Dakota Beacon

FARGO'S DUBIOUS NEW DISTINCTION -- its violent crime rate exceeds the national average for the first time. In 1993, Fargo had 122 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, while the national rate was 747. In 2014, Fargo’s rate was 401, while the national rate dropped to 368. So far this year, Fargo has three homicides. For comparison, the violent crime rate in the Twin Cities is about twice Fargo. The number of residents per police officer in Fargo (777) is about the same as similar sized cities such as Sioux Falls and Billings.

RACE AND CRIME No overall explanation was given for Fargo’s rising violent crime rate, although police strongly hinted that gang activity was a big part. The city recently formed a gang task force to combat gangs moving from the Twin Cities and Chicago. The Forum's reporting policy rules out making a connection between race and crime to avoid stereotyping minority groups, particularly blacks. But descriptions from crime victims and pictures accompanying reports of arrests and convictions indicate at least 25 percent of violent crime in Fargo is committed by blacks and the percentage may be higher. Wikipedia indicates blacks are about three percent of Fargo’s population.

IS THERE A SIMPLE ANSWER? Fargo’s police chief asked for additional officers. Cindy Gomez-Schempp of Fargo, a former community organizer and social worker, wrote, “The typical response in media and on social networks is predictably the same: We need more police. For white folks, that may be the simple go-to answer because they aren’t the targets of overpolicing, injustices in the system, and disproportionately bad outcomes.” She prescribes less prejudice, not more police.

SECOND-GUESSING Sartell is a city of 16,000 in central Minnesota -- many students there complete their educations in Fargo-Moorhead. Right now, Sartell is reeling because two popular students from there were murdered in F-M: Tommy Bearson (18) last September and Sam Traut (24) last week. The Bearson murder is unsolved; a suspect is in custody on the Traut murder. A former Sartell mayor said, “Concordia’s a great school, Moorhead State, NDSU. A lot of folks from Sartell have gone that direction, but yeah, this second tragedy, it makes you want to second-guess that.”

THE WILLISTON HERALD said Williston and Williams County are a virtual construction zone. Schools, roads, water projects, housing, plus oil industry projects total billions. The point of the Herald article was construction is softening much of the slowdown in the oil industry. The manager of Job Services in Williston said, “Construction and the oilfield have a lot of common skills. People are going into the construction sector.” Another indication that ND is withstanding the slowdown -- taxable sales in the first quarter of 2015 were up two percent.

NICE, OR NOT? “The Herald needs to be more North Dakota nice to (UND) President and Marcia Kelley. Herald readers expect and deserve ‘North Dakota Nice.’" -- A letter to the GF Herald. Another reader wrote, “I thank the staff at the Herald for being journalists and providing us with more than the ‘rose-colored glasses’ approach to reporting.”

ANOTHER HERALD READER “I love the Fighting Sioux nickname and will continue to identify as such for quite some time . . . However, we must move on for uncontrollable reasons, and there are not enough pages in this fine publication to explain how we got here.” -- From a reader who believes “Sundogs,” a weather phenomenon, is a poor suggestion for a nickname; he likes “Roughriders,” the state’s nickname.

CALL THE LAWYERS "The rest (of the oil companies) are getting their lawyers on us. We're not going to take those threats. They are going to follow our sovereign laws or they are not going to be here. If they want to leave, that's fine." -- Harriet Goodiron, general manager for the West Segment Regulatory Commission, a breakaway division of the Fort Berthold Reservation that aims to take oil regulation into its own hands. The oil companies are already regulated by federal, state and tribal laws -- the commission represents yet another layer of regulation. The commission has ordered the oil companies to register and attend mandatory meetings. Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Mark Fox has not endorsed the commission and declined to comment. Industry officials warn this could slow oil production on the reservation.

THE WEST SEGMENT COMMISSION wants to register all oil company employees, vehicles and companies working in their portion of the reservation. The fee for including a vehicle in the commission’s tracking system can be as much as $2,000. The system will monitor 10,000 trucks most of which will be required to come to New Town for installation. Some companies already have their own expensive tracking systems. A number of service companies said they would pull out from the West Segment. Companies facing many layers of regulation are horrified by yet another -- one run by a segment of an Indian tribe.

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES “Tribal officials have said interstate traffic studies they used showed that people would travel to the reservation from larger population centers in the region, including Fargo, Omaha, Neb., Rapid City, S.D., and Sioux Falls as well as smaller towns in between.” -- From a Forum report about the decision of the Flandreau Santee Sioux in South Dakota to create a marijuana growing facility and smoking lounge. The Flandreau tribe has only 350 members and is located just north of Sioux Falls on the Minnesota border.

SD’S ATTORNEY GENERAL strongly emphasized that state law prohibits non-Indians from smoking and possessing marijuana on reservations. The tribal relations officer and spokesman for the Flandreau tribe has degrees from UND and the U. of Mary in Bismarck and is a former chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe which is partly located in southeast ND.

ACCOUNTING GRADUATES FROM UND have enjoyed an unusual degree of success. As you might expect, many have done well in the accounting profession, while others have become entrepreneurs and CEOs. Sally Smith is an example of the latter -- she is CEO of Minnesota-based Buffalo Wild Wings which has 1,100 locations. When asked if women “can have it all,” she replied, yes, “you just can’t have it all at the same time.”

DAKTOIDS CNBC says Minnesota is the top state for business with ND in the #6 position. A Forbes ranking has Utah #1, ND #2 and Minnesota #9 . . . The director of an education cooperative in Minot says ND’s teaching shortage is “an epidemic.”