Dakota Beacon

THE GREAT 2009 CHRISTMAS SNOWSTORM hit ND and closed the interstate system and other major routes.  Although the state took the blizzard in stride, it was one of the heaviest single-storm snowfalls on record in Grand Forks.  Snowfall also set a December record in Minot, where residents were each asked to adopt a fire hydrant -- the city did not have staff to dig out 2,500 hydrants.  Because this was ND, residents cheerfully dug out the hydrants.  The GF Herald and the Minot Daily News were unable to deliver their December 26 editions because of the snow, but made copies available free to anyone online.  Shortly after the blizzard, there was a bizarre occurrence on the NDSU campus in Fargo -- a wall fell off the 100-year-old Minard Hall classroom building. The cause of the failure was unknown.   

Most ND newspapers ran their version of the Top Ten stories of the year -- the Herald also published the TOP TEN OF THE DECADE.  Leading that list was the 2003 kidnap and murder of UND student Dru Sjodin, a crime for which ex-convict, sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was sentenced to death by a federal court.  The story lingered in the news for several years.  Second place went to the UND Fighting Sioux nickname debate which the Herald called “endless.”  Another story that just wouldn’t go away was Devils Lake flooding, a story that “stood out for its intensity, duration and complexity.”

“Screen for suspicious people more so than suspicious things,” Tom Dennis of the Herald.  He noted that airport security “measures long ago passed the point of diminishing returns” and “THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY.”  Dennis believes the massive inconvenience of today’s procedures (checking sharp objects, shoes, liquids, etc.) are accumulated reactions to individual incidents -- it’s time to rethink the system and emphasize screening of suspicious individuals.  Dennis stopped short of recommending an obvious need: profiling, which can be fair and effective if based on sound intelligence.

"HE'S PRACTICALLY A FOLK HERO" -- one of the reasons the Forum named Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker "Person of the Year."  The Forum said Walaker "became the trusted source and face of the battle (2009 floods) on both a local and worldwide level."  The award is not always the harbinger of good things to come: In 2006, NDSU President Joseph Chapman was the nominee. 

As health care legislation heated up, wise guys were on the move.  A Forum reader suggested that it was time to trade ND Sen’s Conrad and Dorgan for Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu.  His reason: the ND senators had lost their touch at obtaining bribes and were put to shame as pork barrelers.  Another letter writer rose to the defense of the ND senators, saying it was “childish and immature” to refer to them as Ding and Dong.  Clearly, this is a time that calls for legislators with thick skins.

ND’s Attorney General joined Republican attorney generals in 12 other states to ask for removal of the $100 million political deal for Nebraska included in the health care reform bill, saying the provision is unconstitutional.  As hinted in the previous item, the “CORNHUSKER KICKBACK” was arranged by Nebraska Sen Ben Nelson.  The AG’s letter was directed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid.

Today, many doctors are specialists and have a full-time job staying up with their fields.  In the 1890s medical practice was more relaxed.  Dr. John Fawcett specialized in “women’s diseases” in Grand Forks, but also transported grain by Red River steamboats for the N. Pacific Railroad.

Fargo police received a report of two elderly, naked men attacking each other.  The police braced themselves for an appalling sight.  It wasn’t so bad -- one man was in his underwear and the other was fully clothed.  The man in the underwear had rigged AN ECONOMY BURGLAR ALARM -- empty beer cans on a stepstool behind his front door.  When the other man entered his unlocked apartment, the rattling cans wakened him.  The occupant found Dan Gable, 61, hiding in a closet near the door and the fight began.  Police believe Dan was drinking again.

If you live to 100, you will see a lot.  FRED VOEGELE of Bismarck died in December having seen even more than most centenarians -- his life was a roadmap of ND in the 20th century.  Fred was born in Russia and migrated with his parents to the U.S. when he was two.  He grew up in German-Russian communities in ND and SD.  He returned to Europe with the U.S. Army during W.W.II, serving in Germany, Austria and France and taking part in the famous “Battle of the Bulge.”  After the war, he worked for the Hebron Brick Company, which is still operating today as one of the state’s oldest and best known businesses -- many ND public buildings are made from its products.  Later, Fred worked for Melroe Manufacturing in Bismarck, another iconic ND company and the predecessor to Bobcat.  In his long retirement, Fred was a songwriter -- he had much to sing about.

Fred Voegele lived his life the stalwart, hardworking German-Russian way.  Agnes Halgunseth died on Christmas day and lived her 103 years in a more Norwegian style.  For over 50 years she held nearly every position in her Lutheran Church in Abercrombie, and wrote and performed religious readings on a radio station.  She even became MRS. NORTH DAKOTA and represented the state nationally in the Wesson Oil Chicken cooking contest.  But she was far from serious, and cracked up friends with stage renderings of old Norwegian skits.  Agnes outlived everybody and was said to have “a quick wit, as well as, a loving heart."