MCLAUGHLIN, S.D. (AP) - A family of five on the Standing Rock Researvation has been living in a car and floating among relatives after a small South Dakota town shut off the utilities at their trailer home.
The mayor of McLaughlin, Arnold Schott, said there was no choice because the town wouldn’t be able to pay its own bills if it didn’t turn off utilities for those who haven’t paid for them.
Patric White Mountain, 39, said his wife, Heaven Strong Heart, and their three children, ages 7, 5 and 1, are at greater risk for contracting the coronavirus without stable housing and running water.
Schott said the town of about 700 generates revenue through property taxes, utilities, renting out a meeting space and operating a liquor store. There are few businesses in town.
“It’s tough going” here, Schott told the Rapid City Journal.
Nearly half the residents are unemployed and 31% live in poverty, according to the most recent census data.
Twenty-three states have banned utility-shutoff statewide, according to the Energy and Policy Institute. South Dakota is not one of them.
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