SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MAY 20, 2014
MINIMAL GOVERNMENT Columnist Lloyd Omdahl says ND is a fiscal anomaly among states. State government and individuals in the state are having unprecedented prosperity, but the wealth is not trickling down to local government. Omdahl attributes this to a state predilection for small government. He noted that South Dakota is similarly tightfisted, but Minnesota hardly has that problem. A Bismarck Tribune editorial touched on the same subject: “North Dakotans are widely known for spending money wisely and with purpose. Most believe in saving for a rainy day and living within their means. It’s the North Dakota way.”
BIG, BUT SHRINKING The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the largest religious denomination in eastern ND and adjoining areas of Minnesota -- the most heavily ELCA area of the nation. ELCA membership in the area is equivalent to about a quarter of the general population. Nationwide, the ELCA is losing membership and congregations. The Eastern ND Synod based in Fargo has 96,000 members and has lost seven percent of its membership and and twelve percent of its congregations in the past seven years.
DO NOT MAKE ME A BISHOP At this challenging time, the Eastern ND Synod elected a new bishop. The process was complicated by the churches tradition of self-depreciation and Norwegian diffidence, where it is considered unseemly for bishop candidates to campaign for office. The modest tradition requires campaigning to be conducted by surrogates. On a fourth ballot this May, the synod assembly elected Rev. Terry Brandt, an assistant to Bishop William Rindy in the synod office in Fargo
TIME FOR YOUR REAL LIFE LESSON Most education majors at UND have rural or suburban backgrounds -- they grew up in areas that were culturally and economically homogenous. In order to give the students more of a “real life” feel, each semester students enrolled in the multicultural education class take a trip to Minneapolis to “visit diverse inner city schools to learn about the things students deal with in a more impoverished environment.” An instructor told the GF Herald, “It’s not that they don’t get hands-on stuff here (at UND), they don’t get the magnitude of what happens in other locations.”
HOPE PREVAILS “People attending the unveiling ‘got’ what the brand and logo are all about.” -- The enthusiastic comments of Alden Kollman, president of the Buffalo City Tourism Foundation in Jamestown. The new black and white brand consists of the word “Jamestown” in large script preceded by “Discover” and followed by “North Dakota.” Swirly lines separate the words -- that’s it! While folks at the unveiling “got it,” it remains to be seen if anyone else does. Kollman said, “We are hoping by promoting Jamestown, that it will become the economic hub for this area.”
A LIFETIME OF CIVIC SERVICE Lois Vogel (99) became an orphan at the age of six. Adopted by an aunt, Lois went to high school in Jamestown, graduated with a degree in English from Jamestown College and obtained an appointment to the State Department in Washington, D.C. She married attorney Mart Vogel and moved to Fargo. Her obituary indicates that over her adult life she was deeply involved in a wide range of Fargo civic activities and earned many awards. The law firm her late husband joined became the Vogel Law Firm -- today, the largest law firm in the Dakotas and Minnesota, outside of the Twin Cities metro area.
HE PEAKED AS A STUDENT REPORTER In 1957, Larry Lubenow was a UND student and part-time reporter for the GF Herald. Lubenow's interview of jazz great Louis Armstrong at a Grand Forks hotel received international attention. Armstrong had always avoided politics, so when he blasted U.S. government leadership on race relations in the interview with Lubenow, it became news all over the country. Ironically, the interview received little local attention. The interview became the hallmark of Lubenow's career and was featured 50 years later on the website of his public relations firm in Austin, Texas. The Edinburg, ND, native died recently at age 77 in Austin.
SHARING HAS ITS LIMITS “But truth is, my mom won’t like this. She has never liked the spotlight, and it drives her a bit crazy when my wife, Chris, and I share stuff about our personal life in Forum columns.” -- A statement by Forum publisher Bill Marcil Jr, part of a Mother’s Day tribute to the quiet strength of his mother, the owner of Forum Communications. Bill’s mother is not the only person who has been uncomfortable with some of the “personal shared stuff.”
NO BROWSERS WANTED The Minot Daily News stays close to home and reports mainly about the Minot community. State news or even major stories in the Minot area are more likely to be first covered by the Bismarck Tribune or Forum papers such as the GF Herald. But suppose you are interested in a particular article headlined on MDN.com -- how do you read it? First, you must be fairly determined, then complete a registration process and pay $10. That’s right -- $10 for a single precious article. An online subscription for one month is $20 and a year is $150.
STAY OFF THE ROAD If you are a worker in the oil and gas industry in ND, your risk of death is six times the national average for the industry; if you are a construction worker in ND, your risk of death is ten times the national average. To a large part, the deaths reflect dangers on western ND highways -- in 2012, over 60 percent of the deaths in those two industries occurred on the road. A report based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said, "North Dakota stands out as an exceptionally dangerous and deadly place to work."
FORGET THE MINIMUM WAGE San Francisco has a minimum wage of nearly $11 an hour -- one of the highest in the nation. Workers at Taco John’s in Watford City receive wages ranging from $16-20 an hour. Taco John’s is a fast food restaurant with a drivethru -- higher wages are necessary to staff an Oil Patch restaurant.
HAWAII IS DISINTERESTED, but 3,400 people from the other 49 states, Canada and 8 foreign countries have signed up for the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck next week. This will be the first conference in Bismarck’s newly expanded Civic Center Exhibit Hall.
DAKTOIDS: On its 10th anniversary last Saturday, the Fargo Marathon had 15,000 runners . . . The Forum gave Fargo city officials Leafy Spurge weed for not dealing with the deterioration of a 22-story downtown apartment building for low income residents -- Fargo’s second highest building after the Radisson Hotel . . . Bloomberg Business Week indicated that ND’s shale oil boom, along with other North American production increases, has been an important factor in keeping worldwide oil markets calm, offsetting production losses due to political chaos abroad.
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