Execution for Crimes by Minors to be Challenged
in South Dakota Legislature 
 

At present, South Dakota law permits execution of a person for crime committed under the age of 18.  A bill will be introduced in South Dakota's 2003 Legislature to prohibit execution or crimes by minors, leaving life without parole as the maximum sentence for such offense.
 
If the bill succeeds in the 2003 Legislature, South Dakota will join the majority of states - currently at 28 - as well as the District of Columbia and the federal government, which all prohibit execution for crimes by juveniles.  The framework of justice in our state will then be purged of an institution which has proved in practice to be overwhelmingly discriminatory and arbitrary, and which the rest of the world regards as barbaric and inhumane. ( See ACC/SD website www.accsd.org for complete article by Jeanne Koster, South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, (605) 882-2822, sdpjc@dailypost.com.

Flandreau Chaplaincy celebrates Tony

The following article was written by Rick and Lorna Jost and reprinted from Dakota Connections, a publication of the Dakotas Conference, United Methodist Church, with permission from Donna Fisher, Editor.
 
Editor's note:  For 36 of Flandreau Indian School's 100 years, Anthony Firman initiated, shaped and sustained the Chaplaincy program.  Tony's retirement offers a time for reflection and thanksgiving for Tony's and his wife Denise's service there.
 
The search committee selected Rev. Ron McKinney to be Tony's replacement.  A native of Broken Bow, OK, and a member of the Choctaw Indian Nation, Ron graduated from Oklahoma University.  Ron's ministry has focused mainly on Native American youth, including several years at St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, SD.  During seminary studies in Dubuque, IA, he has been a tutor in the girl's dormitory at the FIS.  Ron was ordained a Presbyterian minister in June.
 
Tony urged Ron to apply for the Chaplaincy position.  Ron's wife, Danelle, member of the Dakota Nation, is also a Presbyterian minister.  Danelle is originally from Flandreau.  She met Ron while in seminary.  Danelle will be helping with the Chaplaincy program.
 
The Dakotas Conference of the Methodist Church has provided salary support for the Chaplaincy for many years.  That support became a special Asking in the 2002 budget.  Please pray for the McKinneys as they begin their ministry, and support this program financially by giving generously to Special Askings.
 
Flandreau - For over 100 years, the Flandreau Indian School (FIS) has been nestled on a woody hillside at the north edge of Flandreau, SD.  The original school, called Rigg's Institute, was started in 1872 by Presbyterian missionaries for the Santee Sioux.  In 1890, Congress appropriated $1,000 for the purchase of 160 acres of land for an industrial school near the village of Flandreau.  In 1891, the Federal Government established a boarding school for Indian youth.  Some of the first buildings erected are still in use.
 
In the 1970's, the United Methodist Church brought the South Dakota Association of Christian Churches together to form the Flandreau Indian Chaplaincy.  Tony Firman was originally assigned under the Catholic Diocese of SD.  A key element of federal guidelines declared that churches were not allowed to work denominationally but must work in partnership on campus.
 
FIS, the oldest off-reservation boarding school in the nation, houses, cares for and educates each pupil during its nine-month school calendar.  Today, this federally supported school has more than 20 buildings and facilities to provide a varied program for 400 boarding students from 11 states and 35 major tribes.  The Flandreau Indian School has about 140 staff.
 
Why do we support a Chaplaincy Program?  The typical student who comes to FIS has been moved at least seven times, due to abandonment or family problems.  The Chaplain brings the Gospel of Jesus Christ into these students' lives, and they, in turn, take their faith back to families and tribes.  Many students accept Jesus Christ as their Lord.
 
Each year the Chaplaincy distributed over 400 quilts to students at chapel services, showed Christian films on Wednesday nights, and provided "Alive Now!" Christian magazine to each dorm room.  The chaplain led services every Sunday morning and offered counseling.  "Being a Christian friend in what can be a very lonely place, far from home," is how Firman described his main mission.
 
The Flandreau Indian School instituted a new program in 2000, the Freshman Academy, in partnership with South Dakota State University.  For 10 weeks, freshmen may go to SDSU and visit a different college department for an afternoon session.  The Flandreau Indian School had no money budgeted for transportation, so the Chaplaincy and Knights of Columbus volunteered to split transportation costs to Brookings.  For two years now, the FIS has attributed the higher-than-usual retention of freshman returning as sophomores to this new Freshman Academy.
 
Tony considers it God's greatest gift that he could work all these years in a job that he loves.  As he contemplated retirement and remembered his first career as a percussionist in the Air Force Band, he looked around a home filled with his paintings.  Perhaps he'll find time in retirement to take up these hobbies - when he isn't volunteering at the Flandreau Indian School.  We thank you, Tony, for your dedicated service!

Previous|Next