Dakota Beacon

Communities in Montana, Wyoming and ND are concerned about START (a new strategic arms reduction treaty) which will reduce nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia.  The three states house 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and Minot AFB also has bombers with nuclear capability.  Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force’s senior officer, spoke to 1,500 airmen at MAFB, as well as community leaders.  He acknowledged the local impact of potential arms reduction, "There obviously is economic self interest. I understand that. It is real and it's not something to be overlooked."  He encouraged local leaders by saying that START will impact MAFB only modestly and will take effect over a period of years.

The relationship between local economies and national defense was continuously on display during Gen. Schwartz’s visit.  He mentioned he will be in Grand Forks in May for a conference concerning remotely piloted aircraft, "We are going to be putting some Global Hawks at Grand Forks.”  He said, “remotely piloted aircraft are a growth industry now in our Air Force.”  He also mentioned the possibility that GFAFB could end up with a new generation of aerial tankers, which would also have a relation to the bombers at Minot.  Grand Forks and eastern ND lost 150 ICBMs in 1995, an event which pitched GF into a period of economic reversal.

By almost all appearances, opponents of the UND Fighting Sioux nickname are a minority in the state, its tribes and universities.  But that minority is loud, persistent and prepared to use almost any leverage to disparage the nickname.  Erich Longie of Fort Totten is an example.  Although Spirit Lake has voted and seemingly settled the matter, Longie vows “We will never rest until the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo is retired.”  Longie says his determination stems from a desire to protect Indian youth from “racist behavior that always accompanies the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname.”

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux also wanted an opportunity to vote on the nickname -- they have indicated so in a number of ways.  Ignoring the Longies of the world, Archie Fool Bear gathered over 1,000 signatures (about half the number that voted in the preceding election) on a petition to place the Fighting Sioux issue on the ballot at Standing Rock.  The tribal council, probably anticipating the outcome of a referendum, blocked a vote.  

The Herald’s Tom Dennis urged the Board of Higher Ed to respectfully request the council to authorize a referendum on the nickname.  Dennis said, “Simply put, a referendum would help answer this question, which North Dakota has asked for years: How do tribal members feel about UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname?”  We may never get a direct answer to that question.  On April 8, the Board of Higher Ed instructed UND President Robert Kelley to begin a phaseout of the Fighting Sioux nickname.

A little quiz: What is a “coyote stick?”  I’m guessing many of you flunked.  A coyote stick is a pipe with an ammunition charge inside that fires when a predator such as a coyote grabs an attached bait.  An ATV rider near Devils Lake didn’t know that, and suffered minor injuries when he picked up one of the illegal devices.

So you didn’t do well on the quiz, sorry, here’s another chance: What is “thunder snow?”  It’s a blizzard equipped with thunder and lightning.  The Good Friday snow and ice storm in south central ND had this and more -- the storm took down 8,000 poles which distribute power to farms and towns.  Even more unusual, the storm buckled some of the steel transmission towers which carry high voltage electricity from generating plants.  At the height of the storm, 10,000 homes were without power.

Dick Armey is a native of Cando and an economist who became U.S. House majority leader in the 1990s.  Armey is one of ND’s most well-known and distinguished figures.  In 1995, Armey made an embarrassing, possibly revealing slip.  He referred to gay Congressman Barney Frank as “Barney Fag.”  Forum columnist David Danbom reached back to that 15-year-old event to associate Armey with “screamers, racists and homophobes” who opposed the recent health reform bill.  Danbom’s column, ostensibly about extremism, managed in its own way to be extreme.

Medical centers in ND’s four largest cities will together receive an annual boost of $65 million from the health reform package.  Larger hospitals in South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Utah will get the same treatment under the Frontier states strategy, an amendment to the health care bill.  This tactic was used to bring aboard the votes of ten senators (11% of the Senate) from five less populated states and is an example of the horse trading used to push the bill.  Sens. Conrad and Dorgan were instrumental in the amendment.

The fundamentals of the ND economy have changed so much, so quickly, that the state is no longer the same place it was only two or three years ago -- that is the thesis of Herald Opinion Page Editor Tom Dennis.  Dennis believes a state “Commission on the Future” is needed to evaluate the energy boom and its future impact.  He cites the fiscal transformation of Alaska as an example.   Good idea -- but the ND Legislature may decide they are that commission.

Forum Editor Matt Von Pinnon reminds us of the McClusky and New Rockford canals in central ND -- 120 miles of canals to nowhere.  The canals are portions of the Garrison Diversion authorized by Congress in 1965 to bring water from the Missouri River to the Red River Valley.  The project has been dormant for nearly 20 years.  Von Pinnon points out the irony of yet another great diversion now proposed to keep water away from Fargo and get it out of the Red River Valley.  He calls it “Denny’s Ditch” (presumably a reference to Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker).  Von Pinnon says: “When it comes to water, it’s too much or too little.”

An article in the Bismarck Tribune in late March was nearly breathless -- Mercer and McLean counties were awarded a $787,000 federal grant to purchase and operate an airboat with a Corvette engine.  The marvelous machine will go 70 mph on water, faster on ice, and can even negotiate a bit on land.   A Tribune editorial a week later blasted the grant: “Insanity . . . government foolishness . . . insult to taxpayers.”  Then the Tribune did what is known as "a 180," they apologized after learning the boat cost $80,000 and the remainder of the grant was for drug enforcement.

You don’t have to go to California to feel an earthquake -- ND has its own shaking.  The National Science Foundation placed 30 seismographs in ND last August.  Thus far, the machines have detected quakes in Goodrich (2.6) in central ND and Grenora (1.5) in the northwest corner, as well as the large quakes in Haiti and Chile.

Acting NDSU President Dick Hanson is a big man, but he is quick on his feet.  Having been eliminated as a candidate for the NDSU presidency, Hanson quickly turned up as a semifinalist for president of Bemidji State University (Minn.).