SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - JULY 16, 2013
“Government can’t fix all the problems we have here in the oil patch.” -- A letter in the Williston Herald from John Andrist, a prominent state senator, explaining that the speed of government will always lag fast moving problems. He said, “We do get many things fixed, but things fall through the cracks.” He was responding to a growing sense of impatience in the oil patch with problems such as ruined roads. By the time state government responds to a set of problems, new problems emerge. Andrist indicated a possible solution would be to send more unrestricted money to oil producing counties, hoping local government could be more nimble. Responses to the letter accused Andrist of giving up hope.
In the 2010 federal census, Watford City had a population of around 1,400. The Bismarck Tribune reports that within three years the Watford City school system is expected to have 1,600 students. They need a new school -- fast. There is little funding available for the $25-30 million needed for a third school building. School Superintendent Steve Holen says, “Right now, we don’t have it. We’ve done what we can do and from here on, we need help.”
Remember federal earmarks. They are now largely gone, but used to be a way ND’s U.S. senators leveraged their influence to bring federal money to the state. In 2010, ND ranked second in the nation for earmark dollars per capita. That year, UND received an all-time high of $128 million in grants and contracts, by 2012, the number dropped by over 40 percent. UND is restructuring its research and development arm.
The prairie pothole region which extends through ND is regarded as one of the world’s most important wetland regions. It is home to over half of N. America’s water fowl. The wetlands are studied by the federal Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center outside Jamestown. The research is considered important for predicting the effects of climate change. Cottonwood Lake northwest of Jamestown is the most extensively studied wetland complex in perhaps the world.
Two very different reactions to high school reunions. Bismarck Tribune columnist Clay Jenkinson returned to Dickinson High School for his 40th reunion, while Forum publisher Bill Marcil Jr. attended the 30th reunion of his Shanley (Fargo) class. They agreed on one thing: You can go back. Beyond that, they had nearly opposite reactions -- one negative, the other positive. For Jenkinson the evils of high school returned: “Suddenly we are all thrust back into a small-town class system that is surprisingly tenacious (and vicious) . . . we’re like dairy cattle . . . we all waddle right back to our old assigned stanchions.” Marcil faced his reunion with slight dread, but it turned out to be a sweet moment: “I went back in time and made peace with the insecure, sensitive teenager I once was . . . I was back with the joy that only a group of teenagers know.”
Twin Cities media are reluctant to frankly discuss problems presented by the Minnesota Somali community. The English media is not. The Economist magazine endorsed a book by James Fergusson, “The World’s Most Dangerous Place: Inside the Outlaw State of Somalia.” The book can easily be downloaded from Amazon and includes a chapter on Somalis in the Twin Cities written after the author spent several weeks there interviewing journalists, the FBI and Somali leaders. The Twin Cities have the largest Somali community in the U.S., and the Twin Cities, in proportion to their size, have exported more Somalis for terrorist training than anywhere else in the world.
London has a large Somali population and has also exported young men to Somalia for terrorist training. In London, a number of the recruits returned and committed bombings and other crimes. The FBI, alarmed by the London experience, launched Operation Rhino in the Twin Cities to monitor the Riverside Plaza area, called Little Somalia or Little Mogadishu. Interestingly, the plaza’s highrise towers, now a Somali ghetto, were featured for years in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The FBI objective is to maintain an outreach program with mosques and Somali leaders to intervene with Somali youth, particularly young men raised without a father. The author refers to a Somali crime “time bomb.”
The book indicates Somalis were initially sponsored in Minnesota by Lutheran Social Services and were drawn by jobs and Minnesota’s social services. What was not anticipated was a wave of secondary migration into the Twin Cities. The recession reduced jobs and support for the Somalis who, according to the author, are becoming angry with Minnesota. In turn, Minnesota is beginning to regret its reputation for charity and is running out of patience with the Somalis. This week, the Washington Post had an article about United Somali, a website in Minnesota which supports al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaida in Somalia. The creator of the website was interviewed by the FBI. Threads from the Somali community run into the Dakotas. In ND, a young Somali man committed a mass murder, another was murder victim, and a Somali woman in Fargo attempted murder. Somalis have committed numerous other crimes in Fargo.
“He said it was one of the dumbest things he’s done.” -- A highway patrol sergeant referring to Aryn Ost (23), who sped north from Jamestown on Hwy 52/281 at 137 mph in a Nissan 350Z. Ost said he was just out for fun on a Saturday night -- lucky he was in ND, the fine was only $335.
“Locally owned restaurants had on average worse sanitation records than the national fast-food franchises that food snobs love to hate.” -- A Fargo Forum editorial acknowledged that a place like Mom’s Eats wasn’t necessarily the safest. F-M health agencies found many sanitation violations in local restaurants.
DAKTOIDS: Experts at Livability.com picked Dickinson as the best small town of 2013 -- a Livability spokesman said their decision was based on statistics -- they haven’t visited Dickinson . . . You go with what you got -- in Jamestown, a parade and marching band honored the 17th birthday of White Cloud, a rare albino bison. The Jamestown Sun excitedly cried “Bravo” . . . On July 8, 1968, 45 years ago, ND had the only earthquake with a verified epicenter in the state . . . The Wall Street Journal estimates 71% of Williston Basin oil is leaving by rail. The train that exploded last weekend in Quebec had 72 carloads of ND crude oil.
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