Dakota Beacon

When is too much?  Nodaks are are very sensitive to perceptions of excess or impropriety among their public officials.  So, the news that the cost of the new house for NDSU PRESIDENT JOSEPH CHAPMAN had risen to $2 million raised eyebrows, particularly, outside the Fargo area.  Then, another shoe dropped, it was disclosed that Chapman’s wife Gale was receiving $50,000 a year as a fund raiser for the NDSU Development Fund—oops!  Her husband’s annual university compensation is over $400,000 and many of their expenses, such as country club dues, are also paid by the Fund.

Chapman’s life style appeared even more regal when it was revealed that he and his family spent $22,000 of Fund money to attend President Obama’s inauguration.  A charter flight, multiple hotel rooms, entertainment, you know, things like that.  Chapman found none of his expenses to be excessive and thought it entirely appropriate that the fund pay for his two daughters and a son-in-law, after all, they attended many celebratory events at the inauguration.  Meanwhile, UND PRESIDENT ROBERT KELLEY and his wife quietly traveled economy class to the inauguration for total expenses of $2,200—one-tenth of the Chapman entourage.  (On October 14, Chapman announced his resignation effective January 2—it was unanimously accepted by the State Board of Higher Education.)

REALLY BUGGED!  Oversized Air Force trucks ply rural roads in northwestern ND carrying rockets, rocket parts and fuel, but they have trouble staying on the road.  Last year, the Air Force spent $5.6 million recovering one of the vehicles.  In August, a truck carrying rocket engine parts and containers of liquid rocket fuel overturned west of Minot—now we learn why.  The driver claims a large insect flew into an open window landing on his back—distracted and panicked, he lost control of the vehicle.  The unidentified insect villain is still on the loose and the Air Force is working on cost estimates for the crash. (The missile wing commander at Minot AFB was relieved of his command on October 14.)

“How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm, After they’ve seen Paree?”  Tom Dennis of the GF Herald quoted from an old musical hit to describe the challenges facing a new ND YOUTH COUNCIL authorized by the Legislature.  The group is headed by Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple and includes four legislators and 16 people aged 17 to 24.  Their mission, broadly, is to discuss issues related to keeping young people in ND.

The Britney Spears concert at the Alerus Center was thought to be risky—it could end in PROFIT OR DISASTER.  It did neither, losing about $100,000.  Tom Dennis defended the decision to hold the concert because of its benefit to Grand Forks.  He said, “The Britney Spears concert was a calculated but reasonable and ultimately worthwhile risk.”  Readers responded in cynical, grumpy fashion, suggesting everyone bears the cost, while a limited few received the benefits.

The Norsk Hostfest in Minot is about Scandinavians and music, and, as the Minot Daily News reports, “the accordion reigns supreme.”  An accordion club with over 200 members meets at the Hostfest to play and honor, of course, Lawrence Welk, but also their PATRON SAINT AND STAR OF THE WELK SHOW, Myron Floren.  Lawrence and Myron have both passed on, but their melodies linger in the halls of the Hostfest.

The accordions hushed for a few minutes while KARL ROVE was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame.  Rove was selected by the Hostfest because of his commitment to Norwegian heritage—his great-great-grandfather was a Norwegian immigrant and Norway’s vice counsel in Milwaukee, Wis.  ND Democrats stirred political controversy over Rove’s selection, but he said it would “not dull the honor of his induction.”

The UND Fighting Sioux issue lurches on—the Standing Rock Sioux have a new chairman who is friendly to a referendum on the nickname.  In recognition, the State Board of Higher Education extended the deadline for a decision on the nickname by 60 days.  The board said it provided the extension “to give tribal democracy time to take place.”  Archie Fool Bear, a leading proponent of the nickname at Standing Rock, said, “I PREDICT A LANDSLIDE OF SUPPORT.”  David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College and a leader among nickname opponents, was agitated, declaring that the board’s decision “will whip up more division and dissension among good tribal people who need unity and cooperation.”

“We need to be lowering the lake, not raising the roads.”  This OUNCE OF COMMON SENSE came from Devils Lake-area resident Rick LaFleur testifying at a ND Department of Health hearing about increasing releases from Devils Lake into the Sheyenne River.  The strategy of confining the rising levels of the lake looks very much like an endless series of expenditures.

For those who are supporters of THE DEATH PENALTY there is at least one reason they might change their mind.  Most people sentenced to the death penalty die of natural causes while their attorneys file endless appeals.  Alfonso Rodriguez raped and murdered UND student Dru Sjodin in 2003.  Because it was an inter-state crime, Rodriguez was eligible for the death penalty and was sentenced in 2005.  Now, years and millions of dollars later, his appeals continue.  It is you and I as taxpayers who also received a sentence.

Clay Jenkinson is an anomaly, a liberal columnist in a state which leans moderately to the right.  Jenkinson recently mused about the four years and over 200 columns since he began writing for the Tribune.  He characterized that period as “THE HAPPIEST FOUR YEARS OF HIS LIFE,” but Jenkinson has major concerns about the state’s future.  He believes that as oil and coal industries pursue their interests and others scheme to turn scenic corridors into vacation homes, Nodaks are somewhat blind to what is happening to their state and its natural beauty.  They view these as “good times.”  Jenkinson also darkly asserted there have been attempts to silence him.  He quoted his hero Eric Sevaroid’s view of the life of a columnist: “He is perpetually at school and conducts his education in public, which is often hard on others and embarrassing to him.”

Investment literature speaks of “animal spirits” or “IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE,” periods when investors get overly excited about new prospects.  There was some of this is in ND during the rush to build ethanol plants.  Wiser, more conservative investors wait patiently during these periods for the bubble to burst.  VeraSun Energy from Sioux Falls built an ethanol plant in Hankinson, ND; VeraSun went bankrupt and idled the plant.  In early October, Arkansas based Murphy Oil made a bargain purchase of the Hankinson plant and resumed ethanol production.

They look calm, alert and stoic—the Forum pictured six residents of the Sheyenne Care Center in Valley City who are ALL AGE 100 OR OVER. You won’t be surprised to learn only one was a man.  A significant portionof ND women are living into their 90s, men don’t do quite as well.