Dakota Beacon

When a Washington Post reporter covers job hunting in North Dakota, FACTS CAN GET SCRAMBLED.  The Post article was about Janet Morgan (63), who describes herself as “short, fat and old.”  Morgan chugged a thousand miles from Ohio to Bismarck in a battered 1991 pickup to take a job in a call center.  That’s where the article’s logic starts to break down.  Morgan is said to have driven through cornfields to make a $100 down payment on a house in Glenfield, a town of 75 roughly 150 miles from Bismarck (the commute will be interesting).  Glenfield is reported to be 45 miles from a grocery store (Carrington is 20 minutes away).  Morgan consulted Carrington attorney Fabian Noack on her house purchase.  He is described as the only lawyer in the area for 48 years (other lawyers presently and previously in the area will be surprised to learn this).

Morgan said as she entered ND the deserted horizon was interrupted by a towering road sign: “Welcome to North Dakota - Feel the Spirit!”  Morgan asked “AM I CRAZY?  There’s nothing out here but open space.”  Finally, she felt the spirit and called her mother, “I’m here.”  “How is it?” asked her mother.  “I don’t know yet, but it’s different.”

GF Herald Editor Mike Jacobs is fascinated and conflicted by the UND Fighting Sioux issue.  He has written about it for years and, like others, shifted with the tides.  He insists “the issue must be resolved,” but “any resolution is likely to deepen divisions.”  One by one, he explained how all parties (Indian critics of the nickname, campus opponents, Indian supporters and supporters in general) will be aggrieved by any resolution.  His editorial was entitled “NO HAPPY ENDING.”

Walgreens has a new store in south Fargo and customers stop in every day to have prescriptions filled.  Too bad, the store does not have a pharmacy.  ND law prohibits Walgreens and other chains from having control of pharmacies in their own stores.  Walgreens has space in the new store for a pharmacy in the event ND changes this OUTDATED LAW.

In early August, a 25-year-old man died in the early morning near Bismarck when his pickup rolled.  HE WAS NOT USING A SEAT BELT.  The description of his accident can be used again and again by doing little more than changing the name of the victim.  One-vehicle rollovers make up half of fatal ND crashes so far this year—80 percent of the people killed were not buckled in.  Fatal crashes in ND are up about 33 percent from last year.

NDSU opened in downtown Fargo in 2004 when the Art and Architecture schools moved.  This fall, they will be joined by the schools of Agriculture and Business bringing the number of students attending classes downtown to 2,500.  This will profoundly BOOST DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES and the general level of activity.

A large, sooty black cloud drifted over Bismarck-Mandan cause by an interruption of power at the Tesoro oil refinery.  The reason for the interruption: the refinery was installing equipment to avoid . . . LARGE, SOOTY BLACK CLOUDS.

Ramsey County’s economic development plan seems to be obtaining NEVER ENDING PROJECTS to tame Devils Lake.  The ND Water Commission gave the go-ahead to help pay for a $113 million dike project and will spend $16 million to install additional pumps at the lake.

The Minnesota Vikings are the favorite NFL team in ND, so the signing of quarterback Brett Favre was front page news in ND dailies.  Less noticed, trivia in the Star Tribune about Viking coach Brad Childress and tight end Jim Kleinsasser.  When Childress joined the Vikings, he encountered a large, bearded man in the locker room wearing overalls and a knit cap.  Childress assumed it was a maintenance worker—it was Kleinsasser.  The coach said BIG K MAY LOOK ROLY POLY, but is in great shape with a very low percentage of body fat.  He acknowledged that after ten years in the pros K had taken a beating.  Kleinsasser has signed a three-year, $9 million deal with the Vikings and is a member of the ND Sports Hall of Fame.

Maybe it’s because news is slow in August, or it could be PREEXISTING SILLINESS, but the ND reaction to Brett Favre and the Vikings seems overdone.  The usually restrained Minot Daily News editorialized that “die-hard Viking fans now face a dilemma”—deciding to root for or against Favre.  There was no indecision in Fargo, the owner of Sports City says the purple No. 4 Favre jersey “might be his best-selling jersey ever.”

There is a STEADINESS AND CONTINUITY in rural ND communities which is hard to find elsewhere.  Page native Joe Harbeke (93) is an example—his obituary indicates he began farming with his family when he was 13 and continued for about 70 years.  Harbeke served on boards of businesses, local governments and his church, many for 30 to 40 years.

DAKTOIDS:  Expect good times at the Tribal Leaders Summit in Bismarck—after admiring the contestants in the Miss Indian Nations Pageant, the leaders will be entertained by the South African Zulu dance group Soweto Street Beat . . .  The ACT college entrance exam tests readiness for college—ND high school seniors test close to the national average, but lower than students in surrounding states . . . ND crops in 2009 struggle against two obstacles: a wet spring which delayed planting and summer temperatures which averaged three degrees below average . . . The Sioux (if that’s still their name) will meet the Griz—UND and Montana have signed a home-and-home football contract beginning next season.