Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page E1

LIFE SECTION hen his classmates were learning to drive, Brandon West was learning to fly. ow, the 18-year-old Brandon Valley raduate is on a mission to fly to all 72 public airports in South Dakota. nly five pilots have completed that feat ince the South Dakota Pilots Association started its FLY South Dakota Airports! programin 2010. He would be by the far the youngest person to complete said Steve Hamilton, the executive director of the pilots association. The average time it takes to complete the program is three to our years.

West flying alone. His mother, Karla West, has been along for every takeoff and landing. oth are active in the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force. Brandon is a cadet major, and his mother is a captain. hard to find things to do with a teenage Karla West said.

both enjoy this a lot, so this is what we do in our free JOE AHLQUIST ARGUS LEADER Cadet Major Brandon West, 18, with the South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, stands for a portrait with a Cessna 182 at the Civil Air Patrol airplane hangar in Sioux Falls. My son is in a wheel- hair. When we want to go outside to see the neighborhood, or check out the ocal park, we grin and call it a and ut when we want to rive someplace, someplace where we have to ark, someplace where we have to depend on an avail- a ble handicapped parking spot, we often call it a has- le, and any grins are ups ide down. ee, given the location a nd time of day, the designated handicapped spot has all too often been claimed by someone distinctly lack- i ng the rights to be there. say, as I see the river schlepping who- nows-what out of his car, you or is someone in our vehicle reply.

but just hauling these i n. take just a mom A nother variation on the xchange: say, in front of the school, your child have mobility Nope. But just dropping her off. be ust a nce, when my son in the van, I saw a an park smack-dab in the no-parking zone between andicapped spaces, the area that allows room to xtend a ramp from the ide of the vehicle. I arked, found the guy at he deli counter in the grocery store and explained to him that he needed to move his car immediately, be- ause there were people who at that very moment ere unable to get into heir vans because of his Mini Cooper.

He said, very i rritated with me: just getting a sandwich. be ight There are three threads ulled through all of these cenarios: 1) People were arked where they be. 2) They believed that their needs were more valid than the needs of those with mobil- i ty issues, not to mention the demands of the law. and 3 They all used the word an interesting thing, hat four-letter word. These parking space invaders use to trivialize either what they are doing or how Just a minute asked to meet needs ANNA MADSEN Faith and Doubt After a tornado hit the town of Delmont in May, a Cessna 182 circled overhead to document the devastation.

The aerial photos would be an important part of the application or aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and they were made possible by the Civil Air Patrol, a civilian auxilary of the U.S. Air Force. ivil Air Patrol Wing Commander and Col. John Seten called the sight saying he could see the track the tornado took. The patrol was founded one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941as a force of volunteer aviation enthusiasts who flew small planes along the coastlines of the nation, looking for enemy MALACHI PETERSEN ARGUS LEADER Civil Air Patrol cadets led by 18-year-old Cadet Commander Nicole Schneider stand at attention during a CAP meeting.

Civil Air Patrol: Homegrown upport for the Air Force MALACHI PETERSEN Driven to fly 18-year-old area pilot plans to fly to all 72 public airports i the state with his mom MALACHI PETERSEN Looking Back: The dramatic 1934 Security National Bank robbery. age 2E hatever Happened To: Former irst lady Linda Mickelson Graham. age 2E.