The Choice is Yours!
Do Right By Rape and Incest Victims -- Or Watch Your State Dry Up and Blow Away
by Tamara Baker

March 12, 2004 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA (apj.us)

Dear South Dakota State Legislators:

My husband and I recently took a trip to your state. We visited the Black Hills, Sioux Falls, and Rapid City, among other places. We saw Mount Rushmore. We visited Deadwood and Lead, among other places.

We noted that the local papers and radio/TV stations talked of how tourism, which is very important to your state's livelihood, was declining. We could see this for ourselves, in the number of businesses, especially tourism-related businesses, that had recently closed their doors for good.

This week, I was alarmed to see that your legislators intend to ram a bill, HB 1191, down the throats of victims of rape and incest. This bill attacks these victims of horrific crimes, sentencing them to pay, for the rest of their lives, the punishment for the crimes committed against them -- by forcing them to bear, and support, the seed of their rapists.

Of course, since South Dakota doesn't believe in making its wealthiest citizens pay their fair share in taxes, these mandatory motherhoods would not get any sort of financial support from the state. The shotgun mothers will have been raped by the South Dakota legislature as well as by the rapists. Since many of the babies will be born into extreme poverty, theirs will likely be a painful existence capped by a death far more ugly and prolonged than any legal abortion would have provided.

You are all getting lots of feedback from various persons. Some will argue with you. Some will try to reason with you. Many will call you names.

I will do none of these things. Instead, I will see if you care enough about the well-being of your state to be willing to prevent a permanent boycott of your tourism industry.

To cut to the chase: If you pass this obscenity of a bill -- if you proceed to violate rape and incest victims and add to their pain -- your state will be hit with the mother of all boycotts. And I, as a contributor to the long-running online publication American Politics Journal, have the ability to start such a boycott.

Tourism, your lifeblood, will join Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok up in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood. Your casinos will see no out-of-towners. Your hotels will go begging for customers. Your giftshops will be stuffed with unsold merchandise. Your restaurants will have nothing but empty tables.

Now, some of you may well be insulated enough, through your wealth, not to feel any direct pain from this boycott. But what of your family members? Your constituents? Your corporate campaign contributors? They will be feeling the pinch -- and we will make sure they know why.

The choice is yours.

Sincerely,

Tamara Baker

SD Senate Members - YES vote supported HB 1191

YES - Abdallah, Gene (r) Home: 605-338-0544 Capitol: 605-224-5981 Business: 605-941-0054

No - Albers, Kenneth (r) Home: 605-987-5940 Capitol: 605-224-5981 Business: 605-987-9000

YES - Apa, Jerry(r) Home: 605-722-1515

YES - Bogue, Eric(r) Home: 605-739-3201 Business: 605-967-2529 Fax: 605-967-2527
E-mail: boguelaw@gwtc.net

No - Brown, Arnold(r) Home: 605-692-5901Capitol: 605-773-3824 Business: 605-692-1439 Fax:
605-692-1439 E-mail: sen.arnoldbrown@state.sd.us

No - de Hueck, Patricia(r) Home: 605-224-9644 Business: 605-224-5470 Fax:605-224-8324

No - Dempster, Tom( r) Home: 605-359-6387 Capitol: 605-359-6387 Business: 605-335-0523 Fax:
605-335-0541 E-mail: sen.dempster@state.sd.us

Excused - Dennert, H. Paul (D) Home: 605-396-2482 Capitol: 605-945-2315 Business:
605-396-2482

No - Duenwald, Jay( r) Home: 605-948-2182 Capitol: 605-224-6877 Fax: 605-948-2182

No - Duniphan, J.P.(r) Home: 605-342-6399 Capitol: 605-224-5981 Business: 605-342-6399 Fax:
605-342-6399

Excused - Duxbury, Robert (D) Home:605-458-2582 Capitol: 605-224-4813 Fax: 605-458-2582

YES - Earley, William(r) Home: 605-339-1052 Capitol: 605-224-5981 Business: 605-782-5004
Fax: 800-841-4645

No - Greenfield, Brock(r)Home: 605-532-4088 Capitol: 605-773-3821 Business:605-532-3799
E-mail: sen.greenfield@state.sd.us

No - Ham-Burr, Arlene(r) Home: 605-348-1506 Capitol: 605-224-6877 E-mail:
sen.ham@state.sd.us

YES - Jaspers, Mike(r) Home: 605-362-1698 Capitol: 605-773-3851 Business: 605-310-2500

YES - Kelly, Dick(r) Home: 605-339-1009 Business: 605-334-0303 Fax: 605-334-1220 E-mail:
dickmkelly@yahoo.com

YES - Kleven, Marguerite(r) Home: 605-347-5944 Capitol: 605-224-5951 Buiness:
605-347-5944 Fax: 605-347-6503

YES - Kloucek, Frank(D) Home: 605-583-4468 Capitol: 605-224-6387

No - Knudson, Dave(r) Home: 605-338-9431 Capitol: 605-224-6877 Business: 605-357-1222
Fax: 605-335-3639 E-mail: dknudson@dehs.com

YES - Koetzle, Gil(D)Home: 605-334-2772 Capitol: 605-224-5951 Business: 605-339-7284
Fax: 605-339-7285

No - Kooistra, Clarence(r) Home: 605-594-3833 Business: 605-594-3833

YES - Koskan, John(r) Home: 605-452-3448 Capitol: 605-224-2942 Business: 605-452-3422

YES - Kurtenbach, Al(r) Home: 605-693-4335

YES - LaPointe, Michael(r) Home: 605-747-4134 Capitol: 605-773-3821
Business: 605-856-2955 Fax: 605-856-4671 E-mail: sen.lapointe@state.sd.us

No - McCracken, Royal"Mac" (r) Home: 605-341-7583 Capitol: 605-224-6877
E-mail: sen.mccracken@state.sd.us

YES - Moore, Garry(D) Home: 605-665-2301 Capitol: 605-224-5951 Business: 605-665-3294
Fax: 605-665-3398 E-mail: garrymoore8@yahoo.com

No - Nachtigal, Sam(D) Home: 605-337-3816

YES - Napoli, William(r) Home: 605-341-2370 Business: 605-348-7373

No - Olson, Ed(r)Home: 605-996-9009 Capitol: 605-224-6877 Business: 605-995-5773
Fax: 605-995-2441 E-mail: deal@santel.net

No - Reedy, John(D)Home: 605-624-2210

YES - Schoenbeck, Lee(r) Home: 605-882-0612 Capitol: 605-224-4200 Business: 605-886-0010
Fax: 605-886-0011 E-mail: sen.schoenbeck@state.sd.us

YES - Sutton, Dan(D)Home: 605-997-3328 Capitol: 605-773-3821 Business: 605-997-3777
Fax: 605-997-3226 E-mail: sen.dansutton@state.sd.us

No - Sutton, Duane(r) Home: 605-229-3805 Capitol: 605-224-8517 Business: 605-226-2828
Fax: 605-229-5860 E-mail: duanesutton@yahoo.com

YES - Symens, Paul(D) Home: 605-448-5775 Business: 605-448-2624 Fax: 605-448-5786

YES - Vitter, Drue(r) Home: 605-574-4063 E-mail: senatordvitter@aol.com

For more info on the South Dakota state legislature and bills:
http://legis.state.sd.us/index.cfm
http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2004/mem.htm