The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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Common good are those things that emphasizes community as compared to individual good which emphasizes self. Every level of civic society - national, state and local needs common good to negotiate and provide the services to everyone in its jurisdiction. The national government must provide security, goods and services; state government supplements the national good with another level of security, goods and services; the county government adds administration while also providing local assistance...
My intent this week was to write about a special restaurant in downtown Bismarck and the people who operate it. However, there is a more pressing issue that needs to be addressed. Another friend was lost to cancer last week and what appears to be remarkable about his case, is that it could have been preventable. A family friend from back home, who we called “Soup Bone” when we were kids because he was so skinny, died last week at the age of 62 from kidney cancer that had spread to his lun...
Well, it finally happened. No, I didn’t go bald, get divorced or accidentally go to work without pants. I got COVID! Recently, I had been badly congested for a couple of days, but I chalked it up to our yearly East Texas orgy of yellow pollen that mistakes my sinus cavities for some kind of pine tree Playboy mansion. Then the headaches started, like my frontal lobe was hosting a rave party for Diet Coke and Mentos. I don’t typically have headaches (other than my three semi-grown daughters), so...
During National Ag Week, all eyes are on the farmers and ranchers who are responsible for keeping the world fed. According to the American Farm Bureau, one U.S. farmer feeds 166 people annually in America and abroad. In the 1800s when North Dakota was first established, a farmer fed 3-5 people, most likely his family members. In 1960, one farmer could feed about 26 people. Even though we have the world’s third largest population to feed, the United States is still the world’s largest food exp...
Excitement is mounting and those of us involved in the North Dakota Farmers’ Market & Growers Association, are counting down the days until the local foods conference. This celebration of all things local foods is how a small, but determined group of individuals set out to make sure this year’s conference is something special. We started planning this event last November and we only recently put the lid on the schedule. It will be held March 21-23 in the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck...
In television, now more than ever, crime pays. A search for "true crime" on Netflix produced 300 titles. Nearly half of Apple's top 20 podcasts in the U.S. are devoted to true crime, and the internet is chockablock with recommendations for the best new true crime books. As I type this, Paramount+ is announcing that Dennis Quaid will play the real-life serial killer notoriously called "Happy Face," based on the "Happy Face" podcast from iHeart. And Village Roadshow Entertainment is announcing...
It's Sunshine Week, a national observance of the importance of public records and open government. Sunshine Week occurs each year in mid-March, coinciding with James Madison's birthday, March 16 (1751). Madison, one of our country's founding fathers and an advocate of open government, presented the first version of the Bill of Rights to Congress. He was later elected the fourth president of the United States. Sunshine Week, observed this year from March 10-16, highlights the importance of open g...
Do you remember the TV show The Incredible Hulk? It was a weekly series about a muscle-bound guy who would suddenly completely change into some sort of a green monster. As the narrative stated in the show, a strange metamorphisis occurs that transforms this man into the incredible hulk. It seems weeds are like that. This past week I was cleaning the greenhouse to get it ready for the spring season and discovered some interesting finds, that quite frankly, I can’t believe are possible. To f...
Having raised three daughters, I’ve gained, in the words of Liam Neeson, “a very particular set of skills.” Unfortunately, none of these skills would be useful in the event of an international kidnapping. Because two of our daughters (and some of our credit cards) are now in college and one is deep in the bowels of high school, I feel like an abandoned appliance that seemed pretty nifty at first, but the novelty quickly wore off. (Think – the Baby Yoda waffle iron.) Below are a few girl-da...
I photographed the Forever Dance Spring Show at Carrington School last Sunday. It wasn't the first spring show I've attended (or photographed), but for some reason this performance had me enthralled. It was an absolute joy to see dozens of young girls leave it all on the floor. The energy level was off the charts, and the costumes and props were spectacular. Even coaches Brianne Partlow and Jane Sauby got in on the jazz, wearing outfits adorned with sequins and sparkles. I thought the action...
This winter in North Dakota has been remarkable for a lot of reasons and because of it, I took advantage and did some traveling across the state. The farmers’ market manager in Wahpeton contacted me about the lack of vendors at her market. It seemed like a desperate situation and because of Wahpeton’s size, I decided to take a trip and meet with her about those issues. But, this isn’t about that meeting. Unlike most others who would go across the state on an interstate or U.S. highway, I travele...
A seismic shift is taking place in the North Dakota party convention nominating system with the fragmentation of power and resources and candidates bypassing the structured nominating system and going directly to the polls. While North Dakota history is full of erratic appeals to primary elections, the present fracture was led by Senator Kevin Cramer and Governor Doug Burgum, both of whom took their cases to the public after rejection by conventions. The precedent has been established. By...
A new scientific poll underwritten by the North Dakota News Cooperative has finally cast some light on citizen opinions about this $10 billion Legacy Fund filled primarily by oil and gas money. The money did not come from the backs of those “hard-working citizens” often used in political rhetoric but it is money owned by everyone in North Dakota. Therefore, everyone has a stake in the use of the Fund. Having taught polling at the University of North Dakota, I offer some cautionary advice. The re...
For the past several months, and even going back a couple of years, I’ve noticed some interesting changes in radio across North Dakota. I researched and found the official answer to this, but there’s all kinds of speculation surrounding these changes on a national scale. In any event, there have been a number of AM radio stations that have started broadcasting their signals from FM translators. These are most often low power signals that reach only a few miles. The official answer to this is...
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...
Congratulations to Amanda Koepplin, third grade teacher at NR-S, on her selection as the Eddy County Teacher of the Year for 2023-24. I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who pursue teaching as a career, and even more so for those who dedicate their lives to teaching young minds. It’s a noble profession. When I was in elementary school, I often said that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I had three younger siblings and four younger cousins to look after, and teaching seemed...
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 consequences of ignoring the teacher shortage are dire...
There’s a situation happening right now that could have a long-term effect on the human psyche, and it doesn’t appear that too many people are concerned about it, at least not publicly. If you’ve gone to a fast-food establishment lately, you may have noticed that some have completely replaced actual employees with kiosks where you order your food. Some of them have gone so far as to make you start an email account or you can’t order. Supermarkets have gone to self checkout some time ago, bu...
What an amazing coincidence! Two days after Apple released its much-ballyhooed Vision Pro contraption, Joni Mitchell gave her first Grammy Awards performance. It’s a coincidence because someday hordes of Vision Pro devotees will doubtless be warbling, “I’ve looked at life from no sides now/Tripped over something, might be a cow…” Surely you’ve heard of Vision Pro. Apple insists on calling it a “spatial computer,” but reviewers tend to describe it as something like “a mixed reality headset t...
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...
Minot was a busy place over the weekend. There were three major events going on so there were a lot of people in town. First, the KMOT Ag Expo was happening. This has become one of the largest events of its kind on the northern Great Plains. Second, there was a farmers’ market symposium at the NDSU Research Extension Center and third, the North Dakota Association of Dance and Drill hosted the state dance competition in the Minot State University Dome. Thirty-eight teams from across the state w...
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 por...
Dear Editor, Generosity throughout Carrington contributed to a successful shoebox gift collection season at drop-off locations for the Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child. Across the U.S., the project collected 10 million shoebox gifts in 2023. Combined with those collected from partnering countries in 2023, the ministry is now sending over 11.3 million shoebox gifts to children worldwide, including many who are suffering from war, poverty, disease and disaster. Through the continued generosity of donors since 1993, Operation C...
“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...
From March 12-16, there’s an event happening in Anaheim, Calif., that is unlike any other in the United States, except for a parallel event that happens each September in Baltimore. It’s called Natural Products Expo West and it brings tens of thousands of exhibitors, guests, media and sponsors together to look at the latest innovations in everything organic from retail to farming. A number of entrepreneurs from North Dakota have made the trip to Anaheim over the years in an effort to make a dif...
