Tag Archives: guide to Dickinson North Dakota

Drug Dealing And Crime At My Apartment Building In Downtown Dickinson Almost Causing Me To Move

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

About one year ago, I moved into an older apartment building in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota.  For 3-1/2 years prior to this, while I was working in Dickinson, I paid rent to a homeowner on the north side of Dickinson to stay in his 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home.  For the past eight years, I have owned a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in Idaho, where I have spent very little time due to working in North Dakota, Utah, and Texas.

The 3br/2ba home on the north side of Dickinson where I lived for 3-1/2 years, was very similar to living in my 3br/2ba home in Idaho.  All of the neighbors in the rural area on the north side of Dickinson believed, and behaved the same way.

All of the neighbors in the rural area on the north side of Dickinson had extra trucks, trailers, equipment, motorcycles, four wheelers, boats, and garages where they worked on all of the things that they owned.  They took care of their property, were quiet, didn’t play loud music, didn’t drive recklessly or carelessly, and stayed on their own property.

All of the neighbors in the rural area quickly spotted any vehicle that was unfamiliar to them, and watched the vehicle to see where it was going and what they were going to do.  Most of the neighbors had a couple of outdoor dogs, that would start barking whenever someone unfamiliar was anywhere near their yard or the neighbor’s yard, which caused people to look outside or come outside to see what the dogs were barking at.

In the 3-1/2 years of living in the rural area on the north side of Dickinson, no one had any theft or trespassers.  We had a medium sized bird dog that was very alert, and every neighbor surrounding us had medium sized to large outdoor hunting dogs that guarded the houses.  One of the neighbors had huskies and malamutes that never came inside.

Due to the home owner where I was staying being older and having health problems, which caused among other things, him to come into the living room and turn on the television and make a lot of noise during the late night and early a.m. hours, which woke me up and prevented me from falling back to sleep, I wanted to go and live some place else.  The oil boom was over in North Dakota by the end of 2015, and rents all throughout Dickinson had decreased through 2016 and 2017.

I did not want to spend very much money for rent in Dickinson.  I was just here to work, to try to make as much money as possible, to try to save as much money as possible, to try to spend as little as possible, so that one day I could return to my home in Idaho, and resume a normal life.

Just as an aside, to answer the question, What do I mean by resuming a normal life?  For instance, in the area of Idaho where I had lived, there was an equal number of men and women.  Perhaps even a slightly higher number of women.  It was common for women in Idaho to want to make a good impression, to try to have a nice appearance, to be polite, and to try to be friendly and helpful.  Why?  Because they wanted to make friends, make acquaintances, have the chance for more opportunities, to advance professionally, to be asked out on dates, or to be invited to go places.

But let me get back to Dickinson.  In the Spring of 2017, I sought to find an inexpensive apartment in Dickinson.  The older apartment buildings downtown, had significantly lower rent than the newly constructed apartment buildings on the outer perimeter of Dickinson.  At one of the older apartment buildings downtown, which was probably at 50% occupancy, the apartment manager gave me a very good deal on a two bedroom apartment, because I had very good credit, two jobs, had already been working in Dickinson for four years, and I did not have any criminal record.

I liked the 2 bedroom apartment very much, it had a nice view, and it did not cost very much.  I was glad to have privacy, and quiet at night when I was sleeping, which I had not had while I was living with a homeowner on the north side of Dickinson.  I also liked the convenience of living downtown, it was a shorter drive to places like the grocery store.

Within a couple of months of moving into an apartment in downtown Dickinson, several bad things began happening at about the same time.  In order to not be a jerk, or start any problems with my apartment neighbors, I did not want to take any person’s parking space.  So I parked my vehicles on the street.  I had to look all over town, but I found a business owner who was willing to rent to me a spot to park one of my trucks, about four blocks away from where I lived downtown.

When I had traveled all over the United States for work, to Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Texas, and North Dakota, I kept a large locked trunk, chained and locked to the back seat frame, inside of my truck.  In this trunk, I kept my birth certificate, social security card, $500 emergency money, and a large 11″x17″ portfolio binder showing years and years of my engineering work.  After 15 years of travelling like this, working in places like Pueblo, Phoenix, Laredo, and Fort Worth, I thought that this locked and chained down trunk inside of my locked truck was safe enough in Dickinson.

I was wrong.  My entire truck was stolen in downtown Dickinson.  I handed out flyers all over southwest North Dakota, and after a week, different people telephoned me to tell me who had my stolen truck.  I was able to contact associates and relatives of the person who stole my truck, who was already wanted by the Police in Dickinson for his seventh and eighth felonies.  Due to pressure from friends, relatives, and the Police, my truck was left abandoned beside Hwy 85.

Missing from my stolen truck was about $1,500 to $2,000 in tools and equipment.  The electric trailer brake controller, radar detector, two spare truck tires, spare trailer tire, truck bed tool box, floor jack, air tank, tool sets, carrier rack, and the four good tires that were on it, had all been removed and sold.  The $500 cash went in his pocket, and my birth certificate, social security card, portfolio of work, business cards, owners manual with service history and receipts, all went in the garbage somewhere, probably.

At about the same time that my truck was stolen in downtown Dickinson, I was having problems at my apartment building in downtown Dickinson.  The source of many of these problems, were two apartments in my building where drugs were being used and sold.

Shortly after moving into this building, several residents and myself, witnessed the Police trying to escort a resident from one of the drug apartments to their Police car.  This young lady repeatedly tried to injure herself by intentionally banging her head against the brick walls, doors, Police car, and inside the Police car.  She was obviously out of her mind on drugs.

At all hours of the day and night, people would come and go from these two drug apartments in the downtown apartment building where I lived.  Or, sometimes people would stay and get high, then sit or wander in the apartment building common areas in a zombie like stupor.

After I had lived in this downtown apartment building for about six weeks, I telephoned the apartment building management, and I told them that they had a drug problem in this building.  People coming and going from two apartments throughout the day and night, people sitting in a stupor on balconies, walking the hallway stoned in the early a.m. hours.  The building management asked me to specify which two apartments.  When I was reluctant to do so, the building management asked if it was apartment xx and xx, and I said yes, exactly.  Since other residents of the building had already complained and had identified the two apartments, I gave some additional information.

It turned out, that the main drug dealing apartment was not even supposed to be occupied by the people who were living there.  A mother of an adult son, she had rented the apartment, then she went off to live someplace else, and she left her adult son in the apartment.  This adult son who did not have a job, he invited other people who did not have jobs, to come and stay with him at the apartment where he wasn’t even on the lease.  This group of unemployed people, none of them were on the apartment lease, bought and sold drugs all day, and used drugs all day.

The apartment building managers and the Police, made an attempt to clear the apartment building of all drug activity, which helped some, but there was a recurrence of problems.  This sector of downtown Dickinson, had more than several drug houses and drug apartments.  People would continue to come to this apartment building, or wander around this immediate area, seeking drugs.  People who were not in their right minds, would either come straight to this building or eventually wander over to this building, and they would try to hang out here, hoping or thinking that a drug dealer or someone with drugs would turn up any minute, because they had got drugs here in the past.

This led to things like me finding someone who was not a resident of the building, almost completely passed out and unable to move, laying in the stairwell of this building at 3:00 a.m.  Finding someone who was not a resident of the building, sitting in their car hiding behind the garages, acting out of their mind on drugs.  Finding someone who was not a resident of the building, shuffling around and acting crazy in the parking lot around the vehicles at 2:00 a.m.  And the combination of people who do not live here loitering or wandering through the property 24 hours per day, while at the same time residents find that someone has removed property from their car or tampered with their car.

In this past month, I found a couple of 20-23 year olds that didn’t belong in my neighbor’s backyard where he keeps his equipment, motorcycles, and four wheelers; a non-resident with a station wagon filled with garbage bags trying to fill up our one apartment building garbage container; a couple of drug impaired non-residents searching through our apartment building garbage container with flashlights for about 20 minutes, who were probably looking for bank statements and credit card bills.  And finally, the drug dealer, drug user adult son who does not have a job, is back at his mother’s apartment dealing drugs.

The apartment building management, and the Police, had tried to rid this apartment building of the drug dealing about eight months ago, by confronting the drug dealers, seeing if any drugs could be detected or found, and threatening the lease holders of the two suspected apartments with eviction.  Months and months later, people were still coming onto this apartment building property 24 hours per day hoping to find drugs, because they had gotten drugs here in the past.

Within one day of the drug dealer with no job being back on the apartment building property, I watched black guys from out of state with inner city ghetto vehicles driving right up to this apartment like it’s a drive through or convenience store for drugs.

(If you want to see what an out of state, inner city ghetto vehicle used by drug dealers looks like, go peak through the fence of the impound lot at East End Towing in Dickinson to see the Range Rover which has been lowered with custom wheels, California license plates, with the windows broken out of it, and beat all to hell from misuse and abuse.)

I thought about calling the apartment building management, or going and talking to them in person, and saying to them that they have got to get rid of the people in this apartment, evict the lease holder once and for all.  I think that it would have probably turned into an argument, with me threatening to leave, or the apartment management suggesting that I leave, because they are tired of hearing about it.

I think that there is so much crime in downtown Dickinson now, there are so many low income and inner city ghetto people that have moved to Dickinson recently, that the property managers and the Police are overwhelmed, they don’t know what to do, or how to handle it.

I asked the homeowner where I used to live in Dickinson, if I could come back and live with him in an emergency, because I can foresee getting into an argument with the property management, where they will ask me to leave.  He is partly sympathetic, because he knows that my truck and all of the property in my truck would never had gotten stolen if he would have allowed me to keep my truck parked at his house.

When I think about renting an apartment elsewhere in Dickinson, what I am certain of, is that I sure as hell am not going to pay more money to live in a newer apartment building in Dickinson, and still be around apartments where people sell and use drugs.  The new apartment buildings are at 50% occupancy, they will rent to anyone, and there are so many lower income and inner city ghetto people that have recently moved to Dickinson, that I don’t see how I can ever escape the crime and drug dealing in Dickinson by renting any apartment in Dickinson.

 

Note:  I want to explain why I associate all of this crime in Dickinson with low income people and inner city ghetto people who have recently moved to Dickinson.

People who spent a lot of time and money to obtain a college degree, or worked their way up to management level, or professional level, or have enough demonstratable skill and experience to have a good paying job, these people all know better than to jeopardize all of their hard work by attempting to steal things out of people’s vehicles, garages, and homes.  To get caught with a stolen vehicle, trailer, or equipment.  Also, they are usually capable of buying the things that they want, rather than taking the foolish and unnecessary risk of stealing things.

It is mostly low income and inner city ghetto people that look at the risk of being caught, convicted, and sentenced for trying to steal a phone or laptop out of a vehicle, or valuables out of someone’s home, as being worth the risk.  The risk of them spending 30 days in jail, or one year in prison, is worth the $200 to $400 they might receive from stealing something from someone’s vehicle or burglarizing a home.

Ups, Downs, And Very Bad Times With Employment In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

I first came to work in Dickinson, North Dakota in 2011.  I went to work in Texas in 2012, and then I came back to work in Dickinson in 2013.  I have been here for the past five years.

I have had ups, downs, and very bad times with employment in Dickinson, North Dakota.  My friends and acquaintances have had a worse time than I have had, many of them have had to leave Dickinson and North Dakota.

My problems with employment in Dickinson have never been about the hourly wage rate that I was paid.  So I want job seekers in Dickinson to keep in mind, not to focus solely on what wage rates a company is offering, but to pay attention to other things about the company.

Year 2017, was one of my worst years of employment in Dickinson, North Dakota.  The problems that I faced, are something that job seekers in Dickinson should know about.

I have been employed with the same small company in Dickinson for the past four years.  Sometimes this company pays very, very well when it has a project that I can work on.  Sometimes this company does not have a project that I can work on, so I go look for other jobs at other companies that I can do part time or full time.

I want to emphasize several reasons why I continue to work for this small company in Dickinson, that does not always have work for me.  One, sometimes it pays very, very well, like as much as $8,000 per month.  Two, the owner of the company leaves everyone alone, it is totally up to the employee to do their job, the owner does not check on the employees, the employees are on their own.  Three, I like this type of work very much.  Four, due to the nature of the work, the company owner, and the other employees, there are usually no work conflicts of any kind.  Five, I have usually been able to find a 2nd or 3rd job outside of this job when necessary, to make enough money.

The reason why I had such a bad year in 2017, was because the small company that I was working for did not have a project to put me on at the start of the year, and two of the other companies that I went to work for in 2017, were very bad companies.

The first new company that I went to work for in 2017, as far as I had heard, it was a good company, they had a lot of work, and they were branching out into different areas.  On my very first day of work, when I got to work at 4:30 a.m., right away it turned out to be the most disorganized, mismanaged company that I had ever worked for.  My gut instinct was to walk away from this company right then, and I might have been better off if I had done just that, and found a job with a different company.

The biggest problem with this company, turned out to be, that they didn’t pay all the wages that were owed.  I was missing a lot of money out of my second, and my third pay check.  I found out that there were already about four complaints with the Department of Labor against this company for non-payment of wages.

After the fact, I found out that if I would have asked other people working in the oil field, I would have heard not to go to work for this company.  Don’t believe what you read in the Dickinson Press newspaper about companies in Dickinson, what they write is sometimes almost the same thing as a paid for advertisement, rather than the truth.

What I learned, is that prospective employees should probably call the North Dakota Department of Labor to see how many complaints there are against a company.  Also, prospective employees should look the company owner and the company managers up on the North Dakota Court Repository website to see what lawsuits have been filed against them, and what criminal records they have.

The second new company that I went to work for in Dickinson in 2017, was a very long established company in Dickinson.  Some of my co-workers were agreeable, and some of my co-workers were unfriendly.  It turned out, that many of this company’s work projects were being completed, and as Winter was approaching, all of the workers were worried about being laid off.  Each worker was worried about being let go, though they wanted to stay on as long as possible, maybe even being one of the few people who kept their job through the Winter.  This was one of the reasons why some workers were uncooperative with each other, Winter lay offs were coming.

This second new company for me in 2017, due to a mistake, they shorted me a couple hundred dollars on several pay checks, and I quit because I was so angry about it.  But one of the reasons why I was so angry, was the day that I found out that I had been shorted so much money on my pay checks, a foreman who was not my foreman, was giving me a hard time, and there were several reasons why this was wrong.

It was a while after I quit, before I thought to look up on the internet who this foreman was.  This foreman had been charged in Arizona with 1st degree murder, armed robbery, drug charges, fleeing the police, and DUI, in multiple different cases.  On his company job application where it asked, “Have you ever been charged or convicted of any crime?”, I wonder if he wrote down “Yes, 1st degree murder, armed robbery, fleeing and eluding police, DUI, possession of drugs and paraphernalia.”

I then looked up other foremen at this company on the North Dakota Court Repository, and some of them had pretty bad criminal records, and always drug charges.  It then kind of fell into place, like the pieces of a puzzle, the way that people behaved, and the things that they did, that it was kind of a criminal and drug culture at this company.  So again I recommend to prospective employees, to look up the company owners and managers on the internet, and on the North Dakota Court Repository website to see what lawsuits and criminal charges they have had.

Just as it was becoming Winter in 2017, I was being hired at a company in New Town, North Dakota, which is about 100 miles north of Dickinson.  I had made this drive before on Hwy 22 going north to New Town for work, and it is not an easy drive.  You have to go through the Killdeer Mountains through an area called “The Breaks”, up steep hills, down steep hills, and around corners through the mountains.

I thought that this job paid $17 per hour, for about 12 hours per day, which is $204 per day.  It didn’t, it paid $15 per hour, for 8 hours per day, which is only $120 per day.  I was in trouble. I was willing to drive the 100 miles up to New Town, and probably having to drive back each day, to work 12 hours and make $204 each day.  But I couldn’t afford to do this for only $120 per day.  After taxes were taken out, and paying for gas, I would only have about $65 per day left, not enough to pay all of my bills.

I didn’t know what I was going to do.  Jobs get scarce in North Dakota once it becomes Winter.  I was thinking that I was going to have to sleep in my pickup truck in New Town, I couldn’t afford the $35 in gas each day to drive up from Dickinson and back.  It costs $10 to take shower at the truck stop in New Town, but where was I going to park and sleep in my truck without getting chased off?

When I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, the owner of the small company that I had been working for, for the past four years called, and he asked me if I wanted to, or would I be able to work 48 hours per week on a project, and I said that yes I would.

Out of nowhere, just by chance, I got a pretty good paying work assignment.  Not long after that, I had been stalling paying my Year 2016 income taxes by filing an extension, and I found out that I owed $2,000 in income taxes.  Plus I had vehicle insurance, homeowners insurance, and property taxes back in Idaho all due at about that time.

I hadn’t known how bad of a financial position I was in, I had been trying not to think about it.  I had not made much money at the first and the second new company that I went to work for in Dickinson, and the third company in New Town was a fail too.  I was really lucky that the company owner where I had been working called me to ask me if I could work on a project.

One of the reasons why I wrote this blog post, is to tell job seekers in Dickinson, that you can really get yourself into financial trouble in Dickinson by going to work for the wrong company.  A company in Dickinson may offer an attractive hourly wage rate, but this will mean nothing if you can’t work at that company for very long.  Beware, a human resources person or the person hiring you may lead you to believe that you can work for their company year round, in order to get you to take the job, however they may lay off most of their workers in October and November.

Remember, the first company that I went to work for in 2017, not only was it a horribly run company, they shorted me a couple of hundred dollars on each pay check.  It took me a while to get a job at a second company in 2017, and again this company shorted me a couple of hundred dollars on each pay check.  It took me a while to get a job with a third company in 2017, but this job didn’t pay nearly enough due to the number of hours per day and the long commute distance.  Having three bad jobs in a row like this, can lead to financial ruin.

What one of my readers pointed out to me in a comment, was that I would have been better off if I had just gone to work at WalMart in Dickinson for $15 per hour.  She was right, I would have been better off just going to work at WalMart.

Do Not Get Over Excited About Moving To North Dakota In 2018

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

In the past several years, I have written many blog posts where I try to get the information out there, that there are false rumors and misinformation being spread about the need for workers in North Dakota, in order to lure people here.

Business people in North Dakota habitually try to talk up the economy, making broad exaggerations, making things up, and sometimes lying.  Business people, politicians, news media, and ordinary citizens, repeat back to each other, what they have heard, but very few people hardly ever take the time to see if what they are saying is true.

It is so frustrating to me, the reality of what is going on in Dickinson, North Dakota, versus what people in Dickinson are saying and talking about.

Since the oil boom ended in North Dakota in 2015, I have seen a net decrease in the amount of businesses in Dickinson, a net decrease in the number of residents, an increase in homes for sale, an increase in apartments for rent, an increase in trailer park vacancies, an increase in vacancies in commercial and retail buildings, real estate prices have gone down, people have been unable to sell their homes, rent prices have gone down, and there are fewer job advertisements.

Just a few highlights are, Delta airlines ceased operations at the Dickinson airport due to lack of customers and lack of profitability, and United airlines tried to cease operations at the Dickinson airport due to lack of customers and lack of profitability.  The government prevented United airlines from leaving the Dickinson airport due to an “essential air services” rule.

Sears has closed, JC Penny has closed, Herbergers department store is closing soon, and the Prairie Hills mall has recently been sold.  The two largest stores in the Prairie Hills mall were JC Penny and Herbergers.  For the stores like Sears, JC Penny, Herbergers, Hobby Artz, and Radio Shack that have closed, there have not been any new or different stores to open to replace these stores.

A few other businesses that have closed in Dickinson were Total Workforce Solutions staffing company, Evolution Gym, Pita Pit restaurant, Wildcat Pizza, several small business in the downtown business district, and more than several local construction and contracting companies.  The Elks Lodge was forced to downsize, they sold the upstairs to their own building, and moved into the basement of their building.

Even though the population of Dickinson has decreased, many businesses have closed and not been replaced by new or different businesses, many local companies have closed and not been replaced by new or different companies, there are many vacancies in residential and commercial properties, and there are fewer job advertisement listings, the people in Dickinson walk around talking about how things are taking off.

I looked at the North Dakota Job Services job listings for Dickinson today.  I counted about thirty-two job listings posted in the month of April so far up until today, April 23.  Of these thirty-two job listings for Dickinson, twelve of these job listings were for certified medical professionals like nurses, mammography technicians, and radiology technicians.  This leaves twenty non-medical job listings for the month of April in Dickinson.  Eight of these remaining jobs were low paying retail type jobs.

I then went and looked at the job listings for Dickinson, North Dakota on the website Indeed.com.  On Indeed.com, there were roughly twice as many job listings, as what North Dakota Job Services had.  There were roughly fifty to sixty job listings posted in the month of April so far, on Indeed.com.  Approximately ten of these jobs were low paying such as customer service, retail, and food service workers.  Approximately ten of these jobs were part time or seasonal.  Approximately ten of these jobs were sales type jobs where an applicant is led to believe that there is potential to earn good pay, but it never works out that way.  (You might not know what I mean about bullshit sales jobs unless you or your friends have done these jobs, where you never receive sales commissions.)

On Indeed.com, there were about fifteen jobs posted for Dickinson, North Dakota, in the month of April, that were good paying oil field, trades person, or professional type jobs.  However, these fifteen good paying jobs, required specialized experience, knowledge, or education, such as a commercial driver’s license, degree as an engineer or engineering technician, or being an experienced heavy equipment operator.

My point in writing this blog post, is not just to explain why I am annoyed that people in Dickinson persist in repeating information that is not true about things in Dickinson taking off, I want to explain that this luring people here by telling them that there is a huge need for workers, is going to cause problems and hardship for people.

As I explained about the job listings posted for the month of April on Indeed.com, there were about fifteen jobs that were good paying jobs, but they required specialized experience, knowledge, or education.  What are people in Dickinson trying to do, what are people in North Dakota trying to do, telling the world that there is a great need for workers, and high paying jobs, when this is not the case?

People are going to move to North Dakota, possibly bringing their families with them, because they heard about all of the jobs, and the high paying jobs.  When they get here, and can’t get a job, or can only get a low paying job, what is going to happen, what are they going to do, what are they supposed to do?  You don’t really care, or give a shit, do you?  You just like talking every day about how things are really booming in Dickinson.

More Hoodlum Behavior In Downtown Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

Almost one year ago, I moved from a house in a rural area on the north side of Dickinson, to an apartment in downtown Dickinson.  I went from an area where nothing illegal or criminal ever happened, to where criminal activity is taking place all of the time, every day.

In the almost one year that I have lived in downtown Dickinson, I have seem drug dealing and drug use in the apartments where I live, the police coming and taking people away in handcuffs who are acting insane, vehicles having things stolen out of them, my truck got stolen, drunk or high people crashing through the fence into the canal in their vehicle three times, passed out drunk or high non-residents in the apartment stairwell, non-residents hiding, sneaking, and up to no good on the property several times.  This probably doesn’t even cover everything, and this has been in less than one year.

There are some very nice, tidy, well kept yards and homes in downtown Dickinson that are owned by older retired people, blue collar trades people, business owners, and professional people.  However, there are also some single family homes that have been divided into two or three rental units, and apartment buildings.

In the past, urban planners and property developers probably included apartment buildings in downtown Dickinson in order to fill a need, and in order to balance things out.  There were some residents in Dickinson who did not earn enough money to buy a home, some of them young, some of them old, some of them just starting out, some of them retired, or families that were just getting started.

In Dickinson in the past, there was not much of a need or desire to separate lower income people from higher income people.  In the past, people generally tried to behave and get along, whether they were upper class or lower class, because there were immediate consequences for anyone behaving badly for too long.  In the past, people in Dickinson just did not persist in being disruptive to everyone, it just wasn’t allowed.

Now in downtown Dickinson, the rental houses that have been divided into several units, and the older apartment buildings, have unfortunately become a habitat for poor people who often have a combination of multiple personal problems which include unemployment, illegal drug use, drug dealing, alcoholism, mental illness, theft, burglary, robbery, assault, vandalism, and other criminal behavior.

I began this blog post by writing that in downtown Dickinson where I live, there is crime every day, all day long.  About a month ago, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and I looked out of my apartment window, there was a strange acting non-resident, who was shuffling around with tiny steps, going back and forth, back and forth repeatedly beside people’s vehicles in the parking lot.

I couldn’t tell what this person was trying to do or why they were behaving like this.  I could tell that it was an older man, and I didn’t know if he had Alzheimers disease, dementia, or if he was under the influence of drugs.  I watched him for several minutes, and then it appeared that although he was acting like he had something wrong with him, he was also looking to see what was in the front seat and the back seat of vehicles.

I telephoned the Dickinson Police, but by the time that the Police arrived, this man had wandered away.  I gave a description to the Police, but they didn’t find him.  When I had to leave for work at about 4:00 a.m., I was able to drive along following this man’s footprints in the snow, to the apartment where he lived a couple of blocks away.

When I got home that night, I asked my neighbors who live in the house next door, if they knew who this was.  They said yes, they knew who this was, yesterday he had let himself into their back yard through their fence gate, and he went and urinated in their back yard behind a tree, he was drunk yesterday.  The neighbor said that if her brother catches him, he is going to beat him.  This is just an example of what happens throughout the day here.

What caused me to write this blog post today, is what happened today, Sunday, at 11:30 a.m.  I walked out to my vehicle to go to the grocery story, and I started my vehicle.  As I was sitting in my vehicle, a gold color station wagon drove past the apartment building where I live going very slowly.  When I drove down the street, and turned the corner, this gold color station wagon had stopped, people got out, and began loading multiple garbage bags into another apartment building’s trash container.

I thought that this was a shitty, sleazy thing to do.  In this gold color station wagon, I could see that they had bags and bags of garbage in their car, and that they were going to fill up this apartment building’s garbage container, and they don’t even live there.

I drove back around the city block, because I thought that these people were going to attempt to do this same thing at the apartment building where I live.  Sure enough, there they were trying to load the garbage container at the building where I live, with the garbage bags from their vehicle.  I drove up to them and I laid on the car horn, I told them that they can’t fill up our garbage container with their garbage from their car.  I told them I was going to call the Police, to have a talk with them, and I drove away.

There are about twenty to twenty-five residents at the apartment building where I live.  Myself, and other residents, sometimes have to wait for the garbage container to get emptied before we can take out our garbage from our apartments.  Sometimes, someone who does not live here, drives up and fills up our garbage container.  The garbage container is about 200 gallons in size, it is just barely adequate for this apartment building, it is not a dumpster.

I telephoned the Dickinson Police non-emergency dispatch number, and the Police dispatcher who was new, said that it was not illegal for someone to do this.  This made me very angry, and I explained to the dispatcher that this is something that the tenants pay for, this is something that the apartment building owner pays for, yes it is illegal for people who do not live here, to fill up our garbage container with bags and bags of their garbage, so that the residents who live here can’t even use it.

The Police dispatcher agreed to have a Police Officer call me, I had the vehicle license plate number,make, and model.  This made me even angrier, besides me catching the person who was probably the one responsible for causing our garbage container to always be full so that the apartment residents can’t even use it, the Police were possibly going to say that there was nothing that they could do about this.

Herein lies a problem which I have noticed for the past year.  If you live in house, and there is someone walking around on your property, hiding behind a garage on your property, parked in a car on your property, passed out on your property, or acting strange around your vehicles on your property at 2:00 a.m., the Police would respond to a call about this with the understanding that this was trespassing or criminal mischief.  However, when this same thing happens at an apartment where there are about twenty to twenty-five residents, even if you explain to the Police that this person that you called them about does not live here, the Police somewhat act like you have less of a right to complain, and the other person who is not a resident of the premises, has somewhat of right to be there.  The Police Officers, are somewhat more in agreement with the caller’s complaint, than the Police dispatcher sometimes.

In other words, if you live in an apartment building in Dickinson, even though it is privately owned property, which you pay rent to live in, the Police and other people, kind of have the impression that it is a public parking lot, a public garbage container, a public hallway, or a public stairwell.

I believe that this is one of the sources of the criminal problems in downtown Dickinson.  Because of these private apartment building properties, being looked at by the Police and other people, as public places, you get this 24 hour, 7 days a week, people wandering through, looking for the opportunity to sell illegal drugs, buy illegal drugs, steal from cars, commit burglary, commit robbery, commit vandalism, or hang out waiting for opportunities to commit crimes.

I wish that the Police in Dickinson, and the residents in downtown Dickinson, would begin to see and re-consider, that the permissive attitude of allowing people to roam around and wander through private property and private property that has a common area, that this is allowing and creating the opportunity for crime to happen.

Accused Armed Robbers in Dickinson

Alleged Armed Robbery In Dickinson Committed By The Gorilla Gang

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

On Saturday April 14, 2018, an armed robbery was allegedly committed in Dickinson, North Dakota at an apartment on the 400 block of East 2nd Street.  Four suspects entered an apartment with firearms, and they took cash and marijuana from three occupants.

You can read more about this alleged armed robbery in the Dickinson Press newspaper online, or you can watch North Dakota television news reports online.  Three of the suspects were ages 18 to 19, so the Dickinson Police Department released their names and Police arrest photographs.  This is the photo that I used for this blog post headline.

I have been writing blog posts about criminal people moving to Dickinson from bad neighborhoods in large cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and Spokane.  I am against news services, energy industry representatives, and North Dakota Job Services representatives making announcements that “North Dakota needs many, many workers for high paying jobs here in North Dakota”, because they are creating a problem.

Poor, unemployed people, who have very little or no job skills, very little or no work experience, who have been making money in the poor inner cities by stealing and dealing drugs, hear that North Dakota needs workers for high paying jobs, so they come to Dickinson.

They did not know, that companies in Dickinson might be able to hire someone with a commercial driver’s license, an experienced welder, electrician, plumber, heavy equipment operator, certified mechanic, or experienced oil field worker, but not someone with no job experience from the inner city.  With no job experience, they would be even less likely to get hired if they had a criminal record, or did not graduate from high school.

The people who arrive in Dickinson from poor inner cities with very little or no job skills, very little or no work experience, possibly a criminal record, possibly without a high school diploma, with the expectation of getting a high paying job like they heard about or saw on TV, they came a long way to get here, and they can’t just turn around and go home when they can’t get a job.  They see that some people have money and are making money from the expensive trucks that they drive, their snow mobiles, their four wheelers, and the RVs parked in their yards.

They can’t get a job, have difficulty getting a job, or see that they can only get a low paying job in fast food or retail.  They need money, and the way that they know how to get money or get what they want, is to deal drugs, steal, and commit crimes.

The three adults whose names the Dickinson Police Department released, I began doing a Google search to try to find out where these alleged armed robbers came from.  I didn’t get very far, before I found a YouTube video, and a YouTube channel, called the Gorilla Gang, where these three individuals had uploaded videos that they had made.  Here is one of their videos from YouTube:

You can watch a few other YouTube videos that they made, on the Gorilla Gang channel.

Update On Employment And Living In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , ,

I want to give everyone in the United States current and correct information on what employment and living in Dickinson, North Dakota is like, so that people do not experience hardship or make a mistake in coming here.

In April, some news services, energy industry representatives, and North Dakota Job Service representatives made announcements stating that there is a great need for workers in North Dakota.  From what I see, this is not true, and I want to explain how things really are.

For unskilled, low skilled, and non able-bodied workers, there are a few job openings that come up in fast food, convenience store, and retail stores.  These jobs are not very high paying jobs.

You might be asking or saying, why can’t I work in the oil field, or I plan on working in the oil field.  I will explain about the oil field in a minute.

For unskilled or low skilled workers that are able-bodied, there are a few job openings for construction laborers beginning in the Spring, and these jobs usually last through the Fall.  Once it becomes Winter in North Dakota, many construction companies shut down and lay off workers.  The way that the unemployment compensation eligibility formulas are designed in North Dakota, if you do not work in the Winter months, and have high income in the Summer months, you very likely will be determined to not be eligible to receive unemployment compensation during a Winter lay off.

Working In The Oil Field

I am going to try to explain some misconceptions about working in the oil field, which everyone in the United States should know about.  This is going to be pretty thorough and detailed, because I want to explain once and for all, not just how things really are in the oil field, but why things are this way, so that people quit falling for lies and bullshit that are not true.

Working For An Oil Company.  In North Dakota, some of the oil companies that do business here are Continental, Marathon, Whiting, Hess, and Tesoro.  One of the most common jobs for these oil companies is called “pumper”.  A pumper will be assigned a company pick up truck, and about twenty oil field locations, more or less.

The pumper’s job each day, is to drive to each oil field location, observe the condition of the site, look for any leaks in pumps, piping, or tanks, inspect the pump, inspect the tanks, and record information such as pressures, flow rates, and tank levels.

What the oil companies are looking for in a pumper, is someone who is completely reliable, and completely trustworthy.  They must very rarely ever call in sick, and almost never be late.  They must have an almost completely perfect driving record, with no accidents and no DUIs.  They must have an employment history that shows steady, long term employment with other companies, as evidence of reliability and trustworthiness.

Other qualifications that a pumper must have, is a demonstrateable knowledge of mechanics, controls, instrumentation, and equipment.  Acceptable proof of aptitude would be employment history working as a heavy equipment mechanic, working in automation or controls, or previous work history in the oil field installing and maintaining pump jacks, working on a drill rig, a work over rig, or fracturing.

Most of the oil company pumpers are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and worked for more than five years in the oil field before they ever became a pumper.

Working for Oil Refineries, Oil Pipelines, and Gas Pipelines.  In North Dakota, some of the companies that own and operate oil refineries and pipelines are Tesoro, Plains All American, and Dakota Access Pipeline.  Just like the oil companies, the refinery and pipeline owners and operators are looking for people that are absolutely reliable and absolutely trustworthy.

What I did not explain about the oil companies, which also applies to the refineries and pipeline owners, is that they just will not and can not hire personnel who are unqualified or questionable in any way.  There are too many people’s lives at stake, too much money at risk, too much environmental damage possible, and too much liability to hire or allow anyone to work who is questionable in any way.

They must exclude from employment, people with DUIs, people with criminal charges, people with drug charges, people with domestic abuse charges, people with mental illness, people with poor work histories, or people with vehicle accidents.  Though they will not come out and say it, they try to screen out people who have extreme views whether social, religious, or political, people with bad tempers, people with depression or bi-polar, people who are too young or too old.

I wanted to describe in detail who the oil companies, refineries, and pipeline owners hire, so that people would not mistakenly believe that they could just move to North Dakota and get a job with an oil company, without understanding how selective and strict these companies are in hiring.

Working for Drilling, Work Over, and Casing Companies.  In North Dakota, some of the companies that operate oil drilling rigs, workover rigs, and perform casing installation are Nabors, Patterson, H&P, Key, Big Sky, and Wyoming Casing.  Unlike the oil companies, refineries, and pipeline owner companies, who are concerned primarily with employees being completely reliable and completely trustworthy, the drilling, work over, and casing companies are primarily concerned with hiring people that can physically handle the work.

The drilling, work over, and casing companies perform the most dangerous and most physically demanding work.  There are very few people who are physically capable of doing these jobs, and very few people who would be willing to do these jobs because they are so difficult and dangerous.

On an oil drilling rig, the floor hands on the drilling platform typically have to work a twelve hour shift each day, for fourteen days in a row, then they receive seven days off.  During each twelve hour shift on the drill rig platform, the floor hands may be required to continuously stand at the drill pipe and make connections, they may be required to continually climb up and down fifty stair steps carrying heavy tools and equipment that weigh 100 lbs or more, they may be required to climb the twelve story tall drill derek.  The weather could be 90 degrees Fahrenheit, or it could be -40 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill.

On a drill rig, there is no faking work, pretending to work, slacking off, getting out of work, or getting someone else to do your work for you.  It is nothing but work, all the time, the drilling has to proceed non-stop.  If you have any kind of physical defect or weakness such as a bad foot, bad ankle, bad knee, bad hip, bad back, bad shoulder, or are weak, out of shape, or get tired, you will be worked to failure to where you can not physically continue and that is the end of your job.

The drilling, work over, and casing companies do not want to waste time hiring anyone that they can already tell are not going to be physically able to do the work.  They do not want to waste time and money in hiring and training the wrong people, who will not be able to last one day or one week on the job.  What these companies are looking for, and who they screen out, they are not going to come out and say it because they don’t want any legal trouble, but I will explain it.

These companies are looking for men who are between the ages of twenty to thirty years old, who have a background in farming, construction, or military field duty, who are accustomed to harsh outdoor conditions, dangerous work conditions, and hard physical work.  Any person who appears to be physically week, lethargic, lacking energy, lacking stamina, severely overweight, underweight, too physically small, too old, or appears to be a female, these companies don’t even want to waste their time considering these people for employment, because they have found again, and again, and again that any person who has physical weakness is just not going to be able to do the work.

The work over rig companies sometimes have employees work 14 to 16 hours per day.  The casing companies sometimes have employees work up to 30 hours continuously, or until the job is completed.

Working for Directional Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Wireline Companies.  Some of the directional drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and wireline companies that operate in North Dakota are Halliburton, BJ Services, and Keane.  These companies seek to hire people who are reliable and trustworthy like the oil companies do, but are just slightly less strict, and they seek to hire people who are physically capable of doing hard work like the drilling companies, but they are slightly less demanding.

Directional drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and wireline companies are looking for employees who have almost perfect driving records, with no accidents, and no DUIs.  They want employees who have a commercial driver’s license.  These companies may be unwilling or unable to hire people with criminal records, especially with theft or assault charges.

They are looking for employees with a work history showing reliability, and having performed work in farming, construction, heavy equipment, military trades classification, or military field duty.  They want people who are accustomed to working in harsh outdoor conditions, dangerous work conditions, working around heavy equipment, performing hard labor, and working long hours.

These companies will not come out and tell you who they screen out, because they do not want any legal problems, but these companies do not want to waste time and money hiring and training people who are not going to be able to physically do the work, who will only last one day or one week on the job.  Typically, who they might screen out would be people who appear to be physically weak, lethargic, lacking energy, lack stamina, severely overweight, under weight, too old, erratic, unbalanced, or have bad judgement.  They will hire women who meet their hiring requirements.

Working for Oil Field Service Companies.  Some of the oil field service companies who operate in North Dakota are GE Lufkin, Weatherford, Stallion, Titan, Steier, SM Fencing, Bob’s.  These companies have more flexibility in hiring.  They are still looking for people with very clean driving records, no accidents, no DUIs, and a commercial driver’s license, but they are sometime willing to overlook a fault in one area, by an applicant having a recognized specialty in another area, such as being a certified mechanic, certified welder, certified welding inspector, certified crane operator, or journeyman electrician.

Oil field service companies are sometimes willing to hire one inexperienced younger worker at a time, if this worker appears to have good judgement, good common sense, a positive attitude, willingness to listen and follow instructions, if this worker can be placed with an older experienced worker.

Oil field service companies are sometime willing to hire older experienced oil field workers who have made a mistake, had an accident, had an injury, suffered an illness, or have a physical disability which can be accommodated.

Even though oil field service companies have more flexibility in hiring, they are still looking for people who have a background in farming, construction, or military field duty.  People who are accustomed to working in harsh outdoor conditions, dangerous conditions, performing physical labor, working around equipment, operating equipment, and working long hours.

Oil field service companies are the easiest entry point into gaining work experience in the oil industry, but even so, news organizations and the oil industry have misled people across the United States into believing that entry into a high paying oil field job is as easy as working at McDonalds one day, then working for an oil company the next day.

If this were true, all of the experienced oil field service company workers who are paid at the mid-level, would go get a “high paying” oil company job tomorrow.  Why would experienced oil field service company workers continue to work at mid-level pay for years and years, if it was so easy for anyone to get a high paying job for an oil company?

Working for Construction Companies in Dickinson.  Some of the construction companies in Dickinson are Winn Construction, Baranko Brothers, Northern Improvement, and Tooz Construction.  These construction companies would like to hire people with clean driving records and commercial driver’s licenses, but they will hire experienced construction workers who do not have a driver’s license.  The experience that they are looking for is experience in operating heavy equipment such as loaders, dozer, excavator, skid steer, boom truck, lull, or experience in concrete form work, concrete finishing, steel building erection, and paving.

If you do not have prior work experience in construction, doing some of the work that I have described above, do not be mis-led by news services or North Dakota Job Service into believing that you can come to Dickinson and easily get a job in construction.  The construction companies can sometimes hire people with not very much job experience to work as laborers, but it is impractical and undesirable for construction companies to hire more than just a few inexperienced workers at one time.

Summary for Working in Dickinson, North Dakota.  I want for everyone in the United States to know and understand that oil companies are very strict and demanding with their background and experience requirements in hiring, drilling companies are very strict and demanding with their physical strength and endurance requirements in hiring, and oil field service companies try to hire people with relevant work experience.

There are some job openings with construction companies for low skilled laborers, but these jobs usually only last from April through October, seven months, and that you will likely not be eligible to receive unemployment compensation during a Winter lay-off.

There are some job openings in fast food, convenience stores, and retail stores, but these jobs are not high paying.

When news services, energy industry representatives, and North Dakota Job Service representatives make announcement that many workers are needed in North Dakota, I am skeptical and I don’t believe this.  Many people that I know who are intelligent and skilled, have had to leave North Dakota in the past several years because they have not been able to find employment.  Also, I know people who are currently living in Dickinson, who are unable to find employment.

I believe that business people in North Dakota are trying to lure people to North Dakota using false information, so that they can grow the economy, fill in vacancies in housing, and drop the wage rate that employers have to pay by creating a surplus of workers.

Time’s Money Magazine Named Dickinson As 9th Best Place In America To Start A Career

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

In March of 2018, Time’s Money Magazine named Dickinson, North Dakota as the 9th best place in America to launch a career.

When I see announcements like this, it makes me cringe.  It is annoying and irritating.  Most people who live in Dickinson, do not think of Dickinson as a good place to live.

The author of this article, Kerri Anne Renzulli, wrote that the criteria for selection was projected job growth, unemployment, cultural diversity, educational opportunity, and recreational activities.

Like I said, articles like this make me cringe, they are frustrating, annoying, and irritating.  How can people get things so wrong?

I wish that the people who write these articles about how Dickinson is such a good place to live, would spend at least one week living in Dickinson.  One month would be even better.  They wouldn’t dare do this, because they know that what they are writing is a bunch of made up, make believe bullshit, but they have to turn in something in order to get paid for their article.

In 2011 when I first came to Dickinson during the middle of the oil boom, there were all different kinds of people who had come from all over the United States with high expectations and enthusiasm about becoming rich and successful.  In general, it only took most people less than six months of living in this area to lose their enthusiasm because of reality.

The wage rates in Dickinson were generally $12 to $25 per hour.  By working five, twelve hour days, 60 hours per week, or more, workers could make $45,000 to $70,000 per year, this was not unusual.  However, 25% of their weekly pay was taken out in taxes, rents were very high, and workers easily spent $30 per day on convenience store food and drinks which was all that they could get.

Work conditions were horribly cold in the winter, filthy, frustrating, and dangerous.  It was very common for oil companies, oil field service companies, and construction companies, to have inadequate work plans, missing information, inadequate management and supervision, unqualified supervisors and foremen, and managers, supervisors, foremen, equipment operators, and workers who were working while under the influence of illegal drugs and alcohol.  It was a mess.

Even in the middle of the oil boom, six months was all that many people could stand.  To this day, just about everyone that I talk to who worked in North Dakota, they describe it as a horrible experience.

Even though things have calmed down in western North Dakota once the oil boom went away in 2015 after the price of oil fell to $30 per barrel, there are many things that still make Dickinson a bad place to live.  The local people who are from Dickinson, do not like people who are from some place else.  The local people from Dickinson are hostile and unfriendly to people who are from some place else.

There are very few things to do in Dickinson.  One of the things that people might do, would be to have drinks at dinner at a restaurant or bar at night in Dickinson, but it is not safe to do this, because the Police in Dickinson try as hard as they can to arrest people for DUI.

There is a shortage of women, and a scarcity of attractive women in Dickinson.  Exactly opposite of what the Money Magazine article says about Dickinson being a good place to start a career, all of the young attractive women who grow up in western North Dakota, get the hell out of here as soon as they graduate from high school.  The ratio of men to women in Dickinson is about 3:1, and the women who are here are unattractive and unfriendly.

If I had a son who was between the age of 18 to 30 years old, I would not want him to come to Dickinson, I would try to discourage it and prevent it.  Whether he had a college education or just a high school diploma, I would not want my son to come to Dickinson, it is just too bad a place, and too dangerous.

The companies in Dickinson, and the local people in Dickinson, do not like people with an education, especially engineers.  The employers in Dickinson, managers, and workers, have the intention of causing educated people and engineers problems, making work both difficult and unsafe.  The “Engineers” in Dickinson, are usually local people who do not have any education or degree in engineering.  Degreed engineers either get run off, or they won’t stay in Dickinson.

The employers, managers, and workers in Dickinson, do not like people who are from some place else, and they make work both difficult and unsafe for people who are from some place else.

I know from my own experience, that if I had a son I would not want him to come to work in Dickinson.  In addition to working in an environment where his local co-workers would be difficult, uncooperative, and undermining, and likely try to cause him to have an accident or injury, if the drug dealers in Dickinson did not get him, the Dickinson Police would.

In Dickinson, at the companies where I have worked, the managers, supervisors, foremen, and workers have been illegal drug users.  I have been around drug users, drugs, and people offering me illegal drugs at work.  At the same time, I have had undercover Police Officers in Dickinson come up to me in bars and ask me, again and again, do you know where I can buy drugs, do you know where I can buy drugs, do you know where I can buy drugs?  Then, the Police in Dickinson wait outside bars and restaurants at night in order to try to arrest people for DUI, or anything else that they can come up with.

If you are a young male who comes to work in Dickinson, you will be treated badly by local managers, supervisors, and co-workers who do not like people from some place else, you will not get cooperation, and you will likely be injured by your local co-workers on the job.  You will be around people who will try to get you to use illegal drugs, and you can be banned from oil field employment for 3 years if you test positive for illegal drugs.  The Dickinson Police will try to find a way to arrest you for either illegal drugs or DUI.

The friends and acquaintances that I made while living in Dickinson, several truck drivers, construction workers, engineers, electricians, equipment operators, business owners, entrepreneurs, and business managers, some of them highly skilled, intelligent, or hard working, they have all gotten out of Dickinson because there is nothing here.  No women, no good employment, nothing to do, no where to go, just the Dickinson Police constantly trying to arrest them for something.

If Dickinson has a low unemployment rate, it is because people willingly and gladly leave Dickinson because there is no reason to stay here.  This does not mean that Dickinson is a good place to start a career, because there is low unemployment.  This is how people like Kerri Anne Renzulli who went to the University of Central Florida, who lives in New York City can get things so wrong, she has never even driven through Dickinson, North Dakota, or spent any time here at all.

Accused Armed Robbers in Dickinson

Ghetto Whites And Ghetto Blacks Now Arriving In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

When I first came to Dickinson, North Dakota in 2011 during the oil boom, it seemed like about 25% of the young working age males from Idaho came to western North Dakota to work.  The young men who had worked on farms and worked in construction in Idaho, did very well in western North Dakota.  They were accustomed to working long hours, operating equipment, driving big trucks, hooking up and loading trailers, towing trailers, driving in the snow, and working outside in the cold.

Probably the only thing that gave people from Idaho a bad reputation in North Dakota, were the people from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  Coeur d’Alene is only 30 miles from Spokane, Washington.

Spokane, Washington has a population of over 200,000 people.  There is very high unemployment, especially among young people.  With thousands of poor, unemployed, and under employed young people, who are idle, there is a culture of grunge, drug use, crime, and theft.  The culture of, “Let’s steal something, sell it, go buy some heroin, and get high.”

The young men from the rural areas of Idaho who had earned their living from working on farms and working in construction, were pretty good workers.  The young men, and young women, from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, are nothing like the rest of Idahoans.  They come from a grunge, drug, crime, and ghetto culture, where hard work and trustworthiness is not found or practiced.  If you see an Idaho license plate that starts with the letter “K”, stay away.

Many or most of the people arriving in Dickinson, North Dakota right now are not trades people or construction workers, they are ghetto people from places like Los Angeles, Seattle, Spokane, and Coeur d’Alene.

Trades people, people who are electricians, plumbers, mechanics, welders, heavy equipment operators, or carpenters, find out ahead of time what companies are hiring in an area before they move.  There is no point in moving several states away to a particular town, if there is no work in the trade that they do in that particular town.

The ghetto people who are arriving now in Dickinson, did not do any checking ahead of time before they came to Dickinson.  They are stupid, have low intelligence, low education, low information, very little common sense, very little work experience, and very few work skills.  They do not know what companies in Dickinson want, need, and require from their employees.

These ghetto people are not going to be hired at any of the car dealers or equipment dealers in Dickinson.  They are not going to be hired at any of the hardware stores or material yards.  Nor the oil companies, oil field service companies, city, county, schools, or business offices.  A few might get hired as construction laborers, and some might get hired to work in fast food restaurants.

What the ghetto people can do, is commit crimes, steal, and sell drugs.  In Dickinson, on any street, there are trucks with tools in the truck bed, cars with music CDs in the front seat, open garages with tools and sporting goods, and houses with electronics, firearms, and jewelry.

A couple of days ago in Dickinson, I saw two young men who were about 20 to 22 years old, walking around in my neighbor’s back yard.  I asked them what they were doing, and I told them to not cut through the back yards again.  I went and got my neighbor to come out and check his storage sheds and his equipment in his back yard.

Picture this, I live on a downtown city block that is about 400 ft on each side, which is not divided down the middle by an alley way or utility easement.  There are about four houses on the north, south, east, and west sides of this block.  About every other house has a fence around their yard.

I do not know from what state these two 20 to 22 year old young men relocated from, to think that you exit the sidewalk at the middle of the block, to walk between two houses to get into the backyard of those two houses, and then from there you continue to walk on private property through other people’s back yards.

In other words, if you live in a neighborhood where people’s backyards are all back-to-back and side-by-side, and one neighbor would not even think about crossing over into his neighbor’s yard, what do you make of two young adult men deciding to walk through everyone’s private backyards?

When my neighbor came outside to check his storage sheds and his equipment in his backyard, we saw footprints in the snow going up to beside the back corner of his house.  I asked him if those were his footprints, and he said that no they were not, he had noticed those footprints this morning, and that someone had made those footprints last night.

Since I moved to downtown Dickinson about ten months ago, this is a very common thing, especially at night, for hoodlum ghetto people to wander around trying to get into everything and run off with things like monkeys, racoons, or cockroaches.

Update 4/20/2018:

I originally wrote this blog post on 4/3/2018.  Today, I was reading Google Local News for Dickinson, North Dakota, where I saw an article about five people committing an armed robbery in Dickinson, at an apartment about four city blocks from where I live.

I included the arrest photo of three of the alleged armed robbers at the top of this blog post.  This is exactly what I was writing about, when I wrote that many of the people who are moving to Dickinson now, are not trades people expecting to move to Dickinson to practice their trade, they are people coming from the ghettos in cities, who are criminals, thieves, drug addicts, and drug dealers.

Who Gets Hired And What Companies Are Looking For In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

As North Dakota emerges from the cold and frozen Winter, oil field service companies and construction companies in Dickinson will begin hiring people for the Spring, Summer, and Fall work season.

Employers in Dickinson like people who will fit in and get along with the people that they already have working.  There is a common expression, “People like people, who are like themselves.”

In this blog post, I am including a short video that shows what employers in Dickinson, North Dakota are looking for.  This video shows someone that employers in Dickinson would hire right on the spot.  This video also shows some of the discussion that might take place in your work environment in Dickinson.

Some Suggestions For Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

In the past several years I have written more than 500 blog posts about living in Dickinson, North Dakota.  Readers may wonder, what do I want, and what am I trying to accomplish?

I wanted to bring attention to some of the things that are wrong in Dickinson.  I thought that if I explained these things that are wrong, that many people might agree, and consider trying to change things.  Or, at least people from out of state would know how things are, what to expect, be able to make a more informed decision about moving to Dickinson, or be more prepared for Dickinson.

Here are some suggestions for Dickinson, North Dakota:

  • Everyone needs to acknowledge that it was wrong the way that housing prices were quadrupled during this most recent oil boom.  Do not persist in saying things like, “It was a matter of supply and demand”, when there are thousands and thousands of acres of vacant, flat, barren land just outside of Dickinson that stretches for hundreds of miles in every direction.  Steps were taken to make sure that there was a housing shortage, so that local people could profit and take excessive advantage of others.
  • Even though, “Millionaires were being made every day in North Dakota”, there was no homeless shelter in Dickinson.  People that were poor, down-on-their-luck, and out of work from everywhere in the U.S. came to North Dakota because of the lie that was told “Everyone was making $100,000 per year in the oil field”.  The poor people who came to Dickinson, slept in their cars, on the ground, or in the bushes at Wal-Mart, Tiger Truck Stop, Patterson Lake, along the railroad right-of-way, or in the ditch behind Kentucky Fried Chicken.  If Dickinson was not going to have a homeless shelter, they needed to contact every newspaper and every television station to try to get the word out, “Whoa, hold on everybody, you won’t make $100,000 per year in the oil field, there is a shortage of housing, and there is no homeless shelter.”
  • Dickinson needs to decide, once and for all, if alcohol can be served in bars and restaurants or not.  If the Police in Dickinson are going to try to follow and stalk everyone who is driving on the streets at night in Dickinson in order to try to give them a DUI, Dickinson should just go ahead and ban the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants in Dickinson.
  • There are some things that are done in Dickinson, that ruin Dickinson’s chances for long term growth and prosperity.  One of these things, is the practice of most local companies in hiring convicted felons to be foremen, supervisors, and managers at the companies in Dickinson.  The local people in Dickinson so hate people with a college education, that they give preference in hiring to people who have several felony convictions, with no education.  Although local company owners are more comfortable having people like this working for them, here are the consequences:
    • When you hire a convicted felon with no college education, versus someone with a college education, for a supervisory or management position, what is guaranteed to follow, is that just about every subordinate position to that person being filled by convicted criminals, versus people with any education.  A convicted felon is already someone who has demonstrated that they don’t follow along with what is right and wrong, but whatever they feel they need to do.  If that means hiring only people who are less intelligent, less qualified, and less capable than them, in order to maintain their position, that is what they are going to do.
    • When local companies in Dickinson follow this practice of hiring convicted felons for supervisory or management positions in Dickinson, not only does this load up their company with a bunch of criminals, but this loads up Dickinson with a bunch of convicted criminals.  It doesn’t take long for normal, educated people from elsewhere, who may be doctors, nurses, engineers, attorneys, human resources people, administrators, professors, or journalists, to see, understand, and realize that Dickinson is an “Ugly” town that they don’t want to live in.  By “Ugly”, I mean no culture, no professional peers, no socializing with professionals, no where worth going, someplace that you do not want to stay.

If you people in Dickinson do not believe me, just sincerely ask one of the nurses, doctors, engineers, journalists, human resources professionals, chamber of commerce directors, or teachers who left Dickinson, to describe something that they did not like about Dickinson, and to please be honest.

Catholic Church In Dickinson North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

I had written a blog post in September of 2017, titled “Re-Education Camp For Catholics In Dickinson, North Dakota”.  For the past five months, this particular blog post appeared on the first page of Google search results.  About five days ago, this blog post went straight to page 8 of Google search results.  This does not happen without an optimization company being hired to bury a post.

I hope that no one paid too much money, or spent too much time on this, because here this post is again, and I can do this as many times as necessary.

Re-Education Camp For Catholics In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , ,, , ,

 

I would like to have a Re-Education Camp for Catholics in Dickinson, North Dakota.  If you have ever seen the movie “The Killing Fields” about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, I would like to have a re-education camp like the one shown in the movie.

In the main school room hut of the camp, all of the adult hard case Catholics would be seated on the benches.  The proctor would recite, “Jesus was the son of God.”, then all of the Catholics would repeat back, “Jesus was the son of God.”

“He came to Earth to teach, to instruct, and to demonstrate he was the son of God.”

“He came to Earth to teach, to instruct, …”

“He performed miracles that no man could perform.”

“He performed miracles that no…”

“He made the blind to see, the lame to walk, and raised the dead to living.”

“He made the blind to see, the lame to walk…”

“He divided a few fishes and loaves, to feed thousands.”

“He divided a few fishes and loaves…”

Without fail, one of the Dickinson Real Estate Agents couldn’t take it anymore, and she would stand up, screaming, “We can charge whatever we want for rent!  We can charge whatever we want for rent!  We can charge whatever we want for rent!  Aaaahhhh!  Aaaahhh!”  And she would be dragged off to the Monkey Pit.

The proctor would continue, “Jesus taught that we should love one another.”  The Catholics would repeat back, “Jesus taught that we should love one another.”  As if often the case, one uprising inspires another, and soon a woman from the Catholic Auxilary would begin yelling, “We didn’t ask you to come here!  We didn’t ask you to come here!  We didn’t ask you to come here!   Aaaahhhh!  Aaaahhhh!”  And she would be dragged off to the Monkey Pit.

The proctor would continue, “Jesus taught the twelve Apostles, and these teachings were recorded in the New Testament of the Bible.”  But before the Catholics could repeat, they were interrupted by a land owner, “We don’t have to help anybody!  We don’t have to help anybody!  We don’t have to help anybody!  Aaaahhhh!  Aaaahhhh!”  And he would be dragged outside and tied to a post in the sun, lest he think that he is going to “make time” with the Catholic women in the Monkey Pit.

The remaining pupils in the main school room hut, were either being convinced of the teachings of Jesus, or they were too scared to act out.  Either way, time would tell.  If the pupils were not true believers in the teachings of Jesus, at least they would be too frightened to go back to their old habits of trying to take advantage of others and mistreat others.

(I went to Catholic School for five years, Sacred Heart School, and Sacred Heart School was just like what I have described above.)

The Dickinson Dog Park Is A Lawsuit Waiting To Happen

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

Ever since I was born, my family always had several dogs and other pets:  Pit Bulls, English Bulldogs, Hounds, Pugs, Manx Cats, Feral Cats, chickens, turtles, and lizards.  The only pets that didn’t bite me or try to bite me were the Pit Bulls.

As far as my parents were concerned, if I got bit by one of the pets, it was my own fault, and they were upset about it, because they didn’t want one of the family pets to get a “criminal record” for biting someone.

My parents liked animals.  The animals were allowed in the house, upstairs and downstairs, on the furniture and on the beds.  Because of pet doors, other people’s cats came in the house, and also squirrels and opossums.

No one in my family was scared of getting rabies from any of the animals, or any other disease from dogs, cats, chickens, turtles, lizards, squirrels, bats, or opossums.

A couple of years ago in Dickinson, a co-worker of mine had temporary custody of a 9 month old Vizsla dog, because his daughter could no longer keep him.  This Vizsla was a nice looking dog, he was fairly intelligent, so I offered to take him on a trial basis to see if my landlord at the time would want him, because he was looking for a dog.

My landlord liked this dog, so he kept him, at the house where I was living.  I would sometimes take this Vizsla for walks on an adjacent vacant 30 acres of land.  This Vizsla weighed about 45 pounds, he was a medium sized dog, he had a nice shiny short coat of hair, a silly disposition, and he was not an aggressive fighting dog.

Probably mostly because of my own boredom, I wanted to take this Vizsla to the Dog Park in Dickinson.  Both of the times that I took this Vizsla to the Dog Park, I realized that this was a huge mistake, and that this was a lawsuit waiting to happen.

At the Dog Park, there is a large sign, that clearly states what the Dog Park rules are.  It states that persons who use the Dog Park, do so at their own risk.  The City of Dickinson does not have that much more liability for this Dog Park, than any other public facility that they own.  But the Dog Park users have tremendous liability at the Dog Park.

I thought that at the Dog Park, I would encounter “Dog People”.  Instead, I found people that were wary, scared, and not good around dogs.  On top of that, they were nutty.

The first time that I took the Vizsla to the Dog Park, there was a very pale, weakly musculatured, 35 year old woman sitting on the bench inside the Dog Park large sized dog area, who had worn very short shorts.  Once I turned this Vizsla loose inside the fenced in area for large sized dogs, I kept having to intercept him because he kept wanting to go see this woman and step up onto her lap to greet her and be petted.

This woman was very strange, because she was acting like this Vizsla was a person, who certainly should know better and have the self control to not physically touch her.  If I would not have stopped him, he would have stepped all over her trying to lick her face, and he probably would have scratched the shit out of her pale white legs.

He was a nine month old, very energetic dog, and he wanted to say hello, make friends, give her kisses, and be petted.  She didn’t want to have any physical contact with him whatsoever, but she didn’t have the sense to stand up, put her hands out to keep him off her, or tell him no.  This was one of the least understanding people toward dogs that you will ever come across, and here she is sitting inside of the large sized dog area.  This is supposed to be, supposed to be, a safe designated area to let you dog run off its leash, but this was just an accident and lawsuit waiting to happen with this person in there.

The second time that I went to the Dickinson Dog Park, I had the Vizsla inside the large sized dog area running around off his leash by himself.  Then a family showed up with a smaller dog.  The husband and wife who were in their forties got out of their car, and they had grandma and grandpa with them, who were in their 70s.  I watched grandma and grandpa, they were unsteady and unstable on their feet, and they could not walk very well.

In addition to grandma and grandpa, they had a 5 year old and an 8 year old kid with them.  The sign at the Dickinson Dog Park, that has the rules posted, I believe that it says no small children allowed in the large sized dog area.  Here all six of these people came, trying to enter the large sized dog area.  I bet that in less than a minute or two, this Vizsla would have knocked down grandma or grandpa who could barely walk, or the 5 year old and the 8 year old kid, by trying to stand up on its hind legs to greet them and unintentionally knocking them over.

I couldn’t believe this.  This Dog Park was like a magnet for people who shouldn’t be anywhere near a medium sized or large sized dog who is running and playing off its leash, but here these people are trying to get inside the off leash dog area for large sized dogs.

I have been at the Emergency Room in Dickinson, where an unexpected and uninvited kid went over to someone’s house, and the family pet tried to greet them and unintentionally scratched the kid.  The parents of the uninvited kid took the kid straight to the Emergency Room, just for a dog scratch, which resulted in $1,400 for medical services, which they wanted the dog owner to pay.  The hospital I believe also had to complete a “dog incident report” to hand over to the Dickinson Animal Control Department.  This is what people in Dickinson will do now, just for one paw scratch from a family pet.

If you want to safely walk a dog in Dickinson, even a very large dog, the north side or the south side of Patterson Lake is a very good place to do this, because you can keep a very large distance away from other people.  Just don’t let your dog off its leash anywhere around people.  Also, I warn people that once you start getting far away from the parking lot areas at Patterson Lake, you have to be aware that there are people living and/or hiding in the bushes.

Update 3/17/18:

A commentor was disagreeing with what I wrote about Dog Parks, so I spent an hour reading ten other articles about Dog Parks.

I don’t even want to address and write about all of the legal disputes that have arisen from dog bites and dog fights that have occurred at Dog Parks.  I just want to discuss dog owner liability for a friendly dog pawing someone, or jumping up on someone to greet them.

The Big Problem, is that people do not share the same understanding of what a Dog Park is.  For me, and for other dog owners, there is the belief that it is normal for dogs to run, play, and be friendly, and a designated off leash Dog Park is a good place for a friendly dog to run and play.

However, there are other dog owners, that use the Dog Park, who do not share this same view.  For instance, in the ten articles that I read about Dog Parks, there was the common occurrence where people using the Dog Park, stated that “They had severe back problems, and could not handle getting bumped or run into by someone else’s dog.”

Some people believed, that if your physical health is so bad that you can’t get bumped, you should not be entering an off leash Dog Park where dogs are running and playing.  The people who have back injuries or who are elderly, believed that they have just as much right as anyone else to be in the Dog Park, and that someone else’s dog should not bump them, run into them, or stand up and put their paws on them.

As for the legal liability for friendly dog behavior, just the discussion of liability on internet forums where attorneys answered these questions, was very disturbing and ugly.

For instance, a reader could pose the question about legal liability for their six month old large puppy running into someone at an off leash Dog Park, and knocking the person over.  Within just a few seconds and a few sentences, attorneys on the internet forum would begin making statements like, “…has your dog had a history of aggression?….”, “…has your dog received a citation for knocking people down in the past…?”, “…I recommend that your dog receive obedience training from a certified instructor in order to lessen your legal liability…”

It turns out that there a many Dog Park lawsuits against dog owners.  The common cause of these lawsuits is that dog owners mistakenly believed that their liability was lessened when they released their dog into an off leash Dog Park, because they were amongst “Dog People”, who all shared the same understanding of dog behavior.  It turns out, that people have no idea what other people’s beliefs and intentions are, and you can not let your dog loose around other people, because you have no idea how other people will behave.

Getting Stopped By The Police In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

I have written again, and again, and again, and again about not being able to go out at night in Dickinson, North Dakota because the Police are so eager and aggressive in stopping people for DUI, or trying to discover illegal activity.

Probably about two or three years ago, I gave up on going to bars in Dickinson, or having any alcohol drink at a restaurant in Dickinson, because I know how aggressive the Police in Dickinson are about stopping people for DUI.  When I am tired, have allergies, the flu, or am dirty from working, and have had no alcohol, I am worried that the Police in Dickinson are going to stop me, question me, and try to give me a DUI, even when I have had no alcohol.

As this Winter in Dickinson has gone by, November, December, January, and February being so cold, and dark outside, with nothing to do, and no where to go, I have become more and more depressed.  The only place in Dickinson to sit down and socialize at night, would be a bar, but you can’t drink in Dickinson, because the Police are so aggressive in stopping people for DUI.

In WalMart, Menards, Runnings, a grocery store, a restaurant, or the West River Community Center in Dickinson, it is not appropriate or acceptable to try to talk to and socialize with employees and customers.  In other towns that I have lived in, where everyone is more trusting and everyone does not have their guard up, you can joke around and talk with people wherever you go, but not in Dickinson.

I had Wednesday and Thursday off in Dickinson.  I had no where to go, and nothing to do.  I thought if there was anything that I needed to shop for and buy, but there wasn’t anything.  At 4:00 p.m. I decided to go to the King Buffet Chinese restaurant.  I took my Dodge truck, which I have driven maybe once in the past three months.

At about 5:00 p.m., I drove from the restaurant to visit my friend at his home, who is old and in bad health.  At about 6:30 p.m., I drove to Dairy Queen and got an ice cream cone.  I was driving home from Dairy Queen on Villard Street, when a Dickinson Police car made a U-turn, came after me, followed me, and stopped me.  This turned an ordinary evening and outing, into an unwanted stressful situation.

I am so sick of this in Dickinson, being followed by the Police, so that they can think of a reason to pull you over, to try to give you a DUI, or find something else to charge you with.  If you do a Google search for “Police in Dickinson, North Dakota”, about the 3rd or 4th search result is an article that I wrote titled, “Liking And Hating The Police In Dickinson, North Dakota”.  In this article, I explain that it is like the Police in Dickinson are stalking people, and I am sick of it.

I know that I have a headlight out on this Dodge truck.  I bought a replacement bulb, which is in a package on the front passenger seat, but it has been too cold to get the old bulb out and put a new one in.  Even when it is 50 degrees, the plastic light bulb base and the plastic headlight socket are so tight, that it takes many tries, cutting my fingers, and almost breaking the bulb and the plastic socket, trying to twist and force the parts to lock together in the socket.  I can’t imagine doing this when it is below freezing.

The Police Officer who pulled me over knows me, and he knows that he pulled me over two blocks away from my apartment.  He still wanted my driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.  He asked me why I had not gotten this truck registered in North Dakota.  I explained that I went to the Dickinson Motor Vehicle Department, and they told me that in order to get this truck registered in North Dakota, I would first need to bring in the vehicle title, and get the title changed from Idaho to North Dakota.  I don’t have my truck title, it is back at my house in Idaho.

I explained to this Police Officer that I was sick of getting followed and stalked by the Police in Dickinson.

This Police Officer warned me that I could get a citation and fine for not having my vehicle registered in North Dakota.  I was aware, that I could also be given a citation and fine for not having a North Dakota driver’s license.

I wish that I would have had the presence of mind to say to the Police Officer, that my Toyota which I normally drive every day, has North Dakota registration.  I wish that I would have told the Police Officer that I had only driven this Dodge truck once in the past three months.

Here is what I explained to the Police Officer, only not this well, and I will probably eventually be explaining this in court in Dickinson one day:

There are people who own a home in one state, which they claim as their primary residence, but work in another state.  If you do not claim a home that you own as your primary residence, you lose several very important legal and financial protections.

In every state that I have lived, your home that you claim as your primary residence, is exempt from lawsuit and legal judgments.  For instance, if you were in a fight with someone and blinded them in their eye, they could sue you for damages, and if your home that you own was not your “primary residence” or “your homestead”, it would be property that was susceptible to a lawsuit judgment.  Even something as simple as someone falling down your front steps, could result in you losing your home if it is not your “primary residence”.

Secondly, if a home that you own is your “primary residence” or “your homestead”, you receive a very large property tax exemption.  If the home that I owned was not my “primary residence” or “my homestead”, my property taxes would double.

Legal tests for your home being your “primary residence” and “your homestead”, are where does your driver’s license say your address is, are you receiving the “homestead exemption” on this property, what does your address say on your income tax returns, and do you pay income tax on the basis of being a resident of this state.

It is very common for wealthy people to own a home in more than one state, to work in more than one state, and to conduct business in more than one state.  These wealthy people have more than one vehicle, and the vehicle that they are driving may or may not be registered in the state that they are currently in.  Yet they do not get warned by the Police.

In Dickinson, North Dakota, I do not know if anyone has had to go to court yet, to explain that they own a home in a different state which is their primary residence, which is the state that issued their driver’s license.  Some oil field workers, and oil field contractors, though they are working in Dickinson, also work in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The people who are from Dickinson, North Dakota, and who have never lived anywhere else, may think that everyone in Dickinson needs to have their vehicle registered in North Dakota, which means having their vehicle titled in North Dakota.  Why would you want to get your vehicle titled in North Dakota, if you are only living in North Dakota temporarily?

In the past six years, I have worked in Idaho, Utah, Texas, and North Dakota, sometimes for only three months at a time.  Can you imagine what a waste of time and money that would be, trying to change your vehicle title, registration, and license plates, every three months or six months, on multiple vehicles?  You North Dakotans wouldn’t do it.

Once you give up the drivers license that shows you as residing at the address of your “primary residence” or “your homestead”, you lose very important legal and financial protections on the home that you own.  Under the law, it becomes more possible for the home to be classified as “investment property”, where you are no longer entitled to the “homestead exemption” on your property taxes, you could be assessed for back property taxes for falsely claiming the “homestead exemption”, an insurance claim on your homeowners policy could be denied because you should have had a different type of policy, someone being injured on your property while you are away could result in your home being susceptible to a lawsuit judgement because it is “investment property”.

On my articles titled “Don’t Believe The Chamber Of Commerce In Dickinson North Dakota” and “I Want To Beat The Chamber Of Commerce In Dickinson North Dakota”, I write that there is no where to go in Dickinson, nothing to do, the Police try as hard as they can to stop everyone for DUI, so you just need to stay home, there is no point in trying to go anywhere in Dickinson.

I don’t want to live in Dickinson, I am just here temporarily because I can currently make more money here than in Idaho where my home is.  My house, and 90% of my personal property, furniture, tools, equipment, clothes, electronics, and vehicles are at my home in Idaho.  I have just a bare minimum of belongings here with me in North Dakota, this is not my home.  I don’t know why this is hard to understand.

A Mexican Almost Stole My Winter Jacket

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

I sometimes have to work outside of Dickinson, North Dakota.  When I am working out of town, when I get off of work in the evening, I often go to a truck stop/convenience store/restaurant to get something to eat and use my laptop computer to get on the internet.

I bought a spare used laptop computer to take with me when I work out of town, so that it won’t be too much of a loss if it gets broken or stolen, but it is a good computer, worth about $200.  It would be upsetting if it got stolen, and I don’t want this to happen.

When I go to the truck stop that I usually go to, I wave hello to the cashiers who are working, and I go put my laptop computer down on a table in the dining area, take my winter jacket off, and lay it over top of my computer so that no one can see it.  I then go and pick out a drink, sandwich, or salad, and take them to the cashier to pay for them.  My jacket and my computer are not out of my sight for more than thirty seconds at a time, while I am doing this routine.

When I am eating and using my computer, I am vaguely aware of truck drivers, oil field workers, construction workers, farmers, travelers, and local people who are coming and going, paying for fuel, buying things, or sitting down at one of the ten tables in the dining area.

Usually by 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., the truck stop/convenience store/restaurant has slowed down, there are not very many customers, and I feel that it is safe enough for me to close my laptop computer, lay my jacket on top of my computer so that it can’t be seen, and go use the bathroom.  My jacket is just a common, black color, Carhart hooded jacket like most people in North Dakota wear.  Though these Carhart jackets cost $100 to $150, I thought that most North Dakotans would not stoop to stealing someone else’s jacket.

On this past Saturday night at about 9 p.m. I was eating and using my computer, there were two cashiers and one restaurant worker on duty, and only one or two customers in the truck stop.  I felt that it was perfectly safe for me to leave my jacket on top of my closed laptop computer, and walk away for two minutes to go use the bathroom.  When I got out of the bathroom, I walked over to the restaurant counter to see what they had, and I picked up a Philly cheese steak sandwich.

By this time, it seemed like there were several more customers in the truck stop, because I could hear more people walking around the aisles, though I wasn’t paying close attention.  As I was walking over to the cashier to pay for my sandwich, I happened to look back over my shoulder toward where I had been sitting and eating, and I saw a Mexican who was wearing a white T-shirt, walk around the corner, and come to a stop when he saw my winter jacket laying on the table.  There were nine empty tables in the dining area, with nothing else around, and one table with my bottled drink, napkins, fork, and jacket sitting on top of it.

I stood turned slightly sideways as I put my sandwich down on the counter, and I said to the cashier who was the manager on duty, this Mexican guy behind me seems to be taking an interest in my jacket.  Just as I said this, this Mexican leaned past the wall of the dining area, and looked at my jacket again.  The cashier said, oh yeah, I see him.   It was pretty hard not to notice, nothing but empty tables in the dining area, and this Mexican guy wearing a white T-shirt, is so focused and concerned about my jacket laying on top of the table.

I went back to my table and sat down.  I was now curious to see what this Mexican guy did in the store.  Was he going to buy anything to eat, which might have been a possible reason why he came into the empty dining area in the first place.  He must have spent at least eight minutes in the store, walking up and down every aisle several times.  He bought his son an ice cream from where a Mexican lady was working, and I don’t know if she charged him for it or not, he might not have had any money, because he didn’t buy anything else.

This Mexican guy walked out of the store and he got into about a ten to fifteen year old Dodge sedan, and backed out, almost hitting someone in a Jeep Cherokee who was already travelling in the drive lane, causing them to have to stop suddenly.  I asked the cashier/manager if this guy had been in the store before.   The cashier/manager said that yes he had, although he kind of looks like a bad person, he probably isn’t that bad a person.  This Mexican guy did look and act like someone from a ghetto/hood crime neighborhood in Los Angeles or Phoenix.

Some readers might object to what I am writing, so I will explain.  Truck drivers walk into the store at whatever pace or gait they have based on their age or health, pay for fuel, and go use the bathroom.  Travelers usually walk in the store quickly and head straight towards the bathroom.  Farmers usually aren’t in a hurry and have a casual pace.  Local people are like shoppers in a grocery store, they go and pick out the things that they want, like drinks, snacks, or food, and take them up to the cash register.

This Mexican guy, who had been in this store before, came in to the store and acted completely different and out of the ordinary.  He walked quickly over to something like this is what he was there to get, paused, then quickly walked over to something else like this is what he was there to get, paused, then quickly walked over to another area, paused, and he did this throughout the store for at least eight minutes.  You might say well, he was looking for something, or he didn’t like the prices.  At one point, he was at the drink dispensing machine, where they have the cups, lids, straws, napkins, and people fill their drink cups, he was acting like he was going to get a drink, but he didn’t.  It was like he was pretending to shop, but he was actually up to something else.

If you have ever set something down for just a minute and walked away, like a phone, set of keys, wallet, purse, jacket, ice chest, gas can, propane tank, bicycle, or left your car running, and come back to find it gone, I think that this is how this happens, and who does this.

In North Dakota, at a restaurant, bar, store, library, truck stop, laundromat, or any public place, do not set anything down and turn your back on it or walk away.  Not everyone is the same in North Dakota, and you might be unpleasantly surprised at how “diverse”, North Dakota has become.

What Is Wrong With Companies In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

In 2017, I wrote five or six blog posts explaining how bad it was working for companies in Dickinson, North Dakota, even the companies, or especially the companies that the Dickinson Press Newspaper could not lavish enough praise on.

Working for two of these highly esteemed companies in Dickinson in 2017, I quit because I was not paid the wages that I was owed, and I had to threaten both of these companies with filing a complaint with the Department of Labor, and taking them to Small Claims Court to get the money that I was owed.  One of the “best” companies in Dickinson, already had four complaints against them with the Department of Labor.

I have written about five times now that, “The companies in Dickinson would rather hire someone who did four years in prison, rather than four years in college”, and that, “The companies in Dickinson hate engineers, disrespect, and mistreat engineers in every way possible because they hate educated people”.

Even though I have a degree in engineering, and I have worked as an engineer, estimator, foreman, inspector, superintendent, project manager, manager, and business owner, with absolutely no criminal record, these are the two supervisors that I worked under who each had Four Felony Convictions, at two different companies in Dickinson:

 

If you are a person with a college education, and you move to Dickinson, North Dakota, this is who you will be working for, and you will not be treated very well.

Re-Evaluating What The Police And The Dickinson Mafia Are Doing

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

I am now re-considering and re-evaluating what the City of Dickinson Police and the Dickinson Mafia are doing.  Rather than continuing to complain, I may have to acknowledge that some of their practices, are necessary in Dickinson, North Dakota.

I have written several blog posts in the past complaining about the City of Dickinson Police always being so eager to follow everyone and pull them over.  I know that they were stopping people in order to check driver’s licenses and vehicles, to see if anyone had warrants, were driving under the influence, had illegal weapons or drugs, stolen property, or anything else illegal.  But I was sick and tired of being surveilled and stalked by the Police, when I wasn’t doing anything illegal.

On Thursday night of this past week, when a vehicle ran up over the curb, across the grass strip, and through a chain link fence where I usually park my vehicle, for the third time in the past six months, I wished that the Police in Dickinson could round up all the White Trash in Dickinson.

It’s not just that a vehicle crashed over the curb and through a chain link fence in this 25 mph zone for the third time in six months, or that another vehicle crashed into my equipment trailer in this spot, or that one of my vehicles got stolen during this time, or that my neighbors’ vehicles have had property stolen from them, it’s that this is happening all throughout Dickinson.

I don’t know if things were ever this bad in Dickinson before, or if this happened following the second oil boom in 1983, but Dickinson now is just full of White Trash and hoodlums.  I think that 50% of this is poor White Trash from out-of-state, and 50% of this is locally born White Trash.  I do think that poor drug addict people from out-of-state have had a negative effect on poor locally born people, making them much worse.

What I hated was the Dickinson Police following, surveilling, and stalking everyone in Dickinson, but I guess they have to.  Apparently, if the Dickinson Police let up for one minute, the White Trash take this opportunity to crash a vehicle, steal a vehicle, or steal property out of a vehicle, garage, or business.

I had written blog posts in the past complaining about the Dickinson Mafia.  For those of you who don’t know, the Dickinson Mafia are a group of business owners, property owners, and leadership in the City, that have tried to control what goes in Dickinson in the past:  Development, ordinances, hiring, firing, wage rates, promotions, marriage, who succeeds, and who fails.

I felt that it was wrong for a group of prominent and successful men to try to determine and control so much, what happens to other people.  Now, at this time in Dickinson, when I see so many people running amock, the White Trash problem, the misbehavior, theft, and drug problems, I wish that the Dickinson Mafia would get Dickinson back under control.

Here is how the Dickinson Mafia used to work:  If someone got arrested in Dickinson for DUI, illegal drugs, assault, domestic violence, burglary, or theft, within a day or two, they would no longer have a job in Dickinson, nor would they be able to get another job.  Their spouse may also lose their job within a day or two.  Not being able to pay rent within a month or two, they would be evicted, and would be unable to find replacement housing.  They would have no place to work or live in Dickinson.  They would have to leave Dickinson.

I wish that the Dickinson Press newspaper would begin again to publish the names of people in Dickinson who are arrested for DUI, illegal drugs, assault, domestic violence, burglary, and theft, and publish this in the Dickinson Press Police Blotter every week.

The owners and the managers of every business in Dickinson would read the Police Blotter every week, to see if anyone working for them had been arrested.  And if they didn’t read it for themselves, one of their friends, relatives, or customers would telephone them and let them know.  Once these people’s names were made public, the Dickinson Mafia, the public, customers, friends, and relatives would be saying to them, “Why do let criminals work for you?  Why are you helping criminals?”

Back when the Dickinson Mafia was more active and involved, they did not tolerate or allow White Trash in Dickinson.  I would like to see the Dickinson Mafia, the City of Dickinson Police, and everyone else begin to force the White Trash, hoodlums, drug dealers, and drug addicts out of Dickinson.

There Are White Trash In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for a little over five years now.  Financially, sometimes I have had a shortfall of money, most of the time I was just keeping up with bills, and only a few times did it appear as though I was going to get a little bit ahead.

For the past three years, I have often felt that all I ever do is just pay bills.  Even though I was tired of doing nothing but paying bills, I came to look forward to being able to pay for everything, as if this was a fun and enjoyable thing to do.

Without fail during the past five years, I would unexpectedly have to spend money for visits to a dentist, visits to a doctor, have a vehicle repaired, or have a high income tax bill due to an $800 Obamacare penalty or something.

One more unexpected thing that got me down, was when one of my vehicles was stolen this past summer in Dickinson.  This was partly due to me moving to a poorer neighborhood in downtown Dickinson.  Although my stolen vehicle was found several weeks later, I was missing $2,000 in tools and property from this vehicle.

In this downtown neighborhood in Dickinson, my neighbors had things stolen out of their vehicles and had attempted break-ins into their vehicles this summer, fall, and winter.  There were stoned and high people in this neighborhood, sitting out on their balconies, passed out in the stairwell, resisting arrest with the police, and crashing into things with their vehicles.

Yesterday evening, when I was working out of town, where I normally park my vehicle when I am home, someone crashed into and took out about 150 feet of chain link fence.  This is the third time that this has happened in this neighborhood in the last six months, plus one vehicle that crashed into my equipment trailer.

The street beside where I live, is a straight residential two-lane road where the speed limit is 25 mph.  I don’t see how people manage to get up over the curb, onto a ten foot wide grass strip, and then take out the chain link fence along the canal.  On Thursday evening, someone did this, the chain link fence got attached to their vehicle bumper when they drove through it, they kept going, towing the fence behind them, turning back onto the street, crossing over the street, and onto people’s front yards on the other side of the street.

I am unhappy and upset about this.  Downtown Dickinson is so chock-full of White Trash, that it is a regular thing to have your vehicle stolen, broken into, or crashed into.  I am already upset that I have to drive to Idaho next week to have melanoma mole removed because they can’t do this in North Dakota.   I am not looking forward to the 12 hour drive one way, plus the cost of everything.  I would have been much more upset if the vehicle that I needed to use to get to Idaho in three days was destroyed last night where it is normally parked.

The point that I want to make is this, there are so many White Trash in Dickinson, that you can expect to have your property stolen, your vehicle stolen, your vehicle broken into, your home broken into, your vehicle crashed into, to where any gains that you make in obtaining a good vehicle, paying for vehicle repairs, buying tools or equipment that you need, or furnishing your home will be wiped out by the drug addicts and White Trash in Dickinson, North Dakota.

How Cold Is It In North Dakota?

Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

After having lived and worked in North Dakota since 2011, this Winter of 2017-2018 feels like the coldest to me.

On January 1, 2018 I had to drive past the town of Hettinger, North Dakota on my way to work in the very early morning, my job site was not far from there.  The National Weather Service reported that at this time, Hettinger was the absolute coldest place on Earth, at -41 degrees Fahrenheit.  Yes, the coldest place on Earth, go look it up, here is one link http://cool987fm.com/a-city-in-north-dakota-reached-the-coldest-temperature-on-earth-for-jan-1-2018/

When I got out of my truck that morning, it did not feel that bad, because it was absolutely still.  However, you could tell that it was very cold.

Through December and January, we keep having these -17 degree Fahrenheit days, with some amount of wind, and it is just miserable.  I don’t want to go to any store, I don’t want to go to the gym, I don’t want to go anywhere, for any reason.  I just sit inside my apartment.

One of the reasons that I don’t want to go anywhere, is because of a lifetime of experience.  I have had to work on a broken down vehicle in the snow, ice, and wind more than several times in the past, and I don’t want to ever have to do this again.

I have one extra vehicle at the apartment where I live, and in order not to take up a parking space in front of the building, I park it on the street.  The rule in the City of Dickinson, is that you can’t leave a vehicle parked on the street for more than 48 hours.  So every two days, I have to start and move my extra vehicle.  When it is above 0 degrees, it starts fine.  When it is below 0 degrees, I have to get my battery jump start box, and connect it to the vehicle battery to start it.

Walking out to my vehicle with thermal underwear on under my pants, a hoodie under my heavy winter jacket, and gloves on, wiping the snow off the windows and hood, trying to start it, opening the hood, picking up the battery jump box, making the battery cable connections, and getting back inside my vehicle, my fingers were too numb to feel the ignition key and hold on to it to turn the ignition.

From experience, like the one that I just described above about jump starting my vehicle, I know that this cold weather in North Dakota can be very, very dangerous.  When you are outside in this weather, it does not take long, just a matter of minutes, before you can begin to have severe pain and numbness in your feet and hands.  Even with gloves on, I began to have pain and numbness in my fingers, to where I could not feel or hold onto a car key.

Some North Dakotans would want to call “bullshit” on this.  Let me tell you about this.  A company that I have worked for in the past in North Dakota, called me at the beginning of February to ask if I could work for them 36 hours per week.  I asked on what days, and I said no that I couldn’t, though I would like to.  I said that a friend of mine, who has also worked for them in the past, needed a job, so I would call him, and try to get him to do it.

This friend of mine, who is older than me and has lived in Dickinson for his entire life, had just had a conversation with me where he was telling me, “It never bothered me to work out in the cold.  I mean, you have to dress for it, but it never bothered me any.”

On his first or second day of work at this job that I told him about, where he had to spend 85% of his time in either the vehicle or a building, and only 15% of the time outside, he called me and talked to me for several minutes about how cold it was, how unbelievably cold it was, how horribly cold it was.

I want to conclude this blog post with a strong warning about some things that you need to do in North Dakota during the Winter.  Everyone needs to dress for what the weather is outside, not what you expect it to be like in the vehicle you are riding in, or the building that you are going to.  You may be involved in a vehicle accident or a vehicle break-down before you arrive at your destination, and may not have a warm or running vehicle to stay in.

Women, teenagers, and children in North Dakota have the bad habit of dressing for where they are going, like a warm building, business, or house, and they are very under-dressed for being outside.  It is exactly the case, that they are expecting someone else to drive by and rescue them, or come and get them if they have an emergency.  This is a bad idea.

If you own a vehicle, I recommend buying a good quality hand-carry battery jump box, one that is rated at least for 800 peak amps, to keep in your vehicle.  These cost about $80, and they often have a built-in air compressor and emergency light.  I have jump started other people’s vehicles and trucks about five times with mine, and about twenty times on my own vehicles and lawn mower.

Probably the most important thing to keep in your vehicle in the winter in North Dakota is a heavy sleeping bag.  If your vehicle does break down in the winter in North Dakota, and you think that you might have to walk more than 1/8 mile in below 0 degree Fahrenheit weather, you should probably try to stay in your vehicle.  Even if you were wearing thermal underwear, a heavy winter jacket, winter shoes, and winter gloves, you would become extremely cold after walking 1/8 of a mile.

A Fair Resolution To A Case Of Prostitution In Dickinson, North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

On November 7th and November 8th of 2017, I wrote three blog posts about “Police Corruption” and “Legal Entrapment” in North Dakota.

I was very, very angry about two specific cases of Legal Entrapment in North Dakota, one in Fargo and one in Dickinson, where police placed a fake advertisement on the internet for a woman offering sex.  When men responded to the fake advertisement in order to arrange to meet the woman, at a later point in time, the police then made up the statement, that the fake woman was under 18 years of age.

Two men were arrested and charged with Patronizing a Minor for Commercial Sex Activity, a Class A felony punishable by 20 years in prison.  Neither of the men who were charged, ever sought to contact an underage woman for sex to begin with, the police made the statement that the woman was under 18, at a later point in time, at which point both men then tried to break off contact.

For the case in Fargo, when it went to trial, the Cass County District Court Judge Susan Bailey, was asked by the defense attorney to allow the jury to consider not just the felony charge, but also the misdemeanor charge, and she allowed the jury to consider both charges.  This resulted in the jury deciding on a verdict of guilty for a misdemeanor charge.  This defendant was very fortunate that both the judge and the jury had a clear understanding of what had happened, and realized that a 20 year prison sentence was not warranted.

For the case in Dickinson which began in September of 2017, it began proceeding towards a felony jury trial, but by the end of January 2018, it was resolved by a plea agreement to a misdemeanor charge.  The defendant was very fortunate that he did not receive the possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, which was a possibility.

I am writing this blog post, to again discuss prostitution in Dickinson, North Dakota, and to warn everyone about the police approach to prostitution in Dickinson, North Dakota.  Just because the two defendants in the cases that I described above ended up with misdemeanors, does not mean that this is what anyone else should expect to happen.

The defendant in Dickinson, hired the attorney Robert Bolinske in Bismarck, the state capitol 100 miles to the east of Dickinson.  Robert Bolinske may have been the best possible criminal defense attorney for this type of case in Dickinson, because he has one of the best reputations as a trial lawyer and defense attorney in the state.

An attorney like this, probably charges $250 per hour more or less, so for every 10 hours, that’s $2,500.  To resolve this case after four months by reaching a plea agreement without going to trial, probably cost at least $5,000 in legal fees.  If this case would have gone to trial, the legal fees probably would have been at least $10,000.

I am explaining this as a warning, with the way that the police in Dickinson place fake advertisements for prostitutes, and attempt to create enhanced charges when men try to meet the fake prostitute, you can expect to pay $5,000 to $10,000 to have any hope of not going to prison for 20 years.

Dermatologist Shortage In North Dakota

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , ,

There is a shortage of Dermatologists in North Dakota.  To get an appointment with a Dermatologist in the state capitol of Bismarck, there is a five to six month wait.

On January 25, 2018 I noticed that I had a new mole on my right shoulder.  This mole was different than the other mole that I have had on my shoulder for the past thirty-two years, because this new mole appeared so suddenly, was dark in color, and it had a rough unhealthy looking surface.

From the television commercials that I have seen, and from reading about skin growths on the internet, I believed that this was very likely a melanoma.  A melanoma can be benign or malignant, meaning noncancerous or cancerous.  You need to have one checked right away, especially if it is dark in color, or has an irregular shape and appearance.

On February 2, I began searching for a Dermatologist in Dickinson, North Dakota and I found that there isn’t one.  This is kind of bad, because Dickinson has a population of about 25,000 people, and it is the largest town in southwest North Dakota.

I found that the nearest Dermatologists were in the state capitol of Bismarck, 100 miles to the east of Dickinson.  In Bismarck, there is the Mid Dakota Clinic of Dermatology with three Dermatologists, and two Nurse Practitioners.  I thought to myself, “Good, this is exactly what I was looking for.”

I telephoned the Mid Dakota Clinic of Dermatology, and I requested an appointment with Mark Ebertz, MD.  I was told, “Mark Ebertz is not accepting any new patients, you can choose to make an appointment with either of the two Nurse Practitioners, or one other MD, but their next available appointment is in August.”

I thought to myself, “February, March, April, May, June, July…that’s six months before I can even see a Dermatologist, and I need to get this melanoma mole looked at and removed right away!”

The administrative person at the Mid Dakota Clinic of Dermatology was not rude in any way, but I was very angry, and I ended the telephone call with her.  I could not believe the absurdity of having a melanoma, and a Dermatology clinic wanting you to wait six months for an appointment.  What kind of skin problem could a person have, that they could figure on waiting for six months to receive any kind of treatment?

I was very, very angry.  I write and write about this, but I don’t think that I ever truly convince people how backwards North Dakota is.  I thought about this for few minutes at the time, before continuing to try to find a Dermatologist in North Dakota.

I still want to give a big Fuck You!, to the Mid Dakota Clinic of Dermatology.  I hope that Dr. Mark Ebertz has some kind of life threatening emergency, where he needs the police, fire department, or paramedics to show up, and they tell him, “We are kind of busy, we aren’t accepting new calls at this time.”  Or anything that he needs done, everyone tells him, we can’t help you for six months.

I went on to telephone Sanford Health.  I telephoned the Sanford Health in Dickinson, and they told me that they did not have a Dermatologist in Dickinson, to call the Sanford Health in Bismarck.  I telephoned the Sanford Health in Bismarck, their Dermatology Clinic, and I was told that the earliest appointment that this particular clinic had was in April, but I could try calling their other Dermatology Clinic.  At the second Sanford Health Dermatology Clinic, the next available appointment was in September.

I called an older relative of mine who had had a skin growth surgically removed from his shoulder, to ask him about it, how much did this cost?  He said to me, “You can’t wait this long, you need to get this taken care of right away, it sounds like you are going to have to go to a different state to have this done.”

I looked up on the internet, a Dermatologist that I had seen in Idaho seven or eight years ago.  This Dermatologist surgically removed a small carcinoma from under my eye for about $140, which required stitches.  This was not a big deal for him, or difficult for him, and he did a very good job, not leaving any scar.

I telephoned his office in Idaho, and he had appointments available each week in February.  I explained that I was working in North Dakota, and I could not get this taken care of in North Dakota.  I explained that it was a twelve to fourteen hour drive one way to get there, I would have to drive there to get this melanoma removed, and then drive right back to North Dakota to return to work on time.

I e-mailed to the Dermatologist in Idaho, three photographs of my melanoma mole.  I followed up with a phone call to the Dermatologist administrator, saying that I didn’t want a biopsy, and that I was not looking for a preliminary visit prior to surgery, that I needed to get this melanoma mole surgically removed, and then drive right back to North Dakota.  The expected cost was $300 to $800, depending on how much they had to cut out.

I am not looking forward to this twelve to fourteen hour drive to Idaho, and the twelve to fourteen hour drive back to Dickinson, North Dakota.  The gasoline cost alone will be $350.  The weather this month has consistently been below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.  I know that the interstates will be snowy and icy the whole way.  If my vehicle breaks down, especially at night, I will be in a very dangerous situation, due to the extreme cold weather.