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far away as Russia and closer to home, as well, from people who want to see the land preserved for ceremonial and spiritual purposes.
• We trust the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and others are sincere in their desire to manage Pe Sla for those purposes.
• Additionally, we expect that all Black Hills residents and tourists will benefit from not seeing the Reynolds Prairie acreage subdivided and sold off as individual home sites to private individuals.
• Development of that kind would denigrate the beautiful, sweeping vistas of that high meadow country, even for people who have no connection to the Lakota creation story. The benefits of keeping the land undeveloped and in its natural state benefits us all, no matter what your spiritual beliefs.
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• Watertown Public Opinion. Sept. 11, 2012
• Preserving retirement system's viability
• The South Dakota Retirement System's board of trustees recently began talks to consider making changes in the state's retirement system. The trustees are considering the changes because the system's benefits are overly generous, especially for early retirees, and the State Investment Council isn't able to produce the earnings necessary to keep the system in financial balance.
• One change has already been made. Trustees adopted a lower annual target for rate of return on investments. Effective July 1, 2013, the target will be reduced to 7.25 percent from the current 7.75 percent. The 7.25 percent would be used for the next five years, then move to 7.5 percent in 2018.?What that boils down to is trustees believe earnings expectations will be lower for the next few years and that means benefits and expenses will have to be reduced. Suggestions to accomplish that include raising the normal retirement age to 67, raising the early retirement age to 57 and adding five years to the formula for determining eligibility for special early retirement, so that a person would need a combination equaling 90 years in age and years of service instead of the current 85.
• Given the problems nationwide with government pension programs, South Dakota's system is in pretty good shape. Trustees want to make these changes to head off problems in the future, based on overly optimistic return percentages. That gives us comfort knowing the system will continue to be supported by those investing each month instead of coming to the Legislature's general fund and begging for a bailout from all taxpayers.
• Looking at the state retirement system two things become obvious. First, increasing the retirement age means people/pensioners drawing on the system are living

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