Forced out of Business by the State of North Dakota?

Tony Osowski is highly respected in northeastern North Dakota. Up in Walsh County, he is considered a star entrepreneur, co-founder of Harriston Industries in Minto, N.D., a farm equipment manufacturing company sold to investors in 1997.

Tony and his wife, Judy, announced this week that their most recent entrepreneurial effort--Vintner’s Cellars of Grand Forks and Fargo--"is being forced out of business by the State of North Dakota”

Their announcement is in a half page ad in this issue of the High Plains Reader. It was also placed in the Grand Forks Herald and The Forum earlier this week, addressed to their customers who produced their own wine on Vintner’s Cellar premises.

“Several years ago we began selling wine by the bottle and glass.  To do this, we were required to obtain a domestic winery license from the North Dakota Tax Department.  State law requires that a percentage of ingredients come from North Dakota-grown products.  (I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that North Dakota grows few grapes.) Nevertheless, we strove to meet this requirement, and thought we were in compliance, but, the Tax Department, without forewarning, decided to count the wine you produced as if we had produced it.  They notified us of this change in policy the day after Christmas and told us we could not operate as a domestic winery effective New Year’s Day,” Tony and Judy Osowski stated in their Public Notice ad.

“My wife and I are native North Dakotans.  After retiring as President of Harriston Industries in Minto, we started Vintner’s Cellar because we wanted to continue living and working in the state we love,” the Osowskis wrote. “To our dismay, we have discovered that North Dakota laws and politics, as well as some state officials, are not always friendly to entrepreneurial ventures.  Other states, where Vintner’s Cellar stores are flourishing, have changed or amended state laws to accommodate this unique and popular business.”

According to a Dec. 31, 2007, letter to Vintners Cellar owners from Special Assistant Attorney General and Legal Counsel to the N. D. Office of the State Tax Commissioner, Daniel L. Rouse, “Within the next five business days, the Tax Commissioner will file an Administrative Complaint against you with the North Dakota Office of Administrative Hearings and request that your 2008 Domestic Winery Licenses be revoked for failure at both locations to qualify as a Domestic Winery under North Dakota law. This Complaint will be based upon findings of a joint Audit recently conducted by the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and Tax Commissioner.”

State law requires domestic wineries to contain at least 51 percent North Dakota products, allowing for 10 percent at first and then for 5 percent increases annually until the 51 percent threshold is attained.

Attempts to get the state law changed did not succeed.

“We tried to get the Legislature to create a special license,” Tony Osowski told the Grand Forks Herald. “But that didn’t happen. I don’t understand the requirement. If I’m a brew pub, I don’t need to use North Dakota barley. But a North Dakota winery has to use 10 percent North Dakota grapes. We’re trying to comply, but there’s not a lot of grapes grown in the state.”

According to the ad placed by Vintner’s, the Tax Department has given them until the end of April to surrender their licenses voluntarily or face an administrative hearing.

Somehow, somewhere, there must be somebody who can help bridge the issues between the Vintner’s folks and government regulators, we would hope.

Oh, Lord…

Last week’s trivia question about identifying a prayer elicited numerous responses. And they were all over the board.
Gina M. Powers, however, had the most accurate answer.

“This is the Aramaic to English translation of the familiar Christian Prayer known by its starting words ‘Our Father who art in heaven…,” Powers wrote to HPR. “It was spoken by Jesus in his time, in his native tongue.  According to current translations of the Bible, this is Jesus’ instruction on how to pray.”
“Lovely prayer, isn’t it?” she concluded.

We agree. And thanks to everyone who responded.

February Birthdays…

Happy February birthdays to the following folks: Carol “Marty” Martinson, Josh Richter, Dennis Reidhammer, Kelly Vesel, Sister Di Dolce, John Lamb, Wayne Stenehjem, Terry A. Barta, Dawn Morgan, Merry Helm, Erin Sparks, Mike Dunn, Jens Tennefos, David Paul Brooks, Dan Waffle, Gene Shannon, Serena Schwartz, Sue Matcha, Alicia Nelson, Scott Vanderhagen, Patti French, Jim Singer, Dan Mahli, Paul Johnson, and Lee Swanson.