A South Dakota man is feeling great this weekend, thanks to President Obama.
The president pardoned 17 people on Friday, one of them was a man from Montrose.
The community of Montrose is located about 30 miles west of Sioux Falls in McCook County.
KSFY met the man and learned he is one of the first to be pardoned in Obama's second presidential term.
It's an inspiring story of a man who was able to turn his life around after serving time in prison for a drug conviction, nearly 25 years ago.
He tells us Friday, he got a message to call his pardon attorney immediately.
So he made the call and heard the word 'congratulations'.
Michael John Petri's good news of getting pardoned came with some not-so-nice comments he read online.
"It kind of disappointed me that people were judging me without knowing who I was, what my relationship with god was and how I've changed my life," Petri said.
And before Petri received his presidential pardon, he missed out on a few things in life and work.
"There were a few federal projects that I could have worked on that I couldn't because of the felony, other than that, I've not been able to go hunting, that was another one, not being able to have fire arms," Petri said.
Petri served 26 months of a five year sentence for a drug conviction in 1989.
Since his release, he's worked to re-establish himself in the town of Montrose.
"When I got out of prison, there were a lot of them here that hired me to do work, because I started my own business, construction business, in carpentry and house building," Petri said.
As Petri enjoys spending time with his grandsons Landon and Brody, his daughter Shawna tells us the family stuck together.
"It was quite a sense of being very proud because it's been a long process and now he can finally put this all behind him and we as a family can put this all behind us," Petri said.
Getting pardoned and having the community be so supportive, means a lot to Petri.
"Even though what I did was wrong, I paid my debt to society. Now I feel like I've been relieved.
Part of the paperwork Petri filed for his pardon, included letters of recommendation from people in the community.
So he says it was no secret what was going on as the FBI showed up in town to question people about him.
Now that it's official, he should receive his certificate in about two to three weeks.
