Dakota Beacon

"I feel like we're blazing a new trail and I'm sure there will be other bureaus that follow in the future." -- The director of the Minot Convention and Visitors Bureau hailing their rebranding as “Visit Minot.” The new name is accompanied by a colorful pinwheel logo. It’s hard to say which is more exciting, the new name and logo, or the life-sized, wood-carved troll which graces the reception area of their Scandinavian themed visitor center.

"There's always been prostitution in the community." -- Captain Dan Strandburg of the Minot Police Department commenting on rising prostitution arrests in western ND. "It's just difficult to find manpower to focus on it."

“Everything is close to design capacity now.” -- Consulting engineers who advised Dickinson that the growing city must update its infrastructure.

“North Dakota has had many great governors, but in my opinion Jack Dalrymple just may be the best ever. Whether that is so, he most certainly is the luckiest.” -- State Sen. Jon Andrist -- Crosby. Andrist said no governor in ND history had been able to preside over such strong economic times.

Looking a little older, a little wiser, former U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy appeared before the Stanley City Council to represent a Minnesota developer pitching a new private-public partnership. Pomeroy’s group proposes to design and build a new city hall to lease to the city. Next, Pomeroy was in Bismarck in a slightly different role, as a lobbyist for a change in state law to facilitate the partnership he was advocating in Stanley -- an example of how former congressmen slide seamlessly into private ventures.

In a letter to the Forum, state representative Jeff Fox acknowledged NDSU’s national football championship, but wondered if it represented a “win-at-all-costs” program. He then ticked off the long and well-known list of criminal charges against NDSU players. Fox noted that lesser players and those in lesser sports were dismissed and suspended. However, four starting football players who were arrested and charged with election fraud were not disciplined by the university. Fox said the lesson learned is “that as long as they can perform on the field, they don’t have to be law-abiding responsible adults off the field.” Other letter writers expressed the same thought.

For several years there has been a controversy about an aircraft used by NDSU that costs $5,600 an hour to operate. There has been a legislative expectation the plane would be sold, although that has not happened. The Fargo Forum has a history of being very protective of NDSU. This week, the Forum and its sister GF Herald had editorials on the same day defending the plane. Coincidence? Maybe.

The winds of political correctness blow strongly at the U. of Minnesota. The Gophers refused to schedule the UND Fighting Sioux hockey team because UM had a policy of prohibiting their teams from playing nonconference opponents with American Indian nicknames. Gopher hockey fans regret that decision -- the matchup with UND was the hottest hockey ticket and the two teams are not scheduled to meet again.

The Metis (may-TEE) people are the descendants of Europeans, usually French, who married American Indian women. Many live in the northern Red River Valley. Therese Benoit Charrier (92) of Walhalla met yearly with her sisters to reminisce and enjoy French songs. Her obituary ended with “Bonne et heureuse annee, cher Therese!” Roughly, that means “Good and Happy New Year, dear Therese!”

The obituaries of ND farmers frequently mention their love of land and farming. Howard Fischer (89) of Thompson lived on his family farm for 86 years. He loved the farm and loved talking about farming.

One of the most common expressions in ND obituaries is that the deceased “married the love of his or her life.” Patricia Kennedy Hansen (81) of Fargo gave it a different twist. In 1951, three years out of high school, she married Kenneth Heine; in 1956, she married Magnus Geston of Fargo; and in 1974, she married Lt. Col. Robert Hansen and regarded him as the “the love of her life.” Finally, she got it right. Patricia had a distinguished career teaching college English for 28 years and was chair of the English Dept. at Minnesota State in Moorhead. She has another distinction -- she is the mother-in-law of actor Jeff Bridges.

ND has the nation’s lowest rate of serious deficiencies in nursing homes, by far. Nursing homes in large, urban states often have staffs drawn from low income communities, many who are foreign born. There can be a gulf between the residents and their caretakers. Here’s my theory: In ND’s small towns, the nursing home staffs are often drawn from the same communities and backgrounds as the residents. The staff and residents frequently know each others’ families. There is a greater sense of personal responsibility, as staff see themselves caring for neighbors and friends. Sociologists see those ties as a measure of “social capital.”

James Bear (Yellow Eyes) of Parshall lived 65 years, but crammed at least 100 years of living into that time. A few of his experiences: born in Elbowoods and educated in the Indian school system, he received his GED from the U.S. Army . . . studied addiction counseling at Cal-Poly . . . held jobs ranging from welding to cooking in the L.A. Bellevue Hotel to working on movie lots . . . returned to Parshall to marry Barb Little Owl . . . back to California where they lived near the beach and in the mountains . . . to Bismarck where he attended the U. of Mary . . . an entertainer and jokester, he won a Ft. Yates buffalo riding contest . . . rode his horse Zorro around the Lucky Mound section of Ft. Berthold . . . portrayed his grandfather in a Kansas reenactment . . . worked 20 years in Veterans Services at Ft. Berthold. . . and that’s just part of it.

DAKTOIDS: One-fourth of all state welfare payments are made to residents of the Turtle Mt. Reservation.