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Saturday, April 12, 2014

SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - APRIL 12, 2013

Trust in state government is higher in ND than any other state, according to a Gallup poll which showed that 77% of Nodaks trust their state government. A cluster of nearby states including South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska were close behind. Trust dropped off in Minnesota where only 62% had faith in state government -- about the national average. Political scientists note that Nodaks are unusually close to government -- the state has a governmental unit for every 262 people. In another Gallup poll, Nodaks gave their public schools the highest satisfaction rating in the nation, followed closely by ratings in Minnesota, SD and Nebraska.
 
Take no offense.” -- Korie Wenzel, the new publisher of the GF Herald, launched an editorial asking “So, what does Grand Forks offer to the passerby?” He concluded that once you get past hockey -- not much, other than negative attention for weather. His remarks weren’t intended as a putdown. Wenzel was stating the obvious: GF shares a lack of notable attractions with many other similar sized communities. The purpose of his editorial was to pitch a “Destination Corridor”along I-29 -- a visible arts and entertainment center serving as a way of hooking visitors.
 
Usually, ND does not rank in the company of Alabama and W. Virginia. However, the League of American Bicyclists ranks ND dead last for “Bike Friendly Communities.” Only ND and Hawaii have never received a BFC award. There might seem to be an obvious explanation for ND -- little things like wind, cold and snow. But Minneapolis and Missoula are among a handful of communities which have received gold BFC awards -- those cities are not exactly tropical. On average, 6 percent of the people in Missoula bike daily. The Herald’s Tom Dennis says now is the time for GF to make a deliberate effort to become a BFC -- he notes the bicycle friendly Greenway provides a good start.
 
Last week, I described how the ban on the UND Fighting Sioux nickname provides a glimpse of a world governed by the politically correct. The glimpse deepened this week when UND President Robert Kelley chastised the Gamma Phi sorority for “demonstrating a lack of sensitivity” by displaying a banner which read “You can take away our mascot, but you can’t take away our pride!” The banner related to UND and the NCAA Frozen Four hockey tournament, but coincided with a campus Indian culture week. The sorority will be required to undergo sensitivity training and may be sanctioned. The Berkeley trained Kelley presided over the ban of the popular nickname and logo. Blogger Rob Port responded, “The only place the Fighting Sioux logo/nickname are offensive is in the minds of a small number of noisy activists, and the small minds of university/NCAA bureaucrats.”
 
Does it pay to go to college? Not always -- it depends on the college and the degree. The research firm PayScale studied 900 colleges and universities and calculated return on the cost of a bachelor’s degree. A NDSU degree returned 9.5%, the highest in ND, while a UND degree was 7.4%. Those are good returns for public schools, although lower than many elite schools. Local private colleges were another matter -- graduates at Concordia and Jamestown may have been better off skipping college and investing their education money in Treasury Bills. Yes, I know, it’s more nuanced than that -- there are intangibles in college education that PayScale doesn’t measure.
 
NDSU is a very forgiving place, that is, if you are a football player. Antonio Rodgers was one of a group of Bison football players slapped on the wrist for seriously violating ND election laws in 2012 by forging petitions. At the time, the Forum defended the players by saying they really weren’t criminals -- merely dumb. Fast forward to 2014 -- Rodgers is still around on a football scholarship. This time he’s in trouble for trying to sell one of his football championship rings on eBay. NCAA rules prohibit players from selling merchandise while still on scholarship.
 
ND produces a million barrels of oil each day, but only about seven percent is refined in the state at a Tesoro refinery in Mandan. Five new refineries in various stages of construction and planning could collectively add refining capacity roughly equal to ten percent of state production. The MDU refinery in Dickinson is expected to go online this year. Refineries in Watford City, Makoti and Trenton are in advanced stages of planning and a refinery in Devils Lake is in the discussion stage. Individual refineries cost in the $250-350 million range.
 
Mirror, mirror on the wall -- what’s the riskiest of them all. Pipelines leak, trains spill. A pair of Forum writers tried to determine what is the best way to transport crude oil -- pipelines or trains? It’s a long article without a clear conclusion. It’s peppered with phrases such as the comparison is “Apples to oranges”and there will be “More of both.”
 
This will be my last column for the Williston Herald as I am leaving the city. It hasn’t been for me . . . I just couldn’t hack it here.” -- Larry Griffin bid goodbye to ND after a fairly short stay. Griffin noted a recent study ranking ND as the happiest state in the nation. He feels it’s not that simple and sees two NDs: one with a “happy small-town mentality, content with their prairies and their farms;” the other, “grueling grind-minded oil workers . . . thrown into a chaotic mess of a town (Williston).” Griffin concluded “maybe I was just never meant to live around this area.”
 
He’s working out in the oil fields.”-- Not a bad idea! The quote is from the attorney for Aaron Anderson who is charged with stealing 2,000 painkiller pills from the drug store he managed in Grand Forks. Anderson is no longer a pharmacist, having surrendered his license because of felony charges. Illegal painkillers are a gateway to heroin.
 
Walt was known for his tenacity and zest for life. He later put those dynamic forces together to lead a life of hard work and significance, both professionally and in his personal life.”-- From the obituary of Walter Braun (93) of Bismarck. Braun was prominent in western ND insurance, real estate and investments. He invested in the Williston Basin oil fields until the time of his death. Braun’s father was a German from Russia immigrant. Walt worked his way through Minot State as a bellboy at the Waverly Hotel and taught school before his business career.
DAKTOIDS: Minnesotans might ask “Does ND give us anything?” ND is prepared to answer in the affirmative. The state is shipping an overflow of federal Oil Patch inmates to Minnesota jails . . . ND leads the nation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and manufacturing) job growth, yet is below the national average in concentration of those jobs . . . It was a long winter in ND, no more so then at Bertrosa's restaurant in Fargo where the inside average temperature for a good part of the winter was 60 degrees. Bertrosa's is folding.

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