Any week that Russell Means is in the news, you're going to have people reading.
The polarizing figure remains one of the best-known and highest profile individuals in Indian Country. Sometimes, the news is a bit out there, like when he declared that he was starting his own country in the heart of the High Plains and South Dakota.
Other times, it's less outrageous and far more ingenious, such as his recent trip to a Black Hills lake to go fishing without a license. Charges follow a couple of weeks later to keep the issue of treaty rights in the news.
But that certainly wasn't the only news of the week, with the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a figure in the Troy Klug disappearance being sentenced to life in prison and someone leaving their mark - literally - on the city of Valentine, Neb.
Here's a look at the week that was.
Top Five Stories
1. GF&P officials pursue charges against Means
It's a brief story, but it says a lot.
When Russell Means invited several people to fish with him without a license at Sheridan Lake, he sought a big media splash, so to speak. The potential of a confrontation or at least a citation or two at the even were high.
Instead, state officials waited a couple of weeks and began moving forward with evidence of the veteran Native American activist to charge him with fishing without a license. Means claims that the Fort Laramie Treaty allows him and all tribal members to fish without a license. The Game, Fish & Parks Department believes otherwise.
It certainly isn't the kind of protest popular in the American Indian Movement's hay day in the early 1970s, but Means remains a key figure in the U.S. Indigenous rights movement, as evidenced by this short story gaining more views than any other story on the site throughout the week.
2. Man indicted for bootlegging on Pine Ridge
The arrest of 73-year-old Paul Red Star Jr. caught readers attention as well. The problem of alcoholism in Indian Country - especially on the "dry" Pine Ridge Reservation - is always a hot topic.
3. Authorities identify airman found dead in hotel
Investigations continue on the death of Airman Basic David James Antrim, who was found dead Sunday in a Rapid City motel room. Regardless the circumstances, it is always tragic when one of ours dies.
4. High school football player collapses before game
The news that Pierre High School senior Taylor Maier collapsed during a pregame warmup last weekend before a football game against Mitchell sent shockwaves through the community.
It's been mere weeks since a Rapid City Stevens football player collapsed and died during a summer football camp.
In this instance, medical personnel on scene used a portable defibrilator to shock his heart into beating before transferring him to a Sioux Falls, where he eventually had successful heart surgery.
5. Belle Fourche woman gets life for aiding in kidnapping
It was a forgone conclusion that Jamee Corean would get life in prison for aiding and abetting in the kidnapping of Troy Klug. Of course, hers is just one of several cases pending in the disappearance of Klug, who was kidnapped and murdered by a group of meth users in July of 2004.
Top Five Videos
The video about Dave Sorenson and members of his group searching for hidden items in Rapid City by using a GPS device was the top video of the week. I'm going to have to admit that I don't get the craze, but I don't deny it, either.
Every Wednesday, the sports "guys" get together to talk about the local sports scene. It's pretty informal and it might not be winning any Academy Awards anytime soon, but it's fun stuff.
However, as noted by this week's stats alone, don't believe everything that comes out of sports editor Andrew Cutler's mouth. He may be overstating last week's video stats by a bit.
3. Living Hope students and teachers get new digs
Former students and teachers of Lakota Christian Academy started their first day of school at Living Hope after ending the past year with a lot of question marks. With community support and some ingenuity, the school keeps on keeping on.
4. Raw Video: Pentagon 9/11 Memorial
Seven years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, Americans took time out to remember the victims of the worst case of terrorism on U.S. soil.
5. Raw Video: Bush Hosts Last T-Ball Game of Term
Easily my favorite part about President Bush's two terms in office.
Rapid Reply of the Week
This story was a softball. Apparently, somebody has been running around Valentine, Neb., for the past year in the wee hours of the morning leaving impressions of their hind end and other unmentionables on the windows of area businesses and institutions.
He (and apparently, we do know it is a he) leaves the impressions by rubbing said body parts with vaseline and then pressing his back end (or front) against the windows.
It isn't often the first comment is the best, but nothing was going to top the following comment.
i hope on 09/11/2008 04:15:56 said:
"i hope they get to the bottom of this."
Poll of the Week
A brief history of this week's poll of the week. Apparently, the folks at CollegeHumor.com took an interest in a poll that we ran earlier in the week that asked the question "What crime would you be most likely to represent yourself in court?"
The answers ranged from traffic violations to murder. We noticed something amiss when murder surged forward by hundreds of votes midshift the next day. What had happened that the folks at CollegeHumor had included the Journal in a regular feature of theirs, "Ruin A Poll," where they encourage readers to go to a certain Web site and vote for a single answer. In this case, it was murder.
They targeted the Journal for a second day on Wednesday/Thursday's poll, "Where would be the worst place to be stranded?" urging their readers to vote for the Black Hills over the Badlands, the Prairie or Aberdeen in February.
Having made a trip or two through Aberdeen in the winter, I took offense to this. But instead of taking the poll offline, we simply changed the question to the one below and changed one of the answers.
Where would be the worst place to be stranded?
Badlands 24 percent
225 Park Avenue South NY,NY 46 percent
Prairie 7 percent
Aberdeen in February 23 percent
225 Park Avenue South NY, NY is the physical address of where CollegeHumor is. By the way, it's a pretty funny site. You should check it out.
Editor's pick
The name might be a little misleading, as sometimes it goes up at 11:30 a.m. and other times at half past noon.
The idea behind the new feature at the Journal is to give readers a place to read the top national and international stories of the day, see the top national and international videos and see some of the top national and international photos.
Ideally, it will be a feature we have Monday through Wednesday and on Fridays.
