Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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It comes as a surprise to no one that North Dakota, like every other state in the nation, is in the throes of an unprecedented teacher shortage. Long-time administrators will tell you that where once there were dozens of applications for each open position, they are now fortunate to receive one or two worthy applicants, if any. Many educators will tell you that K-12 education remains an honorable and vital profession with an ever-increasing level of stress. What both agree on is that the...
A couple of days ago, I retrieved one (of about a hundred) of our family doglets' chew bones from the seemingly unreachable chasm under my youngest and quietest daughter's bed using an ingenious invention of my own making – namely a straightened-out wire clothes hanger. This same apparatus also comes in handy for retrieving various undergarments (along with a metric ton of lint) that somehow fall behind – and then underneath – our washer and dryer. The clothes hanger/wonder hook prompted me to c...
When the U.S. Supreme Court, in Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia (1980), in the words of Justice John Paul Stevens, “squarely held that the acquisition of newsworthy matter is entitled to constitutional protection,” it was protecting under the First Amendment’s free press clause the essential foundation of our democracy. The conception of the press as a pillar of strength for a free people who mean to govern themselves is as old as the republic itself. In 1765, in his acclaimed treatise, “A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,” a youthful J...
It’s another year of “lasts” at the Wobbema house. Yes, I realize we are smack dab in the middle of our daughter’s senior year, but reality didn’t set in until just a few days ago. It all started when a fellow mom of a senior posted a picture of her son on social media last week. That night was the last time he’d play high school basketball on his home court, and she was wrestling with all the emotions that come with it. I replied that I was fortunate that NR-S was hosting the district girls’ to...
Now that my age has surpassed the mid-century mark and I'm more ancient than virtually all professional athletes, everyone in my department at work, and even my pastor at church, I've noticed that the old memory is not what it used to ... Wait. What was I writing about again? My cognitive decline became all too obvious the other day when I was at the Verizon store upgrading to one of those newfangled iPhone jumbo-large-print editions with a camera powerful enough to take photos of the porta pott...
The First Amendment’s free press clause, which Thomas Jefferson declared indispensable to republicanism, has long been regarded as the “people’s right to know.” Without knowledge of governmental programs, policies and practices, the people would have little ability to hold government accountable. The press, as Jefferson and the founders recognized, could provide the crucial informing function that would make self-government possible. Historically speaking, protection of the informing function is precisely why the Supreme Court has protect...
You had a great 100-year run, AM radio, and your demise is breaking my heart. According to the Wall Street Journal, carmakers such as Tesla, Volvo and BMW are no longer providing AM radios in their new vehicles. Why? In part, because of the emergence of electric vehicles. As the WSJ explains, quoting the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a car-industry trade group, the onboard electronics on EVs “create interference with AM radio signals – a phenomenon that ‘makes the already fuzzy analo...
“Things are not always as they appear to be … Curiosity creates possibilities and opportunities.” Roy T. Bennett I’m a curious person. It’s a trait that characterizes many journalists, and for good reason. The drive to know more or to ask just one more question to get to the heart of the issue is often the catalyst for good news articles. According to Dictionary.com, curiosity is “a strong desire to know or learn something.” I usually refer to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for official defi...
Justice Robert H. Jackson’s departure for Europe in September of 1945 to serve as chief prosecutor for the United States at the historic Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals annoyed some of his fellow justices and heightened the internal tensions that gripped the Supreme Court. Jackson’s acceptance of an appointment by President Harry Truman to lead the prosecution affected the workload and decision-making of the Court and renewed a lingering debate on the wisdom and propriety of tasking justices with non-judicial responsibilities. Chief Jus...
The issue of homeless students in North Dakota has come to the fore in the last couple of weeks. Homeless in North Dakota? Even though a variety of public and private entities offer services, kids are still falling in the cracks. We shouldn’t be surprised because a global look at our neglect of children in this state reflects our “bootstraps” orientation to life is one of private sector capitalism and not compassion for the needy. Right now, the state is reaping millions of dollars more than...
Despite my best preventive measures, I have spent decades enduring the "stillgottas." If you are unfamiliar with the medical terminology, it's the why-can't-it-be-terminal-and-give-me-the-sweet-release-of-death condition characterized by perpetually gasping, "I've still gotta grab item A and finish project B and clean item C and research the efficacy of an Epi-Pen after absent-mindedly ingesting mystery food D and ..." Some guys have a fabulous career releasing their inner drag queen, but all I...
Every now and again, the public displays an intense interest in the question of whether Supreme Court Justices ought to recuse themselves from a particular case because it appears that they have a conflict of interest that might prevent them from delivering an impartial ruling. In 1816, Chief Justice John Marshall recused himself from participating in the landmark case, Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, because he had a conflict of interest. The public was aware of his conflicts. He had appeared as counsel in an earlier phase of the case and had a f...
Valentine’s Day and Giving Hearts Day are coming soon, but did you know that there’s one more very important heart-related observance we are in the midst of right now? Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. This could be a little girl in the ICU or a grandfather with Stage 3 leukemia. January is National Blood Donation Month, and the need is greater than you might realize. The American Red Cross recently announced that they are experiencing an emergency blood shortage. Blood don...
Get this: Gen Z job applicants are bringing their parents to job interviews, reports the New York Post. As it goes, for several decades America's children have been over-coddled by their "helicopter parents" – parents who zoom in to resolve any challenge their children may face, even as they become adults. Now they can't even conduct a job interview without mom or dad holding their hands and guiding the outcome? Geeze. That makes me kind of worried. Aren't the Zs the generation I'm supposed t...
Few nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court have been as well prepared, let us say, groomed, for a seat on the nation’s High Tribunal than Robert H. Jackson, who was appointed in 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Jackson’s remarkable career in his run up to joining the Court – brilliant New York attorney, intimate adviser to the nation’s most powerful leaders, history making stints as Solicitor General and Attorney General, legal architect of an international deal at the outset of World War II that proved critical in saving England – richl...
Cyber attacks will be significantly worse in 2024 for anyone who uses a digital device. Yet few are aware of, or prepared for, the threats they face – or how their poor cybersecurity skills are putting them and their families at incredible risk. Case in point: Last year, the top 10 weakest passwords were pretty much the same as they were in prior years, which offers a tremendous opportunity for cyber scammers to rob us blind. You see, scammers are really good at guessing passwords – the wea...
Is North Dakota better off today than it was a year ago?" That's the question asked by Craig Blumenshine, host of the PBS "Main Street" radio program, to a panel of journalists last week. "We have no way to go but up," I replied. The year 2023 was not one of my best, not even close. There were definitely some high points, and I'm grateful for that. Yet, I felt more anxious than I have in years. I'm not alone in that either, as uncertainty about what lay ahead has been all around me lately. The...
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team has filed briefs with the D.C. Court of Appeals, which will hear oral argument in the federal insurrection case on Jan. 9, claiming to find presidential immunity from criminal prosecution in the impeachment clause of the Constitution. Trump’s lawyers have advanced two arguments, each of which tortures the language of the impeachment clause, distorts the history and purposes surrounding the provision, and draws baseless inferences from the Framers’ careful steps to construct a power to protect the n...
On January 2, 2024, at its regular commission meeting, the Eddy County Commission discussed the recent letter to the editor written by Larry Danduran. The commission voted to issue a response to this letter and to correct misstatements that are being perpetuated from it. For a background, prior to the commission’s December 5, 2023 meeting, Glenda Collier, county commissioner and spouse of Larry Danduran, approached the Eddy County auditor about having Danduran put on the agenda to discuss his election concerns. Discussion was had between t...
I served as a judge for the last four elections, thus working with Eddy County Auditor Patty Williams. I feel our elections were 100 percent secure with the outcomes being what the voters wanted. The pre-election testing of the voting machine, the election safe guards and the post-election counting of the ballots were handled with professionalism by all election officials. These same officials thus signed off on the results. For someone and/or a political party to question these election results is offensive! Auditor Patty Williams'...
A few days ago, during one of those rare occasions when our whole family was together and my three semi-grown daughters weren't nursing an iPhone while wearing universe-canceling headphones, my wife posed probably the most oft-asked question this time of year: "Does anyone have any New Year's resolutions?" Although that conversation quickly took an off-ramp into a discussion of something earth-shattering like Taylor Swift's armpits, it got me thinking about my own potential resolutions, or, in...
There’s not enough snow to ride a snowmobile. The trees are bare, and the stubble from last year’s crop is still visible. There’s even water running through the ditches in some areas, in January! It’s “the winter that wasn’t,” some have written. Those that typically revel in that white winter wonderland are depressed to see bare trees and black ground. All I know is that the unseasonably warm temperatures and little to no snowfall have made winter all the more bearable for me. Last year at...
“Mention their name. Tell their story. Continue to live their legacy by remembering them with me.” – Nathalie Himmelrich Allen Stock, publisher of the Foster County Independent for 45 years, left this world on Christmas Day. I first got to know Allen about four years ago. He was a fellow publisher, but he hadn’t attended a newspaper convention or other gathering for several years. I remember him calling to ask if he could rerun articles we had printed in the Transcript, and he requested help se...
Here's a great New Year's resolution: get a pet. As we wrap up a very inflationary 2023, pet shelters across the country are at maximum capacity and they don't have room to house the pets people are turning in. ABC News reports that animals entering shelters began to climb in 2021. During the COVID pandemic, you see, many people adopted pets, but as they began to go back to the workplace, some decided they no longer wanted to care for a pet, so they turned them back in. The past year was...
In his landmark opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803), Chief Justice John Marshall defined the over-arching responsibility of the High Bench: “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is.” Marshall, the greatest name in our constitutional jurisprudence, observed that the Supreme Court is a law court, not a political court, a crucial distinction for a nation founded on the rationale that ours is a government of laws, not men. With notable exceptions, the Court, historically, has bee...
