Former Miss South Dakota Joins U.S. Commission On Civil Rights

A former Miss South Dakota has been selected to a term on a prestigious national commission.

Sara Frankenstein, the 1998 winner, has been selected to serve on the United States Commission on Civil Rights for a six year term.

The Commission advises Congress in all areas of civil rights. It was created in 1957 as part of the Civil Rights Act. Since then, Congress has reauthorized or extended the legislation creating the Commission several times; the last reauthorization was in 1994 by the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.

The commission is an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency, our mission is to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws.

Frankenstein is one of the congressional appointees on the eight member commission. The other four are appointed by the president. Not more than four members shall at any one time be of the same political party.

The Commissioners serve 6-year terms.

Frankenstein earned her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota. She served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard H. Battey, U.S. District Court, South Dakota in 2001 and 2002, and is currently is a private practice attorney and partner of Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, in Rapid City.

She previously served as Vice Chair on South Dakota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

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What Did South Dakota's License Plate Look Like the Year You Were Born?

The first number on a South Dakota license plate is the county that the car is registered. For example, Pennington county where Rapid City is has a '2' starting its plates. In Sioux Falls you have either a '1' or a '44' depending on your relationship to 57th street.

When established in 1956 (and revised in 1987) the first nine counties were ordered by population. Starting with 10 they are in alphabetical order through Ziebach, with Oglala Lakota County (65) and Todd (67) rounding out the list.

Today the top 10 plate numbers and populations don't correlate anymore. 1 and 2 are still 1 and 2, but Lincoln (44) is now 3rd in population. Beadle is 4 but it's now 11th in population. See the list by population here.

On January 1, 2023, South Dakota started issuing a new license plate design for license plates.

So, let's take a look back at what South Dakota license plates looked like over the last 100 years.

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

What Did South Dakota's License Plate Look Like the Year You Were Born?

On January 1, 2023, South Dakota started issuing a new license plate design for license plates.

So, let's take a look back at what South Dakota license plates looked like over the last 100 years.

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

Why Are There So Many South Dakota License Plates in Mexico?

An odd thing that's puzzled folks vacationing in Mexico is that there seems to be an abundance of South Dakota license plates. In fact, there are so many, it doesn't make sense.

Gallery Credit: Andy Gott

Filed Under: Rapid City