Category: Law, Government, Politics

The engineering firm drafting the Environmental Impact Statement for Billings County’s request to put a new bridge across the Little Missouri River north of Medora has determined the best place to put the bridge is just 17 miles north of Medora, about a third of the way—as the crow flies—between the two current bridges near … Continue reading New Little Missouri Bridge Site Selected–And No One’s Going to Be Happy

An apology to my readers. I was born with a weak spine. Literally, but not figuratively (I hope). So I’ve had these recurring back problems since I reached middle age. They’re usually fixable, but it takes some time, and I’m in one of those time periods right now. The doctors started working on it in … Continue reading Beware the Ides of March

I think I'm just going to re-run this column from the Unheralded.Fish website from two years ago about this time of the year in every odd-numbered year from now on. Nothing seems to change. Why should I spend a bunch of time writing something new? Nobody seems to be paying any attention anyway. JIM FUGLIE: … Continue reading Re-Run

A few of you might remember a big dust-up about 5 years ago over the State Land Board’s decision to offer, for lease, the right to drill for oil on the west side of one of southwest North Dakota’s major landmarks, Bullion Butte. The butte and some of the acreage around it are owned by … Continue reading Bullion Butte Wins Another One

I know, I know, a bunch of my readers have been waiting for me to do a little North Dakota post-election analysis. I’ve been waiting to see how the new governor starts out. He’s started. Here’s what I think. So far. Doug Burgum is a lot smarter than me.  So I’m not going to use … Continue reading

I’ve spent a lot of nights sleeping within spitting distance of the Little Missouri River. God willing, I’ll spend a lot more. I’m pretty sure I’ve slept there in every month on the calendar. Some nights (and some months) were better than others. I’ve slept there alone, I’ve slept there with canoeing buddies, I’ve slept … Continue reading Camping at the Elkhorn-Part 2

Today, for the forty-fourth or forty-fifth time (you do the math—I was an English major) Americans woke up with a different president than the one they awakened with the day before. I’ve lived during the terms of 13 of them, about a third, depending on who’s counting. I can actually remember 12 of them; I … Continue reading Have Courage and Faith

Note: This post has been updated from its original version because of some additional information provided to me by the North Dakota Health Department. Thanks to Inspector Bill Suess for that. Out in the Oil Patch, when a pipeline leaks, or a tank overflows, or a valve is accidentally left open, and something (mostly oil … Continue reading Anatomy of a Pipeline Oil Spill

I've written a two-part series about winter camping at the Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park for Dakota Country magazine. Here's the first part. The Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a tiny 218 acre island in a vast million acre sea of Bad Lands, broken prairies, scoria roads, cattle … Continue reading Camping at the Elkhorn-Part 1

I’d be lying if I said James W. Foley was one of my favorite poets. Hokey might be the best word to describe him (but kind of wonderfully hokey). Foley, North Dakota’s longtime Poet Laureate (way before current Laureate Larry Woiwode) has been dead 75 years now, but there’s a renewed interest in his work, … Continue reading Some Christmas Poetry