Dakota Beacon

The Fighting Sioux image is called one of the most attractive logos in American sports.  Bennett Brien, a member of the Turtle Mt. Chippewa and creator of the emblem, said, “It’s not like a ‘Gopher’ or a ‘Badger’ – it’s way above that,” Brien said, “The ‘politically correct’ people misinterpreted it.”  He said the Indian man depicted in the design is focused and determined, and “the feathers stand for the brave and honorable things you do in life, whether you are a Sioux warrior from before or a student today trying to get an education.”  

“All the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average” -- the fictional village of Lake Wobegon is a standard part of Garrison Keillor’s weekly patter.  An article in the GF Herald says the idealized vision of small towns is itself a fiction: “The small town of legend has largely passed . . . small-town children are exposed to the same Internet, the same games and pop music as city kids . . . its people shop in the same chain stores . . . eat in the same chain restaurants as those in the suburbs.”  Many of the differences in values have disappeared.  As ND farms get larger and more mechanized, there is no longer the same reliance on neighbors.  Today, some neighborhoods in cities and suburbs may actually be tighter knit. 

The Fargo Forum cheered a USDA Rural Development report that ND “received a total of $969 million last year in direct loans, guaranteed loans and grants.”  Jasper Schneider, the Rural Development director in ND, said his agency was “one of the best-kept secrets in North Dakota.”  The Forum viewed the largesse as an unmitigated good, saying: “The federal dollars have been put to good use in the state.”  The ND Data Center confirmed that in 2009 the state received $13,000 per capita in federal money compared to a national average of $10,000.  A GF Herald reader noted that many short-term federal programs had become permanent, but now the budget crisis requires that people must be “weaned” from those programs.

The Bismarck Tribune said USDA programs create a conflict -- Nodaks like their new infrastructure, but know it adds to federal debt which must come down.  The Tribune implied that some USDA projects would not have been built if Nodaks had to pay the bill themselves.

Me too!  When the people of Ft. Ransom (70) learned that USDA had given Buffalo $70,000 for a community grocery store, they wanted the same.  The mayor said they lost their only restaurant, and were at risk of losing the post office and town bank.

“This is War” -- Kurt Zellers, speaker of the Minnesota House, in response to South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard’s pitch aimed at Minnesota businesses.  The governor said, “Tired of taxes?  Call me.”  SD’s efforts have led to 50 prospects in a month.  Zellers was raised on a farm in the Grand Forks area and was a member of the UND football team. 

A Foster County (Carrington) commissioner called it a disaster.  The county received 20 inches of rain in a three-week period in early August, some locations received 30 inches.  Estimates are 15 to 20 percent of the wheat in the county is drowned.  In some cases, washed out roads make it difficult or impossible to get to crops.  It’s not bad for everyone, implement dealers are installing tracks on combines at $60,000 to $70,000 a crack.

American Crystal Sugar is the nation’s largest beet sugar producer with factories up and down the Red River Valley.  The company made what seemed like a generous offer to its employees: an immediate raise of 8 percent and payment of 83 percent of health insurance.  However, the offer also loosened job security and employees declined the offer.  American Crystal responded with a union lockout.  GF Herald economist Ralph Kingsbury made a lengthy analysis of the issue and seemed to be coming down on the side of the union saying “Is that any way to treat your neighbors?”  He then did an about face, concluding that American Crystal has to dramatically cut its costs to deal with a possible end to the U.S. sugar program.  “They have no choice.”

The publisher was fired -- the editor resigned.  Controversy at the Valley City Times-Record mirrors the city it serves.  In the past year, Valley City has faced scandal in city government and disagreements about perpetual flooding.

A new $155 million levee in Devils Lake promises permanent flood protection.  How can that be?  Nothing worked in the past.  Well, it may be true this time -- before the water reaches the top of the new levee, the lake will overflow into the Sheyenne Valley.

There’s money to be made in western ND if you have a truck -- load it high and drive it as long as it runs.  An inspection in Mountrail and Williams counties, the two largest oil producing counties, determined that 1 in 4 (57 of 224) trucks were unfit to be on the road.  Of those, 26 exceeded weight limits.  Nearly all the defective vehicles were involved in oil work.

Now it’s really Skunk Bay Road.  A truck carrying 2,400 gallons of oil overturned near Mandaree on Bureau of Indian Affairs Road 10, otherwise known as Skunk Bay Road.  This type of accident is becoming more frequent as oil traffic increases and roads deteriorate.

It’s not the money -- it’s the weather.  Road repair and construction in ND is well-funded, but landslides, flooding and rain are delaying work.  In mid-August, the Dept. of Transportation was behind schedule -- only 28 percent of the work had been completed on 280 projects.  DOT director Francis Ziegler said some of the work will have to wait until 2012.

Watch out, here they come!  With global warming, certain creatures are moving north at the rate of 15 feet a day (a mile a year) -- at that rate, creatures living on the South Dakota border  will move through ND to the Canadian border in about 240 years.

The national “wellbeing” statistics are out and you will not be surprised to find Hawaii in the lead.  Tropical, balmy, relaxed Hawaii.  Who’s next?  Cold, windy, conservative North Dakota.  If you want to avoid poor wellbeing, stay away from W. Virginia and Kentucky -- they have a lock on the bottom.

Allright!  Pam Sharp, ND’s budget director, was named the “Outstanding CPA in State Government” by the American Institute of CPAs at a Washington ceremony.  We love CPAs.

DAKTOIDS:  The U.S. Dept. of Energy reports oil production in ND is increasing while production in Alaska and California is declining.  ND may become the nation’s second largest producer . . . Oops!  People are hearing about this year’s flooding and weather in ND -- tourism in Jamestown is down 28 percent from last year.