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THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
W E D N E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
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Cheyenne Alexis I The Volante
Supporters joined near the Meridian Bridge Plaza in Yankton for a 12-hour rally last Saturday in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.
Students show support for pipeline protests By Cheyenne Alexis
Cheyenne.Alexis@coyotes.usd.edu
Organizations and other communities around the University of South Dakota’s campus have joined together to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. The DAPL is a $3.78 billion production that will transport about 570,000 barrels of crude oil from “the oil-rich Bakken fields in North Dakota,” through South Dakota, Iowa and ending in Patoka, Illinois. Tribes across the nation have come together to protest the pipeline’s passing through sacred sites and the threat of damaging water supplies near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
Donation Drive USD students from the Native American Cultural Center collected donations and traveled to Standing Rock on Friday to deliver them. Supplies they had were feminine hygiene products, winter clothing, blankets, non-perishable foods, school supplies for children,
sleeping bags and camping gear. The Native American Cultural Center arranged a donation drive for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The NACC collected items for about three weeks before they traveled up to Standing Rock, which was “enough to fill a small U-Haul,” said first-year Ingrid Cho. The NACC students who organized the donation drive, junior Jessi Bean, first-year Mickayla Armell and Cho, said they were motivated to collect supplies after taking a photo with USD law students. “As Native students, we did a lot of support — we took a picture with the law students, but we wanted to do something more,” Bean said. The NACC was ready to begin their efforts to raising awareness through the donations, and also reflect on their personal feelings regarding the pipeline and how it affects everyone, and how it’s not “just a Native issue,” according to Bean. “It’s important to us because
that’s basically our family up there standing for what they believe in is right to protect their land,” Armell said. “It’s a necessary concern that something could happen.” Cho said they had lots of help from other students at the NACC and faculty and staff members who have helped spread the word about collecting and donating supplies. Cho also said Native Studies Director Gene Thin Elk and Donis Drappeau, the center’s program coordinator, helped with getting the word out across campus. “It’s a heartwarming feeling to watch that grow since Monday (Sept. 12),” Armell said. “We really didn’t have that much, and it’s nice that people are willing to help take something up there to show that we as students understand and are here to help as much as we can, even if it’s just something like this.” The group is “thankful” for all the supplies that they were able to collect over the past few weeks, and hopes to continue to bring awareness to the pipeline, even if people don’t donate.
“I don’t think we could have gotten that amount of stuff we have if we hadn’t gotten the word out as much as it has,” Armell said.”Student-wise, the students that have helped mean a lot, but it would be nice if others were aware of the problem.”
Yankton protests Supporters joined near the Meridian Bridge Plaza in Yankton last Saturday for a 12-hour standing protest. Upon collecting supplies for the Standing Rock protests, there were also two rallies in Yankton over the weekend that brought community members together. The first rally, a 12-hour standing protest near the Meridian Bridge Plaza, drew in more than 30 people. Pat Grant, an organizer of the protest on Saturday in Yankton, said she was “overwhelmed by all the news I heard from the Standing Rock tribe.” “When I think back over the years of what the Native people
BY THE NUMBERS Once completed, the Dakota Access Pipeline will: - Run 1,172 miles in length - Measure 30 inches in diameter - Transport approximately 470,000 to 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day - Connect the North Dakota Bakken to Patoka, Illinois Source: daplpipelinefacts.com
See DAPL, Page A3
Family Planning Center shuts down over summer By Amelia Morris
Amelia.Morris@coyotes.usd.edu
Due to lack of funding, the Vermillion Family Planning Center was shut down over the summer. Senior Jody Vanden Hoek said she’s not sure many people knew about the clinic when it was here, and only knew about it because she received their business card. “I’m not sure what their services all include, but the card said STD testing, so I know they do that,” Vanden Hoek said. Although the Family Planning clinic has closed, the services they offered can still be found in Vermillion. The Sanford Health clinic provides all of the same services, and students can use their student health insurance for discounted prices. Rachel Olsen, the director for student health services, said the services Sanford Student Health offers aren’t much different. “The prices will be quite similar, because they are based on a state set fee schedule. The prices are different per person, due to the fact that it is based on income and family size, also poverty,” she said. “University students can utilize their student health and get these services at a discounted price that is very similar to those that family planning offered. There are many options for students to receive ser-
vices at discounted prices or even free. On Oct. 19, we are hosting a free STD clinic in the MUC with the USD Nursing program.” The clinic might also offer these services at a more convenient level, due to the fact that when the Family Planning clinic was open and operating, they had very limited hours. “Family Planning also saw a decrease in students using the clinic’s services,” Olsen said. “This could be due to ACA insurance, where students are able to get contraception for free.” Although the hours are seemingly more convenient for busy college students, the location seems like a bit of an inconvenience to some. A transfer student from South Dakota State University, Megan Egan, who wasn’t aware of the clinic’s existence, said it seems inopportune. “SDSU had a planned parenthood as a separate section of their wellness center clinic. I had no idea that the Family Planning clinic closed over the summer, but that seems inconvenient for a college town,” Egan said. “A lot of universities offer those services not only for free, but also at an extremely convenient location on campus for students.” The nearest family planning clinic is located at Sanford Health Midtown Clinic in Sioux Falls.
File Photo I The Volante
The Vermillion Sanford Health Clinic now offers services
previously provided by the Vermillion Family Planning Center, which shut down over the summer.
Malachi Petersen I The Volante
The Vermillion Fire Department responded to a gas leak at Austree Apartments Monday evening. Firefighters wore self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) while they were working inside of the apartment complex.
Apartment complex residents return home after gas, fire scare By Volante Staff volante@usd.edu
About 20 people were allowed to return to their apartments early Tuesday morning after a gas leak and fire scare at the Austree Apartment complex led to the evacuation of the two buildings Ileen Weisser, a resident of the apartment complex located at 800 Jefferson who made the initial 911 call, said she was doing laundry in the basement when she saw flames come out of the floor drain. “I was in the laundry room taking my laundry out of the dryer and then there were flames coming out of the floor drain and thats what caught my attention,” Weisser said. “There was (the smell of gas) right away when I first started to my laundry but I didn’t call it in. I could just smell it and that was a big mistake. I should have done it right away.” Weisser said there was an hour and a half between when she start-
ed to do laundry and when she saw the flames. “I first took my wash out of the dryer and I ran upstairs and called the landlord but I couldn’t get a hold of him. So I decided to call 911 then,” she said. “They told me to get everyone out so I went and started knocking on doors and some people helped me out and started knocking too.” Brian Shawn, the Red Cross communications director for eastern South Dakota, said the Red Cross was going to set up a shelter at the Vermillion Armory, but stood down after learning the property manager was paying for displaced residents to stay in local hotels. About 20 people were displaced, he said. “The property manager and the owner of the building have put everyone up in hotels,” Shawn said. Kase Allison, the property manager of the apartment complex, said he received the all-clear from
the fire department at about 1 a.m. Tuesday morning that residents could return to their apartments and started contacting tenants at about 7 a.m. Allison said he was told by firefighters that the gas leak wasn’t natural gas, but gasoline from a nearby business on Cherry Street that had mixed with the sewage system. “They did some more investigation and they found out there was gasoline out in the main of the street and what had happened was that the gas fumes had travelled up my drain pipe in the utility room,” he said. Allison said there’s a standing pilot light in the boiler of the building at 800 Jefferson and the floor drain is in close proximity to the boiler unit. “Well the fumes got bad enough to where it actually lit it,” he said. There wasn’t any smoke damage from the fire, Allison said, and See LEAK, Page A6