Last updated on 2013.07.21
The Sioux Falls metroplex will be short one health care professional. Folks wanting to bring what ails them to Dr. Annette Bosworth will have to grit their teeth until tomorrow, since Dr. Bosworth is off playing Senate candidate at Mom and Dad's farm by Plankinton.
Dr. Bosworth's "pre-Senate" campaign tour of 23 counties has also kept her from keeping up with her non-profit duties, such as conducting her promised Moody County land raffle. Following up on a successful raffle of 160 acres of her family's land holdings in Aurora County last year, Bosworth put up for raffle last spring about 80 acres in Moody County. Her non-profit organization, Preventive Health Strategies, offered 500 tickets for $1000 apiece.
Bosworth originally told the press that proceeds from the raffle would benefit members of the 114th Fighter Wing:
A plot of land just three miles from Trent is being raffled off in order to give the 114th Fighter Wing Security Force Squadron of the South Dakota Air National Guard a chance to reconnect with their family upon their return from the Middle East.
...All of the proceeds from the raffle go directly towards sending the 114th Squadron on a deep seas fishing adventure in Sitka, Alaska. According to Bosworth, our troops need time to reconnect with their family in order to live a health lifestyle after their return.
"For returning veterans to successfully adjust to their home lives after a deployment, the whole family needs time to readjust – to make the family unit whole again after it has been disrupted by the drama and difficulty of deployment" ["Land Raffle to Support Troops," Moody County Enterprise, 2012.11.06].
One of Bosworth's raffle websites still mentions helping South Dakota's war heroes, but her other online raffle promotions have dropped any mention of the 114th, saying the raffle is just "to help the missions of Preventive Health Strategies and partner F.I.R.E. Missions."
Whoever's getting the help, Bosworth appears to have gotten so wrapped up in her campaign that she forgot to conduct the drawing for the Moody County land raffle. According to the official land raffle rules, the drawing for "75 +/- acres of land described in Egan Township, southern 1/2 of the southeastern ¼ of Section 35-106-49, Moody County, South Dakota or $250,000 U.S. currency" was supposed to happen yesterday:
The raffle will be held in Sioux Falls, SD conditional to the sale of 500 raffle entries by the drawing deadline. If 500 entries have not been purchased prior to the drawing deadline, the drawing will be postponed until such date as 500 tickets have been sold, but no later than July 15, 2013. Odds of winning are determined by the number of tickets sold [Preventive Health Strategies, Land Raffle Rules, downloaded 2013.07.16].
Bosworth and PHS managed to sell 500 tickets for their last land raffle, and that was for land way out in Aurora County. One would think land in Moody County, in the heart of some of the highest land values in the state, would draw even more interest. So there must be at least a few ticket holders out there wondering what happened to the drawing that was supposed to happen.
Maybe Annette and her husband Chad Haber drew a winning ticket out of their bucket last night and just haven't sent out the press release to KELO yet. But if I'd spent that money on a ticket and been promised results by July 15, I'd want to know right away. Ticket holders, I'd recommend you call the PHS office, but everyone who usually answers that phone is probably at the big political announcement in Plankinton today. Maybe you can try the Bosworth for Senate phone, 605-838-8797, and ask what happened to your $1000.
I heard through the grapevine that Chad Haber should also be looked into as he was removed from the family business due to "financial" irregularities.
Shake some documents out of that grapevine, James.
We love our vets and all, but all proceeds to family fishing trips in Alaska? Don't quite get that one.
Well, Jim, the Bosworth-Habers took their kids on a big fishing trip to Sitka, Alaska, last June. Perhaps they paid for that trip out of PHS funds as "research" into their next fundraising plan?
I for one wouldn't want to go a fishing trip, anyplace. I'm an indoor type. Give each family a little money for a weekend get away, and it would probably be more meaningful. I bet most families would prefer a weekend in the hills, or Valley Fair. When I was a lot younger I would have preferred either one to a fishing trip to of all places Alaska. I might be tempted for one in Hawaii.
I'm confused, aren't they in violation of the law by not holding the raffle? According to their fine print and the raffle ordinances, even if one ticket was sold as of July 15, they have to give it away. I really wish I was the one person that bought that ticket. Who watches over these things?