SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MARCH 15, 2016
LUCK "You can't buy that kind of publicity or that kind of branding." -- From a Forum article on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the movie “Fargo.” While the movie initially created negative feelings in Fargo, attitudes shifted and it is now believed that the movie helped “jump start” the Fargo renaissance. Brainerd, Minnesota, where most of the movie took place, was first chosen as a title for the movie, but concern developed that the name would seem fictitious, so they switched to Fargo.
THEY’RE OVERWEIGHT "We built too much to do in our system, and we don't have enough money to pay for it." -- Acting UND President Ed Schafer acknowledging the school had become overstaffed. Low-priority positions and programs may be eliminated. He said some of the administrative growth was due to federal mandates concerning diversity and compliance.
THE RED RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY PROJECT is the rather long name for a project being considered to bring Missouri River water to the RRV. Early plans called for the water be transported part way by the preexisting McClusky Canal. It has now been determined that sufficient water can be obtained from wells near the Missouri River in Washburn -- outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Under this proposal, water would be moved from the wells to the Sheyenne River by pipeline. The Sheyenne flows into the Red near Fargo.
THE WIMPY LOONIE ND is stressed by low prices for its major commodities. Another problem lurks across the Canadian border -- the weak loonie (Canadian dollar). When the loonie is strong, Canadians pour across the border to use U.S. stores, restaurants and hotels. Grand Forks and Minot have been major beneficiaries. In January, the loonie hit a 13-year low of 68 cents to the U.S. dollar.
DON’T MICROMANAGE “Teach employees the business rather what to do and how to do it.” -- Steven Scheel, CEO of Scheel’s All Sports, at a Fargo leadership conference. The Fargo-based business has 7,000 employees.
HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT State authorities cannot arrest Indian reservation members on the reservation. As a consequence, the reservations become a safe haven for wanted individuals -- nonmembers also take advantage of the leniency. Periodically, federal marshals make cleanup raids on the reservations. The High Plains Fugitive Task Force visited the Turtle Mt. Reservation last week and arrested 18 people in a 10-hour operation. In December, a similar visit to the Spirit Lake Reservation netted 22 arrests. Drug crimes, assaults, money laundering and weapons charges are among the most common reasons for the warrants.
BAD ANALOGY OF THE WEEK “Not unlike the private-sector formula, supply had to keep up with demand. I mean, really. If a hamburger restaurant sees a sharp increase in business, does management cut employees and reduce resources, or add staff to accommodate more customers?” -- A quote from a Forum editorial by Jack Zaleski defending the growth in state government, to wit, government should grow when demand increases. Hamburger management adds staff to support increased revenues. The problem with Zaleski’s analogy is increased demand for government services does not increase revenue.
ARE YOU FEELING A LITTLE WARMER? ND’s climatologist says the state has warmed faster than any other state since 1890. The growing season has increased 12 days and corn is growing on the Canadian border -- something that didn’t happen 40 years ago. Oddly, summer temperatures have increased only 1.4 degrees during the past 100 years, while winter temperatures have risen 4.4 degrees. A Bismarck Tribune article discussed the changes in the context of the impact on farming.
UNITED GRAIN CORPORATION is an exporter in Vancouver, Washington, which owns four grain terminals in Montana and one near Hettinger in southwestern ND. Privately-held UGC has an unusual strategy. Its prairie terminals acquire grain, mostly wheat, and load it on unit trains which go directly to its Vancouver terminal, where ships move the grain to Asian customers in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. UGC says it has especially discerning customers and the prairie terminals are located in growing areas where wheat meets Asian quality specifications.
KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN In 1903, the Kensal Journal decided to tell it like it was: “Kensal is known from Chicago to Canada as the toughest, most wide open town on the Soo line. And that is no lie either.” Kensal is southeast of Carrington. How did the community respond to the frankness? The Jamestown Alert carried a headline: “Lawless mob wrecks office.” The Kensal Journal was trashed.
WHO IS IN CHARGE? St. Paul schools have been in the news lately because of student violence. A teacher, supported by colleagues, charged that the district’s efforts to keep students in school and out of jail are “enabling student misconduct.” Black Lives Matter threatened a “shutdown action” if the teacher was not fired. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave. Shortly after, a teacher at the same school was punched and thrown to the ground
IT’S OK TO SPIT, LURK AND OBSTRUCT The Minneapolis City Council repealed laws against “spitting and lurking,” because they were disproportionately used against people of color. For similar reasons, the Council has also repealed an ordinance which prohibits groups of three or more people from obstructing sidewalks.
DAKTOIDS: Grand Forks County is home to super centenarians: Iris Westman of Northwood is 110; Mary Schumacher of Reynolds was 111 when she died in 2009 . . . Over 200 communities in the nation have a significant military presence -- Grand Forks was one of ten selected as an outstanding defense community. GF was selected for its support of the GFAFB . . . The Fargo Planning Commission has recommended a plan for a 16-story, $90 million high rise to be developed by Doug Burgum’s Kilbourne Group . . . Burgum’s son Joe will run for a spot on the Fargo City Commission . . . Donald Trump was selected by 38 percent in a ND Republican poll; Cruz received 26 percent.
COULD THERE BE A WILD CARD? “But Burgum has a lot of money left. More money, probably, than the North Dakota Republican Party.” -- Columnist Mike Jacobs cautioned that, despite polling to the contrary, Nodaks should not consider the election for governor settled. Blogger Rob Port took a slightly different slant -- he believes the preference for Stenehjem is so strong that it can’t be reversed. The wild card would be Democrats who might join the Burgum bandwagon.
ROB PORT "They, on the other hand, would benefit from having the most popular political website in the state on their roster." -- Thus, Port announced that he and his conservative SayAnythingBlog would have a full-time association with the Forum Companies.
THEY’RE OVERWEIGHT "We built too much to do in our system, and we don't have enough money to pay for it." -- Acting UND President Ed Schafer acknowledging the school had become overstaffed. Low-priority positions and programs may be eliminated. He said some of the administrative growth was due to federal mandates concerning diversity and compliance.
THE RED RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY PROJECT is the rather long name for a project being considered to bring Missouri River water to the RRV. Early plans called for the water be transported part way by the preexisting McClusky Canal. It has now been determined that sufficient water can be obtained from wells near the Missouri River in Washburn -- outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Under this proposal, water would be moved from the wells to the Sheyenne River by pipeline. The Sheyenne flows into the Red near Fargo.
THE WIMPY LOONIE ND is stressed by low prices for its major commodities. Another problem lurks across the Canadian border -- the weak loonie (Canadian dollar). When the loonie is strong, Canadians pour across the border to use U.S. stores, restaurants and hotels. Grand Forks and Minot have been major beneficiaries. In January, the loonie hit a 13-year low of 68 cents to the U.S. dollar.
DON’T MICROMANAGE “Teach employees the business rather what to do and how to do it.” -- Steven Scheel, CEO of Scheel’s All Sports, at a Fargo leadership conference. The Fargo-based business has 7,000 employees.
HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT State authorities cannot arrest Indian reservation members on the reservation. As a consequence, the reservations become a safe haven for wanted individuals -- nonmembers also take advantage of the leniency. Periodically, federal marshals make cleanup raids on the reservations. The High Plains Fugitive Task Force visited the Turtle Mt. Reservation last week and arrested 18 people in a 10-hour operation. In December, a similar visit to the Spirit Lake Reservation netted 22 arrests. Drug crimes, assaults, money laundering and weapons charges are among the most common reasons for the warrants.
BAD ANALOGY OF THE WEEK “Not unlike the private-sector formula, supply had to keep up with demand. I mean, really. If a hamburger restaurant sees a sharp increase in business, does management cut employees and reduce resources, or add staff to accommodate more customers?” -- A quote from a Forum editorial by Jack Zaleski defending the growth in state government, to wit, government should grow when demand increases. Hamburger management adds staff to support increased revenues. The problem with Zaleski’s analogy is increased demand for government services does not increase revenue.
ARE YOU FEELING A LITTLE WARMER? ND’s climatologist says the state has warmed faster than any other state since 1890. The growing season has increased 12 days and corn is growing on the Canadian border -- something that didn’t happen 40 years ago. Oddly, summer temperatures have increased only 1.4 degrees during the past 100 years, while winter temperatures have risen 4.4 degrees. A Bismarck Tribune article discussed the changes in the context of the impact on farming.
UNITED GRAIN CORPORATION is an exporter in Vancouver, Washington, which owns four grain terminals in Montana and one near Hettinger in southwestern ND. Privately-held UGC has an unusual strategy. Its prairie terminals acquire grain, mostly wheat, and load it on unit trains which go directly to its Vancouver terminal, where ships move the grain to Asian customers in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. UGC says it has especially discerning customers and the prairie terminals are located in growing areas where wheat meets Asian quality specifications.
KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN In 1903, the Kensal Journal decided to tell it like it was: “Kensal is known from Chicago to Canada as the toughest, most wide open town on the Soo line. And that is no lie either.” Kensal is southeast of Carrington. How did the community respond to the frankness? The Jamestown Alert carried a headline: “Lawless mob wrecks office.” The Kensal Journal was trashed.
WHO IS IN CHARGE? St. Paul schools have been in the news lately because of student violence. A teacher, supported by colleagues, charged that the district’s efforts to keep students in school and out of jail are “enabling student misconduct.” Black Lives Matter threatened a “shutdown action” if the teacher was not fired. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave. Shortly after, a teacher at the same school was punched and thrown to the ground
IT’S OK TO SPIT, LURK AND OBSTRUCT The Minneapolis City Council repealed laws against “spitting and lurking,” because they were disproportionately used against people of color. For similar reasons, the Council has also repealed an ordinance which prohibits groups of three or more people from obstructing sidewalks.
DAKTOIDS: Grand Forks County is home to super centenarians: Iris Westman of Northwood is 110; Mary Schumacher of Reynolds was 111 when she died in 2009 . . . Over 200 communities in the nation have a significant military presence -- Grand Forks was one of ten selected as an outstanding defense community. GF was selected for its support of the GFAFB . . . The Fargo Planning Commission has recommended a plan for a 16-story, $90 million high rise to be developed by Doug Burgum’s Kilbourne Group . . . Burgum’s son Joe will run for a spot on the Fargo City Commission . . . Donald Trump was selected by 38 percent in a ND Republican poll; Cruz received 26 percent.
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