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Today High 39 Low 23 On the Web rapidcityjournal.com $1.00 • To subscribe, call us at 877-525-6397 A publication of Lee Enterprises MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2014 Local options needed for juvenile offenders KNIGHTON TAKES ON BIGGER ROLE IN DENVER » Read the story on B1 » Read the story on A5 Move to Rapid View the top five reasons we think people from outside Rapid City should move into our town at rapidcityjournal. com/wonder INSIDE ON THE WEB » Read about it on A4 16,200 THE BIG NUMBER Estimated number of people living on the streets or in temporary shelters in Detroit. The city’s homeless numbers have increased in the past decade as jobs disappeared and homes were lost. Weather, A8 Advice/Comics A6, 7 Crosswords A6, B5 Classifieds B5 Obituaries A4 Opinion B4 Sports B1 Weather A8 John Lee McLaughlin Journal staff The somber song and pounding of a drum slowly grew louder Sunday as a group descended from a north Rapid City hilltop where they had been mourning the death of Allen Locke. Comprised of about 30 people, the group finally stopped in front of the home at 541 Paha Sapa Road, where Locke, 30, was fatally shot Saturday night by Rapid City Police after he charged an officer while holding a knife, according to police reports. The officer, identified as Anthony Meirose dur- ing a press conference early Sunday morning, is on administrative leave pend- ing an investigation by the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation. Among the walkers mourning Locke on Sun- day was Robin Page, board member of Lakota Community Homes, where the shooting took place. “We must find positive solutions to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Page urged emotionally as she committed on behalf of the board to spark action to achieve change. Police Capt. Dan Rud stressed that the police shooting was a matter of criminal activity and not of color or race. “Locke was known to local law enforce- ment through previous criminal contacts,” he said, though the previous crimes weren’t elaborated on. “The officer is white. The suspect is Native American, but it’s not a race deal,” Rud said. “This is based on criminal behav- ior and has nothing to do with race. If the police officer was Native American and the suspect was white, the result would have been the same thing.” Community mourns shooting victim Officer on leave pending investigation John Lee McLaughlin, Journal staff A group of mourners gathers Sunday in front of a residence in Lakota Community Homes, where the Rapid City Police shot and killed Allen Locke, 30, on Saturday night. Locke was charging an officer with a knife when he was shot. Meirose Scott Feldman Journal staff The Rapid City Regional Air- port received $500,000 worth of grant money in October, but it was only possible thanks to the research and sharp eyes of Alex Bachwich, who colleagues say is one of the brightest young minds in Rapid City. Bachwich, 16, and the young- est member of the Partnership, did the heavy lifting to secure a $325,000 grant that will be matched with $175,000 in local funds. The grant will help to enhance and expand the flight from Rapid City to Atlanta which was established this summer, though it’s undecided at this time exactly how the money will be spent. “He discovered the grant existed, he basically wrote up the grant proposal, presented the proposal and submitted it,” said Linda Rabe, CEO of the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce. “He’s well spoken, passionate, articulate and his ability to communicate ideas is excellent.” Bachwich said he joined the Black Hills Air Service Partner- ship when he was only 14. He had been home schooled for high school and had already been a student at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology for a few years. Bachwich said he decided to join the group after Bill Walsh, a friend of his mother, took him to a meeting. “It didn’t seem unnatural to me, I’ve always liked business and airlines and this was the perfect combination of the two,” he said. Bachwich describes himself as being “an airline geek for as long as I could remember.” He isn’t exactly sure what drew him to airlines, but he’s been fascinated with airline travel ever since he can remember. By the age of 9, he was booking the flights for every- one in his family. Teenager helps airport soar Mines student secures $500,000 in grant funds Sean Ryan, Journal staff Alex Bachwich, a 16-year-old student at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, helped secure a $500,000 competitive grant for Rapid City Regional Airport. He is the youngest member of the Black Hills Air Service Partnership. Seth Tupper Journal staff There’s a new object in the South Dakota political solar sys- tem. That’s how Jeff Barth, a self- described rebel within the Dem- ocratic Party, views the founders of a new Demo- cratic organiza- tion in the state. “I’ve actually compared them to an Oort cloud,” he said. A what? “Beyond Pluto, there are comets meandering around in the icy cold far, far, far away from the sun,” Barth said. “A couple of them somehow clumped together out there, and now they’re form- ing a planetesimal unit.” That’s both a metaphor and a literal description of an Oort cloud. If you don’t speak Barth, here’s the translation: The comets are energetic, progressive Demo- crats on the fringes of the official party structure, and the planetes- imal unit is the new organization they’ve formed. They call it South Dakota Progress, and they hope to raise money and recruit candi- dates and generally help pull the party away from the Black Hole it seems in danger of entering. The party suffered a wallop- ing in the Nov. 4 election, and since then it’s tough to pick out any Democrats in a glance around the state’s political planetarium. Democrats have nobody in any of the 10 state-level elected offices, nobody in the state’s three-person congressional delegation and only 20 of the state’s 105 legislators. Recruiting Democratic candidates New organization trains candidates for local offices Barth “e officer is white. e suspect is Native American, but it’s not a race deal. is is based on criminal behavior and has nothing to do with race. If the police officer was Native American and the suspect was white, the result would have been the same thing.” Dan Rud , Rapid City Police Captain » Shooting, A3 » Democrats, A5 » Grant, A3
