Dakota Beacon

The time has come -- both ND U.S. senators and the commander of the Corps of Engineers agree with Devils Lake officials that there should be a shift in strategy from containing the lake to building a new “control structure” on its east end to release water into the Sheyenne-Red River system.  The danger of an uncontrolled release has become too great.  Sen. Dorgan said, “We can’t any longer gamble on the chance of it (the lake) receding.”  A GF Herald editorial backed the new thinking, saying, “Again, it’s time to stop arguing and start working together to head off that potential catastrophe (spillover).”  Downriver people in ND, Minnesota and Manitoba will not go quietly into the night about the new strategy.

Another shift is taking place.  Western ND is recognizing how everyday life is affected by the astonishing increase in oil development.  Lauren Donovan of the Bismarck Tribune writes about not only the changes in the landscape and on the highways, but also the social impact.  She describes the complaint of Wayne Johnson, a farmer near Stanley, which is a center of oil production.  “Johnson said he quit taking his family and the Catholic priest out for supper in Stanley, preferring the 45-minute drive to Minot where they don’t have to listen to crude language or see young workers having food fights.”  While his complaint may seem a bit piquish (if that’s a word), it is an example of how development is ruffling rural lives.

It was bad enough before.  Farm bachelors in northwest ND were known to advertise for girlfriends.  But now, it’s really grim.  Oil workers have further skewed demand -- a Stanley female bartender joked that the current ratio of single men to single women seems like 200-to-1.

The shape of ND’s public college and university system has been unchanged for many decades -- it’s defined in the constitution.  It’s surprising there are no plans to reconfigure the system; it’s even more surprising that the subject is so politically sensitive it defies discussion.  Grab a ND map, draw a line from Grand Forks to Valley City (90 miles), another from Valley City to Fargo (60 miles) and a third from Fargo back to Grand Forks (80 miles).  The resulting triangle includes four of the state’s six 4-year public universities and much less than 5% of the state’s area.  The other 95% of the state has two 4-year schools.  Mayville (2,000) has a 4-year school; Bismarck-Mandan (75,000) does not.  No sensible proposals are in sight -- the state’s relative prosperity allows all 11 campuses to pitch construction projects.  

The Minot Daily News is annoyed, very annoyed.  They believe the Associated Press is overusing its “cut and paste” capabilities.  MDN says that every AP reference to the Minot AFB includes a paragraph on the base’s embarrassing history of blunders.  The MDN editorial came complete with an example: In late April, an airman at the base was smacked and killed by a missile in a training exercise.  MDN thinks the tragedy was worsened for the airman’s family by unnecessary references to MAFB history.

In 1888, the state mental hospital in Jamestown was a flourishing institution with a dairy operation and farms.  In 1950, the hospital still had 2,100 patients.  Today, the hospital is celebrating its 125th anniversary and is down to 300 patients.  Medications changed the way patients are treated and the state now has numerous mental health centers.  

Like almost all large retirement plans, investments in ND’s public employee retirement plans sank during the financial crisis in fall 2008.  Recently, Steve Cochran (53), the state executive who managed the $4.8 billion in investment funds died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  The Forum reports investigators have found no personal or professional motive for the suicide.  Nervous state officials are requesting proposals for an outside audit of the funds.

The Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge north of Jamestown will receive over $5 million of stimulus money for a new headquarters to be completed in 2011.  Which recession do they have in mind?  The stimulus seems a little late for the recession which began in 2008.

You wouldn’t hear about this if ND were not having an oil boom.  The ND Geographical Survey Wilson Laird Library in Grand Forks has the “most complete repository” in the nation of core samples from oil producing formations.  Tons and tons.  Geologists from oil exploration companies and other scientists regularly visit the library.

The Bismarck Tribune crows that it won first place for General Excellence among the state’s larger papers, plus many individual awards.  One first-place individual award went to Kelly Hagen of the Tribune for his humor and slice of life column.  It’s well deserved -- young Hagen has a well-developed sense of irony -- expect to hear more about him.  Among smaller daily newspapers, the top General Excellence award went to The Dickinson Press, a Forum newspaper.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND is wary of the new federal health care reform.  “It’s good news, bad news.”  More business means they can spread their costs, but they are afraid new people coming into the system will be much sicker than their current average.  ND Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm say health insurance premiums are going to continue to increase and expanded access will drive costs up.  Hamm also says ND taxpayers may be in for a surprise -- staffing and systems to implement health care reform may cost the state $100 million.

Business is not brisk at the Fargo Human Rights Commission -- in the decade just ended, they averaged two complaints a month.  The commission’s aptly named chairwoman, Prairie Rose, has resigned to run for state representative. 

On May 1, a new state record was set when a boy caught a 130-pound female paddlefish near Williston.  Here's where it gets interesting -- North Star Caviar of Williston is given the caviar (fish eggs) in exchange for cleaning the fish.  The aforementioned monster fish yielded 22-1/2 pounds of caviar worth more than $9,500.  ND caviar is considered excellent and Russia is the prime export market. 

DAKTOIDS:  Nodaks are not Luddites -- 3 out of 4 individual tax returns in the state are e-filed . . . It used to be big news, but reports like the following are becoming routine in ND: the New York-based Hess Corp. announced a $325 million expansion of its natural gas plant in Tioga . . . GF Herald economist Ralph Kingsbury produces many stats, in short, this is what they say:  It appears as if the national recession has skipped ND -- almost all economic indicators in the state remain steady or up . . . It’s a good thing Hawaiians don’t need head bolt heaters, at about 26 cents per kilowatt hour their electrical costs are the highest in the nation and about four times costs in ND -- the lowest in the nation.