Sheriff: Eldorado raid may affect us
 
By Jason Ferguson
Custer County Chronicle - Custer, South Dakota
 
The recent raid on a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound near Eldorado, Texas, may have a ripple effect into Custer County, sheriff Rick Wheeler said.

Wheeler gave the Custer County Commission an update on the situation in Texas at the commission’s April 9 meeting, but is taking a wait-and-see approach as to whether the events in Texas will cause a stir at the FLDS compound near Pringle.

"There may be things that arise from that here," Wheeler said. "I don’t know. Right now, we have no reason to be out there."
Wheeler has frequent contact with leaders of the Pringle compound and has been allowed access inside. He said the compound is still in construction mode and, because of that, he doesn’t believe there are that many children at the compound. Local developer Jim Farmer, who has developments near the compound, said he has seen two dozen children all together at one time on the compound.

Wheeler also told the commission Pennington County Sheriff Don Holloway is working on a proposal that would see Pennington County transport Custer prisoners to and from the Pennington County Jail for court. Holloway believes he could save Custer County money by having his deputies transport prisoners.

Emergency management director Mike Carter spoke at the meeting, and told the commission he and Custer Fire Department chief Joel Behlings have applied to the Federal Emergency Management Association for a grant to replace the vast majority of mobile emergency responder radios in the county.

"It’s gonna be big if we get it," he said.

The grant would be around $900,000, and would provide new digital radios. Some of the current radios are no longer supported by the company that manufactured them because some of the parts are obsolete.

Custer County planner David Green told the commission the planning commission is working on a draft ordinance that would regulate where and when in the county a cell phone tower can be placed, as well as how big it can be.

"We don’t want to eliminate cell towers," he said. "We just want some process when it comes to the location and look of them."

At the request of Green, the commission placed a 90-day moratorium on permitting cell towers in the county, so the planning commission has time to draft the ordinance.

April 9 was also the department head meeting in front of the commission. Most of the department head talk centered around the county’s use of the Beacon program, computer software that has streamlined the way the county enters, stores and accesses information. The use of the program is saving the county departments time, which in turn saves the taxpayers money.

Information that previously required laborious research is now at the fingertips of county staff. The program will be available for public use some time in May, although whether or not it will be a pay service has yet to be determined.

Commissioner Leonard Wood complimented the department heads on their work on implementing the program, and said of all the counties he deals with in the area, Custer is by far the most technologically advanced.

"It’s like a century ahead," he said.
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published Tuesday, April 15, 2008
 
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