SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - FEBRUARY 21, 2014
Five brothers and sisters born in ND are the subject of a bizarre national story with a happy ending. The siblings were separately adopted as infants over 50 years ago and did not know the others existed. Their mother’s obituary provided a clue for daughter Buddine Bullinger (56) in Dickinson, allowing her to contact sister Deidre Handtmann (50) in Bismarck. Further research with the adoption agency identified brothers in Dickinson and Tennessee, and a sister in California. The brother and sister living in Dickinson had met, but were unaware of their relationship. All in their 50s, the attractive, delighted siblings were pictured at a meeting in Bismarck last October. DNA tests show common parents.
The circumstances of the 50-year-old adoptions are unexplained. I located their mother’s obituary which broadened the story, but left many questions unanswered. The mother, Darlene Novak Fine (75) of Bismarck, died in January 2013. She was a native of Warren, MN, and a graduate of UND who worked for many years in the ND Dept. of Vocational Rehabilitation. In 1982, she married James Fine, who was the executive director of that department and who died at age 89 in March 2012. There were no children from the marriage, but Darlene reunited with her daughter Deidre, the youngest of the five siblings, in 1993.
“Meet T.J. Oshie, everyone’s new favorite hockey player.” -- USA Today. Oshie won a shootout for the American team against the Russians. Oshie is a former UND star. The women's hockey final was disappointing as Canada captured its fourth straight gold medal by edging the U.S 3-2.
Like many Nodaks, I had a Norwegian mother -- they could be tough. But my mother wasn’t as bad as the mother of Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier Martin Sundby. When he finished 13th, she didn’t hold back in a TV interview, “You’re the worst Norwegian. You should go home.”
Senate responsibilities? U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is attracted to cameras and microphones. You may now add social media -- Heitkamp appeared on social media pages with duct tape over her mouth, “NOH8” painted on her cheek, and “flashing a double peace sign.” These were Valentine’s Day signs of support for LGBT people.
“Words matter. To call these things growing pains is a form of economic and linguistic obscenity.” -- Clay Jenkinson in his weekly column in the Bismarck Tribune, as he outlined the trials and tribulations of the Oil Boom. Despite his outrage, Jenkinson proposed no solutions.
Columnist Lloyd Omdahl also noted growing discontent in the Bakken: thousands of new students, commonplace lawlessness, skyrocketing medical needs, and don’t even mention roads. Unlike Jenkinson, Omdahl has a solution -- the eight Bakken counties should secede and form a new state -- how about the state of Bakken for starters? They’ll need a capital -- what about Watford City? Yes, Omdahl was attempting humor, but the Bakken challenges are real.
When you look around the ND oil fields, you don’t see a forest of pumps and drilling rigs, as you do in some states. There’s a reason. Oil companies in ND use multi-well drilling pads. A single pad serves various depths and pumps oil from many square miles. Continental Resources has a pad permitted for 14 wells. Among many advantages, multi-well pads reduce the industry’s footprint and require fewer pipelines to gather oil and gas.
ND has stronger economic growth and lower taxes and regulation than Minnesota. Many leaders in western Minnesota believe their counties pay a price for those differences. They may be right -- an analysis of counties hugging the Red River showed ND counties gained almost 5,000 residents from bordering Minnesota counties during the last year.
No more “Stop-n-Go” -- it’s a Fargo chain of 24 convenience stores mostly in eastern ND. S-n-G was gobbled up by Casey’s, a Des Moines chain with about 1,800 stores.
Bernie Huss (88) tried everything. The Sykeston native served in the Navy, Naval Reserve and National Guard. That was only a warmup, his obituary said he was a farmer, Standard Oil Agent, Oliver Farm Implement Dealer, Milbank Insurance Agent, USDA Supervisor, Barber and United States Postal Carrier. Bernie also had time for his community -- he served as mayor of Sykeston and is credited with many projects to improve the town.
Harold Goetz (80) had a slow start -- he finished the 8th grade at a country school near Halliday and quit school to help run the family farm. But Harold was a striver. His obituary indicates he got a GED in the Army and then, hand over hand, attended various colleges, eventually receiving a Ph.D. from the U. of Utah. He chaired academic departments at both NDSU and Colorado State.
A rash of car thefts was reported in Minot. An editorial in the Minot Daily News sneered that “most of the vehicles were stolen when they were left running, unlocked and unoccupied.” The MDN said there is a simple solution.
The ND prison population is increasing much faster than the general population. The number of prisoners grew from 567 in 1994 to 1,576 in 2013. An 18-member commission is studying alternatives to locking up nonviolent offenders.
DAKTOIDS: An apartment renting guide show Williston has the country’s highest average rent. Yes, worse than New York, Los Angeles and Boston. Dickinson is not far behind . . . The high-techy Grand Forks PD flutters small unmanned aircraft over the scene of serious auto crashes to get photos that would otherwise require a crane or helicopter . . . If Nodaks hear a roaring sound from the south, it’s South Dakotans gunning their motorcycles -- SD has more cycles per capita than any other state . . . ND crop values plunged from $10.7 billion in 2012 to $7.4 billion in 2013. Yields were up, but prices were down significantly.
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