Dakota Beacon

“AN ANNOYING POSSIBILITY” is what the GF Herald is calling a Minnesota proposal to elect “permanent daylight saving time.”  That would mean that for half the year there would be different time on each side of the Red River.

HAWKS ARE SAFE AT GFAFB   “Grand Forks, like many other bases, is key strategic terrain.  It is key to the Arctic strategy because of its location.” — U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein assured a senate committee that the GFAFB is key to “potential military strategies of the future.”  The senators were also assured that the retirement of older Global Hawks (large unmanned aircraft) was not pertinent to those at Grand Forks.  The related news article in the GF Herald was written by Publisher Korrie Wenzel. 

JAMESTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT’S ladder truck is sadly beyond repair and the city lacks the means to buy a $1 million replacement.  So here’s the plan:  The department hopes to get 1/3 from the state, 1/3 from donations and 1/3 from the city.  So far, they have raised $10,000 towards the $333,333 donation goal.  The donor is the ND Farmers Union headquartered in Jamestown.

SECOND CHANCE  ND Supt. of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler was arrested for DUI and intends to plead guilty.  A GF Herald editorial said, “Baesler’s organizational and managerial skills leading K-12 education have never been questioned, as far as we know. Her leadership and decision-making skills, however, are dented.”  Continuing, the editorial stated, “Baesler deserves a second chance; later this year, the state’s voters will decide if she gets it.”  Baesler issued a statewide apology and committed herself to alcohol treatment.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR took herself out of contention for the presidency this week and threw her support to Joseph Biden.  Her candidacy ended in ignominious fashion when Black Lives Matter stormed the stage and effectively canceled her rally in Minneapolis.  A Star Tribune editorial rebuked the activists, “They went too far by preventing Klobuchar from speaking at all . . . Mob rule is never good, no matter what side it comes from.”  In ND, Rob Port wrote “What Black Lives Matter protesters did to Amy Klobuchar was indefensible.”

DAPL REDUX?  The Star Tribune said the next governor of Minnesota could also face his first real crisis: “Pipeline protests like at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota in 2016, when demonstrators were cleared off the construction site with dogs, riot gear and water cannons.”  Minnesota activist Winona LaDuke all but promised such a confrontation.  She said “if construction begins, the next governor can expect environmental militancy.”

MANNA  You can feel the influence of the fall elections.  The USDA has agreed to $285 million in disaster relief for sugar beet farmers.  The relief is for losses caused by heavy rain and snowfall during harvest.  The funds will go to sugar beet cooperatives which will make the distributions to growers.  Republican Sen. John Hoeven of ND made the announcement, but in a bipartisan gesture thanked Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat from Minnesota, for his role in the agreement.  Hoeven and Peterson chair their respective agriculture committees.

AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR, the nation’s largest sugar producer, operates in the Red River Valley and is owned by 2,800 growers.  Board Chairman David Mueller said “losses were significant, and without the USDA assistance some producers likely wouldn’t be operational.” 

THE COAL CREEK POWER PLANT in Underwood, ND, is one of the biggest power plants in the Upper Midwest and produces 60% of the electricity for its parent Great River Energy.  Great River is a Minnesota cooperative which supplies much of the power for the Twin Cities.  Coal Creek has 265 employees and is fed by an adjacent mine which has 400 employees.   Coal Creek operates at a loss principally because of low energy prices caused by an abundance of natural gas.

GREAT RIVER charges the Coal Creek losses to its 28 retail members and has a fiduciary responsibility to analyze Coal Creek’s future.  A decision is planned by yearend.  There is a good chance Coal Creek will be closed and replaced by a gas-fired generator, possibly, at the same site.

GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME  The 2010 census found 22,400 residents in Williams County (Williston) and 6,400 in McKenzie County (Watford City).  Because of somewhat chaotic living conditions due to the Oil Boom, those counties believe they may have been undercounted.  They are making special effort to get an accurate count in 2020.  They estimate their respective populations to now be 47,000 and 27,000. 

BEST OF THE WORST  That’s the title given to Mayville State in ND.  A rating agency selected the worst college in each state and, in a few states, that wasn’t so bad.  Mayville was reported to have a 41% graduation rate and a 11% default rate on student loans.  The worst college in Montana was Montana State - Billings, in SD it was Black Hills State and in Minnesota it was Crown College.  Some colleges on the list were dismal — Western International in Tempe AZ had a 3% graduation rate; historically black Texas College had a 12% graduation rate and a 23% default rate.  Part of Texas College’s goal is inspiring ethics and integrity.

NO PITY  “Things change.  The tribes need to adapt.” — Columnist Rob Port’s reaction to the news that tribal gaming operations had declined 30 to 45% since e-tabs were introduced statewide.  He said the state has no duty to protect the tribes from competition.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS  The late Delores Holm Kalainov (86) was an enterprising gal.  In 1959, she was an English teacher and librarian in Fargo, while selling World Book Encyclopedias and working on a masters at NDSU.

ROY OTTINGER (94) was a chiropractor who grew up in Valley City.  His father and son were also chiropractors.  Roy died February 24, 2020 in Augusta, Georgia, survived by his son Paul (70).  But not for long, Paul died the next day in the same city.

DAKTOIDS:  Nodaks stay married — they have the lowest U.S. divorce rate and the fifth highest percentage of marriages . . . UND has a flight school in Mesa AZ with 350 students and 130 employees . . . Native Americans are about 5% of ND’s population, but 22% of state prison inmates . . .  ND is fifth in the nation in percentage of adults attending performing arts events . . . Thus far, no coronavirus in ND.