South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem is not taking no for an answer after the Biden administration turned down the state’s request to hold a Fourth of July fireworks display at Mount Rushmore again this year.
In a letter to South Dakota’s chief tourism official, Regional Director Herbert Frost denied the state’s request, citing the receding COVID-19 pandemic, political correctness, and environmental concerns.
“Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event,” Frost noted. “In addition, the park’s many tribal partners expressly oppose fireworks at the Memorial.
“These factors, compiled with the COVID-19 pandemic, do not allow a safe and responsible fireworks display to be held at this site,” Frost claimed.
Last year saw the a fireworks display at the National Monument for the first time since 2009 when the Obama administration halted them out of alleged concerns about wildfire risks, The Blaze reported. Then-President Donald Trump and Noem attended the 2020 event, which became a political rally that Democrats criticized and speculated would become a “super-spreader” event.
Noem, who was one of a handful of governors who did not shut down her state during the pandemic, pushed back in the weeks following the event, saying that there were no COVID outbreaks.
And now, she’s pushing back again.
“The best place to celebrate America’s birthday is Mount Rushmore,” she wrote on Twitter.
The best place to celebrate America's birthday is Mount Rushmore. pic.twitter.com/LZFsglDQmJ
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) March 12, 2021
In an email to The Hill, Noem spokesman Ian Fury said the governor “is going to do everything in her ability to ensure that we can celebrate America’s birthday with fireworks at Mount Rushmore.”
Fury referenced President Joe Biden’s statement during his first national address on Thursday in which he said there is a “good chance” by July 4 that Americans could gather with family and friends due to the widening coronavirus vaccination.
“The best place in America to hold such a special celebration would be Mount Rushmore, fireworks included,” he said, echoing his boss.
Nevertheless, in his letter, Frost said that while some progress had been made in terms of the pandemic, the situation remains “dynamic” while adding it is “only prudent to make plans based on the best available science and public health guidance available today.”
Frost also said that large gatherings of the kind that took place at the monument last year during Trump’s event would be “difficult, if not impossible.”
The crowd that attended the fireworks show in 2020 did not socially distance and most did not wear masks. Neither was mandated by the state at the time.
As for the event itself, the Democratic Party tried to turn the uniquely American celebration into something ugly by falsely claiming that Trump was “holding a rally glorifying white supremacy at Mount Rushmore — a region once sacred to tribal communities.”
Native American leaders, particularly those with the Sioux tribe, have called for the destruction of the monument which portrays the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
Last year, Noem responded to that proposal thusly: “Not on my watch.”
There is a similar carving of the face of the great Sioux chief Crazy Horse on a mountainside nearby.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
- Jan. 6 committee chair Benny Thompson offers a stunning take on potential Trump criminal actions - January 2, 2022
- Life-long New Yorker posts ‘sad’ Twitter ode on post-pandemic Big Apple being ‘shadow of its former self’ - January 2, 2022
- NYPD officer shot in head in police lot as he slept in vehicle between shifts - January 2, 2022
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
