It’s not often that a 6-year old gets to meet the Governor. It’s even less frequent that they get to do so as the originator of a new piece of state legislation. But that’s exactly what’s happening today as Hadley Gjerde and her parents travel to Pierre to witness Gov. Dennis Daugaard sign “The Hadley Bill” into law.
When Roy Gjerde’s daughter asked why she and her cousins couldn’t use fireworks when they came to visit after Independence Day, his answer was yet another example of the often cold, hard truth of the law…because it’s illegal.
This presented a dilemma for 6-year old Hadley, since her cousins always arrive after July 4th and she loves to shoot off parachutes. Sensing his daughter’s frustration. Roy told Hadley there is a solution…contact her state legislator, Sen. Brock Greenfield. Roy says Hadley asked her mother to call Greenfield and set up a meeting.
“He was good enough to meet with us at his family’s gas station in Clark one evening,” recalls Roy. “And Hadley presented her idea an asked what he could do.”
Greenfield admits to being pleasantly taken aback, but read the letter Hadley presented to him.
“And it basically said that she wanted me to draft a bill to allow her to shoot fireworks after the Fourth of July,” Greenfield explains. “But the specific part of the letter that I thought I could work with was the portion in which she said she likes to chase parachutes.”
Even limiting the new law to parachutes and non-flying, non-exploding fireworks, Greenfield faced opposition. But hearing Hadley explain her reasoning to the legislature helped sway her opponents.
“I want to be able to do fireworks after the Fourth of July,” says Hadley, reading her statement. “I like to do them with my cousins. They aren’t always here on the Fourth of July. We still get nice nights after the Fourth of July. I like to chase parachutes. I like to light them off. Fireworks are fun. I want to do them on anniversaries and birthdays.”
Greenfield says it’s been an honor to help someone so young take part in the legislative process and to see her succeed. Greenfield jokes that he doesn’t look forward to running against the young politician in the future. Hadley meets another possible future opponent today, Gov. Dennis Daugaard when he signs “Hadley’s Bill” into law.
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