OUR VOICE: Neighbors can stop crime spree

If you see something, say something.

That’s really all that neighbors in Aberdeen can do to combat a recent wave of vandalism and thefts from cars.

The vandalism is happening in the southeast part of the city, while the thefts are mainly in the southwest. Both series of crimes have the Northern State University area in common.

Aberdeen police are able to spot trends thanks to a new software system. But it’s up to residents to spot the crimes in progress.

We aren’t dealing with Bonnie and Clyde here. These are not master criminals. Any neighbor will be able to outwit them with just a window and a phone.

If you know something or have seen something, call the Crime Stoppers number at 605-626-3500.

Competitive beef jobs

The American Foods Group was in Aberdeen this week trying to recruit laid-off Northern Beef Packers workers to the group’s Cimpl’s beef processing plant in Yankton.

The group came away with some hires — not a big percentage of the 108 who were told to go home from the beef plant April 24, but a respectable number.

Beef processing is a cutthroat business, in more ways than one. When a Cargill processing plant in Texas announced its closure, Northern Beef officials tried to woo those workers to Aberdeen. Now when Northern Beef is down, another plant tries to get its workers.

Makes us think: Maybe the money isn’t in beef processing. Might be smarter to start a beef processing school, where anyone can train to become a skilled, experienced, beef-processing worker.

SD vs. Minnesota

Gov. Dennis Daugaard has made some high-profile overtures to Minnesotans to recruit them to move to and work in South Dakota.

First, he sent postcards to the Land of 10,000 Lakes touting our low taxes and quality of life. On Monday, Daugaard shook hands at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., and talked up career opportunities here.

Minnesota will have a leg up on keeping many highly skilled workers of all ages now that it has legalized gay marriage. That state is about to become a Midwest magnet.

We wouldn’t be surprised if South Dakota’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage — and anything that looks like gay marriage — negates some of the good of Daugaard’s campaigns. All things being equal, citizens are more likely to move to states that give them more rights, not fewer.

Going Hollywood

South Dakota has had a strange run of mentions on TV shows lately. First, Aberdeen was referenced on “Bates Motel,” and then a recent episode of “Criminal Minds” centered on the Black Hills.

But South Dakota is not only trending on fictional TV shows. Reality shows also seem to have caught the South Dakota bug.

On two recent back-to-back episodes of “American Restoration,” our state got two mentions. First, someone brought a vintage golf ball slot machine to be fixed to the crew from the show. The client said he had bought the machine in northeast South Dakota. In the next episode, Rapid City businessman Larry David brought the shop in Las Vegas an iron lung to be restored.

It seems as if we are on a bit of a TV roll.

— American News editorial board