Dakota Beacon

“We’re still out of water, we’re still out of sewage capacity, we’re short of electricity and there’s no room on the highways for anyone else.” -- A Williams County commissioner ticked off reasons for extending the county’s ban on new man camps. They previously approved 10,000 beds.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple talked about the Oil Patch. His objective was to explain how the state is helping solve real problems in the Oil Patch, but also to tamp down anxiety about the boom’s impact on matters such as crime and accident rates. Dalrymple told the GF Herald increases in those areas “are in proportion” to the growing population. “The people committing crimes are not all newcomers.” Dalrymple might also have noted that newcomers are disproportionate victims of traffic injuries and deaths. They seem unaccustomed to the state’s weather and winter roads. An example, on March 1, three men from Kansas and Oklahoma driving to work on Hwy 85 lost control of their pickup on ice and snow and hit another pickup. One was killed and two hospitalized -- none were wearing seatbelts. The Dickinson resident driving the other pickup was wearing a seatbelt and spared by an airbag.

Democrats want more government, Republicans want less. Herald publisher Mike Jacobs believes Republican government in ND falls somewhere in between -- a third way if you like. Jacobs says the Dalrymple administration (and that of Hoeven before it) has pursued a program of listening, planning and offering alternatives. Jacobs calls it activism without mandates -- getting things done without getting in the way -- common sense not ideology.

The staff and faculty at Dickinson State are not out of the woods yet regarding a series of scandals at the school. Legislators on the Higher Education Committee studied audit reports and grilled the school’s new president (who is not implicated) about the events. Legislators can’t understand why no one spoke up about improprieties which lasted several years. Although a number of administrators resigned, a legislator asked why faculty implicated in the scandal have not been fired. Also, another shoe is about to drop, the North Central Association is sending a special accreditation team to the DSU campus.

As more of the DSU situation is unraveled, some of it seems just plain weird. DSU had a one-semester program to train Chinese students for work at Disney (that’s right) amusements parks. Certificates were awarded to 154 happy future Donald Ducks -- only one problem, none of the students met standards for getting a certificate.

Snowbirds from ND have worn a deep path to the Phoenix area. Some ND banks and even a Fargo accounting firm have followed their clients and created branches in Arizona. The University of Mary in Bismarck is also about to follow. U-Mary has a deal with Arizona State University in Tempe to provide Catholic studies at ASU which will result in joint degrees from the two schools. With 72,000 students, ASU has the largest campus in the U.S. Arizona is believed to have over a million Catholics, but there is no Catholic college or university in Arizona.

A Wall Street Journal article purported to provide regional cultural tips for politicians -- those for ND were called particularly useful: “Dining with North Dakotans? If they’re Norwegian-American, expect to get a plate full of lefse (a tortilla-like flatbread) and lutefisk (literally ‘lye fish’ -- and about as good as it sounds). Feel free to toast your guests with a hearty ‘skal!’ And don’t be surprised to hear a near-constant refrain of uff da! A testament to Scandinavian practicality, this single expression can be used to communicate surprise, dismay, dissatisfaction and even relief.”

If only wheat straw could be turned into gold -- over the past 100 years there have been many schemes to convert ND’s abundant wheat straw into useful products. One of the most recent was a plan to turn straw into cabinetry. Most of the schemes failed. The latest entrant is a company called Ultra Green which plans to make household and restaurant products out of wheat straw at a Devils Lake plant. The products include pizza pans and toilet paper. Ultra Green plans to shift production from a plant in China and quickly create 100 jobs in Devils Lake. The city is very excited and promises an economic development package of $4 million.

An Iowa company has a sketchy plan to takeover an idle ethanol plant in Grafton and turn sugar beets into fuel. Now, all they need is ND investors.

One weighs only 2.6 pounds, the other 4.2 pounds, but both have powerful live cameras. They are unmanned drones which will be used by the Grand Forks Sheriff’s Department for a variety of surveillance. GF will be the third community in the nation to use this technology. It’s all possible because of a partnership with the UAS program at UND.

Silas Sr retired with a pension from the federal government. When he died in 1983, Silas Jr kept right on receiving the pensions checks and regularly assured the government that he was caring for his Alzheimer stricken dad. Twenty-six years and $1.2 million later, Grand Forks resident Silas Jr is going to prison.

In the Oil Patch, big things happen nearly every week. A rail-loading facility nearing completion in the southeastern corner of Mountrail County will eventually ship a unit train (104 rail cars) of crude oil every day on a spur line which joins the Canadian Pacific main line near Drake. From there, the oil will move to markets across North America in a crude-by-rail network which CP says is the largest in the U.S. Hear that Warren Buffett and BNSF railroad.

DAKTOIDS: The Jamestown Sun noted with approval a Gallup study which found ND to be No. 2 in the nation in Well-Being. In the same study, ND was ranked first for work environment . . . The head of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association says the influx of business “Is putting a strain on the available workforce, housing and hotels. Companies are fighting one another for talent” . . . The Dunn County Lodge is opening just north of Dickinson -- does it sound like a ritzy resort? The lodge is actually a man camp which will house 600 oil workers -- it will be operated by Target Logistics which has 3,700 beds in the Oil Patch.