SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - AUGUST 19, 2014
WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW? A front-page article this week in the Wall Street Journal traces the diverging fortunes of ND and Alaska. AK’s oil production, employment and population are dropping, while those indices are rising in ND. This is a cautionary tale. While ND hopes to maintain its ag and oil prosperity indefinitely, fickle commodity markets can change an economy overnight. ND is wise to build rainy day reserves and restrain state spending.
IT’S KILLDEER’S TURN Main streets in some small towns in western ND have been clogged by oil field traffic. Lines of semis fill streets that once had only light local traffic. Expensive bypasses are the preferred solution. So far, Williston, Alexander, Dickinson and New Town have or are having surgery. Now, Killdeer is scheduled for treatment in 2015. Killdeer’s population was about 700 in 2010, today, much higher. Killdeer business people have mixed attitudes, they fear the bypass will do just that, cause customers to bypass, as well as attracting new competitors near the bypass. But the grinding traffic is so intrusive, most business people accept the bypass.
YOU'LL FIND HIM IN FARGO "You've got, from my observations . . . one president who's striking out on his own, maybe one or two more. That will have to be dealt with at some point in time, and the sooner the better." -- Frank comments by Tom Meredith, a consultant to the ND Board of Higher Education, in a taped closed-door session. The session provoked controversy about whether it was a violation of open meeting laws. Speculation began immediately about the name of the "one president." A GF Herald editorial said that "word-of-mouth" speculation indicated that president was likely Dean Bresciani at NDSU.
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE Yahoo listed the 10 most corrupt states. States like Illinois (#4) and Mississippi (#1) were no surprise, but South Dakota (#8), that was a surprise. Some years back ND was near the top of such a list, also a surprise, until columnist Lloyd Omdahl investigated. He found ND’s presence on the list was almost completely explained by convictions of officials on the state’s Indian reservations. No clear explanation was given for SD’s ranking, but its reservations may be a good starting point.
CAUSE AND EFFECT? Richard Nixon has a mixed legacy -- he was not a nice man. Forty years after Nixon’s resignation, GF Herald Publisher Korrie Wenzel was especially scornful: “Richard Nixon was a scoundrel” and “he really was: paranoid, devious and just plain mean.” Wenzel’s editorial noted that Nixon stormed past George McGovern of South Dakota in the 1972 presidential election. McGovern grew up and went to college in Mitchell, SD. Wenzel grew up in the Mitchell area and became publisher of the Mitchell Daily Republic in 2010. He became publisher of the Herald this spring.
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL In 2006, Fargo Police Chief Chris Magnus resigned to accept the same position in Richmond, California. At the time, it looked like a giant misstep. Richmond was a crime-ridden murder capital, a highly politicized industrial city with a large black population. When Magnus started to shake up the Richmond PD, he was hit with a civil rights suit by black officers, but he prevailed. Forwarding to the present, Magnus seems to have emerged a winner. Under his leadership the city’s crime has plummeted to the lowest rate in 33 years. Magnus is openly gay and the only police chief in the nation in a same sex marriage.
OVERCOMPENSATING? The Twin Cities have long viewed themselves as tolerant and enlightened, so they are particularly stung by reports they have some of the widest racial disparities in the nation. The mayor of Minneapolis is leading a drive to be more race conscious, even in matters as obscure as whose cars are towed during snow emergencies. City staff prepared a 28-point racial equity checklist to be used in hiring and other operating decisions. An effort is being made to lower educational requirements for some jobs to encourage more minority employees.
DEMOCRACY CAN BE MESSY Something was obviously amiss when Minneapolis took the unusual step of hiring and training sergeants-at-arms for four polling places in Tuesday’s primary election. The issue was a bitter Minnesota House primary contest between veteran incumbent Rep. Phyllis Kahn and challenger Mohamud Noor. The race divided the Minneapolis district with accusations of racism, misdeeds and legal challenges. The sergeants' job was to keep supporters of the candidates from intimidating voters.
THE OLD LADY WON While supporters could have come from either camp, the greatest concern related to Somali supporters of Noor. He hoped for victory through the district’s growing East African population. The hope was for nought, Kahn won with nearly 55 percent of the vote -- she has held office since 1972. Noor’s chances may have been hurt by a number of incidents, including allegations of voter fraud.
YOUNG MEN AND ALCOHOL The Redshirt brothers, Antonio (25) and Tyrone (24), were hospitalized in Dickinson after crashing their pickup into an excavator at 4:15 a.m. Neither man was wearing a seat belt and Antonio was charged with DUI. Kaleb Steed (27) of Idaho and Jake Holm (19) of Utah were not so lucky. They were speeding on the Ft. Berthold Reservation at 10:30 in the evening when they hit a cow and were killed. Again, the driver did not have a seat belt and other circumstances are being investigated.
WE ARE SO GRATEFUL In honor of the upcoming 125th birthday of the state, the Forum published a list of 125 trivia items about ND. Examples: 38 percent of immigrants to ND were Scandinavian (33 percent Norwegian), while 43 percent of the immigrants were Germans and Germans from Russia.
IS THIS LAME? “Out-of-the-box thinking is the right way to go.” -- The Forum gave Prairie Roses to Moorhead Mayor Del Rae Williams for floating the idea of substituting “Uptown” for “Downtown” to define a new Moorhead. Get it, “Up” is positive, “Down” is not. Does it help to know Del Rae is a CPA from Minot?
DAKTOIDS: More than 4 out of every 5 new sex offenders in ND are coming from out of state, according to numbers from the Attorney General’s Office . . . It’s hard to keep a synagogue going in ND -- there are only two. Temple Beth El in Fargo is going online to raise money to repair its 60-year-old building . . . ND is the nation’s leading producer of hard red spring wheat -- the top export market is the Philippines . . . While Ebola is considered a remote risk in ND, the Dept. of Health will concentrate Ebola education efforts on universities where students and professionals travel from western Africa.
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