SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MARCH 7, 2015
IT PAYS TO HAVE A GOOD ATTORNEY In 2005, Susan Bala was convicted in the largest illegal gambling case in ND history and ordered to serve 27 months in prison. About 18 months later her conviction was reversed for technical reasons and she was released. At the time, her company, Racing Services, Inc., was bankrupt and alleged to owe ND $6.5 million for unpaid gambling taxes. Once again, her attorneys found a technicality in ND law that will require the state to refund $5.3 million to Bala, RSI and its creditors. A bankruptcy court will decide who gets what. A grueling victory for Bala and her attorneys.
DEMAND DOWN, SUPPY UP Yes, we knew it was going to happen, just didn’t know when. Apartment rentals in Oil Patch cities such as Williston and Watford City, among the highest in the nation, are starting to come down to earth. A slowing of oil activity plus new apartment buildings coming into the market have decreased rental rates 15-20 percent in the last few months.
IT PAYS TO BE PRUDENT The ND Legislature is in a “holding pattern” on major spending bills until new revenue forecasts of oil and gas revenues become available in a week or two. Only a small part of ND’s general budget relies on those revenues. The Canadian province of Alberta is not so lucky -- one-third of its operating budget comes from the oil industry. If the province does not make drastic cuts in spending, years of savings could be destroyed.
WAITING FOR THE RECKONING is the title of a March article in Fortune about the downturn in the ND oil fields. The article hints at trouble, “fear is only just beginning to replace optimism.” The article implies that western Nodaks have not woken up to their plight. The author said, “I experienced a strange cognitive dissonance: an insistence that nothing has changed, combined with hard-headed determination and an undercurrent of fear.” The lengthy article waivers between pessimism, “The situation will only worsen if the low prices persist,” and optimism, viewing “What’s happening as merely a ‘lull.’”
DON’T DISREGARD THE PRESS An editorial by the publisher at the GF Herald said “We are enraged.” A news article on the same subject said Grand Forks law enforcement was “weirdly reticent.” This was all about the reluctance of local police to discuss an incident in which a member of the UND Police Department shot a man outside Altru Hospital. The story remains jumbled. At one point it seemed as if the police were saying we had to shoot the man because he appeared suicidal.
FIRE KELLEY UND students hoisted a large banner calling for the firing of university president Robert Kelley at a hockey game in the Ralph Engelstad Arena. The security staff confiscated the banner, which read “Fire Kelley,” and one of the students says he was ejected. The REA says no, no, we didn’t eject anyone. One of the students who hung the banner said Kelley was not listening to the student body voice on various issues including the Fighting Sioux name.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER The Democrats have a relatively weak position in the ND Legislature as evidenced by their slogan “Where they fumble, we’ll pick up the ball and advance it for the good of the state.” Their principal strategy is to identify wedge issues which offer an opportunity to peel off dissatisfied voters. The amount of state oil production tax going to western communities is one of their main issues.
FIRE! A year ago, an unknown suspect set fire to Trinity High School, a Catholic school in Dickinson. Police continue to investigate the incident, but the career of the school’s principal was ruined in the process. Principal Tom Sander was arrested and fired before eventually being cleared of arson charges. Like the school, his career went up in smoke.
NO RESPECT “The zoo’s work often goes unheralded.” -- From a Forum editorial about the Fargo zoo, which specializes in rescuing and protecting endangered animals suited to the climate of the Red River Valley. One of the zoo’s attractions is “the wildly popular wolf pack.” The Forum praises the zoo for “its collaborative world-class species conservation research.”
DRUG PIPELINES The Fargo Police Department says there is a well-known drug pipeline from the Twin Cities to Fargo. Seven members of the Taliban and Young N Thuggin gangs have been indicted in the Twin Cities for bringing crack cocaine to Fargo and other cities. The two gangs carry guns and retaliate violently to any assault on their operations. Large quantities of drugs seem to move unimpeded through ND, unless the drivers are careless about traffic violations. This week two Sacramento men were caught on I-94 near Bismarck with 136 pounds of marijuana. The FBi is opening a Williston office to combat drug traffic and other crimes previously uncommon in western ND.
THEY WOULDN’T BELIEVE HER A 30-year-old high school librarian in Grafton was charged with criminal trespass when caught rifling a residence. She said she was looking for stolen books. The residents of other houses she entered reported missing prescription drugs.
A LITTLE REDUNDANCY WOULD HELP Shortly after midnight, Kurt Johnson crashed his 1997 Buick into a fire hydrant in Northwood. That was the end -- all the water drained out of the town’s 50,000-gallon water tower leaving the town with lots of ice, but no water.
DAKTOIDS: Rumors of the death of ND’s lignite mines are premature -- the state’s four mines sold about 29 million tons in 2014, up from 28 million in 2013. The Freedom Mine near Beulah is the largest lignite mine in the U.S. and overall the 12th largest coal mine . . . UND’s successful aerospace school continues to grow. Robin Hall, a 66,000-square-foot research facility under construction, will be devoted mostly to unmanned aircraft systems. UND was the first school to offer a bachelor’s degree in UAS studies.
DakotaBeacon