SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MARCH 27, 2015
FORGET COST “Thoughtful Fargo residents should dismiss braying and pandering from the regular cast of naysayers. The city should spend what it takes to do it right.” -- A Forum editorial dismissed critics of the cost of a new Fargo city hall. In a short time, the estimated cost has risen from $18 to $30 million.
UTOPIAN DREAMS “Fargo was in competition with the Twin Cities. Whatever the Twin Cities did, we tried to do. I think we were trying to be, in a way, bigger than our population and our resources justified at that point.” -- Comments by Ronald Ramsay, an architecture professor at NDSU, about off and on efforts since 1945 to revitalize downtown Fargo. One of the most notable efforts was a proposal by the late architect Michael Graves to design an arts center spanning the Red River with an attendant concert hall (Fargo side) and history museum (Moorhead).
BE READY! The Forum reports that most Bakken oil trains come into Minnesota in Moorhead, go through the Twin Cities and then south along the Mississippi River. An average of 6 oil trains transverse Minnesota daily. Emergency management officials believe “The 20,000 Clay County (Moorhead) residents who live near railroad tracks carrying North Dakota crude oil should be prepared for a train accident.” They should ask, “How do I get out of the way before the fire department gets here?”
IT’S OBVIOUS that oil trains get to Moorhead only one way -- that is, going through Fargo and its much larger population. Risks associated with oil trains have become a major focus of state and local government in Minnesota, in part, because of the spectacular explosion in Casselton. So far, the oil trains have not caused the same level of concern in ND. Part of the difference is political -- Minnesota’s governor wants to tax railroads as a source of funds to mitigate oil train risks.
SLOWDOWN IN SIGHT? In 2014, ND’s population grew about 2%, about the same rate as the Fargo, Bismarck and Minot metropolitan areas. The metro areas of Williston (9%) and Dickinson (7%) grew at much faster rates. This year, Ward County’s (Minot) population will overtake Grand Forks County. At 18%, McKenzie County (Watford City) is the nation's fastest growing county.
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD Minnesota’s legislators are proposing to renew a subsidy of $1 million to cities bordering ND and SD. The grants are intended to help the cities compete with lower taxes in the Dakotas. Moorhead would receive the largest grant.
GET A BIGGER PIECE OF THE PIE It may take decades, but eventually more specialized manufacturers and suppliers for the ND oil industry will locate to the state. About half of what the industry spends to complete new wells in the state ($15 billion in 2013) leaves the state, making the Williston Basin a costly operating environment. A conference was held this week in Williston to explore opportunities to reduce costs in the state and diversify business development.
THE MINNESOTA SHAKOPEE SIOUX, operators of the Mystic Lake Casino, also see an opportunity in ND. They are making a $29 million loan to a casino on the Montana Ft. Peck Reservation about 50 miles from Williston.
THE FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION accounts for more than 30 percent of ND’s oil production. The U.S. Interior Dept. announced new rules for fracking on federal and Indian lands. Dept. of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms is concerned the new rules could delay permitting and drilling at Ft. Berthold.
WHAT NOW? In February, Supt. of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler was arrested and charged for striking and injuring her former fiance. Bismarck’s City Prosecutor dismissed the charges for lack of evidence. The incident raised questions about the messy personal lives of both parties. The question now is whether Baesler can be effective in her position after the adverse publicity.
WELL SAID James Bowie is a sociologist who studies nicknames and logos. He was asked: “You visited UND last November and were struck by how much people hold on to the Sioux nickname. Why do you think that is?” He answered, “To have such a powerful sports program in such a relatively remote place that’s not well-known to people is pretty unique. I think that accounts for some of the strength of the nickname, because it is such a powerful identity for people there. It’s probably been made stronger by the fact that, at least in most people’s perceptions, outsiders have come in and taken this away.”
MARCH 21, 2005 Almost everyone remembers the school shooting at Columbine H.S. near Littleton, Colorado. But few recall the shooting ten years ago at Red Lake H.S. (on the Red Lake Reservation 100 miles east of Grand Forks) in which ten people died, the largest mass homicide in Minnesota history. Minnesota Public Radio said, “The legacy of the shootings for the reservation and the state is complex and perhaps impossible to grasp from the outside.”
SLIPPED THROUGH HIS FINGERS Jeff May was an Indian student partially disabled by the shooting. He was 15 at the time -- now 25 and living mainly on Social Security disability checks. May received a $750,000 settlement from the school which he spent on a house and cars. By 2011 he was broke and in a mental health facility in Duluth recovering from an attempted suicide. This is a familiar story and a compelling argument for placing settlements of this type in a trust fund for the victim.
SUSAN WEFALD, the first woman to serve on the ND Public Service Commission, has written “Important Voices, North Dakota’s Women Elected State Officials Share Their Stories, 1893-2013.” Ten of the living subjects, including U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and Treasurer Kelly Schmidt, each wrote a chapter.
GUESS WHO WROTE THIS OBITUARY The obituary of Brian Kennelly (72) of Park River mentions that he was married in 1968. That’s the last we hear of his wife. Later, the obit said “In 1994 he met his sweetheart Marie Simundson” and they built a home together where they lived until the time of his death.
THERE IS AN UPROAR in Grand Forks because the words “Somalia” and “Nigger” were crudely painted on the side of a building. Advocates for a diversity commission in GF say the incident proves the need. Further away in St. Cloud, Minnesota, 100 Somali high school students walked out to protest alleged abuse and discrimination at their school. Gradually, issues once confined to the Twin Cities and its large Somali population are spreading into the region.
DAKTOIDS: Tonight, UND’s hockey team will be the No. 1 seed in Fargo’s Scheels Arena and take on Quinnipiac (Conn.) in the West Regional semifinal game. Michigan Tech faces St. Cloud in the other game . . . Good news: ND has the second highest percentage of people over 85; bad news: the state has the highest percentage of Alzheimer deaths . . . The reality show “Born in the Wild” will feature a winter birth in a tent insulated by hay bales. The locale -- Manvel, ND (just north of Grand Forks).
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