Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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My husband and I started our relationship on a gravel road in rural Wells County (somewhere between Barlow and Cathay, if my memory serves me correctly) exactly 22 years ago this past weekend. At that time there were over a dozen Wobbema family members out for the opening day of deer gun season. I remember the sea of blaze orange and caravan of pickup trucks. That was my first adult experience hunting, and I will carry it with me for life. Since I didn’t have a tag, I walked treebelts in my p...
There are 15 states that have enacted term limits on their state legislatures. There are also 36 states which have term limits on their governors. Our state now has the opportunity to join both lists as it votes on Constitutional Measure 1 at the ballot box on Nov. 8. I am excited about this prospect. And I’m not alone. A recent poll showed that 81 percent of voters in North Dakota support the ballot measure, which would limit state legislators and the governor to a 8-year lifetime limit. This makes good sense. Positions of power in our s...
The 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr, lost in the mists of early American legal history stirs, at most, only feint recollections among members of the Bar, let alone the general public. But Chief Justice John Marshall’s landmark ruling that the president is required to obey subpoenas represents a principle that is fundamental to American Constitutionalism and the rule of law. Marshall’s ruling is a grand reminder of the resonance--in the fanatical politics of our time --of the American ideal that all men are equal in the eyes of the law. The pri...
This week Transcript Publishing brought a new publication into existence. My sister, Victoria, is an artist. Ever since she was a little girl, she has drawn and painted and brought things to life with her imagination. Recently, she drew a series (26 in total) of sketches related to witches, and then she brought me her sketchbook with a project in mind. She wanted me to publish her sketches into a coloring book she could launch just in time for Halloween. Welcome "Witch, Please!" to the list of...
It's a question worth asking in these nutty times: how old is too old to trick-or-treat? On the question-and-answer website Quora, some people ask if the age of 12 is a good time to hang up the ghost costumes. That sounds about right to me. My mother would have decked me if I'd tried to collect candy in the ninth grade. Trick-or-treating has long been a rite of passage of childhood - that is, it used to be. Other people responded to Quora that they see no reason for older people - adults in...
In 1996, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark opinion in United States v. Virginia that exalted women’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by ending the 157-year-old tradition of all-male education at the Virginia Military Institute, one of the nation’s most distinguished military colleges. Writing for a 7-1 majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg described VMI as “incomparable,” a school justly known for its “unparalleled record as a leadership training program,” dating back to its founding in 1839. The problem was,...
I've experienced a lifelong identity crisis, of sorts, because of my name (or names), and I've actually kind of enjoyed it – most of the time. The controversy began in 1970, around the time that I made my almost 10-pound newborn debut (sorry, Mom). Apparently, the discussion between my parents centered on whether to name me "Jase" or "Jason," both names originating from a Greek word meaning "healer" or "royal pain in the rear." Other than referring to me as their massive baby who was like d...
Dear Editor, Measure 1 is portrayed as a “fix” for North Dakota politics. Again, out-of-state money and individuals are trying to influence our state’s election process. I’m tired of out-of-staters telling us what’s good for North Dakota and trying to take away our right to vote – the very thing we pride ourselves on in America! The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, North Dakota Farmers Union and North Dakota Farm Bureau oppose this measure. Agriculture stands together to support our right as citizens to cast our vote for whomever we w...
NDFB urges a no vote on Measure 2 this November, citing its long-standing policy against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in North Dakota. “Our concerns are based on the unintended consequences for farmers, ranchers, employers and rural communities,” said NDFB President Daryl Lies. “Workplace safety and accountability are a huge concern for NDFB. If passed, the measure will compound North Dakota’s workforce shortage, particularly if an employer requires applicants to pass a drug test. We believe the unintended consequences for...
The U.S. Supreme Court’s long, tortured road to recognizing women’s constitutional rights in the late 20th Century was preceded by victories based, not on the principle of their equality, but on the perception of their inferiority. The Court had laid the groundwork in Bradwell v. Illinois (1873), by declaring women weak and therefore unfit for the practice of law. Their place, said the High Tribunal, was in the home. They required protection from the ugly occupations of civil life. In 1908, the Court, in Muller v. Oregon, rendered a his...
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four U.S. adults has a disability. Yet despite ADA protections, federal tax incentives, and private sector opportunity programs, millions of individuals with disabilities looking for work remain unemployed. There is a non-profit corporation right here in New Rockford, Carrington and Fessenden that provides support for individuals with disabilities: 4th Corporation. Their mission: “We strive to promote growth and development enabling each person to fulfill their personal dreams....
Step away from Twitter. Stop doom-scrolling. Yes, I know, American democracy is under assault. Russian President Vladimir Putin is muttering dark warnings about nuclear weapons in the face of heroic and historic resistance by Ukraine. Dozens of people are dead and large swaths of Florida have been devastated by Hurricane Ian. And Kanye West did something so uniformly awful in Paris that I was forced to Google the tone-deaf thing that Kanye West did in Paris. These are bleak times, indeed. And...
Not every landmark Supreme Court decision champions the rights of Americans or limits governmental power in a manner that preserves and protects our constitutional democracy. Some seminal rulings shock the conscience, rock the foundation of the nation and reflect crude and outdated prejudices which, when viewed from afar, are reminders that we have, indeed, made some progress. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bradwell v. State of Illinois (1873) is such a case. Myra Bradwell held a law degree and had practiced law in Vermont before moving t...
We turned the calendar over to a new month this past week, at seemingly record-breaking speed. It has now been one year since I became publisher of two newspapers, and I just don’t know where the time has gone. I must be having fun! October is a month of transition. We move into a new season, one much colder than the season before it. Bundle up in a cable-knit sweater or wrap a cozy blanket around your shoulders and come along with me! I’m looking ahead to all things October, because before I kn...
Changing communications technology is one of life's never-ending annoyances, and now we have a new agitation: voice messaging. Voice messaging allows smartphone owners to record their voice and send the recording to others as they would a text or a chat. According to the Wall Street Journal, some people consider the technique bothersome and rude - a camp I am clearly in, and I'll happily explain why. I've experienced a lot of phone-technology changes in my life. When I was a kid in the '70s and...
American legal history firmly rejects the view advanced by some commentators and politicians that the president, not Congress, may decide when to initiate war. It was, of course, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in a series of rulings at the dawn of the republic that Congress alone possesses the constitutional authority, by virtue of the War Clause, to declare war and to determine its nature and scope. In 1806, in U.S. v. Smith, Justice William Paterson, who had been a leading delegate to the Constitutional Convention, held, while riding...
Lifestyle changes are hard, especially when it comes to food. About two months ago, my husband and I decided to make a change in our diets. Since he doesn’t like it when I talk about him in my columns, I’ll focus on what we’re doing and why I took the leap. In a nutshell, it’s the Wobbema low-carb diet. We simply eat more grams of protein, and fewer simple sugars and carbohydrates. I’m doing it because it makes me feel better. I don’t need all that bread, baked goods, pasta and potatoes. I...
We all have stories of readers desperately seeking reliable information, whether it be about COVID-19 during the pandemic or for a report of what's happening at city hall or the county courthouse. We at NNA see it in our daily government affairs work with members of Congress, who almost uniformly admire their local community papers regardless of how they might feel about the national press. We see it in the example of the civic leaders in Mineral Wells, TX, who were so distraught over the...
Little v. Barreme, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1804, may be among the least familiar landmark rulings ever rendered, but it settled momentous constitutional and legal questions that plumb the depths of American history. In an opinion written by the great Chief Justice John Marshall, the Court held that it is for Congress, not the president, to decide when to initiate war and author lesser military hostilities. It held that the president, in his capacity as Commander in Chief, is bound by the statutory instructions, directions and...
I attended an NR-S vs. Carrington volleyball match as publisher of both newspapers for the first time on Thursday, Sept. 15. I saw administrators and school board members of both schools at the match, not to mention plenty of readers and advertisers, a good crowd overall. My daughter is a varsity starter for the Rockets, so that added another element. Of course, I was wearing columbia blue and black, but I was paying close attention to both teams that night. The match was intense, proba...
I bought my first lottery ticket recently. It was a $20 scratch-off that paid me a $40 prize. Winning produced a nice little thrill, so I bought another $20 ticket right away. And lost. I put out $40 to win $40 that day. I’ve bought three $20 scratch-offs since then and won nothing. To date, I’ve paid out $100 to win $40. The house always wins in the end. Still, some people enjoy big paydays playing the state-sponsored lotteries. I know a fellow who hit twice for over $100,000 or so...
In a stunning decision on April 12, 1937, with enormous constitutional, economic and societal importance, the U.S. Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, upheld a law that transformed workers’ rights and labor relations. The Wagner Act of 1935 guaranteed the right of workers to organize labor unions. It also aimed to protect the right of employees to bargain collectively with their employers. The statute defined types of interference with these rights as unfair labor practices and empow...
I thrive on deadlines. I get a sense of accomplishment every time I can check something off my to-do list, flip through the pages of a newspaper fresh off the press, or see a finished project come to life. I even had shirts made for the staff in New Rockford that said, “Just Duck It.” The “duck” represents the file transfer software, Cyberduck, that we use to send our newspaper pages to press. When we are ready, we “feed the duck” with .pdf files, one for each page in the print edition. Th...
There are stubborn and unwelcome facts about getting older. The gray hairs that weren't there the day before. The injuries from running or other sports that come easier and are harder to shake off than they were before. And your friends die. This summer, I've said farewell to two dear friends who, as dear friends do, shaped my life in their own unique and individual ways. Both of them were named Robert. And though they never met, the interwoven threads of their friendships can never be unraveled...
The Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937), set against the backdrop of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s controversial court-packing plan, shocked the nation when it upheld state authority to impose a minimum wage law, less than a year after it had declared that such laws violated the freedom of contract protected by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. The New Deal Court’s abrupt about-face marked the beginning of the High Tribunal’s rapidly changing jurisprudence. In the early and mid-1930s, the Co...
