Thursday,  Jan. 30, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 198 • 18 of 37

(Continued from page 17)

fixes take a little bit of time to get moving."
• The shortage is forcing some residents on an American Indian reservation in the Dakotas into public shelters to keep warm. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said about 90 percent of the reservation's 5,500 homes are heated with propane.
• "Many families don't have enough resources to heat their homes when propane costs rise above $3.50" a gallon, Archambault said, adding that the price has been about $4. "When the price of propane reaches $6 there's going to be a dire need -- life or death."
• The Missouri resolution sponsored by Parson would also ask the Justice Department to look into the price disparity between propane storage facilities and the "inaccessibility of propane to the citizens of Missouri." A Senate panel was expected to vote on the resolution next week.
• Lee Garrett, the owner of Dallas County Propane in Buffalo, Mo., said the high prices have had a devastating effect on his business and his customers.
• "From a customer-relations standpoint it has been absolutely devastating," he said. "We are in a particularly poor county and our customers just can't afford the prices."
• Garrett said his wholesale price went up $3 in a single day last week.
• The Kentucky propane supplier, UPG, sent a Jan. 21 letter to its commercial customers in several states saying it was ceasing deliveries, but customers could acquire a waiver to seek propane from another source. When business owners complained that they weren't able to reach the company to get a waiver, the Attorney General's office intervened and sought a court order.
• "It baffles me why a company would not put the needs of its customers first, especially with the recent weather conditions we've been experiencing in Kentucky," Attorney General Jack Conway said in a release.

Judge: SD Indian child welfare case can proceed
CARSON WALKER, Associated Press

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A lawsuit from two tribes and three parents accusing South Dakota of routinely violating the federal law governing foster care and adoptions for American Indian children can proceed as a class-action case, a judge ruled.
• U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken in Rapid City refused to dismiss the lawsuit and ruled that parts of it can proceed at an expedited pace and as a class-action case, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

(Continued on page 19)

© 2013 Groton Daily Independent • To send correspondence, click here.