Dakota Beacon

FRIGHTENING  Before last week, the Good Samaritan nursing home in Bottineau was on cruise control — no coronavirus deaths.  Then BOOM, 11 died from the virus, leaving another 28 infected.  This in a nursing home with less than 40 residents.  The state’s emergency medical response team kept the nursing home running.  Bottineau is a city near the Canadian border with just a little over 2,000 residents.

PROBLEM ENTERS RURAL COUNTIES   Many rural ND counties are seeing an increase in new virus cases.  A cluster of five rural counties south of Jamestown (Emmons, Logan, McIntosh, Dickey and LaMoure) have an average of 114 active cases per 10,000 residents; the state average is 49 cases.  Put another way — over one percent of the population in the five counties is infected.

UNENVIABLE RANKING  The Star Tribune reported on Tuesday that during the past week ND had the highest rate of per capita coronavirus infections in the nation.  On the scale which was used, ND was rated 530, while Wisconsin and SD were both over 400.  Minnesota had a rating of 180, still considered “uncontrolled spread.”  The outbreak caught the attention of the NY Times which wrote: “The rise in cases and deaths — September was by far the deadliest month for North Dakota since the start of the pandemic — reflects a new phase of the virus in the United States. From Wisconsin to Montana, states in the Midwest and Great Plains . . .  are seeing the brunt.” 

GERALD VANDEWALLE (87) has been a member of the ND Supreme Court since 1978 — imagine that, 32 years and a lot of water under the bridge.  He stepped down from chief justice last year, citing declining energy.  VandeWalle has been fighting the coronavirus and its aftereffects for two months, but has amazingly continued to work remotely on the court during the entire time.  He says “his two goals are to continue his work and his rehabilitation.”

THESE GOOD SAMARITANS ARE THE REAL THING  — 17 ND fireman from Williston, Minot, Grand Forks and Fargo were returning in their trucks from emergency assistance with wildfires in Oregon when two vehicles in front of them collided and burned.  The task force was on Hwy. 395 in southern Washington when the accident occurred.  The Nodaks extinguished the fire, rescued and treated the passengers.  When an ambulance arrived, the EMTs were amazed to find the accident scene completely secured.

THE AMTRAK EMPIRE BUILDER has a large role in ND history.  Even the state railroad museum in California has an Empire Builder dining car complete with signature tableware.  Service and ridership on the Empire Builder has been on a downward slope.  The Minot Daily News noted this week that on Thursday only a handful of passengers got off the Empire Builder in the morning.  The westbound Empire Builder enters ND at Fargo and exits from Williston, stopping at Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Rugby, Minot and Stanley in between.  Amtrak announced last week that Empire Builder service will be cut from seven days a week to three. 

COAL CREEK STATION is the largest coal-fired power plant in ND.  Owner Great River Energy in Minnesota has announced for some time that it will close the plant in 2022 and has been attempting to give the plant away “for a dollar.”  There are no takers.  The plant has lost money for years as it struggled to compete with natural gas and renewables.  Great River continues to search for a new owner, but Coal Creek is a gift no one seems to want.  Several companies have expressed interest in buying the combination of the plant and a transmission line running from the plant to Minnesota — one suspects the transmission line is the real prize.

PROTECT YOUR GRAIN  Farmers, add confetti to your stored grain.  Huh!  Yes, farmers with grain stored at remote locations are being urged to add confetti — small pieces of paper with registered numbers unique to the farmers who own it.  The purpose of the confetti is to make it hard for thieves to market stolen grain.  A farmer in Canada, just across the border from Langdon, ND, lost 50 tons of canola to thieves — that’s about $25,000.

PICKY, PICKY  “A Mrs. Petite title holder must be of good moral character, be in good health, be a “natural born female,” and be a U.S. citizen, be older than 21 and married.”  Mrs. North Dakota Petite this year gives the title an international flair, she is Adriana Esquivel who is married to an airman at Minot AFB and has a family doctor degree from a university in Nicaragua.  While her international degree is being evaluated, she is studying for a specialization in dermatology.  She said her platform for the contest is called Kids Are The Future “because I come from a family that faced discrimination because of their economic status and they overcame all obstacles through education.”

SOUTH DAKOTA is the state most similar to ND — the former has a population of 885,000, about 16% greater than ND.  How does the experience of the two states compare during the pandemic?  The answer is they are quite similar — considering their populations, numbers of new and active cases are in the same range.  Both are having difficulty gaining control of the virus.  Deaths in ND attributable to the virus are higher than SD, while SD has more than double ND’s number of hospitalizations.

DAKTOIDS:  Pheasant numbers are up nearly 40% in ND this year and hunting conditions are better — drier weather and clearer fields . . . NDSU played its only football game this year, squeaking out a 39-28 win over Central Arkansas — its 38th straight win . . .  A Forum poll indicated two-thirds of readers favor a stronger quarantine policy.