Tag Archives: Living in Dickinson, North Dakota

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Mormon Missionary Women Caused Me To Replace My Toilet Seat

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I moved into an older apartment building in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota about 1-1/2 years ago.  It wasn’t until a couple of years after the North Dakota oil boom ended in 2015 that real estate prices and rental prices began to fall to where I could afford to rent an apartment in Dickinson.

The older apartments, in the older downtown neighborhoods were less sought after than the newly constructed modern apartments on the outskirts of the City of Dickinson.  I was trying to find absolutely the least expensive apartment, because I am just here in Dickinson to work, I have a home back in Idaho with most of my belongings.  I found a studio apartment for $350 per month which was fine with me, and I said that I would take it, until the landlord showed me a two-bedroom apartment for not much more money.

I guessed that the landlord didn’t want me to get sick of living in the studio apartment, and try to find some place else to live, or shoot myself in the head.  He was right in a way, it would have been kind of embarrassing and depressing at times, when the reality set in that I was living in a studio apartment in Dickinson, North Dakota, and wondering why I was even alive.

I moved into a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, which I liked very much.  It was a pretty large apartment, but it did not have a fancy kitchen or bathroom, which was O.K. with me.  Not long after I moved in, the toilet seat broke in half, because it was old and made out of pressed wood particles.  I found out very quickly, that sitting on this toilet seat after it had broken in half, that it would pinch the back side of my upper legs so bad, that it would almost cause you to go to the emergency room to get stitches.

I happened to have a small amount of white duct tape in my belongings, which I thought would be a good temporary fix for this toilet seat.  I didn’t have a lot of white duct tape left, so I didn’t fix this toilet seat very well, and it was still dangerous.  I bought a new toilet seat about two weeks later, but it sat in the hallway outside the bathroom for about a year, because I didn’t feel like changing it.

Meanwhile, the Mormon missionaries seemed to target the building that I lived in, for spreading the gospel according to Joseph Smith.  For one thing, they had accomplished a successful conversion of a strange couple of Hispanic men who lived across the hallway from me.  I say that these Hispanic men were strange, because they were both very feminine acting, and they lived together.

As these two Hispanic men were being converted and brought into the Mormon Church, it appeared that part of the process was to get them to leave this building, because it was a bad, unwholesome environment.  At the time, there was a lot of illegal drug use and drug dealing in the building where I lived, and I didn’t blame the Mormon Church for wanting to get these two young men out of this building, because it was dangerous, a bad environment, and a bad influence.

When these two Hispanic men were ready to leave, they were talking about wanting to get out because of the illegal drug use, and drug dealing in this apartment building.  There was even a drug dealer who lived right across the hallway from them.  Wait a minute, I live directly across the hallway from them, were they talking about me?

Out on the street outside of the building where I live, I had spoken to different sets of Mormon missionaries who patrolled the downtown neighborhood.  I told them that I lived near Idaho Falls Idaho which is about 70% Mormon.  This area of Idaho is very important to the Mormon Church because of the high number overall of Mormons, the high percentage of Mormons, the huge Mormon Temple there, and BYU Idaho being not far from there.

If Salt Lake City is like the Washington D.C. of the LDS Church, the Idaho Falls area is like the Atlanta or New York City of the LDS Church.  When Mormon Missionaries get sent on their mission to Idaho Falls, it is kind of a joke inside of the LDS Church, because it is already the highest percentage Mormon of any place in the United States.

In that area of eastern Idaho, I had met and talked to many Mormon business owners, citizens, and missionaries.  I discussed religion with the Mormons, especially the missionaries, and I even went to several church services in the LDS Church.  What was the end for me, where I could not go any further, was when at a church  service, one of the Mormon men read a passage, “Just as God evolved, we too can evolve to become like God, and be gods of our own planet one day.”  I asked, and no they weren’t kidding.

Because I quit going to the Mormon Church, and I explained to them that I could not go along with the belief that we could evolve to become like God, and become gods of our own planet one day, I became not a favored person in eastern Idaho.  And because I had two Mercedes, two Porsches, a Jaguar, a Jeep, a lifted black Dodge Truck, and a hot young Hispanic girlfriend who was a drug addict, I guess that made me a drug dealer as far as the Mormon Church was concerned.

Now, in addition to the Mormon missionaries having had some success in talking to and converting people who live in the building where I live, they seemed to want to talk to me too.  I don’t mind talking to them, I just have not had time to talk to them.  In the past several months, there have been groups of two or three young Mormon missionary women who have asked me if I wanted to talk to them while I was out on the street, but I have just not had the time.

I would like to talk to the young Mormon missionary women for several reasons:  One, there is a shortage of women in Dickinson, and the women who are here are fat, overweight, glaring, scowling, mean, and nasty;  Two, Mormon missionary women are pleasant, presentable, courteous, and soft spoken;  Three, I like the guts, determination, and fearlessness of the young Mormon missionary women;  Four, I want to hear where they are from, and what their plans are in life.

About one month ago, I had my apartment window open in the afternoon while I was laying in bed trying to take a nap, when I heard the pleasant voices of young women in the parking lot.  These were not the voices that I normally hear, of the foul-mouthed, uncouth, trashy, low class drug addict women who live in the building, these were the voices of unruined women.

I got up out of bed and I looked out the window, I said to myself, “Shit, it’s the Mormon women, I hope they aren’t coming in the building, I hope that they aren’t coming up here.”  I wasn’t going to let them in my apartment.  I was in my underwear, and my apartment wasn’t clean, it was a mess.  God forbid they would get in my apartment, and one of them would ask to use the bathroom, and that broken toilet seat would wreak havoc on their ass.  They are not old, tough, and muscular like me, on their soft behinds, that toilet seat would be like a bear trap.

A few weeks later, the young Mormon missionary women came knocking on my apartment door, and I wouldn’t let them in, because I wasn’t prepared for visitors, and I was scared of one of them getting hurt on my toilet seat.  What would have been just as bad, was one of the young Mormon women talking to me and suddenly realizing that she needed to use the bathroom, and me telling her that she couldn’t use it.

Finally, I went ahead and changed the toilet seat, just for the sake of the young Mormon missionary women not getting their bottom severely pinched, which in their mind would be like a sin or carry some kind of extra shame.

The Reality Of Living In Dickinson Versus The Lies

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On this blog website, I have tried again, and again, to explain the reality of living in Dickinson, North Dakota, versus the lies.

Right now, today, there are advertisements and announcements on the radio about truck driving jobs in Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston with “paid benefits, housing provided, $3,000 sign-on bonus, and $6,000 sign-on bonus”.  Yes, there are some truck driving jobs in Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston, but it is not like what is advertised or claimed.  I want to give a recent, real life example.

In the Spring of 2018, at the older, low rent apartment building where I live in downtown Dickinson, there was a couple in their late twenties who moved into my building.  This man and woman, appeared to be kind of poor, they drove a thirty year old luxury car that was worn out, with the rear suspension sagging.  Later, it was found out, that this wasn’t even their car, it had been lent to them.

Everyone in the building remembers this couple moving in, because they made a fuss about someone being parked in “their parking space”, which caused at least a year long mutual agreement and understanding of the residents to be messed up, and a chain reaction of squabbles.

Mathematically, there are not enough parking spaces in front of the building for each apartment to have one parking space, without even considering that some apartments have two drivers and two vehicles.  It came to be understood and established, that the mothers with children, and the women who were less mobile, had their usual spot where they parked their car in front of the building, and the men, who typically drove pickup trucks and were able-bodied parked on the street.  It was a very practical arrangement, that worked very well, until this new young couple demanded “their parking space”, which then caused everyone to end up parking in someone else’s customary space.

This couple was from out of state, and the husband was a truck driver.  I never saw very much of the husband, because he was always working.  After about two months of living in this building, this couple bought a twenty-five year old Chevy pickup truck that was beat up, and they gave back the thirty year old luxury car that had been lent to them.

I remember this husband and wife fighting and squabbling some, on a regular basis, with their arguments and hostility being carried or continued into the parking lot, and hallways.  Car doors slamming, shouting, yelling, fighting between the two of them about the other one not doing what they wanted, needed, or were supposed to do.

With their beat up truck, shabby, dirty, cheap clothing, and tired appearance, the husband always seemed to be coming from the position of working hard, working long hours, and the wife not doing what she was supposed to do, or not understanding that they didn’t have money.  And the wife was disappointed and unhappy about everything, where they lived, what they had, and her not getting what she wanted.

This past week, five or six months after this couple moved into my building downtown, they are moving out.  The husband lost his truck driving job, and they are returning to the state where they came from.  All by himself, this poor, tired, worn out truck driver was carrying all the beat up old furniture from their apartment, and piling it in the back of their beat up $2,000 truck.  The wife was no where to be seen, it looks like she split, too much disappointment and humiliation for her.

This husband was hardly ever home, because he was out driving tractor trucks.  With the supposed high demand for truck drivers, high rate of pay, $3,000 to $6,000 sign on bonuses, why are people like this couple so poor?  Why was the husband let go?  Why did they have to pay for their own apartment?  Why couldn’t the husband easily go get another truck driving job with a $3,000 to $6,000 sign on bonus, and housing provided?

I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for a little over six years now.  What business owners, business organizations, and politicians claim, is a bunch of bullshit, hype, and propaganda which benefits them:  To keep people coming here to rent apartments, rent homes, buy homes, keep real estate prices up, keep businesses going, to have an overabundance of labor, in order to keep labor pay rates low.

If you are from out of state and you come here, you may be able to get a job, but you will not be treated very well because you are not from here, you will be undermined by your local co-workers, not valued by your local company owner, used like migrant laborers, and let go.  You may be able to pay your bills while you are here, but you will not get ahead financially unless you live almost like a homeless person or Mexican migrant worker to try to save some money.

I Almost Killed This Cat

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Yesterday evening at work, I pulled a six week old Siamese kitten out of a truck engine.  The driver of the truck did not want this kitten, and she said that she lived next door to a bar, that had a lot of stray cats outside, that she didn’t think that this kitten belonged to anyone.

I wrote in yesterday’s blog post that this kitten didn’t try to scratch or bite me, and I put it in my Jeep Cherokee while I continued to work.  This work site was not a safe place to let this kitten go, there are several packs of coyotes nearby, that come onto the site every night.  After work, halfway through the long drive back to Dickinson where I live, this kitten climbed up my sweatshirt sleeve, it sat on my shoulder fairly still, and it looked out the window at the sights.

I stopped at the Family Dollar store to buy cat litter, a litter box, cat food, and cat food bowls.  I put this kitten in my apartment bathroom with a bowl of water, some cat food, and the litter box.  When I checked on this kitten after about an hour, it had eaten all of its food, drank some water, and it had used the litter box.  I was glad that it knew how to use the litter box.

At the apartment building where I live, pets are not allowed.  I didn’t know how or if I was going to be able to keep this kitten.  When I let it out of the bathroom, it explored the apartment some, but it didn’t go crazy running around everywhere and getting into everything.  It came and sat on top of the back of my lazy boy chair where I was sitting, and it went to sleep for several hours.

Later that first night, this kitten came and sat on top of my head and the pillows where I was sleeping, which caused me to give up my pillows.  Like I wrote yesterday, I have to get up at 3:30 a.m. because I have a long drive to work far outside of Dickinson.  When I got up, this kitten started meowing loudly, so I gave it some more cat food.  I didn’t want this kitten to keep meowing so loudly that the neighbors would hear him.

When I left my apartment at 4:15 a.m., I left this kitten out in the living room rather than shutting him in the bathroom or a spare bedroom where he could do less damage, because if he were confined in a room he might meow all morning and cause the neighbors to complain to the apartment building manager.

Today, driving to work and while I was at work, I thought that I wanted to try to keep this kitten, he was so well behaved, so little trouble, that I thought he would be good company.  I thought of a name for him, and I looked forward to seeing him when I got home.

I didn’t leave work until 6:15 p.m., and I didn’t get back into Dickinson until a little after 7:30 p.m.  I stopped to pick up some carry-out food, I had not eaten all day.  Remember, I left home to go to work at 4:15 a.m., and I was not getting home from work until after 7:30 p.m., that’s fifteen hours later.

When I got back to my apartment and went inside, I could see that the kitten had used his litter box, and he was sitting on the back of the lazy boy chair.  Everything appeared to be fine, but he started meowing very loudly, so I had to stop what I was doing and feed him first to get him to shut up.  I don’t want to get kicked out of my apartment and have to move because the neighbors complain that I have a cat.

When I sat down to eat, finally, the kitten climbed up my back to play around on my shoulders and on top of my head.  This was funny the first time, the second time, and the third time, but by the fourth time and the fifth time, I was getting tired of it because I was hungry, I was trying to eat, I was tired, and I was becoming angry from the nuisance and getting clawed again and again.  I thought about putting the kitten in the bathroom or the spare bedroom, but he would start meowing so loudly that I would have to let him out right away.

Soon, I was angry enough to where I was about to throw this kitten as hard as I could against the wall, in order to make it not exist anymore.  No more worry about the neighbors hearing loud meowing, getting evicted from my apartment, the work of having to move and carry everything out of my two-bedroom apartment, and find a new apartment.  No more having to deal with this kitten, getting woken up by it, having to feed it, having it get in the way of my dinner.

I was sorry that I was so angry from this kitten that I wanted to kill it.  I put my food away, and I went to bed.  I thought that I had better try to call the Oreo animal rescue people tomorrow to try give them this kitten.  The kitten sat out in the living room for about an hour.  I didn’t shut the bedroom door, because the kitten would just start meowing loudly.

After about an hour, the kitten came into my bedroom, and began climbing on me and biting me for about an hour.  Ever since I was a kid, I had cats, and I can not ever remember a cat or a kitten even trying once to climb up my back when I was eating, or climbing onto my bed and trying to bite and scratch me for an hour when I was trying to sleep.

I couldn’t believe how bad this kitten was acting, it was such a change from yesterday.  After he had eaten a lot of cat food, had a safe place to stay, and had gotten some rest, he was the worst cat ever.

The Kitten That I Brought Home

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I have to get up in the morning at 3:30 a.m., because I have a long drive to work, at an industrial site far away from Dickinson, North Dakota where I live.  For the first nine months of this particular work assignment, there were very few people at this site, which is located out in the middle of nowhere.

Several years ago, all of the wildlife in the area realized that there was no hunting on this industrial site.  There was no hunting allowed on this location, because of the risk of damage being done to the equipment by any stray bullets.  Several herds of deer, several packs of coyotes, several foxes, dozens of rabbits, a handful of feral cats, many pheasants, some badgers, and even a wolverine, yes a wolverine, began living at this location.

Not only did all these wild animals move to this location, these wild animals began to have a certain amount of trust towards me and my few fellow co-workers.  In fact, some animals like the pheasants, actually preferred to stay close to where we were, sensing that neither the hunters nor the coyotes would come after them when we were around.  Some of the rabbits would come within three or four feet of us while they were eating grass, believing that the coyotes, owls, eagles and other predators would not try to get them when we were there.

When me or my other co-workers did not want to finish eating the food that we had, we would leave the leftover food in a certain spot for the feral cats.  I felt very bad for the feral cats, they were skinny and not in very good physical condition.  The feral cats did not have any place warm to go when it got to be -10, -20, -30 degrees Fahrenheit.  I felt that at least they could have our leftover food in the Winter.

Late this Summer, everything changed at this industrial site where I work.  There were so many workers, that the rules had to change.  Every day now, there are a couple of safety specialists, and environmental specialists at this site, who are there to monitor and observe everything that goes on.  Their instructions to me, were that me and my co-workers could no longer feed the feral cats, as this would be considered interfering with the native wildlife.

What was even more upsetting to me, was that some of the new workers actually started doing mean things to the feral cats, rabbits, and pheasants on site, to the animals that used to have a certain amount of trust towards the people who worked on this site, that they weren’t going to harm them, and that they were protected.  I am not going to dwell on this at the moment, it is just a fact that some North Dakotans get enjoyment out of hurting and killing animals like cats, prairie dogs, rabbits, pheasants, and deer.

I like cats, but I can’t really have a cat, because pets are not allowed in the apartment building where I live, and I am really just here in North Dakota temporarily for work.  I left a cat back home at my house in Idaho, and I paid the neighbor to feed him, but supposedly he got run over by a car.  I felt bad that I pretty much nearly abandoned this cat in Idaho, but I wanted him to be able to stay on his five acres of land, and I paid a neighbor to feed him, which I felt was the best that I could do for him.

I would like to have a cat, but I shouldn’t have one.  Today at work, at 4:30 p.m, I heard a radio announcement that a lottery jackpot has now grown to $1.5 billion.  I thought to myself, if I won this lottery jackpot, and a reporter asked me what I was going to do with all of this money, I would say, “I am going to get a cat, and then a girlfriend.”

At 5:15 p.m. today, one of the worker’s wives drove up to the site entrance in a new Ford F350 pickup truck.  I walked over to her to ask her if she was here to pick someone up, and she said yes, her husband.  I could barely hear her, because there was this cat screaming Meow!, Meow!, Meow!  I said to this lady, do you have a cat in your truck, and she said no.  I said pop the hood, and she didn’t know what I was talking about, but I knew there was a cat stuck up in the truck engine.

I went and got my work gloves because I was sure I was going to get bit and scratched, I pulled the hood release, undid the hood safety latch, and told her to turn off the truck engine while I went digging for this cat, it was under the air cleaner box.  Within about thirty seconds, a six week old kitten climbed out from behind the radiator, and I grabbed him.

This woman, her husband, and some of the other workers thought that this was funny, it appeared that they did not dislike cats.  I asked her about where she lived, to try to determine if this was one of her neighbor’s cats.  She said, no, she lived next door to a bar, where there were a lot of homeless cats.  I asked her and her husband if they wanted this cat, and they said no, not really.

I put this six week old kitten, which appeared to be a Siamese cat, on the front seat of my Jeep Cherokee, because I was not off duty yet.  If it pissed and pooped in my Jeep, this Jeep only cost me $500, so it was not that big a deal.  It sat down on the center console, and behaved pretty well.  Also, it had not tried to bite me or scratch me.

Ordinarily, I would have just put this cat on the ground and let it go.  But for one thing, this was not a cat, it was only a six week old kitten.  Second, some of the workers on this location were doing mean things to the feral cats, rabbits, and pheasants.  Third, the coyotes, the wolverine, an owl, an eagle, or other predator would have gotten this kitten this very night.

I don’t know what I am going to do with this kitten.  I would like to keep him, because he is pretty well behaved.  Halfway back to Dickinson, he came out of hiding, climbed up my arm onto my shoulder, and sat on my shoulder quietly all the way back to Dickinson and through town, just looking out the window.

I put him in my bathroom with a litter box, some water, and some cat food for about an hour when I first got home.  He drank some water, ate all of his food, and he pooped in the litter box.  So, I don’t have to worry as much as I thought I would about him using the litter box.

Here is a short video of him, he didn’t stay in this basket long:

An Alternative To YouTube, With No Censorship Or Demonitization

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I have written several blog post articles about the French-Canadian YouTuber who calls herself Piper Blush.  After she started her YouTube channel in 2017, within a year she reached 500,000 subscribers to her channel, and her videos received over 90 million views!

Most of Piper Blush’s YouTube channel viewers did not know that very early on, her YouTube channel was demonitized by YouTube for supposedly breaking rules or community standards.  In most of Piper Blush’s videos, she wore a tight T-shirt, a low-cut blouse with maybe some buttons undone, a short skirt, tight yoga pants, or a bathing suit.  Also, Piper sometimes talked about sex, dating, or made sexual innuendos.

What I think is wrong and unfair, is for YouTube to benefit greatly by Piper Blush’s YouTube videos receiving over 90 million views, and Piper Blush attracting many, many people to YouTube, but YouTube saying that they aren’t going to allow Piper to make any money from her videos because they violated rules or community standards.

Piper Blush was one of a great many YouTubers who were demonitized, censored, or banned from YouTube for supposedly breaking the rules.  Another YouTuber who was blocked and censored was Nika Vegan a.k.a. Nika Banana.   What Piper and Nika have in common, is they like men, they truthfully and openly answer questions they are asked about sex, and they like to show off their bodies.  As far as most men are concerned, they don’t want Piper and Nika to be censored.

A few months ago Piper Blush created an alternative to YouTube, which she named Cocoscope.com.  This alternative to YouTube, is free to join, free to create your own channel, and free to upload your own videos.  Unlike YouTube, there is no censorship, and no one is going to be demonitized.

I am attaching a video that I uploaded to my new Cocoscope channel Dickinson58601, where I sneak up on someone taking a shower, in order to avoid censorship from YouTube:

https://www.cocoscope.com/watch?v=1984

Bismarck Veteran Wrongfully Accused Of Terrorizing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Women Explained Using A Jeep Wrangler

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police Officer:  What!?

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

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

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

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

I Hate Tailgaters In Dickinson, North Dakota

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Downtown Dickinson Association, Strange, And Square

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Importance Of Having Legal Representation In North Dakota

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

Unethical Human Medical Experimentation In Dickinson, North Dakota

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Explanation Of A $3,500 Weekly Pay Check

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Socializing In Dickinson, North Dakota

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

North Dakota Residents Are Too Permissive About Illegal Drug Use

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Like Emma Gower Too

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Opinion Of The Stark County North Dakota Sheriff Department

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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