SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - OCTOBER 11, 2013
The stars were aligned in 2012 -- crops were good, prices were high and interest rates were low. A NDSU report indicates the 500 farms it studies may have had the best year ever in 2012. Farms in the study are larger than average and their operators are younger than average. Median (half above, half below) farm income in the study was $238,000 and the median farm had 1,900 acres. The average farm size was 2,600 acres, indicating the average is skewed by extremely large farms.
NDSU estimates the Red River Valley sugar industry provides 2,500 direct jobs and 18,800 indirect jobs. The industry is challenged -- consumption is down because of health concerns and supply is up because of a surge of sugar imports from Mexico.
The FBI is conducting a widespread drug investigation on and around the Ft. Berthold Reservation. The U.S. Attorney said multiple arrests were made last Monday. An FBI agent received minor wounds while assisting. A man from Keene (near the reservation) has been arrested on drug charges and possession of a short-barrel rifle.
“Farting bridge trolls.” -- No, this didn’t happen at the Minot Norsk Hostfest. The quote came from white supremacist Craig Cobb when asked what he thought about the panelists at a “hate” symposium in Grand Forks sponsored by UND’s Center for Human Rights. The symposium was much about Cobb, who unnerved participants by taking a seat in the front row of the event.
The SheSays section of the Forum continues to titillate. First, it was the publisher’s wife sharing intimacies -- the psychotherapist and creator of Diva Dance has since withdrawn. Then it was Meredith Holt, the queen of fat, regretting the hateful comments of Facebook trolls. Next was Dr. Susan Mathison urging everyone to try marathons, although she herself is recovering from multiple orthopedic surgeries. Currently, it’s Tammy Swift, wallowing in the humor of her recent divorce. Can’t wait to see what’s next in this tasteful succession.
Griggs County voters were against a new courthouse, but county commissioners approved a $3.5 million building now under construction. Voters struck back -- all five commissioners have been recalled.
Last week, I mentioned the strange reluctance of Twin Cities newspapers to cover controversial issues involving the Somali community. We saw a good example this week: The Fargo Forum reported that a leader of a Somali-American youth group in Minneapolis testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mohamed Farah’s testimony included the following: “The No. 1 issue of our community is the recruitment of our youth. He said al-Shabab has ‘targeted the disenfranchised, marginalized and socially estranged’ youth.” He called the threat of al-Shabab an “uphill battle.” I did not find his testimony in online versions of the two major Twin Cities papers.
Allen Thomas stood out -- he was a black Texan working on a road crew and staying at the Lone Steer hotel in Steele. He became upset with the owners of the hotel and burned it down. Thomas was arrested and convicted of arson. The hotel owners are suing Thomas and his employer for $500,000 -- we kinda think it’s the employer they are really after.
The late David Soupir (67) of Courtenay was part of the successful Soupir Brothers farming partnership -- he was also a civic and business leader. Can’t say whether his education helped or hindered -- he was a graduate of the Northern School of Meat Packing in Chicago.
Pastor Thor Rykken (89) served Lutheran parishes in many small ND towns for over 50 years and preached nearly to the time of his death. He will be buried near his birthplace in Wisconsin where his parents were Norwegian Lutheran missionaries in Indian communities. Thor received the Air Medal for 49 missions as tail gunner on a B-25 in Italy during World War II. He was a Concordia College graduate and his service is documented in a book titled “Cobbers in WWII: Memoirs from the Greatest Generation.” He took his religious training at the Luther Seminary in St. Paul.
A farm house that cost, say, $2,000 requires $580,000 of repairs. That’s what the ND Historical Society estimates it will take to restore Lawrence Welk’s birthplace in Strasburg. For the moment, the society has tabled its plans to purchase the home. You can find the house two miles off the “Lawrence Welk Highway.”
Bismarck is about to see a spurt of retail growth. Most of the growth will occur in shopping centers north of I-94. The city’s population increase and the maturity of the Bakken oil region have given confidence to developers.
Jamestown’s new regional medical center is adjacent to I-94. The old hospital has reopened as the Legacy Center, 52 senior apartment units developed by Lutheran Social Services. The complex will also include a community center.
DAKTOIDS: No need for a painful wait to have your tooth pulled -- in the last five years the number of ND dentists has increased from 320 to 400 . . . You could read about almost anything in the Minot Daily News last week -- as long as it was about Hostfest. The most interesting article was about the many authors at Hostfest who write and translate books about Norwegians . . . The news in Bismarck was a little thin last Sunday -- a Tribune headline read “Bismarck man to be featured in Insanity infomercial” . . . ND and certain neighbors (MT, SD & WY) are the nation’s pickup leaders -- ND is #1, 39 percent of new-car registrations are trucks . . . Wait a little longer for completion of new galleries at the Bismarck Heritage Center. The $52 million, 100,000 square foot expansion project is about four months behind schedule.
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