The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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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 signi...
North Dakota’s rural communities have lost over 20% of their grocery stores in the last decade. The loss of a local grocery store is a significant blow to small towns seeking to navigate existing workforce and economic challenges, and maintain the health and wellbeing of residents, while also investing in these communities’ long-term viability. With overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable challenges, residents and community leaders can feel hopeless. They can feel like, no matter what they do, their community is destined to erode or dec...
It was late November 1995 and I had just been hired as editor and publisher of the Cavalier County Republican in Langdon. Then, my entire world was turned upside down. The very day I was supposed to start my new job, we attended my mother’s funeral in Hazelton. I was devastated and my siblings were devastated. At that point in time, I wondered how I would cope. The people who owned the newspaper told me to report the following week and there was a nice bouquet from them at the funeral. A week l...
My heart is heavy this Christmas. My best friend lost her dad a week ago, and one of our daughter’s former classmates died by suicide. I also heard that two gentlemen from my hometown, one the school janitor and another a bus driver, also had passed away. I know that loss is a part of life, but that doesn’t make it any easier. “We are here.” That’s what I repeated to every person I hugged or talked to at the prayer service for my daughter’s classmate. And I listened to his grandma tell us wha...
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house It vas da nacht before Santa Clausen und all through the husens Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; No noise makin’schweinhunt unmousen all qviet The stockins were hung by the chimney with care Oof-da schmnellley foot wearin up the fireplace hanging In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; Expecten gud old Nicholas would quick be fillin’ The children were nestled all snug in their beds The kinderfolk vas restin qviet...
When you first look at the 2023 USDA Hardiness Zone map that was recently published, you’ll see subtle changes for those of us who live in North Dakota. The biggest changes are on the southern tier of the state. Richland, Dickey, LaMoure, with parts of Stutsman, Dickey, LaMoure,Logan, McIntosh, Sioux, Grant, Bowman, Slope, Stark, Billings and Golden Valley counties having changed from Zone 4a to 4B. It also includes parts of Sheridan and McLean counties and a tiny spot around the city of M...
A course is a course, of course of course … Or is it? According to those madcap bean-counters at the National Golf Foundation, the number of off-course golfers (those going to simulators, driving ranges and entertainment venues such as Topgolf) recently surpassed the number of traditional on-course golfers in the United States. For the sake of full disclosure, I am neither a traditional golfer nor a high-tech golfer. But I do enjoy playing miniature golf with my wife and son when we’re on vac...
Last week, I got to see “how the sausage is made.” As a member of the media, I was invited to watch DPRCA’s “The Christmas Show” before anyone else. This time, I was on assignment, shooting photos to document Elliott Schwab’s original script coming together on stage. Well, that was part of it. I also wanted to be among the first to see it so I could give you, my dear readers, a glimpse inside the show. It was the one Wednesday night appointment I was happy to take, and it came just in time. Th...
There was a recent funeral I attended and before the service, I was chatting with the funeral director, who has been a friend for many years. He was telling me that he was dealing with a separate situation in which the deceased didn’t have a will, didn’t have a life insurance policy and the loved ones didn’t have any money to bury the deceased. Mak-ing it even more complicated is the family members weren’t close at all. He said those kinds of situations put an emotional and financial strain...
Here’s an unpleasant holiday statistic: Average Americans are giving significantly less to their favorite charities this year than they did just four or five years ago. Average Americans have long been among the most generous people on Earth. But this year, thanks to an economy disrupted by COVID, soaring interest rates and three years of high inflation, many are unable to give. Americans are hurting in their pocketbooks. This past year credit-card debt jumped faster than ever before in history,...
The countdown to Christmas is on. As I write this, December 25 is exactly 27 days away. That means I have a lot of shopping to do, and very little time. I came across this meme on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, and it really hit me. It read, “Big companies won’t notice your purchase over the next couple months. But small businesses will, and it might even change their life.” It’s true. Small, independent local businesses are the heartbeat of our economy. And their survival is integral to our...
In this day and age you wouldn’t think something so simple as cellular telephone coverage would be so spotty, but it is. There are numerous “dead spots” across North Dakota, and depending on where you experience this, you sometimes have to shake your head because it really shouldn’t be rocket science. Joel Heitkamp talked about this on KFGO radio one day, but I’m not sure anything was ever done to rectify the situation. I personally don’t remember where all the spots are in the state, but...
With every purchase you make — at coffee shops, fast food restaurants, chain stores and more – you are presented with a digital payment screen that asks you to leave a tip. On one hand you feel guilted into leaving a tip, because the person who just rang up your purchase is staring directly at you. On the other hand, you wonder how in the world did we get to a place in which workers in so many different roles – even plumbers and mechanics – are suddenly expecting extra money just for doing their...
On Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 7:00 p.m., in the community room of the Carrington Public Library, we would like to have an open house for all active members of the American Legion Post 25 along with anyone who is not a member, but an eligible veteran. I would like to invite all veterans to come in to visit and enjoy some refreshments along with an opportunity to bring the camaraderie back to our veterans’ group. We would like to hear from all of you on how we can build our numbers up and increase our activity in a positive manner. R...
“Mr. Watson. Come here,” Alexander Graham Bell said to his aide, “I want you.” Those were the first words transmitted through Bell’s breakthrough technology, the telephone. The history books document that moment, but a pivotal event took place three days earlier. On March 7, 1876, the U.S. Patent Office granted Bell patent number 174,465, cementing his legacy as the inventor of the telephone. At the time, Bell did not operate a large business. The prototype telephone was built in a small workshop with help from just a single assistant...
I’m sure just about everyone can remember the Dakota Access Pipeline protests that took place in 2016 and 2017. They lasted a long time and things got ugly. I’m sure some of you reading this were involved in it in some way. First responders were sent, law enforcement was sent, protestors came from all over the U.S. and Canada and they all stayed there for a very long time. That placed a lot of stress on the locals; those people living in Morton County south of Mandan who sometimes cou...
Well, that didn’t take as long as expected. In case you missed it, our federal government is now estimated to pay more than $1 trillion a year to service just the interest on our national debt — about $200 billion more than we spend on our military or Medicare. Why are we suddenly paying so much? Because the cost to service our debt has doubled in the past 19 months as annual federal deficits balloon and high interest rates make borrowing more expensive. The origin of this “sudden” problem...
We’ve been blessed with beautiful fall days lately. I can’t help but smile as I run around doing errands and buzz from one meeting to another. The only thing that could have made this past week better was spending more time outside. With our daylight hours dwindling and the temperatures beginning their precipitous drop, I’m choosing not to dwell on the depressing weather that is destined to come. Instead, I’m focusing on the good things (such as this gorgeous weather) and mindfully practic...
When I moved to Langdon in 1995, the company that owned the newspaper put me up in a hotel until I could find a place to live. It didn’t take but a couple of weeks and I found a decent apartment that wasn’t too expensive and it was close to work so I took the third-floor loft. During the two years I lived there I got to know the neighbors quite well. Almost all of them were elderly or recently retired. One neighbor, who was the exception, was a teacher at Langdon High School. One of those nei...
Yes, it’s that glorious season that so many pumpkin-spice addicts claim to be their favorite. I must admit that, I, too, succumb each year to the autumnal charms of fall, except for my seemingly never-ending battle with leaves, or, as I like to call them – tree dandruff. So what is it that ironically draws us to a season that marks the end of long, carefree summer days when the sight of a shirtless dad bod outdoors is slightly less disturbing? Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first, the...
Frustration is the word of the day in the newsroom. It’s Monday, and subscriber newspapers have not been delivered to New Rockford, Fessenden and other rural post offices on time for the second week in a row. Our loyal readers, and this time the local postmaster herself, pick up the phone to notify us of the delay. “So what gives? Why isn’t the paper coming on time?” readers ask. I wish I had the answer. All the subscriber print copies of this newspaper were taken to the Fargo Post Office...
We have some friends who grew up in northeastern North Dakota, went to college at the University of North Dakota, then worked in Grand Forks for many years. Then, the husband got a job in Minneapolis that paid far better than anything he could have ever imagined in Grand Forks or Fargo. The wife was able to work from home after moving to the Twin Cities. For the past seven years, these two, who don’t have any children, are set. Their salaries together total a half million dollars a year, they b...
According to my extensive research (approximately five minutes on Google when I should have been folding underwear), the Chinese zodiac system assigns an animal symbol to each year. It is believed that people born in a given year have the personality of that year’s animal. For example, based on the placemats at my favorite Chinese buffet, I was born in the Year of the Dog, which means I am loyal, honest and difficult to housebreak. Although it has absolutely nothing to do with the Chinese zodiac...
Would it surprise you to know that a significant amount of the newspaper has been written via iphone these past few weeks? Well, unfortunately it has. In fact, any article written by me since the Oct. 16 edition appeared in your mailboxes has been typed out from my living room and on a cell phone app, and I’ve hardly been at the office for over three weeks now. It’s all because I’ve been dealing with severe lower back pain, which has had me in and out of the doctor’s office, chiropr...
As a writer, this piece of information is, well, really stepping outside the box. It’s about an Australian magpie who took Melbourne by storm. Many of us know that Australians love their animals and one example is they worked feverishly to save as many koalas as they could following devastating fires that happened west of Sydney. The situation with Gus the Magpie is similar. Judy, my friend who lives in the Melbourne suburb of Tarneit, found an injured magpie and took him in and nursed him b...
