Excerpts from Fremont Independent 2003-2004

FEBRUARY 2004 The Fremont Independent

Legislators for our district 4 Rep Tim Begalka Ph 874 2288 email rep.begalka@state.sd.us Rep Jim Peterson Ph 623 4573 email rep.jimpeterson@state.sd.us Sen Al Kurtenbach Ph 693 4335 email sen.kurtenbach@state.sd.us (just appointed to replace Larry Diedrich)

  

Fremont Twp Business directory*

Internet Service in Moody County—Did you know that Moody County has over 200 Internet Providers with local access (997) numbers and all price ranges ($10/month)? Call (534 3103) or email (lampwalk@yahoo.com) me for the website and/or toll-free numbers.
Cottonwood House Bed & Breakfast,

Kohlmeyer’s Station, corner of Hwy 77 & Nunda Rd.

*Anyone who has a business or service in Fremont twp may add their contact information here—name, contact info, type of service, but no advertising of products or prices. ALSO, if you have any classified ads to place, please submit

 

History Mystery – What is the history of this structure?

 

The photo published in last month’s newsletter was the second building of McCurdy School, District 54, one of the first country schools started in Fremont twp--waiting for older photos and history of this school. 

Letters/Editorials/Opinions

Why worry about SD Legislature???

Why worry about all those SB’s and HB’s? There are more bills than mentioned above that may be more sensational in the public eye, etc. Perhaps these bills will never effect us personally. However, aside from the bills that directly affect township boards, some bills are set up to “empower” townships so that they “may” go ahead and act upon the bills passed. It may take years for a township to take advantage of the new “power” it was given by the state legislature. Perhaps the Township Association (are township residents invited to their meetings?) in training of Township Boards helps the transition from a State Law to Township Action.

However innocent a piece of legislation may seem, if it endows a new “power” upon a township, then, if some town- ship voters will it, it can become an immediate concern or surprise for all township residents.

Many bills have been passed to our benefit, but others have not been thought through by the legislator(s) and are narrowly-focused to benefit one small community hundreds of miles away. There ought to be another way to approach these narrowly-focused bills, rather than “umbrella-ing” in the rest of the townships. One example is SB 74 which reads:

Section  1.  That §  21-10-6  be amended to read as follows:

     21-10-6.   A public nuisance may be abated without civil action by any public body or officer as authorized by law. Any municipality, county, or township may defray the cost of abating a public nuisance by taxing the cost thereof by special assessment against the real property on which the nuisance occurred.  If  the nuisance abated is an unsafe or dilapidated building, junk, trash, debris, or similar nuisance arising from the condition of the property, the municipality, county, or township may commence a civil action against the owner of the real property for its costs of abatement in lieu of taxing the cost by special assessment.

     Any private person may also abate a public nuisance which is specially injurious to such person or any private nuisance injurious to such person by removing or if necessary destroying that which constitutes the nuisance without committing a breach of the peace or doing unnecessary injury. If a private nuisance results from a mere omission of the wrongdoer, and cannot be abated without entering upon the wrongdoer's land, reasonable notice shall be given to the wrongdoer before entering to abate it.

     Section  2.  That § 22-36-1 be amended to read as follows:

     22-36-1.   Any person who maintains or commits any public nuisance, the punishment for which is not otherwise prescribed, or who intentionally does not perform any legal duty relating to the removal of a public nuisance, is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. However, if any person has been served with personal notice by a law enforcement agency concerning the condition of such person's property and that person fails to abate the public nuisance within sixty days of receipt of the personal notice, such person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

IF a township board (perhaps at a sparsely-attended Annual Meeting) decided to enforce this in their township by enact- ing a by-law and taking steps to notify residents of the “new” guidelines for public nuisances, there could be a series of disputes about what, in a farm community, constitutes a “public nuisance” given that unsafe or dilapidated buildings (perhaps historic barns or claim shantys), trash, debris (cow manure?), or junk could precipitate a “private person” giving advance notice, to take it upon himself to remove this from a property owner’s premises and then have the township charge or sue the owner for the removal costs. Any opinions or thoughts on this scenario?

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January 2004 The Fremont Independent

Letters to Editor/Opinions

Getting involved . . .

Although this tree issue confronting our residents caused a “stir”, I believe it had a positive effect on our community, uniting and causing us to educate ourselves about township laws, landowner rights, history and evolution of the right-of-way laws, how our township board operates, and how we can become involved in changing laws or by-laws that we do not agree with.

It also helped us formulate a consensus, communicate it to other residents and to the board and also allowed us to discover how the board is elected and what issues are important in choosing future board members.

As I attended various meetings, with residents as well as with the board itself, I realized that we all do/did not understand the role and operations of the township board/government and that we needed to examine the history, workings, documents of the governmental unit started in 1786 that deals with our everyday lives. It caused me to search out the SDCL on the internet, to search out township history and to research how to elect board members who represent a cross-section of the township in terms of economics, geographic location, type of land ownership, age, and experience with local government; thus not perpetuating the  “good old boy” networks that are political in nature and serve the interests of a select few rather than the entire township unit they are selected to “supervise”.

Q n A’s—Please send me any questions you’d like answered and hopefully residents will respond with answers to be printed in subsequent issues:

1)    Who was John C Fremont and why was this township named after him?
2)    Were there ever any early “towns” in Fremont twp and if so, what were their names and locations?
3)    Do any of you have any histories/photos of early rural schools (Midway, Trygstad, Galla, Lampson, McCurdy) or churches (St Michaels, Midway, Presbyterian)?
4)    Do any of you have any stories about early Fremont Township?  Do any of you have or know who might have some old Fremont twp records stored in the basement, etc?
5)    Has Fremont twp ever had a Township Hall—if so, where was it and when was it abandoned?
6)    What is the ancient history of Fremont twp? Do we have any Indian Mounds or abandoned settlements, town sites?
7)    Do you have any old photos taken in Fremont twp you’d like printed in future issues?

Township Statistics

Fremont twp Households: approx 98-100 (includes rented, as well as owner-occupied) Nonresident landowners—approximately 65-70 Residents living on small acreages—approximately 30 Owners of quarter sections—approx 20 Residents living on quarter sections--approx 6 Registered Voters – approx 170-175