The Sixth Street construction project, which continues in full force, has affected everyone. Students and instructors have chosen alternate routes to campus, temporary traffic signals have been put up and local businesses have to adapt to the construction.

Taco John’s, located on the north side of the intersection of Medary Avenue and Sixth Street, has suffered a decrease in business since construction started.

“It has slowed things down a bit,” said store owner Deb Dominiack. “(But) we’re still doing business.”

They just hope the project goes as planned.

“Hopefully it will be (done) within their time frame,” Dominiack said.

Domino’s, also located at the intersection, says the construction hasn’t affected its business.

“Our biggest problem has been people cutting through our parking lot,” said shift runner Lea McCord.

Because the location primarily delivers, McCord said, their customers don’t have to deal with the hassle of the construction.

It has slowed delivery time by a small amount, McCord said, but so far their customers have been understanding.

Movie Gallery, another business located at the intersection, is taking this opportunity to close its doors and remodel the entire store.

Meanwhile, Pizza Ranch, which won’t face the construction until mid-summer, is planning a variety of specials during the disruption.

“A lot of people are worried about (the construction),” said store owner Kip Pharis. “We’re going to be open. Burger King and I are sitting in a pretty good position.”

There are many access approaches to Pizza Ranch, so Pharis said that his customers will find a way to get there.

“It won’t do any good to complain,” he said.

They’re going to do just the opposite, in fact. They are going to have fun with the construction.

Pharis said Pizza Ranch will probably run some specials and he is thinking about getting some hard hats to wear.

The Pizza Ranch has been working with the project since it began. It is even hosting weekly construction progress meetings in its back room every Friday morning.

“We contribute so much to the community that they just thought it’d be a good place to have them,” Pharis said.

#1.884453:3028796260.jpg:moviegallery_tc.jpg:Movie Gallery, located at the Medary Avenue intersection, is one of several businesses taking advantage of the Sixth Street construction. Movie Gallery is currently remodeling.:

Gubernatorial candidate Jack Billion spoke to nearly 30 people last week in a meeting arranged by the College Democrats, in the Union’s Waldorf Room.

Billion, a retired surgeon from Sioux Falls, is the chairman of the Minnehaha Democrats and was a member of the South Dakota State Legislature, serving two terms from 1993 to 1996.

Items on his agenda are: increasing education funding, increasing small businesses, increasing the minimum wage and dealing with the number of uninsured persons in South Dakota.

He first shared his platform and then answered questions from the audience.

“I’m a retired old guy and I don’t need a job and I don’t need to find a place to work in this state or anything else, but you do,” Billion said.

The current situation isn’t one of promise, he said.

“In the state of South Dakota today, 14 percent of our kids live in poverty. We have five of the 10 poorest counties in the nation right in our own state,” Billion said. “We have 3,395 people incarcerated. We have about another 2,500 out on parole.”

A total of 60,000 people in South Dakota don’t have health insurance, Billion said. The largest percentage of those people without insurance is from the 18- to 35-age group.

“That should be a concern to many of you,” Billion said.

Despite the current situation, Billion said the future isn’t all gloom and doom.

“When we talk about what we want to do with this state, I think we have to be mindful of the fact that this state does have some assets. This state does have some ability. This state can do things,” Billion said.

Billion then answered the obvious question: How can he accomplish his goals?

The first step, Billion said, is to encourage and establish a program that produces productive, well-paying jobs.

So how do you go about doing that?

“You need healthy, vibrant small businesses that can afford to pay for health insurance and provide fringe benefits,” Billion said.

South Dakota must promote itself better in order to attract businesses, Billion said.

He said he talked to business owners in Minnesota and they told him that South Dakota doesn’t invest in itself.

They said: “You don’t want to invest in education, you don’t want to invest in the arts, you don’t want to invest in your infrastructure. We look at your energy policies and your wind policies and everything else and we don’t see you taking positive steps to say you can get the job done, so we think we’ll stay in Minnesota.”

Billion suggested looking for the person who will invest and buy in South Dakota.

“When they do that, they tend to stay here,” he said.

Energy is another key, Billion said. South Dakota has done a pretty good job with bio-diesel, soy and ethanol, but not with wind energy.

South Dakota now has four wind turbines, Billion said.

“Every state around us – every single state – has more wind energy than South Dakota and the reason is we just haven’t planned ahead and I’d like to see that change,” he said.

“I’d like to build a small-business model. I’d like to see us change and really become energy-conscious,” he said.

“It’s been shown now over and over again that those states that invest in education also have the highest rate of economic growth,” Billion said. “Not only do we want to grow the economy, but we also want to invest in education.”

It’s not just one area of education, either. Focus must be placed on K-12 education, technical schools and colleges and universities.

“After we get the whole mix done, we’ve got to have the economy that provides jobs so that people can come back and live here and be successful,” he said.

Health care is another topic on Billion’s agenda. “It was my profession for 30 years,” he said.

County government, tourism and the environment are other topics Billion would like to focus on.

“I think the last thing that really is a challenge for me … is (cooperating) with the tribes of the great Sioux nation,” he said. “When we have 60,000 people or 75,000 people who are not doing as well as the average population, what does that do to the economy?”

Billion has talked to people from Pine Ridge, Lower Brule and Eagle Butte.

“What they would like is … the ability to set their cultural, educational and economical goals, but what they would like from the state is … respect for their individuality and their sovereignty,” Billion said.

They would also like the state to facilitate what could be done, he said.

The primary election is scheduled for June 6.

In one of her several on-campus appearances Monday, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-South Dakota, spoke with a crowd of more than 30 people in Rotunda E.

After treating the group to sodas and eight large Papa John’s pizzas, Herseth stressed the importance of the upcoming primary elections.

Without the help of college students, she said, she wouldn’t have won the special election two years ago.

“I can’t encourage you enough to get involved in the June primary elections,” she said. “I wouldn’t have won the primary election in 2002 in a four-way contested race had it not been for some of the energy and enthusiasm (of college students).”

Herseth said she is being challenged in her 2006 re-election bid. The SDSU College Democrats sponsored her appearance.

She talked about the importance of having an equally-representative government.

“When one party has complete control of the executive branch of both chambers of the legislative branch, we get what we have today in both Pierre and Washington – and in my opinion that’s a lack of responsibility, a tendency to have closed government and secret meetings as opposed to open and accountable (government) for the people and citizens of South Dakota and the country.”

Now, she said, government in both Pierre and Washington, D.C., are dominated by Republicans. The elections could change that.

“We have a great opportunity to restore balance and power in Pierre, just as I think we have an opportunity to restore balance and power in Washington … if you get behind two of our terrific candidates for governor.”

The Republican-controlled government offers just one perspective, she said.

“You get too many instances in which somebody’s ideas are never fully evaluated simply because that person happens to be a Democrat.”

Despite the odds against the Democrats, Herseth is hopeful that the they could regain power.

“Now we have a big battle ahead of us in terms of taking over control of one or both houses of Pierre in the state Legislature because right now we’re outnumbered,” Herseth said.

She then changed her topic to the high price of gasoline.

“How many of you have started feeling a pinch at the gas pump,” she asked.

Next week, Herseth and others will introduce a “comprehensive plan for renewable bio-fuels for the entire Democratic caucus.” They have been working with various stakeholders, including producers, fuel retailers and the auto industry.

This will hopefully give rural America more of a voice in Washington, she said.

Herseth also covered current hot-button topics such as:? abortion.? the immigration issue.? her definition of the U.S. “mission” in Iraq.

#1.884455:162818966.jpg:herseth2.jpg:U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-South Dakota, speaks to a group of students in Rotunda E on Monday.:Ty Carlson

Following the completion of the Sixth Street construction project, there is a chance that McDonald’s, currently located at 1605 Sixth St., will be rebuilt.

“Right now, I don’t really have any firm news,” said owner Mike Hartshorn. “We are looking at possibly rebuilding, and I say possibly because we’re still dealing with the city on a few issues.”

One of those issues is the side-access driveways. The city would like to close them, allowing just one central access route to the McDonald’s parking lot.

Until that situation is sorted out, there won’t be any progression in rebuilding the current building.

Hartshorn and others will attend the City Planning Commission zoning meeting on May 2 at 7 p.m. in City Hall to discuss possible reconstruction.

Do you ever get sick of campus food? Are you worried that your eating habits aren’t very healthy? Kari Prest, chef and coordinator for the cooking and lifestyles school at the Brookings Hy-Vee, suggests going to one of her weekly cooking classes held in the Club Room at Hy-Vee.

When Prest started at Hy-Vee two years ago, she never dreamt she would be in her current position of living her dream, she said.

With a history in teaching and a chef’s degree from a French cooking school in Tucson, Ariz., Prest now combines her love of both art and food two to three times a week.

“My first profession was teaching in art and it was kind of a nice marriage between the palate of the mouth and the … color palate. I loved presentation and doing that, so it was kind of a natural fit,” she said.

Prest, a 39-year chef veteran, got the idea to start teaching cooking classes last September and took it to Hy-Vee management. They pushed for the addition of the Club Room when Hy-Vee received an addition and a renovation late last year. Students prepare food in the Club Room, which is eqiupped with three convection ovens and state-of-the-art equipment.

After opening in January, an average of 12 to 18 people attend her cooking classes, including both men and women, ages 5 to 65, she said.

Each class has a different theme and Prest already has a year’s worth of themes lined up.

“I don’t sleep,” Prest said.

One of the ideas she got when she wasn’t sleeping was to give a class on cooking for college students living in the residence halls.

She teaches everything from the basics, like how to cut an onion, to more advanced dishes, she said.

Her ideas come from a variety of sources, including cookbooks, her time at the Tucson school and her own trial and error.

“That’s the part I love – the creating,” Prest said. “There really is no right or wrong.”

f you go to Sioux Falls and drive down the gravel road to the Sioux Falls Humane Society, you’ll see a big building that is air-conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter.

It houses dogs, cats, rabbits, gerbils and various other kinds of animals, housed in separate cages.

If you go to the Brookings Regional Humane Society (BRHS) – well, you’ll end up driving all over the city because there isn’t one central location.

With just one-part time employee, the BRHS operates through the homes of their members and volunteers.

About 100 people can call themselves members of the BRHS. There’s a board of directors, committees and sub-committees, as well.

“This year, the college kids have just really helped out immensely,” member Paula Becker said.

Junior Jacy Riedmann is even on the board of directors, which is a first, Becker said.

The BRHS also gets help from a number of local businesses, including Paws Corner, Sutton Veterinary Clinic and the Gentle Doctor Animal Hospital.

Paws Corner cleans the pets when they are found as strays, while Sutton Veterinary Clinic and the Gentle Doctor Animal Hospital help with the spaying and neutering costs, which is taken care of by the BRHS.

They also make sure the animals get proper shots up to adoption day.

There’s still a great need for volunteers, though. Fundraising, helping with their annual rummage sale, and updating their Web site are just some of the tasks the BRHS is requesting volunteers for.

The BRHS did approach the Brookings City Council several years ago, requesting money to build a central location in Brookings.

“I don’t remember what year it was, but I do remember that a few people on the board of directors at that time put together a very professional-looking (proposal) request asking for (a certain amount of) money for this type of facility,” Becker said.

They conjured up SDSU engineers to do a building proposal for them, too, but the city council was not interested in providing money to help build a home for the BRHS, Becker said.

As a result, they do a number of fundraisers with the goal of building a facility.

“I believe if we could find the land and have someone come up with the money, I think different organizations … would help build it without charging a whole bunch of money,” Becker said.

A million-dollar endowment would allow them to keep the facility running, she said.

Foster parent and SDSU junior Lindsey Stewart believes that the fact that the BRHS doesn’t have a facility is actually a benefit.

“I think it’s a lot better for the animals in Brookings because they’re put in a home environment and they aren’t put in a kennel so they have the one-on-one attention that they need,” she said.

Stewart started volunteering last fall.

“I was trying to find a dog for myself and I saw (the foster parent information) on their Web site, so I went ahead and signed up for it,” Stewart said.

Stewart corresponded via e-mail and ended up taking in a beagle who had just been spayed.

“She was pretty weak and she threw up all over the floor, but it was OK,” Stewart said.

The beagle was adopted immediately, Stewart said.

After numerous locals spoke on behalf of Brookings developers at the March 28 City Council meeting, the council voted 4-3 to hold off on granting Prairieland Partnership, LLP an exclusive right to negotiate development for the land where the Department of Transportation (DOT) county shop currently sits.

At the March 14 meeting, the City Council members received criticism for not giving the public enough time to debate before the council made the DOT purchase.

Council member Mike Bartley addressed the criticism they received during the March 14 meeting.

“These things have to be done sometimes in executive sessions,” Bartley said.

They kept it confidential due to the developer’s request.

Dick Peterson, owner of Cinema 5 theater complex, addressed the council on the issue.

“We have developers here in Brookings,” he said.

Among those he mentioned were the Mills family, who were influential in bringing in Apple-bee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar.

“I believe you need a task force to develop this,” Peterson said. “Stop. Take a breath. Move forward as a community.”

Bartley argued that Prairieland has the contacts needed in order to develop the land.

They would like to see progress by December 2007.

“That’s an ambitious schedule,” Bartley said.

Local realtor John Gustafson addressed the council as well.

“I’m just concerned we haven’t given a local developer any time,” he said.

He suggested holding off on making this decision until local developers have had a chance to bid for the job.

Local realtor Mike McClemens suggested giving half the land to Prairieland while allowing local developers the chance to develop the rest of it.

“You don’t have to lock this into one package in my opinion,” he said. “It’s just not the best thing to put all your eggs in one basket.”

Local realtor Dave Kneip also addressed the council.

“Mike McClemens makes a very compelling argument,” he said.

“People in town that make money locally spend money locally,” Kneip said. “We need to consider our local people. We can’t shut them out.”

Councilmember Julie Whaley questioned whether or not local developers took available of the opportunities they had.

“There’s been a lot of scuttle,” she said. “A lot of talk. We’ve been talking DOT for four years now. Has anyone approached the DOT and took that route?”

City Council member Tom Bezdichek clarified that the government was “regulated as to how to go about selling it.”

Mayor Scott Munsterman cast the deciding vote in the 3-3 split.

Starting April 10, many students and faculty members will face the inconvenience of finding alternative routes leading to campus, as the city will begin its Sixth Street construction project at the Medary Avenue intersection.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) plans on completing the project in a very aggressive manner, John Rittershaus, lead project engineer for the DOT, told close to 50 locals last week at the Brookings County Extension Center.

“The project is divided into four phases,” he said.

Phase I – the Medary Avenue intersection – is scheduled to be completed in 21 calendar days. Phase II runs from the Medary Avenue intersection to 14th Street. The two phases will run concurrently with each other.

As each phase is completed, it will re-open no matter what the status is on the other phases of the project.

Aberdeen-based Upper Plains Contracting, Inc. will head the project with aid from a local sub-contractor.

The $5.4 million four-phase project is scheduled for completion Nov. 3. There are penalties for not having the project done on time.

“There is a $1,000 penalty per day for failure to complete on time,” Rittershaus said.

Upper Plains could receive up to a $120,000 incentive for finishing early, but there’s no limit on decentive charges if the project is not completed on time.

“The limits of the project are from the west side of Medary Avenue up to 22nd Street,” Rittershaus said. “We will not be going through that intersection.”

The street will be widened from 48 to 55 feet from Medary Avenue to 17th Avenue. The roadway will be widened to 60 feet beyond 17th Avenue.

“We are planning on maintaining a 5-foot boulevard and a 5-foot sidewalk throughout this project,” Rittershaus said.

Stoplights are scheduled to be added at Eighth and Medary once construction starts. After finals week, the city will remove the stoplights currently at Eighth and 12th.

“There’s also a tied utility project with the city of Brookings and this project will entail installing new water lines and sanitary sewer lines and this is done in conjunction with our project,” Rittershaus said.

Through-traffic will be detoured through the bypass, he said. Local traffic will have other detours.

One renter asked about Sixth Street access to the home he rents out to students during the school year.

For the most part, there will be access, but there may be a few days where Sixth Street dwellers may have to park someplace else and walk to their homes.

Weekly meetings, covering the progress of the project, have been set for Friday mornings at 10 a.m. in the back room at the Pizza Ranch.

For more information, go to www.sddot.com.

“Garden Line,” a South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service production, will return to the air for its 24th season at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 25 on South Dakota Public Broadcasting TV (SDPB-TV).

The show features a panel of SDSU experts answering viewers’ yard and garden questions.

For more information or to submit yard and garden questions, go to http://gardenline.sdstate.edu.

With the possible exception of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, there is possibly no higher honor for a female pop culture staple than to grace the cover of Playboy magazine. Some women work their entire careers to land a Playboy cover, but Jessica Alba is not one of them.

Playboy used a publicity photo from Alba’s summer 2005 movie, “Into the Blue,” as a photo for its “Sex and Music” issue, which ranked Alba as the year’s sexiest celebrity. While Alba was used as the cover girl, she did not appear nude inside.

A similar situation occurred in March 2005 when Playboy declared Paris Hilton as the “Sex Star of the Year.”

The Hilton family were not happy about Hilton’s photo being used for the cover reported MSNBC.com.

“Jessica Alba was chosen as the sexiest star of the year by our readers through a poll conducted online,” Playboy representative Lauren Melone said in a statement released to the press. “Our editors assembled photographs of the top 25 vote-getters for our annual ’25 Sexiest Celebrity’ feature, and decided to put her on the cover based on the poll results.”

When Alba saw herself on the cover of the March edition of the popular men’s magazine, she publicly complained.

Playboy argued that it had every right to use the photo on its cover.

According to a Reuters report, Alba accuses Playboy of violating her rights and misleading the public by obtaining a publicity photo of “Into the Blue” from Sony Pictures, and then superimposing a bunny logo on her bikini top.

There is no word whether Alba will attempt any legal action, but the situation raises an interesting question: What are the standards on photo copyrights?

“(Alba) probably doesn’t have any recourse at all, “said Greg Latza, a Sioux Falls photographer.

Since she is a public figure, she can be shown on tabloid covers and magazines without any recourse, he said.

The actual ownership of the photo can be complicated, though. Originally the photo belongs to the photographer.

“The copyright belongs to the creator of the photograph immediately when the photo is taken,” said Latza.

Copyrights can be given away, though.

A photo doesn’t always belong to the creator.

“If you’re on the paper’s clock and you’re getting paid by the paper, you’re basically work for hire,” Latza said. “Now, as soon as you’re off the clock, you can go ahead and freelance and do that on your own time.”

Everything depends on the kind of contract you sign, he said.

These laws apply to graduation photos, as well.

“If you take your graduation picture to Harold’s and ask them to make enlargments, you’ll find out that you can’t do that,” said Lloyd Cun-ningham, senior staff photographer at the Argus Leader.

It’s possible for a company to purchase all copyrights of a photo, but it’s also possible for a company to purchase one-time rights or simply license the rights to a photo.

The Argus Leader obtains its photos in a variety of ways.

“The photos (that are) not staff-generated typically come from the Associated Press,” Cun-ningham said.

Photography created by a staff photographer while on duty belongs to the Argus Leader.

The paper also purchases one-time rights from photographers.

“Buying it from you for permanent use would cost us more money than it would be worth,” Cunningham said.

How the photo is used also can be a topic of debate.

If a photographer licenses or rents the rights to a photo, Latza said, then he will probably have more input on how the photo is used.

Roger Toll, executive vice president of legal affairs at Sony’s Columbia Pictures unit, is making his complaints known.

In a letter that appeared on The Smoking Gun Web site, Toll claimed that Playboy gave the impression that the picture would be used only inside the magazine.

Toll demands an apology both for Alba and Sony. He ends the letter with the statement, “Sony reserves all of its rights and remedies arising out of these circumstances.”

According to Forbes.com, Alba’s lawyer Brian Wolf says that Playboy initially offered to pay Alba to pose for a cover photo, but she declined.

Citing “immeasurable harm” by the photo placement on the cover of the magazine, he is requesting a “monetary settlement” in a lawsuit.