Dakota Beacon

“Holy cow, I didn’t think it would happen this fast” -- Ron Ness, president of the ND Petroleum Council, expressing surprise when March ND oil production moved slightly past that of Alaska, making ND the #2 production state. Crossover was expected to happen this year, but not so quickly -- a mild ND winter was a factor. Texas is #1 -- its oil production is roughly three times ND or Alaska.

Bill Marcil is chairman of Forum Communications in Fargo which owns many media properties, including the daily newspapers in Dickinson, Grand Forks, Fargo and Jamestown. His wife Jane Black Marcil is from the family which owned and published the Fargo Forum; son Bill Marcil Jr. is the publisher of the Forum. Bill and Jane Marcil have emerged as leading philanthropists in the region. They helped fund new presidential homes at UND and NDSU and recently donated $1 million to the Offutt School of Business at Concordia College. Tom Dennis at the GF Herald observed that fostering university growth can promote economic development just as effectively as business tax incentives. Separately, Forum Communications has pledged $100,000 to develop a strategic plan to coordinate the economies of Grand Forks and Fargo.

A dishonest, drunken father; an extremely cruel stepmother; beatings and illness; demeaning jobs; and homes lost to fire: Norma Egstrom endured all those problems as a child, yet found hope in music and dancing and became Peggy Lee, one of the greatest jazz singers of her time. Forum columnist Curtis Eriksmoen has a three-part series on her life.

Five Indian tribes from several states call themselves COLT (Coalition of Large Tribes). The COLT members are upset with the federal government about a range of issues involving taxation, natural resources and tribal sovereignty. Their biggest grievances relate to new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on tribal lands, which threaten to slow reservation oil development. Their spokesman said there was a “lack of respect” and the “federal agencies are illegal and disrespectful.” COLT met at Three Affiliated Tribes headquarters in New Town and the spokesman leading the charge was TAT chairman Tex Hall.

The Three Affiliated Tribes are usually able to finance projects, but have a hard time wrapping them up. They were given a new health center. The Indian Health Service operates and maintains the facility, and pays the staff. It’s not fully staffed because potential staff members can’t find or afford homes in the area because of the oil boom. Tex Hall wants an additional $12 million -- from somebody -- to construct homes. Also, New Town is clogged with oil traffic and has designed a bypass to be funded by state and federal money. However, the project is a year in the future because TAT did not obtain environmental clearances.

McKenzie and Williams counties have about five percent of the state population, yet have 34 percent of its auto fatalities. Officials say the crashes are not necessarily oil industry related, but indicative of dangerous roads in the oil patch.

Attorneys and judges can’t keep up with rising oil patch caseloads. Courtrooms in Dickinson are constantly busy with civil and criminal cases. The SW District (Dickinson) had a 50 percent increase in traffic cases since 2008.

School problems in the oil patch are well known -- less known is the extent to which those problems are pushing into communities outside the oil patch. Because of housing shortages, young families are commuting from small communities on the fringe of the oil zone. Towns such as Rhame and Mott face sudden enrollment jumps. School officials are unsure how to respond -- they don’t want to build permanent facilities for what may be short-term demand.

The state's new residents have consumed all the housing in western ND. A market analyst said Williston has an immediate need for 7,000 homes. A housing summit in Williston attracted 350 people from 33 states.

“Yes, the man camps cause problems, just substantially less problems than any other way to handle it.” -- a quote from the Dickinson Press. GF Herald columnist Tom Dennis urged western ND counties to reconsider their man-camp moratoriums. He said man camps are an alternative to chaos.

Ken Rogers of the Bismarck Tribune believes there is too much talk in ND about “oil field trash,” people moving to the state to work in the oil patch. Rogers cautions Nodaks about insulting oil-workers who are in ND with good reason and are essential to the oil boom. If that was not enough reason to be tolerant, Rogers reminded Nodaks that, beginning with the great depression and drought in the 1930s, sons and daughters of the state have been migrating to the West Coast, Denver and Minneapolis for work. He said, “Treating outsiders who are doing the same thing with disrespect is so very wrong.”

The industrial park in Spiritwood has been a great disappointment with the cancellation of an ethanol plant and delays in production at a coal-fired energy plant. The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. has been desperately trying to find businesses to fit the park. Their latest scheme looks like a big stretch. Westbound coal trains are usually empty -- a company is proposing to use the empty trains to bring iron ore from northern Minnesota to Spiritwood to be smelted using biomass materials gathered in the area. Almost every aspect of the proposal is unproven. The JSDC has applied for a grant for a pilot plant study.

Every so often, I mention the obituary of an interesting everyday person. Urius Wayne “Mickey” Packineau (77), whose Indian name means Riding a Roan Horse, is one. Mickey was born in Elbowoods (now beneath Lake Sakakawea) and was salutatorian of his high school class. He attended the Haskell Institute in Kansas (post high school training for American Indians). He served overseas in the Air Force, earned a Wahpeton degree in electronic technology and moved to California. He returned to ND to work for the Ft. Berthold Housing Authority. One of his proudest moments was when his twin grandsons, Neil and Nathaniel, won the ND Class “B” Basketball Championship in 2007.

A Fargo woman was stopped by police for exhibition driving. Czesia Marie Van Meter (43) wishes that were the extent of her problems. When she pulled out her driver’s license, a marijuana leaf stuck to the back of it. Careless Czesia has drug charges in addition to driving charges.

DAKTOIDS: With huge federal deficits, we should be concerned where our money is going. In the midst of a booming farm economy, the USDA loaned $700,000 to build a farm equipment dealership in Ashley . . . The oil conference in Bismarck next week expects 4,000 registrants -- the biggest such event there in 30 years.

Remember the parable of the ant and the grasshopper? The ant worked hard laying up supplies for winter, while the grasshopper laughed and played the summer away. Then winter came and, well, you know what happened. While Minnesotans made fun of Nodaks, the little ND brothers and sisters were working hard. In 2010, ND’s per-capita income slipped past Minnesota; in 2011 the gap widened, ND per-capita income was $45,700, while Minnesota was $44,700. Both states were well above the national average of $41,700. In the past decade, ND personal income moved from 38th in the nation to ninth.

Development is exploding in the Oil Patch and almost everyone sees things they don’t like, but it is often hard to know what, if anything, can or should be done. It’s impossible for state and local government to foresee all problems, much less their remedies. The Little Missouri State Park is a good example. Most of us don’t know what or where it is -- a particularly scenic park straddling the Little Missouri River canyon about 20 miles north of Killdeer, near the point where the river enters Lake Sakakawea. Lynn Helms, Director of the Department of Mineral Resources, says major steps have been taken to protect the park from oil development, although the state’s hands are tied in many respects because only 20 percent of the land and 7 percent of the mineral resources within the 30,000 acre park are owned by the state.

State editorial writers joined the clamor about development in or near Little Mo park, although they too are unclear about solutions. Tom Dennis at the GF Herald wrung his hands at the urgency, mentioned the power of eminent domain, while noting the state’s reluctance to spend money to acquire parkland. Clay Jenkinson at the Tribune also sounded the alarm and talked of the need to legislate “rules of engagement” and “to draw the line.” Jenkinson tried to be moderate, but let some extreme thoughts slip out, for example, his rules of engagement would include taxing “the energy industry as much as we can.” He is advocating a theoretical maximum, rarely a good solution.

Forum publisher Bill Marcil Jr. decided to see the Oil Patch for himself. He definitely didn’t like what he saw: bad roads, poor planning and uncontrolled building. He too was vague: “We need to leave overly conservative roots behind and embrace the new prosperity. Our leaders must step up to the plate. Time is not on our side.”

The Tribune’s Lauren Donovan wrote about Dickinson’s House of Manna, a Salvation Army type center that helps new arrivals in the Oil Patch. The article featured desperate families looking for jobs in the oil economy and arriving in western ND without resources. House of Manna helps people until they get paychecks. With a little help, some get on their feet, but others fail for the same reasons that brought them to ND. That last group needs assistance getting home. Williston has a variation of the same problem -- its school district has 126 children who are homeless (living largely in vehicles).

Man camps remain one of the biggest controversies in western ND. An official says they are “way out of hand” and Williams and Mountrail, two key Oil Patch counties, have moratoriums. Before the halt, Williams approved 9,600 units. Some man camps are larger than many ND cities. Business interests see the moratoriums as bad policy which forces workers into unregulated, substandard housing. A reporter from the Jamestown Sun toured the Williston area and saw man camps which she described as “sort of liveable,” but others looked “like people warehouses, drab, soulless and dormlike beyond belief.”

Please don’t call it a man camp -- a 3,000-person facility proposed in Dickinson will be known as a crew camp. The facility will consist of four multistory buildings on 44 acres. The Texas developer says rooms will each be about 200 square feet with private baths. The buildings will look permanent, but will be steel, modular units that can be taken apart and used elsewhere. Accommodate International hopes to have the first phase up and running in this year’s fourth quarter -- the entire project will take two years.

The rules of supply and demand for labor don't seem to be working in the Oil Patch -- many jobs are unfilled and the unemployment rate stays unnaturally low. The "fedgazette," a newspaper of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, reports there are barriers to the free flow of labor into the Oil Patch. The paper mentions three: First, low unemployment in eastern ND -- the most natural source of labor; secondly, a reputation for frigid winters, and; lastly, scarce and expensive housing.

The April issue of "fedgazette" has articles on both labor and housing in Oil Patch counties including excellent maps and graphics. The articles can be found at "minneapolisfed.org/publications." Look for "fedgazette" in the lefthand column.

Teri Finneman of the Forum fields questions about state government. She was asked about the Common Schools Trust Fund which gets revenues from state owned lands, makes investments, and uses the income for ND K-12 schools. She was asked how big could it get. Her answer: quite big! The fund currently has $1.9 billion and distributed $46 million to schools last year. Projections indicate the fund could grow to $17 billion in 25 years and make annual distributions of $600 million.

The open house at the Midland Continental Depot Transportation Museum (whew!) in Wimbledon will include a performance by the Jamestown Drum and Bugle Corps. What’s going on -- why does a town of 225 have a transportation museum? A little hint: the depot was once the home of Norma Egstrom, whose father was an agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. That’s not a enough hint, OK, Norma changed her name to Peggy Lee -- the rest is history. Lee, who died ten years ago, was among the first to receive ND’s Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award. Mary Beth Orn so idolized Peggy Lee she left $20,000 as seed money for restoring the depot.

The McClusky Canal is a 75-mile waterway to nowhere. It was constructed in the 1970s to carry Missouri River water to the Sheyenne River, which in turn could carry the water to the Red River near Fargo. The incomplete McClusky Canal does not connect to either the Sheyenne River or the New Rockford Canal, a nearby canal which also goes nowhere. The McClusky Canal has a unique characteristic -- it crosses the continental divide between the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay (Canada). The canal was intended to irrigate up to 1 million acres. Some preliminary irrigation will begin on 3,500 acres near Turtle Lake, only about ten miles from Lake Sakakawea.

No soft drinks, no bathrooms, and often no attendants. Great Lakes Airlines keeps its planes small and its costs low in order to serve cities subsidized by federal Essential Air Services. The Wyoming based airline provides services in Devils Lake, Dickinson, Jamestown and Williston.

Scam is in the air. In March, I mentioned an Iowa company’s plan to use an idle Grafton ethanol plan to turn sugar beets into fuel. The plan seemed sketchy and a hard sell to ND investors. Company spokesman Darrell Smith has resigned. Agweek reports he made misrepresentations to potential ND investors and has a history of complaints regarding sales of insurance products.

A character in the new movie “The Five-Year Engagement” claims ND is the “worst place on earth.” Nodaks do not seem disturbed -- GF Herald readers were polled and asked if they were offended, the result: three out of four were not. A related article in the Herald drew well over a 150 comments -- more than any other article.

Minnesota insults continue to trickle down on ND. The state was still contemplating jabs made at its capitol and the Fargodome, when a Minnesota Vikings “Super Fan” raised the ante. He told legislators their failure to approve a new stadium would turn the state into a “third Dakota.” Larry Spooner prepared a large banner reading “NEW STADIUM YES! Let’s not become the third Dakota.” When will this stop?

Chalk up another category in which ND is a leader. In this case, it’s a Census segment called the “oldest old,” people 85 and older. In ND, 2.5 percent of the population falls into that bucket, a teeny bit behind Rhode Island which has the nation’s highest percentage. This old group is increasing its foothold in ND and is expected to be 3.8 percent of the state’s population in 2030. The national percentage of “oldest old” is 1.8. Health care and retirement homes are the big challenges.

Clay Jenkinson’s columns in the Bismarck Tribune sometimes follow a pattern. He first sketches a horrendous, growing problem, then offers a modest solution. In a recent column, it was the oil industry munching its way across western ND threatening the state’s most beautiful natural scenery like a voracious Pac Man. The Pac Man has its eyes on icons such as the Badlands and the state’s most prominent buttes. But Jenkinson was ready with a response to blunt the Pac Man’s worst excesses. He endorsed a friend’s recommendation for a three-year moratorium on state land mineral auctions. Jenkinson asks, “Can we agree to set aside a mere 1/181th of our state, less than one half of 1 percent, the most magnificent, pristine, spiritually renewing places we collectively own and share, as off limits?”

The Forum is fond of reminding us that Fargo is the “economic engine of the state,” but that claim is growing a little weaker. Williams County (Williston) created 12,000 jobs from January 2010 to September 2011. During that seven-quarter period, Cass County (Fargo) created 7,500 jobs. Average wages in Williams are the highest in the state, over $70,000 a year, compared to about $45,000 in Cass.

A Forum editorial called it “a crime wave the likes of which they have never before experienced.” They were referring, of course, to the crime boom accompanying the oil boom. The editorial urged local law enforcement in western ND, eastern Montana and Saskatchewan to accept state and federal help to respond to criminal elements attracted to the Oil Patch.

State and local officials have tried to calm concerns about rising Oil Patch crime by implying it is caused by population increases. Statistics indicate they are wrong. In the first quarter of this year, criminal cases in the NW Judicial District (a six-county district including Minot and Williston) jumped nearly 50 percent, while traffic cases were up 75 percent.

The University of Mary in Bismarck is an ambitious little school. It has only about 3,000 students, but has partnership agreements to provide classes for three larger schools: Bismarck State, Arizona State University and Alexandria (Minnesota) Technical and Community College. It’s a little unclear what drives that ambition.

Somebody else is also ambitious. Medcenter One in Bismarck and Sanford Health are in the advanced stages of merger talks. Sanford has headquarters in Sioux Falls and Fargo and is already the largest, rural nonprofit health care system in the nation. Medcenter One is the largest health provider in western ND. Economies of scale and expanded demand for health services in the western part of the state are the reasons given for the merger. The big get bigger.

Is the CEO of the UND Alumni Association stretching a point? Tim O’Keefe said the entire university community leadership accepts the need to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname. He was rallying support for a measure in the June 12 primary election which would allow UND to retire the nickname. Without specifying, O’Keefe said the nickname is having an effect on academics at the university. Using possibly the understatement of the year, he said, “He understands that some within his association’s ranks remain committed to the nickname.” A spokesman for nickname supporters contends the NCAA sanctions “are minimal and easily managed.”

An “oxymoron” is a phrase in which combines contradictory ideas. Does “Indoor RV park” meet that test? A Minnesota construction company is building such a park near Watford City, an Oil Patch town southeast of Williston. The park will house 240 RVs in ten buildings, the first of which will be ready July 1. The project is described as a safer, more comfortable option for those forced to live in campers because of the housing shortage. The park will have laundry facilities, a community gathering room, and each camper will have water and sewer hookups.

Frankly, Jellybean is not ready. The barely 3-foot tall miniature horse is being trained as a therapy pet at a Minnesota ranch. The tiny horse attended a coming-out party at a Girl Scout pet adoption event in Fargo. Jellybean slipped his halter and six police officers in squad cars chased him at speeds up to 35 mph (not authenticated) as the horse thundered around downtown. A bystander said the police were not accustomed to handling larger animals. Jellybean tired after about a half hour and surrendered. The brown-and-white pony definitely requires more training.

DAKTOIDS: Cole Gustafson (56) was the respected chairman of the agribusiness school at NDSU. Ironically, he was driven over and killed by a tractor he was operating on his father’s farm . . . Contractors from the Midwest Region are pouring into ND -- the state plans a record $700 million of road construction this year . . . Rarely a month goes by without an official at the Turtle Mt. Reservation being caught with a hand in the till. This month, the Belcourt fire chief pleaded guilty to stealing a department pickup -- he doubled down by getting a loan on the vehicle

A few years ago, I visited Dickinson and Williston. In each city, I discovered Applebee’s was easily the best restaurant. Let that sink in. So, in ensuing years it didn’t surprise me that most restaurant reviews in ND were about chain restaurants. As Olive Garden began to run the bases in ND, first Fargo, then Bismarck, next Minot and recently Grand Forks, the attention was astounding. First, gleeful letters of anticipation, then delight about the real thing. That’s the way it is and I hope it does not appear snobbish to note that chain restaurants do not earn reviews in most parts of the country.

Marilyn Hagerty is a crusty, veteran reporter and columnist for the GF Herald. It’s relevant to what follows to note she is 85 years old. Marilyn writes restaurant reviews and most recently her subject was the new Olive Garden. She liked it and said so -- “the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks.” What followed was unexpected: her review caught the attention of the Internet, then serious papers such as the Wall Street Journal and LA Times, and national TV. The Herald website almost broke down under nearly one million hits to Marilyn's "Eatbeat." Reviews of her review split two ways: Some thought it charming, sincere and a refreshing switch from the world of pretentious food critics. Others thought it was hilarious parody and a few were condescending, even mean.

The WSJ is starting to like ND. On March 10, they had a glowing article, “What North Dakota Could Teach California.” ND just passed California to become the No. 3 state in oil production. The gist of the article: Well-governed and lightly regulated ND is up, California is down. The WSJ could have added that ND is very fortunate to be a small state that found lots of oil.

Does the bitterness remain? Ellen Chaffee had a seemingly successful 30-year career in ND higher education, retiring in 2008 as the president of Valley City State. But, her career ended in a burst of bitterness. Chaffee said throughout her career she experienced discrimination, was underpaid and had to work twice as hard because she was a woman. She felt disrespected and isolated by the state board of higher education, which questioned her leadership. ND Democratic governor candidate Ryan Taylor has chosen Chaffee as his running mate.

Who is the true fool? Three years ago I noted that the president of the ND Newspaper Association had a name appropriate to the rural area where he worked. His name was Jon Flatland and he won first place in the humor category that year in a NDNA writing contest. His entry turned out to be plagiarized from the “Jason the Fool” website. At the time he was publisher of the Steele County Press. It has now been determined that as much as 99 percent of his writings were plagiarism. He reached as far away as the Honolulu Star Bulletin for material. Note: Flatland is now unemployed.

Our government makes huge blunders, and now and then we learn about one of them. It was hard to miss the $5.5 billion anti-missile facility constructed in Nekoma (75 miles northwest of GF) in the 1970s. The facility closed after just four months of operation -- a huge pyramid was one of its most endearing features. A use was never found for the white elephant and Cavalier County hopes to buy it from the federal government with, guess what, a $600,000 grant from the federal government and another from the state.

Housing, traffic and crime. These are problems that drive folks out of grimy cities to areas with lower costs, less congestion and greater safety. The Traill County Economic Development Commission in Hillsboro aggressively advertises those advantages, not to people from Detroit, but to residents of ND’s Oil Patch. The Hillsboro folks are quick to say they are not “adversarial” or out to steal other Nodaks. Innocently, they say they just want people to be comfortable -- isn’t that a sweet thought?

You’ve seen the cartoons -- a little fish is swallowed by a bigger fish which in turn falls prey to one bigger yet, and so on. In 2010, Carrington’s Dakota Growers pasta business was sold to Viterra, a large Canadian grain handler. Now, $12 billion Viterra is itself the target of a takeover by international giants Cargill and Glencore. An aside, Gov. Jack Dalrymple was a founder and one of the largest shareholders of Dakota Growers.

They called it the Oil Patch Crime Summit. Federal and state officials met with western ND law enforcement to develop strategies against potential organized crime in the oil patch. Too bad only a limited number of police and sheriffs were able to attend -- the meetings were held in Denver. U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon says it was held there due to lack of meeting space in western ND. Not everyone thinks that explanation sounds reasonable.

A Bismarck Tribune article stated, “A hearing will be held to determine whether Standing Rock Tribal Council Chairman Charles Murphy should be removed from office for misconduct and neglect of office.” That is almost not news -- attempts to remove chairmen at ND reservations are as regular as the seasons and are part of the inherent political instability of the tribes. Removals of chairmen, either by election or for cause, are often followed by wholesale turnover of top tribal positions as the new chair appoints his supporters.

The Standing Rock Sioux will be closely watched in the upcoming statewide vote on the Fighting Sioux nickname. The Tribal Council at Standing Rock did not permit a member vote about the name, although the reservation’s support was an NCAA requirement for UND to keep the name. The Spirit Lake Sioux Reservation near Devils Lake had such a vote and a majority of those voting supported the name.

Lloyd Omdahl’s weekly column blandly proceeded like many before, discussing the structure of ND government and a struggle now taking place between the Legislature and the state Board of Higher Education. He mentioned the Fighting Sioux nickname was a trigger. Then Omdahl hit the accelerator asserting “North Dakota is already the laughing stock of the sports world.” He offered no evidence for the remark, but we did learn where Lloyd stands.

ND has 32,000 farms and ranches averaging about 1,200 acres in size, yet only 58% of the owners consider farming to be their primary occupation. Ten years ago it was 70%. ND Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said, “You either have to grow in size and become more efficient or take an off farm job.” This from a Tribune article describing the lives of part-time farmers.

DAKTOIDS: No big deal, a semi carrying a wide ag sprayer clipped (as the driver adjusted his review mirror) an auto transport on the road shoulder of I-94 just west of Valley City. Think again, damage to the sprayer and the parked semi and its load of cars totaled $650,000 . . . Cannon Ball on the Standing Rock Reservation was always a rough place. In separate incidents, federal officers attempted to arrest Bruce Flying Horse and Gary Two Horses for disorderly behavior. Bruce and Gary both responded by severely punching and kicking the officers . . . Average weekly wages in Stark County (Dickinson) are $2,000 a week. I’ll help with the math -- that’s around $100,000 a year. Dickinson sizzles with oil and gas growth.

“We’re still out of water, we’re still out of sewage capacity, we’re short of electricity and there’s no room on the highways for anyone else.” -- A Williams County commissioner ticked off reasons for extending the county’s ban on new man camps. They previously approved 10,000 beds.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple talked about the Oil Patch. His objective was to explain how the state is helping solve real problems in the Oil Patch, but also to tamp down anxiety about the boom’s impact on matters such as crime and accident rates. Dalrymple told the GF Herald increases in those areas “are in proportion” to the growing population. “The people committing crimes are not all newcomers.” Dalrymple might also have noted that newcomers are disproportionate victims of traffic injuries and deaths. They seem unaccustomed to the state’s weather and winter roads. An example, on March 1, three men from Kansas and Oklahoma driving to work on Hwy 85 lost control of their pickup on ice and snow and hit another pickup. One was killed and two hospitalized -- none were wearing seatbelts. The Dickinson resident driving the other pickup was wearing a seatbelt and spared by an airbag.

Democrats want more government, Republicans want less. Herald publisher Mike Jacobs believes Republican government in ND falls somewhere in between -- a third way if you like. Jacobs says the Dalrymple administration (and that of Hoeven before it) has pursued a program of listening, planning and offering alternatives. Jacobs calls it activism without mandates -- getting things done without getting in the way -- common sense not ideology.

The staff and faculty at Dickinson State are not out of the woods yet regarding a series of scandals at the school. Legislators on the Higher Education Committee studied audit reports and grilled the school’s new president (who is not implicated) about the events. Legislators can’t understand why no one spoke up about improprieties which lasted several years. Although a number of administrators resigned, a legislator asked why faculty implicated in the scandal have not been fired. Also, another shoe is about to drop, the North Central Association is sending a special accreditation team to the DSU campus.

As more of the DSU situation is unraveled, some of it seems just plain weird. DSU had a one-semester program to train Chinese students for work at Disney (that’s right) amusements parks. Certificates were awarded to 154 happy future Donald Ducks -- only one problem, none of the students met standards for getting a certificate.

Snowbirds from ND have worn a deep path to the Phoenix area. Some ND banks and even a Fargo accounting firm have followed their clients and created branches in Arizona. The University of Mary in Bismarck is also about to follow. U-Mary has a deal with Arizona State University in Tempe to provide Catholic studies at ASU which will result in joint degrees from the two schools. With 72,000 students, ASU has the largest campus in the U.S. Arizona is believed to have over a million Catholics, but there is no Catholic college or university in Arizona.

A Wall Street Journal article purported to provide regional cultural tips for politicians -- those for ND were called particularly useful: “Dining with North Dakotans? If they’re Norwegian-American, expect to get a plate full of lefse (a tortilla-like flatbread) and lutefisk (literally ‘lye fish’ -- and about as good as it sounds). Feel free to toast your guests with a hearty ‘skal!’ And don’t be surprised to hear a near-constant refrain of uff da! A testament to Scandinavian practicality, this single expression can be used to communicate surprise, dismay, dissatisfaction and even relief.”

If only wheat straw could be turned into gold -- over the past 100 years there have been many schemes to convert ND’s abundant wheat straw into useful products. One of the most recent was a plan to turn straw into cabinetry. Most of the schemes failed. The latest entrant is a company called Ultra Green which plans to make household and restaurant products out of wheat straw at a Devils Lake plant. The products include pizza pans and toilet paper. Ultra Green plans to shift production from a plant in China and quickly create 100 jobs in Devils Lake. The city is very excited and promises an economic development package of $4 million.

An Iowa company has a sketchy plan to takeover an idle ethanol plant in Grafton and turn sugar beets into fuel. Now, all they need is ND investors.

One weighs only 2.6 pounds, the other 4.2 pounds, but both have powerful live cameras. They are unmanned drones which will be used by the Grand Forks Sheriff’s Department for a variety of surveillance. GF will be the third community in the nation to use this technology. It’s all possible because of a partnership with the UAS program at UND.

Silas Sr retired with a pension from the federal government. When he died in 1983, Silas Jr kept right on receiving the pensions checks and regularly assured the government that he was caring for his Alzheimer stricken dad. Twenty-six years and $1.2 million later, Grand Forks resident Silas Jr is going to prison.

In the Oil Patch, big things happen nearly every week. A rail-loading facility nearing completion in the southeastern corner of Mountrail County will eventually ship a unit train (104 rail cars) of crude oil every day on a spur line which joins the Canadian Pacific main line near Drake. From there, the oil will move to markets across North America in a crude-by-rail network which CP says is the largest in the U.S. Hear that Warren Buffett and BNSF railroad.

DAKTOIDS: The Jamestown Sun noted with approval a Gallup study which found ND to be No. 2 in the nation in Well-Being. In the same study, ND was ranked first for work environment . . . The head of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association says the influx of business “Is putting a strain on the available workforce, housing and hotels. Companies are fighting one another for talent” . . . The Dunn County Lodge is opening just north of Dickinson -- does it sound like a ritzy resort? The lodge is actually a man camp which will house 600 oil workers -- it will be operated by Target Logistics which has 3,700 beds in the Oil Patch.

A firing, resignations and a suicide are part of the turmoil sweeping Dickinson State University. An audit determined DSU was a “diploma factory” issuing degrees willy-nilly to Chinese students. According to the Bismarck Tribune, more than 500 students were given degrees they hadn’t earned. Dickinson State University President Richard McCallum was fired last December for a variety of administrative irregularities, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The fallout and human costs are tremendous. In addition to McCallum, three senior administrators have resigned. An academic dean is an apparent suicide. While he is not directly linked to the bogus degrees, an audit report said many of the unqualified students were in his department. Suspicions had been brewing for sometime that problems at DSU went well beyond McCallum. A retired psychology professor sent a letter to the Dickinson Press alleging the campus was administratively dysfunctional for many years. He claimed a former chancellor described the university as “a rat’s nest.” A soon to be released performance audit of the university is expected to reveal serious problems beyond the international student program.

A Bismarck Tribune editorial said, “The issues at DSU raise numerous questions about oversight within that university, by the state Board of Higher Education and from the university chancellor's office. How did this happen? Why did it go on for so long? What will the impact be? And more.”

A young woman from ND dazzled the judges on the national TV show “The Voice.” She is a country western singer -- attractive, gracious and talented. Those of you who stay on top of popular culture will know the show -- me, I don’t have a clue. But her triumph is not the story. At the end of her performance, she told the cheering audience and viewers she was “Gwen Sebastian from Hebron, N.D. Yah, sure, ya betcha.” The exaggerated accent was too much for Forum columnist Robert Morast -- he felt Sebastian demeaned herself and took the state down with her. For him, the bad vibes of the movie “Fargo” were back. I watched her performance video, it wasn’t that way, perhaps she was a little nervous, but overall a credit to her home state.

Say the words “Fighting Sioux” and certain folks at the Forum start foaming at the mouth. After learning the nickname would probably be going on the June ballot, the Forum launched an angry editorial. Here is the warmup: “Supporters of restoring the Fighting Sioux logo and moniker to University of North Dakota athletic teams are putting the school on the road to marginalization. Their myopic pursuit of logo restoration requires the embrace of a perversion of tradition. It is fueled by an unstated selfishness that, if successful, will permanently damage the school they say they love.” You can see the Forum is a little annoyed.

Mark Schuttenheim’s sports column in the Jamestown Sun took an opposite view and characterized the NCAA as an outside bully, a politically correct stormtrooper. He wrote: “Doesn’t the NCAA have bigger problems? Millionaire coaches and university supporters who bend and break rules regularly. So called ‘student’ athletes who spend little time in the classroom. Pitiful graduation rates at some of these big basketball and football ‘mills.’ Nope. Sanctioning the University of North Dakota seems to be their highest priority right now.

What drew the loudest round of cheers and applause when presidential candidate Rick Santorum visited ND? When he held up a Fighting Sioux hockey jersey and said, “I kind of like that logo. What do you think?”

Previously, I mentioned Chris Linnares, the Brazilian Bombshell, who is a columnist at the Fargo Forum and a TV personality who uses her celebrity to promote her own products. Nothing wrong with that and she appears quite successful at many endeavors. Did I mention that she is also a psychotherapist? What’s a little weird about all this is she is the wife of the publisher of the Forum and the daughter-in-law of the chairman of Forum Communications. How would you like to be one of the company executives dealing with the diva.

A tall tale? If so, it’s a good one. A man wrote to the Forum about his grandfather who homesteaded near Dickey (about 30 miles south of Jamestown) in the late 1800s. Thomas Waldie said his grandfather traveled to Dickey in the winter on a skid pulled by horses -- other men rode shotgun to protect against wolves. The wolves would invariably attack the men and it was only after they shot a wolf that the attacks ceased. The wolf pack left the men alone while they devoured the fallen member.

The first of two related, racially-tinged Jamestown murder trials has concluded. When the murder was first reported in May 2011, the Jamestown Sun frankly disclosed the story's racial aspects. Leron “Rah Rah” Howard (34), a black Minnesota felon, and Janelle Cave (22), one of his white girl friends, were charged with the murder of Abdi Ali Ahmed (18), a black Somali immigrant who had been in Jamestown about a month. Some key witnesses were also black. Since that time, the Sun appears to have made an editorial decision to drop all reference to race, although pictures of the victim and defendants accompanied articles. Wikipedia indicates 0.36 percent of Jamestown residents are black.

This week, a jury quickly found Cave guilty of manslaughter and criminal conspiracy. Howard will be tried in August. Cave fingered Howard as the one responsible for beating and stabbing Ahmed. Cave acknowledged participation in disposing of evidence and the body, but claimed she did not inform police because of her fear of Howard. The trial was held in a packed courtroom. An upcoming, unrelated murder trial in Jamestown involves a head without a body -- maybe it will top the Cave/Howard trials.

Western ND has changed and become a less safe place. A Bismarck Tribune editorial says the Legislature must look at a range of secondary issues beyond roads and housing. Law and order, emergency medical service and general safety need “to move to the top of the list.”

The complexion of Bismarck is changing and the oil boom is a contributor. A livestock sales business called Farmers Livestock has operated north of the Bismarck airport for 31 years. They have abruptly closed -- a developer purchased the property and will make it part of the Expressway Industrial Park. Ranchers in western ND are scrambling to find new sales outlets.

DAKTOIDS: Don’t look now, someone may try to sell you insurance. The Forum reports ND has 49,000 licensed insurance agents -- that’s one for every 14 residents . . . The population center of ND is creeping west -- Wikipedia says the center has landed near Carrington . . . Bill Guy served as Democratic governor of ND from 1961 to 1973 -- his daughter Nancy Guy is running for the state senate seat held by the late Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem.