Rural areas don't have enough lawyers.
Just love Humans of New York.
The drug addict make up expert has a 500K book deal. Are you ill, yet?
[Off to take the kids out to lunch and on a bike trip through the Hudson Valley.}
11 thoughts on “Spreadin’ Love 545”
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Apt. 11d 
The rural lawyer article says there isn’t a working attorney within 120 miles of Martin, SD. That’s wrong as Valentine, NE is only 80 miles away and has lawyers. Chadron, NE is further, but bigger. It even has a college. Those people are just South Dakota chauvinists.
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“Those people are just South Dakota chauvinists.”
But a lot of law is state-specific, right? They would not have to just be a lawyer, but to be legal to work in South Dakota and conversant with South Dakota law. (I bet some of those NE people are, though.)
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I grew up east of there, but about that far from the border. Many of the lawyers were practicing in South Dakota.
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Speaking of rural life, I was talking at a birthday party to an Indian-American doctor who is one of two doctors in a town of about 6,000 (he said he regularly gets gifts of chickens, ducks and goats–I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask if they were live or not). I was just looking his town up and it’s the county seat and the largest town in the county.
There are apparently a couple dozen TX counties that have no doctor at all.
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The older ones stayed in the town where they started, but the younger ones (doctors or lawyers) would rather drive from a larger town to the smaller ones. The process is self-reinforcing and I suspect that eventually more of this stuff will be done over the internet or in regional towns. Periodic visits to satellite offices will fill in the rest.
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SD lawmakers are smart to incentivize lawyers to set up shop in rural areas. Similar plans have worked very well for dentists and MDs. But at the end of the day, there has got to be some sort of a lifestyle draw to the rural setting, like something outdoorsy (like fishing, skiing, or golf) to attract professionals. They’re going to worry about inadequate schools for their kids. It’s a tough sell if the price is not right.
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Wow, maybe I should move to South Dakota and practice law. Our kids are grown, I like horses, and I guess my neighbors would be Republicans, but not the frat-boy kind who annoy me. All good. I’m not sure about the life of the mind, however. What’s the biggest library in South Dakota?
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The largest collection of books is the gift shop at Wall Drug, but I don’t know about the library.
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In 1990, there were 132 counties in the lower 48 that met the rule-of-thumb definition of frontier: fewer than two persons per square mile.
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The drug addict make up expert is…ok, can’t find the word. I’d never have known of her without your link–thank you, I suppose.
Given the rash of false memoirs recently, I don’t know whether to take anything she writes at face value. Ironically, if she is sharing accurately, she claims her drug use began with adderall. She’s in sync with the New York Times.
Publishing is a business. If she survives long enough to hand in a manuscript, they’ll make a mint.
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Bennett County seems to be just above that line. Cherry County (where Valentine, NE is) is below it. Google maps makes it really easy to see why as you can tell a farm field from prairie.
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