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Monday, October 27, 2014

SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - OCTOBER 27, 2014

DEVILS LAKE GIRL IS A WINNER Melanie Bailey, a cross country runner from Devils Lake, was shown in national news photos with a larger runner on her back. Melanie was nearing the finish of a race in Minnesota when she encountered Danielle LeNoue of Fargo crumpled on the ground sobbing in pain. Bailey stopped, asked LeNoue to “hop on” and carried her 250 yards to a medical station. Bailey finished well out of the money, but her coach said, “I’ve never seen an act of sportsmanship like that before.”
 
SAB (SayAnythingBlog) co-sponsored a statewide election poll. The poll indicated 70% believe ND “is on the right track” -- good news for incumbents in the state. Attitudes about the nation were different -- only 23% thought the nation was on the right track -- Obama’s rating was 61% unfavorable. Sen. Hoeven starred with a 79% favorable rating; Gov. Dalrymple and Sen. Heitkamp had identical favorable ratings of 61%. Ryan Taylor, candidate for secretary of agriculture and former candidate for governor, was unrecognized by 28% of the voters.
 
THE THREE AFFILIATED TRIBES at Ft. Berthold are electing a new chairman. The candidates are tribal attorney Damon Williams and tribal tax officer Mark Fox. Both candidates agree that huge deficiencies in tribal government are magnified by a budget which has swollen from $20 million to $520 million because of oil revenues. The TAT are becoming the richest tribe in the region. The candidates are eager to drop traditional tribal government for a more conventional system of legislative, executive and judicial branches. Fox told an audience of tribal members in Bismarck that “If we don’t change our government, nothing changes, with millions and billions going to waste.”
 
WILLISTON’S UNDERSIDE If someone totally unacquainted with northwest ND saw Lisa Ling’s TV feature “Filthy Rich,” they would probably not want to get within 100 miles of Williston. The episode featured tawdry bars, prostitution, man camps and bleak industrial landscapes. Oddities like the Boomtown Babes coffee shop also came in for scrutiny -- the Babes have a job for you, if you have good “tits and ass.” The problem with the show, and others like it, is selectivity. Yes, the scenes shown are a real part of life in Williston, but only part, they were selected to titillate and shock.
 
THE COMMON GOOD A Herald editorial reports a “serious lag between population growth in western North Dakota and the housing, utilities, transportation and other infrastructure that the growing population needs.” About half of ND residents think the oil producing counties should get a greater share of tax dollars. The editorial attempts to convince the other half that the state’s future prosperity depends on greatly reducing the infrastructure lag.
 
GALLOPING GROWTH In the 2010 census, Watford City had only 1,800 people. Local officials estimate the city’s population has reached 12,000 and will grow to 20,000 in the near future. Watford City is the county seat of McKenzie County, ND’s top oil-producing county and fastest growing area. The county is building a $60 million medical complex -- Sanford Health will share some of the space and has chipped in $1 million for initial fundraising.
 
DAKOTA PRAIRIE REFINING in Dickinson is expected to be refining crude oil by the end of the year. The Dickinson plant will refine 20,000 barrels a day. Currently, the state’s only refinery is the Tesoro plant in Mandan. Vancouver, Canada investors are planning a $200 million Devils Lake refinery similar to the one in Dickinson. The Devils Lake location was chosen because of its access to water, pipelines, roads and rail.
 
WHO WILL HAUL POTATOES? An average annual wage for truck drivers in ND is $38,000 to $40,000; truck drivers in the Oil Patch can earn $100,000 to $120,000 a year. The Red River Valley has a shortage of experienced truck drivers, which intensifies during the harvest season.
 
THE NATION’S LARGEST LIBERIAN COMMUNITY, estimated at 30,000, is in Minnesota. The state dodged a bullet when a Coon Rapids resident died of Ebola in Liberia before his scheduled return flights to Minnesota. A Liberian Ministers Association in Minnesota plans to rent houses for voluntary quarantine of those returning from West Africa. Leaders of the Liberian community hope the wider community will not blame and isolate them. The Minnesota Health Department has established an Ebola hotline.
 
TOSS A COIN “Long range forecasting is not quite the same as guessing wildly, but it isn’t much better.” -- Forum weatherman John Wheeler discussing the reliability of winter forecasting. He added, “In other words, we really do not know what the winter will bring.”
 
MARMATH MONSTER In 1999, high school student Tyler Larson discovered a mummified dinosaur on his uncle’s ranch near Marmath (southwestern corner of ND). The 67 million-year-old fossil weighs 10,000 pounds. The fossil, nicknamed Dakota, received international attention, but has been homeless. Dakota’s predicament is resolved -- Larson sold his stone creature for $3 million to the State Historical Society which will display it in the ND Heritage Center.
 
ONCE YOU’VE FIXED A FEW TIRES As a child, Viola Lillehaugen (103) was toughened by working in her father’s garage in Whitman, ND, selling gas and fixing tires. Viola graduated from Mayville Teachers College and taught for 26 years, while living a farm life in Walsh County which continued until she was 101 years old. Even after retiring, she picked potatoes in the fall. She participated in charity walk-a-thons until she was 96 and made and donated 1,000 quilts to Lutheran World Relief. Viola spent her final two years near her daughter in Rochester, MN and left 44 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchilden.
 
DAKTOIDS: Boardings at ND airports continued to rise in September -- Dickinson led with a 40 percent increase over last year . . . Minot had a less enviable increase -- major crime incidents in the city nearly doubled from 600 in 2010 to 1,100 in 2013. 

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