SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MARCH 8, 2021
FIRST EXPULSION IN STATE HISTORY Thursday, the ND House voted to expel Rep. Luke Simons of Dickinson for sexual harassment. The issue has been around for several years, but last week a 14-page file detailing women’s uncomfortable encounters with Simons was released. The 69-25 vote provided the two-thirds majority required for expulsion.
IS ND FOOTBALL UPSIDE DOWN? NDSU football was off to another winning season anticipating their 40th straight win in Carbondale, Ill. Didn’t happen — Southern Illinois University took them apart 38-14 — the Bison’s worst defeat since 2005 at Cal Poly. Forum readers were asked if this was just one bad game that “doesn’t define this program.” The answer came back with 62% saying “No, the loss to Southern Illinois was just too ugly.” Here’s where it turns strange: The relatively unnoticed UND team beat SIU 44-21 two weeks ago and beat perennial power South Dakota State University 28-17 in Grand Forks last Saturday.
ROLE REVERSAL? It will take a few more weeks to know for sure. For years, UND football has been in the shadow of champion NDSU. A FCS poll this week ranks UND the No. 4 team in the nation and NDSU No. 6. James Madison is ranked No. 1.
MODEST HOME FOR SALE Former NDSU football star Cason Wentz is moving from Philadelphia to quarterback the Indianapolis Colts. He was with the Eagles since 2016. In Indianapolis Wentz is reunited with a former coach and there are high hopes his career can be reignited. Wentz’s 7,400 square foot, five bedroom home in rural Philadelphia is on the market for $1.7 million.
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES, ND’s largest and oldest social services organization, was brought down by an ill-conceived venture into affordable housing. When LSS closed in January, it’s real estate wing owned 577 units in 15 cities and managed an additional 407 units. A temporary receiver has advised that the market value of the owned properties is less than their debt. Numerous financial institutions with real estate liens have filed a motion to set aside the receivership.
THE BIG THEMES The ND Legislature is heading into its second half with hundreds of bills to be resolved. Adam Willis writing for the Forum sees legalizing marijuana, boosting the coal industry, curbing the governor’s executive powers and deciding how to spend Legacy Fund earnings as the major initiatives.
SANFORD EXTENDS ITS REACH "We see this as the spot that will service the whole area -- not just northwest North Dakota but also northeast Montana.” — Sanford Health Bismarck President Michael LeBeau talking about an agreement with the city of Williston to open a new hospital on the site of the former airport. The city will finance and build the hospital while Sanford will lease and operate it. The old airport site, now called Williston Square, is also planned to have a civic center, retail businesses, and residential homes and apartments. This development may not be to the liking of CHI St. Alexius Health and Trinity Health which have medical facilities in Williston.
WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION There has been a sharp uptick in the number and percentage of women in construction management in ND. Between 2011 and 2014, 10 women earned bachelor’s and master’s degree from NDSU construction programs. Between 2017 and 2020, that number doubled, with 21 women earning degrees. A number of women have stepped into upper management in major construction companies, but so far it has been largely the daughters of company owners.
THE PRESENTATION SISTERS IN FARGO were once a substantial order in ND opening hospitals in cities such as Carrington and New Rockford. They have shrunk to 19 members and no longer need their spacious convent on the Red River in Fargo. Starting this weekend, thousands of items of artwork, artifacts and furnishings they have collected will be auctioned. This will be a rare opportunity for collectors and dealers.
CLANCEY LONE FLIGHT (33) is not a sympathetic figure. He drove a stolen pickup through a highway fence to evade police, drove against traffic and then led authorities at speeds of nearly 100 mph on roads in T. Roosevelt National Park. He abandoned the pickup in an impassable section of the park. He dragged his passenger, Gabriella Perez-Goodbird (19), from the pickup and choked and punched her (he had two previous domestic assault convictions). He left her to spend two nights in the park in below zero January weather wearing pajama-type pants. She was rescued by tourists. Perez-Goodbird is scheduled to have a foot amputated. Lone Flight was arrested in a Dickinson hospital where he went for treatment of frostbite. He faces a bundle of state and federal charges.
TAX THE RICH is a popular cry in Minnesota. Forum columnist Mike McFeely says two of three Minnesota voters favor raising taxes on the rich. The feeling for most Minnesotans seems to be “Why Not,” the rich can afford it. Readers of the Forum were more restrained, only 44% said yes and 46% considered it unfair. Another 10% said they were ready to head for South Dakota if there was a successful effort to tax the wealthy. McFeely joined the mob howling for higher taxes on the rich.
A HEAD IS HARD TO IGNORE The situation of SD Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has taken a turn for the worse. He hit and killed 55-year-old Joe Boever while driving home at night from a political fund raiser. Ravnsborg maintains he never knew he hit a human, thinking it was probably a deer. He has been charged with three misdemeanors for the way he was driving. Now the state legislature will attempt to impeach him, something that has not been done to a constitutional officer in the state’s history. The most damning evidence against him is a video interview in which investigators reveal that Boever’s glasses landed in Ravnsborg’s car when his head smashed through the windshield.
DAKTOIDS: About 68% of ND is in “severe drought” . . . For 143 years the Fargo Forum and predecessor newspapers have been printed in downtown Fargo — this week the presses roll in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota . . . The way to go — Grant Hoffner’s obituary said the 74-year-old Fargo man died of natural causes in his “man-cave” in Arizona.
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