Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Somewhere on the Appalachian Trail... We’d been climbing steadily uphill for 25 minutes, a deceptively arduous mile. The sweat was pooling in the small of my back. And my breath came deep and even against the climb, as I planted one foot ahead of the other on the rocky trail. My daughter was behind me, and I could hear her footfalls in the wooded silence. And so I started thinking about time. All this time we’ve had. This time on pause, this time in silence, where we’ve been asked to surrender our autonomy and stay away from friends and the...
Americans have a tendency to think we react well in emergencies. There is this sense we rise to the occasion, without whining and with that strength of character vouchsafed us from our immigrant ancestors. You only have to look at how the pioneers dealt with the dangers of the trek westward, the Depression-era folk who survived the Dustbowl and urban poverty, the Greatest Generation that willed themselves through World War II, and even a few more recent examples, like the reaction to 9/11 and th...
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...
Dear fellow New Rockford residents, It has been an honor and a privilege serving as city commissioner of New Rockford for the past 12 years. With the current COVID-19 pandemic limiting my ability to discuss some of my views face-to-face, I opted to proceed with this Letter to the Editor to express my views/concerns and goals for the community’s future. I am committed to maintaining our small-town charm by ensuring the safety and integrity of our neighborhoods, the quality of services and vitality of our businesses. A great deal of work c...
On a recent Saturday afternoon, 86-year-old Uncle Doug shared a bit of family lore about his grandfather (my great-grandfather). When great-grandpa Henry Lee Gipson was four years old, a stranger came knocking on the door. The visitor introduced himself and went inside to conduct his business. As he was leaving, he apologized for using a pseudonym and confided that his real name was Jesse James! (This was when Jesse and brother Frank were living in Nashville, and three or four years before...
The pandemic has turned our world upside down. We work from home. School is cancelled indefinitely. Weddings, graduations, baptisms and all of the other indicia of the normal trajectory of a human life are suspended. This is what it must be like to be in Limbo, that now defunct Catholic state of existence without boundary, but also without God. The anxiety is real, palpable and weighs on all of us. On some, though, the weight is much heavier. There is a little girl who should have had no...
Since this historic journey began with the first case of COVID-19 being confirmed in North Dakota on March 11, we have learned much about this insidious disease. We have learned that it spreads quickly and without regard for borders. We have learned that it takes loved ones too soon and disrupts livelihoods too often, leaving behind a wake of emotional and economic hardship. We have also learned much about ourselves. In the six weeks since I challenged all of us to let go of being "North Dakota...
The recent death of actor James Drury (star of the 1962-1971 TV Western “The Virginian”) adds insult to injury when one considers what will occur next month. When the networks announce the shows they’re canceling and launching, yet again there will be no true Westerns in contention for a coveted spot on the fall schedules. The year I was born, there were 30 “horse operas” spread out across three broadcast networks in prime time, and that culture left an indelible mark on me. (Not in the publi...
ND Stockmen’s Association offers principles for USDA to consider in CARES relief distribution Congress authorized $9.5 billion for livestock and specialty crop producers and local foods systems through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but tasked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with designing how the funding will be allocated. With the help of a specially appointed Livestock Relief Subcommittee comprised of state beef industry leaders, the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association (NDSA), which represents app...
Walking my dog Dorothy a few months ago I didn’t recognize the fellow waving from the white car until he stopped to say hello. Turns out it was Ed, a casual acquaintance, whose wave I hadn’t acknowledged because I couldn’t see him through the tinted glass. Since then I’ve made it a point to wave at every car that passes on our quiet street. Maybe I know the driver, perhaps I don’t. But the wave can’t hurt; in fact, it’s rather nice. Nowadays, with social distancing, we’re all doing a lot mor...
As we adjust our daily schedules to the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families are suffering from acute boredom. Students are suspending their homeschool teachers without pay for excessive grouchiness, children are traumatizing their pets by repeatedly dressing them in Superman and ballerina outfits, and adults are resorting to binge-watching Tiger King on Netflix – again. One necessary diversion from this “new normal” is a trip to the supermarket, which has transformed from a mundane activity into a full-contact version of Guy’s Groc...
In 1918, an influenza panic much like today’s COVID-19 struck the nation. The Spanish flu, as it was often called, killed at least 50 million victims worldwide, and 675,000 in the U.S. Then-Surgeon General Rupert Blue summarized how suddenly the highly contagious, fast-spreading and deadly respiratory disease struck. “People are stricken on the streets or while at work. First there is a chill, then fever with temperatures from 101 to 103, headache, backache, reddening and running of the eye...
“Where you live matters” is one of the most common phrases heard in fair housing trainings across the country in any given year. Our state is currently in the middle of a worldwide pandemic and we are suddenly required to work, attend school, worship, and connect to the outside world within the confines of our homes. The walls of our home have become our best defense in a war and the concept of “home” as a “sanctuary” has never been more relevant. High Plains Fair Housing Center is committed to ensuring equal access to housing in North Dakot...
Dear Governor Burgum, I am writing on behalf of the North Dakota County Auditors Association for whom I serve as the executive director. North Dakota County Auditors are the frontline election administrators for the North Dakota elections. Currently, all auditors share one critical concern - the public safety of voters and poll workers during the June primary. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, Auditors are concerned about being able to execute an election while maintaining the recommendations from the CDC, ND Department of Health and...
A simple pleasure that I have each spring is to go out to my farm and look for sheds (deer antlers). This year was to be special because of being shut in and was to be a good day for getting some exercise. So I go out to the farm, excited, but after a few minutes of looking, I noticed all kinds of 4-wheeler tracks... you guessed it... the field had already been cleaned of sheds. At first I thought "Had I sold this section of land?" SoIwenttooneofthe seven “No Hunting & No Trespassing” posters, and my name was still on them. So now I figure the...
I’ve been inundated lately with emails and calls and texts from friends and family from far away: Everyone’s been hearing reports about New York City, where I live, being a coronavirus war zone— one where everything’s closed and people are fighting over the few remaining rolls of toilet paper left. And it all reminds me a little bit of a long-ago Tran- script story about my father Jerome and his twin brother, Gerald, when they were stationed in New Guinea during World War II. My father told th...
Dear Readers, Life is different during the COVID-19 outbreak, and so will your local newspaper for the time being. We're still here, but our pages will be missing the events, sports and school news you're used to seeing this time of year. Still, there's news to share. Our job is to report the news, so you have reliable, trustworthy information on what is happening locally and how our community responds as COVID-19 hits home. But we want to do more. Just like the Transcript was filled with...
As an old saying goes, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end. The world's politicians are innovating on the fly (pun intended) by trying to combine the fall – the COVID-19 epidemic – with the sudden stop, bringing life and commerce to a halt through draconian travel restrictions, business closures, etc. We don't yet know what the COVID-19 death toll is going to be. In the U.S., based on current numbers, it looks like we're going to see quite a few more deaths than occurred in the 9/11 attacks, more even than fro...
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 COVID-19 pandemic is presenting all of us with unforeseen challenges. As members of the North Dakota State Teacher of the Year Chapter, we feel compelled to share our perspectives. Guided by love for our students and pride in the teaching profession, we are focusing on a statement made by Sara Medalen, the 2020 State Teacher of the Year, who was interviewed in a recent news story. While handing out lunches to students in Minot, Medalen said, “We really are all in this together.” We know it is true. We will get through this challenging tim...
Public officials across the country have begun ordering the shut-down of “non-essential” businesses for periods of time. The goal of these orders is to appropriately react to our COVID-19 health crisis. However, these orders can also lead to some confusion about their application to news publishing operations. It should be readily apparent that local news publishers are carrying out an absolutely essential function in conveying accurate, reliable and critical information to the public at a time of great need. Many consumers are using our dig...
According to the Associated Press, Michael Schur (creator of the critically acclaimed NBC series “The Good Place”) has signed with publishing house Simon & Schuster to write the humor/philosophy book “How To Be Good: A Definitive Answer for Exactly What To Do In Every Possible Situation” (scheduled for fall 2021). In a world where we’re constantly bombarded with negative messages such as “Only the good die young” and “Nice guys finish last,” it’s uplifting to see the concept of goodness analyze...
On March 12, the New York Federal Reserve announced a $1.5 trillion injection of money into the U.S. financial system. Three days later, it cut its benchmark interest rate to zero and announced it would be buying at least $500 billion in government bonds and another $200 billion in mortgage securities. The Fed is returning to a policy of "Quantitative Easing" in response to the COVID-19 panic. The idea behind these moves is that throwing money at the banks and the government will "stimulate" the economy by keeping credit easy for consumers and...
Fake meat claims by Colin Woodall National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO There are countless articles about the fake meat business lately and most of them are little more than promotional pieces for the companies producing plant-based alternatives to meat. A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article titled “This Anti-CEO’s Mission Impossible: Use Capitalism to Kill Meat,” took a slightly different path, expressing a small dose of skepticism about the long-term prospects for fake meat products and the ability of companies such as Impossi...
While Amazon is looking to hire 100,000 new employees to keep up with their online shopping demand due to the coronavirus outbreak, our local, small businesses need our support now more than ever. These business owners and employees are our neighbors and friends. They are so important to our community. Obviously our health and the health of others is our top priority, but let’s look at ways that we can help our local businesses. Here are a few ways you can support local businesses now: · Buy now to enjoy later! · Purchase gift cards. · Shop...
