Dakota Beacon

You’ve heard the phrase “whistling past the graveyard” -- acting brave, despite fears.  Organizers of the Norsk Hstfest in Minot say the game is on -- North America’s largest Scandinavian festival will be held Sep. 27 as planned.  An editorial in the Minot Daily News asked how visitors will find rooms, when the flood and oil boom have created demand for all the rooms in sight.  The festival needs may volunteers, but Minot is already importing volunteers by the busload to help with flood recovery.

The newcomer was very frank.  Jene Dionne writes a “Newcomers Notes” column for the Williston Herald and her July 21 column was headed “A tale of a reluctant immigrant.”  She wrote, “We (her family) are here for one reason alone: jobs. Period.”  Jene mentioned many things she missed about her previous home in Illinois -- Starbucks was high on the list.  What followed was somewhat predictable -- 35 readers almost immediately contacted the Herald, some with lengthy comments, about half offended by her remarks.  The other half were mostly anti-Williston, characterizing its people as rough, rude and judgmental.  The paper’s managing editor felt obliged to enter the discussion.  He said, “I don’t think Jene meant to offend anyone” and added many other newcomers felt the same way and it was a voice that deserved to be heard.

It’s hard to know if the comments were representative and, if so, what they indicate, but the writers didn’t seem like knee-jerk extremists that hang around online bulletin boards.  They  seemed mostly like average readers with genuine reactions to the column.  What was apparent was that boom times in Williston are not necessarily good times.  Longtime residents are disturbed by increased crime and traffic, higher prices and long lines for basic services.  Newcomers, many there because they lost jobs elsewhere, find the town insular, unwelcoming and short of services.

“It’s a very grim picture out west.” --  President of ND Emergency Medical Services Ass’n.  Curt Halmrast said the 17-county oil patch area is “in a crisis within a crisis.”  Demand for emergency services is up sharply, but fewer people are volunteering.  Responders are considering body armor -- Williston Fire Chief Alan Hanson said there are a lot more fights, “Bigger fights where there are more people involved than one or three drunk people and domestic violence is up too.” 

It’s hard to hire skilled people in ND -- it has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation.  It really gets tough if you are looking for someone trained both as a monk and a cowboy.  The Assumption Abbey in Richardton is selling its herd of 260 cows because it can’t find good cowboy monks.  The senior cowboy monk was training a greenhorn, but it didn’t work out.  Brother Placid Gross (76) said “it takes years and years of learning.”

ND has released $54 million of oil impact funds.  Watford City received $12.3 million -- the largest absolute award, as much or more than either Williston, Minot or Dickinson.  The 2010 census for Watford City was 1,700 -- the award represents about $7,000 for each resident.

A Fargo jury convicted Gene Kirkpatrick of Oklahoma of conspiracy to commit the 2009 murder of his son-in-law, Fargo dentist Philip Gattuso.  The jury deliberated only four hours after five days of testimony.  This is not a well-researched observation, but ND juries seem to regularly resolve cases with less disagreement and in a shorter time than juries elsewhere, particularly those on the coasts.  It would take a study to prove that, much less explain it, but the state’s Northern European homogeneity seems the most logical explanation.  Diverse populations bring a much wider range of attitude to jury rooms.

The 2007 stabbling death of Minot State student Anita Knutson is one of Minot’s five unsolved murders.  In 2008, Cassi Rensch, a friend and fellow student of Knutson, was killed by a truck.  Her family used part of their insurance settlement to add $10,000 to the Anita Knutson reward fund, now standing at $20,000.

ND and its immediate neighbors (MN, SD and MT) are all part of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve District, which surveyed business growth during the last decade to determine the effect of the recession.  Experience in the four states was mixed:  Minnesota business peaked in 2006 and declined thereafter; Montana peaked in 2002, dipped badly in 2005 and ended the decade in about the same spot as 2002; while ND and SD both grew steadily throughout the decade.  Economic features in ND excelled in almost every category.  Oil gave ND a push near the end of the decade, but there is evidence the state’s pro-growth policies were already working earlier in the decade.

ND enjoys oil driven prosperity, but a Bismarck Tribune editorial noted rural populations are still declining on the Great Plains.  An ominous reminder of the Buffalo Commons prophecy which bothered Nodaks for two decades.  The Tribune said times are good in ND, “But take away the oil, which you can’t, and drop the price of commodities, and the state will again slip in to that ‘declining population’ column.  The editorial said the state needs to remain focused on creating a business-friendly environment with good-paying jobs.

The Federal Reserve study above appeared in the “Fedgazette” -- the same issue also included a study of the impact of the recession on Indian reservations.  The bottom line was reservations “held their own” during the decade, while not doing as well as their respective states.  Reservation populations in the four states were nearly unchanged during the decade, keeping in mind that many Indians live off reservations -- in Minnesota only one-quarter live on reservations, while two-thirds reside on reservations in SD.  Poverty rates on the reservations ranged from a low of 25% in Minnesota to a high of 39% in SD -- those rates are double to triple the general population.  The only reservations having median incomes higher than their state were three casino-rich reservations near the Twin Cities.

The Turtle Mt. Reservation on the Canadian border is far from any population area  -- Grand Forks is 200 miles away and Minot is 120 miles.  The region around the reservation has lost population for years and is troubled by overland flooding.  So this item caught my attention: Tribal Chairman Merle St. Claire announced a $30 million expansion of the unsuccessful Skydancer Casino and Hotel.  The project will be financed by the Turtle Mt. State Bank, the lead lender and only tribal banking entity on the reservation.  St. Claire said the casino expansion will bring new jobs and economic successes to the tribe.  Does this sound like the start of a success story?