2 Broadcaster Press August 2, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com Dave Says Steps In The Process Dear Dave, My wife and I are on Baby Step 3 of your plan, and we’re about halfway to building our fully funded emergency fund. We don’t like our current home very much, and we’d like to sell and move as soon as possible. We have a little over $30,000 equity in the place, so would selling the house be a viable option for funding Baby Step 3? Justin Dear Justin, I wouldn’t sell the house just to do Baby Step 3. That’s usually a pretty easy Baby Step after you’ve gotten everything paid off except the house. As you know, a fully funded emergency fund means saving three to six months of expenses, so you shouldn’t have to sell your home in order to accomplish that. However, if you don’t like the house anyway, and you’re already planning on selling it, then yes, set some of the equity aside. I wouldn’t put all of the equity into the next deal. I’d hold back my three to six months of expenses, so that when you move into another house you’re debt-free with a fully funded emergency fund sitting there. It sounds like there’s nothing to prevent you from selling it today, if you’re sure that’s what you both want to do. Just hold on to enough so that you still have an emergency fund in place, and use the remain- Dave RAMSEY Dear Jane, You really need a starter emergency fund of $1,000 if you’re at a point in life where student loans are in the picture. It might seem like an impossible task right By Gov. Dennis Daugaard: It’s almost rally time in South Dakota. What started in 1938 as a single motorcycle race in a small town has grown into one of the largest and best-known motorcycle gatherings in the world. This year is the 76th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and though we don’t expect the numbers will approach the levels we saw last year, the rally is sure to be well-attended. Motorcycle enthusiasts won’t just be visiting Sturgis. They will be traveling all around the Black Hills – staying in our local hotels and at our campgrounds, eating in our local restaurants, shopping in our local stores and refueling at our gas stations. Each year the rally has a big economic impact on Sturgis and all of the Black Hills, and that creates benefits for our state too. An event this size is not without its challenges. To help things go smoothly, the state will create a Rally Operations Center and a Traffic Operations Center. Local law enforcement, the Highway Patrol and ambulance services will have additional personnel working during the rally. Many state agencies will provide additional staff to support food safety, drinking water safety, fire safety, roadway safety, emergency communications, and vendor sales tax registrations and collections. National Guard soldiers will also be prepared in the event they are needed to respond to a large-scale disaster. For the past 75 years, we’ve had no major emergency at the Sturgis Rally. Our goal is to get through the 76th rally with that record intact, but we need help. We’re asking South Dakotans to do their part to help make this a safe journey for our visitors. Drive carefully and be particularly mindful of the motorcycles on the road. It only takes one mistake to alter your life and someone else’s forever. If you live in the Black Hills area, plan extra time to reach your destinations, and be patient with law enforcement and emergency responders. If something doesn’t look right – maybe how someone is taking photos of government buildings or measuring distances between buildings – let law enforcement know. If you see something, say something. For those who are attending the rally, be careful and be prepared. Wear a helmet and proper riding attire. If you are driving a vehicle, wear your seatbelt. Most importantly, don’t drink and drive. Riders can visit SouthDakotaRides.com for real-time information and some helpful tips. On the website there are links to weather updates, fire danger information, Twitter feeds from the departments of Transportation and Public Safety, and a map of hospital, urgent care and police station locations. One of government's primary functions is to keep people safe. The state of South Dakota is ready to perform that responsibility and we welcome the opportunity to host so many visitors in our great state. If South Dakotans and our visitors do their part, it will go a long way toward helping make the 76th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally a safe and fun event. Sal All Styles Reduced Several styles 1/2 price Sal Boston Shoes to Boots e 312 W. 3rd Yankton • 665-9092 Don’t cut your safety net! Dear Dave, I make $25,000 a year, and I’m single. I expect my salary to increase to $35,000 next year, so can I get by with a $500 starter emergency fund instead of $1,000? I have about $38,000 in debt right now, including student loans, and I don’t know how to keep up with bills and everything if I try saving a bigger emergency fund. Jane The 2016 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Sale der for your down payment. So if that equation works for you, sell the house. If not, you may need to completely save up your emergency fund before you sell in order to make it work. Regardless, when you move I want you to have an emergency fund and be debt-free in addition to your down payment. That’s what we’re after! —Dave e ale S now, but that should be your first big goal. A written, monthly budget will go a long way toward helping you achieve that goal. Making a budget for your money isn’t rocket science. It’s a simple, written planning process where you give a name and destination to every dollar you make before the month begins. Food, shelter, clothing, transportation and utilities are necessities, so they come first. After you’ve taken care of those, make sure you’re current on your debts. Once all that is out of the way, put every spare dollar you can into your emergency fund. If you do this with a sense of urgency, and limit spending to necessities, it won’t take very long. You’ll be surprised by how quickly it can happen, and you’ll love the newfound sense of security you’ll have in knowing $1,000 is sitting there ready to cover life’s little emergencies! —Dave * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 11 million listeners each week on more than 550 radio stations and digital outlets. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. Weekly Column: Drought Affecting South Dakota Farm And Ranch Operations By Sen. Mike Rounds Agriculture in South Dakota accounts for more than half of our economic output each year, and is our state’s number one industry. We are one of the nation’s leading producers of sunflowers, corn, wheat and soybeans, and our farmers and ranchers work tirelessly to help feed and fuel a growing global population. Unfortunately, our ag producers have been hit hard this summer with abnormally dry conditions. Farmers across the state are struggling to keep their crops healthy. According to the National Weather Service, parts of South Dakota are experiencing extreme drought conditions which will likely worsen or remain the same through the summer and into fall. For farmers and ranchers, this means water is limited for irrigation and livestock needs, hay production is at a standstill, and dry conditions are causing wildfires, particularly in the western part of the state. Producers experiencing hardship due to the drought do have options available to them if they live in a county that has been designated as a primary or contiguous disaster area. To receive a disaster designation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has outlined a specific set of conditions: the county must meet a D2 “severe drought” intensity for eight consecutive weeks or more, as reported by the U.S. Drought Monitor. So far in 2016, USDA has designated Meade, Lawrence, Harding, Butte, Custer and Pennington counties as primary disaster areas, and Butte, Haakon, Perkins, Ziebach, Custer, Jackson, Fall River and Shannon counties as contiguous disaster counties due to worsening drought conditions. This makes these counties eligible for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Farm and ranch operators seeking assistance in these counties should visit www.usda. gov, or the local FSA office, to find more information on the types of disaster assistance available. This summer’s drought also underscores the importance of the federal crop insurance program. Crop insurance is an important safety net that provides South Dakota producers with much-needed certainty from Washington, D.C., when natural disasters strike. I opposed efforts to cut the important program during last year’s budget negotiations and worked with leadership to make sure the proposed cuts were restored. I will continue working to protect it in any upcoming discussions. Unfortunately, we can’t control the weather. In South Dakota, our agricultural producers know to plan ahead for potential periods of drought and work to mitigate losses. We often have hot and dry weather conditions in the summer months, but this year’s drought has proven to be intense and ongoing. While western South Dakota is experiencing extreme drought conditions, the central and northeastern areas of South Dakota are having abnormally dry weather this summer as well. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center expects drought conditions to continue into October. If you are in an area of our state that has been seriously affected by the drought and need disaster assistance, please reach out to USDA or FSA. My office can also work to put you in touch with individuals at those agencies who can help. Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of my state offices for assistance. Highway Patrol Plans Sobriety Checkpoints In August Sobriety checkpoints will be held in 17 South Dakota counties during the month of August. The checkpoints are conducted by the South Dakota Highway Patrol. The checkpoints are used as a way to discourage motorists from drinking and then driving. In August, the Patrol has scheduled 24 checkpoints in the 17 different counties. Counties scheduled for checkpoints in August are: Bennett, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Butte, Codington, Custer, Davison, Day, Hughes, Lake, Lawrence, Minnehaha, Pennington, Roberts, Spink and Yankton. The South Dakota Highway Patrol is part of the Department of Public Safety. www.broadcasteronline.com In Vermillion Serving Clay, Union, Turner Counties in South Dakota &TRENCHING • Residential • Commercial • Farmstead • New Construction/Remodeling • Trenching (605)661-6897 • agk_electric@yahoo.com GUN SHOW Aug. 12th, 13th, & 14th Convention Center Sioux City, IA Open to public $7 admission Fri. 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sun. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. For more info: (563) 608-4401 Providing Supportive Services to Victims of Abuse Confidentially and Free of Charge No One Deserves to be Abused. HELP is Available. (605)624-5311 Softball Mentality By Daris Howard My wife called me in from the garden for what she said sounded like an urgent phone call. When I said hello I heard the voice of my neighbor, Tim. “Daris,” he said, “I understand that you used to pitch for our community softball team a few years back.” “More like a hundred years back,” I replied. “Back in the time of the dinosaurs.” “Here’s our problem,” he said. “The only pitcher we have is out of town. We had a lot of guys try to pitch at practice last night, and frankly, they stunk. The balls were too high, too low, inside, and outside, but never in the strike zone.” “That doesn’t sound good.” “It wasn’t. And to make matters worse, we barely have enough to field a team, so if we put someone in to pitch, they have to come from another position, leaving it vacant.” “But I haven’t pitched for a long time,” I replied. “All of the older players on our team were talking about how good you were. They said you put a beautiful spin on the ball and made it drop through the strike zone at the last second, causing the batter to strike and miss, or to not swing, thinking it would be a ball.” I had been quite good when I was younger. We had played for the championship multiple times with me as pitcher. But I finally had to give up softball. As my family grew, so did the time commitment I needed for them. I thought about it for a moment, and realized with my children mostly grown, I could probably try my hand at softball again. But would I be able to pitch like I used to? “I’m willing to give it a try,” I said. “But I would like to have some practice.” “We won’t be practicing again before the game tomorrow,” Tim replied. “But if you want to come early, I’ll be happy to catch for you.” That was the best we could do, so we agreed to meet an hour early. As we practiced, I was disappointed in my skills. Only about fifty percent of the balls dropped through the strike zone. If I tried to put on my old spin, it was about thirty percent. When I mentioned my inadequate percentages, my neighbor encouraged me. “It’s better than anyone did last night.” When the game started, the other team won the toss and took the field first. I only got one chance to hit in the first inning, and I popped a ball to center for our first out. We didn’t score at all. We moved to the field, and I went to pitch. I walked the first three batters. My team called out encouragement, though I could tell they were frustrated with me. The fourth batter caught my pitch and drilled the ball right back at me. It hit me in the forehead and I flipped onto my back, hitting my head on the ground. My team was able to stop the last two runners after two had scored. Then they gathered around as I lay on the ground. “We’re all friends,” Tim said to me. “You can swear if you want.” “He’s too religious to swear,” Rob said. He then asked, “Daris, do you want me to swear for you?” They were concerned that I couldn’t continue, but I knew they were counting on me, so I pulled myself to my feet. I swayed a little, but eventually stood steady. Everyone moved back to their positions. The next batter was one of the other team’s best, and he pounded the plate with his bat, grinning at me as he did. I threw a beautiful pitch with a perfect spin. He struck and missed. There were two more beautiful pitches and two more strikes. I struck out the next two batters as well. From that point I pitched an almost flawless game. I struck out more than half of the other team’s batters, and those who did hit popped it to an immediate out. We won six to two. As the team gathered around to congratulate me after our win, Rob said, “Next time Daris pitches for us, let’s just hit him in the head to start with so he pitches well right from the start.” Consider it... LARGE SELECTIO N GUNS & A OF MMO FOR SALE ! Sold! Classifieds