Dakota Beacon

A 310-acre cornfield, six combines and grain-hauling semis -- a typical ND harvest scene.  Not this time.  SWAT teams were riding the combines.  The equipment was there to harvest an escaped prisoner.  A van used to transport federal prisoners stopped at a Tower City coffee shop and prisoner Joseph Megna escaped into a nearby cornfield.  Escorted by SWAT teams, farmers began to trim the hiding place by harvesting the corn.  One hundred acres into the job, Megna surrendered.  The Cass County Sheriff said, “God bless North Dakota, we bring everybody together to solve the problem.”

It’s getting easier and easier for people to say “I’m from ND” -- the state is an oasis of prosperity.  This may have prompted a NY Times columnist to jokingly suggest that ND Gov. Jack Dalrymple run for president.  The Herald’s Tom Dennis said this raises a question: “How much of North Dakota’s growth is oil, and how much is leadership?”  His conclusion: while oil is very important, good leadership allows the state to tap its potential.

The Tribune labeled ND’s second quarter taxable sales “just short of unbelievable.”  Sales for the quarter were up 32% over the same quarter last year.  Williston was up 75% and even Fargo, far from the oil patch, was up 8%.

A Jamestown Sun headline read “Royal Norwegians to visit N.D.”  An unfortunate reading -- the article actually indicated the opposite, that while Norway’s royal couple would be visiting Minnesota and Iowa, ND was not on the itinerary.  Minnesota is the state with the most Norwegians; ND is the state with the highest percentage of Norwegians.  People in Norway and the Midwest have misconceptions about each other.  UND’s Bruce Gjovig says Norwegians are rich and technically advanced, but are concerned that Midwesterners view Norway as a little folk museum.  Norwegians think Americans in the Midwest are all eating lefse and wearing funny hats.

It sounds like a small paradise: beautiful natural setting, excellent university, lively business district, all in all, one of the most attractive small cities in ND.  That’s how a Forum editorial describes Valley City.  Then, the Forum went on to say Valley City is a political mess -- a dysfunctional pit of divisiveness.  The Forum had no quick remedy, just head shaking.

The man is covered with tattoos, a ring dangles from his lip, he wears the obligatory beard and looks every bit like a member of a familiar subculture.  It becomes more interesting when you learn he is the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (remember The PTL Club).  Jay Bakker is a pastor in the Revolution Church which specializes in services for the homeless and hungry.  He visited NDSU where his volunteers slept outside at night to show solidarity with the homeless.

"I can see how it would look awful from an outside point of view.  This was the game plan well before the flood happened." -- manager of the Minot Manor Apartments explaining why rent doubled.  It did indeed look awful to the shocked tenants.  What did they get?  Only one thing -- the name of the apartments was changed to Meadowlark Heights.  The oil boom and flooding have limited apartment availability and raised rents in Minot.

The budget of the state of ND and most city and local governments are sound, but flooding has created pockets of special need.  Drainage from a FEMA temporary housing park in Minot will exaggerate a pre-existing neighborhood flooding problem.  The Ward County Water Board’s response: “We have no funds.  We are broke.”  The board wants state assistance.  The cities of Valley City and Lisbon are on the flood prone Sheyenne River.  A Valley City Commissioner said, “We were inches away from a Minot this summer.”  The cities are financially tapped out, but desperately need permanent flood protection.  They too want the state to help out.

Farmers hop on and off tractors, in and out of pickups -- it’s all part of their daily job.  Seat belts, are you kidding?  I’m just guessing, but I think this carries over and partially explains the reluctance of rural Nodaks to wear seat belts once they hit the highway.  It’s too bad.  In early October, Stephanie Theis of Carrington made a left turn with a semi trailer into the path of William Trecker Jr., also of Carrington.  Trecker died, Theis was injured, neither wore a seat belt.

Their time has come.  A hundred years ago wooden grain elevators sprouted in most small ND towns.  Travelers in ND were rarely out of sight of a prairie elevator.  The elevators gave towns a visual identity and were often the main business.  Most elevators have reached the end of their useful life -- they are rotting, caving and are either going or gone.  The Forest River Colony of Hutterites specializes in elevator demolition.  They salvage a few choice timbers, but the biggest part of the buildings go onto burn piles.  Windsor (15 miles w. of Jamestown) is the latest to lose its elevator.

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?  Columnist Lloyd Omdahl says the 2010 census was a little too early to catch the oil boom -- western ND may be hurt when when state and federal benefits are shared based on the census . . . Tribune columnist Ken Rogers says the oil boom and its fallout (fires, spills, traffic, accidents and crime) will be a big issue in the next political cycle . . . Trib columnist Clay Jenkinson: “you can kiss the civic centers goodbye” -- fabulous home electronics are stealing audiences . . . Forum columnist Andrea Halgrimson said the F-M Open Forum was huge from 1930 to 1967 -- the public forum featured national and world figures -- Eleanor Roosevelt’s talk at the ND Agricultural College in 1953 was the biggest audience.

DAKTOIDS:  The Killdeer vs. Watford City high school football game was canceled -- indirectly a victim of the oil boom.  No bus drivers . . . The Duluth News Tribune says Minnesotans are flocking to ND for duck hunting and fishing -- imagine that!