Broadcaster Press 13 March 15, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com Dave Says Is it six months of paychecks? BY DAVE RAMSEY Courtesy of EveryDollar.com Dear Dave, Do I set aside six months’ worth of paychecks or the amount of my bills for six months when it’s time to save up my fully funded emergency fund? Steve Dear Steve, In my plan, Baby Step 3 is when I advise people to save up three to six months of expenses in a fully loaded emergency fund. This is set aside and not touched for any reason other than a true emergency. It’s not a Bahamas fund or a new living room furniture fund. It’s an emergency fund. It’s not an investment or fun money; it’s insurance. Think of your emergency fund as a protective barrier that keeps you from going into debt or cashing out investments when life throws bad things your way. How do you decide where to land in the three to six month range of expenses? That depends on how much risk your household has. If there’s only one income in the equation, you have more risk, so you should skew things toward six months. Being self-employed or a commissioned salesperson is also a situation where this would be true. If there are two incomes, and both come from steady, dependable sources, you could fall into Dave RAMSEY the middle of that range or even more toward the threemonth side. Make sure your emergency fund is easily accessible too. A simple money market account with check-writing privileges works fine. You want to make sure you can get your money quickly when the need arises! —Dave Never Take an Adjustable Rate Mortgage Dear Dave, Should I ever consider a 5/1 adjustable loan if I’m buying a house and plan to pay it off in five years? Anonymous Dear Anonymous, No! The reason is you can never be assured that you’re going to pay it off in five years. If you go into it with that mindset, then you’re basically saying you can predict the future will be exactly how you want it to be. That’s pretty naïve. Your future will never be what you think it will be. It’s either going to be better or worse, but your future will never turn out exactly the way you plan for it to be. If you can’t buy a home with cash, you need the stability of a 15-year, fixed rate mortgage in your life. We’re living in the lowest mortgage interest rate environment in about 50 years. I saw a 3.02 percent 15-year fixed rate mortgage just the other day. For those of you who have not refinanced, if you’re staying in your home or you’re sitting on an adjustable rate, this is a great time to change that. Still, people are sitting around yawning like these kinds of rates are going to be around forever. It’s gone on for a while now, but don’t let that fool you into thinking those kinds of rates are normal. They’re not going to last forever. No, I would never under any circumstances take an adjustable rate mortgage. Was that unclear? I hope not! —Dave EveryDollar is a simple, online budgeting tool that helps users set a monthly budget and seamlessly track expenses. For more information, go to www.everydollar.com. Openness In Government: Let The Sun Shine In BY DAVID BORDEWYK South Dakota Newspaper Association This week is Sunshine Week, a national observance to spotlight the importance of openness and transparency in government at all levels. Open government is fundamental to good government. Openness builds citizen trust and confidence in government. Over the years South Dakota has made strides toward openness and transparency. Among those achievements: Major reforms to the state's open meetings laws and open records laws during the past dozen or so years. Creation of appeals processes that citizens can use if they believe the state's open meetings or open records laws have been violated. Most importantly, a greater awareness among elected officials in state and local government about the importance of transparency in what they do. Related to the third point, I can recall a time not long ago when the terms "open government" and "government transparency" rarely made it into the policy-making vernacular among elected officials in South Dakota. Today, it's different and for the better. Despite advancements, we still see challenges in our state. For example, much of the discussion surrounding recent controversies in South Dakota involve questions about a lack of transparency and openness. Controversies such as the federal EB-5 visa program and GEAR UP college readiness educational grants. To be fair, many of the questions the news media and public have about the EB-5 and GEAR UP stories are tied to criminal investigations. And answers to those questions often are not easy to come by. Answers that may not emerge until someone is under oath in a courtroom. Still, those two controversies have pointed to the need for government to be more accountable and more transparent about the flow of money in and out of government and the decisionmaking by government officials. Gov. Dennis Daugaard and legislators responded to those controversies this legislative session with two important bills that have been approved. One bill proposed by the governor will create a seven-member state board to provide better internal controls for state agencies and outside organizations that receive grants through the state. Rep. Mark Mickelson and Sen. Deb Peters sponsored a bill to regulate and disclose conflicts of interest among certain state boards and commissions. Both bills are significant, solid steps toward better accountability in our government. The Legislature also approved three bills that amend the state's open meetings laws: Senate Bill 73 sponsored by Sen. Corey Brown and Rep. Al Novstrup defines in our state's open meetings laws what is a public meeting and clarifies that the use of electronic communications such as email by public boards to conduct official business is not permitted unless the open meetings laws are followed. The bill has been signed by the governor. Senate Bill 90 sponsored by Sen. Ried Holien and Rep. Burt Tulson makes it clear that a public board cannot ban someone from electronically recording a public meeting. As crazy as it may seem, this has been an issue from time to time in our state. SB90 was delivered to the governor's desk on March 9. House Bill 1066 sponsored by Rep. Lee Schoenbeck and Sen. Bernie Hunhoff requires state boards and commissions to post an agenda with at least two intervening days before a meeting. Local governments will still be required to provide at least 24 hours notice of a meeting agenda. The bill has been signed by the governor. All in all, a good body of work by legislators and the governor on open government issues in the 2016 session. Still, more work remains. For example, South Dakota's open records laws contain several broad exceptions that allow certain records to be kept confidential. Specifically, almost all official correspondence (including email) of public officials can be kept secret. And, it usually is. Another exception in the open records law allows public officials to keep secret wide swaths of documents and records used by government to make policy. Let's use this Sunshine Week observance to keep the pressure on. Let's keep working toward more openness in our government. Let's keep working to develop strong leaders and advocates for open government among our elected officials. The Opioid Epidemic Affects All of Us By Senator Mike Rounds Across South Dakota and the United States, prescription painkiller and heroin abuse is increasing. In the last 15 years, abuse of opioids has risen more than 200 percent. It is tearing apart families, ruining lives and killing individuals who suffer from addiction throughout the entire country. It’s important to address this growing epidemic and reverse this dangerous trend. Tragically, 44 Americans die each day from overdosing on painkillers. And South Dakota isn’t immune: In 2014, 63 South Dakotans died from drug overdoses. That same year, 13,000 South Dakotans needed treatment from illegal drug use but failed to receive it, including 3,000 youth. As a result, communities are suffering. The Senate has been working on a solution to tackle the opioid epidemic on three fronts: prevention, treatment and combating overdose. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2016 that recently passed the Senate is a bipartisan solution that will help communities combat opioid abuse at the local level. It is supported by more than 130 national anti-drug groups, as well as 38 state Attorneys General, including South Dakota Attorney General, Marty Jackley. CARA will strengthen law enforcement and recovery programs through state and local grants. One purpose of the grant programs is to improve treatment of substance abuse disorders in the criminal justice system and strengthen law enforcement’s ability to counter the trafficking of illegal drugs. The programs will also expand prevention, education and treatment opportunities and limit the availability of prescription opioids through drug takeback and prescription drug monitoring programs. It creates two task forces and authorizes a number of discretionary grant programs to combat substance abuse and overdose deaths. This comprehensive approach is an evidence-based solution that will help communities combat this epidemic. When we think of drug abusers, we might identify them as the disenfranchised in our communities, those who may not have a job or a home or a family. Especially in the case of opioid addiction, that stereotype just isn’t true. Studies have shown that no one in society is immune to opioid abuse, including our neighbors, our friends and our family members. Many times, addiction starts with a legal painkiller prescription from a doctor following surgery or to manage chronic pain. Because opioids are highly addictive and often result in a physical dependency, they can easily lead to abuse. When the prescription runs out, addicts often purchase them illegally on the street or turn to a cheaper, even more dangerous substi- tute: heroin. Addiction is a devastating dependency that has spread to all corners of our society. The Senate’s passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act is an important step toward ending the heartbreaking issue of drug abuse in the United States. It will help save lives, keep families intact and keep our communities safe and secure. By expanding prevention efforts, enhancing support for law enforcement and increasing access to treatment, we can begin to reverse and stop the growing epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States. Affordable Monuments by Mollet Memorials Monuments 1,760 Starting $ at Price includes: Design, Lettering, Setting & Cement Foundation Vermillion and Beresford Areas Linda Jamtgaard Cummings 605-408-6631 Marlon Mollet “Create a Legacy” 605-360-9656 or visit molletmemorials.com Native American Weekend at USD The University of South Dakota's sixth annual Native American Visit Weekend March 17-19 will include several public events and the opportunity for American Indian high school students to experience the college setting. The 19th Annual Building Bridges Conference, entitled “Keeping the Fire,” will take place from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 18, in the Muenster University Center. Doors for the Native American Alumni Banquet open at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6 p.m. The keynote speaker is Joseph M. Marshall III, a Brulé Lakota historian, writer, teacher, craftsman, administrator and public speaker who was born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota; an inaugural Spring Round Dance will follow the meal. The banquet is free for students and alumni but costs $5 for non-alumni. The 44th Annual Wacipi takes place in the DakotaDome from 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 19 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 20. This year’s theme is “A Proud Past, and a Promising Future,” featuring host drum Mato Pejuta. “This event brings together many different people to learn from each other,” said Beth Boyd, director and professor in the clinical psychology program. “I hope that visitors see USD as a safe place where we can learn about each other’s cultures and share a good time.” The weekend event is a collaborative campus effort sponsored by the USD clinical psychology program, admissions office and Tiospaye, the student organization for Native American students. USD also offers a bachelor's degree in Native American studies and partners with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation to operate the Indian University of North America every summer in the Black Hills. Vermillion Community Theatre Announces Summer Musical Vermillion will be entering the land of the great and mighty Oz this summer! The board of directors of the Vermillion Community Theatre has announced the 2016 summer season. The summer musical will be the classic musical “The Wizard of Oz” with performances August 5-8 at the Vermillion High School Performing Arts Center. President Anthony Burbach says that it took some time to work through the various scripts but the artistic team has chosen the Royal Shakespeare Company (RCS) version because it is technically challenging and has all of the great songs from the movie version. Auditions will be in mid-May with rehearsals starting June 26th. There will be more information on the website (vermillioncommunitytheatre.org) as it becomes available. VCT will be holding the summer theatre workshop June 20-24. Once again, Dakota Players will bring the magic of youth theatre to Vermillion. This year’s offering will be a new musical “The Superhero Show”. Up to 50 young actors, completing K-5th grade, can have the opportunity to learn stagecraft and participate in the final performance on Friday, June 24, on the big stage at the Vermillion High School Performing Arts Center. Rehearsals will be 1-5:30 Monday, June 20 through Friday, June 24. Participants will register through the Vermillion Parks and Recreation website in April. Fees are $35 for the week. More information about the program and scholarships can be found on the website. We’re all ears. Your opinion is something we always want to hear. Questions? Call, write us or contact Comments? us via e-mail and let us Story Ideas? know how we are doing. 201 W. Cherry •Vermillion, SD 57069 605-624-4429 • classifieds@plaintalk.net BRULE TOWNSHIP PROPERTY OWNERS The Board of Supervisors will meet as a Board of Equalization on Monday, March 21st, 2016, 5:30 p.m. at the Union County Shop in Spink, SD. A written request to appeal must be delivered to the clerk’s office no later than Thursday, March 17th, 2016, 5:00 p.m. The request must include the parcel number. Alternate date if bad weather: March 28th. Gregg Hanson, Clerk 47568 SD Highway 50 Elk Point, SD 57025 bpp b Broadcaster Press Book Broadcaster Press 61 Since 1934 Since 1934 Challenging Sud Fill the puzzle so that every row, every column, and every section contain the numbers 1-9 without repeating a number. 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