Family of five living out of vehicle after utilities shut off

McLAUGHLIN, S.D. (Rapid City Journal) — A family of five on the Standing Rock Reservation has been living in a car and floating among relatives after a small South Dakota town shut off the utilities at their trailer home. The mayor of McLaughlin, Arnold Schott, said there was no choice because the town wouldn’t be able to pay its own bills if it didn’t turn off utilities for those who haven’t paid for them.

Thirty-nine-year-old Patric White Mountain tells the Rapid City Journal his wife, Heaven Strong Heart, and their three children, ages 7, 5 and 1, are at greater risk for contracting the coronavirus without stable housing and running water.