Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 125
Chairperson Ork Dorken hadn't even rapped his Coke bottle on the table when Old Sievert burst into the community ZCBJ hall to join the town's 13 other electors for a meeting of the Community Homeland Committee. Pulling his mask down below his chin, he cursed in a string of 4-letter words that no family newspaper would print. "I've had it with this dang pandemonium," he barked. "Pandemic. Pandemic." Chief Security Officer Garvey Erfald corrected. "Pandemonium is confusion where nobody knows...
Proposing to double the size of the Board of Higher Education, Measure #2 threatens to burden the system more than help. This November 3 ballot measure has yet to be explained by its legislative sponsors so it’s merits are still a mystery. Playing in the background we have a 80-year gripe by the Legislature against the Board. It was created in the later 1930s after capitol politics threatened the professionalism of the institutions. Friends of higher education, primarily in Fargo, decided to i...
Once again the North Dakota Legislature is trying to obstruct constitutional amendments proposed by petition of the people. At the present time, constitutional amendments initiated by citizens go straight to the ballot for an up or down vote. If approved, the amendment goes into effect. Under the Legislature’s proposal, a measure approved by the people would first go to the Legislature where, if rejected by the Legislature, it would go to the next biennial election for a second vote of the peopl...
A few weeks ago, Senator Cramer suggested it was time to have an adult conversation about the national debt, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Once again, initial thoughts of the “haves” is to stick it to the “have-nots.” For millions of people, these are not simply issues to be discussed casually in Washington. These programs are life lines. Before we consider cutting lifelines, I propose everyone who benefitted from the big tax cut give it back. An adult conversation should be wide op...
With the closure of the state’s largest power plant and coal mine a certainty in 2022, North Dakota is forced to accept the realities facing a coal industry that has existed since settlement days. Green River Energy announced recently that it was closing its Coal Creek Station and Falkirk Mine near Underwood in 2022, short notice for a move that will have a significant impact on the and surrounding area. This closure may be only the first domino to go and sweep away the remaining four plants a...
“Church donations have plunged because of coronavirus. Some churches won’t survive.” That’s what the newspaper headlines blared a couple of weeks ago as the financial problems of churches across the country began to erupt. According to a 2018-2019 National Congregations Study, a third of the churches had no savings, just 20% streamed their services and only 48% were able to accept donations electronically. In a “StateofthePlate” national poll covering 65% of churches, giving was steady in 2...
The Founding Fathers, mostly Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, didn’t expect that a by-product of federalism would be state bankruptcies. But that is what could happen if we adopted U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s suggestion that states buried in debt because of the virus should declare bankruptcy. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states have identified new holes in their budgets which by state constitutional provisions must be balanced. Moo...
While most people have been badmouthing the coronavirus, I am trying to look on the positive side. This hope that we will bounce back the better for it is unfounded. We need to search for the good side of the virus attack. So far, there are two positives, pun not intended. If North Dakota plays its cards right, the requirements of “social distance” (6-feet apart) can be a greater financial boon than the billions of tons of lignite coal under western North Dakota, most of which will not be min...
The country is now in the grips of a mysterious bout with polarization not seen for generations in American society. Hate and anger seem to have displaced civil discourse and honest disagreement. For some strange reason, we are an unhappy people in a time of impressive prosperity. The economy is having less impact on public opinion than ever before. Usually, presidential failures and successes ride with the economy. But not in 2020. Why not? Keeping the Peace Discussion of politics has become...
One Sunday morning the pastor said that “everyone has a need to belong.” He was confirming God’s earlier statement that it was not good for man to be alone. That profound observation stuck with me because it is so true. However, we have not thought about seriously addressing this truism. The time has come to acknowledge that we are a nation of communities in which millions of Americans don’t belong. It seems that the most intelligent thing we can do is to build stronger communities in which ever...
The era of good feeling between Thanksgiving and Christmas is an excellent time to take a serious look at a country muddled in violence, bigotry, intolerance, polarization and hatred. And, on top of that, polls show that Americans are getting more miserable, too. Polls also show that the polarized Republicans and Democrats hate each other more than ever before and the election season is just ahead when we will experience unprecedented recrimination, anger and hate. Polarization is trickling...
WANTED: Gubernatorial candidate with no previous political experience to defeat a man who has been governor for four years. Any young man, resident of the state, preferably a veteran, fair education, no political strings or obligations and possessor of a few ideas for betterment of state at large may apply for the job. Applicants to be reviewed by 100 interested citizens who will guarantee support but will not obligate the candidate in any way. This is the verbatim advertisement, with a few...
October is “Stamp Out Stigma” month being sponsored by the Association of Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW) to reduce the public stigma of mental illness and disorders caused by substance abuse. This SOS effort is one piece of the puzzle for getting a grip on a mental health epidemic sweeping the country. The campaign leaders hope to change “the dialogue on mental health and addiction from a whisper to a conversation.” Even though great advances have been made in our understanding of ment...
Ole Thornerson was wheezing and snorting as he stumbled up the last golden step to Pearly Gate 333. He expected a huge crowd of friends and relatives cheering him for making it but he was faced with only an 8-foot table from Walmart at which were seated a trio of saints– St. Peter, presiding, flanked by Saints James and John. James and John were not Peter’s first choices for deputies of registration but their mother had put up such a stink about good appointments for her two boys that Peter fig...
By choking the effectiveness of the new Ethics Commission, the legislature proved that the negative polls were right. EMC Research of Washington, D.C. conducted polls to assess the voters’ perceptions of the state legislature and political system. The results should have jerked legislators up short but they seemed determined to make the Ethics Commission unworkable. They succeeded. In the polls, the legislature had only a 39 percent approval rating. More than 80 percent believed political leader...
There is little doubt that we are seeing a universal rise in prices. Nevertheless, lives are getting cheaper as society continues to tolerate deadly public policy, usually in exchange for money and power. For several years, we have failed to attack gun deaths with any degree of commitment. After every mass slaughter, policymakers are outraged about gun violence and promise to find the silver bullet that will end the problem tomorrow morning. The outrage soon melts away and remains latent until...
Manifest Destiny was born in 1845 when U.S. politicians sought to justify the seizing of other countries’ territory as God’s plan for America, starting with the annexation of half of Mexico. Actually, we didn’t have a name for this land lust in 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United State by purchasing the Louisiana Territory for $15 million. The deal “outed” Jefferson as a Democrat when people saw he spent money he didn’t have for property he never saw. Spendthrift...
The state legislative leadership recently announced that they were going to the people to get suggestions for the use of the interest running into the hundreds of millions generated by our $6 billion Heritage Fund. Thus far, the legislature has no consensus on the definition of “heritage” so we are not sure where the money ought to go. Consequently, they have been using it to fill the fiscal gap at the end of the legislative session. And that will be modus operandi from here to eternity if we...
When Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation Leann Bertsch announced a new Justice Reinvestment program to reduce the prison population and cut recidivism, this column hailed the program with a quotation from “Governing,” a magazine for state and local governments, “North Dakota is conducting a prison experiment unlike anything else in the United States.” Leann had been to Norway and found that it had less recidivism than North Dakota and decided that this was the time to change tactics...
Chairman Ork Dorken scanned the town’s electors gathered in the community hall for the quadrennial testing of the presidential waters with a seminar on voting. “Eleven persons being present, I declare a quorum to do business,” he declared. “Can we have a reading of the minutes of the last meeting?” “I move we don’t read any minutes because Secretary Dorsey Crank was riding his bike in the Black Hills and wasn’t here to take minutes,” explained Holger Danske as perspiration dripped off his n...
Congresswoman Ilham Omar, a Somali-American, expressed some partisan criticism and was immediately trashed by a crowd in North Carolina with the chant “Send her back,” indicating that she had no right to be in this country. I was shocked. So unAmerican, so unChristian, I thought. But my initial conclusions were wrong. While it was still unChristian, it was actually very American. Once the Germans and Scandinavians got in, we quickly slammed the door on the Irish, Chinese, Italians, Czechs, Bul...
The Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill & Elevator will be celebrating their 100th anniversary soon but not before a resurrected band of NPL supporters have toured three gems created by the Nonpartisan League in 1919. According to the plan, a busload of some 25 were scheduled to leave Mandan at 9 a.m. July 29 for a tour of the Bank where Mike Jacobs, author of a new book about the bank, was to share some insights. A Big Tent Chautauqua was slated to continue talks. At 3 p.m. the bus...
Speculation on the 2020 gubernatorial race has already begun and, for the incumbent, it looks more like a walk. There is no use in making a charade out of the whole thing so let’s put the political circles at ease by making an iron-clad prognostication: Governor Doug Burgum will be the Republican candidate, but the sacrificial Democrat has yet to be found. First of all, I am amazed that Burgum survived this first term let alone look for a second. This guy is a mover and a shaker and the North D...
Whenever my son comes with a black box, I know I’m going to be pressured into a new electronic gimmick the learning of which, considering a human’s normal lifespan, can’t be amortized in my schedule. And I’ll have to learn more than I want to know about something. “What’s ROKU?” I asked him, guessing it was probably a Chinese soup or a new dog food. Well, the little black box added multiple channels to my already overloaded TV, meaning I would have to add two more hours of TV watching to amortiz...
“Daddy, I’m in the water.” “I am, too, Sweetie.” “But my face is in the water and I can’t breathe.” “I’m covered with water and I can’t even move.” “Where are we, Daddy?” “We are on the shore of the big river.” “What are we doing here in the cold water?” “We were going to America but our boat crashed.” “Why didn’t we go on the bridge with the other people?” “The people who run things wouldn’t let us cross on the bridge.” “Are they mean? Do they hate us?” “Some do, but they just don’t understa...
