SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - DECEMBER 28, 2015
A CHRISTMAS TALE A low income Fargo grandmother was a wee bit careless -- she left her car running with gifts for her grandchildren inside. Two bad people (Minnesotans, of course) stole the car and wrecked it during a high-speed chase with police. The $400 in gifts are nowhere to be found. Gloom everywhere! A Fargo woman warmed up her GoFundMe page and raised over $5,000. Another Samaritan donated a car. A Tiny Tim moment during the cold Fargo winter.
CAUTION LIGHT “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we need to prepare for the worse here in western North Dakota.” -- The editorial staff at the Dickinson Press responding to a report from Moody’s Analytics, that is, ND could be headed into a “full-blown recession.” The Press says Dickinson shows many signs of recession and there may be an extended period of quieter times.
STILL GROWING Despite the oil industry slowdown, ND continued to set records in 2014. Population reached 757,000, the result of a 2.5 percent increase which led the nation. ND became the fourth youngest (median age of residents) state and was fourth in the nation in per capita personal income.
BISON AGAINST SPIDERS -- it hardly seemed fair, spiders are so small. NDSU crushed the U. of Richmond 33-7 at the Fargodome in the semifinals of the Division I FCS football championship. The next stop for the Bison is the national championship game in Frisco, Texas, in early January where they play Jacksonville State. NDSU has won the last four national championships and has an astonishing list of other national records.
YES, KELLEY HAS SUPPORTERS “I want to thank President Robert Kelley for the honorable and courageous leadership . . . to end the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname at my beloved alma mater. The Fighting Sioux Curse is dead and buried; let's leave it that way.” -- From a letter to the GF Herald by Erich Longie who purports to speak for the Spirit Lake tribe and was a consistent opponent of the nickname. He didn’t mention his tribe voted two to one to retain the nickname.
MATT FERN is a young man making a documentary film on the UND Fighting Sioux controversy. He has raised $50,000 from crowd funding to complete the work -- the UND administration has declined to cooperate.
A UAS LEADER The Northern Plains Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Test Site in Grand Forks is operated by the state under a federal mandate to research how to safely integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace. Its crews are assisting businesses that want to explore potential uses of unmanned aircraft. These clients include companies in the insurance, railroad, energy and real estate industries and even NASA. In 2016, the test site will work with NDSU on a large-scale agricultural project, while UND intends to create a UAS flight training program.
HE HAD THE GOODS You’ve heard the expression “all hat, but no cows,” meaning a person with big talk and no way of backing it up. Enoch Thorsgard (98) of Northwood had a big white cowboy hat, but also had 6,000 cows and 6,000 acres of farmland to back it up. His obituary said he loved speaking Norwegian and displaying a “country bumpkin” demeanor, which belied an astute individual with political savvy. Thorsgard was a state representative for 12 years and an ag and church leader in the state. He was principally responsible for establishing and funding the Heritage Center in Bismarck and founding the state Christian Coalition.
ST. PAUL (Minnesota) high schools have had a rash of student violence and consequent suspensions. Police have been called to quell riots at two schools and a student choked a teacher unconscious at another. Suspensions are up nearly 60 percent. As to the cause, the school district CEO said, “We are trying to get at the causes, but as of yet we have no conclusions.” Here’s a hint where to look: 40% of the students are Asian (mostly Hmong), but they are involved in only 5% of the suspensions; 25% of the students are black -- they account for 75% of the suspensions.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES John Ekblad, the St. Paul teacher who was assaulted, is recovering from a concussion and has a loss of hearing, continual headaches and numbness in an arm. He is bringing a legal action against the St. Paul School District where half of the assaults by students in Ramsey County (14 of 27 incidents this year) have taken place. Many teachers believe the increase in assaults is a consequence of the district’s reluctance to suspend black students for “willful disobedience.”
“MINNEAPOLIS has become a flashpoint in the national movement.” -- A Wall Street Journal article about Black Lives Matter protesters. BLM Minneapolis has drawn national attention by blocking light-rail tracks, marching on freeways, blockading a police station, storming the Mall of America and disrupting traffic at the Mpls-St. Paul Airport. They have taken their protests past the point of diminishing return and created public outrage. Minnesota Gov. Dayton, among others, warned they had chosen the wrong methods for their protests.
CAUTION LIGHT “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we need to prepare for the worse here in western North Dakota.” -- The editorial staff at the Dickinson Press responding to a report from Moody’s Analytics, that is, ND could be headed into a “full-blown recession.” The Press says Dickinson shows many signs of recession and there may be an extended period of quieter times.
STILL GROWING Despite the oil industry slowdown, ND continued to set records in 2014. Population reached 757,000, the result of a 2.5 percent increase which led the nation. ND became the fourth youngest (median age of residents) state and was fourth in the nation in per capita personal income.
BISON AGAINST SPIDERS -- it hardly seemed fair, spiders are so small. NDSU crushed the U. of Richmond 33-7 at the Fargodome in the semifinals of the Division I FCS football championship. The next stop for the Bison is the national championship game in Frisco, Texas, in early January where they play Jacksonville State. NDSU has won the last four national championships and has an astonishing list of other national records.
YES, KELLEY HAS SUPPORTERS “I want to thank President Robert Kelley for the honorable and courageous leadership . . . to end the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname at my beloved alma mater. The Fighting Sioux Curse is dead and buried; let's leave it that way.” -- From a letter to the GF Herald by Erich Longie who purports to speak for the Spirit Lake tribe and was a consistent opponent of the nickname. He didn’t mention his tribe voted two to one to retain the nickname.
MATT FERN is a young man making a documentary film on the UND Fighting Sioux controversy. He has raised $50,000 from crowd funding to complete the work -- the UND administration has declined to cooperate.
A UAS LEADER The Northern Plains Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Test Site in Grand Forks is operated by the state under a federal mandate to research how to safely integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace. Its crews are assisting businesses that want to explore potential uses of unmanned aircraft. These clients include companies in the insurance, railroad, energy and real estate industries and even NASA. In 2016, the test site will work with NDSU on a large-scale agricultural project, while UND intends to create a UAS flight training program.
HE HAD THE GOODS You’ve heard the expression “all hat, but no cows,” meaning a person with big talk and no way of backing it up. Enoch Thorsgard (98) of Northwood had a big white cowboy hat, but also had 6,000 cows and 6,000 acres of farmland to back it up. His obituary said he loved speaking Norwegian and displaying a “country bumpkin” demeanor, which belied an astute individual with political savvy. Thorsgard was a state representative for 12 years and an ag and church leader in the state. He was principally responsible for establishing and funding the Heritage Center in Bismarck and founding the state Christian Coalition.
ST. PAUL (Minnesota) high schools have had a rash of student violence and consequent suspensions. Police have been called to quell riots at two schools and a student choked a teacher unconscious at another. Suspensions are up nearly 60 percent. As to the cause, the school district CEO said, “We are trying to get at the causes, but as of yet we have no conclusions.” Here’s a hint where to look: 40% of the students are Asian (mostly Hmong), but they are involved in only 5% of the suspensions; 25% of the students are black -- they account for 75% of the suspensions.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES John Ekblad, the St. Paul teacher who was assaulted, is recovering from a concussion and has a loss of hearing, continual headaches and numbness in an arm. He is bringing a legal action against the St. Paul School District where half of the assaults by students in Ramsey County (14 of 27 incidents this year) have taken place. Many teachers believe the increase in assaults is a consequence of the district’s reluctance to suspend black students for “willful disobedience.”
“MINNEAPOLIS has become a flashpoint in the national movement.” -- A Wall Street Journal article about Black Lives Matter protesters. BLM Minneapolis has drawn national attention by blocking light-rail tracks, marching on freeways, blockading a police station, storming the Mall of America and disrupting traffic at the Mpls-St. Paul Airport. They have taken their protests past the point of diminishing return and created public outrage. Minnesota Gov. Dayton, among others, warned they had chosen the wrong methods for their protests.
DAKTOIDS: An article posted on Fortune.com is titled “Inside Fargo, America’s Most Undervalued Tech Hub.” The thesis is Fargo is a quiet, but dynamic island of technology . . . Kevin Mowbray (54) became publisher of the Bismarck Tribune in 2000. Today, he is CEO of Lee Enterprises which owns 44 daily newspapers including the Tribune and dailies in Rapid City and Montana’s four largest cities . . . Farm specialists at NDSU predict 2016 will be another lean year for ND farmers -- even fewer crops will remain profitable.
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