I got back on Sunday from a trip with my family down to Aberdeen, SD, where I grew up and lived from age 3-10. It was interesting to see my old hometown, which is almost exactly as I remembered it., save for some new housing additions here and there, different storefronts, a Super Wal*Mart, and a giant new meat-packing plant. The reason we were down there though is what I want to talk about. We were down there to see the unveiling of a statue dedicated(in part) to my uncle for work he, along with others did in the 1970's. Steve at that time ran a field office for Senator James Abourezk in Aberdeen. There was a planned project to channel the water in the Oahe reservoir into an irrigation system that would span all the way through to Brown County. The idea was essentially a science project of the Bureau of Reclamation and was a.)expensive, b.)inefficient, c.)destroying natural wetlands and animal habitat, and d.)taking some 110,000 acres of farmland away from farmers in order to irrigate some 190,000 acres of farmland.
A group of family farmers decided they were going to do something about it. And do something they did. What began as a meeting of six brothers turned into a lobbying group of 25,000 rural South Dakota farmers called United Family Farmers, that along with the help of Steve and others took on Washington and the Bureau and got President Carter to sign a bill that put the stopper on the project, with a sunset provision. Regan signed the bill that completely killed Oahe's funding and traded the funds for something that the farmers needed instead: drinking water. There began WEB Water Development, a massive rural water distribution system, headquartered in Aberdeen that stretches across 12 counties and services almost all of rural northeastern South Dakota.
The fight was not easy, there were massive business interests that wanted the contracts to get the Oahe money, and the Bureau had its own agenda, but the people stood up and made it clear: they did not want this, and the Federal government was forced to back down. It is truly amazing what can happen when ordinary people stand up in this country as one and take on their cause. It also serves as a reminder to my generation of the giants whose shoulders we stand on. I haven't learned all there is to know about Oahe, but I have a book written by the farther of one of my former classmates, along with my own dad, who managed WEB in the mid-nineties, to learn from, the lesson though is clear, stand together, and take action when you disagree. You can be heard, and you can affect policy if you work together and take action.