Category: Law, Government, Politics

When I last wrote about the Great Duane Sand Fundraising Scam, in April, I said I wasn’t going to waste any more time on him. For those of you who missed it, Duane, a perpetual candidate in North Dakota elections, was a candidate in the 2012 Primary election for the Republican nomination to the U.S. … Continue reading The Great Duane Sand Fundraising Scam, Vol. III

So, the short, interesting life of Hamid Shirvani as a North Dakotan is about to come to an end. Gee, everybody who is surprised about THAT raise your hand. I’m looking, but I don’t see any hands in the air. We’ve followed his antics, and that of his dysfunctional board, for a year or so … Continue reading Ham, We Hardly Knew Ye

OUT OF THE CLOSET Plains Talk, the newsletter of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, usually arrives in my mailbox about this time each year with a really comprehensive list of summer events related to the history and culture of North Dakota and the Great Plains. It arrived in time this year for me … Continue reading Weekenders

The announcement by Jack Dalrymple earlier this month that he and fellow Industrial Commission members are going to take a tour of the oil patch and develop a “list” of places where they probably shouldn’t be permitting oil development rankled some in the preservation community, and rightly so. That list pretty much already exists. Jack, … Continue reading Jack Dalrymple’s Makin’ A List. Yeah, Right.

I’m thinking of my mom on this Mother’s Day, as we all are. She’s been gone three and a half years now, but it seems like only yesterday I was making those semi-weekly trips to Hettinger to see her in the nursing home, each time stopping at the Albertson’s store in Dickinson to buy her … Continue reading Body and Soul

Let me say this about Jean Mason Guy, who buried her husband of 70 years today: I’ve known a few First Ladies of North Dakota, and of all of them, Jean is the one who could easily have filled the role of Governor rather than First Lady. Jean and Bill Guy were interchangeable. Bill Guy … Continue reading An Awesome Team

From the American Licorice Company website:             Snaps® bite-sized chews is the candy with the licorice center, pastel-colored candy coatings, and unique taste. Introduced in the 1930?s, Snaps® brand candy is the nostalgic confection with a legion of rabid fans. Many consumers remember Snaps® candy in their 2-cent classic red boxes, especially eating them on … Continue reading Snaps®: Two And A Half Cents Each

Okay, here’s  your North Dakota Political Trivia test for today: Name the six candidates for public office in North Dakota in 2012 who raised at least a million dollars for their campaigns. That should be easy, shouldn’t it? Let’s start at the top. Rick Berg ($6,502,926) and Heidi Heitkamp ($5,642,938), who ran for the U.S. … Continue reading Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Yesterday I wrote a bit about solitude, the need to sometimes just go where we can be completely alone with nature, and how troubling it has become in western North Dakota that it is harder and harder to find such a place. Ed Abbey, hero to everyone who cares deeply for the land, and inspiration … Continue reading Solitude

“The lasting change to North Dakota won’t be a physical one, but a cultural one. It’s not what happens to the land, but what happens to the culture of the people once it’s over.” Wow, that gives me pause. They’re the words of freelance writer Chip Brown, who wrote the lengthy article “North Dakota Went … Continue reading What Happens To The Culture Once It’s Over?