According to the Reader's Digest, South Dakota is Best at Retirement — Everyone’s golden years are more, well, golden in South Dakota, where a combination of low taxes and happy residents makes it the best state for retirement according to Bankrate. And we're Worst at Child Mortality Rate — Unfortunately, the younger generation in the Mount Rushmore state isn’t faring so well. With 47 teen and child deaths per 100,000 people every year, it’s leading the nation in child mortality. So - give birth somewhere else, but come here to retire. Interesting...
How does this compare to other states I've lived in?
Well, California is Best at diversity, and Worst at quality of life. I'm surprised at that, because I remember California as wonderful - and I don't think it was all youth and hormones...But it beats North Carolina (where I went to graduate school for a while at Chapel Hill), which is Best at Millenial Living but Worst at STDs. Please folks - start using condoms!
Georgia is Best at onions - specifically Vidalia, and I can attest to their sweetness. It's Worst at flu prevention.
Tennessee is Best at Fast Wi-Fi - apparently the state's internet is 50 times speedier than the national average, and God only knows how they got that - and Worst at childhood obesity rates.
But let's move on to crime. What's the most famous unsolved crime in every state? (see MSN to look up your state.)
In South Dakota, it's the murders of 30-year-old LaDonna Mathis and her two sons, aged 4 and 2, shot dead on September 8, 1981, in Mount Vernon in Davison County, South Dakota. The father, John Mathis, was shot in the arm, but survived. He said a masked man had carried out the attack, but investigators considered him the prime suspect. He was acquitted a year later when a jury found him not guilty, mainly because the prosecution had no witnesses, no murder weapon and little physical evidence. "As I look back, I would have recognized that at that time there was a myth, a myth that parents could not harm their children, No. 1," then-Attorney General Mark Meierhenry said. "No 2., that sometimes myth overwhelms reason. Because it's what we all want to believe."
NOTE: The Argus Leader has a whole different set of top five unsolved mysteries - look them up HERE.
BTW, there are lots of gruesome stories on this website, but the weirdest one is from Vermont:
Between 1920 and 1950, as many as 10 people mysteriously disappeared in a patch of woods surrounding Glastenbury Mountain in southwestern Vermont. Native Americans consider Glastenbury Mountain “cursed” and used it strictly for burying their dead. They believed the land to be cursed because all four winds met in that spot. There is also mention in native American folklore of an enchanted stone which is said to swallow anything that steps on it. Some have also reported UFO activity and Bigfoot sightings in the area. Author Joseph Citro coined the term "Bennington Triangle" in 1992. Well, sounds like a new movie franchise to me.
Between 1920 and 1950, as many as 10 people mysteriously disappeared in a patch of woods surrounding Glastenbury Mountain in southwestern Vermont. Native Americans consider Glastenbury Mountain “cursed” and used it strictly for burying their dead. They believed the land to be cursed because all four winds met in that spot. There is also mention in native American folklore of an enchanted stone which is said to swallow anything that steps on it. Some have also reported UFO activity and Bigfoot sightings in the area. Author Joseph Citro coined the term "Bennington Triangle" in 1992. Well, sounds like a new movie franchise to me.
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| John Dillinger |
The most notorious crime for each state is almost always entirely different (see Insider) than the "most famous unsolved" one, with the exceptions of the murder of Jon Benet-Ramsay in Colorado, and the murder of TV star Bob Crane in Scottsdale, AZ in 1978. But they are indeed all notorious - I'd heard of most of them, including the 1924 murder by Leopold and Loeb of their 14 year old cousin, Bobby Franks, the 1954 Clutter murders which was the source material for Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", and Jeffrey MacDonald, who was accused and eventually convicted of the 1970 murders of his family at Fort Bragg. BTW, Mr. MacDonald has consistently declared his innocence (but then so do so many), but has consistently been refuted, denied, etc. However, in 1997 DNA testing was done on some hair from the crime scene, some of which matched no one in the MacDonald family. So far this evidence has not been enough to get him a new trial. That happens more often than you'd think.
Meanwhile, in South Dakota, it's when John Dillinger robbed the Security National Bank in Sioux Falls on March 6, 1934. He got $50,000, which would be almost a million dollars today.
Now it's very appropriate that a bank robbery would be our most notorious crime, because when it comes to crime statistics, South Dakota is best known for its larceny. 61% of all our major crimes are monetary, and if you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention to my past blogs on EB-5, Gear Up!, and Maria Butina: 61% larceny and theft, 14% burglary, 14% aggravated assault (combine drinking and winter, and a lot of stuff happens around the bars or at home), 7% motor vehicle theft, and the remaining 4% rape, robbery, and murder/manslaughter. (MuniNetGuide)
I looked over the charts, and while the numbers do change, the actual proportions of crime look almost the same for all the states. But you feel it a bit more in a state like this. South Dakota has a current population of around 870,000, which means that each and every South Dakotan will either experience crime, commit crime, or feel the effects of crime upon them or someone they know. You know that whole "Six Degrees of Separation" rap? Here it's Two Degrees. At the most.
It's like when Carl Ericsson, 72 years old and holding a serious grudge, came to Madison, SD one night in 2012, and went literally from door to door, looking for someone on his grudge list who was home. (Yes, he had a list.) Fortunately for all but one, the only one home was a very popular retired teacher, Norm Johnson, who Ericsson shot twice in the face. Johnson died that night. I knew Johnson - he always was the host of the annual Spelling Bee, and I was one of the AAUW women who judged it. I also knew him from substitute teaching at the high school when we first moved up to Madison. I didn't know Carl Ericsson, but I knew his brother (who was also on Carl's grudge list), and all of his brother's family. And that night the deputy who lived next door to us knocked on my door and asked me to babysit his kids while he went to join the other law enforcement looking for the shooter. This was before anyone knew who the shooter was, or where he was, or who he was looking for. The deputy gave me a gun in case the shooter came calling, and I sat there while the kids slept for a few hours. Safe, but listening for footsteps on the sidewalk, and/or a knock on the door. Everyone in Madison (population 6,000+) knew either Ericsson, Johnson, or both. It resonated in a way that you almost never see on TV.
But back to embezzlement. Besides grifting on the state level, there's also one heck of a lot of small potatoes embezzlement here in South Dakota, much of it fueled by gambling addiction and/or medical bills. $500 from the local VFW; $1,500 from a doctor's office; $2,500 from a nursing home. Interestingly, besides the public humiliation, the punishment is more a slap on the wrist: the main penalty is to pay the money back and do community service; rarely is there any jail time. Perhaps that's why it's so common...
But every once in a while it gets bigger than video lottery. Just recently, up in Kingsbury County a family-run grain elevator has gone bankrupt because the family was hedging commodities and lost as much as $15 million of other people's money. Now that's serious gambling. And the farmers who trust them are in a world of hurt. The farmers hauled their grain to the elevator, waited for prices to go up and the grain to be sold, and then waited, waited, waited for their checks... Besides the fact that the grain elevator pocketed the money, while grain purchasers have to post bonds to guarantee that they'll pay the grain producers - but this company only had a bond of $400,000. That's going to resonate for a long time. Maybe longer than murder. (KELO-TV)
Anyway, that's all from South Dakota, where we talk like Mayberry, act like Goodfellas, and the crazy just keeps on coming.
Now it's very appropriate that a bank robbery would be our most notorious crime, because when it comes to crime statistics, South Dakota is best known for its larceny. 61% of all our major crimes are monetary, and if you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention to my past blogs on EB-5, Gear Up!, and Maria Butina: 61% larceny and theft, 14% burglary, 14% aggravated assault (combine drinking and winter, and a lot of stuff happens around the bars or at home), 7% motor vehicle theft, and the remaining 4% rape, robbery, and murder/manslaughter. (MuniNetGuide)
I looked over the charts, and while the numbers do change, the actual proportions of crime look almost the same for all the states. But you feel it a bit more in a state like this. South Dakota has a current population of around 870,000, which means that each and every South Dakotan will either experience crime, commit crime, or feel the effects of crime upon them or someone they know. You know that whole "Six Degrees of Separation" rap? Here it's Two Degrees. At the most.
It's like when Carl Ericsson, 72 years old and holding a serious grudge, came to Madison, SD one night in 2012, and went literally from door to door, looking for someone on his grudge list who was home. (Yes, he had a list.) Fortunately for all but one, the only one home was a very popular retired teacher, Norm Johnson, who Ericsson shot twice in the face. Johnson died that night. I knew Johnson - he always was the host of the annual Spelling Bee, and I was one of the AAUW women who judged it. I also knew him from substitute teaching at the high school when we first moved up to Madison. I didn't know Carl Ericsson, but I knew his brother (who was also on Carl's grudge list), and all of his brother's family. And that night the deputy who lived next door to us knocked on my door and asked me to babysit his kids while he went to join the other law enforcement looking for the shooter. This was before anyone knew who the shooter was, or where he was, or who he was looking for. The deputy gave me a gun in case the shooter came calling, and I sat there while the kids slept for a few hours. Safe, but listening for footsteps on the sidewalk, and/or a knock on the door. Everyone in Madison (population 6,000+) knew either Ericsson, Johnson, or both. It resonated in a way that you almost never see on TV.
But back to embezzlement. Besides grifting on the state level, there's also one heck of a lot of small potatoes embezzlement here in South Dakota, much of it fueled by gambling addiction and/or medical bills. $500 from the local VFW; $1,500 from a doctor's office; $2,500 from a nursing home. Interestingly, besides the public humiliation, the punishment is more a slap on the wrist: the main penalty is to pay the money back and do community service; rarely is there any jail time. Perhaps that's why it's so common...
But every once in a while it gets bigger than video lottery. Just recently, up in Kingsbury County a family-run grain elevator has gone bankrupt because the family was hedging commodities and lost as much as $15 million of other people's money. Now that's serious gambling. And the farmers who trust them are in a world of hurt. The farmers hauled their grain to the elevator, waited for prices to go up and the grain to be sold, and then waited, waited, waited for their checks... Besides the fact that the grain elevator pocketed the money, while grain purchasers have to post bonds to guarantee that they'll pay the grain producers - but this company only had a bond of $400,000. That's going to resonate for a long time. Maybe longer than murder. (KELO-TV)Anyway, that's all from South Dakota, where we talk like Mayberry, act like Goodfellas, and the crazy just keeps on coming.
PS - In a sea-filled flavor of things to come, Madison, SD is taking up shrimp farming! Tru Shrimp, from Ballaton, MN, has announced plans to build its first commercial shrimp harbor in Madison. "The facility is expected to employ 60, produce 8 million pounds of shrimp annually, and have a $30 million impact on a five-county area." (Madison Daily Leader) Because nothing says shrimp harbor like the plains of South Dakota... I see a real story coming here, folks, and I will keep you posted!
PPS - Leigh Lundin's tid-bits from Florida have made me feel that I need to provide aid and comfort to him in regard to a certain Mr. Sardo. (Leigh's post) Here in South Dakota, on January 11, 2019, an Ipswich man was convicted for fulfilling his dream of having sex with underage twins - in this case, two calves. He tried to claim that the laws against bestiality were unconstitutional, but the judge didn't buy it. (Story Here)
PPS - Leigh Lundin's tid-bits from Florida have made me feel that I need to provide aid and comfort to him in regard to a certain Mr. Sardo. (Leigh's post) Here in South Dakota, on January 11, 2019, an Ipswich man was convicted for fulfilling his dream of having sex with underage twins - in this case, two calves. He tried to claim that the laws against bestiality were unconstitutional, but the judge didn't buy it. (Story Here)
That was interesting. I see Louisiana lists the "Jennings Eight" were eight women whose bodies were found in swamps around Jennings between 2005 and 2009. We were living nearby in Lake Charles in 2006. Terrible events possible. Women in vulnerable positions in life.
ReplyDeleteI see you are one of the rare folks who spends useful time on the byroads of the internet.
ReplyDeleteEve, South Dakota sounds like Twin Peaks. Very lively. :-)
ReplyDeleteFascinating post, Eve.
ReplyDeleteSounds like there's no shortage of inspiration in SD, but all of us can say that about our own states.
O'Neil, I think every state has more than one instance of a variation on "eight women whose bodies were found". Frighteningly common.
ReplyDeleteJanice, I wish I were - but I spend an awful lot of time in the trivia world, too!
Paul, I think we switch back and forth between Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure.
Shocking to see a header ending with a preposition! There are rules of grammar.
ReplyDeleteA shrimp farm in South Dakota? Is this a harbinger of the pending climate change possibly bringing the Inland Sea back to the Dakotas?
ReplyDeleteThe article about the Mathis killings is pretty much the way I remembered the story. The two house fires prior to the murders were perceived as earlier attempts to do the job. Too bad the case was primarily based on circumstantial evidence. That's also pretty good where the defense attorney used the Stupid Defense in response to the "Mathis Sucks" written on the shed wall by claiming his client (the pig farmer) wasn't smart enough to misspell his own name in an attempt to throw off investigators.
Embezzlement is very popular around here, too. See the story of Billie Becker:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wkbw.com/news/former-employee-sentenced-for-stealing-millions-from-towne-auto
She was comptroller of a big car dealership & embezzled over $4 million. She was caught when she went on vacation, having paid all the company's bills before she left. But on the check for the Amex bill, she forgot to write the account number & a sharp-eyed Amex employee phoned the car dealership to ask which account the payment was for. Turned out, nobody at the dealership knew about that particular card ... which Becker used to pay training, boarding, feed, & vet bills for her DRESSAGE HORSES, & paid the Amex bills with dealership funds.
A fun and twisted romp through the Rushmore State. Being a native Angeleno, I sometimes think my town has a stranglehold on all things twisted and murderous. I give my props to South Dakota.
ReplyDeleteR.T., I have a feeling that the shrimp farm is going to be a boondoggle along the lines of the Wisconsin Foxconn factory. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteLawrence, while it's definitely an advantage to crime to be in a large city (And I have lived in LA) where no one knows you and there's too many people to keep up with, there are almost just as many opportunities in a town full of "nice" people - as Poirot once said, "Ah, that's a very good motive for murder."
Elizabeth - some serious embezzlement! It's everywhere.