Dakota Beacon

Who is Jack Dalrymple?  You are about to find out.  He is the ND lieutenant governor and will be the next governor, if Governor John Hoeven is elected to the U.S. Senate.  Dalrymple is a low profile, but powerful person in the state.  His family established one of the Bonanza wheat farms in Casselton in 1875.  Dalrymple is a Yale graduate, one of the founders of Dakota Growers Pasta, an eight-term legislator, and a member of many boards and commissions.  He is a leading member of the Hoeven administration and is expected to continue its policies.

In the “Great Fire” of 1893, Fargo largely burned to the ground.  The fire destroyed City Hall, the business district and most of the homes of 6,000 residents.  Wooden buildings in the business district were mostly replaced with brick, partially explaining the large number of old brick buildings in today’s downtown Fargo.  The 1893 fire came to mind this week when a fire destroyed the Galleria, an apartment house with 150 residents and 62 units -- the largest fire in recent Fargo memory.

Isn’t hunting season fun?  The ND pheasant opener took place on a weekend in early October and six hunters were shot.  No report yet on the pheasants.

South Dakota hunters are looking for something in addition to pheasants -- exotic nude dancers.  Sure, there’s the pristine outdoors, but locals in Winner, SD, say dancers, high-stakes poker and drinking have long been a staple of pheasant hunting in SD.  Hunters expect to “Drink, eat and be merry” according to a Winner bar owner.

The Sioux nickname affects a great deal more than athletics at UND -- the name is embedded in many other ways.  For example,  UND’s highest alumni award is called the Sioux Award and hundreds of student pilots at the aviation school use the call signal “Sioux,” a preference of the FAA.  A task force has been formed for the purpose of cataloging all the ways the image and name are used.  Zealots say all Sioux references must go.  Bill Gorneau, a human resource director from the Turtle Mt. College and task force member, stated, “If you try to keep any part of the name, it will be very difficult.”   Not everyone is on that wave length -- Ryan Bakken of the GF Herald writes the “beautiful, majestic portrayal of a Sioux warrior has been voted the best logo in the country for good reason.”

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  The UND women’s hockey team had every reason to be discouraged when they played the Gophers in mid-October in Minneapolis -- the Sioux had lost the previous 28 matches between the two teams.  But not this time, UND swept the series with the help of the Olympic Lamoureux twins who transferred to UND from . . . right, the U. of Minnesota in Minneapolis.  The Sioux women have now beaten the No. 1, 3 and 4 teams in the country.

“We are really stretched to a breaking point financially.”  Is this quote from a California city or a struggling financial institution?  No, the speaker is new NDSU President Dean Bresciani explaining why he will not be able to replace the retiring vice president for university relations.

The heading to a Forum article said “North Dakota Mural comes home.”  The million dollar James Rosenquist painting was shown to the public on October 7 at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo.  The 13’ by 24’ work becomes the most important public painting in the state and fits nicely on a large wall seen from the museum entrance.  The mural is filled with iconic ND images from windmills to the state bird and fish, all under an abstract starry sky.  Regrettably, there are no bison, but that didn’t prevent the NDSU marching band from playing “On Bison” at the dedication.  Declaring it James Rosenquist Day, Fargo enthusiasts kept muttering “miracle.”

ND farmers often cite a deep and abiding love of their farms.  Warren Rusch (88) of New Salem is one.  His obituary said, “Farming was Warren’s true calling and he was most assuredly a good steward of the land and animals . . . he improved on what his father had done . . . his heart remained with the land.”

Earl Wehner (82) of Dickinson served on the battleship South Dakota during WWII and he never got the experience out of his system.  Wehner, a skilled wood carver, has created a replica of the ship he loves.  It’s about ten feet long, made of oak, and faithfully includes details such as the gun turrets and towers you would see on the real thing.  Here’s where it gets a little strange.  The model ship has a latched door in its side -- open it and you will find three wooden boxes.  The ship is a casket; the boxes are for the ashes of Earl, his wife Winnie and their pet dog Kayla -- when they sail away.

In Jamestown, it may take the prairie people and new Somali residents a little time to know each other.  An employee of the Bethel nursing home called police when three Somali women demanded work and became upset.  She commented they were dressed in full-length, robe-like dress and head scarves.  One of the Somalis said, “One lady came out, she didn’t have a welcoming face”  and “Another lady came out and yelled ‘why you come three at a time.’”  Another of the three women said through an interpreter, “We can’t get a job because of our color and the way we dress.”  Somali men in Jamestown have easily found work at Cavendish (a potato processor), but the Somali women are having difficulties.

Three Saudi students were rather innocently taking a flight from Minneapolis to Grand Forks where they were to take English language classes in preparation for aviation training.  A crew member was alarmed when a “suspicious condition” was detected in the lavatory and the plane was diverted to Fargo.  In the confusion that followed, the three bewildered students were questioned by police and FBI.  Eventually, a UND car picked up the students in Fargo and took them to campus housing in GF.

ND school children are taught that counties are divided into townships, generally square blocks six miles by six miles (36 square miles).  Why this primer?  ND is having an unique experience -- a township in Sheridan County (county seat McClusky) has petitioned to be annexed by McHenry County (Towner).  The grievance: poor or nonexistent county services.  It’s unclear where this will go -- some think it’s serious, others see it as an attention getter.  The core problem in county services is shrinking population: in the 1910 census, Sheridan County had about 8,000 residents; today the estimate is 1,200 (about one person per square mile).