Category Archives: Uncategorized

Review Of Rock Godz Concert, Taylor North Dakota

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This past weekend in Taylor, North Dakota, they had the “Good Ol’ Taylor Days” festival.  This event had an antique tractor display, tractor parade, antique tractor pull, and a classic car show.  On Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. they had an outdoor concert with the band Rock Godz.

Many local people had been at the event all day Saturday and all day Sunday.  There were not a lot of people that stayed for the concert.  When the band Rock Godz began playing at 6:00 p.m., they sounded pretty much the same as most local bands, more or less, only they were playing Classic Rock, instead of Country Western.

For their first few songs, I wondered why the local people in Taylor even booked a Classic Rock band, what were they thinking?  There were some local people that really wanted to be there, like this was the best thing that ever happened in a long time.

After a while, once the band had warmed up, they sounded very, very good, unusually and abnormally good.  I will give some credit to their sound guy, and how they arranged everyone’s microphone and amplification.  You could clearly discern each person’s vocals, guitar, and drum, separately.  Each person and their instruments were clear and precise.

In many concerts, especially rock concerts, the volume and amplification is so high, that the precise, fine sounds are muted, and everything is blended together to make a very loud noise.  Vocals, guitars, drums, all drown each other out and roll over top of each other.  This was the clearest sounding rock concert that I had ever been to.

The lead vocalist, lead guitar, base guitar, and drummer were all very good, and they didn’t have anything to hide.  Just the opposite, they made it so that you could hear each one of them individually, and hear how good they were.

In the past four years, I have been to between 80 to 100 concerts.  I would rate the Rock Godz lead vocalist as being in the top 3, the lead guitarist being in the top 3, and the drummer being in the top 5, of everyone that I have heard in these 80 to 100 concerts, including Firehouse, Hair Ball, and 32 Below.

The band played from 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., much longer than most bands play.  They did it just because they enjoyed playing, and they were having a good time.  I am going to give you a quote from the band’s website, because I agree with it 100%:

“A Rock Godz performance takes the audience on an over-the-top, wildly fun trip through the best eras of rock and pop music. Their 80’s-focused production (combined with classic and current rock/pop) creates an instant party scene where friends raise their glasses and sing along to their favorite songs – all night long!  Rock Godz features music from all of your favorites, including Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Journey, Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Poison, Prince, Bryan Adams, Led Zeppelin, Theory of a Deadman, Quiet Riot, Buck Cherry, Steel Panther…and many more!

Rock Godz is made up of professional, veteran musicians who have toured regionally and nationally with acts such as Jonah and the Wales, Wild Side, Mortal Chaos, Shameless Desire, Hollywood Blvd, 13th Step, Si6ks, A:POD, 80-D, and Driven By Design.  Their extensive experience as rockers and performers has allowed them to share the stage with national acts including Dokken, Great White, Ratt, Slaughter, Firehouse, Jackyl, Saliva, Joey Belladona, Sevendust, Candle Box, Seether, Skid Row, Alice In Chains, Shinedown, Vince Neil, Brett Michaels, Krokus, American Head Charge, and more. Members have “rocked” some of the biggest stages around including Target Center, The Myth, First Avenue, and Whiskey a Go-Go (L.A.).  Rock Godz is an experience you don’t want to miss!  These guys know how to party!!!”

140 Year Old Log Barn And Log House In North Dakota

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In my previous blog post, I wrote that I have begun uploading videos to YouTube, and that these videos are not controversial.  However, some of the videos that I am uploading now will be controversial.

In a very, very remote area, I found a log barn and a log house that are approximately 140 years old.  The barn and the house were constructed in approximately 1880.  These are some of the oldest structures that you will find in North Dakota.

Beside the barn, there is a dozer, which had begun clearing a portion of the land adjacent to the barn.  It looks like the dozer operator made an effort to not damage the barn and the house.

Believe me, the old log barn and the old log house are inconsequential to what is being done at this location.  This location is very hidden, and the location has been improved at great expense to have constant, uninterrupted, and substantial amounts of water, enough for a community of people and animals.

Though many readers and myself, may think that this very old farmstead is something that should be preserved and protected for all North Dakotans, there are not many undisturbed locations like this, this is not going to happen.  As one of my friends put it, “In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere”, that is where this is.

On your internet browser, type in “YouTube”.  Once you click on the YouTube site, in their search bar, type in “Dickinson58601 Living in Dickinson North Dakota”.  These videos are titled “140 Year Old Log Barn North Dakota”, and “140 Year Old Log House North Dakota”.

Here is the link below to this YouTube video:

If You Want To See Kayaking On The Heart River In Dickinson, Go To YouTube

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Several weeks ago I wrote a blog post letting the readers know that I would begin uploading videos to YouTube.  These videos do not have commentary, and they are not controversial.  I just wanted to show different aspects of Dickinson, North Dakota using video.

My latest three videos show kayaking on the Heart River in Dickinson.  These short videos are quite picturesque and somewhat funny.

On your internet browser, type in “YouTube”.  Once you click on the YouTube site, enter in their search bar “Dickinson58601 Living in Dickinson North Dakota”.  The three latest videos are “Heart River Horses Dickinson North Dakota”, “Heart River Horses And Dogs Dickinson North Dakota”, and “Heart River Kayaking With Dogs Dickinson North Dakota”.

Don’t attack the person in the video, this is not me, this is someone who lives in my neighborhood.

Here is the link to this YouTube video:

Problems With University Hospital In Salt Lake City

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After reading the news stories and watching the video of a nurse being arrested in Salt Lake City for refusing police requests to collect a blood sample from a patient, I wrote two blog posts defending the police.

The vast majority of television reporters, television commentators, print journalists, and people, expressed anger and outrage that police Detective Jeff Payne arrested nurse Alex Wubbel for refusing to draw blood from a patient involved in a fatal vehicle accident.

No medical professionals, and no attorneys were willing to explain to everyone, that for the past 50 years it has been mandatory for police to collect blood samples from drivers involved in fatal vehicle accidents.  In many states this blood draw was mandatory, involuntary, and no warrant was required.  This is a completely different law, than other laws that apply to DUI cases.  In a vehicle accident with a fatality, it is a vehicular homicide/manslaughter investigation.

No medical professionals came forward, and no attorneys came forward to explain that the blood draw that police Detective Jeff Payne had requested, without a warrant or patient consent, was what the police and hospitals have been doing for the past 50 years in cases of fatal vehicle accidents.  I think that this is very despicable, that medical professionals and attorneys hate the police so much, that they will not even admit what the law and the procedure has been.

I read an article today, that this hospital in Salt Lake City, the University Hospital, has looked into this incident, and has announced some changes.  The University Hospital did admit that all of the police officers present during this incident, and all of the hospital security guards present during this incident, believed that a warrant or patient consent was not required from the patient involved in a fatal vehicle accident.  This group included approximately three police officers, and approximately three hospital security guards.

None of the police officers objected, and none of the hospital security guards objected when police Detective Jeff Payne arrested nurse Alex Wubbel for continuing to refuse to collect blood from the patient for one hour, because they all believed that the police detective was legally allowed to arrest nurse Wubbel for interfering with a police investigation.  Detective Jeff Payne was instructed by his supervisor to arrest nurse Wubbel if she continued to refuse to collect a blood sample.

The University Hospital made an announcement that nurses will no longer come in contact with law enforcement, and that law enforcement will not be permitted to interfere with patient care.  From the article that I read, it said that the hospital has made changes in what it will allow police officers to do at the hospital.

In reading and watching what happened at the University Hospital, I already had the impression that the hospital believed that they were such a large facility, that they could tell the police what the police were permitted to do.  I believe that this conflict with the police had been brewing ever since the hospital began to feel that they were so large, that they were their own jurisdiction, and that their rules governed what was allowed on their private property.

I have seen this before, and I believe that this is the case, that the doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators have come to the conclusion that the University Hospital is private property, and that they determine what can and can not be done on their property.   This is completely not true, and the sooner that the University Hospital personnel are made aware of this, the better.

On privately owned property, that is open to the public, there are limits on what the property owner can control.  I will give some examples:

  • A large facility like a football stadium, arena, amusement park, shopping mall, or hospital that is open to the public, can not say, we do not allow law enforcement, or we do not allow law enforcement to carry firearms on the premises, or we do not allow law enforcement to arrest people on the premises, or we do not allow law enforcement to enforce certain laws on the premises.  This has been tried by different facilities, and the courts have ruled on the side of law enforcement and public safety.
  • If law enforcement sees someone who has an outstanding arrest warrant in a hospital, they may delay the arrest until that person has had treatment if necessary, but a hospital is not a neutral no-arrest zone.
  • In a hospital, a doctor, nurse, or administrator is not going to tell a police officer what the law is, no more than a shopping mall manager is going to tell a police officer what the law is, or a professional sports team owner is going to tell a police officer what the law is.
  • In a hospital, a police officer is going to ask a nurse about a patient, or other questions, and a hospital administrator is not going to stop a police officer from asking a nurse questions, no more than a college dormitory manager is going to keep a police officer from asking questions to a college student, or a circus owner is going to keep a police officer from asking questions to a clown.

The University Hospital administrators and personnel have got to get out of their minds that they are a sovereign territory, where the police have no authority.  This is just as insane as the cults of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, the Mormon polygamists of Jeff Sessions, or the Free Men Malitia.

More Support For Detective Jeff Payne Of Salt Lake City, Utah

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Television news reporters, television commentators, newspaper journalists, and ordinary people continue to vilify Salt Lake City Police Detective Jeff Payne, for his arrest of a hospital emergency room nurse after her continued refusal to collect a blood sample from a patient.

In my previous blog post, I explained that it has been the practice of hospitals and law enforcement in the United States for the past 50 years, to obtain blood samples from drivers involved in fatal vehicle accidents.  Unlike suspicion of DUI cases, where drivers commonly refuse a breathalyzer test or a blood draw, many states require mandatory blood draws from drivers involved in fatal vehicle accidents, because it is a homicide/manslaughter investigation.

In collecting evidence for a vehicular homicide/manslaughter investigation, time is of the essence in collecting a blood sample.  The blood sample needs to be taken as soon as possible following the accident, in order to determine the presence and blood level of alcohol, legal drugs, or illegal drugs.

Following a fatal vehicle accident, it is likely that there will be both a criminal court case and a civil court case.  In a court case, both the innocence or guilt of each driver involved, could hinge on the results of the blood tests.  In other words, the patient that the hospital emergency room nurse refused to draw blood from, his innocence might only have been proved by the blood sample that she refused to take.

Part of what I wrote in my previous blog post was, that you can not have emergency room nurses trying to discern in their own mind, how evidence is going to be collected, how the vehicle accident is going to be investigated, the guilt or innocence of the patient, and the legality of police procedure.  Who is the appropriate person to make decisions on the collection of evidence, a police detective with 20 to 30 years of experience in collecting evidence, or an emergency room nurse with 0 years of work experience collecting evidence?

Would it be appropriate for the police detective to direct the emergency room nurse on what kind of pain medication should be administered, what IV solution should be administered, to take X-Rays, to take a CT-scan, to put the patient on oxygen?  No?  Why wouldn’t it be appropriate for the police detective to tell the nurse how to do her job?  It would not be appropriate for the police detective to tell the nurse how to medically treat the patient, or interfere with how she decided to medically treat the patient, because the nurse has much more education, training, and work experience in medical treatment, than the police detective.

Conversely, the nurse should not be trying to direct police procedure.  The police detective knows things that the nurse doesn’t know, and we don’t know.  Besides the police detective knowing that the patient’s innocence might depend on obtaining the patient’s blood sample, there are other things the police detective might know, that the nurse doesn’t know.  There are hundreds of possibilities that the nurse does not know.

Was there an illegal narcotic or alcohol discovered at the scene of the commercial truck accident that were collected as evidence, and it must now be determined that the commercial truck driver was not impaired.  Was there more than enough time for the commercial truck driver to avoid the collision, but he did not?  Was the truck driver traveling at an unusually high speed or low speed?  Was the truck driver currently suspended from driving because of a DUI?  There hundreds of reasons why the police detective wanted to make sure to get the hospital patient’s blood sample, that the emergency room nurse did not know.

What would not be very commendable, would be a police detective who gave up, and left the hospital without getting the commercial truck driver’s blood sample, because it was too much trouble.

I am very disappointed that no experienced medical doctor, experienced emergency room nurse, knowledgeable attorney, or law enforcement expert, has not vehemently explained to the media and corrected the media, that for many years, and in many states blood draws are mandatory for drivers involved in fatal vehicle accidents.  Consent does not have to be granted, and a warrant does not have to be obtained.  The blood sample is used both to prove the innocence of the drivers, or possible guilt.  It is a vehicular homicide investigation or manslaughter investigation, not a DUI case.

A fifty year old police detective, with 20 to 30 years of law enforcement experience, should not have to debate, argue, and plead his case with an emergency room nurse in order to get a blood draw from a patient.  The hospital had already taken a blood draw from the patient for their own tests and analysis.  The nurse could have documented that she refused to collect the blood sample, but did so under duress.  The hospital could have taken legal action afterwards.

The police detective tried to resolve the dispute over the nurse’s refusal to collect blood from the patient, for one hour.  The police detective was frustrated that it came to the point that he had to arrest the nurse for her continued refusal to draw blood, this is what his supervisor instructed him to do.  What added to the police detective’s frustration, was the nurse trying to get away, struggle against being handcuffed, and screaming, “Stop, stop, what are you doing!  Why are you doing this to me!”

I believe that it is people’s hatred of law enforcement that makes them express outrage over Detective Payne.  The police detective did not use excessive force, or harm the nurse in any way.  The police detective did not use angry language, threatening language, or abusive language at any time.

I think that it was wrong for the Chief of Police and the Mayor of Salt Lake City to not say, “We are going to determine whether the law in Utah currently requires mandatory blood draws in fatal vehicle accidents.  Mandatory blood draws have been the procedure in place for many years.  Though the arrest of emergency room nurse Alex Wubbel was regrettable and something we never want to happen, the police detective involved may have been carrying out orders from his supervisor, which may or may not have been a correct application of the laws regarding interference with a police investigation.  We will look into this matter with the hospital, and inform the public as to our findings once all the facts have been examined.”

Nurse In Utah Arrested For Refusing Police Request For A Blood Draw

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In most newspapers, and on most television networks, there has been news coverage of the “Shocking video of a nurse being arrested in Utah for refusing to draw blood from a patient”.

I watched the entire video that was recorded by a Salt Lake City police officer’s body camera, that was approximately 20 minutes in length.  The incident that was recorded on video was not shocking to me, it seemed very logical and just.

Many people are being very vocal about “how horrible the police officer acted”.  I have not heard or seen anyone defending the police officer’s actions.  It is a shame that there are no attorneys, medical doctors, nurses, or law enforcement officials that are explaining and defending the police officer’s actions.

I believe that it has been the practice in the United States for decades, that when there is a traffic fatality, police investigators request blood to be drawn from the drivers involved, whether they are conscious, unconscious, or deceased.  It is very important that this evidence is collected as soon as possible to determine the blood levels of alcohol, legal drugs, and illegal drugs in the drivers’ systems at the time that the accident occurred.

Unlike breathalyzer tests and blood draws that are requested by police when a person is under suspicion for DUI, where it is common for drivers to refuse, when there is a traffic fatality, drivers no longer have the right of refusal.  It is not a DUI investigation, it is now a vehicular homicide/manslaughter investigation.

Here is a brief excerpt about this area of law:

“Several states, like Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, have laws like Connecticut’s that require police to have drivers who survive an accident resulting in death or serious injury submit to a chemical test if the police have probable cause to believe the person was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Some states have upheld these “involuntary” tests in cases where police used reasonable force to obtain blood samples.

Other states, like California, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington, permit police to require these drivers to submit to chemical tests.”

For decades U.S. hospitals have cooperated with law enforcement officials in taking blood draws from drivers following a traffic fatality, because it is a homicide/manslaughter investigation.

Please watch the entire video and listen carefully.  The police detective had made a request for blood to be drawn from an unconscious truck driver that had been involved in a fatal car accident.  The police detective’s request has been denied by nurse Alex Wubbel.  The police detective has waited for some time while nurse Alex Wubbel discusses what to do with other hospital administrators.  The police detective has been instructed by his supervisor, to arrest nurse Wubbel for interfering with a police investigation if she continues to refuse to draw blood from the patient.

Prior to arresting nurse Alex Wubbel, she explains to the detective what the hospital’s policy is for drawing blood for police, the patient has to give consent, be under arrest, or there has to be a warrant.  The police do not have the option #1 or option #2, because the patient is unconscious.

Now, to clarify some things.  The hospital itself had already drawn blood from the patient for their own purposes, to perform various blood test and analysis.  The nurse Alex Wubbel was refusing to draw blood for police purposes, and was citing hospital policy.  There had been some mention that the truck driver was “an innocent victim”.

From the police point of view, hospital policy is not Utah State Law.  How and why is this nurse deciding that her thoughts, opinions, and understanding of hospital policy override law enforcement and Utah State Law?  How and why is this nurse deciding how this traffic fatality is going to be investigated, how evidence is going to be collected, and whether the patient is innocent of any wrongdoing?

In the phone conversation that nurse Alex Wubbel was having with her supervisor in front of the police detective, she began to characterize the detective’s behavior as being threatening.  The police detective had had enough of nurse Alex Wubbel refusing to comply with his request for a blood draw, and he proceeded to arrest her for interfering with a police investigation.

If you have ever seen police arrest a female, as I have seen many times in person, and on the news, it most often goes the same way.  A female will not cooperate with police officers and defy them, no matter how polite, clear, and restrained they are.  When the police try to make an arrest, the female will resist arrest, try to get away, and struggle.  When a police officer has to hold the female with just enough force to keep them from getting away and handcuff them, they start screaming, “Stop, stop, you’re hurting me!  Why are you hurting me!”

All of the people who are not law enforcement officers who see this in person and watch this on video say, “My God, look at what he is doing to her, that’s horrible!”

How would nurses like it, if every time they had to perform a procedure on a patient, the patient started screaming, “Stop, stop, you’re hurting me!  Why are you doing this to me!”  It would get old, wouldn’t it?

When nurse Wubbel is in the detective’s police car, a police supervisor explains to her very clearly, that she is under arrest for interfering with a police investigation.  He explains that it does not matter what her hospital policy is, it matters what the law is.  He asks her why did she decide that she was not going to cooperate with the police detective’s request for a blood draw?  Does she know the truck driver?  Is he a friend or relative of hers?

It is very easy for the Chief of Police in Salt Lake City and the Mayor to issue a statements saying, “…the video is troubling…” or “…the officer’s actions are troubling…”

How would you like it if you were a police detective that had to investigate a police chase, a traffic fatality, other life threatening injuries, multiple inured victims, destruction of property, many different crime scene locations, with difficulty securing all these different crime scene locations, because they are roadways which are currently blocked but must be cleared, in handling just this one incident, and you and other police officers are being held up at the hospital for more than an hour by a nurse that is refusing to collect blood from a patient because of her interpretation of hospital policy.  Blood has already been taken from the patient by the hospital for their own purposes, without his consent.

Most people are making statements and writing comments about “people’s rights” and “people’s consent”.  The fire department showing up and getting people out of vehicles is done without their consent.  The fire department doesn’t say, we have a policy that we only get people out of vehicles if they consent, are under arrest, or there is a warrant.  Likewise, the ambulance EMTs don’t say to the fire department, we only transport people who give consent, are under arrest, or there is a warrant.

The hospital does not say to the ambulance EMTs, we don’t take people unless it is with their consent, they are under arrest, or there is a warrant.  But, the nurse does not cooperate with law enforcement because she is questioning the legality of what they are doing.  Why is that?

It is just assumed that the fire department is there to help.  It is just assumed that the ambulance EMTs are there to help.  It is just assumed that the hospital is there to help.  The hospital can take an unconscious patient’s blood if they want to, because they are there to help.  But when it comes to drawing blood from an unconscious patient at the request of law enforcement, this nurse decides that she needs to look into this.

How about this, what if when law enforcement receives a 911 call from this hospital, or any hospital, instead of heading that way, law enforcement says, “No, no, no, we have to get consent from each of the patients and each of the personnel at your hospital before we come onto the property, because we don’t want to violate anyone’s rights, not everyone might want us to be there.  When you can get consent from everyone, let us know, then we will come.”  The police often have to do their job without people’s consent.

Exposing Some Bad Things In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for five years now.  Ever since I came to Dickinson, I could tell that there were things going on that were wrong.  There were things that were adversely affecting me, my friends, and other people that I met.  I wanted to know what was going on, what were the reasons, what was behind all of this.  Eventually I created this blog website, and here are some of the things that I wrote about:

  1. The gouging and taking advantage of out of state workers on housing.
  2. The deliberate creating of a shortage and not alleviating the shortage of housing in order to keep prices high to benefit local property owners.
  3. OSHA refusing to investigate the work site death of Eric Haider.
  4. No one being charged with manslaughter over the work site death of Eric Haider.
  5. Public and private businesses violating EEO laws in order to hire friends and relatives.
  6. Failure of the Department of Labor to hold employers accountable for non-payment of wages.
  7. Long history of companies and employers in Dickinson attempting to keep wages low in order to prevent employees from ever getting ahead or being able to leave.
  8. Not allowing prostitution though the ratio of men to women varied from 3:1 to 30:1.
  9. Newspaper reports of multiple occurrences of local men resorting to sex with cows and horses in this area.

One of the causes of the injustices that I have listed above, appears to be the Catholic Church in Dickinson.  The Catholic Church in Dickinson has encouraged the Catholics to believe that they are better than everyone else, has encouraged anything that brings money to the Church, and has not discouraged or spoken out against the mistreatment or taking advantage of others.

A second cause of some of the injustices in Dickinson, appears to be the Dickinson Mafia.  The Dickinson Mafia are a group of men who own businesses, who hold public office, who are on boards of directors, and who manage some of the large companies in Dickinson.  They sought to keep wages low so that workers could never get ahead, would have to work their whole life for low wages, and could never leave.  The Dickinson Mafia also sought to control Dickinson by giving jobs as favors or rewards to people who did what they wanted, and not giving jobs to people that were independent, regardless of education, skill, and qualifications.  The Dickinson Mafia was greatly responsible for the Nepotism and Chronyism that goes on in Dickinson.

A third cause of some of the injustices in Dickinson, appears to be the failure of the police, the judicial system, and the press to hold people accountable for wrong doing.  I have come across situations in Dickinson, where individuals should have been arrested but were not, should have been prosecuted but were not, should have received long prison sentences but did not, and should have been fully covered in the Dickinson Press newspaper but were not.

Some of the really bad bad things that have been done by prominent people and businesses in Dickinson have been covered by newspapers outside of Dickinson, such as the Jamestown Sun, the Grand Forks Herald, and the Bismarck Tribune.  This is one way to handle it, and leave the Dickinson Press newspaper out of it.

The Bismarck Tribune newspaper did publish an article approximately one year ago, that described the failure of the North Dakota Department of Labor to hold employers accountable for non-payment of wages to workers.  There had been a two year wait after a worker complaint had been filed, before a case worker was even assigned to the complaint.  75% of the Department of Labor complaints were against oil field companies in western North Dakota.

I myself was shorted wages by an oil field company in the Dickinson area, so were some of my coworkers, so were some former employees of this company.  I called the North Dakota Department of Labor, and there were four other complaints against this company by former employees for non-payment of wages.

The Dickinson Press newspaper writes glowing newspaper articles about this company and the owner.  How can that be?  I began asking many local people about this company and the company owner.  I wanted to know why was he doing this, how did he think that he could get away with this, and what kind of person is he?  I found out more and more.

In high school, in the seventh grade, this company owner raped a boy in the gym locker room.  It was a very severe sexual assault.  He should have been arrested, convicted, sent to a juvenile detention center, and been registered for life as a convicted sex offender.  None of those things happened.  I asked why this didn’t happen.  I was told because of his family name, who his family was, and because his family had money.

In a previous blog post that I wrote titled, “Summary Of Wickedness And Perversion In Dickinson, North Dakota”, I wrote about a very similar incident to the one that I just described above, where a member of a wealthy and prominent local family was convicted of molesting an 8 year old girl.  His prison sentence and restitution was extremely lenient, unbelievably lenient.

In that blog post, I wrote that one of the problems in Dickinson, is that some people in Dickinson think that they are so much better than other people, that they can take advantage of other people with impunity.

As long as the Catholic Church continues to teach that Catholics are better than other people, there will continue to be people trying to take advantage of others, and mistreatment of others in Dickinson.  As long as the Dickinson Mafia continues to practice Nepotism and Chronyism, there will be corruption, collusion, injustice, unfairness, and mistreatment of people in Dickinson.

As long as the police, judicial system, and press do not hold all people equally accountable, there will be corruption, injustice, unfairness, underhandedness, crime, and mistreatment of people in Dickinson.

Problems With Zefal Mini Bicycle Pump

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When I was in elementary school, I never had problems with bicycle pumps, they always worked, because they were made out of metal.  When I was finishing high school and going to college, I always had problems with bicycle pumps, because they began making most of their parts out of plastic.

When I became older and had money, I no longer wasted my time on bicycle pumps, I bought different kinds of compressors and air tanks.  I wasn’t about to stand there pumping away with some wiggly plunger that deflected in about ten different directions, with tolerances that were way too loose, and having the cheaply made plastic nozzle keep popping off the valve stem.

Recently when I moved to downtown Dickinson and began riding my bicycles more, I wanted to have a small mini bicycle pump to carry in my back pack with me when I went riding.  I was carrying a small amount of  tools, my video camera, and things to drink in my backpack anyway, I should have a mini bicycle pump too.

Last week I went to Wal-Mart to buy a mini bicycle pump.  For $15, they had a package that included a tire repair kit, a set of allen wrenches, and a Zefal mini bicycle pump that was made mostly out of metal parts.  I tried using this mini bicycle pump while holding my thumb over the nozzle, and it had very good pressure because the pump tolerances were tight and good.

I bought the $15 package that included the Zefal mini bicycle pump and took it home.  The first time that I tried the mini bicycle pump on one of my bicycle tires that was low on air, the pump worked fine.

A few days later, I was working on one of my bicycles when my neighbor asked me if I wanted to bike ride to Patterson Lake.  I said O.K., just give me a minute to pump up this tire.  My neighbor said that pump is never going to work.  I said, it works, I already used it.  I attached the pump nozzle to my bicycle tire, and it quickly let all of the air out of my tire.  My neighbor continued to tell me that that pump was never going to work, and I was getting ready to tell him to go fuck off.  I tried, but I could not get any air into the tire with the Zefal mini bicycle pump.  My neighbor brought over his air tank, and then we went on the ride to Patterson Lake.

My neighbor who is 52 years old, was so sure that the Zefal mini bicycle pump was not going to work, because most small bicycle pumps are pieces of shit.  Several days later, I began trying to inflate a bicycle tire with the Zefal mini bicycle pump, just to try to figure out how the pump was failing.  I tried using the pump for about forty five minutes on a completely flat tire, and it wouldn’t work.

I went inside and I looked on the internet at the Zefal website, which was not very much help.  I began watching YouTube videos of people using mini bicycle pumps, which were not much help, because their pumps worked.  Lastly I read several long discussion forums where other people had had problems with mini bicycle pumps, especially when inflating completely flat tires, because the valve stem would not stick out through the bicycle rim.

I went back outside and tried using the Zefal mini bicycle pump on my completely flat tire again.  Eventually, how I found that I could make the pump work, was by tightening the cap on the nozzle quite a bit to make the rubber insert expand, shoving the nozzle all the way onto the tire valve stem as far as it would go, holding the nozzle there, and NOT Lifting The Clamp Lever Handle on the nozzle.  What was happening, when I had been lifting the clamp lever handle, which makes the nozzle insert pin move outward, instead of pushing the valve needle in, it was pushing the whole nozzle off of the tire valve stem.

The clamp lever handle on the nozzle, is supposed to move the nozzle insert pin outward to make contact with the valve needle, and push it in, but in some cases, all it does is push the whole nozzle off the tire valve stem.  You may have to just hold the pump nozzle with your hand, pushing it as far as possible onto the the tire valve stem in order to get it to take air.

The Worst Job Advertisement I Have Seen In Some Time, AE2S Construction

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I have been looking at the on-line job advertisement sites like North Dakota Job Services and Indeed.com, and I came across one of the worst job advertisements that I have seen in some time, for a Project Coordinator at AE2S Construction:

Due to our continued growth, AE2S Construction is currently seeking an experienced Project Coordinator to work out of our Watford City Shop location.  The ideal candidate is organized with an eye for detail, is a strong communicator, and excels in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

  • Assemble project documents, shop drawings, manuals, etc., and other project and post-construction submittals, for distribution to clients and vendors
  • Assemble and verify construction contract change order information for approval by Project Manager
  • Provide assistance with contract administration for various projects
  • Participate in project status meetings
  • Enter project data, track the accounting and billing of materials, and maintain ProContractor database
  • Maintain calendars, coordinate meetings, and arrange travel with Travel Coordinator for ACL staff
  • Provide project coordination and support to ACL Construction Manager, Project Managers, Estimators, and all other employees to include duties such as filing, copying, scanning, answering phones, mailing documents, preparing conference room and meeting materials, and distributing mail
  • Perform weekly processing tasks, in conjunction with the AE2S Construction Accounting team, including payroll, timesheets, equipment usage processing, new hire paperwork, accounts payable, credit card processing, and initial accounts receivable follow up
  • Create payment requests and prepare lien waivers
  • Maintain WC vehicles and equipment registrations and other related licensing and maintenance
  • Order and manage inventory of office supplies
  • Work directly with the AE2S Construction Accounting team on all matters related to WC accounting, as well as perform additional accounting activities as requested

This is fucking ridiculous.  If you cut that list in half, that would still be more work than one person should be assigned.  What the Fuck is wrong with AE2S Construction?  Who wrote this?

If you count down to bullet points #7 and #8, just those duties alone are what one administrative assistant should be assigned.  I am an engineer, and I have worked as an estimator, project coordinator, superintendent, and project manager, and whoever wrote this job advertisement is a Fucking Asshole, or perhaps the entire company management are Assholes.

Once the job advertisement gets into ordering office supplies, filing, answering phones, copying, scanning, arranging travel, preparing conference room and meeting materials, it appears that they are most likely seeking a woman with secretarial skills, and getting her to do accounting, payroll, human resources, billing, and project coordination too.  This is wrong.

I hope that any woman who reads this understands what this is all about, she would be expected to perform accounting, payroll, human resources, and project coordination work, and not be paid at the same level as an accountant, human resources person, or project manager.

If there is any woman or person who could perform all of these duties, please start your own business.  You are a very talented, intelligent, and skilled person.  Do not let other people take advantage of you by dumping their work on you because they are lazy pieces of shit.

This Is How Methodists Act

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In my previous blog post, I wrote that I hate White People in Texas.  White People in Texas are arrogant, elitist, proud, greedy, self-serving people.  I partly blame the version of Southern Baptists that exists in Texas, the “prosperity gospel” believers, that allow them to believe that they are better than other people, which gives them the right to do the things that they do.

I have written approximately eight blog posts about the German Catholics here in Dickinson, North Dakota, that act almost as bad as the Southern Baptist prosperity gospel believers in Texas.  The Catholics here in Dickinson, North Dakota think that they are better than everyone else, so if they want to gouge people from out of state on housing, violate federal EEO laws to hire their relatives rather than people from out of state, undermine and take advantage of people from out of state, they feel that they are justified in doing so.

The German Catholics in Dickinson, North Dakota may have no idea that their behavior is not right, because they have nothing to compare it to.  Most of my close relatives and distant relatives are Methodists.  I grew up in a town with many Methodists.  But I also went to Catholic School for four years.  Later I went to school with, and became friends with Atheists, Baptists, Episcopaleans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Lutherans, Mormons, Muslims, and Seventh Day Adventists.  I read, and I learned about each of these religions.

In this blog post, I will write about how Methodists act.  Primarily, Methodists are moderate, peaceful, conservative, tolerant, and patient.

Methodist Finances:

  1. Methodists seek to have their financial affairs in order, just like every other part of their life.
  2. To not be reckless with money, to not overspend, to live within one’s means.
  3. To not have much debt, and to certainly not have delinquent debt.
  4. A personal bankruptcy to a Methodist, would be a grave moral failure.
  5. To stay employed, to work steadily, to pay your bills, and to save money.
  6. To not buy a home, automobile, boat, motorhome, or airplane as a way to show off.
  7. To make money only in an ethical, moral, right way, to not engage in usury, fraud, deceit, treachery, or taking advantage of others.
  8. Methodists realize as part of their faith and religious beliefs, that no good can come from taking advantage of others, usury, fraud, deceit, treachery, indebtedness, overspending, showing off, and pride.
  9. Methodists have no difficulty seeing the evil in some people accumulating great wealth, while at the same time others in the same community are lacking basic necessities.  Methodists would feel shame and guilt in having excessive wealth while at the same time others in the same community didn’t have enough, due to being less able.  Methodists seek to make sure that other people don’t suffer needlessly.

Methodist Families:

  1. Husbands and wives should stay married, they took their marriage vows before God.
  2. Husbands and wives should not engage in infidelity, they took their marriage vows before God.
  3. Husbands and wives have a duty to act like a civil, decent, moral, ethical, responsible adult, for the sake of their spouse and their children.
  4. Methodists believe in having zero to three children, and that their children need supervision, guidance, instruction, education, and correction.
  5. Methodists realize as part of their faith and religious beliefs, that they should conduct themselves as a civil, decent, moral, ethical, responsible adult, for the sake of their spouse and children, for the sake of their community, and to try to make sure that their children do the same.

Methodist Culture:

  1. Methodists seek to be civil, decent, moral, ethical, responsible, thoughtful adults.  They have read the Bible themselves, and they have had the Bible, what it actually says, taught to them by thoroughly educated Methodist ministers.
  2. Methodists are likely to see the wastefulness, sloth, immorality, and drunkenness in people getting overly entrenched with NASCAR, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and UFC.
  3. Methodist are not likely to want to spend much time in bars.
  4. Methodist are not likely to want to spend much time in casinos.
  5. Methodist do not have any interest in using drugs.
  6. Methodists are not sexually promiscuous, and they do not take advantage of others.

Methodists At Work:

  1. Methodists do not believe in discrimination of any kind.
  2. Methodists believe in performing work competently, and making sure that work is performed competently.
  3. Methodists have an aversion for unethical and immoral businesses practices, so much so that they do not and will not tolerate unethical and immoral business practices, and seek to stop these business practices whenever possible.
  4. Methodists will try to help, assist, instruct, or teach others who are having difficulty in their work, in order for that person to keep their job.  If a person is not capable of doing a job, Methodists believe that that person, no matter who they are, should be removed from that job, for the sake of the work, the company, and everyone else.

I just want to point out how significantly the Catholics in Dickinson, North Dakota behave differently than Methodists.  In #4 above, Methodists at Work, Methodists would never fill all the private and public management positions with poorly educated, incompetent people like has been done in Dickinson.  Methodists would realize that the whole future, economic prosperity, and current functioning of Dickinson has been placed in the hands of not very educated or capable people.  How in the world could this turn out well?

Hurricane Harvey Has Reminded Me How Much I Hate People In Texas

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Hurricane Harvey has reminded me how much I hate people in Texas.  Not the Black people, and not the Hispanic people, but the White People.

I hate the White People in Texas, more than I hate the Catholics in Dickinson, North Dakota.  I would rather have some militant Muslim extremists living next door to me than White People from Texas, because at least the militant Muslim extremists have principles, believe in something, and live right in comparison.

Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t stand living in Houston in a predominantly Black neighborhood or a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, because these people are so different than me.  It would be uncomfortable for both me and my Black neighbors or my Hispanic neighbors.  I don’t want to listen to rap music all the time, I don’t want to listen to festival music all the time, and my neighbors would get tired of me complaining to them about their music.

Just like the Catholics in Dickinson, North Dakota think that they are better than everyone else, and think that they are going to advantage themselves, advance themselves, and disadvantage and hinder others, the White People “Texans” act the same way, only more so.

  1.  A perfect example of “Texans”, is Ethan Couch:

Ethan Couch was 16 years old in 2013, when he killed four people while driving drunk and speeding in Burleson, Texas.  One of the passengers in his vehicle suffered complete paralysis.  He was indicted on four counts of intoxication manslaughter.  His attorneys argued that he was so wealthy, that he didn’t know what he was doing.  The judge agreed with this “affluenza” defense, and Ethan was sentenced to probation only, no prison time whatsoever.

Some “Texans” in Texas are so much better than other people, that they can kill four people and not get any time in prison.  Whereas other people in Texas have been sentenced to twenty years in prison for possession of marijuana.

2.  Another example of “Texans”, is Joel Osteen:

Joel Osteen is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.  His father, a former Southern Baptist minister, founded Lakewood Church.  Joel Osteen attended Oral Roberts University, but he did not graduate and he did not receive a degree from divinity school.  He returned to Houston to produce his father’s television ministry program.  He did not preach his first sermon until 1999, when he was 36 years old.

Lakewood Church’s attendance grew.  In 2003, Lakewood Church acquired the former stadium of the Houston Rockets NBA basketball team.  The renovations to the stadium cost $105 million.  In 2012, Joel Osteen’s net worth was estimated to be $56 million.  He lives in a $10.5 million home.

Osteen’s sermons are sometimes criticized for promoting “prosperity theology”, a belief that material gain is the reward for Godly Christians.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, What the Fuck!  Hold on and back up!  In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus Christ the son of God came to Earth and taught, his teachings were recorded by the Apostles.  Jesus said to each of the Apostles, come with me, leave what you have behind.  In one of Jesus’ teachings, a man asked him and the Apostles what must he do in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus replied that he must give up his possessions, and the man was very sorry, for he had much.

Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was not supposed to be a money making venture, and people were not supposed to get rich doing it.  The fact that a preacher of the Gospel accumulates $56 million, is not a “miracle”, something is wrong, this should never happen.  The preacher himself should have never allowed this to happen.  Are you going to tell me that there aren’t thousands of needy people in Texas, that need help with food, medical care, and housing?

In other words, the “Texans” in Texas would rather give their money to a rich White Southern Baptist “Texan” that doesn’t need their money, than to poor hungry people who really need it.

3.  A third example of “Texans”, is their catching and keeping immigrants as slaves:

When I worked in southwest Texas near the border with Mexico several years ago, the grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, and restaurants had signs posted that read, “It is illegal to detain and hold people against their will, and force people to work for no pay.”  What had been happening, was White People near the border with Mexico would come across illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America that had just walked through the desert onto their property.  Tired, weak, thirsty, uneducated, and unable to speak English, these illegal immigrants were completely at the mercy of White People land owners with a gun, out in the middle of nowhere.  The White People Texans got in the habit of detaining these immigrants, not allowing them to leave, and forcing them to work for free, just like slaves.

Rather than feeling sorry for Texans when I see the news coverage of their flooded streets, homes, and businesses, I am sorry that I don’t see more White Texans trying to climb up on electric lines and getting electrocuted.

Yes, I hate Texans.  They are the most arrogant, elitist, self-serving people that I have ever met, and I hate their state.  I hope that the swarms of swimming, clawing, biting rats with rabies half-eat as many White Texans as possible.

Dickinson58601 Living In Dickinson, North Dakota Is Now On YouTube

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A couple of years ago, a friend of mine who read my blog posts, suggested to me that I begin making videos.  I didn’t want to do this at that time, there was so much that I wanted to say and write about, that I just didn’t want the distraction of trying to make videos.

Now that I have written approximately 400 blog posts, there are some things that I would like to show using video.  My first videos will not have audio commentary or narration, because I want to show some things in Dickinson, North Dakota, just as they are, so that people can look at them and have their own thoughts about them.

Today, Monday 8/28/2017, I uploaded two 40 second videos to YouTube that show Patterson Lake.  These two videos are primarily for people who have never been to Dickinson, so that they will know, and can see that Patterson Lake is less than one mile from downtown Dickinson.

I will begin adding more videos on a regular basis.  To view these videos, perform an internet search in your browser for “YouTube”, then click on the YouTube website.  Once on the YouTube website, in their search box, type in “Dickinson58601 Living In Dickinson North Dakota”.

Here is a link to my YouTube Channel:

What It Would Be Like To Be Married To A Small Freshwater Duck

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There is a young lady that I like very much, who I have written about previously.  She has asked me to please not use her name, so I won’t.  If you knew her name, it means “a small freshwater duck”.  In this blog post, I will refer to her as Quack, though that is not her real name.

I am old enough to know now, that women will change their mind about anything in an instant.  They also say and claim, the exact opposite of what they think and feel.  “I hate you”, can turn into “I love you”.  “I don’t want to see you with your shirt off”, turns out to get hundreds of views from women overnight when you post your picture with your shirt off.  “I don’t like that, stop”, turns out to mean “Don’t Stop”.  You get the idea.

Now, knowing all this, leads me to imagine what it would be like if Quack and I became married.  This is not nearly as unlikely as some of you might think.  I choose to focus on our life together, twelve years from now, when Quack is 37 years old, and I am 60 years old.

I imagine that we are taking a family vacation together, driving to the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, with our 11 year old daughter, and our 7 year old son.  On all of our long drives together, Quack has always sat in the passenger seat looking out the window, with her mind far away.

Quack always wonders to herself how her life turned out this way.  She feels cheated.  How and why did she ever marry a man so much older than her?  Why is she with him?  Why is she tied down?  How did all of this happen?

Every passing desert bush, Quack wishes that she could go and hide behind the bush, stay there, and not come out, until we couldn’t find her and went away.  Every passing vehicle, Quack wishes that she could go with them, anywhere, away from here and us.

Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a piercing shriek, “Iieeeeeeeeee… he’s touching me!”  Quack quickly turns around in her seat to see our seven year old son sitting quietly like a toad, holding onto a large tupper ware bowl in his lap, in case he has to throw up.  Our daughter who is sitting behind Quack, is who Quack focuses in on now, this is her nemesis you would sometimes think.

Quack’s daughter is exactly like her, she is tall for her age and thin.  She is hardly any trouble at all, but Quack is always very cold with her.  You could think that Quack is just trying not to spoil her, to make her turn out not to be a bitch, but I sometimes think that Quack is just taking her anger out on her, that is all it is.

Our son is small for his age and immature.  I would not say that Quack adores him, I would say that Quack feels sorry for him, like she would for a turtle or a toad.  She spends quite a lot of time worrying about him in any case, whatever the reason.  Perhaps it is maternal instincts, I don’t know.

Quack has had just about enough of this driving trip, and she begins to think about tricking all of us three to stay in the car, while she launches the car into the Grand Canyon, or over the dam.  The more good places that we pass for her to do this, the more she thinks about it.

It is hot, and the children have been talking about going to a hotel with a swimming pool for hours.  I have been explaining for hours that we are going to stay in an old mom & pop motel on old Route 66, that they might not have a pool.  Quack somewhat agrees with this, staying in an old mom & pop motel on old Route 66, but thinks that I am doing this because I am cheap, which is the truth.

When we do finally get to an old mom & pop motel, with a pool, the children squeal with delight, that they are going to get their bathing suits on right away to go swimming.  I know exactly what is going to happen, and Quack knows exactly what is going to happen, that pool water is cold, about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, there is no way that those kids are going to get in that water.  Quack looks at this as the opportunity to finally get her revenge.

As soon as we check into the motel room, to the children’s surprise, Quack is changing into her bathing suit too.  This makes the children slightly suspicious.  I admire Quack in her two piece bakini bathing suit, she has not lost her figure at all.  Quack takes her two little ducklings with her to the pool, noting with satisfaction that there is a chain link fence around it, with only one gate.

Quack gently and unflinchingly descends down the steps into the pool, calling to her two children.  With just their bathing suits on, and it being late in the day now, our two kids are not hot anymore, and their enthusiasm for going into the swimming pool is now gone.  They don’t want to go in now.  Quack reminds them of how they have been talking about going swimming for the last several hours.

As soon as the two children take the first step down into the pool water, they have a look of horror on their faces at how cold the water is.  Quack has taken hold of each of them by the arm, with her cold, wet, bony fingers, and they know that they can not get away from her.  They plead with Quack and beg for mercy, “No, please, I don’t want to go in, I don’t want to go in…”, but soon their mouths, eyes, and nostrils are filled with pool water and they are choking and gasping.

After about four minutes of frightening her children, who are not sure if their mother is trying to kill them, it is time for dinner.  After Quack and the children change out of their bathing suits and get dressed, we walk across the street to a diner.  I and the children order cheeseburgers and fries, Quack has to pick something else to order.

Quack’s second most favorite thing it would sometimes seem, is embarrassing the children in public, and at restaurants.  She often deliberately orders something that the children will think is gross, and she orders alcohol, which worries me too.  We all know that we are going to become victims of hers here shortly.

When Quack gets her beer, she begins eye balling each of us, and we aren’t sure which one of us she is going to start with first.  “How old are you now?  What, are you in the second grade or something?  Don’t you think that you should start doing your own laundry now?  Here let me put some mayonaise on your french fries for you, that is what they do in France, what you don’t want any, what are you a Republican like your father or something?”

After dinner, we are all tired and ready for bed.  I go lay down on one of the double size beds, and Quack goes and lays down on the other double size bed.  The two children climb into bed with Quack, and cling to her sides like baby opossums riding on their mother’s back.

I think that this is a very happy marriage.

Final Dickinson First On First Concert For 2017?

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I don’t want this to be a quick, flippant blog post, I want to be clear and have people think about and reflect on some of these things.

This might have been the last First On First a.k.a. Alive at Five concert that you will see in Dickinson for many years, or maybe something else happened at this final event, you will have to continue reading.

The Odd Fellows Lodge in Dickinson is the group that sponsors, organizes, and pays for the First On First concerts.  The Odd Fellows Lodge members are all unpaid volunteers.  Some members handle the event plans and permitting with the city, sell event advertising to businesses, seek event sponsorship and donations, have signs, tickets and T-shirts made, order alcohol, close off the street and set up the event area, set up the stage, stock the alcohol bars, serve drinks, sell event wrist bands and drink tickets, sell event space to vendors, take down the stage, and clean up the event area.  And continually do accounting and budgeting all week in order to be able to pay for everything each week, the biggest expense being the main performer every week.

Since I began going to the Alive at Five concerts in Dickinson in 2014, it has been harder and harder for Odd Fellows Lodge members and other people to volunteer and work at the events because of the way that Dickinson has changed.  I would describe it as most people having financial difficulty, more difficulty in their lives, and being less able to volunteer their time.  Also, businesses have become less able to afford event advertising, sponsorships, and donations.

For the past two years, Tracy Tooz the owner of Tooz Construction, and Mike Odegaard have been the primary event organizers in the leadership, management, booking of performers, event set up, and event take down each week.  I have never seen Tracy Tooz or Mike Odegaard complain or gripe about anything.  I have also never seen anyone ever thank Tracy Tooz or Mike Odegaard.

If you look at the First On First events as a big party, where everyone in North Dakota is invited, Tracy Tooz and Mike Odegaard set up this party, hire a band, make sure that there is enough alcohol, try to make sure everyone has a good time, then clean up after everybody has left, and then throw another party next week.  Well, nobody has ever thanked them for it.  They spend a lot of their time on the phone, the computer, driving their own trucks to go pick things up, using their own tools and equipment at the event, letting the performers use their personal RVs and vehicles while in town, and spending many hours each week setting up and taking down the stage.  Tracy Tooz and Mike Odegaard have donated a great deal of time, money, and energy to the First On First concerts and there is no guarantee that they will want to continue, I am not sure that they will.

Other people who have consistently volunteered many hours at the events are Kathy Fisher owner of the Rock Bar, Kristi Schwartz owner of Allstate Insurance, Jeff Pokorney owner of Pokorney Chiropractic, all of the Outlaw Sippin’ band members Brady Paulson, Beni Paulson, Emil Anheluk, Qwain, Donna HR at Tooz Construction, Brock White owner of Brock White Entertainment, April, and many other people whose names I will add as I remember them.

As I wrote earlier, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to volunteer or work at the events because of the way that Dickinson is changing economically.  All of the people that I have named so far up above, I don’t know if they will all be able to keep on volunteering like they have been.  I have never seen anyone thank any of them.

All of the Odd Fellows Lodge members, all of the volunteers, all of the event sponsors and donors wanted for people to come out, have a good time, meet friends, socialize, and enjoy the concerts.  Seeing and knowing that people enjoy the concerts was gratifying for everyone.  But I wanted to point out now that many people just took the events for granted, that they would always happen every Thursday, that the city paid for it, or that it was a money making venture, where someone was making a profit.

The final First On First concert of this year, I knew, and probably thirty other people knew that this might be the last First On First concert for many years possibly.  This may have been one of the reasons why Tracy Tooz, Mike Odegaard, and Jeff Pokorny decided to have the very last concert at the Dickinson State University football season opening game.  This had never been done before.

While the DSU Blue Hawk supporters were having their tail gate party in the stadium parking lot, the Outlaw Sippin’ band began playing.  Bradi, Beni, Emil and the band sounded as good or better than they ever had, but most of the tail gate partiers stayed over in the Blue Hawk supporter event area, like they were accustomed to doing for many years.  There was also the assumption by many of the DSU Blue Hawk supporters that they had to be 21 years of age, and pay admission to get into the fenced in area in front of the stage.  Attendance before the start of the football game at 6:00 p.m. was very low.

Immediately after the football game was over at about 8:30 p.m., the event area in front of the stage began to fill very quickly.  Chancy Williams and the Younger Brothers Band began playing at about 8:45 p.m.  From about 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m, there were approximately 400 to 500 people at the event.  Without anyone knowing, the event almost ran out of beer by 10:30 p.m. and they had to go get more beer.

All of the event organizers were very happy that they had sold so many wrist bands and drink tickets in the final two hours, which would be enough to cover or more than cover all of the event expenses.  All of the event organizers, volunteers, vendors, and workers realized that they could have or would have had much higher attendance starting at 3:00 p.m. if they would not have had a separation between the Blue Hawk supporter tail gate party and the event stage, everything should have been co-mingled, not separated.

The event organizers also realized from the wrist band sales and drink sales immediately following the end of the football game, that they might be able to continue to have this event for each of the remaining DSU home football games.  This would allow the Odd Fellows Lodge to continue to bring music performers to Dickinson into the winter months, which is something that many people had wanted to happen for at least the past several years, but it was not known how this could be done.

What was seen by some people as possibly being the last First On First concert for quite a while, might have instead turned out to be the beginning of the music concert season in Dickinson extending into the winter.  We will have to wait and see.

(Please leave the names of the event organizers, volunteers, band members, sponsors, and donors that I keep forgetting to mention in the comments section and I will include them.)

Magellan Energy Group Proposed Davis Space Ship

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Press Release 8/23/2017:

Magellan Energy Group, has announced its plans to begin building several space ships in western North Dakota, in order to travel to other planets, and to create colonies under the oceans and lakes here on Earth.

Travel to other planets will allow for the sale of materials, agricultural products, goods, and services here on Earth to hundreds of other galaxies, each with hundreds and hundreds of planets.  This should allow for the expansion of existing businesses and industries here on Earth such as telemarketing, real estate, insurance, entertainment, and tourism.

Magellan Energy Group expects to bring back to Earth technology and resources of every kind.  “We expect that minerals that are scarce here on Earth, such as platinum, gold, and silver may be much more abundant on other planets.  Investors should expect to see a 1000% return on their investment, if not more.”

“We could not have picked a more suitable place to begin constructing our inter-planetary space craft.  The wide open prairies of western North Dakota offer plenty of room for construction of the space craft, air fields, and unobstructed flight path for landing and take-off.

North Dakota is home to many skilled tradesmen in welding, fabrication, erection, machine work, electrical, hydraulic, mechanics, instrumentation, controls, and propulsion.  During construction, Magellan expects to employ 1,000 people here locally.

Magellan Properties, a division of Magellan Energy Group, plans to build residential and commercial properties under the oceans and lakes here on Earth, these will include:  single family homes, multi-family housing, hotels, retail, restaurants, movie theaters, police stations, and fire departments.

One of the main things that influenced the founding partners to base operations here in western North Dakota, is both the abundance of oil and uranium, that will serve as the fuel source for interplanetary travel, and also the fact that people here don’t look into things.”

(Note:  I wrote the Press Release above as a parody of actual press releases, that I have been reading from a company in the Dickinson area with a similar sounding name to “Magelllan Energy Group”.

Most readers who do not live in North Dakota, and many readers who do live in North Dakota, might have been wondering what this blog post was all about.  I have written one blog post about it before, about a company’s plans to build a $900 million facility in this area of North Dakota.  Though I believe that a smaller version of what they are proposing may eventually be constructed, I want to encourage local people to look into and question proposals and claims, to consider and evaluate the feasibility, cost, amount of time, and economic viability of this venture.  To not rely only on company press releases.)

Don’t Get Your Prescriptions Filled At Sanford Health, Check Prices First

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I went to the Sanford Health Clinic in Dickinson, North Dakota to get a prescription for an allergy medication.  Because the Sanford Health Clinic had a pharmacy there, I chose to have the prescription filled there.  I was surprised at both the high price, and the small quantity of the Pataday prescription eye drops.  For 2.5 ml of Pataday eye drops, smaller than the amount of liquid in a tea spoon, it was $191.  That is $76 per ml.

I looked on the internet when I got home to see if I could get the Pataday eye drops anywhere else for less money, and in Canada they sell it for less than $7 per ml.  In Canada they sell 7.5 ml bottles for $48, and they ship to the United States.  I wanted to have more than 2.5 ml because I have severe allergy attacks about four times per year.

I completed my on-line order form, and I e-mailed the Canadian drug store a copy of my prescription.  I then called the Canadian drug store on the telephone, and they would not process my order because I only had my prescription information from the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.  I didn’t have the original doctor’s prescription slip, I never got it from the doctor, she just e-mailed it to the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.

I called a second Canadian on-line drug store, and they would not process my order without an original prescription slip from a medical doctor.  They would not accept the prescription label from the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy that showed I had 1 refill allowed.  The Canadian drug stores that I spoke to said that they did not think that I would have a problem getting the medical doctor to write me a new prescription slip.

What I should have done, and what I recommend that the readers of this blog post do, is to always get a physical prescription slip from a medical doctor before you leave their office.  This will give you the chance to go home and compare prices at different pharmacies.  Once a pharmacy gets your prescription slip, it will be very difficult if not impossible to get your prescription refills at a different pharmacy.

Two days after I had my Pataday eye drop prescription filled at the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy, I delivered a letter to the Sanford Health walk-in clinic addressed to the medical doctor that had examined me and had prescribed the Pataday eye drops with one refill allowed.  In the letter, I explained that I could order the Pataday eye drops from a drug store in Canada for $7 per ml, versus $76 per ml that I paid at the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.  I asked if she could write a prescription slip for my one refill of Pataday, so that I could get this refill for less money in Canada.

I received a telephone call from a woman at Sanford Health, denying my request for a prescription slip, even though I explained to her that I had one refill allowed.

 

My Sanford Health walk-in clinic visit will probably cost more than $200, and my prescription for Pataday and Prednisone cost more than $200.  This is enough medication to make it through one allergy attack.  If I buy one refill of Pataday for $191, I can make it through a second allergy attack.  On my third allergy attack, I would have to go back to the Sanford Health walk-in clinic and pay over $400 again.  I wanted a solution to my allergy problem, not to be a continuing on-going source of revenue for Sanford Health.

I hope that the readers of this blog post will now know that they should request enough refills on their prescriptions for recurring health problems like allergies. so that they don’t have to keep going back for expensive doctor visits.  I also hope that the readers begin looking on the internet at on-line Canadian drug stores who mail prescription medications to the United States.

I looked for international drug stores that would sell and ship prescription medications to the United States without a prescription, and I found one company based in Gibraltar that does this.  However this particular company in Gibraltar has several complaints against it from people who placed an order, paid for their order, but never received their shipment.  Other people claim that they have received the orders that they placed from this company in Gibraltar.

In my situation, I will continue to look for a way to buy Pataday eye drops for as little money as possible, in the quantity that I expect that I will need, without a prescription and having to pay a medical doctor over and over again.

The Beautiful Women Of Sanford Health In Dickinson, North Dakota…Can Be Treacherous

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Update 9/7/2017:  When I originally published this blog post on 8/22/2017 it was completely positive and complimentary.  When I found out that I could get my medication for 1/10th the cost from Canada, and Sanford Health would not give me a prescription slip to get my medications from Canada, my impression of Sanford Health became very negative.  When I received my bill today, it was reasonable, so I am editing this blog post.

For the past three years in North Dakota, about four times each year, I have had a severe allergy attack.  The worst part about these allergy attacks is that my eyes become so swollen and sensitive to light, that I can not see well enough to drive.  In order to not lose my job, I have driven anyway, when I should not have.

I did not want to go to a doctor in North Dakota, because I was afraid of what kind of doctor I would get, and how much money I would be charged.  I have had mostly bad experiences in trying to get anything done in North Dakota, that would have been normal and ordinary things to do in other states.

I had to stay home on Sunday and Monday because I was having an allergy attack, and I could not see well enough to drive.  I realized that I really needed to find out about getting a strong antihistamine to use in an emergency, almost something like people who are allergic to bee stings might use in an emergency.  I went to a pharmacist on Tuesday morning and I asked him if there was any prescription strength antihistamine that I could use in an emergency to stop the swelling of my eyes.  He said that yes there was, and he wrote two of them down, Pataday and Prednisone.

I went to an optometrist’s office in Dickinson, and the earliest appointment that I could get was more than several weeks away.  I had not wanted to go to the Sanford Health Clinic because I was worried about what kind of doctor I would get, and how much money it would cost.  I talked myself into going to Sanford Health, hoping that the walk-in clinic visit would not be much more than $200.

I went into the Sanford Health walk-in clinic, and both of the check-in/admitting women were available.  Both of these women were pleasant and professional acting, and check-in was fairly quick.  I had to wait less than five minutes for a nurse to come and get me, she was older with grey hair, but she was also pleasant and professional acting.

There was a second nurse already waiting in the exam/treatment room, she was nice, in her mid-thirties.  The first nurse checked my weight, heart rate, and blood pressure, while the second nurse asked me some questions about my medical problem this day.  The first nurse and the second nurse spent less than five minutes with me.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking that this was probably some scheme by Sanford Health to charge me for two nurse consultations/treatments to increase my bill.

Lastly, I got who struck me as the Marinna Marsh of medical doctors, Dr. Nicole Marie Wilson-Hall from Indiana.  She was very attractive with long blonde hair, and friendly disposition.  I thought that I was very lucky, but I was worried how much this would cost me.  Dr. Nicole Marie Wilson-Hall is a locum tenens, a temporary doctor used by a medical facility to fill a staff shortage.  I have seen and read job advertisements for medical doctor locum tenens in Dickinson, and they are usually paid $300 to $350 per hour.  When I got home, I looked up Dr. Nicole Marie Wilson-Hall on the internet, and I found that she also works at walk-in clinics in Tampa, Florida where she lives:

Dr. Wilson Hall graduated Cum Laude from the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in Pre-Medicine and Anthropology and minored in Science, Technology, and Values. Her love of culture and travel prompted her to spend a semester abroad in Australia during her junior year of college. She graduated from St. Louis University/Scott Air Force Base’s Family Medicine program in Belleville, IL. She served four years as a family medicine physician at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota and earned an Army Accommodation Medal during Operation United Assistance in Liberia. She attended A.T. Still University of Health Sciences for medical school in Kirksville, MO and spent her two years of clinical rotations in St. Petersburg, Fl, where she and her husband fell in love with the Tampa Bay area.

I was glad to have met Dr. Captain Nicole Marie Wilson-Hall, she was attractive and nice, and she seemed very competent.  She prescribed two medications, Pataday and Prednisone.  I had explained to her that I had an allergic attack like this about four times per year, and that I really wanted to get an antihistamine that would stop the swelling in my eyes so that I could see well enough to drive, and not lose my job.

When she asked me what pharmacy that I wanted my prescription to be filled at, I said that I didn’t know, I guess at the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy if the cost was the same as anywhere else.  She sent the prescription to the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.

From the time I walked in the door to the walk-in clinic, to the time I got to the clinic pharmacy to pick up my prescription, it took about twenty minutes.  I hoped at the time that I would not be charged much more than $200 for the walk-in clinic visit.

One of my prescriptions, the Pataday eye drops, cost $191 for a bottle smaller than a sewing thimble.  The amount of liquid in this bottle was less than what a tea spoon would hold.  I was not prepared or expecting this to cost so much.  I was literally scared to try to use it, what does this cost $5 per each drop?  I usually miss my eye a little bit when applying eye drops, and it takes several drops.  Drop, drop, drop, there goes $15.

The Pataday eye drops, my other prescription for ten Prednisone tablets, and the walk-in clinic visit to get these prescriptions will end up costing me more than $400.  I have one refill on the prescription for the Pataday eye drops.  If I want to pay $191 for another Pataday refill, the first bottle and the second bottle would get me through two allergy attacks, at a cost of $591 to get me through two allergy attacks.

When I got home after picking up and paying for my two prescriptions at the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy, I looked on the internet and I found several drug stores in Canada that sell the same bottle of Pataday eye drops for $32 per bottle, versus $191 at the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.  These Canadian drug stores ship prescriptions by mail to the United States without any difficulty.

I called one, and then another Canadian drug store to place my order for the Pataday eye drops, and they both said that they needed the original doctor’s prescription slip for the Pataday, not the prescription label showing one refill allowed.  I explained that I never got a doctor’s prescription slip, it was e-mailed from the doctor straight to the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.  The Canadian drug stores said that they did not think that I would have any difficulty in getting the doctor to write me another prescription slip.

On Thursday 8/24/2017, I delivered a letter to the Sanford Health walk-in clinic for Dr. Nicole Wilson-Hall.  The letter explained that I could get the Pataday eye drops from Canada for $7 per ml, instead of $76 per ml at the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy, that the Canadian drug stores would not accept the refill label on the Pataday, and I asked if she could write a prescription slip for me.  I was told at the check-in desk that she was gone for the rest of the week.  I asked if she had a mail box that they could put the letter in for her, and they said that they would.

I knew that it might be a while before Dr. Nicole Wilson-Hall would come back to Dickinson.  She might not come back at all.  Later on Thursday afternoon when I was working, I received a phone call from a woman at Sanford Health, I should have asked her to repeat who she was, but I didn’t.  She pretty much said that I could forget about anyone at Sanford Health writing me another prescription slip, even though I explained to her that I had one refill allowed, and that I wanted to get this one refill at some place other than the Sanford Health Clinic pharmacy.

Even though I have had nothing but bad experiences getting anything done in North Dakota, I still was not cautious, suspicious, and careful enough.  Because the women at Sanford Health seemed to be pleasant, professional, and competent, I began to think that nothing was wrong.  I had intended that my doctor visit and the money that I was paying, was going to allow me to have medication to treat my allergy attacks that occur about four times per year, not just this current attack plus one more.  When I have a third allergy attack, I would have to go back to the Sanford Health walk-in clinic again, go through this process again, and pay the same amount of money again.

Rather than helping people, these women at Sanford Health are there to help make sure that Sanford Health makes as much money as possible, I see that now.  I am really dreading the bill that I am going to get from them now.  I might not pay it.  I have excellent credit, and I have never not paid a bill, but I think I might not pay this one.  I don’t mind explaining a hundred times why I haven’t paid this bill.

About two weeks later I received a bill from Sanford Health for the walk-in clinic visit.  The bill was $158, which I think is fair and reasonable.  In the end, the only thing that I am mad about, is that I wish I would have requested a prescription slip from the doctor, so that I could go home and research the best price for my medication before getting the prescription filled, most likely in Canada.

Elks Lodge Calamity In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I have heard from two different people that the Elks Lodge in Dickinson, North Dakota is giving up the upstairs main floor of their building, and will now operate out of the basement of the building.  This was shocking, upsetting, and depressing to me, and I am not even a member of the Elks Lodge.  The more I think about it, the angrier that it makes me.

What’s next, are you going to get a reverse mortgage on your basement, and then when that money runs out, start having your meetings at McDonalds?

Oooh, Oooh, it’s so hard to make money now, we can’t really afford to keep the upstairs to our building, it’s so hard to keep the building clean and pay the electric, with my arthritis and my hip problems, I can’t climb down those stairs anymore.  We aren’t going to live much longer anyway.

What the Fuck is wrong with you!  The Elks Lodge members before you bought the land, paid for the construction of a nice modern two-story building, with a large lounge, large bar, large kitchen, dining room, and ballroom.  All of this was long ago paid for.  From what I have been told, the previous manager “Ray”, built up $700,000 in retained earnings over his tenure.  All you had to do was break even with bar and restaurant sales, banquets and events, and only dip into that $700,000 in an emergency.

You can’t take a paid for building, and just break even with bar and restaurant sales?  All over North Dakota, bar and restaurant owners not only have to pay for their building, they have to make a profit.  And you couldn’t even break even with a paid for building, right in the middle of the biggest economic boom anywhere in the United States that went on here from 2007 to 2014?  What the Fuck is wrong with you!

1,000 Elks Lodge members probably contributed at least $100 per year, that’s $100,000 per year, and you still couldn’t keep a paid for building, even with a $700,000 emergency fund?  With the last little bit of money you have, you should hire an independent auditor to find out what happened to all the money.

In every city, and every state, the Elks Lodge members are comprised of the car dealership owners, car dealer management, real estate brokers, real estate agents, insurance company owners, insurance company agents, other business owners, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and accountants.  All of these types of people formed, built, and kept the Elks Lodge going for 80 years, and now right after the biggest oil boom ever in Dickinson, you can’t even keep your building that was long ago paid for?

Something is wrong with you people.  I would be ashamed to be an Elks Lodge member in Dickinson.  You belong in a basement.

Supposedly, the upstairs to the Elks Lodge building has been acquired by the New Life Pentecostal Church of Dickinson.  This church has fewer than 100 adult members, and most of them are not wealthy people.  How can these 100 adults from a church afford to purchase, renovate, and maintain the upstairs to the Elks Lodge building, and the 1,000 professional and business people Elks Lodge members can’t even keep the upstairs to the building that they already owned?

Update 1/12/2018:

I do not know why this blog post article has been viewed by more than 100 people today, because I posted this article back in August, four months ago.  Here are some of the Facebook posts from the Elks Lodge in Dickinson:

November 16, 2017 – “PSA: We have set a date to close the top half of the Elks, our last day open this year will be December 16th! We are planning to renovate downstairs of the Elks and will reopen in 2018! We are really excited to see where this new chapter takes the Elks and all of our Members….”

December 14, 2017 – “Hey Everyone, As most of you know our last day upstairs is Saturday (16th) and we are requesting help from anyone who is interested!
We would like to start on Sunday December 17th……The Auction will be December 30th at 10:00 AM here at the Elks. Basically, we need to move the various equipment and furniture into trailers that we plan to keep for the lower level and organize the sale items in the building for the auction sale…..”

January 2, 2018 – “As most of you know we are officially closed for lower level renovations! We will be reopening at a later date in 2018….”

I drove to the Elks Lodge in Dickinson this evening, and I saw several work vans and equipment trailers owned by Simons Homes Siding & Windows parked beside the Elks Lodge building, because work was being performed on the upstairs of the building.  Simons Homes Siding & Windows is owned by Robert Simons, pastor of the New Life Pentecostal Church.

From the three quotations that I took from the Dickinson Elks Lodge Facebook page and listed above, it appears as though the Elks Lodge is moving into the basement of their own building, and vacating the upstairs of their own building.

I can not say for certain that the New Life Pentecostal Church will occupy the upstairs of the Elks Lodge building, but it looks like this will happen.

I do not want to express any more anger and outrage than I have already written, about how the Elks Lodge members from the past, could buy or build their own building in the worst of economic times, and then later the future Elks Lodge members would lose a paid for building in the middle of the best of economic times.

I will write an updated article with some other comments about the Elks Lodge in Dickinson.

Dickinson, North Dakota Could Have Had Permanent Growth If….

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In this blog post, I am going to try to explain one of the mistakes that has been made in Dickinson that has prevented permanent growth.  No, I am not going to write about local people in Dickinson being unfriendly, uncooperative, not helpful, and hostile for the 100th time, I am going to write about something that I have not covered yet.

I will illustrate what I am trying to explain using a real life example of a woman named “Trudy” who moved to Dickinson with her husband approximately two years ago.  Trudy and her husband are in their late forties, and they moved to Dickinson because of her husband’s job.  They had moved to different towns more than several times during their marriage because of her husband’s job.

Initially, when they moved to Dickinson two years ago, they rented an apartment.  They wanted to look for and try to find the right house for them.  With the sale of their previous home and their financial situation, they could have afforded to buy the most expensive home listed for sale in Dickinson if they wanted to.  But they were really only looking for a nice looking, comfortable, modest home that was the right size for them.

Trudy and her husband did not like paying the very high apartment rent that was the result of the oil boom that began in 2007 in western North Dakota.  The rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Dickinson was typically $2,000 to $3,000 per month.  Most people recognized that if you are going to pay $24,000 to $36,000 per year in rent, you would be much better off financially by using that amount of money to purchase a home.

Trudy liked Dickinson, and she liked the people in Dickinson.  She was looking forward to buying a house and making a home here with her husband.  She was looking forward to getting out of their apartment, this was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement.

Trudy looked, and looked for a house in Dickinson.  She looked at every on-line listing, she looked at all the printed real estate guides, she went to real estate offices, she drove around Dickinson looking at homes “For Sale By Owner” and to look for any house for sale that she wasn’t already aware of.

Trudy looked for a house in Dickinson for 1-1/2 years.  Though from time to time she found a house that would have been O.K. for her and her husband, everything was overpriced.  It was as if the home owners and the real estate agents did not think that anyone else was aware that the oil boom was over, and that the oil field was not going to pick up any time soon, and possibly not for a long time.  It also appeared that the home owners and the real estate agents believed that there were people “with a lot of money”, that would just go ahead and buy a house for $250,000 to $450,000 without even thinking about it.

Most people that are capable of purchasing a home for $250,000 to $450,000 are financially shrewd people, who are not in the habit of losing money.  These people don’t willingly over-pay for anything.  But in Dickinson, there seemed to be this wide-spread belief that there were vast numbers of home buyers that didn’t know how much homes were worth, and that the thought never entered their mind, “What could I expect to re-sell this home for in the future?”

Dickinson began to lose its charm for Trudy and her husband.  The people didn’t turn out to be that friendly or very helpful after all.  They could not find a reasonably priced home, and living in their apartment was unpleasant.  There was not a lot to do in Dickinson.  Eventually, both Trudy and her husband agreed that they would be happier and better off if they just moved to a different state.

I used this story up above to illustrate that both the excessive gouging on housing during the oil boom, and the current and continuing over-pricing on houses, has made about 90% of the people who came to Dickinson in the past ten years make up their minds that they would never stay in Dickinson.  I am not saying that 10% of the people decided to stay, I am saying that 90% of the people made up their minds that they would never stay.

Of the 10% of the people who came to Dickinson in the past ten years who didn’t make up their minds that they would never stay, many or most of this 10% had to leave anyway because they lost their job, or they could not find a reasonably priced house.  Trudy and her husband would be in this 10%.

In other words, Dickinson drives almost everyone who comes here away.  The population of Dickinson is going to continue to decrease every year, for years to come.

Businesses Closing In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I want for everyone, local people, people from out of state, and people who are considering moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, to know what is going on here.  The oil boom is over in North Dakota, it was over by the end of 2014.  Since then, everything has become less busy with each passing month in Dickinson, North Dakota.

During the morning work rush hours in Dickinson, 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., traffic is not heavy.  From 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., and 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., traffic is very light.  After 8:00 p.m. in Dickinson, the streets are almost empty.  After 8:00 p.m., there are only three to six people in each of the downtown bars on a week night.  After 8:00 p.m., it is the same thing in each of the grocery stores, only about three to six customers.

Outside of town in the industrial areas, there are many commercial buildings and warehouses that have become vacant.  In town, there are many commercial and retail spaces that have become vacant.

The Sears store has sold most of its inventory, there is hardly anything left in the store, and they are permanently closing in just a few days.  The Family Fare grocery store on highway 22 is closing in just a few days, much of their inventory is already gone.

In downtown Dickinson, there are two family owned businesses that were very rude to me, and several other people that I have spoken to.  I spent about $500 at one business, and about $1,000 at the other business, yet the owners were shitty with me when I came to their stores to buy more equipment.  I enjoy driving by their stores now at various times throughout the day, and I see that they have zero customers.

I am not going to list every tenant from every retail, commercial, and industrial building in Dickinson that has left, because it would take too long and it would be difficult to include every one.  In general, in buildings where there are five or more tenants, it has gone from one vacancy, to two, then three, and so on as the months have passed in Dickinson.  What I want for people to understand, is that more and more business will continue to close in Dickinson.

I have had a couple of discussions recently with two men who are my age, late forties, who have lived and worked all over the United States, who came to Dickinson right when the oil boom began in 2007.  They lived and worked through the housing shortage, and the worker shortage in Dickinson.  One of these men is an electrician who has had his hours reduced more and more, as other workers are let go.  One of these men is a roustabout foreman who has had his wage rate reduced by $7 per hour, as other workers are let go.  Both of these men admit to there being a scarcity of jobs right now, and every indication that things will get much worse in employment.

All three of us, do not like it when uninformed people in the area say things like, “Things are starting to pick up again.”, “The drill rig count is up.”, “Its starting to turn around now.”, and “People are going back to work now.”  These statements are absolutely not true, although the drill rig count may go up from time to time.  It is not helping anyone to give them false information, it is actually harming many people.

There are many people who have reduced work, have lost their jobs, or have been unable to get a job, who should do everything they can to plan on leaving North Dakota.  They need to look into what things are like in Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, what kind of job can they get there, where can they live, and how are they going to get there.

It is about to get cold again in North Dakota, and there will be a winter work slow down.  It is wrong, and it is harmful to mislead people who have lost their job or who have not been able to get a job, into believing that if they wait here, the oil field is getting ready to pick up again, it’s not.

It would actually be better for everyone in Dickinson to know and to say, “The oil field is not going to pick up any time soon.  More people will probably lose their jobs.  It’s time for people to start thinking about where else they could live, and where else they might go to earn a living.  It is not going to be good to encourage people to stay in Dickinson, there will end up being many unemployed people in Dickinson if some of these people don’t try to go someplace else.”