A4 Monday, February 17, 2020 Rapid City JouRnal 00 1 obituaries Johnny L. bale, 54 rapid City William H. Kruse, 65 rapid City services Johnny Bale 5 p.m. at new underwood High School Gymnasium Jack L. Carpenter 11 a.m.
at First Congregational united Church of Christ in rapid City Steven Sanders 11 a.m. at Sturgis Club Donald Vance 9:30 a.m. at black Hills na- tional Cemetery near Sturgis Robert Wermers 9 a.m. at Fidler-Isburg Fu- neral Chapel in Spearfish Johnny L. Bale Johnny Lee Bale, 54, died Wednesday, February 12, 2020 in Rapid City.
He was born October 10, 1965 to Philip Lee and Shirley Ann (Ellis) Bale. John grew up and attended school in the New Under- area. He was currently working at the Water Reclamation Facility, Rapid City. John is survived by his wife, Robin; 2 sons, Philip and Justin; 2 daughters, Gina (Tony) Rieger and Jessy Bale; his mother, Shirley Ann Bale; a sister, Charlotte Bale; a niece, Kianna Men- nen and a nephew Shiloa Bale. He was preceded in death by his father and his grand- parents, Bart and Wilma Bale and Ina May and Cecil Ellis.
Visitation will begin at 4:00 p.m., Monday, February 17, 2020 at New Underwood High School Gymnasium followed by Funeral Services at 5:00 p.m. Behrens-Wilson Funeral Home is in care of arrangements and condolences may be conveyed to the family at www. behrenswilson.com. OBITUARIES NEWS William H. Kruse RAPID CITY William H.
Kruse, 65, of Rapid City, died Thursday, Febru- ary 13, 2020 at his home. Bill was born on Janu- ary 9, 1955 in Greely, Col- orado to William and Ida May (Sponholtz) Kruse. He graduated from Canyon City High School and at 19, Bill joined the United Sates Air Force, his first station was at Ellsworth Air Force Base. He served 20 years, retiring in 1993 as a Tech Sargent in electronic war- fare on the B52. Bill married Margaret Miles on November 20, 1981 in Box Elder.
He enjoyed the great outdoors, camping and fishing, loved working on race cars and watching auto racing. Bill worked at different opportunities after his re- tirement. great love were his grandchildren. He is survived by his wife, Peggy, Rapid City, daugh- ters: Jennifer Dawn Baker, Heather Marie Kruse, both of Rapid City and Misty Blue (Tyson) Hinkle, Canyon City, Colorado, five Grandchildren; Brynlee and Grayson Baker, Krystal Ann Kruse, and Bryce and Seth Hinkle. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sons; Seth and Jeremiah and his brother Kelly.
A memorial will be established to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A visitation will be held on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at Osheim Schmidt Funeral Home from 5:00 until Funeral services will be at on Thursday, Feb- ruary 20 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Interment with military honors will follow at Black Hills National Cem- etery at Family and friends may sign his online guest reg- ister at www.osheim- schmidt.com. GRANT SCHULTE Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. A sud- den and puzzling increase in violence and escapes at two state-run homes for high-risk juvenile offenders has prompted of- ficials to move some of the teenagers to other facilities and to consider spending millions of dollars on up- grades intended to enhance safety.
The incidents at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers in cen- tral Nebraska, including an outburst that sent two em- ployees to the hospital after a group of boys beat them with pieces of a metal bed frame, has shocked state officials, legislators and parents. said state Sen. Sara Howard, who has taken a leading watchdog role over the facilities. people who are there, they want to work with kids. But if not safe to do it, why would you The complaints about the youth facility call to mind problems Nebraska has had at its adult prisons, where four people have died in the past five years amid riots and other altercations.
But whereas the prison problems have been largely blamed on staffing shortages and training issues, there has been more confusion about the problems at the juvenile centers. The Youth Rehabilita- tion and Treatment Centers were created to serve juve- niles ages 14 to 18 who have broken the law and been re- jected by other private treat- ment facilities. There were two main campuses in central Ne- braska one in Kearney for boys and one in Ge- neva for girls until last month, when state offi- cials revamped the system in response to the recent outbursts. The new system uses Kearney as the main campus for processing boys and girls, while the Geneva campus will treat lower-risk girls in a less restrictive en- vironment. A third campus in Lincoln will serve high- er-risk boys and girls who respond to treatment at Kearney.
Officials who oversee the facilities said the uptick has been driven partly by youths with a history of vi- olence and who often suffer from severe behavioral and mental health problems. But some parents with children at the lockups say they are chaotic and are plagued by poor communication, a lack of rehabilitative programs and constant power strug- gles between staff members and the youth. a said Pru- dence Waters, whose 17-year-old daughter is be- ing held at the Kearney facil- ity. is she supposed to succeed and get on the right path when so much chaos every Tensions at a facil- ity rose to a boil in August after girls broke sprinkler heads in a sleeping area. Other girls complained that the water-damaged rooms where they were supposed to sleep smelled of mold and mildew, lead- ing to a confrontation with staff members.
Lawmakers who investigated days later found fire hazards, holes in the wall and water damage in campus buildings. They also were told that many of the girls getting rehabilitative programming to deal with their anger or the trauma they had expe- rienced. The facility in Ke- arney has faced problems of its own, with at least 39 confirmed escapes this year, up from four in 2018. The number surged despite a 10-foot-high chain-link fence that officials installed in July to deter escapes. Some child advocacy groups criticized the fence, saying it would create a prison-like atmosphere instead of fo- cusing on rehabilitation.
Other critics argued that boys at the facility would see the fence as a challenge to overcome. Earlier this month, boys who were trying to escape from their barracks-style living units attacked em- ployees who confronted them and sent at least two to the hospital. kids seeing are kids who are far more trou- said Dannette Smith, CEO of the Nebraska De- partment of Health and Human Services. not talking about children who shoplift. talking about children who have had trauma and have had a significant criminal Smith said the more vi- olent youths will be moved to a different state facility in Lincoln because they re- quire more treatment than what the Kearney facility can provide.
Violence, escapes rock Neb. juvenile facilities a key part of the legisla- tive process gathering co-sponsors for legislation. Others worry that the new digital legislative workflow system may create more distance between legislators and the public. Furthermore, some lob- byists in Pierre say the Leg- new system is less transparent. Legislators are now working with LRC staff to draft bills and amend- ments as well as in- viting their colleagues to co-spon- sor legisla- tion elec- tronically, using a system only legislators have access to.
That means lob- byists and the public have been a i a cut out of a process they used to play a key role in. used to circulate a piece of paper and we could get all the co-sponsors we needed the fact that (prime sponsors) have to be more involved now slows things said David Owen, who has been lob- bying on behalf of the South Dakota Chamber of Com- merce and Industry since 1999. Legislative leaders say the new system is a long over- due improvement over the old paper-based system. Amendments are easier to file and can be distrib- uted much more quickly, said House Speaker Pro Tempore Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham. Other new features al- low anyone to create a cus- tomizable digital binder for tracking legislation, through a system called Included in the digital binder is a cus- tomized calendar and an option to receive alerts tai- lored to individual needs, which may improve a citi- ability to follow a bill.
think for what little time they had, going Gosch said of the sys- launch. The Legislative Research information staff built the new bill drafting and legislative workflow system from the ground up in less than a year. Bills and amendments are now drafted online through a portion of the website. Legislators also seek co-sponsors for their bills and move bills from one chamber to the next through the website. There is no longer a need to print bills and obtain physical signatures.
Before the 2020 session, legislators and lobbyists were carrying paper copies of bills around the Capitol as they sought co-spon- sors. Once a bill was ready to be introduced they would take it to LRC bill drafters, who then had to verify each signature by hand and physically enter each name into each page on the website. That is all done automatically now, Hancock said. Existing LRC staff and a contracted programmer named Jordan Block worked together on the project, Hancock said. busi- ness, Developing Today LLC, was awarded a con- tract worth up to $250,000 through March 2021.
So far, LRC has paid the company about $85,400, according to documents on the financial transparency web- site, open.sd.gov. The costs of the project including the contractor fees have been covered by the LRC existing budget, Hancock said. One big advantage to building the website mostly in-house is that fixing bugs in the system is a relatively quick process, Hancock said. Gosch said the longest heard of anyone wait- ing for a fix was about two hours. Gosch acknowledged that there were some hiccups as the system was rolled out during the first few weeks of the 2020 legislative session.
One notable problem was that the bills listed and dis- played to the public on the website, sdleg- islature.gov, were difficult to view on smartphones. Within a few days of re- ceiving the first complaints, LRC staff eliminated the problem, said Hillary Car- ruthers, an LRC information support specialist. Veteran lobbyists, though, say their transparency con- cerns are about the web- features, not its bugs. Under the old system, face-to-face con- tact between lobbyists and legislators was baked in. Lobbyists were able to ex- plain and seek support for bills directly with legisla- tors, answer questions and, most importantly, get a feel for thinking on certain issues.
Such infor- mation could then be passed along to the em- ployers whether they were nonprofits, associations or businesses. important to re- member that lobbyists rep- resent actual Owen said. At any given time during the month-and-a-half long legislative session, a legislator might be working with three to five organiza- tions on multiple pieces of legislation, Owen said. Leg- islators work part time and have staffs, so lobby- ists, who tend to specialize in issues and industries, sometimes play a bigger role in gathering co-sponsors and explaining bills than legislators. get that viewed Owen said.
the ones who know the issues, so able to put things in context. That is really Under the new system, a primary legislative sponsor has to send an electronic invitation to po- tential co-sponsors. Once an invitation has been sent, recipients have the option to click buttons that deny, ac- cept or ignore the request. Face-to-face discussion is no longer a given and that needs to change, said Sen- ate Minority Leader Troy Heinert, D-Mission. have to make it more personal, like the old sys- Heinert said.
Speaking directly to fel- low legislators, lobbyists and the public about legis- lation is a necessary com- ponent of lawmaking and makes for better legislation, Heinert said. Ultimately, lobbyists and legislators will have to ad- just to the new way of do- ing business, Owen said. He attended a training event hosted by LRC staff on Jan. 27 to help lobbyists navigate the new system, which he said helped lessen some of his anxiety. Rep.
Gosch noted that lobbyists still are allowed to work with LRC staff on legislation, so long as they have permission from a leg- islator. And there is nothing stopping lobbyists from co- ordinating with legislators when it comes to seeking co-sponsors or for promot- ing legislation, he said. a lobbyist wants to sell their product, they still have to have face-to-face Gosch said. System From A1 Hancock Carruthers Heinert Get daily headlines delivered to your inbox. siGn up at rapidcityjournal.com/email Monday Chicken Biscuit with a cup of soup Tuesday club on multigrain bread with cup of soup Wednesday Roast Beef Cheddar served with cup of soup.
Thursday Chicken cordon blue sandwich with soup Friday Farmhouse dip with choice of fries or soup 2525 Yukon Pl. Spearfish SD, 57783 605-559-0196 Introducing our $7.00 lunch specials available Monday Friday Invited! February 20th Bond Proposal Information Session and Tour at Canyon Lake Elementary at 6:30 p.m. February 22nd Building Tour Robbinsdale, Canyon Lake and Corral at 10 a.m. (we will take members of the public on a tour in a school bus, participants should meet the bus at the Central Parking lot on the east side) February 24th Bond Proposal Information Session and Tour at the South Middle School cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. For more information contact Community Relations Manager Katy Urban at (605) 394-4091 or at Katy.urban@k12.sd.us.
