Last Word

Which Way will The PSC Go On The Refinery?

October 3rd, 2018


Photo caption: They’re moving dirt at the proposed refinery site just east of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Can we stop them? It’s going to take leadership and guts in state government.

There are two ways to look at the recommendation of Administrative Law Judge Patrick Ward that the North Dakota Public Service Commission dismiss the complaint against that (expletive deleted) Meridian Energy for failing to get a site review from the PSC for its proposed refinery near Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

First, If you believe that two or maybe all three of the PSC members would really like to conduct a site review because they are nervous that this might be a bad place for…

Read more...


​The Cultural Cringe has come to North Dakota

September 5th, 2018

UND - photograph provide by UND

by Andrew Alexis Varvel
mr.a.alexis.varvel@gmail.com

“If a piece of equipment purchased in the 1920s is kept up and can guarantee, at present, an operable rate close to 100 percent and if it can bear the production burden placed on it, the machine's value has not declined a bit. On the other hand, if a machine purchased last year has been poorly maintained and produces at only half its operable rate, we should regard its value as having declined 50 percent."

"A machine's value is not…

Read more...


​Scenic River Commission Turns Out to Be A Rubber Stamp For Industry

August 29th, 2018

Little Missouri River Bridge and Other Unauthorized Developments - United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Montana-Dakotas

In the halcyon days of the 1970s in North Dakota, when the state was a quieter, kinder, friendlier, more thoughtful place, the Legislature passed a bill, and the Governor signed it, designating the Little Missouri as our state’s only official State Scenic River, and creating a commission to look out for it.

The Little Missouri Scenic River Commission did its job through the administrations of four governors who cared about the Bad Lands and its river—Art Link, Allen Olson, George…

Read more...


Farewell statement from Senator John McCain

August 28th, 2018

Senator John McCain - from Facebook page

by Senator John McCain - from Facebook page

“My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow Arizonans,

“Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.

“I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on…

Read more...


​What To Do About A Bridge That Shouldn’t Be There

August 22nd, 2018

Here’s a piece of the Dunn County Atlas that Wylie Bice submitted to the Corps of Engineers, showing the location of the bridge he planned to build on federal land

The Bismarck Tribune’s Amy Dalrymple’s wrote a good story recently about a marathon Little Missouri Scenic River Commission meeting. I’m going to write more about that later. I’ll just say, for now, be careful what you wish for.

What I’m writing about now is one of the things the Commission discussed—the illegal bridge over the Little Missouri State Scenic River on the Wylie Bice Ranch in Dunn County.

I’ve written about this a few times, but there are new developments and…

Read more...


A bridge to nowhere

August 15th, 2018

Photograph provided by Jim Fuglie

Well, after nearly a dozen years of delay, it looks like Billings County is finally going to build a bridge over the Little Missouri State Scenic River north of Medora. The county posted a notice in the Federal Register on October 12, 2006, that it was beginning an Environmental Impact Statement process “for a proposed roadway project and river crossing over the Little Missouri River.”

In late July of 2018, almost 12 years later, the county presented its Draft EIS to the public and…

Read more...


Putin’s Plutocratic Puppet and the Specter of an American Gulag

August 15th, 2018

Comic courtesy of Daily Trump Cartoon

“Liberty is a strong food, but a difficult one to digest; it needs a healthy stomach. I laugh at those degraded people who, letting conspirators incite them to rise in arms, dare to speak of liberty, without having even a notion of what it is; who, with hearts a prey to all the vices of slaves, imagine that to be free they need only be rebels.”
– Jean Jacques Rousseau

“If…If…We didn’t love freedom enough.”
– Alexsandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

“He would never…

Read more...


​High Plains Radicals

August 8th, 2018


By Gary Olson
olsong@moravian.edu

"The sun was shining as I was strolling
The wheat field waving the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice was chanting
This land was made for you and me"

— Woody Guthrie

With socialism, even in a diluted and inchoate form, assuming a higher profile, I’m reminded of my early years in North Dakota during the 1950s. On the one hand, it wasn’t the Gestapo-like scenes from Standing Rock, today’s widespread sex trafficking in the booming oil fields…

Read more...


​Obituary: The Show Hall in Rocklake, North Dakota

August 8th, 2018

Rocklake's Show Hall was torn down a week ago, on August 2, 2018.

By Mark Rodenbiker
mrodenbiker@gmail.com   

The first brick building had just gone up on the corner of the block. The government built that to house the post office, so it didn't mean so much. Not like this one; for a person to have the ambition to build a brick building of that size was an acknowledgement that Rocklake was no longer a railroad siding. Now, in 1907, Rocklake was a town.

The post office may have made it government-official before that, but the show hall made it…

Read more...


​Trump to Republicans: “Wave the Flag, and Waive Your Conscience”

August 8th, 2018

“Hell… is the suffering of being unable to love.”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I and the public know, what all school children learn; those to whom evil is done, do evil in return.”
– W.H. Auden, September 1, 1939

“To my knowledge, America has never known any enemy children.” 
– Senator William Langer (R-ND), March 29, 1946

“We ask ourselves what kind of world we live in, but it’s too painful to face the truth. Maybe our worst fears have already been realized -- maybe the…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry TheatreB Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1 Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry EmpireAUG2021 Tracker Pixel for Entry MidwestRoadTripAdventures Tracker Pixel for Entry Aquarium

Recently in:

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.com The business of Indian Hating is a lucrative one. It’s historically been designed to dehumanize Native people so that it’s easier to take their land. ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,”…

SHSND delves into their ornament collectionBy Jenny Yearoushistory@nd.govIn 2017 we received Christmas ornaments from the North Dakota Former Governors’ Residence. The ornaments were gifts from local chapters of the Germans from…

Saturday, December 21, 7 p.m.Drekker Brewing, 1666 1st Avenue N, FargoEmbrace the naughty and celebrate the dark side of the solstice. From 7-close, Drekker’s mavens of mischief transform their taproom. There’s a photo booth,…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I’m really sick of the “Nobody wants to work anymore” narrative. Like, really sick. I can’t hide the eye rolls and I don’t even try to hide them anymore. In fact, I feel like they’ll…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comA new type of Civil War: “smash-and grab” capitalism and healthcare The Divided States of America has the greatest economic inequality among wealthy nations on Planet Earth and has birthed a…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…

By Curtis W. Stofferahn, Ph.D.Curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu In June, two events markedly contrasted the difference between two different visions of agriculture: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture. The dedication…