Dakota Beacon

Yes, it really happened:  Williams and Ree are a comedy team performing under the name “the Indian and the White Guy.”  Terry Ree is a member of a Sioux tribe in South Dakota and the act includes good-natured bantering about races and, true to the team’s name, much of it is about Indians.  They frequently perform at Indian reservations, recently, at the Spirit Lake Sioux Reservation.  In Ames, Iowa, Phil Potter books acts for the Alerus Center in Grand Forks and attempted to get the popular duo, but cautioned they should not make reference to Indians, because of the Fighting Sioux nickname controversy.  Ree said, “When I pulled myself up off the floor and stopped laughing, I told him yeah, we’ll do it.”  

A Herald article suggested that Ree then began to plot an ambush built around the UND  nickname fight.   “I was going to hang this son of a bitch out to dry, any moron who could be that narrow-minded,” he said.  The engagement never materialized, but Ree said, “I don’t know any Indian that doesn’t like Fighting Sioux.  I don’t know any.  I’m a Sioux and I think it’s a hell of a deal.  I like to see that Indian head on there.”  Williams and Ree will perform two shows at the Empire Arts Center in Grand Forks on March 15 -- with no restrictions.

As the Fighting Sioux battle rages on, each side purports to speak for the majority of UND students, state residents, Standing Rock Sioux, etc.  It’s quite surprising there are no current polls to back those assertions.  Newspapers are logical candidates to sponsor polling on this hot button issue.

There is a loud debate in ND about the proper level of funding for higher education.  The debate is complicated by 11 institutions of higher education (plus 5 federally funded Indian colleges) in the state.  The desirability of so many schools is never thoroughly discussed because it is a political third rail in the communities which are home to the smaller schools.  A group of prominent ND executives, who want better funding for UND and NDSU, tiptoed around the issue with the following statement: “We also concluded that while all 11 institutions offer a quality education to their students, UND and North Dakota State University . . . are in a class by themselves -- yet comparatively, these two institutions are the most underfunded institutions in our state.”

A letter to the Bismarck Tribune concluded: “Our U.S. senators, Kent Conrad and John Hoeven, have a choice.  They have the opportunity to make our nation stronger, more economically secure and environmentally friendlier . . . But they must oppose any effort to block American motorists’ access to clean renewable ethanol.”  This stern warning came from Russ Newman who is with Tharaldson Ethanol in Casselton and is concerned about potential Congressional limits on ethanol subsidies.

Minnesotans have always viewed ND as that desolate, less enlightened province to the west.  Can’t say that has forever changed, but some new views are emerging.  State Sen. Gretchen Hoffman of Minnesota opposed Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal to steeply increase taxes on rich residents because she feared “Minnesota will become a high-tax island and that will make us even less comparative with out neighbors.”  She said, “We will see that North Dakota has grown their economy while those communities on the east side of the Red River have remained stagnant.”  The tax measure was defeated 63-1 in the Senate and 131-0 in the House.

OK, its been a long, hard winter and Minnesotans have been short of things to celebrate, but they are making do.  Take this: The Minneapolis Loring Theater will celebrate Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, who wed there 50 years ago.  If this warms your heart, rejoice, you can see a screening of “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” a “Tammy Talk” symposium and a 1960s themed wedding reception.  Minneapolis makeup shops have seen a run on mascara.

There is a strong possibility that Amtrak rail service in much of ND will be discontinued.  A grade and a bridge west of Devils Lake will be compromised if the lake continues rising, as is expected.  The bill for raising the grade is projected at $60-70 million.  In the short-run, a  bus solution is being considered between Minot and Grand Forks; later, Amtrak might use the Surrey Line from Minot to Fargo (through New Rockford).  The mayor of Devils Lake is very discouraged, he said, “It’s just another manner in which the town is being chipped away at.”

Here’s the issue: In many small ND towns, a bar is one of the few places to eat.  A bill in the ND House would permit minors to eat in smoke-free bars, although bars would not be required to offer that option.  A Bismarck Tribune editorial opposed the bill on the grounds it was “not a good enough reason to submit children to the kind of behavior that can go on in liquor establishments.”  Readers overwhelmingly disagreed -- one indicated it was a form of elitism against rural areas -- children in Bismarck can eat in restaurants serving liquor; those in small towns may not have that choice.

What is the Fargo Forum view of the Legislature?  In a single editorial they described the Legislature as obsessed, a “we-know-better cabal,” “anti-business,” arrogant and intrusive, and “lemming-like.”  Other than that, the Forum thinks the Legislature is swell.

In an interview with the “The Daily Beast,” ND Sen. Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, blames both Bush and Obama for failing to provide strong leadership to trim the nation’s budget deficit.  Obama formed the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility of which Conrad was a member, then failed to support its recommendations.  Conrad is currently working with five other deficit hawks, “The Gang of Six,” to forge a new budget compromise.  The editor who conducted the interview tried in various ways to get Conrad to admit he felt let down by Obama’s performance -- Conrad would not go that way.

DAKTOIDS: In 2010 there were 376,000 jobs in ND and per capita personal income was $41,000; respective increases of 15 and 58 percent from 2000 . . . During the last decade, ND’s two largest counties, Cass (Fargo) and Burleigh (Bismarck), each had population increases of 17%; during the same decade, Grand Forks County’s population was unchanged . . . A Gallop poll found ND to be the third happiest state . . . Washington, D.C. is an expensive place to live, but ND’s new congressmen should manage:  Rep. Rick Berg’s wealth ranks 10th among 435 members of the House; Sen. John Hoeven is 13th among 100 members of the Senate . . .  ND continues to have the nation's lowest unemployment rate.