The May 24 letter by Steve Novotny, of Winner, began by calling Crow Creek Chairman Sazue a racist. It seems Mr. Novotny missed Chairman Sazue’s point. Chairman Sazue wanted to honor the graduates of Chamberlain High School, native and non-native.

Next, Mr. Novotny claims tribes in South Dakota receive “cradle to grave” welfare and that all of his tax dollars should be pulled therefrom. The problem with his suggestion is that we do not know how much in taxes Novotny Brothers Inc. and Mr. Novotny have paid. That information would need to be made available and subjected to horrible scrutiny in terms of any and all tax benefits they have claimed for lower property tax, income tax, fuel tax, cigarette tax and school taxes. All we know at this point is Novotny Brothers Inc. has received a total of $214,477 in farm subsidies, and Steve Novotny has personally received an additional $329,154 in farm subsidies. Those figures are only what they have received to date. It is unclear how much it will be total in terms of “cradle to grave.”

On a more serious note, tribes throughout the nation entered into treaties with the federal government in exchange for their lands. Promises were made, and promises are in place. There are occasions that the promises were not kept, and the federal government paid monetary compensation therefor.