The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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Recently a bill was introduced by several North Dakota farmer-legislators to help promote animal agriculture and reverse decades of decline which have caused our state to fall far behind neighboring states. Farm Freedom legislation will remove the handcuffs that have held back our farmers and ranchers for way too long. The problem: Archaic North Dakota law prohibits anyone who is not related from pooling their resources to start an animal ag operation. For example, if two unrelated farmers who...
I love my gas stove — almost as much as I love my Weber gas grill. So I became curious this past week when I heard that a commissioner in one of our ever-expanding federal-government agencies discussed a possible ban on natural gas stoves. As the story goes, Richard Trumka Jr., a U.S. Consumer Product Safety commissioner, told Bloomberg that gas stoves are a hidden health hazard and that “products that can’t be made safe can be banned.” Bloomberg says that 40% of America’s homes use gas stove...
After going through a couple of major technological changes in my journalism career as well as other changes observed, I have to wonder if it’s making us lazy? And since the pandemic, work at home has become “a thing.” People who have the right jobs don’t even go to work anymore. They stay at home and knock out their job on a computer. I can certainly say that life for a journalist has gotten much easier since the early 1960s when the lin-o-type was the way to get the paper published. Today,...
Looking at the tax cut proposals now being debated in the legislature, maybe it’s time to revert back to a territory. Apparently, we don’t want the state to accept the responsibilities of providing minimum support for public services. States are supposed to be communities with common interests. In North Dakota, it seems like frontier thinking of starving the public to benefit individuals prevails in the legislature. The tax cuts being proposed will do nothing to raise the quality of roads, edu...
We’re only a few days into the state legislative session, and North Dakota newspaper publishers find themselves thrust into a battle to protect the public’s access to information. Senate Bill (SB) 2143, a bill that would eliminate publication of insurance abstracts in newspapers, was heard by the Senate’s Industry, Business and Labor Committee last week. Insurance abstracts, or short briefs that illustrate the financial position of insurance companies that write policies in North Dakota, are pub...
During the 1860s the Civil War took priority for nearly all Americans. It tore the nation apart for the better part of four years and left wounds that lasted for decades. But the Civil War wasn’t the only history happening at that time. Dakota Territory was established in 1861 with scattered military forts to protect settlers and the Great Sioux Uprising took place in 1862. More than a decade later, on June 25, 1876, the Battle of the Little Bighorn unfolded, which remains one of the most a...
11 is old. I can document that. Been there, done that. At 92, you end up looking at all of life’s questions that were not solved during your term of life. Therefore, you must pass them off to the next generation where they will be kicked around some more but never solved. As for my family, I had 10 siblings so parents were too busy dealing with crises from meal to meal. Life’s real problems were always pushed to the back of the stove until the potatoes were done. Dealing with Dumplings Som...
We’re in the last week of holiday break for my college-aged daughter, and I’m wondering how it went so quickly. We’ve gone over her grades from her first semester as a full-time college student, and she’s looking ahead to her spring semester schedule. Over the past three weeks, she’s visited friends and family, helped me with a couple of projects at work, and done a fair amount of cooking and cleaning at home. Man, I’m going to miss that as soon as she’s gone again! By the time many of you read...
Editor’s note: This article is reprinted from the Jan. 20, 1997, edition of the Cavalier County Republican in Langdon. I wouldn’t do this now, at my age, but back then, I was hell bent on getting my newspaper to its readers. Right in the middle of the fourth blizzard of the season, a decision had to be made. Usually the Republican is printed at 8 a.m., Friday in Grafton. But seeing how a blizzard with dangerous wind chills was howling through the state, I woke up Friday morning thinking we would...
It wasn’t true but it was effective. As a former advertising agency guy, I can appreciate the genius of the Trump campaign when they came out with “Make America Great Again.” There was no time in history when the United States was greater than it is today. Just about everybody has some source of income - including all of those people in the service industry who disappeared while we were wearing COVID masks. Our economy was never stronger; our world power was never greater. We can now build a sup...
This Christmas was definitely one to remember for some, and not necessarily in a great way. Some didn’t make it home due to the ridiculous weather we’ve been having. Others I know were sick with COVID, or influenza, or RSV, or some other unknown respiratory virus, so they resorted to rest on the big day. We were fortunate. Everyone was healthy after a rough bout with sickness around Thanksgiving, and we only had to travel about five blocks to our Christmas Day celebration at my mot...
I won’t hazard a guess as to whether it achieves immortality like “grassy knoll” or “hanging chads,” but surely the phrase “bomb cyclone storm” will remain in the public consciousness of those who endured its cruelties. We’ll laugh about this someday, but right now an awful lot of Americans have a “single digit” they’d like to give right back to Mother Nature. And we’re not exactly chummy with 2022, which on its way out is taunting us with, “Bet now you wish you had bought the extended warra...
Many of you have probably already begun to plan for your 2023 vacation. If you intend to stay in North Dakota, spend some extra time looking at the map. It’s interesting to note there are many communities with the same name as counties. The odd thing about it though, is that a lot of communities that have the same name as counties, are not in the same county. I can think of six that are: Grand Forks, Pembina, Rolette, Bottineau, Bowman and LaMoure. To begin this oddity, let’s start in Cav...
Even though the laws relating to rape have not been repealed, victims are not getting justice in the present system. Administratively, rape gets no priority. Right now, North Dakota has 271 rape cases – doubled since December 21, 2021 – gathering dust because the criminal justice machinery has shoved rape cases to the back burner where nothing happens for months. Gov. Doug Burgum could hardly wait for the legislature to meet so he could rush through funding for business development – even borro...
New year’s resolutions - who actually sticks to them anyway? I’ve said for years that there is no reason to make one if I don’t plan to keep it. Thus, I haven’t made any resolutions for some time. Readers, this year is different. So many people I love and respect have told me that I have “too much on my plate.” “You’ll find a way to get it all done,” I keep telling myself. “Just finish these three (or 10) more items on the to-do list and you can rest.” The trouble is, the list keeps getting lo...
I was at my desk one day at The Kenmare News and the telephone rang. It was Karen Pauls of CBC-TV in Winnipeg. She was calling to ask me if I knew anything about some Nigerians who were hospitalized in Kenmare. I hadn’t heard about such a thing and my first question to her was, “How do you know that?” Karen’s reply, “Word gets around.” Needless to say I was quite surprised, but then got to thinking she must know people in Canada Customs and Border Protection who mentioned it. Regardless,...
Writing as a political scientist, there were a number of significant lessons learned from the 2022 political scene. So who won and who lost? Sure, the Democrats gained a little in the U. S. Senate and Republicans gained a little in the House of Representatives but democracy gained the most because the black mark against the electoral system was expunged. The American voting system has been proven clean – no fraud, no cheating, no election stealing. Because Donald Trump had such a big voice on t...
Through all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I have to keep reminding myself to take work and life one step at a time. “Do one thing well, and then move on to the next,” I think. From workforce shortages and winter storms to shipping delays and sick days, we are all dealing with a lot. A colleague of mine missed a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and after learning that it was totally out of her control, I understood. “We all need a little grace and peace this holiday season, that’s fo...
I was watching the CBS Evening News recently and Roxana Saberi gave a report on the World Cup from Doha, Qatar. I don’t normally watch the CBS Evening News but that name and face rang a bell. It took a minute to recall who she is. If you don’t know or remember, she is from North Dakota and has quite a story. Often times when people from North Dakota become famous, they’re athletes, actors, politicians or business executives. Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, is arguably the best journalist to come...
One of my fondest childhood memories of Christmas in the 1970’s was riding around in the family station wagon, “Bessie,” to look at Christmas lights while I whined to my parents about needing a snack – again. There was something magical about a familiar evening landscape transformed to a radiant wonderland at the expense of someone’s lumbar spine. My dad always made sure that our house was exemplary in its presentation of illuminated holiday décor, and even now, his legendary displays m...
By the time this reaches homes and newsstands this weekend, I'll have had a meeting with the professionals at one of the state's largest medical centers. I've been meeting with them for months getting ready for this surgery I was scheduled to have on Thursday. They're going in to repair my "ticker". I've know for a while there was a problem and now after tests, the surgery is set. And, to say the least, I am ready for that to happen. If not to rid my body of certain food groups, then the...
Everyone who is aware of North Dakota’s history knows that Pembina is a unique community for several reasons. Most notably, it was the first place in our state that was settled and that was in 1797. It wasn’t part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but was, at that time, a part of Canada called Prince Rupert’s Land. A fur trading company called the North West Company set up a fort on the north side of the confluence of the Red and Pembina Rivers and that today is the community of Pembina. If yo...
I grew up believing that you judge a man by the size of his Christmas tree. Each December my father and I would jump in our Willys Jeep and rush over to the local drive-in theater. Though closed to moviegoers for the season, the spacious parking area was rented out to the Lions Club for its annual Christmas tree sale. Dad never failed to ask the sellers, "Don't you have anything bigger?" And he was always certain to assure me, "Don't worry, Pete, it will fit in the living room." The Lions were h...
A fledgling caterer lands a foundation gala and falls for her client's nephew, who is assigned to make sure the meals goes perfectly. An owner of a farm and home goods store tries to convince a reporter for a magazine that her friends who help run the store are her family. A reporter moves to a small town in Alaska and takes over the local newspaper at Christmas time. Yes, I am a sucker for sappy Christmas movies. From Thanksgiving to New Year's Day (with a few other days sprinkled in the rest...
For the first time in the past three years, the Canadian Pacific Railway’s actual Holiday Train is returning to the steel rail across the U.S. and Canada. Because of Covid 19, the past two years have been virtual holiday trains that quite frankly didn’t hold a candle to the real thing. So it’s been announced, the performers have been named and the schedules released. Once again, the train will make six stops in North Dakota As Holiday Train public affairs points out, the concerts are free....
