Keloland backtracks on Heidepriem setup

A couple of days ago I posted an excerpt from a Keloland report that included Scott Heidepriem attack toward Governor Rounds’ proposed budget cut on the Highway Patrol. Keloland made this statement:

Governor Rounds' proposed two million dollar cut to the Highway Patrol's 2009 budget is already having an impact on how many troopers are on the roads to respond to accidents.

Highway Patrol troopers have been busy for the past two days in the Sioux Falls area after five inches of snow fell Christmas Day. But only five troopers were on duty Tuesday, meaning only a few troopers were working on each shift, and a spokesperson for South Dakota's Department of Public Safety says the reason more troopers were not working was because of the proposed budget cuts.

And I made this observation:

So how could next year’s budget impact current year operations? It would be nice to ask the "spokesperson for South Dakota's Department of Public Safety", but Keloland did not identify their source.

Last night Keloland reported this:

Thursday night the South Dakota Highway Patrol says it did not put the safety of the public at risk during the recent snow storm because of proposed budget cuts.

The head of the department says five troopers were scheduled to work in the Sioux Falls area Christmas Day, and when the snow storm got worse he says an extra trooper was called into work and another was called in early.

As KELOLAND News first told you Wednesday night, the Highway Patrol had only five troopers working several shifts during the Christmas Day snow storm in the Sioux Falls area

And Colonel Dan Mosteller said the patrol did everything it could to make sure the public was safe on the highways that day despite the Governor's proposal to cut two million dollars from the department's budget.

Mosteller then explains his scheduling:

South Dakota Highway Patrol Colonel Dan Mosteller says, "Throughout the day I had a total of six troopers working, some of them longer shifts, and some of them were shorter shifts based on the calls and need to be out there."

Colonel Mosteller says five troopers were originally scheduled for Christmas Day because the Highway Patrol did not expect five inches of snow to fall in the area, but when the snow started falling they called in help.

So, Keloland got it wrong as they used factual incorrect reporting to give glory to Democrat Scott Hiedepriem. And I am the only blogger who has pointed that out. That is what happens when there is a blogger/mainstream media partnership. Accountability goes out the window. And Pat Powers uses the platform to attack conservatives, instead of pointing out their pro-Democrat bias.