Dakota Beacon

The Sick Bastards have done it again -- they staged a lewd event in the Evil Olive Bar in Dickinson.  For those of you who aren’t up on these matters, the Sick Bastards are a motorcycle club that relishes “wet T-shirt contests” and breast flashing.  The Evil Olive has been cited and threatened with suspension if it continues its unsavory association with the motorcycle club.

Just when you thought things had calmed down, the curtain opened again on NDSU’s old spending habits.  You will recall, former NDSU President Joseph Chapman went down the road after his spending became public knowledge.  State auditors have just released a report that indicates some lower level elves were also at play.  Remember the toothy TV motivational guru Tony Robbins -- NDSU paid $15,000 to send two employees to his seminars so they could “Unleash the Power Within.”  Virginia Johnson, dean of the College of Human Development, couldn’t match that, but used her university credit card to host a $750 bar at a “Women in Deanship” conference.  As for air travel, first class was the way to go.  New President Dean Bresciani commented weakly that “some decisions were not well thought out.”

Was there hubris in the air, if not the water, in Fargo in the years leading up to 2009?  NDSU grew in almost every respect: size, prominence, athletics, and, as noted above, spending.  The reputation of then President Joe Chapman also grew -- in Fargo, he could do no wrong.  There was also perceived success at Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND.  BCBS dominated health care in the state -- its CEO Michael Unhjem was another wonder boy, but his fiefdom crumbled much like Chapman’s with overspending and personal excesses.  Unhjem resigned amidst scandal and audits.  His career ended in personal tragedy in mid-September when he committed suicide in his Fargo home.  In fairness, both men are credited with large contributions and accomplishments, despite the overreach which brought down their careers.

Fargo-Moorhead will need financial help and political support to achieve its flood control goals.  F-M is not leaving the issue to chance -- a report was commissioned to demonstrate how important F-M is to the region.  The message is that if something bad happens to F-M, say a big flood, the rest of the state will suffer more than it thinks.  To sharpen the point, the report indicates that in 2008 F-M’s gross domestic product was over $10 billion, while the entire state was just $24 billion.

A few years ago the future of Minot was somewhat in doubt, the once great railroad center seemed destined to drop out of the first tier of ND cities.  Now, the situation is sharply reversing.  “The growth that the City of Minot is experiencing is undeniable,” said council president Dean Frantsvog as he proposed a larger city budget.  “Not only is our population growing but the physical size of our city is expanding at a rate that has not been seen before.”  Many factors coincide to explain the growth, but they are all lubricated by oil.

You expect it -- as election time nears, politicians come alive and appear in places they don’t normally frequent.  But that doesn’t explain Sen. Byron Dorgan, he isn’t running for reelection, yet continues to shake hands all over the state.  A recent example, he visited a YWCA emergency shelter in Fargo.  Dorgan was advised that 25% of the shelter’s clients are American Indian women, although Indians make up only 1-2% of the F-M population.

Trends in ND newspapers:  Like newspapers elsewhere, most ND papers have reduced their staffs and seek to be more efficient.  Generally, they have lowered their ambitions and are less eager to compete in the market areas of other papers.  In fact, it is common to see ND newspapers carry each others articles and editorials.  For example, the Jamestown Sun may print something from the Minot Daily News or Bismarck Tribune.  Another trend, the Fargo Forum and GF Herald are systematically increasing Minnesota coverage, not just because the Minnesota side of the Red River Valley is a logical part of their market, but also because parent Forum Communications has an extensive network of papers in Minnesota to share news gathering in the state.

Forum Publisher Bill Marcil (74) should know his job -- he’s had it for over four decades.  His son Bill Marcil Jr (46) will take over -- the fifth generation to do so.  Bill Sr remains as chairman of Forum Communicatons which owns 30 newspapers in ND, SD, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Author Louise Erdrich lives and works in Minneapolis, but is widely considered a ND author.  In its 2010-11 season, the Guthrie Theater will show a new play based on Erdrich’s book, “The Master Butchers Singing Club,” about life in a small ND town before WWII.

It used to be rare, but now it is not unusual to find ND women living beyond 100 -- Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty visited one of them. Clarabell Demers (100) of Grafton leads an active life, is in a senior bowling league and lives alone in an apartment.  It may not have been the best idea, but like some other older ND women, Clarabell continued to drive until she was 98.

Josephine Baker’s obituary describes her life as “rich and rewarding,” it might also be described as sheer grit and perseverence.  Her early life was a series of health challenges: At 4 she was the victim of a crippling farm accident leaving her with a twisted foot.  If that wasn’t enough, she had polio as a teenager and added a leg brace.  Fate still wasn’t finished, in 1941 she spent over a year in a sanitarium with tuberculosis.  This would be enough to sideline anyone, but not Josephine, who cooked, washed clothes and cleaned for several families.  Now the rewarding part -- she married and enjoyed many friends and hobbies until her recent death in Valley City at age 105.  ND women of her generation were not whiners.

DAKTOIDS: The Jamestown Sun awarded a bravo to people who are restoring a railroad depot in Wimbledon in which singer Peggy Lee lived with her depot agent father . . . George Hsu (67) is an Elgin physician who was loved by his patients, but hated by the ND Board of Medical Examiners.  He lost his medical license in 2007.  Hsu is on the “get even” path -- he is running as an independent candidate for the state senate.