a memorial gift to a South Dakota charity that has either been affected by or cares for those affected by COVID-19.
To donate to our cause, you can visit the SD Synod at sdsynod.org and click the red "donate" button. Make sure to note #StoptheSpreadSD in the memo!For checks or mailed donations, please specify #StoptheSpreadSD in the memo line and send to:
Stop the Spread SD, c/o SD Synod2001 S Summit AveSioux Falls, SD 57197
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, 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 [email protected] as recipient
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