#dean schrempp

Gov. Dennis Daugaard fiercely resisted a proposal to legalize fighting sports like mixed martial arts earlier this year, but on Friday he moved to implement the law.

The newly created South Dakota Athletic Commission will create rules to regulate fighting sports, cracking down on unregulated bouts going on now but allowing more legitimate events to occur.

On Friday Daugaard appointed three of the five members of the commission, and expects to announce the other two in coming weeks.

The governor picked one fight promoter and two doctors for the commission, and said he expects to pick a second promoter and a layperson with no ties to fighting sports for the final two spots. One of the remaining picks must also be a non-Republican.

"It's a good step forward," said state Rep. Dean Schrempp, D-Lantry, and a major proponent of the athletic commission.

One of the appointees was Mike Kilmer, a Belle Fourche boxing and MMA coach who supported creating the athletic commission. He said they'll work to make those violent sports safer.

"I'm very adamant about doing it properly to minimize the risk," Kilmer said. "I'm not going to say there's not a risk, an inherent risk in any sport, but we can make it as safe as can be, and much safer than if we don't have the commission."

Among the rules expected to be adopted by the commission are blood tests to keep people with blood-borne diseases like AIDS from fighting, and restrictions on how quickly fighters can come back from knockouts or concussions.

But some critics of the law still say it's mistake.

"We gave up the fight too early and shifted the focus off our concern, which was violence, and put it onto safety," said state Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls. "Now we have another layer of unfunded government bureaucracy to save people from themselves."

Both Daugaard and Hickey said the governor shouldn't have tried to sabotage the law by appointing commissioners who wouldn't implement it.

"I think I need to appoint a commission that's going to be responsibly acting as the legislation intends them to act," Daugaard said. "I think they need to give attention to safety, to rules, to the financial liability prospects. But if I don't want this law then I should act to introduce repeal legislation, not to sabotage it and attempt to do by the back door what I can't do by the front door."

Both Daugaard and his predecessor Mike Rounds declined to appoint members of an athletic commission under a previous law. That inaction drew sharp responses from lawmakers this year, and Daugaard promised to implement the law if passed, which it did.

One of Friday's appointees, Michael Bergeron of Sioux Falls, has long been active as a leader in athlete safety, serving as executive director of the National Institute for Athletic Health & Performance. Mark Johnston, the former state senator who championed the successful athletic commission bill this year, called Bergeron an ideal appointment by Daugaard.

"I don't know if I could have throught of a better person to have appointed," Johnston said. "Having Mike's expertise on the commission will be invaluable to protecting athlete."

Once Daugaard appoints the final members of the athletic commission, it will take some time before legitimate fighting bouts can occur. The commission has to approve rules governing these fights. But Kilmer predicted that would take months, not years, because South Dakota can adapt the rules of states such as Wyoming with their own athletic commissions.

After that's done, South Dakota could see some boxing and MMA events both big and small. Even low-level MMA leagues have avoided South Dakota because of its lack of a commission, while the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has had discussions in the past about hosting a high-profile MMA or boxing bout.

Appointed to the commission Friday:

Michael Bergeron, Ph.D., of Sioux Falls, is the executive director of the National Institute for Athletic Health & Performance and the National Youth Sports Health & Safety Institute, and professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota. He also has an appointment as a senior scientist in Sanford Children’s Health Research Center. Dr. Bergeron is a fellow and past trustee of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Richard M. Little, M.D., of Spearfish, is an orthopedic surgeon, specializing in sports medicine, at Regional Orthopedics in Spearfish.

South Dakota is on the verge of regulating fighting sports such as boxing, karate and — most controversially — mixed martial arts.

A bill to create a fight commission passed the South Dakota House 50-20, despite strenuous objections that mixed martial arts was so violent and dangerous it should be banned.

“Just the visceral perception from the average person is, this thing is violent,” said Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, who led the charge against mixed martial arts in the Legislature. “I just can’t imagine us giving the green light to this and bringing in this industry.”

He pitched his amendment as a compromise — to allow a commission to oversee boxing, karate and other traditional fighting sports, but draw the line at mixed martial arts.

But the House rejected Hickey’s amendment 43-27. Rep. Dean Schrempp, D-Lantry, successfully argued that any problems with mixed martial arts in South Dakota were due to the lack of oversight.

“Once we get it regulated, we shouldn’t have no more problems with it, or at least not as many as we have now,” Schrempp said.

Among the regulations a commission could impose would be medical personnel at fights, insurance for bouts, blood tests for fighters, and mandatory bans for fighters who sustain concussions.

The House also defeated an amendment offered by Rep. Kristin Conzet, R-Rapid City, requiring members of the commission to have liability insurance. Among the objections Gov. Dennis Daugaard has raised to a fight commission is that the state or the commissioners could be exposed to costly lawsuits as a result of their rulings. Rep. Susan Wismer, D-Britton, said commissioners could exercise personal judgment about obtaining or not obtaining such insurance.

The Senate previously approved the fight commission and is expected to concur in amendments made on the House side, Senate sponsor Sen. Mark Johnston said. The measure, Senate Bill 84, would then head to Daugaard, who strongly opposes it.

An alliance of urban conservatives and rural lawmakers defeated two proposed restrictions on 14 and 15 year old drivers Tuesday, while two more passed.

Rejected on concerns about government overreach and inconvenience to rural families were a restriction on the number of passengers young drivers could have, and a six-month extension in the amount of time before 14-year-olds can get a permit to drive without an instructor.

“We have eight kids, and they were all driving by the time they were 7 or 8 years old,” said Rep. Dean Schrempp, D-Lantry. “If the parents would just work a little bit with these kids, they’d be ready to drive at an earlier age.”

Rep. Lee Qualm, R-Platte, said his kids also started driving at age eight. The burden, Qualm said, should be on parents to know when their children are capable of driving alone.

The limitation on passengers had exemptions for family members and for trips to and from school and school events in an attempt to satisfy rural concerns. But Rep. Kyle Schoenfish, R-Scotland, worried limiting passengers would just lead to more inexperienced teen drivers on the road.

Rep. Lance Russell, R-Hot Springs, argued in forceful terms that the bill went too far limiting individual’s rights to do what they want with their vehicles, including letting their kids drive with passengers.

“If they’d had enough cars in the Soviet Union in Stalin’s time, he probably would have thought this a really good idea,” Russell said.

Supporters of the two bills had argued they would help save lives.

“These are the times we make decisions that will save one or two or three families next year,” said Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls.

Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, said two issues above all contribute to teen drivers getting into accidents: “youth and distraction.”

Statistics distributed at Tuesday’s committee hearing said traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers — even those who aren’t driving themselves. Two-thirds of South Dakota teens who die in car crashes were passengers while another teen was driving, according to a lobbyist for State Farm Insurance.

Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron and a strong supporter of the teen driving proposals, said she will try to revive the six-month delay, but is giving up for this year on the passenger limit due to lack of support.

After the hearing, Gibson and other supporters were angry.

“This committee has just made a sham of our work,” said Gibson, who helped draft the bills as part of a teen driving task force. “I’m disappointed and I’m embarrassed by the ignorance of some of the comments that were made today.”

Gibson accused opponents of the two proposals of prioritizing convenience over safety. She referred to the remarks of Rep. Dennis Feickert, D-Aberdeen, who said his brother would have to “take time from his important work on the farm to see to it that his (14-year-old) son is able to participate in activities in the school he goes to in the fall” if the bills passed.

“How do they get to school right now?” Gibson said. “We’re talking about convenience over saving lives.”

Russell, however, said the supporters of the bill hadn’t made the case that these changes were necessary.

“I just have not heard compelling testimony that we need to change what we’re doing in this state and dramatically restrict those young people who, like my son, are more than capable of, within a just a few weeks, I think, to have a full license,” Russell said.

Though two teen driving bills were defeated Tuesday, the House Transportation Committee passed a third — a ban on cell phone use by 14- and 15-year old drivers.

Unlike a proposed ban on texting while driving for all drivers currently awaiting a hearing in the House, this bill would include all use of cell phones and other mobile communications devices by those young drivers.

By preventing young drivers from the distraction of texting or talking on their cell phones, advocates said they could prevent accidents.

“I’d hate to be a law enforcement officer in this instance, because I think it’s going to be tough to enforce, but I think it’s a very important move,” said Feickert.

A fourth bill, standardizing statewide driver’s education, also passed the committee — but with an amendment appropriating $50,000 to pay for the effort. Supporters called that an attempt to defeat the bill, because bills appropriating money need more votes to pass, and said they would try to remove it on the House floor.

South Dakota lawmakers knocked down another challenge to a commission overseeing fighting sports such as mixed martial arts Monday.

Overriding opposition from Gov. Dennis Daugaard and others, a committee of the South Dakota Legislature unanimously passed a bill creating an athletic commission with power to set rules for combative sports.

It now heads to the full House, where Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, plans a second attempt to block approval for mixed martial arts.

Hickey and other opponents say they have no objection to creating a commission overseeing traditional fighting sports such as boxing or karate. But Hickey said the state needs to draw a line at mixed martial arts, which he characterized as uniquely violent and dangerous.

“Mixed martial arts is over the line of what should be tolerable,” said Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls. He termed mixed martial arts the craft of “nearly killing another person.”

But Hickey’s proposed amendment to ban mixed martial arts was defeated on a voice vote, with only a few members of the committee in support.

A majority agreed with supporters that regulating mixed martial arts, which combines boxing, kickboxing and wrestling, was the best way to protect people.

“These matches take place,” said Mike Kilmer, who owns a training gym in the Black Hills. “With regulation we can minimize the injuries. We can minimize any of the negatives that go along with it.”

Opponents also warned that endorsing mixed martial arts would desensitize viewers to violence and contribute to a degeneration of society.

“We don’t want to become a society that has lost its capacity to wince,” said Hickey.

Sen. Mark Johnston, R-Sioux Falls, responded by saying the bill wasn’t “a discussion about societal change” but simply proposed to regulate the fastest-growing sport in the country.

Mixed martial arts events are already occurring in South Dakota, but without any oversight or rules. Rules from a commission, such as required blood tests, insurance and suspensions for athletes who suffer concussions or knockouts, could make the fighting safer, supporters argued.

“A commission is needed to ensure the safety and compensation for the participants,” said Paul Hunhoff, a mixed martial artist from Yankton who is also the son of state Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton.

Supporters also said having a commission could let South Dakota attract high-level fighters to bouts in South Dakota that could bring money into the state.

Opponents said the state shouldn’t be profiting from violent spectacle.

“We hope this Legislature will resist all efforts to bring such violent spectacle to our state,” said Dale Bartscher of the Family Heritage Alliance.

The closest point of contention Monday was whether to give Daugaard authority to appoint the athletic commission. The bill that previously passed the Senate gave the Legislature most of the authority to appoint commission members, a reaction to the decisions by Daugaard and his predecessor, Gov. Mike Rounds, to not appoint a commission created by a prior bill.

Jim Seward, Daugaard’s general counsel, told lawmakers the governor would appoint the athletic commission if this year’s bill becomes law. He argued it was unconstitutional for the Legislature to appoint members of an executive branch commission.

The committee voted to give Daugaard back that authority, and Johnston said the Senate would probably accept that change.

The bill now heads to the full House, where Hickey plans another try to defeat it.

“I’m not done fighting,” Hickey said after the vote. “That’s round one.”

He said he may bring his proposed amendment banning mixed martial arts again on the floor of the House, with a change to satisfy concerns that it could criminalize military training exercises.

Rep. Dean Schrempp, D-Lantry, is the prime sponsor of the bill on the House said, and believes it has support from two-thirds of the Legislature, enough to overturn any possible veto from Daugaard.

A proposal to regulate fighting sports in South Dakota has a key hearing Monday as opponents prepare to try to derail the most controversial part of the plan.

Sen. Mark Johnston, R-Sioux Falls, and others support creating a South Dakota Athletic Commission, which would regulate sports such as boxing, kick-boxing and mixed martial arts. South Dakota currently has no such commission, meaning those events either avoid the state or happen without oversight.

The result, Johnston argues, is people getting hurt or even killed fighting in unsanctioned bouts. The athletic commission created in Senate Bill 84 would have the power to create rules, such as requiring medical testing and banning fighters who’ve suffered blows to the head.

But Gov. Dennis Daugaard and others say the athletic commission would legitimize these violent sports and lead to more, not fewer, people getting hurt.

“I’m offended that the state would legitimize cage-fighting and the bloody violence that those kinds of spectacles create,” Daugaard said in January. “I think it’s interesting that we declare that it is a crime for one human being to strike another, and yet the state now proceeds to legitimize, and label a sport, cage-fighting.”

Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, feels the same way. When SB 84 comes up for a hearing at 10 a.m. Monday, he plans to offer an amendment he sees as a compromise — creating the athletic commission, but limiting it to sports such as boxing and traditional martial arts such as karate and judo. Mixed martial arts would be banned in South Dakota.

“The conversation on violence in society needs to start somewhere. Why not with our most violent entertainment, and that’s mixed martial arts,” said Hickey. “There’s a reason two governors have been reticent to appoint a commission: it’s because they agree with me that elbowing a guy in the head, kneeing him in the face, is beyond where we need to go.”

Hickey compared violent sports to smoking and pornography and said in all three cases, society needs to draw a line.

“With smoking we drew a line at pot, and with adult entertainment we’ve drawn it at child porn,” Hickey said. “I say that mixed martial arts is the child porn of sports.”

The supporters of the athletic commission proposal aren’t getting on board with Hickey’s alternative. They defended mixed martial arts from Hickey’s characterization of it as unusually brutal.

The supporters of the athletic commission proposal aren’t getting on board with Hickey’s alternative. They defended mixed martial arts from Hickey’s characterization of it as unusually brutal.

“I think once we get the rules in place it’s going to be as safe as a lot of the other sports we have nowadays,” said Rep. Dean Schrempp, D-Lantry. “But it has to be regulated.”

Johnston said he appreciates Hickey’s “societal concerns” but disagrees with his judgment.

“The sport of mixed martial arts is not cage-fighting. If he were really concerned about cage-fighting, he should support the bill in its current form because that’s really what we’re trying to stop,” Johnston said. “Mixed martial arts is just that: it’s an art. It’s a combination of boxing, kickboxing and wrestling.”

Schrempp doubts banning mixed martial arts would stamp it out, despite the felony penalties for organizing or participating in those events in Hickey’s amendment.

“It’s going to go on anyway whether we try to stop it or not,” Schrempp said. “Even if he gets an amendment on it, it’ll be like it is now — people will still have them.”

If Hickey’s amendment were adopted, it could save SB 84 from an anticipated veto.

“It looks like something the governor could support,” said Tony Venhuizen, a senior adviser to Daugaard, about Hickey’s amendment.

Supporters aren’t worried. They believe they have the votes to pass the bill and override any veto. It passed the Senate with 29 votes, above the 24 needed to override a veto. Schrempp said he’s confident the support in the House will also be over the two-thirds threshold.

Lawmakers at Saturday’s legislative forum in Sioux Falls were split on the matter. Several agreed with Hickey that mixed martial arts is beyond the pale.

“I don’t think this is a healthy thing we should be encouraging,” said Rep. Isaac Latterell, R-Tea.

Rep. Anne Hajek, R-Sioux Falls, said she had clashed with mixed martial arts in past years when it went on at the Minnehaha County fairgrounds.

“Why in the world would we ever think this is entertainment?” said Hajek said.

But Rep. Herman Otten, R-Tea, said he had mixed feelings. He disapproves of mixed martial arts and doesn’t let his son watch it, but said that might be a decision best left up to parents.

I've interviewed Rep. Dean Wink for several years, as one of the key lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee.

But today, as Wink was in the process of getting a promotion to Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Dakota House of Representatives, I learned something new: Wink played professional football for four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wink grew up in Yankton, and signed as a free agent with the Eagles as a 22-year-old in 1966.

He was officially a member of the Eagles' practice squad, then called a "taxi squad." Members of the squad traveled with the team and were, if necessary, called up play in games if people got hurt.

That happened a few times for Wink, who ended up making the professional team in 1967 and 1968 as a defensive end and defensive tackle. Altogether he played in 12 games over two seasons for the Eagles. Either stats websites don't have information on him, or he didn't have any tackles, sacks or other NFL counting stats. You can check out his NFL player page here, and his Pro-Football-Reference.com page here.

"It was a good experience, fun, an opportunity to travel and see some different cities," said Wink. "I had two shoulder injuries and decided it was time to have a career change."

He came home, worked in academia, then headed off to western South Dakota where he ranched and eventually got elected to the Legislature. Now he's in line to be the next Speaker of the House.