Honest view of Rapid City needed! (Deadwood, Harrisburg: appointed, credit card, how much)

[rjl78]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Exactly. The Arikara were the ones who were originally chased off by the Sioux. Do you know how few people have ever heard that? It amazed me to learn that many people never knew that.

For the most part they settle and even did a bit of farming along the Missouri and other rivers.

And if one looks at history of oh lets say europe... How many times was land won in wars, people assimilated or villages completely destroyed and all the citizen killed.

Was there any money given to those displaced? No. Treaties offered? Nope.

Look at what causes war. Often land is at stake. It has been that way pretty much throughout all of history.

With that being said, what the natives faced is nothing other groups have faced through out history.

[DeadwoodJ]

If you believe that the Black Hills (Paha Sapa) should be given back to the Lakota (Sioux is actually a derogatory term meaning snake in the Lakota language (fun fact for the day )) then by the same logic almost all the United States should be given back to the different Native tribes, its strange how everyone always says the Black Hills are the only thing that should be returned.....Its also true as a previous post said that another tribe was pushed farther west when the Lakota were pushed as well, but I believe it was the Crow that were pushed in front of Sioux, but I could be wrong, my knowledge of Native history does not go back that far .....

I found this site which might help explain a bit more

The Lakota (Sioux)

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by DeadwoodJ

If you believe that the Black Hills (Paha Sapa) should be given back to the Lakota (Sioux is actually a derogatory term meaning snake in the Lakota language (fun fact for the day )) then by the same logic almost all the United States should be given back to the different Native tribes, its strange how everyone always says the Black Hills are the only thing that should be returned.....Its also true as a previous post said that another tribe was pushed farther west when the Lakota were pushed as well, but I believe it was the Crow that were pushed in front of Sioux, but I could be wrong, my knowledge of Native history does not go back that far .....

I found this site which might help explain a bit more

The Lakota (Sioux)

Off topic. But important. The Black Hills, Paha Sapa, were given in a treaty. That treaty was recinded and revised. Chief's agreed to that revisal and accepted what they were given.

More importantly, we got neighbors that blended in. The ones that didn't blend in, started complaining about how they were screwed.

Just who does the land belong to? It's mostly national forest. That means it belongs to everyone. Cept Bin Laden.

Up here in Wyoming, we have 1 (One) reservation. We work together. They are neighbors, not down troden low lifes. We work together. We cry together when a neighbor's life is taken early. We appreciate each others company.

The ones that accept indian money and stay drunk on the res, stay there. There's no fence. The one's that get out and make a living, are our neighbors. There's nothing keeping them on the res. They can learn, they can expand. And most do.

I live in a cabin. The guy in the cabin next to me is of Indian Heritage. But he's never pointed it out to me and never said a thing. We have talked and both know people we've worked with when I rode a poney back home. There wasn't a fence. No signs that said, "Res, not res." There was cattle to be moved, branded, fed.

Sorry to run on like this but it is really a sore spot with me.

I don't look at a neighbor as somebody that the Govmt screwed with. And my neighbors don't look at me that way either. I look at him/her as a friend.

[DeadwoodJ]

I have nothing against the Native Americans, I'm just saying that most of the United States has been taken by treaties from the original tribes and a lot of them were empty promises as well.....

[Posey35]

Let me see if I can comment on a few things.

What do I think of trailors? Not a fan, but I've seen nice trailor parks and real dumps. It's not the parks that decide the condition of the area, but the people living there. People can get off their butt, pitch in and improve conditions. You have to remember that not all people living in trailors picked that option. It may be their only option short of being homeless. In other words "circumstance" plays a big part. Through my looking for real estate I have noticed that some western states seem to have more than their share of trailors and at a cost of houses in other parts of the country. I guess all that money is for the scenery.

My street here in Pensacola use to be beautiful. People moved away, trash moved in and now the street looks like it's the enterance to a landfill. An area behind my home is used by children to do drugs and drink and the police could care less. Drug dealers have set up shop on the street now. I can only imagine what it will be like 5 years from now. Some people may say that I'm giving up by moving. My answer to that is that if you can't even get the cops to care then what options are left? I never saw a place where people would throw trash on the ground while standing right next to a trash can until I moved here. One night they interviewed a man on the news about the problem. His said "that's how it is all over the world." LOL! My bet is that the guy has never left the county.

When I spoke of how bad law enforcement is here I forgot to list of a couple of things and I was wondering if something like this would happen in South Dakota. First: We had a story on the new one night about a man who had been convicted of murder. He was sent back to the jail to await sentencing. (not sure why he just wasn't delt with at that point). While he was at the jail waiting the sheriff's office put him on a road crew. No kidding. He ran away and we had a murderer on the loose. The sheriff's office claimed that they didn't do anything wrong. HELLO! They put a convicted murderer on the street. LOL! Second: At our state prison they also have road crews. They put a "lifer" on a road crew and he ran off. Remember these are not chain gangs. These inmates are just watched by one or two guards. Would South Dakota put somebody on a road crew who had nothing to loose? What were they going to do when they caught the guy? Give him 20 more years? LOL! I know it's hard to believe that people could be that dumb here. We also had a sheriff two counties over who is going to federal prison for laundering federal money. LOL! Get's better every day. We've actually had video and audio on the news of police beating people and the cops get off clean. The one man was hit by the cop car while on his bike. Then they got out kicked and beat him while he was still trapped under the front of the car. The video showed the whole thing and they got off. It's sad.

I realize that every city has it's good and not so good areas. I'm sure that Florida as well as South Dakota have their good and bad. I was in the Rapid City / Deadwood area a little over 30 years ago and I thought it was a nice area. Thirty years is a long time and I realize that things can change. Good or bad.

I am curious about the level of crime in the Rapid City area. I've never seen as many bank robberies as we have here. Some weeks it's on the news about every night or two. The other crime here that shocks me is how many teachers are arrested for either having sex with kids or trying to meet up for sex with kids. Unreal. Three last week alone.

I think Rapid City would be like any other area a person would move to. At first you only seem to see the good things. As time goes on your vision gets a little wider and you may see things you don't like.

I'm curious about something. Within a 20 mile radius of Rapid city what are your opinions of the smaller towns. Nice small towns? Friendly people? ..... and so on. Any help on this issue would really help out.

Thanks

[Jammie]

Posey, I don't believe we have much of the road crew/chain gangs like you have in Fla. I've seen more of them picking up trash along the countryside in the few weeks I've actually spent in Fla. then my entire life up here.

I don't believe that someone so dangerous would be released, but it'd probably depend on if they would be capable of posting a tremendous amount of bail money, too. We have had people escape from prison, but it's rare. Most of ours are people who are in minimum security prisons and just walk off. It's not a common thing here.

[DannyBanany]

Posey, I'm sorry you have to live like that! I can't imagine cops being that corrupt here, then again I wouldn't be that surprised. I guess stuff happens everywhere.

The smaller towns around Rapid City are just like "bedroom communities" and most people work in Rapid City. Summerset, Piedmont Valley, and Black Hawk are growing pretty rapidly from what I've seen over the years. Box Elder is surprisingly growing too. Hopefully they lose that "trailer park, strip joint" image. Rapid Valley also has a lot of new homes going up. All these towns are pretty quiet.

[Jammie]

http://www.city-data.com/city/Rapid-...th-Dakota.html

http://www.city-data.com/city/Pensacola-Florida.html

Your crime rate isn't as high as in many cities down there, but it's considerably higher then Rapid City's rate.

[Posey35]

Hey Jammie,

There is a reason why our crime rate is lower than some other cities down here. Racism. Over the 10 years I've been here I've learned a few things. Growing up in the north I always heard black people saying that whites just don't understand. We just don't get it. I never knew what they meant until I moved here. If whites cause trouble here police have that attitude of "thems just some good old boys havin' fun." If blacks do the same thing the cops are more than ready to send them to jail after they beat them.

I've seen the racism first hand. The first time I had to call the police about a problem here the racism was unreal. The first question the officer asked me over the phone was "what color are they." When I said "what the hell does that matter" the man said that they needed to know who to look for. Okay, I can see that. The problem is that once I said they were black he told me they would send a car right over and hung the phone up. They didn't want to know who to look for. If they did they would have asked things like how many people, what are they wearing and so on. It was all about if and when they might show up. I guess they were going to pick up and question EVERY black person between where the car was and my house. These people are pigs. At least now I know that if I want a cop to show up fast I just tell them that the people are black. Sad but true.

On the news the other night there was a story about a white couple who admitted to burning their house down, ...... arson. They got 6 months probation. LOL! If they were black this racist hole would have sent them to prison. The punishment seems to be based on color. Not many good things have come out of my being here. My understanding of what black people are talking about is something everyone should know.

I wish I had a recording of my last time being called for jury duty selection to show you. I sat there getting more and more upset to see how blacks are treated here, even in our courts. At one point I told the prosecuters "I guess in Escambia County, FL it's innocent until proven quilty, ........ unless you're black!" You can guess what happened next. The lawyer yelled to the judge to get me to shut up. LOL! I'll bet they can't wait until my name comes up again. Oh, I didn't get picked to serve. Wonder why?

If I had never lived here and somebody told me these things I would say that they are crazy. That the cops are not like that. It would be nice to relocate to an area where people don't have to be afraid of the police. We got rid of the old sheriff. The one we have now is trying, but he has the same group of cops working for him. It's a no win cituation. I'll take a look at the crime chart for Rapid City and see what I find there.


Thanks

[DannyBanany]

Posey, that's really a sad situation. I have "heard" that Rapid City cops tend to treat Native Americans differently than white people, but I've never witnessed anything firsthand. I did work in the sketchier part of Rapid City where a lot of bums hang out and drink. Many of them were NA and they'd often pass out under trees or in bushes. Cops would come arrest them or just wake them up and tell them to keep moving. That's probably the extent of police activity I've seen here.

I think more stuff happens when the bikers are here than any other time!