Private firm teams with Job Corps

South Dakota Job Corps has signed on a private company to handle West River admissions and placement duties for the federal job training program.

The company, McNeil Technologies, began working for the agency Nov. 1. McNeil Technologies is a government contracting firm based in Springfield, Va.

South Dakota Job Corps is a scholarship program for youth ages 16 to 24 who are interested in obtaining a high school diploma, a general education development degree or vocational training.

Members of the new team include admissions counselors Tom Zohner and Bobbi Ziegler. Zohner is a graduate of South Dakota State University and worked as a welding instruction for the Boxelder Job Corps Center in Nemo. He is a retired master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. Ziegler is a graduate of Sinte Gleska University and has worked for Crow Creek Tribal School and South Dakota Urban Indian Health.

In addition, Holly Sortland is the new West River career adviser. She graduated from St. Olaf College and worked for former Sen. Tom Daschle. Ellen May is the project director. She is the former career transition manager for the job corps contract in Colorado and Wyoming.

Students interested in applying for the program can call 341-3537 or 224-6287. Employers who are interested in hiring South Dakota Job Corps graduates can call 341-3584.

Report: Hunters and anglers spend $350M

WASHINGTON, D.C. - South Dakota's 136,000 hunters and anglers spend more than $350 million a year on hunting and fishing, according to a new report.

The report, by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, spotlights the impact hunters and anglers have on the economy at the national and state level.

In South Dakota, spending by hunters and anglers directly supports 6,000 jobs, which puts $138 million worth of paychecks into pockets of working residents around the state, according to the report's estimate. Government receives $35 million in state and local taxes.

"Because sportsmen enjoy hunting or fishing alone or in small groups, they are overlooked as a constituency and as a substantial economic force," said Jeff Crane, president of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. "When you compare spending by hunters and anglers to other sectors, their impact on the state's economy becomes more tangible."

On the national level, 34 million sportsmen age 16 and older spent more than $76 billion in 2006, supporting 1.6 million jobs.

The report uses the results from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation and statistics provided by the American Sportfishing Association and Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.