Dakota Beacon

Virgil Foss is a retired Herald reporter who writes a weekly column.  His March 18 column praised UND men’s hockey coach Dave Hakstol for standing up for his beliefs against UND President Robert Kelley and Athletic Director Brian Faison.  Hakstol is credited with starting a mass email rally in advance of a state Senate vote on the Fighting Sioux name.  The bill to retain the name passed and was signed by Gov. Dalrymple.  Foss said, “How this all plays out down the road, no one knows,” but said he did know that any NCAA sanctions will be manageable.  He said Hakstol’s “courage and conviction” was a key factor in passing the bill.  Meanwhile, Hakstol’s team is preparing for the NCAA tournament.

Chuck Haga writes articles for the Herald about the Fighting Sioux nickname controversy.  On March 23, he reported that Frank Burggraf, who had played on championship UND hockey teams in the 1980s, sent a widely-shared email to AD Brian Faison denouncing him for testifying against the nickname at the Legislature and urging him to resign.  Burggraf said, “If President (Thomas) Clifford were on campus today, you would be looking for a new job.”  

Burggaf also praised coach Hakstol for his “ferocious” defense of the nickname adding, “He’s not standing alone,” and a huge shadow of alumni will come forward.  As Virgil Foss said, no one knows how this all plays out, but a late hour political groundswell may be developing.  This must be agonizing for President Robert Kelley, who had hoped to avoid being drawn into the debacle.

For several years, Tribune columnist Clay Jenkinson has periodically discussed the Fighting Sioux issue.  Each time he comes out solidly against the nickname.  Jenkinson is disturbed that just when it seemed the issue was settled “the controversy has been resurrected from the ashes” by the Legislature.  His view: The controversy “is about the power of white people to tell Indians what they mean in American culture . . .”   If that's the case, let all ND Sioux Indians vote on the issue and say “what they mean” with their own voice.

It has been nearly two months since four related murders in Minot.  Police have been largely silent and have offered no motives or suspects.  A party of interest is being held by immigration authorities.  We have to assume there are good reasons for a two-month delay, but it is more than a bit curious that a large scale murder yields so few clues.  The stabbing murder of Anita Knutson in Minot in 2007 took a similar path and is still unsolved.

“It’s kind of a unique situation,” said the communications director for Iberdrola Renewables, the operator of a wind farm near Rugby.  A rotor and blades fell from one of their wind towers -- no small matter -- the assemblies are massive with blades 100 feet long.  The PSC is curious.

Mark Schneider, chair of the ND Democratic party, cheerfully announced that former U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy had agreed to consider the possibility of running for governor.  The Jamestown Sun ran a small poll: Should Earl run for governor?  Pomeroy is from Valley City and Jamestown is friendly territory.  The result of the poll: 2 to 1 -- Earl should not run.  It may have been entirely a coincidence, but Pomeroy shortly announced that he was focused on a law career and was not thinking about political office.

A Wall Street Journal article by Joe Kotkin attributed ND’s economic success to its abundant natural resources, moderate taxes and right-to-work laws.  WSJ readers were eager to chime in with additional reasons: One noted that in ND most land is privately held, avoiding development obstacles presented by states with a large amount of public land.  The positive countercyclical effect of the Bank of ND was mentioned by another.  A third pointed to a favorable regulatory climate and business friendly officials.

The Fargo Forum pondered the meaning of the 2010 Census in ND.  They said “honest analysis” has to conclude that for the long-term diversified economies are the best -- “with Fargo leading that indicator by a wide margin.”  The Forum was cautious and preachy about the Oil Patch.  It said people didn’t go to Williston or Stanley for the amenities and, when the oil jobs are done, they will leave.

The Forum’s excellent cartoonist, Trygve Olson, interpreted the census by picturing ND as a remote plain with palm tree oases on the horizon sporting tall signs reading F-M, Bismarck and Williston.  Furniture laden flatbed “Okie” trucks (like those used by migrant farm workers in the Depression) are seen headed for the oases.  This was Olson’s way of picturing the migration from farm to city during the last decade.

Post offices everywhere are under stress because of declining volume due to the Internet and private carriers such as UPS.  Rural ND post offices face yet another challenge -- flat or declining populations in their market areas.  The mail processing system in Jamestown is being reviewed to see if it should be consolidated with Fargo -- Jamestown, Stutsman County and all surrounding counties lost population in the last census.

The USDA is represented in ND in a big way by the Farm Service Agency, which pumped a billion dollars into the state last year, has 350 employees in ND, and an office in nearly every county. Any effort to streamline or downsize the FSA is met with a political tsunami, for example, Eddy and Foster have declining populations and are the state’s two geographically smallest counties -- their FSA offices are 16 miles apart, but an effort to gain efficiency by combining the offices was quickly blocked.  Farmers served by the FSA embrace technology, but the agency uses procedures abandoned by the private sector twenty years ago.  The agency can expect a budgetary trimming in the short-run, but needs major surgery in the long-run.

What happens when ND mineral rights are unclaimed -- what do oil companies do with the related royalties?  Tribune writer Lauren Donovan says the oil companies are required by state law to set up trusts for the missing owners.  The counties maintain the trusts and keep half of the money received.  When the trusts have no activity for three years, they are turned over to the state as unclaimed property.  Mountrail County has over $400,000 in such trusts.

DAKTOIDS: Ownership of ND mineral rights is spread far and wide -- a State Tax Department analyst says 47 percent of mineral income taxes are paid by people who live out of state . . .  In March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration listed much of ND as having the highest risk for flooding of anywhere in the U.S . . . We wouldn’t hear much about the muddy little Red River if it didn’t flood -- the Missouri River drains an area more than ten times greater than the Red.