Is Milbank a Regional Center? Big Stone City?

During the recent budget crisis there has been much discussion about a Regional Center and Ortonville is not included as a regional center. This may have an adverse effect on all of the surrounding communities.

For instance, it is said the regional centers will hold many of our county offices. There is a shift to create territories instead of county seats. This means that deputy registrars may disappear.

It may have a long term impact on our schools. We need to be much more proactive than we have in the past. If we desire autonomy we need to provide much better leadership than what we have.

For instance, nascargirl disclosed that Ortonville was not on the list to receive money from the stimulus package for the police department. Does someone have a copy of the grant application? Or is their one?

Perhaps Mr. Arndt, Mr. and Mrs. Oakes and Mr. Lang can tell me how eliminating the police department and numerous jobs promotes economic development?

But we did receive a grant for a new play ground. Mr. Arndt and apparently Mr. Lang defines this grant as economic development.

It is time to spend time on promoting the police department rather than promoting playground equipment.

I guess if I were in St. Paul I would say that this community has some really mixed up priorities. I can see why we were not considered to be a regional center.

Is there hope long term? We really need to change our direction. It is interesting to note that Mr. Oakes continues to spend time at all of the meetings. Is he hoping for an appointment or another run at mayor or other political office?

We really do need something moving in a different direction than the single issue of eliminating the police department that he has advocated.

Those of us who study rural development knew that the last years of farm programs were detrimental to rural communities. Although there is a lot of positive things going on in each community, this area is at a transition, especially on the Minnesota side.

Fighting population declines requires a new way of thinking and an out of the box approach needs to be discussed before we continue to lose so much population the states, shut down our businesses and our schools. On the South Dakota side just in the past month there were bills addressing counties with declining populations and the cost of maintaining schools. On the Minnesota side it is as if rural Minnesota does not exist.

I propose a task force between all communities in the area. We have some great things happening but we need to be proactive. We need jobs and we need to promote tourism. Not a single season tourism but year around.

This is a great area to live and we need to continue to promote but yet think out of the box.

My criticism of Ortonville is based upon their inability to think out of the box. Ortonville needs to quit isolating themselves and they need to listen much better. Screaming and shouting, as they have on this forum, is inappropriate. Punishing people for thinking differently needs to end and perhaps a more transparent government would assist.

The truth of the matter is that we need to grow together. That is the very purpose of The New Media. The faster we join hands the better we will all be.