SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - JUNE 23, 2014
TOUCH AND GO Elsewhere, it was inside news, but in ND it was front page news. Air Force One touched down in Bismarck shortly after 2 p.m. last Friday. In less than four hours the president was airborne for Palm Springs, California. In between, a fleet of seven helicopters whisked him and his entourage to Cannon Ball in the ND part of the Standing Rock Reservation, where the president delivered a message of hope to a reservation with an unemployment rate of 60 percent and a poverty rate of 40 percent. The president was among friends, the reservation in Sioux County gave Obama 83 percent of its vote in 2008. By contrast, McCain carried the state by 53 percent.
FOR A START, FINISH HIGH SCHOOL “Cultural differences and a distrust of the federal government by many Native Americans have made any type of change slow or non-existent.” -- The Bismarck Tribune expressed skepticism about new federal programs for Indians. An editorial said, “Solutions need to go beyond simply providing more federal funding or a presidential visit. Developing an effective long-term strategy, one that can help Native Americans succeed, must be the ultimate goal.” The Tribune said enabling tribal youth to graduate from high school is one of the most critical long-term needs and that alone would be a foundation for improvement.
FLAVOR OF THE MONTH In the wake of Obama’s visit expect a new wave of federal programs intended to solve problems plaguing reservations. GF Herald columnist Tom Dennis noted these programs come and go, but rarely solve the problems. He suggests state and federal government, in partnership with the tribes, try something different. Namely, guaranteeing freedom of the press on Indian reservations. This has been a longtime concern of Dennis -- he believes tribal member concerns are smothered by tribal government's control of the courts and the press.
IT’S OFFICIAL The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis says oil and gas is a bigger part of the ND economy than agriculture. The state gross domestic product for 2013 was about $54 billion. The mining industry (mostly oil and gas) was 16 percent of the total while agriculture was 14 percent. There is an argument that if you consider activities closely tied to agriculture, such as food processing, ag might still be the leader. An economist at NDSU said business and political leaders need to ensure that infrastructure and services keep pace with economic growth. A UND economist added that the state should strive to diversify its economy beyond natural resources. In April, ND oil production reached 1,000,000 barrels a day.
FINGER POINTING The UND Energy and Environmental Research Center is one of the larger employers in Grand Forks -- larger still if you consider the high average salaries of its engineers and scientists. The lab is unique -- it’s the only one in the country taking technologies all the way from development to implementation. The EERC has been slightly adrift since its leader, Gerald Groenewold, was fired. UND President Robert Kelley charged Groenewold with lying about the lab’s finances and creating a hostile work environment -- university officials declined to comment further. Groenewold characterized the matter as “a power struggle between Bob Kelley and me for control of the EERC and control of the money.”
HE’S NOT A ROOKIE Boomtown has a new mayor and, well, he’s not really new. Howard Klug has been a Williston city commissioner for six years and lived there all his life. His top priority as mayor will be to hire a city manager and beef up the police and fire departments. Another priority, waggle more oil and gas money from the state to build infrastructure. As for the oil boom, Klug says, “It’s for the better. I’m a lot better off than I was 10 years ago.” He might well be, he’s the co-owner of the El Rancho Hotel.
WE WANT TO BE LIKE THE BIG BOYS "We had 12 aircraft on the ramp. And the majority of them were jets and turboprop airplanes." -- Does it sound like an airport at a good sized city? Nope, it's a quote from the airport representative at little Watford City, ND, who says they badly need an upgrade.
WE’RE NOT COARSE “We’re more of a community than a state, so being that things are personal, I think people are more civil, and they think more civilly about each other.” -- Columnist Lloyd Omdahl’s explanation as to why politics is less partisan in ND. While nationally there has been a coarsening of political language, Omdahl believes ND is an exception.
DARN, EVERYONE FORGOT Election day came in Ardoch, ND, and, guess what, nobody bothered to vote. Among other problems, the town of 30 to 60 (pick your number) residents was left without a mayor. Krzysztof Bielawaski, a Polish immigrant, will probably pick up the slack -- he’s been the city’s official and unofficial mayor for the past 18 years.
A CRIMINAL STOPOVER “Fargo-Moorhead is becoming a stopping place for pimps and johns between Minneapolis and the oilfields.” -- Moorhead Police Chief. Two felons from the Twin Cities were arraigned in Fargo for sex trafficking of a 13-year-old girl in Moorhead.
KEEPING THE LID ON The FBI Director says Minneapolis is a model for the rest of the country in working proactively to stop Somali youth from becoming radicalized and leaving to fight in Syria. Despite these efforts, the FBI believes a handful of Somali men have left Minnesota for Syria. It would be interesting to know the full extent of government efforts to calm the Somali community in Minnesota.
WE TAKE THEM AT THEIR WORD The members of the Minnesota Bigfoot Research Team are an earnest group who say they have yet to see a bigfoot, but they know they are real. A member of the group said one night he was chased by a bigfoot. The team wears appropriate MBRT t-shirts and have all the right equipment. Their hunt is focused on the Paul Bunyan State Forest about 100 miles east of the ND border. They are convinced that evidence of the creatures is hard to find because of cover-ups by the U.S. government. Their relentless search continues.
THE MAN FROM FREDONIA The obituary of Les Krueger read he was born “at the home of his grandmother Evelyn Klettke Krueger, the widow of Ferdinand Krueger, in Fredonia, ND in December 1931, by Midwife Mrs. Miller. It was a harsh winter.” Winter ended and Les rocketed toward a career which included becoming a certified nuclear welder and an atomic warhead handling specialist, as well as inventor and entrepreneur. He capped his life as a 49ers and Giant fan living in Napa, California. Hail, Fredonia! (lyrics from the Marx Brothers movie “Duck Soup”).
DAKTOIDS: Avoid DeMers Avenue and Washington Street in Grand Forks -- the state’s busiest intersection . . . A million here, a million there, it all adds up -- during the past dozen years the athletic department budget at NDSU has gone from $5.6 million to $17 million.
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