Dakota Beacon

Carrington has not been to the state Class B boys’ basketball tournament since 1995, when Jim Kleinsasser led them to a championship.  As you probably know, Kleinsasser turned his talent to football.  He starred at UND and is now the most veteran player on the Minnesota Vikings team.  Carrington was back in the Class B tournament this year and Kleinsasser was back via Skype with a pep talk for their first game.  Kleinsasser urged his old team to “have fun with it and go kick some butt.”  Those were apparently the magic words -- Carrington rolled over Mandaree 62-54, next Cavalier 67-35 in the semifinal, and then Berthold 65-59 for the state championship.

The Carrington squad was led by Devin Barton, its 6’ 6”, 270 pound senior center (slightly bigger than Jimmy K); Barton was MVP and averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds in the tournament.  Like Kleinsasser, Barton will be playing football at UND.  This has been a Carrington year -- its girls team took third in the state -- there will be new banners to hang in Carrington’s Chieftain Sports Bar.

U.S. News & World Reports ranked states on the safety of teenage drivers.  Minnesota did well, placing among the top ten, but was ringed by some very bad states.  South Dakota was at the bottom (51), followed closely by ND (50) and Iowa (49) and Wisconsin (41).  General explanation: prairie states tend to have lax laws on teenage driving to accommodate farm kids who drive at an early age.  A ND safety coordinator spoke to a class at Century H.S. in Bismarck: “Odds are one or two students in their class will die in an accident.”

In the mid-1990s, Devils Lake was eight miles away from Minnewaukan, in mid-March, it was 140 feet from the parking lot of Minnewaukan School.  The town of 300 may have to leave.  That didn’t keep an energetic Sen. Dorgan from obtaining $300,000 in federal funding to move their water tower to dry ground.

Herald writer Ralph Kingsbury cast an economist’s eye on the financial problems at NDSU.  He noted that only one-third of costs at state universities are covered by tuition.  That is why there is a certain lunacy in growing by recruiting out-of-state students, particularly, when you waive their tuition.  While the cost per student may decline by recruiting students from other states and foreign countries, overall cost to the state increases.  Kingsbury said, “The real problem comes from the fact that the school’s (NDSU) expansion outpaced our small state’s willingness or maybe ability to pay.”  He grimly noted, “Imagine if North Dakota would not have had a budgetary surplus in the past few years.”

The ND Republican Party held one of its largest and most enthusiastic conventions in Grand Forks.  There were few surprises -- the convention endorsed a slate of mostly incumbents for state offices.  As expected, Gov. Hoeven got the nod for U.S. Senator; less expected, a substantial majority selected State Rep. Rick Berg to oppose incumbent Rep. Earl Pomeroy for ND’s lone U.S. House seat.  Two potential presidential candidates spoke at the convention:  Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune.  Both carefully avoided any reference to the presidency and spoke about the need for the Republicans to return to traditional conservative values.

UND Fighting Sioux supporters are on the move at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.  They have submitted a petition with over 1,000 names, more than half the number who voted in the last election, to put the nickname issue on their ballot.  The election could be a critical step in a decision about the name.

Nick Goerger died in March and would have been 100 in April.  The Wyndmere native came of age during the Depression and since there were no jobs, he made the best of things by riding the rails and seeing the country.  Later in the Depression, he settled down by taking CCC jobs in Minnesota and ND.  Afterwards, Nick led a conventional, but varied and productive life in business and government.  It was in retirement that Nick bloomed -- he obtain his G.E.D. and took college music courses at NDSU and MSUM, learning to play the violin and viola and playing in the MSUM Symphony.  Nick kept busy in volunteer work until he was 92 -- he had many passions, one of which was dry, red wine.  Here’s a toast to North Dakotans like Nick.

Lloyd Omdahl (former legislator, Lt. Gov., and UND political science instructor) used his weekly column to make a compelling case for a unicameral legislature in ND.  He said a unicameral system would be more open, efficient and accountable.  It would be simpler for the public and the press to monitor and would avoid the closet machinations of conference committees.  Omdahl notes it is an uphill battle -- “Legislatures with 150 members are not about to propose unicamerals with 90 members.”

The last population estimates before the 2010 census have been released.  In 2009, ND grew by about 5,400 residents, an increase slightly less than one percent.  Of 53 counties, 20 grew.  Of the 8 largest counties, all grew except Grand Forks.  The Fargo-Moorhead area exceeded 200,000; the Bismarck-Mandan area pushed further past 100,000.

The Health Care Bill -- editorial views at ND’s four largest papers:  The Forum didn’t waste words, saying, “Pomeroy’s health vote (yes) insults North Dakota.”  They felt Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson’s view best represents the region -- he thinks the bill is a budget buster.  The GF Herald’s view was more nuanced: “No one knows.”  They warned that entitlements become hard, if not impossible, to repeal.  The Minot Daily News sighed “Well, where to begin.”  They felt the Democrats had a tall order to convince skeptics before the November elections.  The Bismarck Tribune opined before the House vote that the bill will not control rising costs and should be rejected.  A common thread to all the editorials -- a concern the bill does little to control costs.

Although a majority of Nodaks appear to oppose the health bill, there is a strong and vocal faction that supports the bill.   Many health providers are among the supporters -- they anticipate higher medicare reimbursement in ND.  Democrat Charles Linderman of Carrington is probably representative of Pomeroy's most ardent fans.  In a letter to the Forum, Linderman said, "I have stood up to bullies before, and now I am proud to stand beside a hero, Earl Pomeroy."  He said Pomeroy would have to withstand "vicious and venomous attacks."  Some hyperbole, of course, but an indication of the intensity that can be expected in Pomeroy's re-election campaign.  Polls show Pomeroy lagging his opponent.

THIS AND THAT:  Boys will be boys -- Cory and Coty had a good time at the Turtle Mt. Reservation using the lights and siren on a stolen BIA vehicle to pull over other vehicles -- real police captured them in a high-speed chase . . .  The Jamestown Sun couldn’t stop itself -- it awarded a buffalo chip to the U.S. Postal Service for threatening to cut Saturday delivery -- many Sun subscribers get their Saturday paper that way . . . A strange thing to see -- Red River Valley farmers, surrounded by small lakes, still trying to combine their 2009 corn . . . No, not Zambonis.  Yes, the machines which resurface ice at rinks are being blamed for carbon monoxide poisoning . . . In late March, a 720,000 bushel, 10-story grain bin in Minot, which the Daily News called "among the largest grain bins found anywhere," collapsed, derailing nine railroad cars.