Dakota Beacon

In politics, NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.  Sen. Kent Conrad is trying to find a middle road in health care reform —as a result, he has been savaged by both sides.  The left-wing advocacy group MoveOn.org sponsored rallies in ND protesting Conrad’s nonprofit, cooperative alternative to a government health plan.  The Republican National Committee hit him from the other side.  ND senators are pivotal in the health care debate—in late July, the state was one of only two where both political parties bought TV ads.

The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, referred to Sen. Conrad as “A THORN IN OBAMA’S SIDE.”  This was a result of testimony before Conrad’s Budget Committee indicating Obama’s health reform bill would increase federal spending rather than lower it.  The article said Conrad was one of the president’s “most effective Democratic critics” . . . despite their friendship.

A Wall Street Journal headline read “Energy Secretary, Congress Collide Over Hydrogen Car Funds.”  Energy Secretary Steven Chu said hydrogen is impractical for vehicles.  SEN. DORGAN said, “The department’s made a significant mistake here.”  Dorgan steered millions of federal dollars over the past five years to the National Center for Hydrogen Technology at UND.

The federal government is discouraging employees from meeting at resort locations.  The “FARGO” stereotype came into play when a USDA employee responded: “Do you want to take everyone to Fargo in the middle of winter?  Just because they are federal employees, you don’t need to mistreat them.”  A Forum reader piled on, “The Fargo area has primarily two seasons, winter and preparing for winter.”

In 1987, New Jersey professors Frank and Deborah Popper introduced the idea of the “BUFFALO COMMONS,” which held that areas of the Great Plains, including western ND, had been overused and might be better returned to grasslands and buffalo.  At the time, the Poppers were reviled in ND—recently they have been treated more kindly and invited to speak in the state on a number of occasions.  The Poppers are cheered by a new report from the Census Bureau indicating the majority of the 376 counties on the Great Plains lost population during the past 50 years.  In ND, 20 of 25 Great Plains counties lost population.  Frank Popper says, “The Buffalo Commons looks more and more likely.”

Not everyone is ready to roll over for the Poppers.  Tom Dennis of the Herald calls their predictions “fanciful.”  He agrees that residents of rural counties are migrating to cities, but that is the only part of the POPPER PREDICTIONS to come true.  Many rural counties are prospering and land values are up.  Oil and wind energy have lifted prospects.  Dennis would like to retire the Buffalo Commons phrase.

There is a quiet revolution in ND—the state is processing more of its ag commodities—a way to create good jobs and add value to crops before they leave the state.  Dakota Growers Pasta in Carrington is a good example.  The Tribune profiled DAKOTA PRAIRIE ORGANIC FLOUR in Harvey, which is expanding from 30 tons of flour per day to 175 tons.  Owners Eric and Grayson Hoberg have two dozen employees, including lab technicians and shipping specialists.

Devils Lake (not the city) has tripled in size since the 1990s and the problems are well known.  The same wet cycle creates other less well-known problems.  Potholes, coulees and creeks in the lake region have flooded many roads and made others impassable.  A Ramsey County commissioner calls the flooded areas “A WHOLE BUNCH OF MINI-DEVILS LAKES.”  The Postal Service has suspended delivery to Ramsey County farms in an area east of the city of Devils Lake.  Instead, the Postal Service has installed a rack of locked mail boxes near a rural grain elevator.  Farmers collect their mail—some drive as far as ten miles.

It doesn’t get much odder than this: John Aasen grew up in Eddy and Foster, ND’s two smallest counties.  Because he was short for his age, John was able to make friends with Lawrence Buck, a dwarf.  John grew rapidly and became 8 feet, 9 inches tall, reputedly, “THE TALLEST MAN IN THE WORLD.”  Buck and Aasen were reunited later in a carnival.  Aasen found a great deal of work—his motto: “When there’s a job, people will look up a giant.”  Forum columnist Curtis Erkismoen reports Aasen died at age 48 in 1938 in the Los Angeles area.

THIS AND THAT: Kathryn is 20 miles south of Valley City—the town of 55 people has a big problem.  An earthen dam on a small nearby lake needs $5 million of repairs.  Gordon Broadwell, a neighboring retired farmer, has the solution: “It would probably be better buying out Kathryn, which isn’t much of a town to begin with” . . . Is ND’s open meetings law unrealistically stiff?  When two Williams County commissioners had a discussion with the sheriff, AG Wayne Stenehjem ruled it was an illegal meeting.  He ordered the commissioners to post notice of the meeting and prepare minutes . . .  We could use more of this: A small power plant near Bismarck uses waste heat from a a gas pipeline compressor to supply enough energy for 5,000 homes.

DAKTOIDS: McIntosh County in the heart of ND’s Sauerkraut Belt has the distinction of having the highest percentage of people older than age 65 in the nation . . . The Princeton Review includes UND among the “Best 371 Colleges.”  UND might prefer it wasn’t, since its students are portrayed as forsaking studying for excessive drinking and partying . . . Moon Lake, about 10 miles southwest of Valley City, is a mere speck on the map, but was big enough for Tina Willis (31) to catch a 42-pound catfish, a record for both ND and Minnesota.  If you’re looking for tips, she used a frog for bait.