The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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For the last 4 months I have been traveling in North Dakota exploring the ways that ordinary folks in rural areas are revitalizing their communities through immigration. It has been a heartwarming journey. Our state is made up of good people with abundant common sense whose memories stir them to go extra measures time after time to help new neighbors. It is the North Dakota way. So many of our churches have an ethnic heritage and memory. As I started this journey and realized that a new wave of...
I want to thank the public health for their support of breast cancer awareness. I am a breast cancer survivor. On December 9, 2009, I had my last chemotherapy treatment. The cancer was found on a mammogram, so all women need to get your mammograms. Anyone who is going through this, there is so much hope. There are many treatments. The survival rate is very high. Good luck and God bless. Bernice Sandvol Carrington, ND...
This National Co-op Month, I recognize that many of the cooperatives operating today were established for the benefit of people. It didn’t take much effort to put together a list of cooperatives we do business with on a daily basis. After all, I’ve been a member of cooperatives since I was a young girl. My extended family have been members of Northern Plains Electric Cooperative (formerly Tri-County Electric) my entire life. The family farm and my parents’ home are served by this all-i...
During the second half of the 1990s, I operated the newspaper in Langdon and often made short, 38-mile trips to Morden, Manitoba, for various reasons. At the time, Langdon’s population was about 2,500 and Morden was just shy of 5,000. That has always been a snapshot in my mind, until a couple of weeks ago. I was looking through some information about the Corn and Apple Festival in Morden and saw that Morden’s population is now nearly 11,000. When I checked Langdon’s population, it was 1,884...
When I read a news piece about the passing of longtime California senator Dianne Feinstein a few weeks ago, some of the comments left at the bottom of the online article made me sad. Feinstein suffered a very public health decline before she passed. Anyone with the slightest sense of empathy would think “there but for the grace of God go I” — as every one of us could suffer a similar decline before our time finally comes. Empathy is in short supply these days, however. I don’t recall the exact w...
The federal government has entered a new level of dysfunction. It’s like being in the middle of your favorite soap opera when the power goes out. For the first time in U.S. history, the House of Representatives has ousted its duly-elected speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California. “They don’t get to say they’re conservative because they’re angry and they’re chaotic,” McCarthy said of the eight Republican colleagues who voted against him. “That’s not the party I belong to. The party of Reagan was if...
On Wednesday my young assistant and myself were on our delivery route going through Minot when we saw something we don’t normally experience in Minot. It was a high speed chase involving a late model sedan and three, four and finally seven Ward County Sheriff’s Department vehicles. This happened about 4 p.m., on Wednesday, Sept. 27, just about the time many people are getting off work and commuting through the major thoroughfares. We were going south on 16th Street and were somewhere between Min...
President Biden is being dogged by a unique White House problem. About a week ago, Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander, bit a secret service officer — Commander’s 11th secret-service-officer biting since he moved to the White House in December of 2021. Commander must have been following the paw prints of Major, Biden’s previous German Shepherd, whose biting appetite included secret service agents, technicians and at least one National Park employee. At one point, Major bit an unlucky governm...
This year marks the 83rd celebration of National Newspaper Week. From October 1-7, newspapers across the country are affirming their responsibilities to the communities they serve. I’ve written a lot about our industry in this space over the last year, yet I find myself compelled to do it again. So much has happened in the past several weeks. In August, we changed the distribution process for every newspaper we print, and that has affected when many of our readers receive their print edition, w...
There have been a lot of articles recently about AM radio and its impending doom. Apparently, some auto manufacturers are eliminating AM radio from their cars, but there continues to be a pushback from government and the private sector. Someone asked me the other day if I thought AM radio will be going away? My reply was not a chance because there are too many people and organizations dependent on AM radio. All you need to do is look across North Dakota to know and understand how important AM...
It was a family event for the ages. Last weekend, my family traveled to Gettysburg to attend my nephew’s wedding. I drove my mother down Friday so she could participate in the rehearsal. We had a wonderful drive talking about a variety of things, mostly stories about my father, who we lost last year. After the rehearsal, we attended a welcome party, where we had great fun catching up with my cousins and other family members. The room was filled with intense joy. Every person there was e...
School has started and there’s a teacher shortage across the nation. It’s a well-known fact that burnout is a common reason. I might have a solution or two that could be tried. We have dedicated teachers who are reluctantly leaving their teaching positions heartbroken, physically exhausted and emotionally drained, and returning to their families who have sacrificed the attention and energy of their mom or dad for years during each school year. Teachers are not trained in emotional disturbances, extreme academic needs and trauma-affected chi...
There’s a 1941 school map of North Dakota that hangs in my garage. Knowing of my interest in geography, one of my wife’s friends gave me that map when she moved away. I look at that map every day when I’m in the garage and after six years of hanging there, it still hasn’t gotten old (no pun intended). There’s always something to look at and the most obvious to me; something that will not change over time is that North Dakota spans 3 degrees of latitude, from 46 Degrees North to 49 Degrees N...
While skeptical North Dakotans scratch their heads over Governor Douglas Burgum’s race for president, we need to be reminded that he is not the first aspirant for the big chair in Washington. While a congressman, North Dakota’s William Lemke threw his hat in the ring as the presidential candidate for the Union Party in 1936. Of course, Doug is not burdened by the likes of Francis Townsend, Charles Coughlin and Gerald L. K. Smith, all of whom fragmented the Union message. Messages of Dis...
I hear that a lot from people who regularly buy PowerBall tickets, spend hours at the blackjack table and make frequent trips to the casino. My grandfather bet on horses at the racetrack in Fessenden when I was little. There hasn’t been horse racing, except for maybe an Indian Horse Relay, at the Wells County Fairgrounds in decades. My husband and I went to the casino for our anniversary several years ago. We each put $20 in the slot machines. We were both broke in a few minutes, so we headed o...
Have you ever been stopped, ticketed or even arrested by the North Dakota Highway Patrol? If so, did you notice there is something different about this law enforcement agency compared to others? It’s simply professionalism. I’m not trying to ding other law enforcement. I have friends in law enforcement, including the Nelson County sheriff, a former Ward County sheriff and a couple of local police officers. They’re good people and they do their jobs well. But NDHP officers are a cut above. And,...
It's no secret that recent years have been tough on small businesses and on newspapers. A bipartisan bill, the Community News & Small Business Support Act, that has been introduced in Congress would offer relief to both newspapers and local businesses. For too many newspapers, help can't come soon enough. Economic challenges have resulted in too many communities seeing their local newspapers being forced to lay off staff, cut back on publication days or worse yet close. On average, two newspaper...
Last week, the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team set the world record for highest attendance at a women’s sporting event, EVER. The world was watching as they packed 92,003 people into their stadium. This is a college volleyball team, folks. Forget the WNBA! Yes, those players and coaches love their hometown crowds. New Rockford-Sheyenne and Carrington hosted their respective season home openers for volleyball this past week, and both put on a good show and defeated t...
Since July 4, my wife and I have had two opportunities to drive across Garrison Dam. The first trip’s destination was Rapid City and the second, Beulah. I drove the first time and she drove the second time. Have you ever taken a close look at that dam? It’s an incredible feat of engineering. Because I was the passenger the second time, I looked at things I don’t normally get to see as a driver. And as we passed from McLean County into Mercer County, the only thing I could think of is the press...
Assuming that election fraud is rampant in county offices and in the precincts, a band of 50 sponsors are proposing to pass a constitutional amendment to prevent fraud. The problem is that there is now no voter fraud in North Dakota, never has been, never will be. I have personally been involved in a survey of local election inspectors and states attorneys and did not find any reports of fraud. This is another case of passing legislation to restrict something that is unlikely to happen. In case...
Sometimes I wonder what people expect from local newspapers like the one I work for, and from local reporters like myself. While readers regularly thank us for our great coverage, we've also been told we're too negative, and that our only job should be to "build up" our community with positive news. Recently I was reminded what it means to be a good reporter, and why I work for two of the best newspapers in North Dakota. Some may have heard about the small-town newspaper in Kansas that was...
North Dakota Tourism tells us there are a lot of visitors to our state during the summer months. And that’s true. Just take a drive through the Badlands or visit Medora and you’ll see all kinds of vehicles and license plates from out of state. But tourism isn’t limited to those two areas. We have Lake Metigoshe, Fort Ransom, Garrison Dam, Devils Lake, the Pembina Gorge is now designated as a state park and others. It doesn’t stop with tourism. People from out of state come here for busines...
Houses are getting smaller again — which is going to make many Americans happier. Americans faced with high mortgage rates and a shortage of affordable homes for sale are opting for new, smaller homes that do not have dining rooms, living rooms, spare bedrooms and even bathtubs, reports the Wall Street Journal. Builders are building smaller homes partly to give cost-constrained buyers a more affordable option. But it’s mostly because it’s the only way home builders can turn a reasonable profit,...
I’m one of the lucky ones. I have been selected to be part of two surveys for the U.S. Census Bureau in the past year. No, these aren’t the types that ask nicely for your participation, offer you a free meal or a dollar or any token of appreciation for your answers. Rather, they are required by law, as is the decennial census that all Americans must fill out. Once you get “chosen,” you’re stuck. They send you emails and letters that don’t stop until you answer all their questions, sometimes m...
Have you heard about this incident in Marion County, Kansas? Apparently the police chief ordered a raid on the local newspaper, the Marion County Record and seized computers, cell phones, a router and photographed the entire office. When this story broke, the reason for the raid didn’t make any sense. The publisher was investigating a DUI. Newspaper editors do that all the time. That shouldn’t be cause for a raid. But on Tuesday, the Kansas City Star reported the publisher was actually inv...
