Dakota Beacon

Tribune columnist Clay Jenkinson sees the Badlands as ND’s greatest scenic asset and most important tourist destination.  So when the 4,400 acre Southern Cross Ranch was broken up and sold to six buyers, Jenkinson concluded, “THE GREAT BADLANDS BREAKUP HAS BEGUN” and “We are witnessing the front end of a storm of change that will shatter the magic of the Little Missouri River Valley once and for all.”  He believes the Badlands are best suited for cattle ranching -- any other use is a loss.  Urgent action is needed, according to Jenkinson, to start a broad conversation among stakeholders.  He believes traditional ranch families in the Badlands are its most endangered species.  The single action which could most save them: change ND law to permit conservation easements (purchase of development rights by nonprofit entities, allowing the continual use of the land for ranching).

“Defendants should be restrained from their parasitic efforts to usurp and undermine the decades-long work of the conservancy.”  Those are fighting words.  The defendant is the Minnesota-based Nokota Horse Association; the plaintiff is the ND-based Nokota Horse Conservancy.  “The NOKOTA HORSE is a distinct type of horse that once ran wild in the Little Missouri Badlands” according to one dictionary.  The fight is about who has the legal right to be the promoter of the Nokota breed.  The Association is relatively new, the Conservancy began promoting the breed in the 1980s.

Herald Editor Mike Jacobs found editorial fodder at the “Ralph”:  CRUDE AND VULGAR BEHAVIOR at UND hockey games.  Jacobs was reacting to the elevated level of disorder during recent UND Sioux- Minnesota Gopher games at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, but he was also thinking about another incident reported by the Herald.  After an October game which the Sioux won 4-0, a Gopher fan “sucker punched” a Sioux fan who was hospitalized in a coma.  The Gopher fan, Peter Chwialkowski, was arrested for felony aggravated assault, according to UND Police Chief Duane Czapiewski.  The editorial prompted an avalanche of response, much of it negative, so in a followup editorial, Jacobs relented slightly and lightened his criticism of arena management, acknowledging, “Individuals are responsible for their own actions, after all.”

 What about those BRAVOS AND BUFFALO CHIPS handed out by the Jamestown Sun? They often conform to a formula, that is, lavish praise of locals -- sharp criticism of unpopular faraways.  An October  version illustrates the approach, 81-year-old Jamestown area resident Darrel Brown got a hearty bravo for “harvesting” an elk.  In the same article, the Colorado parents of “balloon boy” were given nasty buffalo chips for their poorly conceived hoax.

No Child Left Behind has stalled -- Lloyd Omdahl thinks “the American education system is at a virtual stand still.”  He believes the problem begins with the children’s families: “If learning is not a value in the home, it will not suddenly become a value in kindergarten.”  Omdahl noted over 700 ND students quit before they graduated from high school last year.  Parents are pre-occupied with their own interest and problems -- CHILDREN ARE IGNORED.  Adults are too willing to blame the education system and Omdahl says, “That’s leaving the problem at the school house door.”

A new problem has emerged in the ND oil fields.  Storage tanks for oil pumped from the Bakken formation are BURPING NATURAL GAS -- this does not happen with oil from traditional wells.  The releases are a pollution issue and puzzled state officials are investigating the problem.  The most immediate solution is to burn the gas.  The state Health Department hopes the companies will instead capture and sell the gas.

Nodaks are witnessing an IRONIC DEVELOPMENT:  liberals attacking ND’s Democratic congressmen for their stand on health care.  First, Rep. Earl Pomeroy, then, Sen. Kent Conrad.  A Forum editorial lashed out at the critics: “North Dakota Democrats who routinely are the senator’s allies have donned the blinders of the radical left. It’s a stupid, potentially destructive strategy. Conrad should have no part of it.”  Forum readers who responded to the editorial couldn’t decide who they disliked more -- the Forum or Conrad.

ANOTHER SURPRISING DEVELOPMENT-- Burleigh County commissioners turned down $9 million of stimulus money.  They said accepting the federal funds would send a mixed signal about the economic climate in Bismarck and Burleigh County.  The money can be reallocated to other areas of the state.  How often does local government turn down federal money?

Former Chairman Tex Hall left the THREE AFFILIATED TRIBES in a deep financial hole.  The tribes have been trying to claw their way out of the hole under the leadership of Chairman Marcus Levings, aided by oil development on the reservation.  Recently, they received a financial setback when arbitrators determined TAT must pay developer Dale Little Soldier $6.3 million, because TAT backed out of a planned casino.  TAT finances were frozen because of the judgment.  The tribes have been able to resume normal operations, in part, because of money obtained from the Southern Ute tribe in Colorado.  

In her GF Herald column, Marilyn Hagerty mentioned an event 100 YEARS AGO in which a 16-year-old boy, who operated a elevator in a GF office building, inherited a half million dollars (many millions in today’s dollars) from his grandfather in Norway.  His response to his good luck was unusually wise: “Taking care of a half million may be a lot harder work than running this elevator, you know.”

Her favorite place was ND with its “SPACIOUS SKIES AND WAVE OF GOLDEN GRAIN.”  The obituary of Helen Berger (89) of Grand Forks reflects two themes that recur in ND obituaries: love of the state and pride in Norwegian heritage.  Berger traveled the world, but reserved her greatest love for her home state.  She was a stalwart member of the Sons of Norway, sang Norwegian songs and made lefse.

DAKTOIDS: You recognize the familiar Indianhead which decorates the side of ND Highway Patrol cars.  Curt Eriksmoen reports you are seeing the profile of Red Tomahawk, the Indian policeman who shot and killed Sitting Bull . . .  Where are the state’s wildest drivers?  Apparently in Bismarck, which has proportionately more crashes than any other large ND city . . . ND edged out Louisiana to become the fourth largest oil producing state.