Letters to the Editor

​LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

March 10th, 2016

To the Editor:


I was raised on our family farm near Buffalo, North Dakota. After college I served in the U.S. Army, worked in the Fargo Public Schools and eventually returned to my hometown of Buffalo about thirty years ago. I am a past Mayor of the community and am involved in our American Legion Post #10, the City of Buffalo Historic Preservation Commission, the Buffalo Community Club and the City Park Board.

The proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, or CAFO, to be…

Read more...


Letter to the editor: I don’t like the caucus system

February 4th, 2016

To the editor:

I don't like the Caucus system. Caucuses are archaic and exclusive and usually take place in the evening, when many people have to work, thus eliminating them from the whole process (no absentee voting in a caucus). It's also not nearly as representative as a Primary, where there is one vote for one person. For example, in the 2016 Iowa Caucus, at one precinct in Iowa City, Bernie Sanders had over 400 people choose him, while Hillary Clinton had just over 90 people choose…

Read more...


Letter to the editor on corporate farming

January 30th, 2016

To the editor:

Corporate farming is not the future of agriculture in North Dakota. Local communities all across the country are fighting against corporate farms for good reason. Recently, the community of Buffalo, ND was blindsided by a proposed 9,000 hog factory farm, which will drastically worsen the economic, environmental, and social dynamic of Buffalo. These types of factory farms do not invest in local communities. They do business wherever they can get the best deal, which is…

Read more...


Letter to the editor from Trana Rogne on the Diversion

January 24th, 2016

To the editor:

The Saint Paul District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently released a document touting the value of the Alternative Delivery plan, called the P3, for funding the FM Diversion.

The P3 funding is a private public partnership to fund projects that were not funded in the Water Resource Reform and Development Act of 2014.

Among the reasons stated in this document for using the P3 funding method are the following:

“It will save the federal government $400 million.”

This…

Read more...


Letter to the editor from Tony Gehrig

January 24th, 2016

To the editor:

I am tremendously excited at the prospect of the tallest building in North Dakota someday soon coming to downtown Fargo. I have no doubt that this will be a fantastic addition to the area and will draw in new business to our city. I know this project will be a great success for the Kilbourne Group. All the more reason why public tax dollars should be left out of the equation.

My stance on special incentives for private development is not limited to the Kilbourne Group, a…

Read more...


Anthony Gehrig is wrong on not funding public art

December 12th, 2015

To the editor:

In the online version of the Forum on Sunday December 6 edition sandwiched between editorials by Jack Zaleski about a poetry book of regional and local people describing past memories of Christmas and Jim Shaw’s sadness at the loss 35 years ago of arguably one of the most famous contemporary musicians, John Lennon; was a letter listing the reasons for government not supporting public art by city commissioner Tony Gehrig. The contrast in sentiments of that letter sandwich…

Read more...


The blink of an eye and Footprints,

December 9th, 2015

To the editor:

Late one night in December 2014, Congress decided in the blink of an eye to take away 400,000 seniors hard earned pensions rights when they passed the Multi-employer Pension Reform Act. I believe they did this without most of Congress even knowing what they were voting on. This gut-wrenching decision is having serious consequences to the 400,000 people affected by the bill’s passage. I am one of those 400,000. 

I worked at UPS for over 30 years. I worked hard, causing …

Read more...


To the editor: I feel very sad for Mrs. Sadek

November 28th, 2015

To the editor:

I feel very sad for Mrs. Sadek, as no parent should lose their child due to government corruption, whether it be agenda driven military action or narky narks run amok. As a fellow victim of Smilin' Wayne's rather unique take on "law" enforcement as facilitated by "confidential informants", I pray she gets answers, but I fear that unless she gets Federal help- or perhaps Gloria Allred- the culture of abuse created and facilitated by our wannabe new governor will stall,…

Read more...


An elegy for a once close friend

November 12th, 2015

I have a friend who stood in the dying light, who looked and despaired as the sign dimmed, vanishing into the night. 

She, sighing, turned home to empty screen, vacant, chagrined.

Cash Wise Video will close, another chapter parting in a book we must read— having few options left. 

Endless slumber lurks, too, for the bereft. Must we concede?

What would we give for one night or seven or a thousand more with our rentals, to undo this funeral procession, to enter the night, but not go gentle?

Read more...


Controversy over Madame Butterfly

November 6th, 2015

To The Editor:

My organization, the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, has just learned about the production of “Madame Butterfly” this weekend at the Fargo-Moorhead Opera and its use of the widely criticized practice of “yellowface,” that is to say the casting of Caucasian performers to portray Asian characters, utilizing makeup, hairstyles and costuming to appropriate a culture that is not theirs.

An article today in InForum (

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Aarp Tracker Pixel for Entry Hjemkomst1 Tracker Pixel for Entry Seven Tracker Pixel for Entry WurstWest Tracker Pixel for Entry Empire Tracker Pixel for Entry 7Clans

Recently in:

By Bryce HaugenNot everyone detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is an undocumented immigrant. After a Jan. 12 scuffle at a local Walmart, Tim Catlett, a resident of St. Cloud, Minn., was held at the Bishop…

By Kooper Shagena Just off of I-94 and Highway 83 on State Street in Bismarck, an abandoned Kmart sits behind an empty parking lot, watching the cars roll on and off the interstate exchange. It has been standing there quietly since…

Saturday, January 31, mingling at 6:15 p.m. and program at 7 p.m.Fine Arts Club, 601 4th St. S., FargoThe FM Symphony is getting intimate by launching a “Small Stages” chamber music series and it's bringing folks together via…

By John Strand If you are reading this editorial and you too are worried sick about the state of our country, keep reading. Maybe we can inspire each other. It was near closing time. We were discussing our values crisis. So this…

By Ed RaymondA mind that snapped, cracked, and popped at one hundredI wasn’t going to read a long column called “Centenarian: A Diary of a Hundredth Year” by Calvin Tomkins celebrating his birthday on December 17 of 2025…

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 GionSince the much-dreaded Covid years, there has been much ebb and flow in the Fargo-Moorhead restaurant scene. In 2025, that trend continued with some major additions and closings. Let’s start the New Year on a positive…

Saturday, January 17, doors at 7:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include members of The Ergs!, Dillinger…

By Greg Carlson Writer-director Naomi Jaye adapts fellow Canadian Martha Baillie’s 2009 novel “The Incident Report” as a potent and introspective character study. Retitled “Darkest Miriam,” Jaye’s movie stars Britt…

By Jacinta ZensThe Guerrilla Girls, an internationally renowned anonymous feminist art collective, have been bringing attention to the gender and racial imbalances in contemporary art institutions for the last 40 years. They have…

Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…

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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com At the beginning of the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Grinch is introduced as having a smaller than average heart, but as the movie progresses, his heart increases three…

January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…

By Vern Thompson Benjamin Franklin offered one of the most sobering warnings in American history. When asked what kind of government the framers had created in 1787, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Few words…