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The original plan to give the bottle-fed, 8-month-old deer to a deer farm was scrapped after the farm's owner, Wayne Hawley, decided not to accept it.
Hawley said he would have to do new disease tests on the five deer he currently owns, which is an arduous process.
Arden Petersen, regional supervisor with the Game, Fish and Parks Department, said a rancher was found who is willing to let the white-tail deer be turned free on his land.
Petersen said officials planned to catch the fawn on Tuesday and take it to the ranch in south-central South Dakota.
''We hope it won't cause problems, that it will acclimate to other deer and become more wild in nature,'' Petersen said.
Officials are worried that wildlife raised by people will pose a threat to families, in the wake of an incident where an elderly couple in Iowa were taken to a hospital after a deer they'd raised attacked them.
The Burbank fawn, named Chislic, was raised by Wade Mount and his family. Mount said he's satisfied with Chislic's new home.
''That's better than having them put him down,'' Mount said. ''We didn't raise him to be penned up. As long as he's roaming, he has the same chances as other deer. We were just hoping he would do it around here.''
To get the deer comfortable with the trailer, Mount practiced getting Chislic into another trailer over the weekend. The trailer is darkened so the deer won't get spooked by light.
''A lot of people down here are going to miss him,'' said Mount.
SDSU players suspended for sexual assault allegation
BROOKINGS (AP) - Two South Dakota State University basketball players have been suspended from practicing and playing after being served with temporary protection orders, officials said Wednesday.
University police are investigating sexual assault allegations against Mohamed Berte, 22, and Andre Gilbert, 20, school officials said in a release. The court orders ban them from having contact with a female student, the school said.
SDSU Executive Vice President Michael Reger said the school will take disciplinary action, depending on the outcome of the criminal investigation. He said he had no other comment.
No criminal charges have been filed, said Clyde Calhoon, Brookings County state's attorney.
Berte is a junior from the Ivory Coast and Gilbert is a redshirt freshman from Brooklyn Park, Minn.
According to copies of the temporary protection orders, a female student says both men came into her dorm room and raped her around 2 a.m. on Dec. 15. She said she needed the protection orders because she was scared of what would happen if she didn't get the court orders.
The SDSU release said they been moved to a different residence hall to avoid contact with the woman. Both players will be suspended from practicing or playing with the basketball team until the investigation is completed, Reger said.
SDSU is in its second year of Division I competition. The Jackrabbits are 5-15 this season.
Berte, a 6-foot-8 forward and center, played two seasons at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa. He graduated from high school in the Ivory Coast in 2003.
Berte leads the Jackrabbits in field goal percentage and rebounds and is scoring an average of 8.3 points per game.
Gilbert played high school basketball at Park Center High School in Brooklyn Park. The 6-foot-6 Gilbert plays guard and forward.
He is listed as second in rebounds behind Berte and has scored 8.5 points per game. Berte and Gilbert are first and second, respectively, in blocked shots.
Designated drivers for horses and bikes?
PIERRE (AP) - South Dakota lawmakers decided Wednesday that it's better to have drunks on horses and bikes instead of behind the wheel.
The state Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill 6-1 that will exempt horses and bikes from drunken driving laws, meaning intoxicated people who either pedal or saddle up to get home after a night at the bar cannot be arrested for drunken driving.
Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, said HB1190 will make roads safer for other motorists.
''If I have to choose ... a problem drunk with 1,500 pounds or 2,000 pounds of metal coming at 50 miles an hour or a two-wheel Schwinn, I'm going to win and my family is going to win,'' he said. ''I'd much rather have a drunk on the bike.''
A former lawman, Sen. Gene Abdallah, R-Sioux Falls, agreed. Better to have drunks on bikes and horses than motor vehicles, he said.
''I can't believe that a horse is going to intentionally run into anything,'' Abdallah said. ''This is a good avenue to get some people home.''
Bicyclists are worried that the measure will prevent them from riding on roads because it seeks to remove bikes from the legal definition of vehicles, said Rep. Tom Hennies, R-Rapid City. Lawmakers have been flooded with messages from bike riders in recent days, he said, asking the committee to change HB1190.
Legislators amended the measure, which goes now to the Senate floor, so that bikes and horses would continue to be classified as vehicles.
Prosecutors opposed the bill. Chuck Schroyer, lobbyist for the State's Attorneys Association, said there have been arrests in several counties for riding horses while intoxicated.
In one instance, a drunken rider passed out and his horse was struck by a car, injuring several people, Schroyer said.
''There are people that are injured that are in control of these instruments,'' he said. ''This does happen in the real world.''
Legislators, however, said prosecutors still can charge drunken riders on horses and bicycles. Rather than drunken driving, they can be charged with disorderly conduct, it was suggested.
Bill consolidates intoxication laws
PIERRE (AP) - Despite a warning that it will affect driving privileges and auto insurance, legislators gave first-round approval Wednesday to a proposal that would consolidate drunken boating and snowmobiling laws with drunken driving laws.
The measure, HB1120, is designed to simplify state intoxication laws by merging them into one chapter of the state criminal code, said Rep. Tom Hennies, R-Rapid City. The state Criminal Code Revision Commission recommended the change as part of a major study of criminal laws two years ago, he said.
However, Neil Fulton, a lobbyist for Gov. Mike Rounds, said the legislation will have unintended consequences.
''Right now, there is no impact on your driver's license if you are boating or snowmobiling while intoxicated,'' he said. ''You don't lose your license for a minimum of 30 days on first offense, a year for a second and subsequent offenses. If this bill passes, that will change.
''There's no impact directly on your car insurance. If this bill passes, it would.''
Members of the House Judiciary Committee were caught off guard by the governor's opposition, but they pushed HB1120 to the full House on an 8-2 vote. Legislators said the measure can be changed as it moves through the Capitol.
Fulton said the governor does not believe in lenience for people who are intoxicated while driving boats or snowmobiles, but current law already provides penalties for those infractions.
Store clerks lose their licenses for selling alcohol to minors, and it seems inconsistent that drunken boaters and snowmobilers don't lose their licenses, too, Hennies said, urging approval of the bill.
Photographer accused of child porn asks for jury trial
ABERDEEN (AP) - An Aberdeen photographer has asked for a jury trial after pleading not guilty to 11 felony counts stemming from what a prosecutor describes as sometimes explicit photographs of girls under age 18.
In December, officials charged Roger A. Delzer, 39, with six counts of possession, manufacture or distribution of child pornography and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Each child porn charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine; each sexual exploitation charge has a top sentence of two years in prison and a $2,000 fine.
The sexual exploitation charges allege that Delzer asked five girls ages 13-17 to be photographed inappropriately, sometimes naked in suggestive poses, a prosecutor said.
''This is probably the most serious case that I've dealt with since I've been a state's attorney,'' said Lori Ehlers, deputy state's attorney.
Delzer, co-owner of RAD Designs, pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday. No trial date has been scheduled yet.
Ehlers said more charges are possible and that the investigation continues. There's a lot of evidence to examine, she said.
Delzer's lawyer filed motions Tuesday to hire a private investigator and a psychiatric expert.
Ehlers said there's no reason to believe Delzer's business partner in RAD Designs did anything wrong.
Officials say Delzer used free photo shoots to entice the girls into letting him take inappropriate photos - and that some of the photos are sexually explicit.
Earlier, Ehlers said Delzer had told two girls that pictures of them had been picked as winners in a photography or model competition and that the girls were invited in for another photo shoot. During a subsequent photo shoot, Delzer talked them into allowing him to take at least partially nude photos, she said.
Ehlers said she doesn't know if any of the photos were distributed. ''I'm hoping we'll find that out,'' she said.
