Dakota Beacon

ENOUGH DEPRESSION MENTALITY “It's time for North Dakota to get comfortable being rich.” -- Mike Jacobs in his weekly column for the GF Herald. Jacobs led readers through the state of the ND oil industry: Production is being maintained, despite low prices -- the safety of rail oil shipments is improving -- 1,000 wells are already drilled, but idle awaiting higher prices -- oil tax revenues continue strong. In other words, the industry remains strong and the state is steadily growing wealthier. Jacobs wrapped up: “The focus of discussion in the 2016 political campaign should be how to spend the money to improve the state.”

BEWARE OF AVERAGES Job Service ND published a fascinating map showing average weekly wages for each county in the state. The state average at the end of last year was $1,050, but masked a spread from a low of $488 in Sheridan County (McClusky) to a high of $1,701 in Williams (Williston). Seven Oil Patch counties had average weekly wages over $1,250, while 29 counties averaged less than $850.

SIGH! “In response to actions taken by UND's nickname committee Tuesday night, a group is planning a rally in protest, hoping to bring back the option of playing as UND/North Dakota.” -- GF Herald. The Sioux Were Silenced campaign, which supports UND's former Fighting Sioux nickname, said in an statement via Facebook message they are planning a protest the weekend of Aug. 22. The UND nickname committee by a vote of seven to four eliminated UND/North Dakota narrowing the list to Fighting Hawks, Nodaks, North Star, Roughriders and Sundogs. Anger at the decision is mounting.

“THE ANGER IS UNDERSTANDABLE” -- Tom Dennis of the GF Herald. He said, “Most of the UND/North Dakota supporters also supported the Fighting Sioux nickname. And nothing upset those fans more than the Standing Rock Tribal Council's refusal to let the Fighting Sioux question be settled by a tribal vote.” Dennis believes the nickname supporters see it happening again -- denying the public a vote for fear they will vote the “wrong” way.

ANTI-NICKNAME PEOPLE rely on UND President Robert Kelley who is leaving in January. He controls the process of selecting a new nickname and they hope he will do his best to bury the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo before his departure. Under the pressure of protests, Kelley said he would consider adding the "no nickname" option at a later time.

LEAVE THE DRIVING TO US Forget about the Amtrak Empire Builder if you are concerned about schedules -- the train crosses ND in the night and is rarely on time. If you are ready to put up your feet and enjoy whatever happens -- the Empire Builder is the right choice. A derailment last Tuesday west of Williston in Montana stopped all rail traffic. BNSF cleared it up by Thursday, but then 22 oil tankers on another train derailed nearby. The tracks were again closed through Friday, and so it goes. Eastbound Amtrak passengers were bussed from Montana to Minot.

"THERE WAS NO BIG ORANGE GLOW, so we're happy about that." -- the Fire Chief in Culbertson, Montana, expressing relief that neither derailment resulted in fires or explosions. The 106-car tanker train which derailed Thursday (and spilled 35,000 gallons of oil) was going from the Williston area to Anacortes, Washington. Culbertson is about 20 miles from the ND border and the mayor voiced concern for the safety of residents, saying 30 to 40 trains pass through each day. Even U.S. Highway 2 was closed because of the derailments.

OH, WHAT A MESS! The ND Securities Dept. indicated 980 investors from 66 countries were skinned to the tune of $62 million. They thought they were investing in housing for oil workers in ND -- they were actually investing in fictitious or never completed projects. Lawsuits are flying against North Dakota Developments LLC and its owners, who are proving hard to find. Now, over 100 investors are also suing a Bismarck law firm, Pearce and Durick, which acted as escrow agent for the bogus transactions. The law firm is saying, hey, not us, we are a victim too. Their malpractice insurer is taking no chances, it is also suing the Bismarck law firm and trying to get out of the line of fire. Co-counsel for the investors in the class action law suit is Mac Schneider of Grand Forks. Does that sound familiar? He’s the minority leader of the ND Senate, busy in his day job.

IT SOUNDED FANTASTIC -- Ultra Green came to Devils Lake and took over an old plant to make food containers out of wheat straw. Devils Lake had plenty of wheat straw. Ultra Green estimated it would have 100 employees by early this year. The City of Devils Lake bought the idea and invested $2 million. Less than two years after opening, the plant closed and 20 employees lost their jobs.

THE GOOD SOLDIER AWARD While state government in ND is overwhelmingly Republican, Democrats control federal appointments. Democrats who have loyally fought losing election battles in the state may be rewarded with federal appointments. Ryan Taylor, a former state senator, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2012 and state ag commissioner in 2014. He just received one of the better plums, state director for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Rural Development. In this job, Taylor will administer a budget of tens of millions and have considerable discretion to award projects -- some quite far from anything directly related to agriculture.

LIFE IN RURAL EDUCATION Once ND had hundreds of rural schools, but a scarcity of trained teachers. It was not uncommon for a high school graduate to start teaching in the fall after summer at a teachers college. Beulah Long (99) of Bowdon had such a career. Her obituary indicates she began teaching in one room schools after high school and gradually increased her education, finally earning a bachelor’s degree when she was 54. While raising her four children, she helped manage a farm, supervised home-schooling students and actively participated in church and farm organizations. She returned to full-time teaching, retired after 30 years, then tutored students in her home.

KIDS’ HEALTH The Anne E Casey Foundation picked Minnesota as the #1 state for the overall well-being of children. ND was #7 followed by South Dakota at #18 and Montana at #30. ND was #1 for the economic well-being of children and #2 for low poverty; the state’s Achilles’ Heel was health where it ranked #29. Despite Minnesota’s top rating, there was a cautionary note: More than 30 percent of children in Minnesota younger than 5 years old are of color, a high risk group.

DAKTOIDS: This sadly has an “only in ND” flavor: Four women in their 80s were gliding comfortably across the prairie near Park River in a new Avalon, when the driver ran a stop sign and the car was struck by a semi -- only the car's driver survived . . . Weird doings: A produce operation in Kidder Countyd (Steele) was badly vandalized -- equipment and a tractor damage totaled well over $20,000. Wild teenagers? No, the suspect is a local banker. The case was further complicated when the sheriff and deputy working on the case resigned.