Let Julie Lawyer Be Judged By Her Treatment Of A Disabled Vietnam Veteran

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Let Julie Lawyer be judged by her treatment of a 70 year old disabled Vietnam Veteran.

In July of 2018, 70 year old Raymond Geffre of Bismarck, was startled by a trespasser on his rural property, which was posted with “No Trespassing” signs.  Raymond Geffre, did not know this person, or why he had driven onto his property.  He approached the driver of the vehicle, carrying a cell phone in one hand, and a pistol in the other hand.

The driver of the vehicle, 53 year old Edward Weber, was an employee of a garage door company, who had gone to the wrong address.  Edward Weber telephoned the Burleigh County Sheriff Department, and stated that he was threatened with a firearm.

The Burleigh County Sheriff Department later arrested Raymond Geffre for “Terrorizing”, a Class C Felony which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison in North Dakota.

The Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer, believes that Raymond Geffre should be prosecuted for “Terrorizing”, even though this would be a misinterpretation and misapplication of the “Terrorizing” statute, and a failure to understand the important legal principle, that when someone is exercising their legal right to defend themselves and their property, while on their own property, some actions are legal, which otherwise might not be legal under different circumstances.

The North Dakota statute on “Terrorizing” was meant to define an activity that was a criminal activity, not someone exercising their legal right to defend themselves and their property while on their own property.

This section of North Dakota Law, CHAPTER 12.1-17, ASSAULTS – THREATS – COERCION – HARASSMENT, is all about criminal activity, and it applies to persons engaged in illegal activity.  If it is not understood that this section of North Dakota Law is about criminal activity, and that it applies to persons engaged in illegal activity, then Law Enforcement Officers, Corrections Officers, Active Duty Military, Citizens legally lawfully defending themselves, and others would be guilty of committing each of these crimes every day.

12.1-17-04. Terrorizing.
A person is guilty of a class C felony if, with intent to place another human being in fear for that human being’s or another’s safety or to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation, or otherwise to cause serious disruption or public inconvenience, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror, disruption, or inconvenience, the person:
1. Threatens to commit any crime of violence or act dangerous to human life; or
2. Falsely informs another that a situation dangerous to human life or commission of a crime of violence is imminent knowing that the information is false.

I have read where the Burleigh County Sheriff and Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer are quoted citing only the preface or condition to the act “…with intent to place another human being in fear for that human being’s or another’s safety…” as if this is the only requirement for the charge of Terrorizing, when this is not the requirement for the charge of Terrorizing, it is only the preface or condition to the act.

After the preface or condition of the act is set forth, the act is that the person “1. Threatens to commit any crime of violence or act dangerous to human life;”  Both the condition and the act itself must have occurred in order for a person to be guilty of this criminal charge of “Terrorizing”.  And again, this statute was meant to define an illegal activity, not the lawful defense of an individual and his property, while on his own property.

Putting aside the fact that Raymond Geffre had the legal right to defend himself and his property while on his own property, which neither the Burleigh County Sheriff or Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer understand this very important legal principle that Raymond Geffre’s right to defend himself makes some actions legal which under different circumstances might not have been legal, putting this aside, did Raymond Geffre commit the act of “Threatening to commit any crime of violence or act dangerous to human life” if he did in fact point his pistol at Edward Weber?

The answer is that no, Raymond Geffre did not commit the act of “Threatening to commit any crime of violence or act dangerous to human life” even if he did point his pistol at Edward Weber.  The requirements of the charge of “Terrorizing” are not met.

Why are the Burleigh County Sheriff and the Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer ignoring and denying 70 year old disabled Vietnam Veteran Raymond Geffre’s legal right to defend himself and his property while on his own property?  Why are the Sheriff and Julie Lawyer not following the law?

Why are the Burleigh County Sheriff and Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer misinterpreting and misapplying the “Terrorizing” charge in order to send a 70 year old disabled Vietnam Veteran to prison for a mandatory minimum 2 years without eligibility for parole?

After suffering a traumatic brain injury and severe hearing loss in Vietnam in 1969, Raymond Geffre left active duty in the 101st Army Airborne as a Sergeant, returned home to the U.S. and served in the Army Reserve for decades.  He became employed as firefighter for 25 years, before beginning work as a Fire Marshall inspector, and retired in 2008.

After Raymond Geffre was wrongfully charged with “Terrorizing” by the Burleigh County Sheriff Department, he was arrested, taken to jail, and had his “mug shot” taken, at the age of 70 years old.  And all of his firearms were seized by the Burleigh County Sheriff Department.

Is this any way to treat an old disabled Vietnam Veteran, who confronted a trespasser on his own property, who had disregarded the “No Trespassing” signs that were posted?  Why does Raymond Geffre no longer have the right to defend himself and his property according the Burleigh County Sheriff Pat Heinert and Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer?

Julie Lawyer has announced that she is seeking election as Burleigh County State’s Attorney.  I don’t think that she should be elected to anything, if she disregards people’s right to defend themselves and their property while on their own property, and tries to misinterpret and misapply laws in order to mistreat and try to send 70 year old disabled Veterans to prison for two years.

Bismarck Veteran Wrongfully Accused Of Terrorizing

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On October 16, I read an article in the Bismarck Tribune newspaper about a 70 year old disabled Vietnam Veteran named Raymond Geffre, who is being charged by Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney, Julie Lawyer, with the felony of “Terrorizing”, after Raymond Geffre confronted a trespasser on his property in July of 2018.  Ordinarily, I might not give a shit, except for this felony charge of “Terrorizing” carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison.

A short summary of what happened, was an employee of Midland Garage Door Manufacturing Company (and/or Midwest Doors?), 53 year old Edward Weber, was looking for a home in a rural area where he was supposed to perform work, he turned down a driveway that was not the home where he was supposed to work, and he was confronted by 70 year old Raymond Geffre, “who had a cell phone in one hand, and a pistol in the other hand.”

Raymond Geffre lives alone, he lost most of his hearing from an injury in Vietnam, he can barely hear, he wears two hearing aids, which he did not have on at the time of the incident, because he was working on a project in his yard.  He was startled, and confused about what someone was doing on his property, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone on his property, because he said that he had “No Trespassing” signs posted.

The garage door company employee, Edward Weber, telephoned the Burleigh County Sheriff Department, and said that he was threatened with a gun, that the gun was pointed at him.  The homeowner, Raymond Geffre, has denied pointing his gun at Edward Weber during the incident.

What I have written up above, is a brief summary of facts about the incident, with very little of my opinion included yet.  Continuing below, I explain what is so wrong about this.

First, my opinion, is that the garage door company employee Edward Weber is a piece of shit.  It is claimed that he disregarded a “No Trespassing” sign, at a home in a rural area.  But even if there was no “No Trespassing” sign posted, he realized that he was at the wrong address, and that he had startled an old man who didn’t understand what he was doing on his property.  Edward Weber should have been grateful that he wasn’t shot, shot at, or harmed.

Edward Weber telephoned the Sheriff Department, to say that he was threatened with a firearm, and that he was in fear for his life.  In the United States, if you go onto someone else’s property in a rural area, and you were not invited, and you startle an elderly man who lives alone, yes your life might be threatened, where have you been for the past 50 years?  Have you not been paying attention your whole life?

How do you think this 70 year old disabled man felt?  Besides not being able to hear hardly at all, he suffered a traumatic brain injury in Vietnam.  Don’t you think that he was in fear for his life too?  Living by himself in a rural area, and being 70 years old, how else is he going to defend himself and his property, when someone comes onto his property without permission, and he has no idea what they are doing there, or what their intentions are?

Second, I think that Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney, Julie Lawyer, is the absolute epitome of a woman being in a position, whose intellect and judgment is far below what you would find in a man in the same position.  I am sick and tired of this, and it is time for everyone to be forced to acknowledge this, that some women are given the benefit of the doubt again and again and again, and are not being held to the same standard as men, and what you end up with is women in the position of Assistant State’s Attorney, who are incompetent.

There could not be a more fundamental right in the United States, than for an individual to protect themselves and their property from harm, while on their own property.

What Julie Lawyer does not appear to understand, is that in defense of oneself and one’s own property, certain acts are justified, which otherwise might not have been legal.

If Raymond Geffre had believed that his life was in imminent danger, not only would he have been justified in pointing a firearm at Edward Weber, he might have even been justified in shooting Edward Weber.  In my own reading on the subject of defense of persons and defense of property, I read this quote, which was a determination made by the Supreme Court of Colorado:

In People v. La Voie, Supreme Court of Colorado, (1964), The court wrote, “When a person has reasonable grounds for believing, and does in fact actually believe, that danger of his being killed, or of receiving great bodily harm, is imminent, he may act on such appearances and defend himself, even to the extent of taking human life when necessary, although it may turn out that the appearances were false, or although he may have been mistaken as to the extent of the real actual danger.”

I included this quote to point out how both Edward Weber and Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer are mistaken, the legal precedent is, that when a person believes that they are in imminent danger of being killed or receiving great bodily harm, they may act and defend themselves, even to the extent of taking human life when necessary, although it may turn out that the appearances were false, or although they may have been mistaken as to the extent of the real actual danger.

In other words, where Julie Lawyer is very, very wrong, is that it makes no difference at all that Edward Weber was at the wrong address, or had been called to perform work at some other address, it only matters what Raymond Geffre believed, even though he may have been mistaken as to the extent of the real or actual danger.

A judge has not yet made the decision on whether or not to dismiss this case, as Raymond Geffre’s defense attorney has requested.  There is not even any evidence that Raymond Geffre ever even pointed his pistol at Edward Weber.  This case should not have even been brought forward by the prosecutor, as there is no evidence that would support the charge of “Terrorizing”.

I am not done criticizing Julie Lawyer, no one should get away with unnecessarily and carelessly tormenting an old disabled military veteran, by threatening to put him in prison for 2 years for defending himself and his property.

Note:  The Bismarck Tribune newspaper article dated October 16, 2018 states that Edward Weber was an employee of Midwest Doors.  The actual criminal affidavit court document states that Edward Weber was an employee of Midland Garage Door Manufacturing Company.  The Bismarck, North Dakota distributor for Midland Garage Door Manufacturing Company is Midwest Doors.  You can call and ask who Edward Weber was working for, at Midwest Doors of Bismarck telephone 701-223-7664, and at Midland Garage Door Manufacturing Company telephone  800-437-4056.

Women Explained Using A Jeep Wrangler

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For this explanation of women, let us take for example, a young man who is 24 years old, who has been employed as a City Police Officer for one year.  All through elementary school, through middle school, high school, and college, he has dreamed about owning a Jeep Wrangler.

You can take a Jeep Wrangler camping, hunting, off-roading, to the beach, and take it fishing, you can even tow a boat behind it.  He has been wanting a red, four-door Jeep Wangler, for several years, and now that he is making $45,000 per year, he can afford to buy one.

He goes to the dealer to see about buying a new red, four-door Jeep Wrangler, and he sits down with a sales person, who collects his information to determine if he can afford the cost and payments on this vehicle.  The sales person tells him, that with a $10,000 down payment, the monthly payments will be about $700 per month.  But that’s not the only cost.

The sales person asks this young Police Officer, what he plans on doing with this Jeep Wrangler.  He replies, I plan on taking it camping, hunting, off-roading, to the beach, fishing, and tow a boat with it when I buy a boat.  The sales person says, that he has to explain a few things:

Salesperson:  Let me explain, that during the first year of ownership, this Jeep Wrangler may go camping, hunting, off-roading, to the beach, and fishing, but after the first year, very few Jeep Wranglers want to do this anymore, they just would rather stay home, go to the shopping mall, or go out to dinner.

Police Officer:  What, what do you mean?  All my life, I have seen pictures of Jeep Wranglers going camping, hunting, off-roading, to the beach, and fishing.

Salesperson:  Some do, most don’t.  About 90% of Jeep Wranglers, once you have owned them for a year, they don’t want to do outdoor activities.  They don’t like getting dirty, they don’t like the insects and animals, they get too hot or too cold, they get frightened, lonely, and bored.  They just don’t like it.

Police Officer:  I’ll make it go where I want it to go.  Why would I pay all that money, and not get to do the things that I want with it, or use it for what I planned on using it for?

Salesperson:  Whoa, hold on there.  If you get one of these Jeep Wranglers mad at you, they can file a restraining order against, assault charges, or abuse charges.  One of these Jeep Wranglers could cause you to be suspended from your job, lose your job, and never be able to work as a Police Officer again.

Police Officer:  What!?

Salesperson:  That’s not all, you could end up paying $700 per month, for the next eighteen years.  Lose your house, lose your job, and not be able to even drive your Jeep Wrangler anywhere, ever.  And it could get big and fat like that full size Dodge van sitting over there.

Police Officer:  Let me get this straight, if I pay $10,000 down, and $700 per month, this Jeep Wrangler is going to refuse to go camping, hunting, off-roading, to the beach, fishing, it could get a restraining order against me, cause me to lose my job, force me to pay $700 per month for the next eighteen years, and get big and fat like that full size Dodge van sitting over there?

Salesperson:  That’s correct.  And there is no warranty.

Police Officer:  After learning all of this, there is no way that I want a Jeep Wrangler.  Who would want to have anything to do with a Jeep Wrangler?  I thought that they were fun, but after hearing this, they are just way, way more trouble than they are worth.

I Hate Tailgaters In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I hate tailgaters in Dickinson, North Dakota.  Dickinson is the worst place that I have ever lived regarding tailgating.  The second worst tailgating place that I have ever lived, is the small town in Idaho where I bought a home.

You might think that the worst tailgaters, would be the pushy, aggressive people in Tampa, Orlando, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, or Salt Lake.  But the people in the big cities who drive in heavy traffic every day, know that if you follow too closely behind another vehicle, you are going to be in an at-fault vehicle accident for rear-ending another vehicle.

In Dickinson, and in the small town in Idaho where I used to live, it appeared that the local people were too stupid to have ever had the thought, “If this vehicle in front of me slams on the brakes, there is no way that I could stop in time before running into the back of this vehicle.  I would be the one who was blamed for the accident, for following too close, driving too fast, or not paying attention.”

It’s like the people in Dickinson have this thought process, “The stoplight up ahead has just changed to red, even though there is no way to continue through the stop light at this moment, I will follow as closely as possible behind the vehicle in front of me, so that at least I might get into an at-fault accident, have some points assessed against my driver’s license, have my vehicle insurance go up or be cancelled, and have some damage done to my vehicle so that I won’t be able to drive it for a while.”

The tailgaters in Dickinson fall into the following categories, from the most common, to the least common:

  1. Ford F250/F350, Dodge 2500/3500, Chevy 2500/3500 owners that follow too closely because that is what they think their vehicle is for, tailgating.  In Dickinson, probably 50% of the people who own these 3/4 ton-1 ton pickup trucks, do not own a trailer of any kind, or do any heavy hauling, so the next best thing in their mind, is to drive like an asshole.  Even if you are driving at the speed limit, or a little over the speed limit, in a 25 mph, 35 mph, or 45 mph zone, they follow as closely as possible, because they are in big hurry to get from one red stop light to the next red stop light.
  2. Stupid, inexperienced, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder young people with $2,500 vehicles.  Mostly from poor families, but a small few are from middle class or upper middle class families, mixed up, troubled, confused, drug addict young people who can never think more than one step ahead, they just don’t know how to not get into a car accident yet.
  3. Highway drivers outside of Dickinson, that can’t use logic, reasoning, understand physics, or do math.  Scenario: “If you are driving one mile behind a vehicle, and over the course of five minutes, you steadily become closer, and closer, and closer to the vehicle ahead of you, are you going faster than the vehicle ahead of you, and is the vehicle ahead of you going slower than you are?  Do you think that you will need to pass the slower moving vehicle ahead of you, or if you follow the slower moving vehicle ahead of you as closely as possible, will you be going the same speed as you have been going?”
  4. Highway drivers that feel safer driving as closely as possible behind you.  There are women drivers that are young, middle-aged, or older who somehow feel like they are safer, if they can drive as closely as possible behind your vehicle, that you know where you are going, that you know the speed limit, that everything will be O.K. if they stay right behind you.  It’s like they are scared to be alone in the woods, alone in the dark, or alone on the highway.  There are some confused men, maybe they don’t even have a driver’s license, that try to stay right behind another vehicle, because they feel like they will get into less trouble and not be noticed by law enforcement.

The least likely people to tailgate, are truly successful people who have accumulated many assets.  They do not want any vehicle accident, personal injury, or property damage of any kind, because this would only be a waste of their time, a nuisance, an inconvenience, and possibly cause them other problems.  They do not want to have any altercation with people, if they can possibly avoid it.

Wealthy people, successful people, have experienced the frustration of being stuck in slow moving traffic, so they have gone and gotten their pilot’s license, and have bought an airplane either by themselves, or jointly with several other people.  If they want to or expect to travel long distances, they use their airplane.  They have planned ahead, not to be frustrated with traffic.

Wealthy people, successful people, plan on taking several or more vacations and trips each year.  They look forward to going to their vacation home in a different state, or a different country.  They look forward to laying on a warm, sunny beach, going sailing, going deep sea fishing, or going scuba diving.  How or why, would they want to be involved in an at-fault vehicle accident, wasting their time and money, and causing other problems, by driving so close behind other people that they can’t stop in time to avoid a rear-end collision?  They plan, not to get into vehicle accidents.

Wealthy successful people, spend their time looking at investments, buying real estate, starting a business, buying businesses, and instructing and mentoring their children.  They plan what they do with their time.  Why would they plan on being in a vehicle accident by driving so close behind other people that they can not stop in time to avoid a rear-end collision?  They plan, not to get into vehicle accidents.

It is only the poor people, the stupid people, the drug addicts, the feeble minded, the white trash, and the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks blue collar people that can not get it through their stupid fucking thick skulls, that driving so close behind other people that they can not stop in time to avoid a collision, is something that is going to waste their time, waste other people’s time, cause an altercation, cost them money, cause points on their driver’s license, require repair on their vehicle, raise their vehicle insurance or cause insurance to be cancelled, and possibly cause them problems with their current and future employment.

Downtown Dickinson Association, Strange, And Square

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Today I read an article in the Dickinson Press newspaper about the Downtown Dickinson Association Director Jennifer Strange, suddenly resigning.  From the way this newspaper article was written and its focus, it appears that Jennifer Strange’s departure had a lot to do with the contested location of the proposed Downtown Dickinson Square project.

Downtown business owners, and members of the Downtown Dickinson Association, seem to be determined that they are going to revitalize, restore, renew, and reinvent downtown Dickinson.  This would help the businesses that they own, and increase the value of the real estate that they own downtown, but it would also be beneficial to improving the image of the City of Dickinson, and it would provide the people in Dickinson with a better venue for concerts, entertainment, social gatherings, and cultural events.

The local architectural company JLG has already created and presented plans for a Downtown Square at the corner of Sims Avenue and Villard Street.  Whether the downtown business owners and the Downtown Dickinson Association members will admit it or not, here are some of their reasons for this being their preferred location:

  • There is already an existing small public park at this street corner.
  • This location has often been used for downtown public concerts and events.
  • There are two large public parking lots directly across Villard Street from this location, on either side of the Train Depot.
  • This location is surrounded by historically significant buildings which are in good condition, such as the Train Depot, Brickhouse Grille, Masonic Lodge, and Post Office.
  • This location is central to, and within short walking distance of the main downtown bars: Rock Bar, Blue 42, B2 Lounge, Bernie’s Esquire Club, and the Eagles Lodge.
  • This location is one city block south of the new proposed Odyssey Theaters 8 Cinemaplex.
  • And lastly, this Downtown Square project, would make Bernie and Paulette Marsh’s two spooky store front buildings, disappear.

The only source of contention in this plan for the Downtown Square, is the cost of Bernie and Paulette Marsh’s two store front buildings, and a third building owned by Roger and Rosie Decker.  The owners of these three buildings, their asking prices, comes to a combined total of about $1.2 million, which is 20% to 25% over their assessed value.  The cost of demolition, renovation, and construction is expected to be an additional $5 million.

The Mayor, and some other City Commissioners, earlier this week expressed concern and hesitation about the cost of the three buildings that would have to be acquired and demolished, their purchase price, and the ownership costs of the public facilities and vendor facilities that would replace them.

I can see that this situation could be extremely frustrating and maddening to downtown business owners, the Downtown Dickinson Association members, and the DDA Board of Directors, to come so far with the plans for a Downtown Square, in the optimum location, only to have haggling and threats of switching the location to a site “B”, which is no good and no one wants.

I don’t know why Kristie Schwartz or Sarah Trustem hasn’t said to the Mayor, “Scott, don’t look at this as paying too much for a building, think of it as getting rid of this building, and replacing it with something much better for Dickinson.”

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/4512932-dda-loses-director#.W8Frb_CYIIU.link

The Importance Of Having Legal Representation In North Dakota

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I am attaching a short video, that demonstrates the importance of having good legal representation when going to court in Dickinson, North Dakota:

Unethical Human Medical Experimentation In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for about six years.  The reason why I came to Dickinson, was because there was an oil boom in this area from 2007 through 2014.  Though the oil boom is over, and approximately 80% of the out-of-state workers have returned to the states where they came from, I have remained here in Dickinson because I can still make more money here than I can where my home is in Idaho.

I have not ever come out and said it openly before, but I might as well say it now, the reason why the wages are still fairly high in Dickinson, is because it sucks so bad here, that no one wants to work here, stay here, or live here.  Further, truly intelligent, sharp, talented, highly skilled people don’t have to live here and suffer through this, they can probably get a job someplace else, anyplace else, so it is only the less intelligent, less talented, less skilled people, or people who have got something wrong with them, that stay here.

I have described that living in Dickinson, is like being in prison:  There are hardly any women;  the women who are here are mean, unfriendly, hostile, overweight, and unattractive;  the local people here are suspicious, mistrustful, uncooperative, and undermining to people who are from someplace else;  there is no where to go and nothing to do;  the City of Dickinson Police follow everyone around, watch them, and treat them just like they are all convicts or inmates.

It is very difficult living in Dickinson, North Dakota.  It is not normal, it is very harsh.  You can not do, or get things that you would elsewhere.  It is very isolated from civilization by the many miles of cold, frozen, barren prairie.  And one of the things that you cannot get, is competent medical care.

Beginning in 2014 while living in Dickinson, I began getting very sick, from what appeared to be something in the air in Dickinson.  I had previously lived and worked all over the United States, and I had never had allergies or an allergic reaction to anything before.  In Dickinson, my eyes would swell up, almost completely shut, my eyes would water continuously, and my nose would run continuously.  There is hardly any plant life in Dickinson, what could this be from?

I went to Sanford Health in Dickinson about my allergic reaction in 2014, and was diagnosed with “allergic conjunctivitis”, and I was given a prescription for some kind of eye drop medication.  When I went to get this prescription filled at the grocery store pharmacy in Dickinson, there was a line of people all the way from the pharmacy counter, out the door of the grocery store.  I was too sick to wait in line for this prescription to be filled.

When I have been very sick in Dickinson, with a sudden severe allergic reaction, I have gone to family practice clinics in Dickinson, and I have been told I would have to wait seven weeks for an appointment.  I then went again to Sanford Health Clinic, and I was given a very expensive medication prescription, for a very small amount of medication, which did not help at all.

I then resorted to trying every over-the-counter allergy medication that there is, first in the normal recommended doses, and then in much larger doses after these over-the-counter medications failed to work.  Eventually, I found that taking “Zyrtec” a.k.a. “Cetirizine” in much larger doses, helps the most.  But these allergy attacks are becoming more and more frequent, and the large doses of Zyrtec are becoming less and less effective.

What is it in the air in Dickinson, that can suddenly make me have such a severe allergic reaction, even when it is in October and snowing?  There are only a very small variety of trees in Dickinson, and there are very few trees overall.  What the fuck is going on?  What is in the air?

I am including some excerpts from a Wikipedia article about Unethical Human Experimentation In The United States:

Unethical Human Experimentation in the United States describes numerous experiments performed on human test subjects in the United States that have been considered unethical, and were often performed illegally, without the knowledge, consent, or informed consent of the test subjects. Such tests have occurred throughout American history, but particularly in the 20th century.

The experiments include: the exposure of people to many chemical and biological weapons (including infection of people with deadly or debilitating diseases), human radiation experiments, injection of people with toxic and radioactive chemicals, surgical experiments like KX-338, interrogation and torture experiments, tests involving mind-altering substances, and a wide variety of others. Many of these tests were performed on children, the sick, and mentally disabled individuals, often under the guise of “medical treatment”. In many of the studies, a large portion of the subjects were poor, racial minorities, or prisoners.

Funding for many of the experiments was provided by the United States government, especially the Unites States military, the Central Intelligence Agency, or private corporations involved with military activities.  The human research programs were usually highly secretive, and in many cases information about them was not released until many years after the studies had been performed.

My belief is, that because Dickinson is geographically and socially isolated, with the lowest education level and least well-read people anywhere in the United States, that unethical medical testing is being conducted on the people in and around Dickinson, without their knowledge or consent.

The very large and new Sanford Health Clinic and St. Alexius Hospital in Dickinson give the local people and people in the surrounding area, the impression that they can expect modern, up-to-date, and competent medical care in Dickinson.  But this is not the case, people in Dickinson find that they do not have their health problems effectively treated or solved in Dickinson.  Is this because the “test subjects” in Dickinson, are not supposed to be treated, and only monitored in order to observe and study the long term effects of the chemicals and substances that they have been exposed to?

Explanation Of A $3,500 Weekly Pay Check

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I work at an industrial site, far outside of Dickinson, North Dakota.  The rules on this site, are what you would find at a mining operation or a refinery:  Heavy equipment has the right-of-way;  hard hat, safety vest, eye protection, safety toe shoes are required at all times; no visitors or non-employees are allowed on the site at any time.

There are many restrictions, rules, and procedures on this site that the workers here take for granted, but most people would be unaware of, such as absolutely no photography or video recording on site, 10 mph speed limit on site, and all vehicles must come to a complete stop and wait when a crane is lifting something, even if it is 100 feet away from the roadway.  All of this is just one of the reasons why visitors or non-employees are not allowed on site, they would be unaware of all these restrictions and rules, or perhaps they would be non-compliant with some of these restrictions, rules, and procedures.

This Friday, one of the equipment operators on this site asked me for a favor, would I take his pay check, and hold it for someone who was going to pick it up at the site entrance later today?  This equipment operator works at the far back of the site, and I work at the front of the site near the entrance.

This equipment operator gave me his pay check, and he described to me the vehicle that the guy would be driving that was coming to pick up this check, he did not tell me this person’s name, he just gave me a vehicle description.  I was trying to get better, more detailed clarification of what this vehicle was or who this person was, but the equipment operator did not give me much more details, as if he didn’t care that much.

Within about ten minutes, a truck matching the make, model, color, and special ZR71 edition, fitting the equipment operator’s description, arrived at the site entrance.  Just one thing didn’t match his description, this truck didn’t have a light or light bar on top.  I talked to the driver, and he said that he came to the site, looking for a job.

I was irritated and annoyed that I almost gave this equipment operator’s pay check to the wrong person, because all he gave me was a description of the vehicle, and within ten minutes a vehicle matching his description arrived at the site entrance.  I looked at this paycheck to see how the equipment operator had endorsed it, to see if just anyone could cash it, if I gave it to the wrong person.  The back of this check was endorsed, “Pay to the order of xxxxxx “, and I could not decipher the person’s name.  At least this check wasn’t merely endorsed with a signature only, in which case the wrong person might be able to cash or deposit this check.

The amount of this check was $2,500, which irritated and annoyed me further, this was too large an amount to be so nonchalant and careless with it.  The employee pay stub was still attached to this check, showing that this pay check was for the one week pay period 9/23 to 9/30, the rate of pay, the amount of hours worked, and the gross pay before any taxes were taken out was $3,500.

I thought to myself, no wonder this equipment operator acted like he could not care less about this pay check, he gets paid $3,500 per week.  This $2,500 check was no big deal to him, he would get another one for the same amount or more next Friday.

I thought about this some more, $3,500 per week, equals $14,000 per month.  $3,500 per week, times 50 weeks, equals $175,000 per year.  That is a lot of money.  That is much more money than teachers, police officers, nurses, college professors, engineers, CPAs, and the majority of attorneys get paid.  This is even more money than many family practice medical doctors get paid.

I have written in previous blog posts, that despite what newspapers and television news stations report, I have only ever met about four people who made over $100,000 per year working in the oil field in North Dakota.  This equipment operator, isn’t really working in the oil field, this is an industrial site, not the oil field.  At another industrial site that I worked at in North Dakota in 2015, a friend of mine made this same hourly pay as this equipment operator.

The friend of mine that worked at the same industrial site as me in North Dakota in 2015, and this equipment operator at the industrial site where I work now, though their weekly pay checks can be as high as $4,000 per week, and they can make as much as $16,000 per month, they usually do not make over $100,000 per year, due to project completion, winter work shut down, and being laid off from work.

Something that I think about, is why do people who graduate near the top of their class in high school, go to college for four to six years like CPAs, engineers, and attorneys, or people who do things that we are supposed to value in society like teachers, nurses, or police officers, why do they get paid less than half of what this equipment operator gets paid?  Part of the answer, is that in North Dakota, where the majority of people are not very educated or work in a profession, they do not value education or professional occupations.

How To Spot A Snitch Or A Set Up In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I am still angry about the Drug Task Force in Dickinson trying to set me up for a drug charge in 2011, which I wrote about in a blog post titled, “Almost Getting Caught By The Drug Task Force In Dickinson, North Dakota.”  So to give you some information about how this works, and what to watch out for, I am sharing a very good video on this subject:

Update On Confusion About Proposed Davis Refinery West Of Belfield, North Dakota

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In February of 2017, I wrote a blog post titled “Confusion About Proposed Davis Refinery West Of Belfield, North Dakota”.  I wrote this blog post, because I was so sick of the hype surrounding the Davis Refinery.  I was disgusted at North Dakotans, for not being able to tell the difference between fact and fiction, and being so easily duped.

In this February 2017 blog post, I looked up, and then explained who the Meridian Energy Group was, and who the Davis Family Partners were.  These two entities were founded in roughly 2012, and they had never constructed a refinery before.  I thought that this information would or should cause North Dakotans to slow down, wait a minute, and not get carried away.

I then explained, that the Dakota Prairie Refinery that was completed in 2015 near Dickinson, cost $430 million to construct, and was a joint venture between MDU Montana Dakota Utilities and Calumet Specialty Products.  I explained that the net worth of MDU was $5.28 billion.  After the Dakota Prairie Refinery was completed, it had quarterly losses of something like $7 million, and the refinery was sold to Tesoro.

I didn’t think that I had to break this down any further, but apparently I do:  MDU, which has a net worth of $5.28 billion, didn’t even attempt to build the $430 million refinery without a financial partner.  Then, with $7 million losses each quarter, MDU didn’t want to or couldn’t afford to own this refinery.

Meridian Energy Group originally stated that the Davis Refinery would cost $900 million to construct.  Given that the Meridian Energy Group and their largest investors the Davis Family Partners were created in about 2012, and had never built a refinery before, where was this $900 million supposed to come from?

I did see, and I did include in my February 2017 blog post about the Davis Refinery, a prospectus for investing in the Davis Refinery for the purpose of having money to start the project which read, “The proceeds from this Offering will provide Meridian with the working capital to acquire the necessary permits, secure project financing and perform all pre-construction activities to bring the project to “shovel ready” status.”

I didn’t think that I needed to break this down any further, but apparently I do, and this is very, very important:  The Meridian Energy Group was seeking investors in order to have enough money to cover permitting and pre-construction activities.

I do not want to be sued for libel, which can occur when written statements are made that are defamatory, untrue, and presented as statements of fact, so I want to emphasize that this is my personal opinion, not fact:  My opinion is that the Meridian Energy Group might only have $10 million to $40 million in investments and funding.

There have been delays preventing construction of the Davis Refinery, due to permitting, especially the air quality permit.  In order for there not to be further delays, the proposed capacity of the Davis Refinery was reduced, so that a “siting permit” would not be required, which would have involved public hearings.  By July of 2018, all of the permits were approved, and the Davis Refinery construction could begin.

Though construction on the Davis Refinery could begin in July of 2018, some environmental groups have joined together to file court cases in an attempt to stop construction, but there have been no cases that have been heard in court yet.

So has construction on the Davis Refinery begun?  All summer long in 2018, there were many articles about construction getting underway for the Davis Refinery.  From the enthusiastic hyperventilating newspaper articles and energy industry journals, you would have thought that there was going to be a tidal wave or tsunami of construction.

From what I have read, at the site of the Davis Refinery, some site grading has been done, and a site fence has been put up.  I drove to Belfield in July and August to look at houses for sale, and there was nothing going on in Belfield.  There was a fully furnished 3br/1ba manufactured home on its own 75’x140′ lot for $25,000 that no one bought and the price has now dropped to $20,000.  If there were many construction personnel working at the site of the Davis Refinery this Summer and Fall, housing in Belfield wouldn’t be so available and cheap.

I wish that the newspapers and energy industry trade journals would just stop it.  What are you trying to do?  And I wish that North Dakotans would do some reading, some research, and then drive to Belfield to go look at the refinery site.

Drive Directions To Site:  From I-94, exit onto Hwy 85 going south in Belfield.  Take Hwy 85 going south for approximately one mile until you get to 37th Street SW.  Head west on 37th Street SW for approximately 3-1/2 miles, on the north side of 37th Street SW, you will see where some ground has been worked and tilled, this is it.  There is no sign.

Why Local People In Dickinson, North Dakota Prefer To Stay Home

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In my previous blog post titled “Socializing In Dickinson, North Dakota”, I explained that there were a lot more people going to Patterson Lake Beach, bars, restaurants, parties, events, and concerts in Dickinson back during the Oil Boom in 2007 through 2014, and for a short time after the Oil Boom ended.

I explained that once approximately 5,000 out of state workers returned to the states where they came from, Patterson Lake Beach and bars in Dickinson, went from having 200 people at one time, to having only 5 people at one time.  After the Oil Boom was over, and so many out of state workers left, Dickinson quieted down, calmed down, and it appears that the local people in Dickinson prefer to stay home.

In this blog post, I want to explain why it is that the local people in Dickinson prefer to stay home.  The main reasons have to do with several different kinds of fear, mistrust, suspicion, and money.  These fears, mistrust, and suspicion are present in many local people whether they are poor, lower middle class, middle class, or wealthy.

Up until this most recent oil boom in 2007, Dickinson was very controlled.  It was controlled by wealthy or influential people, who decided who got hired, who got fired, who got promoted, who got a car loan, who got a home loan, and so forth.  Wealthy people, influential people, and employers had a lot of power, because there were not many places to work.  If a person “got out of line”, they risked never being able to get a promotion, losing their job, or being “blacklisted” from being hired elsewhere.

Many people in Dickinson, whether they were poor, lower middle class, or middle class, feared going out in Dickinson, because they ran the risk of letting their guard down, enjoying themselves, and being “reported” by someone, or being “observed” by someone higher up than them, and later facing unwanted and unintended consequences.

A corollary of this was, poor people, lower middle class, and middle class people, feared going out in Dickinson either alone, or with their family, and unknowingly entering a place where a supervisor, company owner, or wealthy person was drunk, and being verbally abused or insulted in an embarrassing way, and being unable to defend themselves because of the fear of themselves or their family member losing their job, being evicted, or their home being foreclosed on.

Something that I have written about before, is that there was so little opportunity to get ahead in Dickinson, that one way that people in Dickinson could feel like they were getting ahead, was when other people failed.  So, unfortunately, it became common in Dickinson for people to cause or assist other people to fail.  One way to assist other people to fail was to withhold help from others, which is easier to do if you do not talk to, or socialize with other people.

Because it was so common for people in Dickinson to cause or assist other people to fail, undermining was a very common practice.  In order to not be undermined, people in Dickinson became very tight-lipped about their affairs and everything that they did, and one way to do this was to not talk to or socialize with other people, lest they find out something about them, and use it against them.

There are not very many middle class people or wealthy people in Dickinson.  In the past, these middle class or wealthy people might have been able to socialize at the Elks Lodge, but the Elks Lodge in Dickinson now is almost extinct.  At the Elks Lodge, middle class or wealthy people could have discussed what college their children were going to, their vacation to foreign country, or their vacation home in a different state, but not anymore.

In Dickinson, because there are so few middle class or wealthy people, it is very hard for these people to go out in public, to places like a bar, restaurant, party, event, or concert, lest they let their guard down, and accidentally start talking about their home in Arizona in front of other people, or be overheard by other people.

In summary, the fear of suffering consequences at work; the fear of coming into conflict with a supervisor, employer or wealthy person; the fear of socializing with people who may then later undermine them; the desire to not make friends with others who may later want help; the desire to not share personal information with others; these fears, mistrust, suspicion, and disparity in wealth, make local people in Dickinson not want to socialize or go out in public, and prefer to stay home.

Again, this is something that I do not think Odyssey Theaters or the City of Dickinson understand when they are trying to build a cinema complex and a town square downtown.  The local people in Dickinson, do not want to socialize, they would rather stay home.  Local people in Dickinson are mistrustful, suspicious, wary, and uncomfortable with local people, and especially strangers from out of town.  A cinema complex or a town square are not places they would want to go or enjoy, these are places that local people would try to avoid.

Socializing In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I lived in Dickinson, North Dakota during the years 2011 through 2018.  There was an Oil Boom going on in Dickinson from 2007 through 2014, that ended once the price of oil dropped below $80 per barrel near the end of 2014, and continued to fall.

In 2011 in Dickinson, restaurants, bars, hotels, apartments, and RV Parks were crowded with people from all over the United States who had great optimism and enthusiasm about having the chance to make a lot of money in the oil field.  These were not bad people, many of these people were educated, intelligent, hardworking, talented people who were looking for the opportunity to make their fortune.

All over the United States, on television news, or television shows, reporters and journalist were telling about how everyone was making over $100,000 per year in North Dakota.  Although this was not true, the people from all over the United States that arrived in Dickinson with great optimism and enthusiasm, wouldn’t know that this wasn’t true until they had worked through the Spring, Summer, Fall, and into the Winter.

Although for me personally, I had been convinced by my own thoughts and the local people in Dickinson, that the years 2007 through 2014 were the “Ugly Years”, or the “Oil Field Trash Years”,  these were actually the best of times, the affluent years, and the most social years for Dickinson.

The point of me writing this particular blog post, is that the local people and myself, believed that after the Oil Boom ended, Dickinson would return to some kind of normalcy, and calm down to something that was preferable.  It has dawned on me now, that the Oil Boom years 2007 through 2014 were the best years as far as socializing and having fun in Dickinson.

In 2011 in Dickinson, in the Summer at Patterson Lake Beach, there would be about 200 people at this beach every weekend, sunning, swimming, throwing frisbees, throwing footballs, drinking, and cooking out.  About 150 of these people would be men, and 50 of them would be women.  At the time, I might have thought that there were only 50 women or less, because there were just too many men, but the opposite was true, women came to Patterson Lake Beach because there were so many men.

There were maybe 20 attractive looking women at Patterson Lake Beach on the weekend in the Summer of 2011, because there were so many men.  About half of these attractive women on Patterson Lake Beach were Dickinson State University students, a few were local high school girls, the rest were women who came to work in Dickinson.

In 2011, I never could have imagined that in the Summer of 2013, there would only be twenty people on the beach at Patterson Lake on the weekend.  And by 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 in the Summer on the weekend there would only be about five people on the beach at Patterson Lake.

In the Summer of 2013, when I was shocked to see only twenty people at Patterson Lake Beach, I thought that what must have happened was that the out of state workers got tired of the local people, the local people got tired of the out of state workers, and the Dickinson State University girls got tired of everyone ogling them, so no one came to the beach anymore.

Also in 2013, I noted that bars that had had 200 people inside at night during 2011, now only had about 50 people.  In 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 the number of people in these bars might be five people.

In 2013, 2014, and 2015, there were often very large wedding receptions held in the ballroom of the Astoria Hotel, the Elks Lodge, and the Eagles Lodge.  These large wedding reception parties have become much, much fewer after 2016.

The large event parties that were held in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 such as the API Fish Fry and the Hair Ball Concert in the West River Ice Rink Center, parties and concerts in the Biesiot Activities Center, and the downtown Alive at 5 Concerts have become much smaller, and much less frequent.

Altogether, since the beginning of the end of the Oil Boom in Dickinson, there have been much, much fewer people going to Patterson Lake Beach, bars at night, having parties, putting on events, putting on concerts, or going to events or concerts.  What happened?, the population of Dickinson might have peaked at 28,000 and is now at maybe 23,000, with only 5,000 people moving away, why would Patterson Lake Beach or bars go from having 200 people at a time, to only having 5 people at a time?

I must have written this phrase twenty times in my previous blog posts, “Once the Oil Boom ended in 2014, the out of state workers returned to the states where they came from.”  5,000 workers returned to the states where they came from.  I now realize, that the out of state workers made Dickinson a much more sociable place than it had been.

Earlier in this blog post, I wrote that I had been convinced that Dickinson would return to a kind of “normalcy” after the Oil Boom was over.  Once Dickinson became quieter and calmer, I thought that local people would emerge from their holes and burrows, but they haven’t really.

I was somewhat mistaken about what was happening during the Oil Boom, and what would happen after the Oil Boom ended, because I was not realizing or recognizing that there was a big difference between the out of state workers and the people who are from Dickinson.

The out of state workers, were risk takers or adventurers, whether they wanted to be or not.  They left behind their families, friends, what they knew, and what they were familiar with, to travel a long distance to go somewhere where they didn’t know anyone, or know about anything.  They had to be outgoing, in order to get a job, find a place to live, find a place to eat, find a bank, get along with people, and keep their job.

The local people in Dickinson, are the opposite of risk takers or adventurers, they chose to stay in the same place all of their life, not ever deal with anything or anyone unfamiliar to them, and not try new things.  (Now that I think about it, if I would have written this paragraph before, this explains why the local people in Dickinson do not like out of state workers:  they don’t like dealing with anything or anyone that is unfamiliar to them, and they don’t like trying new things, new ideas, or change.)

So, as far as 2007 through 2014 actually having been the best of times, the most affluent years, and the most social years for Dickinson, it was because of the Oil Boom economy, and the influx of out of state workers.  The out of state workers had to be outgoing by necessity in order to begin working and living in some place that was completely new and different to them, while at the same time intentionally and unintentionally forcing new ideas, beliefs, ways of doing things, and changes onto the local people, who were reluctant and resistant to try anything new, or change anything.

Now that the Oil Boom is over, and the out of state workers have returned to the states where they came from, the local people in Dickinson can do what they want to do with much less interference or disruption.  And it appears, that what local people in Dickinson want to do, is mostly just stay home.

A second reason for me writing this particular blog post, is to explain why it may be a mistake for Odyssey Theaters or the City of Dickinson to plan on new development in downtown Dickinson, in order to make it a social gathering point.  Odyssey Theaters and the City of Dickinson are just not realizing, that the local people in Dickinson, are not social people, they do not like things that they are unfamiliar with, new ideas, new ways of doing things, or changes.  They would much rather stay home, than be around people that they do not know.

North Dakota Residents Are Too Permissive About Illegal Drug Use

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When I first came to work in Dickinson, North Dakota in 2011, one of the companies that I worked for was very permissive about illegal drug use.  This company, which performed work in the oil field, knowingly hired people with recent criminal, drug possession, and drug dealing charges.

The two owners of this company believed that what people did in their own time, had nothing to do with work, it was none of their business, and it had no effect on their company.  This was far from being true.

About 50% of the current employees of this company were using illegal drugs on a daily basis, and another 40% were drinking heavily on a daily basis.  Every morning, virtually every employee that came to work or had to be picked up, was still impaired from over drinking the night before, drinking before coming to work, illegal drug use from the night before, or illegal drug use before coming to work.

There were usually a few employees who did not make it to work, because they had consumed too much alcohol, or too much drugs.  Some were absent for days at a time.  Some of them would come back weeks or months later, begging for their job back.

Whether it was the employees who drank too much alcohol every day, or used illegal drugs every day, work was not something that needed to get in the way of them being drunk or high.  Why would work be a place where you couldn’t be drunk or high, especially if the owners of the company were tolerant about it?

At this company, work was performed in a haphazard, disorganized, random, inefficient, barely competent, sometimes incompetent, dangerous way, and this company had a reputation for this.  Some local people would never consider working for this company, or hiring this company to perform work, because of its reputation.

So, for people who believe that being an alcoholic or drug addict does not affect work or a company, they are completely wrong.  Employees arriving to work impaired, not showing up that day, not showing up for days or weeks, trying to perform work impaired, completing work that is barely competent or not acceptable, having work site accidents, and gaining a reputation for all of this, is very detrimental and should not be wanted.

Recently and for some time previously, I have seen people try to make the argument,  “If alcohol use is legal, then marijuana use should be legal.  You can’t have alcohol be legal, and not have marijuana be legal.”  Many people think that this is sound logic and reasoning, so let me continue a little bit with this argument, to make it more clear:

“People become impaired by using alcohol, so why can’t they become impaired by using marijuana?”

“People drive impaired after using alcohol, so why can’t they use marijuana?”

“People commit crimes and violence after using alcohol, so why can’t they use marijuana?”

“You can’t say that people don’t get addicted to alcohol, so why can’t they use marijuana?”

When people try to make the argument that alcohol use is legal, so marijuana use should be legal, they inadvertently point out that people using alcohol become impaired, they drive impaired, they commit crimes and violence while impaired, and they become addicted to alcohol.  Why would this then be beneficial to make one more illegal substance now legal?

Also, the people who try to make the argument that alcohol use is legal and accepted, therefore marijuana use should be legal and accepted, how can they not admit that if you use this kind of logic, that once marijuana is legal, then ecstasy MDMA should be legal.  Once marijuana and ecstasy MDMA is legal, shouldn’t cocaine be legal?

The other main argument that people use to try to advocate for any illegal drug being made legal, is by saying that what people do with their own body, is their own business, if it doesn’t effect anyone else, it is their own business.  On the surface, this seems to make sense, but it is easy to point out why this does not make sense.

I will try to give two brief personal stories about marijuana users, before giving two brief stories about methamphetamine users:

While I was living in Arizona, I was roommates with two different people named “Steve”, who were both engineers, a little older than me.  They both smoked marijuana every day.  It was the same thing, they got up at about 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., and smoked marijuana, then 8 a.m., then 11 a.m., then 2 p.m., then 5 p.m., and so on.

Both of these two “Steves” had a degree in engineering, had not worked as an engineer for years, had gone bankrupt, and were very unmotivated.  They were not motivated to get a job, get a good job, meet people, socialize, exercise, have recreation, go anywhere, do anything, or have a girlfriend.  They were irritable, ill-tempered, and paranoid.

Though they were alive, they had departed and withdrawn from life in many important ways:  no job, no career, no friends, no relations with family members, no girlfriend, not going anywhere, not doing anything, neglecting chores and bills, no plans for the future.  How did they support themselves you might ask?  One of them went through all of his 401K, his inheritance from his grandparents, and all of his personal possessions.

So how does this affect other people?  There was a woman who liked me, and I talked her into going on a date with one of these “Steves”, in fact, I had to take them both out to dinner to get them to agree to this.  I tried to tell her about all of Steve’s good qualities and attributes, more than once.  They liked each other, and began dating.  When they broke up, I got them back together again.  They became engaged, then married, then they had two children, a boy and a girl.

But his wife had to separate from him, and take their two children with her, because Steve would not get a job, hold a job, be responsible, and stop smoking marijuana all day, once their two children got older.  He just wanted to sit around smoking pot all day, while his wife worked to support all of them.

My point is, that marijuana is not harmless, it can ruin people’s lives, just like alcoholism can.  But just because alcohol is legal, does not mean that we should make one more harmful drug legal.

The next two stories, are about two young women who I met, who were methamphetamine users, who were both from Idaho:

I was in an Italian restaurant eating, when I saw a very beautiful, thin, tall, Hispanic girl walk in, to pick up a take-out order.  I wanted to be with her, I thought.  By coincidence, not long after that, I was introduced to her, and we began dating.

She was one of the most beautiful women that I have been with, and she had sex with me right away, because she was a meth addict, she didn’t care about anything, and she was high all the time.   She had a very long criminal record, about thirty different charges in the past eight years.

Her three children had been taken away from her, because of her drug use.  She had spent her time and money, buying methamphetamine and getting high, rather than pay rent, buy groceries, feed her children, and take care of her children.  Her mother and stepfather had gained custody of her three children.

She liked me, because I owned a home, and had money.  She liked having sex with me, because she wanted to have another a baby, as her other three children had been taken away from her, this next one wouldn’t be taken away from us.  I was thinking, “Holy shit!  What!  You want to have another baby?  You must be out of your mind.”  Yes, she was out of her mind, she was high all of the time.

Women who are methamphetamine users, don’t see and don’t understand, that you can’t be pregnant while you are using drugs, and the baby develop normally.  They don’t see that a baby and children need constant care and supervision from an adult.  That you have to be present all day to feed them, change them, watch them, and be able to tell if they are sick or not.

My second story, is about a young woman from Idaho, who I saw walking down the street in the neighborhood where I rent an apartment in downtown Dickinson.  She was pretty, and she started talking to me, because I had an Idaho license plate on my vehicle.  I asked her if she wanted to go get something to eat, and she said O.K.

I suspected that she was homeless, and she admitted that she was.  We went through the drive through at Wendy’s, and I talked to her while we were eating.  I asked her if she wanted to go to the women’s homeless shelter, and she said that she did not.  She was scared that the women’s shelter would turn her in to the Police.

I could tell from the way that she was acting, skittish, erratic, and disorganized in her thinking and speaking, that she was a drug addict.  When I dropped her off back where I lived, she immediately went to a drug dealer’s vehicle that was parked about one hundred feet away, to ask if she could get some drugs.

The following day, I called the women’s homeless shelter, and I talked to them about trying to get this girl to them, and they assured me that they would not try to turn her over to the Police.  Later in the day, I found her, and I took her to get something to eat.  I talked to her about going to the women’s shelter, I tried to drop her off there, and I tried to persuade her to go in, but she would not get out of my vehicle.

On the previous day, or the second day when I was talking to her, I learned that she had had a child, but it was taken away from her by her father, and the state of Idaho.  Her father had custody of her young child, and he did not even want her to visit it.  I understood that it was the exact same situation as the Hispanic drug addict girl that I had dated, if you don’t feed your child, care for your child, and watch your child because you are out seeking drugs and getting high, you can’t fulfill your parent obligations.

This young lady that I now had in my vehicle, did not want to get dropped off at the women’s homeless shelter, because she was not done using drugs and getting high.  She asked me if I had any kids, and I said no, I was never in a stable enough place with my work, where I was living, and who I was dating, to have kids, I was scared to have kids.  She replied, “It’s not that big a deal, I had a kid, and everything turned out O.K.”  She couldn’t even comprehend, that her kid had been taken away from her, and was being raised by her father.

These two stories up above about the women methamphetamine users, where their children had been taken away from them by the state of Idaho, and custody awarded to their parents, because they spent all of their time and money trying to buy drugs and get high, and were not home taking care of their children, these two women could not fully comprehend what they had done.

Additionally, the parents of these two women did not even want them coming around.  The stepfather and mother, and the father of the Hispanic girl that I dated, they had “No Trespass” orders or restraining orders against her.  During the first several years of her drug addiction, she would remove property from her parents’ homes in order to have something to sell or barter for drugs:  music CDs, video DVDs, jewelry, tools, anything that was available that she thought wouldn’t be missed right away.  Eventually locking the doors was not enough, as she would just push open a window and climb through, hence the “No Trespass” orders at her parents’ houses.

The four stories up above, I used to explain that drug use is not something that affects just the the user and no one else.  You can’t use the argument, using drugs is my personal choice, that does not affect anyone else, and is no one else’s business.

In North Dakota, there is also the opinion, that drugs are something that young people try, and experiment with, then they grow out of it.  No, this is not the case anymore, the drugs that are available now, cause people to destroy everything in their life long before they are done using drugs.

I Like Emma Gower Too

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About a year ago, Facebook included in my list of “People You May Know”, a young lady named Maddie Gower in Pennsylvania.  I looked at Maddie Gower’s Facebook profile, and she had many very good photographs of herself, where she looked very beautiful.  Eventually, a month or so later, I wrote a blog post about her titled “The Beautiful Photographs Of Madeleine Rose Gower”.

Before I wrote this completely complimentary blog post about Maddie, the first blog post that I wrote about her titled “Maddie Gower And Heather Louise On Facebook”, was a shock to Maddie.  Among other things, she did not like that I pointed out that she had inadvertently disclosed enough personal information, that people could find where she lived.

At the time, friends of Maddie commented on her Facebook page, “Well, at least your sister is safe.”  I was vaguely aware that Maddie had a sister, who was about one year younger than her, named Emma.

To explain a little further, Maddie, her father, her mother Heather, and her younger sister Emma had all moved to Pennsylvania from Australia due to her father’s work, when Maddie and her younger sister Emma were in their early teens.

It appeared that Maddie and her younger sister Emma quickly assimilated into American youth culture, except for one thing.  The two of them could not stop using correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.  This made them even more attractive to me, it showed that they had guts and principles, that they wouldn’t just go along with anything.  I believe that they got this from their mother, Heather.

You should also understand, that Australia was originally a Penal Colony of Great Britain. In the 1800s, in order to colonize, settle, and cultivate Australia, the British government transported 160,000 men and women convicts to Australia.  After serving  some more time of their prison sentence in Australia, they were released to marry and settle the land.  Australia was dry, somewhat desolate, and very hard to farm or ranch.  Therefore, the survivors were tough people, both from having been convicts, and from having been able to make a go of it.

A very odd thing occurred, because of the transportation of a great many people to Australia without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, region, or background, there was a great diversity of people, genetics wise.  Men and women from completely different areas, backgrounds, regions, races, and ethnicities mated, in a way that normally would not have occurred in Europe, and they produced unusually and freakishly beautiful offspring.

Maddie and her sister Emma are unusually beautiful, because of the genetic diversity of their ancestors.  And, they also still have in them some of the defiance, independence, and fight from their ancestors, though it lies mostly under the surface, until you make them angry.

I have waited to write about Emma, though I have been wanting to write about her for over six months.  I believe that Emma takes after her father, and that she wishes to remain more private.  She will only post one picture of herself on Facebook at a time, but one picture of Emma is enough.

Emma is strikingly beautiful.  So beautiful, that I think that she probably has a difficult time in life.  I understand completely why she can only post one photograph of herself at a time on Facebook, she already suffers from too much unwanted attention probably.

Emma is someone, who when arriving somewhere, everyone will have to look, and end up staring too long.  I imagine that she is uncomfortable going to some places, like movie theaters, because there are just too many idle people, who would just stop what they were doing to look at her.

Everything that she does, and everywhere that she goes, she probably has to be very circumspect, to go when there will be the least people.  It is probably tiring, to want to go to a bakery, a coffee shop, or a book store, and have to hurry in, and hurry out, in order to not receive too much unwanted attention.

Emma’s appearance and mood, reminds me of a Siamese cat, with her prominent cheek bones, gaze, inwardness, and solitariness.

I get the strong impression, that Emma always gets just one thing:  one brownie, one book, one bagel, one drink.  And, just one boy.  She will look and look, and wait, and when she sees him, that is the one that she will pick.

My Opinion Of The Stark County North Dakota Sheriff Department

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I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for six years now, and I mostly have complaints.  There is a shortage of women, there is a scarcity of attractive women, the people are unfriendly, co-workers are hostile and undermining, employers and managers hate people with an education, most company managers have criminal records, there is nepotism and discrimination in hiring, most of the bartenders and waitresses at restaurants are drug addicts from Spokane or Seattle, the real estate prices are too high considering that the oil boom is over, and the City of Dickinson Police are over aggressive in following and stopping people.

However, contrary to everything else, I have nothing bad at all to say about the Stark County Sheriff Department.  I wish that the City of Dickinson Police Department, and everything else for that matter, was run like the Stark County Sheriff Department.

I lived outside of Dickinson, in the Stark County Sheriff Department’s jurisdiction for four years, and I was never followed, stopped, or paid any attention to by the Sheriff Deputies.  And, there was absolutely no crime in the neighborhood where I lived.

I will admit, that once you consider anyone who lives outside of the City of Dickinson, their property is worth at least $200,000, and there are no apartments or trailer parks, so the Stark County Sheriff Department Deputies are not dealing with as many drug addict, hoodlum, riff-raff people as the City of Dickinson Police.

However, when driving around outside of the residential neighborhood where I lived for four years, into other areas of Stark County, even though I had an old truck with an out of state license plate, the Stark County Sheriff Deputies still left me alone and they paid no attention to me.

There were about four or five occasions where I had to telephone the Stark County Sheriff Department, several of them I have already written about, where the Stark County Sheriff Deputies were very professional and helpful.  One, when a strange acting young man was hiding in the bushes at Patterson Lake near the newly paved walk path; Two, when a former employee of an oil field service company attempted to “borrow” a trailer at 10:30 p.m.;  Three, Four, and Five when I was looking for my stolen truck, and the thief was hiding in South Heart, Belfield, etcetera.

Now that I think about it, I probably dealt with the Stark County Sheriff Deputies six or seven times.  My impressions was, and is, that the Stark County Sheriff Department was hiring only men over 30, who had prior military service.  The reason why I think this, is because all of the Stark County Sheriff Deputies that I dealt with, were over 30, and they were very confident and calm.

I would describe every interaction with the Stark County Sheriff Deputies as follows:

First, they wanted to get an understanding of what was going on, and they did not have any difficulty understanding what you were telling them, which was a relief, they appeared to be intelligent.  Not only did they understand what you were telling them, at the same time, they understood why you had contacted them about this in the first place, they understood, without even having to ask.

Second, they would ask for additional information or details, which didn’t take long, because they knew right away what else they wanted to know.  Third, they would let you know what they were going to do.  Fourth, they would go and do what they said they were going to do.

The Stark County Sheriff Deputies always appeared to be very professional, experienced, intelligent, competent, and confident.  They all appeared to be ex-military.

I have met and talked to former Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy several times, and I have heard about different controversies surrounding Sheriff Tuhy.  Probably the most well known controversy, was when a group of Sheriff Deputies filed a complaint against Sheriff Tuhy for being verbally abusive.  In the end, the state of North Dakota exonerated Sheriff Tuhy in regard to this complaint.

My opinion is, that even if Sheriff Tuhy was mean to the Stark County Sheriff Deputies at the time, this is was part of the origin of a good, professional Sheriff Department.  Those who might have experienced verbal abuse in the department might strongly disagree with me, but I suspect, even though this type of behavior is not permitted, it was meant to motivate people to be serious, competent, alert, and that their best effort was expected of them.

Regarding the current Stark County Sheriff,  Terry Oestreich, one of the candidates in the upcoming Sheriff election stated to a reporter, that there was something like an 80% turn over in Stark County Sheriff Deputies in something like an 18 month period.  I didn’t like hearing this, because I thought that from what I saw, and the Sheriff Deputies that I had met, that everything was very well run within the Stark County Sheriff Department.

If you stop and think about it, why wouldn’t the Stark County Sheriff Deputies leave Dickinson?  There is a shortage of women, a scarcity of attractive women, the bartender women and waitresses are drug addicts, prostitution is not allowed, there is no where to go, nothing to do, real estate prices are way too high, and the City of Dickinson Police follow everyone and try to stop them.  Why would the Sheriff Deputies want to live in Dickinson?  Why wouldn’t they move away?  They are intelligent, competent, and confident, they could get a job anywhere, they don’t have to stay here.

If Sheriff candidate Sergeant Corey Lee of the Dickinson Police Department does become elected as Sheriff, I hope that he continues the exact same hiring practices, practices, and procedures as Sheriff Terry Oestreich.  In other words, don’t mess this up, and don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken.

Brief Delay In Obama Transforming The United States

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During the second term of President Barack Obama, I thought that it was possible that there would be a civil war or widespread rioting within the United States.  The causes could have been an economic collapse, where a large percentage of the population could not afford to pay for housing, food, and necessities.

I was not alone in recognizing the potential for a civil war or rioting within the United States at that particular time.  There are studies and research results that are publicized every few months, that show up to 50% of Americans live pay check to pay check, meaning they have absolutely no savings or very little savings in the bank to use in case of an emergency.

Many people in the United States get by when they lose their job or have an unexpected emergency, by staying with friends or family members, or by receiving some kind of help or assistance from friends or family members.  But what would happen if 20% of the pay check to pay check people suddenly and unexpectedly lost their employment at the same time?

The answer is, they would go to WalMart or another grocery store, fill up a shopping cart with food and necessities, and then head for the exit.  If a 150 lb retail worker who gets paid $12 per hour tried to stop them, the retail worker would be informed that they were going to get beat to death if they tried to stop them.  Yes, there would be some shoving, and arguing, and during this ruckus, about four or five other families would be headed out of the exits without paying, because they had no money.

If you stop and think about it, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, even if you are not a criminal, but you have absolutely no money left, you live in a city, and you, your wife, and your children are very hungry, you would probably try to get what you needed from the grocery store, somehow.  This might involve breaking the store windows at night when the store is closed, and quickly trying to gather and run away with as much as you could carry in a duffel bag.  Or it might involve breaking into or hijacking a food delivery truck.

In every city, there would be hundreds or thousands of residents thinking the same thing.  Leaving a grocery store without paying, smashing the store windows at night and taking as much as they could carry, or hijacking food delivery trucks.  Soon, the stores’ shelves would be empty, both from being looted at night, and from food delivery trucks no longer arriving.  There would be no point re-stocking store shelves, or having delivery trucks sent, if everything was just going to get stolen.

As a brief aside, this is what the “Preppers” were predicting would or could happen.  So for one thing, the Preppers sought to have enough food, water, medicine, and other necessities to sustain their families during a period of time in which they would be unable to obtain these things from grocery stores.  Secondly, Preppers could foresee that people from the cities would flee the cities, and end up in the suburbs, trying to take whatever they could find or steal in order to survive.  So Preppers realized that they needed to arm themselves also, in order to be able to keep their own supplies that they had purchased ahead of time for their family.

The U.S. Government’s reaction or solution to widespread looting or rioting in the cities, would be to declare Martial Law or a National Emergency.  When Martial Law is declared to be in effect, normal Civil Rights, and Constitutional Rights, are suspended, such as Due Process of Law, Right To An Attorney, Right To Travel Freely, or protection from Unlawful Search And Seizure.

During Martial Law, you could expect to have to stop at check points, have your person or vehicle searched, and be forced remain inside during curfew hours.

During a National Emergency, if you look up and read the laws and Executive Orders that have been signed, a number of new rules take effect such as:  All means of transportation whether public or private, such as vehicles, boats, planes, and trains, can be seized and controlled by the government;  All food production and food stores whether public or private, such as farms, ranches, livestock, crops, fisheries, and other can be seized and controlled by the government;  All energy sources and energy stores whether public or private, such as mines, coal, oil wells, natural gas, refineries, or fuel tanks can be seized and controlled by the government.

For the Preppers who have read the laws and Executive Orders that come into effect once a National Emergency has been declared, this is very troubling to them, because all of the food, water, fuel, and equipment that they have collected for their family, can be seized by the government, and redistributed to other people.

If you choose to continue to look into the laws that have been passed and the Executive Orders that have been signed regarding the declaration of a National Emergency, the U.S. can request United Nations forces to take control of certain areas.

So, for the Preppers, Militia, Red Necks, Hillbillies, Oath Keepers, Promise Keepers, Evangelical Christians, and Anti-Big Government people, they have long had the suspicion and nightmare that one day things would get so out of hand in the cities, with rioting and looting, that this would initiate the declaration of Martial Law, a National Emergency, which would result in the arrival of United Nations troops ordering them out of their own homes, farms, and ranches in order to seize and redistribute their property.

There are more laws that cover the evacuation, relocation, and assignment of civilians to work details as seen fit by whoever is enforcing Martial Law in your area, whether U.S. or U.N. forces.

As far as the intellectual and ruling elite are concerned, whether it is Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, or George Bush, it is inevitable that there will be a necessity for a One World Government, where all of the resources on Earth can be accounted for, managed, controlled, and distributed more effectively.

The intellectual and ruling elite have already considered such questions as:  Is it beneficial for one individual to own and control 2,000 to 50,000 acres of land in Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, or North Dakota, the wildlife, the timber, water, oil, minerals, solar and wind energy potential?  Does an individual have the right to own natural resources such as wildlife, timber, water, oil, minerals, solar and wind energy potential?  Don’t these natural resources belong to everyone?  Shouldn’t they be more equitably and responsibly managed by the government?

The intellectual and ruling elite have also considered what is wrong with you people.  Why are you so greedy, why are you so combative, why are you so ignorant, why are you so resistant to change, why are you so resistant to progress?  Is it because of the strange family values that you were brought up with?  Is it because of the religion that you were brought up in?

Once you understand that men can be women, women can be men, men can have sex with men, women can have sex with women, men asking women for sex is illegal, white people are bad, black people are good, black people have been disadvantaged, Hispanic people have been disadvantaged, Asian people have been overadvantaged, women are victims, women are weaker, women are superior, the government will provide for you, do not resist the government, then the world will be a much better place because you will all be so much more manageable.

Banks Don’t Want To Lend, Or Own Property In Dickinson, And It Is Causing Real Estate Prices To Fall

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Banks in Dickinson, North Dakota do not want to loan money on property, and end up owning property in Dickinson, and it is causing real estate prices to fall.  No matter what people in Dickinson say or think about the economy in Dickinson remaining steady or improving, the Banks think the opposite, as demonstrated by their current lending practices.

The Banks don’t want to loan money on property in Dickinson because of the following doubts about Dickinson:

  • The Banks believe that real estate prices in Dickinson will continue to fall.
  • The Banks do not want to have loans on properties that are depreciating, which people would walk away from when they owe the Bank more money than their home is worth.
  • The Banks believe that the economy in Dickinson will continue to decline, with fewer jobs, lay-offs, businesses closing, and wage rates continually decreasing.
  • The Banks do not want to loan money based on people’s income history in Dickinson, because they believe that many people will lose their job, be unable to find another job, and their wage rates will continually decrease.
  • The Banks believe that people in Dickinson will default on their home loans, because they will get laid-off, be unable to find another job, their wage rates will drop, or they will find out that they owe more money on their home than it is worth as its value depreciates.
  • The Banks believe that they will likely end up owning many properties in Dickinson because of people defaulting on their mortgages.  The Banks believe that these properties will be depreciating in value greatly, they will be unable to find qualified replacement buyers, and the Bank will be responsible for paying insurance and high property taxes on these properties for many years.

In order to not have problems, the Banks are trying to not lend money on houses in Dickinson, because they don’t want to end up owning many, many houses in Dickinson.

The Banks don’t care, that the depreciation of home values that they are so worried about, they are perhaps the primary cause of this right now.

I will give two quick examples of home buyers who were willing to pay the seller’s asking price, but the Banks would not loan money to any of the buyers, so the home price dropped 10% to 20% in less than one year.

A friend of mine who has lived in Dickinson for 35 years, currently owns a home with $20,000 remaining on his mortgage.  I believe his current mortgage payments are $300 per month or less.  He is single, and a couple of years ago he no longer had to make child support payments of $700 per month or more on his two children, as they are now grown.  He has worked at the same company for over eight years, and his take home pay after all taxes is at least $3,000 per month. He owns several vehicles, which are paid for.

He agreed to purchase a neighboring house for $134,000, which was less than the current appraised value.  He thought that he would have no problem getting a mortgage for this house, based on his income, his employment history, his large equity in his current home, and having no car payments, credit card debt, or other debt.  But the Banks in Dickinson denied him a home loan.

If you use an on-line mortgage payment calculator, the mortgage payment for the $134,000 house would be less than $900 per month, plus his current mortgage payment is $300 per month.  For a single male with $3,000 per month income after all taxes, with no other debts, why couldn’t he afford $1,200 per month total for home payments?

The Banks did not want to make a home loan to him with payments of less than $900 per month, but for twelve years on his income he had paid nearly this much every month in child support.

Within less than one year, the seller’s asking price for this home that he agreed to buy for $134,000 had dropped to $120,000.

This second story is about my experience.  I own a home in Idaho which is paid for, but I have been working in Dickinson for almost six years.  For about three years, I was a roommate of a home owner in Dickinson, where I paid about $480 per month.  Once the Oil Boom ended, and so many out of state workers returned to where they came from, apartment rents in Dickinson decreased greatly, and I rented an apartment for less than $400 per month.  However, I wanted to get out of this apartment, because I had some bad neighbors.  I saw a very inexpensive manufactured home for sale in Belfield, on its owned land, so this was something that I was interested in buying:

A trucking company in Idaho, that was doing business in North Dakota, wanted to buy housing for three of its truck drivers, so this trucking company purchased a 3-bedroom single-wide manufactured home in Belfield on its owned triple lot, for nearly $50,000 in about 2014.  This trucking company completely furnished this manufactured home with everything from furniture, to appliances, beds, bed linens, cookware, and utensils.

This trucking company in Idaho, no longer does business in North Dakota, so they wanted to get rid of this manufactured home, just like it is, with all of the furnishings.  Six months ago, they were asking $25,000.  I went and looked at it, and it was fine with me.  The property taxes were only about $100 per year.  The mortgage payments, would be much less than I had been paying in rent for the past six years in Dickinson.

I went to or spoke to four or five Banks in Dickinson, and they each had their own excuse for not wanting to lend any money for this manufactured home, such as “We have been instructed to not lend money on any manufactured home whatsoever, no matter how new it is, or how much land is involved.” or “We can not lend money because the land is zoned commercial.”

I thought that this was ridiculous, I have very good credit, this was less money than a new vehicle costs, and the Bank could place a lien against my paid for home in Idaho if they ever needed to collect their money.  I was seriously considering putting this home purchase on my credit card, which has a credit limit of $35,000.

Many other people looked at this manufactured home in Belfield, and tried to buy it, but none of them could get a loan from a Bank.  A few days ago, the real estate agent sent me a text message, stating that the seller’s asking price is now down to $20,000.  This is a 20% price drop in six months.  I would have been happy to pay $25,000 with a home loan from a Bank.

I know one other person in Dickinson now, whose take home pay after taxes is at least $3,000 per month.  He is single, in his forties, and he has been employed with the same company for several years.  He recently applied for a home loan with a Bank in Dickinson, for a home owned by a relative of his who is willing to sell it to him for less than $200,000, even though the appraised value would be closer to $250,000.

This Bank informed him that they would approve him for a mortgage of up to $70,000.  Which means they don’t trust him to be able to make monthly payments of more than $400 per month.  If a single person’s take home pay after taxes is $3,000 per month, why wouldn’t this person be able to afford mortgage payments closer to $1,000 per month, and a mortgage of up to $180,000?

What I am explaining, is that Banks in Dickinson right now are being very restrictive on home loans, because for one thing, they expect home values to decrease.  The funny thing is, these Banks’ lending policies are the primary cause right now for why home values are decreasing.  They won’t loan money even when buyers are willing to pay the sellers’ asking prices.

The Best Seven Years For Dickinson, North Dakota

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In 1996 I moved to Tampa to work for a company as an engineer.  I rented an apartment on Lake Magdelene in north Tampa.  Up until the 1950s, most of north Tampa was hundreds and hundreds of acres of orange groves.  As Tampa grew continually, it pushed northward into these orange groves.

This area of Tampa was very beautiful, or it had been.  There were probably nearly one hundred small lakes, ranging in size from fifty feet across, to Lake Magdelene which was about one mile in length.  Besides citrus trees like orange, tangerine, kumquat, lime, and grapefruit trees; banana trees, palm trees, oak trees, oleanders, dense hedges, ornamental plants, ferns, and flowers filled these middle class and upper middle class neighborhoods.

By the time that I moved to Tampa in 1996, Hillsborough County had grown to nearly one million people.  At this moment in time, the character of Tampa was about to change significantly.  The area north of Tampa, the orange groves and small lakes, was almost completely developed.  These very traditional, beautiful, comfortable suburban neighborhoods that had been built from the 1960s through the 1990s were done.

An unbelievable and unprecedented amount of new development began in what was called “New Tampa”, to the north west, on the west side of Interstate 75.  On the west side of Interstate 75, there were thousands of acres of cattle pasture and swamp land, this became “New Tampa”.

Every housing development in New Tampa was a “gated community”.  You exited Interstate 75 onto Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, and drove west until you reached the entrance to the gated community in which you lived, turned in, and drove through the entrance past the guard house and gate.  This entrance was the only way in, and the only way out.  Each gated community was surrounded by a combination of walls, earth berms, and tall hedges.

Besides being protected behind the walls, earth berms, and gates, or you could look at it as being a prisoner, which was often the case when you tried to leave in the morning during rush hour, these gated communities featured “McMansion” architecture.  “McMansion” architecture is where cheap construction methods and cheap materials are used to create intentionally tall entry ways and high roof peaks, to make a home look enormous and expensive.

I believed that I had arrived in Tampa about twenty years too late.  On weekends when I was living on Lake Magdalene, I would ride my bicycle through these beautiful thirty year old neighborhoods, with quiet tree lined streets, natural lakes in the backyards, community tennis courts, and small orange groves here and there.

In these thirty year old neighborhoods, everyone knew everyone on that street, and the next streets over.  Husbands and wives bought one of these houses when they were in their thirties, and stayed there even after their kids moved out, they retired, and became old.

Some of these houses were large five bedroom, three bathroom houses, but most of these houses were modest and unpretentious.  Due to the economy and nature of Tampa, with large corporations, an international airport, McDill AFB, international sea port, and professional sports teams, neighbors would have been doctors, lawyers, engineers, airline pilots, military officers, ship captains, or professional athletes.

For adults in these neighborhoods, especially the wives, it would have been very enjoyable to be able to socialize with so many other adults with similar education, professional level, income level, interests, and values.  Parents in these neighborhoods did not have to worry very much about where their kids were, because all of the parents watched all of these kids.

After school, and in the summer, the kids in these neighborhoods, could have gone swimming, fishing, canoeing, water skiing, sailing, or played tennis.  I don’t think there would be any question that each of these kids was expecting and planning on going to college, because that is what all of the other kids did, and that is what everyone’s parents had done.  There would not have been aimless, depressed, self-destructive, drug addict, hoodlum kids around.

So I would have liked to have been either a kid or an adult living in one of these middle class neighborhoods in north Tampa from 1960 to 1990.  I think that I would have been happier as a kid or an adult living among peers with the same interests, values, beliefs, and goals, in this warm, safe, beautiful environment, doing things that I like to do.  But after 1990, no way, Tampa became too huge and overwhelming.

I want to point out, that these middle class adults who lived in Tampa from 1960 through 1990, with their education, professionalism, values, beliefs, interests, and goals, they caused Tampa to thrive, and double in size.  Though these adults created and loved their quiet, peaceful, happy, suburban neighborhoods on the north side of Tampa, the growth that they caused, changed the character of Tampa, to something that they would not have liked, the “gated communities” with the “McMansions”.  However, they would have acknowledged there was no way to be able to stop this, it was inevitable.

I also want to point out, that the kids who grew up in these beautiful, safe, fun, middle class neighborhoods on the north side of Tampa, where everyone’s parents went to college, and everyone was going to go to college, that these kids were so solidly grounded, that I think that they could do O.K. living anywhere.  What I mean is, I think these kids all turned out so well due to the constant positive influence of their peers and the other parents, that I think these kids as adults could cope with living in an unpleasant city or urban area.  ( I base this belief on my experiences attending the University of Florida on a campus with what was then 35,000 students, where some students thrived and some students could not cope, not because of intelligence level, but because of their backgrounds.)

When I was living in Flagstaff, Arizona, which I loved, I also felt that I arrived there twenty to thirty years too late.  To save time, I could say that everything about Flagstaff was wonderful.  However, beginning in about year 2000, real estate prices began to skyrocket.  And from what I have been told, growth has just continued non-stop to this day, making not just the price of real estate a problem, but now over development is a problem too.

The best, most enjoyable years to live in Flagstaff, were probably the 1960s through the 1990s.  The town, the forests, the mountains, the beauty, the lifestyle, the people, the weather were all so enjoyable, that this is what led to real estate skyrocketing, and the over development.  It was just inevitable.

Finally, getting to what this blog post was supposed to be about, “The Best Seven Years For Dickinson, North Dakota.”  From 2007 through 2014, there was an Oil Boom in Dickinson, North Dakota.  Though there was an “Exploration Boom” in North Dakota in the 1950s, and there was a “Gas Price Oil Boom” in North Dakota in the 1970s, this most recent oil boom has had the most significant and greatest impact on Dickinson.

How can I say that 2007 through 2014 was “The Best Seven Years For Dickinson” ?  To begin, prior to 2007, the average hourly wage in Dickinson was probably about $8 per hour, with no opportunity to work overtime.  There were very few job openings, and very few opportunities to get a higher paying job.  There was no way for most Dickinson residents to get ahead financially.  It would have been difficult for most Dickinson residents to even be able to save enough money to get out of Dickinson and try to move some place else.

In addition to there being mostly only low paying jobs, with very few opportunities to get a higher paying job, everything in Dickinson was controlled.  The wealthy families in Dickinson, and the influential families in Dickinson, controlled who got hired, who got fired, who got a promotion, who got demoted, who got recognition, who got blame, who got arrested, who was not prosecuted, who got a home loan, who got a car loan, who was evicted, and so forth.

When the Oil Boom began in 2007, it was almost like the Dickinson residents were released from bondage.  There was such a demand for workers in the oil field, that any able bodied person in Dickinson could get a job immediately for at least $16 per hour, which is about twice the average hourly pay of $8 per hour, plus, they might be allowed to work as much as 40 hours of overtime each week.

Some Dickinson residents, who were in their forties, who had always been kept down in Dickinson, always receiving low pay, never getting a promotion, never being able to get a better job, never being able to get a home loan, all of a sudden went from making $320 per week, to making $2,000 per week.  And for once, there was no wealthy or influential family in Dickinson who could stop them.

When the Oil Boom began, a graduating high school student who would not have been able to find a job in Dickinson, could now get a job earning as much as $1,400 per week working in the oil field.  A graduating high school student who would have had no car, and had to live with his parents, could now get a job working in the oil field, buy a very nice truck, and rent their own apartment.

Once the Oil Boom began in Dickinson, young couples were each able to obtain good employment, get married, and buy their own home.  Older couples were each able to obtain good employment, pay off their credit card debt, pay off their car loans, and pay off their home loans.

Due to families in Dickinson owning farms, or having retained mineral rights, oil well lease signing checks and revenue checks, began earning many families in Dickinson thousands or tens of thousands of dollars each month.  Farmers purchased completely new farm equipment, trucks, and travel trailers.  Some families dispersed this monthly oil revenue money to their children and grandchildren.  Many family members in Dickinson receiving oil revenue money purchased new vehicles, motorcycles, travel trailers, did home remodels, or paid for their kids to go to college.

Due to the amount of oil field work in and around Dickinson, many new large warehouse buildings were built, new office buildings were built, new restaurants were built, a new shopping center was built.  About five new hotels and fifteen new apartment buildings were built.  Local land owners, real estate agents, and construction companies made money on these new building projects.  Some local residents started and grew their own oil field service companies and construction companies.

During this Oil Boom, the City of Dickinson was able to build one of the nicest recreation centers in the World.  It has two indoor swimming pools, one outdoor swimming pool, skateboard park, ice skating rink, two indoor tennis courts, three indoor racketball courts, four indoor basketball courts, one volleyball court, indoor golf simulator, rock climbing wall, indoor track, cardiovascular equipment area, weight lifting gym, aerobics studios, and child day care.

The City of Dickinson was able to build a new Police Department, have a new water tower, pave many roads, widen roads, add stop lights, build a new school, and have a new County Fairground.

Would I have wanted to be in Dickinson from 2007 through 2014?  Yes, I would have, especially if I would have been a resident of Dickinson.  I was in Dickinson on and off from 2011 until now in 2018.

Unlike my story about getting to Tampa too late, where Tampa kept growing and growing, or my story about getting to Flagstaff too late where Flagstaff kept growing and growing, I got to Dickinson too late, because Dickinson is contracting.

In my stories about Tampa and Flagstaff, conditions in these towns were so good, that it was inevitable that they would grow.  In Dickinson, conditions are so bad, that it is seems inevitable that Dickinson will decline.

One of the reasons why I am writing this particular blog post, and the way that I am writing it, is because the people in Dickinson do not know that 2007 to 2014 will likely be the best years that Dickinson has ever had, or will have.  I began with the two stories about Tampa and Flagstaff, to explain the inevitability of places changing, even if you do not want them to go in the direction that they are going in.

In the case of Tampa, there was so much continued growth because of the regional economy, low cost of living, good climate, recreation, entertainment, night life, fine dining, shopping, professional football, professional baseball, professional hockey, international airport, international sea port, U.S. Central Command McDill AFB, and the University of South Florida.

In Flagstaff, the continued growth had nothing to do with the regional economy or cost of living, neither of which are very good, it was the beauty of the town, the Coconino National Forest, the snow skiing, trail hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, the clear blue skies during the winter, the nightlife, friendly downtown, diverse and well educated population, low crime and no riff-raff hoodlums.

In Dickinson, after the Oil Boom ended in 2015, many of the oil field jobs went away, many oil field workers returned to the states where they came from, and subsequently other jobs went away in other areas of the economy.  The amount of oil field jobs continue to decrease, as do other jobs in other areas of the economy in Dickinson.  As there are fewer jobs in Dickinson, and a greater supply of workers than demand for workers, we are seeing the wage rates steadily decrease in Dickinson.

As there are fewer oil field jobs, fewer jobs in other areas, and wage rates are decreasing, the old practices of nepotism, favoritism, discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion in hiring, promotion, lay offs, and home lending are beginning to emerge again in Dickinson.

The people in Dickinson are unfriendly, the Police in Dickinson are encouraging people to leave Dickinson, the Police in Dickinson are discouraging people from going out at night, the restaurants are not very good, the restaurant servers are not very nice, there is shortage of women, there is scarcity of attractive women, the real estate prices are high, the real estate prices are likely to fall, there is too much crime in Dickinson, little entertainment, few recreation activities, and it is cold and grey for about seven months of the year in Dickinson.

The population of Dickinson is decreasing, Dickinson is contracting, and this is just going to continue.  The people in Dickinson refuse to see this or acknowledge this.  Some people believe the Oil Boom will come back.

In order for Dickinson to not contract, Dickinson would have to be a place where people would want to move, and stay.  Here are some changes that would be needed:

  • The Police in Dickinson need to find a way to stop the crime and drug dealing in Dickinson, without following, surveilling, and stopping non-criminal, law abiding people.
  • The Police in Dickinson need to find a way to allow adults to go out to restaurants and sports bars at night to socialize, without following, surveilling, and stopping them on their way home.
  • The people in Dickinson need to stop being mean and nasty to other people in general, and to cease nepotism, favoritism, prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion in hiring, firing, promotion, and bank lending.
  • The people in Dickinson need to stop being out-of-their minds as far as real estate prices in Dickinson.
  • The banks in Dickinson need to grant home loans to people who demonstrate that they can make the mortgage payments.
  • The restaurants in Dickinson need to stop using jaded, rough, mean drug addict women as servers, especially the ones from Spokane, Seattle, and Coeur D’Alene.
  • Dickinson needs to be a city that promotes health, such as hygiene, exercise, and fitness, and discourages smoking, tobacco, illegal drugs, over use of alcohol, and over eating.
  • Dickinson needs to be a city that promotes education, awareness, and spirituality, and discourages ignorance, hate, and Catholicism.
  • Dickinson needs to be a city that encourages women to be beautiful and friendly, and discourages women from being ugly, glaring, and scowling.
  • Dickinson might need to have a strip bar, just so men can see what women are supposed to look like, maybe they have never seen one, or they have forgotten what they look like.
  • Dickinson needs to have a good Italian restaurant.

I Wouldn’t Go Out In Dickinson On A Dare, Or If You Paid Me

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I wouldn’t go out in Dickinson, North Dakota at night, on a dare, or if you paid me.  My experiences living in Dickinson for nearly six years have taught me that you do not go out at night in Dickinson.

I have had so many bad experiences going out in Dickinson at night, even just to get something to eat, go to the grocery store or WalMart, that I know not to do it.  From what I see, 95% of everyone else in Dickinson feels the same way, they won’t go out at night in Dickinson.

The number one reason or cause for people not wanting to go out at night in Dickinson, is the City of Dickinson Police.  The City of Dickinson Police have been so aggressive in scrutinizing, surveilling, stalking, following, tail gaiting, stopping, and questioning people at night in Dickinson, even when they are just going to the grocery store or WalMart, that people don’t even want to leave their homes at night.

If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about?  No, that’s not how it works.  The City of Dickinson Police want to find something to charge you with, so they will ask you questions about what you are doing, where you are going, have you had any alcohol to drink, do you have any weapons in your vehicle, and more.  You are going to have to explain yourself to their satisfaction, while they try to find something wrong with your driver’s license, registration, proof of insurance, vehicle, vehicle contents, your activities, your attitude, and other things.

The City of Dickinson Police have gotten people so conditioned to being scrutinized, followed, and stopped at night, that fewer, and fewer, and fewer people go out at night, to the point that Villard Street, the main thoroughfare through town, is just about completely vacant.

Because the streets in Dickinson are so completely vacant at night, when a vehicle does enter a street at night, the Dickinson Police automatically assume that this person must be a law-breaker and up to no good, because no one is supposed to be out at night, no one is allowed out at night.

The second most common reason why people do not go out in Dickinson at night, is why would you?  If you went to the drive through of Arby’s, Wendy’s, or Taco Bell in Dickinson, the food and the service that you get, would be equal to what you would find anywhere else in the United States.  And this is about as good as it gets for dining in Dickinson.  For something better than fast food, you could order take-out from Upin Thai.

But going inside a fast food restaurant in Dickinson at night, or any restaurant in Dickinson at night, you are most likely going to find blue collar male workers from the oil field or construction.  If you have worked in Dickinson for two years, three years, six years, all day, every day with blue collar male workers, do you want to spend any more time with them?

I will say, that at the fast food restaurants in Dickinson, there are some young girls who work there, who are nice, cute, attractive, silly, funny, and entertaining, but you can’t or shouldn’t bother them too much while they are working.

If you go to a sit down restaurant in Dickinson with waitresses, if you are a normal adult who has lived in Dickinson for a few years, you know from experience that these waitresses are from Coeur D’Alene, Seattle, or Spokane.  They and their boyfriend were drug addicts who could not get a job or keep a job where they were living, so they came to Dickinson.  They are shitty, callous, jaded human beings, who just want to get high on meth or heroin.  Knowing this, would you want to go out to eat at restaurant in Dickinson, or would you rather stay home?