Posted on 03/17/2006 10:58:33 PM PST by Tim Long
PIERRE, S.D. - The superintendent of Mount Rushmore was surprised at first when people from all over the country started calling up to express their opinion about South Dakota's ban on nearly all abortions.
Some callers said they were so upset that they would never visit Mount Rushmore, South Dakota's No. 1 tourist attraction. Others said they were so thrilled that they would make a point of coming to see the chiseled faces of four U.S. presidents in the Black Hills.
On further reflection, Superintendent Gerard Baker decided that the messages from far and wide made sense, because Mount Rushmore is a symbol of freedom.
"That's what we're all about here," he said. "That's what America is all about, people expressing their freedom and people expressing their choices and so forth."
In an uproar that has taken many South Dakotans by surprise, politicians and state agencies have been bombarded in the past few weeks with thousands upon thousands of calls, letters and e-mails — pro and con — from across the country and around the world.
And a few small groups have called for a tourism boycott of South Dakota, urging people to avoid such attractions as Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, and the Corn Palace, an arena in Mitchell whose walls are covered with colorful ears of corn.
The furor was prompted by the passage of the strictest abortion law in America — a ban on all abortions except to save a woman's life, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The measure, set to take effect July 1, is aimed at overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade that established the right to an abortion.
Planned Parenthood, which operates South Dakota's only abortion clinic, has said it will decide soon whether to challenge the measure in court or press for a statewide referendum in November.
"Obviously, this is one of the most contentious issues in American society, so when a state does something dramatic, I think you can reasonably expect it will elicit a pretty strong response from the folks who have an interest in the issue," said Don Dahlin, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota,
In a state where many people do not bother to lock their cars or homes, security was tightened at the state Capitol as the Legislature debated the abortion measure, with state troopers more visible than usual, and plainclothes officers sitting in during a committee hearing.
Steps were also taken to protect some of the bill's main sponsors when they returned home.
But "to the best of my knowledge, we've had no threats," said Republican Gov. Mike Rounds, who signed the law March 6.
The governor's office has set up a call center with five lines just to take calls about the abortion measure. An estimated 10,000 calls, e-mails and letters arrived in a two-week period. "I don't know of any other single event that has generated more interest than this," said press secretary Mark Johnston.
Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, behind agriculture, with visitors to the state spending $809 million in 2005, according to the Tourism Department. Mount Rushmore received 2.75 million visitors in 2005.
Among those calling for a boycott is the Women's Medical Fund, an abortion rights organization based in Madison, Wis. "Our message is that if they are going to treat women in this inhumane way, they can expect to pay a price," said Anne Gaylor, the group's director.
State Tourism Director Billie Jo Waara said that her office has been getting a dozen or so calls a day from people on both sides of the issue. Some say they will not vacation in South Dakota, but very few of those who had already made travel plans have canceled, she said.
So far, "it's unclear whether it will be significant or not," Waara said.
Dahlin said the effect of a tourism boycott would probably be relatively small because the state relies on family tourism, not the kind of large-scale convention business that can be shifted all at once to another city.
At Mount Rushmore, Baker said the controversy has had no effect yet.
Baker said it's a free country, but added: "I guess if I had to say something, I would say if you're bringing your family here and you decide not to do that, what you're doing is cheating your family, you're cheating your youngsters by not bringing them to learn about this place."
I think all the pro-life people should plan a trip for there. I know I'm seriously considering it for this year--just need to get the okay from husband. I've wanted to go for a long time anyway as I've never been. It would be a close trip for us too here in CO.
Gerard Baker, superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, was superintendent at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana when its name was changed from Custer Battlefield in 1991.
"It's a paperwork exercise," Baker said Tuesday. "From my experience, you need to cross all your T's and dot all your I's on this kind of stuff."
That is not to say he disagrees with the idea. Baker, who is a Hidatsa Indian, believes many people would like to see places such as Custer State Park renamed.
"Sometimes we put names up there that are heroes that are not necessarily heroes to everybody, to all cultures," he said. "And I think … we need to take those things into consideration."
http://tinyurl.com/o2hjq
The "buffalo people," as some tribes called the animals, were revered for their power and the good fortune they brought the tribe. "I really believe, like the old people do, that these [animals] have a spirit," says Gerard Baker, a Plains Indian who appears in SACRED BUFFALO PEOPLE, a documentary film made by the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium in 1992. "When you shoot them, you can almost feel that spirit around you for a while."
this law isn't gonna affect tourism one iota. I visited SD a few years back. the Black Hills of the Dakotas were gorgeous. Can't say i was much impressed with Mt. Rushmore though. just a rock with some faces on it.
This is so out there, it's actually funny. Let me take a guess how this story came about: someone from a "pro-choice" group started a call-in campaign to Mt. Rushmore (how clever), then contacted an AP reporter/stringer with a "lead" and the name of Gerard Baker, who's obviously sympathetic to "the cause" -- and bingo! -- you have a headline that implies there is a massive grass-roots campaign to boycott Mt. Rushmore (a place where I'd wager none of these callers would ever consider going.)
News has become an inside job, manufactured to further one or more odious liberal agendas.
Amen! And in the off chance that tourism IS affected, it's as likely to be for better as for worse. When I have the $, Mt. Rushmore, here I come!
This is good for South Dakota.
Blood money. Who needs it. Let the killers go elsewhere.
Let them find no home that will welcome their insanity.
I don't have a problem with how the savages killed Americans but he shouldn't cry because his boys had it handed back to them the same way.
She should try those shoes in Mexico City.
First Dashole voted out
Now this, I'll be vacationing in SD this summer for sure.
Aternative Vacation Spots For Abortion Supporters.
Crater Lake {a hole filled with water}
Devil's Lake {Wisconsin -- obviously not the one in South Dakota}
The Dead Sea
The Petrified Forest
Or of course the old stand-by -- Hollywood.
Take a look at the Glacial Lakes area in NE SoDak.
http://www.glpta.org/
We plan on taking the trailerable sailboat there this summer, meeting up with the kids and enjoying ourselves. It is an easy weekend getaway from Wisconsin or Minnesota.
After over 30 years, maybe we will also plan another trip to the Black Hills/Mt Rushmore.
What is the overwhelming demographic description of women who are fanatics about abortion?
Does this match the demographic description of the folks who travel to S. Dakota as tourists?
Aren't most of these hot letters much ado about nothing--sort of like the guy who asked the doctor after an operation, "Doc, will I ever be able to play the violin?"
Doc: I didn't know you were a violinist.
Patient: I'm not, but I've always wanted to.
Anti-abortion forces are rallying and will now make it even less likely that more realistic legislation that could actually greatly slow or even make doing abortions not financially viable to be passed in this state.
This bill was a rash act that will not do the pro-life cause in our state or nationally any long term good.
I already saw this bumper sticker:
"Boycott Mt. Rushmore: Abort Future Tourists"
Thanks for the ping!
First you read the source: AP
Therefore you know it does not provide factual information.
AP simply no gravitas.
It's the AP, of course its irrelevant.
The AP would just as well report as truth that abortion laws limit the ability of homosexual tourists to reproduce via sexual conduct with each other.
The only thing this proves is that the AP left wingers write this story because THEY BELIEVE roe is about to fall and abortion issues WILL be returned to the states.
People who bother to write and complain, are not likely to go to SD any way. They view the upper Midwest as fly-over country. It sounds like a letter-writing campaign from PP. Conservative folks who have children, or even confused Democrats with children will go to SD to see Mount Rushmore, and will not be deterred by this silly pro-abortion writing campaign.
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