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Legislature Votes To Make Oglala Lakota County Name Official

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The state Legislature has passed a resolution to change the name of Shannon County to Oglala Lakota County after voters overwhelmingly approved the new name in the November election.

The state Senate voted 32-2 on Thursday to approve the resolution. Democratic Sen. Jim Bradford of Pine Ridge says the new name is more fitting.

The resolution is part of the process to make official the name change, which about 80 percent of the county’s voters approved.

It had been named after Peter Shannon, a chief justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court who later helped negotiate land deals with the Lakota. Shannon isn’t well thought of among many American Indians.

A separate measure to make it less cumbersome to enact a voter-approved county name change is moving through the Legislature.