Dakota Beacon

Minot AFB has a very sensitive assignment -- Minot is the only base with dual nuclear capability: land based ICBMs and B-52 strategic bombers.  This makes recent blunders at the base even more embarrassing.  Satirists refer to Minot as ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT NUCLEAR POWERS.  A series of mistakes began in 2007, when a bomber mistakenly flew six nuclear missiles from ND to Louisiana.  The base commander was removed, but other incidents followed.  His successor, Col. Joe Westa, who commanded both the base and a B-52 wing, has just been removed.  The Air Force said Westa was unable to “foster a culture of excellence.”  Two weeks prior, Col. Christopher Ayres, the missile wing commander, was also removed.  There have been two total changes of command at MAFB in the last two years.

Col. John Michel is enthusiastic about the future of UNMANNED AIRCRAFT at Grand Forks AFB.  The base commander told an economic development group in GF, “We are where Microsoft was in 1980.”  He wasn’t always so optimistic, when he arrived in GF 16 months ago, “I saw the movie ‘Fargo’ and I freaked out.  We have an image problem.”

For its size, ND probably has one of the most overextended higher education systems in the nation.  The state has six state four-year universities and five other state colleges, plus four Indian colleges and two private four-year universities.  These extremes were noted in a GF Herald column by Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University, who concluded the state gets “LESS BANG FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION BUCK.”  He noted ND’s per capita spending for higher education was 57 percent above the national average and the state leads the nation in population-adjusted number of four-year state universities.  Two days later, Gov. John Hoeven countered with a letter aggressively rebutting Vedder.  Hoeven’s principal argument was the state’s healthy economy -- the redundant small colleges were carefully never addressed.

In fairness to Hoeven, there is not a lot he can do about a university system woven into the state’s constitution -- a system which ignores today’s population distribution, demographics, transportation and communications.  The SMALL PUBLIC COLLEGES are critical to the economic well-being of their host towns and any effort to curb them produces legislative gridlock.  It’s also politically risky to challenge the system while the state has a budget surplus.  Suggestion: Buy them out!  ND’s higher education system could be both leaner and better.

The Hope Lutheran Church is Fargo’s largest congregation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  Hope has followed other Lutheran churches in Fargo in suspending funding to ELCA, because of a CONTROVERSIAL DECISION at a recent Churchwide Assembly to allow homosexual clergy. 

A Bismarck Tribune editorial speculated about the cause of the city’s bad driving record.  Was it hicks from the sticks, squinting seniors, those “women” drivers, cellphones or crazy teenagers?  Before you express your outrage as a member of one of those groups, you should hear the Tribune’s conclusion -- IT’S ALL OF US.  The Tribune then blandly advised everyone to step up and become defensive drivers.

Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle met with students in Petersburg (45 mi. west of GF) and he issued a landmark opinion: TV Judge Judy is “rude” and “crude” -- “TELEVISION IS NOT REALITY.”  VandeWalle and other members of the ND Supreme Court periodically visit schools around the state.  The Petersburg visit was covered by Herald writer Marilyn Hagerty.

Just recently, I teased the Jamestown Sun for its parochial  “Bravos and Buffalo Chips” and reluctance to award chips to local residents.  Well, they showed me, after showering buffalo chips on the distracted NW Airlines pilots, they targeted unidentified local bad boys for . . . BLOWING UP AN OUTHOUSE.  The Sun gets this week’s courage in journalism award.

Many ND Indians and non-Indians alike still hope there can be a negotiated settlement to the UND Fighting Sioux nickname controversy.  One group has a CLOSED MIND on the issue -- they said "declare the old logo history . . . quit stalling."  Guess who it is, you got it -- the Fargo Forum editorial board.

The Forum writes “smash mouth” editorials -- you know where they stand.  The Bismarck Tribune editorials are, well, more ambiguous, if you like, nuanced.  Editor John Irby began a recent editorial by discussing the stigma attached to AIDS sufferers and the need to sometimes protect their identities.  It seemed as if Irby was headed for more privacy regulation, then he swung a U-turn and came the other way suggesting that well-meaning privacy laws had become a THREAT TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST.  He said, “The laws that have been enacted with good intent should be revisited and amended because the masses deserve protection.”

The problems of Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND and its former CEO are widely reported.  Now, a September audit report on the web site of the state Department of Insurance (exam #537) describes how BCBS PUSHED BOUNDARIES in many areas.  Some examples: BCBS directors, who represent consumers and providers, received $12,000 a year, plus $1,200 a day for meetings, +++, all presumably, on top of compensation the directors receive from their full-time employers.  In 2006, the board brought scathing charges against the CEO for drunken driving, excessive drinking, lying and engaging in conduct which harmed the organization.  Yet, the CEO was terminated without cause and given $2.2 million of termination benefits.  The report, addressed to Chairman Dennis Elbert and new CEO Paul Von Ebers, states board and management did not act in the best interest of members.

MEXICAN CRIME RINGS are generally not thought to be a ND problem -- it’s something that happens in Arizona or California.  Not so, Mexicans are active in ND drug crimes, but also other types of crime.  A group of illegal immigrants believed to be from Mexico have been operating a check fraud scheme in larger ND cities.  They broke in and stole payroll checks from businesses, forging and cashing them at unsuspecting banks.  After Fargo and Grand Forks were hit, police were clever enough to anticipate Bismarck would be next.  As a result of alerts, a drive-up teller in Bismarck called police and six members of the ring were arrested.

Oh Boy!  Makers of public policy are asked to find a balance between the public interest and that of individuals.  It’s not easy, and bureaucrats can easily cross lines of common sense.  Take barbed wire, thousands of miles of it -- part of the West for at least a hundred years.  Environmentalists believe BARBED WIRE is killing too many sage grouse in states such as ND, and they are pressuring the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the birds under the Endangered Species Act.  For starters, they want colored tags on wires to make them easier to see.

 DAKTOIDS:  Volunteer fire departments around ND are folding: shriinking towns and aging populations . . . Back to the future -- Stutsman County has purchased a machine to turn paved roads into gravel . . . Although the economy is good, the number of families in Grand Forks needing social services is rising steeply.  Much of the increase is attributed to out of state people who have entered the area looking for work . . . It makes the state Tax Dept. feel good -- the number of ND millionaires (adjusted gross income over $1 million) rose to 470 in 2008 compared to 270 in 2005.  The big reason, you guessed right, oil company payments.