On January 13, 2020 I read a Dickinson Press Newspaper article that announced that beginning in March, the newspaper would no longer be published every day of the week, and instead would only be published once per week on Wednesdays.

I was sorry to hear this.  I like reading the Dickinson Press, and there is very little to do in Dickinson, North Dakota.  It seemed as if Dickinson had so little going on, and had become so inconsequential, that it did not really merit having a newspaper anymore, that was my first reaction.

The explanation that the Dickinson Press gave had three main points.  They said that many newspapers across the country were making the decision to transition to becoming an on-line internet news service.  This would supposedly allow the Dickinson Press Newspaper to add important news stories throughout the day, and provide up to the minute news.

The other reason that was mentioned, was that with the Dickinson Press Newspaper only being published one day per week on Wednesdays, the newspaper could be printed in Bismarck, instead of Dickinson.  This would allow the newspaper to no longer employ a staff of experienced print press employees in Dickinson, maintain a printing press in Dickinson, and be able to sell off their large building in Dickinson.

I do not have any animosity towards the owners of the Dickinson Press Newspaper, Forum Communications Company in Fargo.  Ever since Forum Communications purchased the Dickinson Press Newspaper in 1995, many people in Dickinson believed that the Forum Communications Company was prejudiced against the people in Dickinson, because the economy, culture, and politics in Fargo on the far east side of the state are completely different than small, rural, conservative Dickinson on the west side of the state.

It is true that the owners and staff of the Forum Communications Company in Fargo have a very different outlook and beliefs from the people in Dickinson, but I always thought of this as benefit for the newspaper.  The Dickinson Press Newspaper was very “fact finding” and “truth finding” in their news stories, regardless of who in Dickinson would be embarrassed or negatively impacted by the actual truth.

When a news story concerning Dickinson was very, very contentious, the Forum Communications Company would assign the story to one of their other newspapers, such as the Grand Forks Herald, and then carry the story in the Dickinson Press Newspaper, which I thought was an excellent way to handle the situation.

After the initial feeling of shock that the Dickinson Press Newspaper would no longer be published daily, I immediately began to feel a sense of dread that Dickinson would now become even more corrupt, more backward, and more primitive than ever before.

Historically and up to the present day, there have been so many scandals and so many terrible things going on in Dickinson, it seemed that the only thing keeping the Evil from winning was the Dickinson Press Newspaper warning people what was going on, so that the people would know.

I could say that now, I don’t know what is going to happen, but that’s not true, I do know what is going to happen.  All of the bad things that are going on and have been going on in Dickinson, the out-of-control crime, drug dealing, drug use, and drug addiction; the unethical, immoral, and illegal financial scheming; the bullying and mistreatment of city and private employees in Dickinson, is all going to become much, much worse.

In Dickinson, the Mayor, Chief of Police, Chamber of Commerce, the Dickinson Mafia, Business Owners, and Realtors, like to hide what is going on.  They do every thing they can to talk Dickinson up, so that people will continue to come here.

A better way to run Dickinson, would be to illuminate the bad, immoral, unethical, and criminal activity in Dickinson, address it, fix it, stop it.  Then, people would come to Dickinson and stay here, because it was a nice, clean, safe, peaceful, well-run town.

In a way, I kind of feel that Forum Communications is giving up on Dickinson, because it is an exercise in futility.  For instance, one to three times per week, the Dickinson Press Newspaper publishes the “Police Blotter” or “Crime & Courts” articles.  In these articles, week after week, over and over, it is the same people who are getting arrested and appearing in court for possession of drugs, driving on a suspended license, assault, burglary, etcetera.  The same people, again and again, over and over, repeat, repeat, repeat.  Why even bother, can’t the people in Dickinson even read or take a hint?

The Forum Communications assigned a reporter to write a very thorough and detailed five-part series of articles, explaining why there are so many repeat offenders without an end in sight.  It’s because it costs $43,000 per year to put an offender in prison, versus $1,700 per year to place an offender on parole/probation.  North Dakota is not putting or keeping repeat criminals in prison where they belong.

The People, Police, and Judges in Dickinson are still blind to the out-of-control crime in Dickinson, so why even bother writing about it, reporting on it, or explaining it, the people in Dickinson don’t appear to be able to read or understand.  This is one of reasons why it is pointless to have a newspaper in Dickinson, the people don’t appear to be able to read or understand what is written, or they would rather the truth not be told or heard.