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I moved to Mitchell, SD one year ago. We have lived and travelled all over the United States in small towns are large cities like Los Angeles and Dallas. I have a finance background and when the economy crashed in 2006, I began looking for a more affordable option than Los Angeles. I also have spent a big chunk of my childhood and adult life in Omaha which is equally midwest and nearby. We chose South Dakota for the financial advantages of home buyer tax credits, no state income tax, low property and sales taxes. What looks good on paper is not necessarily effective in practice. Our intention was to open a retail business but it became immediately clear that that would be a losing proposition. Building codes are non-existent. We had signed a lease so we decided to stick it out a year and just see if our thoughts changed. They only intensified.
The illegal drug use, meth is prevalent, is off the charts! They say "we have a drug problem". I say, "they have a drug culture" and everything that comes with that - sex trafficking, prostitution, disease, and constant crime. I lived in downtown Los Angeles for ten years and it pales in comparison to Mitchell, SD in terms of drug use per capita.
I had hopes of having some intelligent conversation with new friends and neighbors. Not a chance. We are greeted rudely in every store, and with every person we pass which was really shocking because we had spent three summers up here before making this a permanent move and people were very friendly until we moved here. I have literally left stores I was trying to shop in crying because people are so mean and rude. They don't like outsiders. They do seem to have a significant population of developmentally disabled adults, who are actually some of the friendliest and most intelligent people we do encounter, but it has led us to wonder if they have married their siblings and cousins for so many generations that it's given rise to the issue.
In practical matters, fruits and vegetables are expensive when they are available ($3 per avocado in winter and $6 for a pound of cherries). For a large portion of winter they are virtually non-existent or you will wind up throwing half of what you buy away because it was rotten before you got home with it. It's virtually impossible to buy gas that is not mixed with at least 10% ethanol which can make for murderous repair charges on your vehicle - which is how we got stranded here in the first place.
Jobs (the numerous articles on the abundance of jobs and the good economy brought us here) are available to "Locals Only". Thirty years accounting experience and I am checking groceries for $8/hour part time because the accounting offices prefer to hire local high school students. Many job applications will not accept your university credentials if you did not graduate from a university in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, or Nebraska. I'm not kidding!
In terms of safety and a quaint small town. HA! At our first address we found out we were living next to three wanted felons - one for murder and arson, one for violent sexual assault of a child, one for a long list of things. We moved and then a few months later that building was raided for a meth lab and the rest of our neighbors were arrested. At our new address - meth lab, sex trafficking, drug trafficking conveniently located next to the high school.
After a year of this my assessment is that South Dakota has probably long been a culture of sex and drug trafficking. The long history of luring hunters up here from all over the world and Strugis give rise to that. The local women priss around in their pink camouflage hunting gear during mating season. The recent oil boom out west and up north seem to have only intensified all of the unsavory things that South Dakota really is. I think if you have any moral character, anything productive to offer, are a literate, intelligent, contributing, law abiding member of society, South Dakota is NOT for you! It's definitely not for me!
What nonsense (as others have pointed out). I moved here from NJ, and SD is DEFINITELY for me and my family! SD is a Peaceful place where most don't even lock their doors outside of the big cities.
It appears, with th hundreds of thousands of members that visit this forum every day, that you are the odds ball out. We've litterly had thousands of users that didn't see what you have supposedly seen... and I am one of them. You see, I come from Eastern South Dakota and I am here to tell you that Mitchell and South Dakota are simply not how you have painted them. There are places that are not for ever6body. There are also places that no matter how nice the place is, some folks just won't fit because those folks just won't fit anywhere.
ElkHunter, I find that if you are a contributor to a community then you will be treated decently wherever you go. At a minimum you will be greeted with a neutral stance, but in general with a friendly one. Whenever I travel through rural and semi-rural areas I find people are much more relaxed and open to strangers. All you have to do as a stranger is....behave normally and friendly.
However, if you are a drain upon a community you may very well be treated with derision. This will be true no matter where such non-contributors choose to reside. If you're a burden in LA or in Dallas, moving to a rural area would only make your behavior stand out more. You are right in that some of these people will simply not thrive anywhere.
OH MY GOSH! My son and grandbaby moved to Mitchell 6 months ago. He's blind. Now from reading this, I worry for him. My special needs daughter and I were going to join him in the Spring, but now I'm not so sure. Is it really something to be honestly concerned about?
OH MY GOSH! My son and grandbaby moved to Mitchell 6 months ago. He's blind. Now from reading this, I worry for him. My special needs daughter and I were going to join him in the Spring, but now I'm not so sure. Is it really something to be honestly concerned about?
That post from onetwoandfour is pretty much hogwash from someone with an axe to grind. EVERY area in the country has some issues as to drugs. I can only imagine the smugness and superiority complex that this person approached the people he met in Mitchell judging by this old post.
You'll get more help in a town the size of Mitchell being in SD than you'd get in most other parts of the U.S. Depending upon the severity of the special needs for your daughter, you might want to look into Sioux Falls however. People care about people more in the plains states than what I've seen in many other parts of the country.
If there is a negative for living up here for your blind son, it's getting around in the wintertime. I'm sure that isn't all roses for him.
OH MY GOSH! My son and grandbaby moved to Mitchell 6 months ago. He's blind. Now from reading this, I worry for him. My special needs daughter and I were going to join him in the Spring, but now I'm not so sure. Is it really something to be honestly concerned about?
Since you son and grandbaby have been there for 6 months, how do they like it? That should help give you a real answer. I agree with everything the great post below yours says. Other than the winter weather and ice making it hard for your blind son to get around outside safely Mitchell should be a great place IMHO.
I know this is a little farther than you are looking, but, just in case you expand your area of interest, don't move to the SE corner of the state unless you love BATS!
There were tons of little bats along the front range of Colorado that came out at dusk. No problem, as they ate their share of insects, and did a great job. They resembled small birds flitting about. Never bothered me at all. Bats are very important in the ecosystem. And they don't suck your blood either, lol.
Hahahahahaha!!! You were friendly to me a few months ago until I said how much I admired Noem. And then things soured quickly. Oh well, no great loss for me.
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