Tag Archives: what are people like in Dickinson North Dakota

Secret Lake Of The Badlands

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For those of you who are not familiar with North Dakota, in the western part of the state there are mostly flat prairie grasslands with very few trees. In the distance, here and there you will see buttes which range in size from one hundred to two hundred feet tall. If you go far enough, the grasslands come to an end and you reach the “badlands”.

The badlands consist of many miles of dry, sandy, barren, steep deep ravines and sharp peaks. If you think that North Dakota is sparsely populated, the badlands are mostly vacant of people. There are more rattlesnakes in the badlands than people.

There are/were a small number of people who like living in the badlands. There is so much vacant land that it was a good place to graze cattle. Cattle ranching required horses and cowboys. So there you go, that’s the kind of people who live in the badlands, horses and cowboys, still to this day.

Since 2011, on and off I have had to work in or travel through the badlands. There are some oil wells and pump jacks in the North Dakota badlands. In the Summer of 2012 I worked in an oil field in the desert of west Texas where it was extremely hot, dry, and there were very few people. In remote west Texas you have to be very aware all the time that it is so hot and there are so few people that if you become injured or stranded you could die before anyone finds you. Similar thing in the North Dakota badlands.

The area that I am going to show pictures of in this blog post article, it is kind of dangerous because it is so hot, so barren, there are so few people, and the people in this area don’t like outsiders. For a little while, I considered writing out driving directions for how to get to this location, but I soon changed my mind because people would not fully understand how much trouble that they could get into.

The first time that I rode my motorcycle in this area, I was not sure where I was going because all of the internet maps are incorrect. As I was finding out that the maps were incorrect, the few local people became aware of me riding around, and got in their trucks to see where I was going and what I was doing, so I thought that I had better leave and try again another day.

Here is a photo on my way to the secret badlands lake. The nearest gas station or convenience store is at least fifty miles away:

Here is a photo of an old house on the way to the lake. If the landowner would have seen me taking this photo, he probably would have tried to shoot me:

There is a one-track road that splits off the main road, and winds around for about a mile before you first see the secret badlands lake:

The badlands are so sandy, dry, hot, and barren, with so little water, that is seems like a miracle when you get a look at this lake in-person:

When I arrived at this lake on a mid-afternoon week day, I was hoping to find one or two young naked cowgirls who were in a good mood from cleaning off and cooling off in the water, and were leisurely drying themselves and tanning themselves in the sun.  But I don’t know where they were:

Besides me not wanting to tell people where this is, so that they don’t get lost or stranded and die, I kind of wanted to keep this to myself so that I can go swimming here alone and enjoy the peace and quiet. But I can’t really go swimming here by myself like I want, because the local people here would shoot me like a turtle.

More Problems With Banks In Dickinson North Dakota

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It has come to the point, that I don’t even want to name this Bank in Dickinson, North Dakota where I keep having problems.  I have already written two previous blog post articles about this Bank.

At first, when I opened an account with this local Bank in Dickinson more than three years ago, I thought that the customer service was going to be superior to the nationwide Bank, Wells Fargo, that I had become frustrated with in Dickinson.  I was wrong.

My first blog post article complaining about this local Bank in Dickinson, was that they were treating me like criminal white-trash when I was trying to open an account.  They directly said to me, “We have to perform a credit check on you, before we will allow you to open an account at our Bank.”  And when I asked if a debit card came with this checking account, they said to me, “If you get denied for your checking account, you won’t get any debit card.”

I didn’t like hearing this kind of talk.  At the time, I had accounts at three different Banks.  I had never been overdrawn on an account in my life, never missed a credit card payment, never missed a car payment, never missed a rent payment.  Why was this person at this Bank treating me like this?

The second blog post article that I wrote complaining about this local Bank, was when this same person at this Bank told me, that their Bank was not liable for forged or stolen checks.  I explained to this person that my understanding was that Banks are liable for reimbursing account holders for forged or stolen checks, otherwise, why would anyone keep money in Banks, and that this is what the FDIC insurance on Bank accounts is for.

I had to spend a lot of my own time researching Banking laws, getting down to reading about the Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency, which regulates Banks.  Yes, Banks are legally required to reimburse account holders for “improperly paid” checks, for such things as forged and stolen checks.  Why didn’t the person at this local Bank in Dickinson, even know the Banking law?  Is this entire Bank, and the Bank owner crooked?

After this, I went and opened an account with the nationwide Bank, US Bank, in Dickinson.  I asked the lady that was opening my new account, what was her understanding of the law regarding forged or stolen checks.  She replied with almost these exact words:

“At US Bank, if you report to us that there has been a forged or stolen check drawn against your account, we require that you file a Police report immediately about this check fraud and theft.  That way, the Police can begin investigating immediately.  US Bank will then reimburse you the money that was stolen from your account.  US Bank will conduct its own investigation, in addition to the Police investigation.  If we determine that there was no involvement or wrong-doing by the account holder in this theft, this matter is closed with the account holder.”

That is exactly what I wanted to hear.  The nationwide US Bank was following U.S. Law, whereas the other local Bank in Dickinson was not.

When my father died in April of this year, I was told by the representative of his estate, that I would be getting two large checks, and one smaller check.  The first check was to close out his savings account.  The second check was to close out his investments.  The third check was to close out his checking account, which would be done after all of his final bills had been paid.

I had four different Bank accounts that I could deposit these checks in, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the Bank that said they were not responsible for forged and stolen checks.

When I did receive the first two checks settling the estate of my father, I called ahead to the Bank manager explaining what I had, and that I wanted to come inside the Bank to complete these deposits.  I said that I understood that there would be a seven to ten day hold on these checks.  I said to the Bank manager that I did not want any Bank teller asking me where I got these checks, what they were for, or treating these checks like they were fake checks, or stolen checks.  The Bank manager cut me off, saying, “No, no, no, no one here is going to do that to you.”

Today, I received in the mail unexpectedly, a check that was partially closing out my father’s checking account, as there were probably going to be no more bills.  This check was for a little over $10,000.  In order to spread the money out amongst my four different Bank accounts, I wanted to deposit this check into the local Bank in Dickinson that I had had bad experiences with.  This check wasn’t for that much money, there shouldn’t be any problem just making a deposit.

I had not expected to be making a Bank deposit today, so when I went to this local Dickinson Bank, I had to ask the Bank teller for a blank deposit slip.  I went over to a counter space, and completed the deposit slip for just a deposit of this one check, no money back.

I explained to the Bank teller that I had an account at this Bank, I just wanted to deposit this check, and I handed everything to her.  I wasn’t expecting any problems.

Within about one or two minutes of handing this deposit slip and check to this Bank teller, she was on the telephone beside her, saying to me, “I have to verify if funds are available.”

This was not good.  I am fifty-one years old now, a Bank teller does not need to make a phone call to determine if “funds are available” on a check that is being deposited.  I have never had this happen to me before in my life.  Either a check will clear the Bank that it is drawn upon within a period of a few days, or it won’t.  Her phone call was more to determine if this was a fraudulent, fake, or stolen check.

I was becoming angry, because this check was clearly printed with the full name of my father and “Attorney At Law”, with his address on the east coast, and it was made payable to me his son, with the exact same name and Jr.  My Bank account with this local Bank in Dickinson, has my full name, which is the same full name as my father, but I am a Jr.

The young lady Bank teller was on the phone for five minutes, but she received no response.  She asked me what this check was, and I said that it was from my father.

What I became concerned about, besides me being angry, was that this Bank teller was not very smart.  If I told her that my father had died, in her Sherlock Holmes detective mind, she would say, “Ah ha!  How could your father write this check, if he is dead?”

I would then try to explain, that my father didn’t write this check, it was the representative of his estate who wrote this check to me.  “Ah ha!” she would say, “You admit that this check has been forged!”

This young Bank teller went walking around the Bank in search of some kind of manager that could approve the deposit of this check.  I asked the nearest Bank employee if I could speak to the Bank manager, I was becoming very angry I said.

There was no Bank manager available.  The young Bank teller got back on the telephone, and I heard her say something like this check was suspicious, or that I was suspicious.  Meanwhile, the Bank lobby cleared of all employees, and I was expecting the Dickinson Police to arrive at any moment.

I looked at my cell phone, in order to retrieve the email that the representative of my father’s estate had sent to myself and my sister explaining the plans for the distribution of the estate, and the checks that he had planned to send out.

Eventually, an assistant manager was located, by the Bank employees who had evacuated the Bank lobby.  I walked back to the assistant manager’s office, and I explained to him that this transaction was just for a deposit of a check from my father.  I wasn’t trying to get any cash back, I was just making a deposit.  Your Bank teller was acting like this was a fake, fraudulent, or stolen check.

I explained that I knew that this check could take seven to ten days to clear.  I wasn’t trying to get any cash back, nor was I expecting for this money to be available.  Why was your Bank teller trying to call, supposedly to determine if “funds were available”?  You were treating this like it was a fake or stolen check, and I am very angry, and insulted.

The assistant bank manager explained that perhaps the Bank teller was trying to find a way to not have a seven to ten day hold on this check, but she should have explained that she was doing this, or explained that there would be a seven to ten day hold.

I said to the assistant Bank manager, that I shouldn’t have to explain to your Bank teller, and all of the other Bank tellers and people in your Bank lobby within in ear-shot, what this check is for, it is none of their business, but you can go ahead and read this explanation here on my phone, and I handed him my phone.

He walked back out to the Bank tellers with me, he told the Bank teller to process this deposit, it was for the estate of my father.  The check was deposited, I was handed the receipt, and I left the Bank.

I was angry and insulted, and this Bank deposit took about 20-30 minutes.

You might want to ask me, why didn’t I just explain all of this to the Bank teller in the first place?  For one thing, it is none of her business, and none of the business of everyone standing within forty feet of me who can hear.  Next, I realized that this young Bank teller was not very smart, if I had told her that my father had died, she would wonder who wrote this check and who signed it?

Then, since this Bank teller was on the path of being a detective, was she going to become a legal expert too and say, “Wait a minute, did this go through probate?”, “Wait a minute, does your father’s representative have legal power of attorney?”,  “Wait a minute, did you pay taxes on this?”

The God damn fucking problem of young Bank tellers asking questions, is that they shouldn’t be asking fucking questions!!!!  If a check is payable or processable, do it, don’t try to be a fucking detective!

To Understand Dickinson, You Need To Realize That It Is Not Even At The Blue-Collar Level Of People

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About a year ago, I realized that one of my problems in understanding people in Dickinson, North Dakota, their actions, behavior, beliefs, and habits, is that the people here aren’t even at the Blue-Collar level.

White-Collar people perform work that is clerical, administrative, or managerial.  I associate White-Collar people with those that went to college and work at a profession such as teachers, professors, accountants, lawyers, engineers, and doctors.  These people are typically in salaried positions.

Blue-Collar people are described as performing manual labor, and are typically paid an hourly wage rate.  However, I want to point out that the skilled trades that typically require vocational training or an apprenticeship such as electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics, and heavy equipment operators are classified as Blue-Collar.

After living in Dickinson for about eight years now, I don’t usually see many White-Collar people in Dickinson.  At a store or restaurant in Dickinson, maybe 1 out of 15 people are White-Collar people, that’s about 7% of people.

But I also noticed during the past eight years of living in Dickinson, that when I am out in public, talking to people, meeting people, dealing with people, listening to what people say, watching what they do, only about 30% of the people in Dickinson are at the Blue-Collar level.

So who do I think is at the Blue-Collar level in Dickinson?  Mechanics who are able to keep their job at a car dealership service department;  Plumbers and Electricians who are able to keep their job doing residential and commercial work;  Welders who are able to stay steadily employed doing industrial work;  Pumpers who work in the oil field;  Tow truck drivers who are steadily employed and treat this as their profession.  UPS and FedEx drivers who keep their jobs.  Delivery drivers who are steadily employed and treat this as their profession.  These types of workers make up about 30% of the people in Dickinson.

But the majority of the people in Dickinson, North Dakota are not like the White-Collar workers and the Blue-Collar workers that I described above.  The majority of the people in Dickinson are what I can attempt to describe as:  Alcoholics, drug addicts, social security disability recipients, drifters, loiterers, unemployed, incompetent, criminals, low-class, white-trash, hill-billy, inbred, backwards, sleazy, slobs, naer-do-wells, liars, and con-artists.  Ask yourself, does this not constitute about 60% of the shoppers at WalMart in Dickinson?

In contrast, if you go to Menards in Dickinson, where people shop for tools, equipment, and building supplies in order to accomplish some useful work, build something, or do home improvement, haven’t you noticed that these people aren’t anywhere near as sleazy, low-class, and trashy as the people at WalMart in Dickinson?  These much less sleazy people are the 7% White-Collar and the 30% Blue-Collar people that are in Dickinson.

So what, am I just picking on people in Dickinson again?  No, I am trying to explain that you can’t understand the behavior and actions of people in Dickinson, until you realize that about 60% of the people in Dickinson are not even at the Blue-Collar level of people.

An important result of this, is how the Police in Dickinson handle crime.  When I was living in downtown Dickinson for the past three years, I experienced a great deal of theft, and attempted theft.  So did my neighbors.  When the Police finally did catch the person who stole my truck, to my surprise, they didn’t even charge him with the theft of my truck.  And, despite this thief being on parole and caught in the possession of other stolen property and drugs, he was not sent back to prison, and he only spent a couple of months in jail.

See, the Police in Dickinson can’t try to catch, jail, or imprison the people in Dickinson who steal, vandalize, use illegal drugs, or sell illegal drugs, because they would be catching, jailing, and imprisoning about half of the population of Dickinson.

Another consequence of 60% of the people in Dickinson not even being at the Blue-Collar level of people, is that if you go to a restaurant, fast-food restaurant, bar, convenience store, gas station, store, or other type of business in Dickinson, you will likely be dealing with someone who is low-class, white-trash, inbred, hill-billy, sleazy, naer-do-well, drug-addict, criminal, con-artist.

Why is Dickinson like this?  It’s a combination of several things.  The bright, talented, ambitious people who were born and grew up in Dickinson, most of them leave Dickinson after high school.  The dullard, untalented, unmotivated, drug addicts stayed in Dickinson after high school.

Then, because of the oil boom, Dickinson business people and the news media gave a Worldwide shout-out to all the unemployed and low-income people of the World to come to Dickinson, North Dakota, and they did come.  And they stayed.

Most Of My Problems Have Come From Helping People, And More Reason Why I Hate Dickinson

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Looking back on my life, most of my problems have come from me trying to help people.  During the past several years of living in Dickinson, North Dakota I have tried to remind myself many times to not help people.  However, I recently tried to help a family, and I became very angry at the result.

In May of this year I bought a house in the Dickinson area.  This house was built in about 1950 and it does need some maintenance work.  It was also a lot of work for me to get my belongings, furniture, equipment, and vehicles to this new house.

I was thinking of different types of fences and gates that I wanted to install at my new house.  Plus security cameras and motion activated yard lights so that I didn’t have to go through thefts, attempted thefts, and vandalism like I did when I was living at my apartment in downtown Dickinson.  There were many things that needed to be done at my new house.

I had lived in my 2 BR apartment in downtown Dickinson for the past three years, and it needed a thorough cleaning and some damage repair before I moved out.  With everything that I had to do, I would like to get some help.

Most of my friends and my neighbors that I am friends with, are older than me, and most of them have hip, back, knee, or hernia problems, so I only asked each of them for a very small amount of help.  I was trying to think about who else that I could get to help me with my projects.

Even for things like cleaning out roof gutters, digging fence post holes, and holding fence posts vertical while I add quickcrete around them, I didn’t want someone that I didn’t know very well or trust over at my house.  I have eight vehicles, a car trailer, an equipment trailer, motorcycles, and all kinds of tools and equipment at my house. I didn’t want an unemployed naer-do-well over at my house looking at all of my stuff and thinking about what they wanted to try to come back and get when I was at work.

The people that are able-bodied, reliable, trustworthy, competent, and skilled, they already have full-time jobs making good money.  They don’t need to waste their few days off cleaning gutters or scraping loose paint over at my house.

There was a woman that I met not long ago, who was trying to make additional money outside of her regular full-time job.  Through the past couple of months she did help me some for money, and she was appearing to be reliable and normal, not a drug addict or con-artist.  When she helped me, I paid her more than she asked for, because she was having financial difficulty.

This woman introduced me to her boyfriend, who looked to be younger than her, and he acted like a disaster.  In the future I plan on writing a blog post article about women who partner with the worst possible men, with the worst qualities, and it ruins their lives.  Why do they do this?

In this particular instance, it almost seemed as if this woman had adopted a stray animal, rather than picked a boyfriend.  I wondered what must have been going on in her mind?  Was she horny, lonely, believing that this was all that she could get or was available?  She never really did come out and say that this was her boyfriend, she just said his name, like she was too embarrassed to say the he was her boyfriend, but he piped right up to say that he was.  Whatever.

Because she knew that I had all kinds of work to do at my house, she was suggesting to me that I could hire her boyfriend to do it.  I asked her what was his trade, was he a carpenter, a painter, a roofer, a mechanic?  To which she replied, “He will do whatever you show him.”  Oh God, I thought.

Her boyfriend was nice enough, but he acted so immature, and he already was young.  Well, he was probably thirty, but he acted like he was sixteen.  He was so hyperactive and Attention Deficit Disorder acting, with high energy and enthusiasm, but no experience, skill, or probably even common sense.  I could tell that he would probably do way more damage than anything else.

I had met this woman’s elementary school aged daughter a couple of times, and seen her with her boyfriend.  Her daughter was withdrawn acting, not like she was dumb or unobservant, but like she was choosing to not communicate or interact.  I asked her how was her daughter doing in school, and she replied that her school had wanted to hold her back a grade for each of the past two years.

Sometimes when kids go through repeated traumatic events, they withdraw and don’t want to communicate, for a number of different reasons.  There is a young woman named Stephi Lee Wright that I read about, who had what is called “selective mutism” up until the age of eleven, where she wouldn’t speak to hardly anyone.  But she would draw, do artwork, and play with animals.

This family did not have internet at their house, but there was internet at this woman’s work, where her daughter sat quietly not saying anything.  I thought that her daughter would probably enjoy a tablet computer or a small laptop to draw on, play games, watch videos, look at things, and look things up.

I was thinking about getting her daughter a tablet computer or laptop computer, because a friend of mine buys computers, fixes them, then sells them.  I have bought about five tablets and laptops from him in the past, he usually charges me about $140 each.  He currently needs money, so I was going to buy a computer from him for her daughter.

I asked her if she wanted a tablet or laptop for her daughter, and she said that she did.  I went and looked at what my friend had.  He was being stingy with his tablets, but he had some small size laptops.  He would get one ready for me to take, he had some carrying cases for these.  I had an extra pair of headphones to go with it.

I didn’t want to ask this woman to do any more work for me, because she already had too much to do, with her side jobs, full-time job, child, her own housework, and her own yard work, even though I trusted her and she did a good job whatever she did.

I had seen her young boyfriend not working during the week, and going fishing.  I saw this, because they live a couple of city blocks away from me.  It kind of made me mad, that while she was at work during the day, her boyfriend was fishing.  She had explained to me that she had been having a $300-$400 shortfall of money every month.  I tried to think of something that I could pay her boyfriend to do for me, and not break anything.  I could give him a try, and then decide if he could do anything else.

I asked her if her boyfriend was currently scheduled to do work anywhere, I had some work that I could pay him to do.  I said that I had a 6’x6′ wooden shed that needed to be scraped, painted with primer, and then painted.  What I was offering to pay, was about $20-$25 per hour on this small project.  Oh no she said, “He gets $30-$40 per hour.”  I said, “What, that’s fucking crazy!”  And I walked out.

I couldn’t believe this!  This woman with a full-time job and different side jobs, she had told me that she was having a $300-$400 per month shortfall of money.  When she had asked me if I wanted to hire her boyfriend to do work, I had asked her what was his trade.  He had no trade or skill, but “Would do whatever you showed him to do.”  So why the fuck do you/he, think that he should get $30-$40 per hour for unskilled labor?  And if he gets that, why the fuck are you saying that you have a shortfall of money?

For those of you who don’t know, as a comparison, in the states of ID, UT, MT, ND, SD, WY, Union journeymen who have completed their apprenticeships in the skilled trades of electrician, welder, plumber, heavy equipment operator get paid $30-$40 per hour.  Don’t fucking argue with me on this, I work at a Union jobsite with electricians, welders, and operators, and this is what they get paid.  Union laborers get paid $23 per hour where I work.

I didn’t think that this woman was a con-artist, but now I do.  I later talked to a couple of my neighbors about this, and before I even got into my story, they said, “Is this Xxxxxxx?”  I said yes.  They said that they had been through this with him too, and that he is not allowed back to their house.

I was very disgusted and sick of people for at least a week after this.  I had begun trusting these people and trying to help them, but once again I learned my lesson to not help people.

Property Line Disputes On All Sides At My New House In Dickinson, North Dakota

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If you the reader have seen more than ten of my blog post articles, you would conclude that I don’t like the Dickinson area, and you would wonder why did I buy a house here.  I will explain why.

Even though the oil boom in western North Dakota has been over since 2015 when the price of oil continued to stay below $50 per barrel, and many oil field jobs have gone away, there are still some oil field/industrial projects that are being completed.  The wage rate in western North Dakota remains much higher than in my home state of Idaho, because of the shortage of workers in western North Dakota, due to no one wanting to come to and live in North Dakota.

After living in a low-rent apartment in downtown Dickinson for the past three years, I became very, very tired of the drug dealing, drug addicts, theft of my truck, theft of my property, attempted thefts, living in the ghetto, and the Police trying to stop me all the time as if I was a criminal, on probation, or in possession of drugs.

I wanted to keep my job that I like and that pays well, for the next couple of years, even though Dickinson is a bad place, and the neighborhood that I was living in was terrible.  I was looking at small, low-priced homes, in order to be able to get out of the crime infested Dickinson ghetto, so that my life wouldn’t be so miserable.

In May when I purchased a small 3br/1ba home on multiple lots in the Dickinson area, it seemed so good, that it was too good to be true.  For me, it was like getting out of prison.  One of my friends who is in his sixties, he told me, “Don’t do it, don’t do it!  Those people will cause you so much trouble, you have no idea how much trouble they will cause you!”  Sounds crazy, right?

Initially, this move seemed too good to be true.  My own house, my own kitchen, my own bathroom, my own laundry room, my own yard.  What a relief.  Such a drop in tension, stress, and misery getting out of the downtown Dickinson meth-addict ghetto.

This new peace, tranquility, and happiness was short-lived.  It ended when two Police Officers arrived at my house to question me.  I have never been accused or charged with any crime in my life, and when the two Police Officers arrived at my house to question me, I had not committed any crime.

Without going into the details at this time, I will say that this visit from the Police was because of the North Dakota law “You Are Not From Here”.  Because I have been in North Dakota for over seven years now, I realized that it doesn’t matter if you have not committed any crime in North Dakota, you will still be arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, imprisoned, and have your property stolen by corrupt asset forfeiture laws.

The Police could have caused me to lose my good job, my home, and all of my property through being incarcerated, legal defense fees, and asset forfeiture.  Please note, in North Dakota you don’t have to be convicted of any crime before your property is permanently seized, the Police can just take it from you immediately, and not ever give it back, even if you are never convicted of any crime.

Within a few days, I called my Dickinson ghetto apartment landlord to say that I wasn’t moving out of my apartment by the end of June, could I please keep renting my apartment through July and August.  I now wanted to keep my apartment in order to have a different place to stay if the Police were going to continue to try to harass me at my new house.  But this is a digression and going off on a tangent story, I just wanted to explain why I was no longer very happy anymore.

At my new house, I was aware that my neighbor to the south had built a fence that was approximately three feet onto my property, for the entire length of the property line.  This neighbor had done this, because his yard was so small in total, and this side of his house would not have had any usable yard.

My neighbor and his wife were very concerned that I was going to ask them to move their fence.  I told them that their fence was O.K. where it was.  ( I knew that there are laws concerning customary/established use of land, which could cause me to lose legal ownership of this three foot strip of land by allowing their fence to remain where it was.)

My neighbor to the east, he had become accustomed to planting a 50’x50′ garden on the northeast corner of my property.  He claimed that he had been doing this for the past thirty years.  I told him that he could continue to use this corner of my property for his garden.  ( I believed that this neighbor might have had a good chance of winning some kind of customary/established use of land legal action that could grant him use of this land if I tried to stop him.)

My neighbor to the north, she was an 85 year old widow who lived alone.  I was glad to have an enormous hedge along the entire length of my north property line which acted like a privacy fence, blocking visitors, sight, and noise.  When I realized that this 85 year old woman lived alone, with apparently no one to help her, I went onto her side of the hedge in order to trim it back away from her garage to create a six foot wide alley-way.

After more bad shit had happened, I was mowing my lawn today, which took about two hours because I had to stop to move things and deal with other distractions, when I heard some woman yelling, Hey!, Hey!  I looked up from mowing and saw some woman in her mid-fifties standing in my yard with the 85 year old widow woman.

I walked over to them, and the fifty-five year old woman was saying that she wanted me to look at the north property line with them.  She was asking me if I knew where the property line was.  ( The seller of the property had told me that it was approximately down the middle of this hedge.)  I knew from talking to the 85 year old woman previously, that she had lived in her house since 1955, her daughter had been born in this house, and she grew up in this house.  The property line is probably still in the same place that it has been for the past sixty-five years, I was thinking sarcastically.

Why did this fifty-five year old woman, who no longer lived in her mother’s house, now have such an interest in discussing with me exactly where the property line was located within this enormous, six foot wide hedge?  Neither myself, nor the 85 year old widow woman ever ventured into this hedge, or tried to build anything within this hedge, so why does this matter?

I knew what this fifty-five year old woman was trying to do, pretty much the same thing as my neighbors on the south who had their fence three feet onto my side of the property, and my neighbor to the east that wanted to use a 50’x50′ corner of my property, she wanted to try to get something from me.

I said to her, “This hedge has been growing here for the last twenty to twenty-five years.  I have been here for two months, are you trying to get me to now take all the responsibility for this hedge?”  The fifty-five year old woman did not answer this question of mine, she continued to act like she was interested in determining the location of the property line.  I knew that this did not really have anything to do with the property line, it was all about trying to get me to do something with this hedge.

Then, she began to complain about how the hedge had grown so close to her mother’s garage.  I explained to her, and I showed her, that I had cut this six foot wide alley-way beside her mother’s garage a month ago, because her mother was elderly, and because she lived alone, but I was not obligated to do this.  The fifty-five year old woman continued to say, “We have got to find out where this property line is?”  I said, “Why?”  She didn’t answer.

I knew what she was trying to do, and I was very angry about it.  She was trying to find some way to make me cut this hedge way back, hire someone else to cut this hedge way back, or she could hire someone herself and make me pay for it.

For the past twenty to twenty-five years she and her mother could have trimmed this hedge, or hired someone to trim this hedge on their side of the property, however they liked.  Now, since I bought the property next door, they were going to try to find some way to see if they could force me to pay for what they had neglected to do themselves for the past twenty years.

What this woman was trying to do, was trying to somehow get me to be legally responsible and obligated to perform or pay for having this hedge trimmed regularly to their liking.  I yelled at them, “I am so sick of you North Dakotans, just go ahead and take me to court!”  And I walked away.

After I talked to some people about this and calmed down quite a bit, I looked up and read the laws concerning hedges/trees on or near property lines, from more than half a dozen attorneys.  Here is a summary:

In general, for hedges/trees on or near a property line, each homeowner is responsible for what is on their property or over their property line, at their own expense.

In general, whatever limb, branch, root, or trunk that is located on their property or over their property line, they can trim it or remove it up to the property line, so long as it does not kill the hedge/tree on someone else’s property.

In general, it is the property owner’s responsibility to perform, hire, or pay for the trimming of limbs, branches, roots, trees on their property or over their property line.

Almost always, the owner of a tree or hedge is not responsible to perform, hire, or pay for trimming of a branch, limb, or root that crosses over onto someone else’s property.  The only exception is a dead or broken tree branch that is hanging over someone else’s home that is a danger.

I was so angry about this, because I felt like each of my neighbors was so obviously trying to take advantage of me, and I got tired of it.  I felt like and I thought about putting a “For Sale By Owner” sign in my front yard tomorrow.

These people in North Dakota are unashamedly nasty and primitive in their inability to distinguish or know basic right and wrong.

Cutting Ties With Friends Who Are Too Much Trouble In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I have had to cut ties with friends who are too much trouble, several times in Dickinson, North Dakota.  These friends were people who were always having problems, often because they used poor judgment, and they would frequently ask me for help, which began to make my life full of problems too.

I had to cut ties with my oldest and best friend in Dickinson this week, because he was always having problems, and trying to make his problems my problems too, like I owed him help and was obligated to help him.  I want to try to explain this.

In the winter of 2013, I was staying in my small trailer on a person’s property north of Dickinson, with electric hookup, but no water and no sewer hook up.  For people not familiar with the oil boom in North Dakota, housing was so scarce and expensive during the oil boom, that many people paid hundreds of dollars a month in rent to sleep in a tent in someone’s backyard.  Many people slept in their vehicles at Tiger Truck Stop or WalMart, even though they had full-time jobs, because rent was so expensive.

The person whose property I was staying on in my small trailer, he bought a diesel Ford F250 in December of 2013, and he began plugging its engine block heater power cord into the same electric power outlet that my small trailer was plugged into.  In the middle of the night when it got down to -20 degrees Fahrenheit, the electric panel breaker would trip, leaving me without power and without heat.

Across the open field that I was living on, was a residential neighborhood where I had met one of the homeowners while working for a contractor in Dickinson.  I asked this homeowner if I could park my small trailer in his yard, plug into his electric, and pay him rent.  This homeowner explained to me that he was on an equalized payment electric utility plan, and that this would disrupt his payment plan.  So I asked him if he had a spare bedroom to rent.

This homeowner who was in his late fifties, he was overweight and in bad health.  His yard and his house were full of clutter.  He currently did not have employment, he sold items on E-Bay to make money, and his house and each room were full of inventory.  We cleared out one of the two spare bedrooms for me to stay in, and I agreed to pay him $450 per month in rent.

This homeowner, I will call him “Danny”, though that is not his real name.  In “Danny”, I had found someone who was struggling financially, was in bad health, had no friends, no one to help him, and no one cared about him.  He appeared to be eager to have some additional income, some company, and someone to help him.

In the little over three years that I spent living in Danny’s home, I paid him over $18,000 in rent, about $2,000 in storage fees for equipment parked in his yard, and I paid him about $1,500 for helping me in my self-employed work.  This $21,500 was tax-free, unreported income for Danny.

While living with Danny, I found out more about his health problems and his personal problems.  He had not been employed anywhere for almost ten years.  Even though Dickinson had been going through the biggest oil boom that it had ever had since 2007, Danny had been unemployed during this time.

Beginning in 2014, when I became manager of a small company in Dickinson, I was able to get “Danny” hired to work with me for several months.  I had difficulty with Danny trying to get him to complete his employment application to become hired.  He was frustrated by the application and unwilling to make the effort to provide the documentation that was requested.  While going through this with him, I could see some of the problems that caused Danny to be unemployed for the previous ten years.

Danny did not listen to my instructions on how to get to the job site in Watford City or how long the drive took, and he was late to work his first day.  He also forgot his suitcase and he had to drive back to Dickinson after work to go back and get his suitcase.

Initially, Danny became lost in Watford City a couple of times, though Watford City was a small town with a population of about 10,000 people, with about two or three traffic lights in the entire town.  Danny became unglued after becoming lost, he became extremely nasty with me and the hotel owner where we were staying, when we tried to give him directions on the telephone.

Within a week or two, Danny proceeded to make a complaint about me as a manager and co-worker, in an attempt to get me fired, in order to possibly get his cousin in Watford City hired in my place, or to try to make himself manager, or just out of spite.  Unbeknownst to me, the owner of the hotel in Watford City had made a complaint about Danny’s behavior at the hotel to the owner of the company, and the owner of the company told me, that we were never hiring Danny again after this job was over.

It was difficult and frustrating living in Danny’s home, after I had done him the favor of getting him hired to work with me, he had caused me a lot of trouble at work and he had tried to get me fired.  For those of you not familiar with North Dakota, it is very common for North Dakotans to try to get their out-of-state co-workers fired, because they are not from here.  I don’t know what Danny was thinking.

After living with Danny for a while, I could see that he did not have any friends, his brothers and sisters did not want to visit him or talk to him, his neighbors did not want to interact with him, and no one wanted to help him.

Because Danny’s personality was sometimes a “know-it-all”, sometimes arrogant, sometimes belligerent, I could see why he did not have any friends, his brothers and sisters did not want to visit or talk to him, his neighbors did not want to interact with him, and he had had difficulty obtaining or keeping employment.  The other thing that kept people away, was that Danny was always trying to get people to help him.

I learned from reading court records on the internet, that Danny had declared bankruptcy about twice.  He had had surgeries that were paid for by social services and other charitable organizations, but unemployment during these times left him with bills that he was unable to pay, so he declared bankruptcy.  He still had outstanding court judgments against him that had not been paid, after his bankruptcies.

I wondered if his neighbors and other people that Danny had had interaction with, had the opinion of Danny, that he was always trying to get something for nothing.  It appeared that they had this opinion.  Not just because of declaring bankruptcy in the past, or having health problems and wanting help, or recovering from surgery and wanting help, but always trying to get people to help him with something.

In 2016, the small company that I was the manager of in Dickinson, it was not very busy, and I was able to get outside employment in Watford City on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Partly to help Danny, and partly to get someone to work the rest of the week for me in Watford City on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I again got Danny hired to work with me.

Danny caused me some difficulty at first when he started working in Watford City, because he was not doing what we were hired to do.  But after I got mad at him and told him that he wasn’t doing what we were being paid to do, he did what he was supposed to.  This job in Watford City earned Danny about $48,000 over the next thirteen months.

The $21,500 that I had paid to Danny as unreported tax-free income, the $8,000 that he got paid from working with me in Watford City the first time, the $48,000 that he got paid from working with me in Watford City the second time, was more money than Danny had made in his previous nearly ten years of unemployment.  And as a result of having some money now, in some ways Danny became more of an asshole.

Because Danny had money now, because of me paying him rent and getting him hired to work with me, Danny became more of an asshole, more arrogant, more loud-mouthed, and more belligerent.  He didn’t really need me as a roommate anymore, and he was obnoxious.  I moved out of his house in the Spring of 2017 because Danny was so offensive and belligerent.

For the next year and a half, after I had moved out of Danny’s house, Danny was unemployed, he could not get a job, and he did not have any income.  I learned that he was unable to pay his home owners insurance, nor his property tax which he was already in arrears.  He was selling his personal belongings to survive.

In the late summer of 2018, I got Danny hired to work with me again, because I knew that he was about to lose his home for non-payment of property taxes.  Even though Danny had caused me problems at work before, and Danny had caused me problems when I was living in his home, I still felt like I should help him, because he had helped me back in the Winter of 2013 when I needed a place to stay.

After Danny had worked with me for about four months, he was complaining that he should be paid more money.  He was complaining about wanting more money, after he had been caught and photographed sleeping while on the job several times, and he was close to being fired for cause.

After Danny had made about $30,000 working with me, he was buying new windows for his house and he was talking about buying a new truck.  After he had made about $40,000, he was talking about re-roofing his house.

In the past several months, I have had to come and give Danny a tow in his broken vehicle from downtown Dickinson back to his home twice.  A couple of weeks ago I drove a trailer to go pick up and load by hand 3,500 lb of roofing shingles for Danny’s house.

In this same time period, for some insane reason, Danny told some Mexican guy who I don’t know who recently got arrested, that I would give him a ride two hours one way to go pick up his vehicle.  And, Danny told some woman who doesn’t have any money that I would sell her one of my vehicles.

I got onto to Danny for telling these two people that I do not know that I would give them a ride two hours away or sell them one of my vehicles when they do not have any money.  I asked him what was he thinking, why was he trying to cause me problems?

For the past several months, Danny has been complaining about having difficulty and no one wanting to help him put in his new windows, replace the roof on his house, fix the furnace in his basement, or perform hip surgery on him.  His neighbors, his brothers, tradespeople, the doctors, me, we don’t want to help him because we already have helped in the past, he always wants help, and he always wants something for nothing.

A few days ago Danny was being very belligerent on the phone with me and complaining that no one wants to help him.  I told him that I was about ready to refuse to help him anymore, after I had loaded the 3,500 lbs of roofing shingles for him onto his trailer.  Danny said, ” Oh, I know, you never want to help me with anything.”

I can’t understand how Danny can be so stupid as to not recognize how many times that I have helped him.  I suppose that it is too painful for him to admit or acknowledge that without my help he would have never had employment income and rent income, and he would have lost his house and been living in a public assistance housing project apartment by now.

But this is the way that people are.  Because just about everyone that I have become friends with in Dickinson has acted this way, I have had to cut ties with everyone of my friends in Dickinson.  I don’t have the energy or resources to allow other people to try to make their problems my problems too.

How To Act And Appear Respectable, Not Low Class And Trashy In Dickinson, North Dakota

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A week ago I wrote a blog post article titled, “The Best Restaurant In Dickinson, North Dakota Is A Secret”.  In that article, I wrote about how good the food was in this restaurant, and that there weren’t any dirt-bag construction workers, oil field trash, no-good scum of the Earth meth addict women from Seattle, and other badly behaving people in this restaurant.

In this blog post, rather than express my frustration and disapproval by being mean and going on a rant, I will try to offer some suggestions about how people in Dickinson can act and appear respectable, and not low-class and trashy.

I stopped and thought about it, many people in Dickinson don’t know, they literally do not know that there is anything wrong or abnormal about their behavior, so it might be helpful for me to explain what not to do, and what they can do to act respectable:

What Not To Do:

  1. If you have been working for more than several hours doing physical labor where you have become dirty, hot, and sweaty, don’t go out to eat at a nice restaurant without taking a shower and putting on clean clothes.
  2. If you have not had a shower or changed clothes for more than 24 hours, don’t go out to eat at a nice restaurant without taking a shower and putting on clean clothes.
  3. If you, and the clothes that you have been wearing, have been sitting in a vehicle or inside all day around people smoking cigarettes, do not go out to eat a nice restaurant without taking a shower and putting on clean clothes.
  4. Do not wear dirty or smelly clothing to a nice restaurant.
  5. At a nice restaurant, or any public place, do not spit into a receptacle and carry this receptacle around or place it anywhere, especially not on top of a dining table.
  6. Do not speak so loudly that other people can hear you more than ten feet away when entering or dining in a nice restaurant.
  7. Do not discuss anything crude, gross, or inappropriate when dining in a nice restaurant.
  8. Do not use bad or offensive language, derogatory terms, or racial slurs when dining in a nice restaurant.
  9. Do not try to instigate a fight, threaten, or insult other people when dining in a nice restaurant.
  10. Do not shove, push, slap, hit, or wrestle with people in a nice restaurant, not even friends or family members.
  11. Do not throw things or do property damage when in a nice restaurant, not even in the parking lot.
  12. Do not stick your fingers inside of your mouth, your nose, your ears, or your pants when dining in a nice restaurant.
  13. Do not rev your truck engine and spin your tires in the parking lot of a nice restaurant.
  14. Do not leave your diesel truck idling in the parking lot of a nice restaurant, no one wants to listen to that noise, or smell that diesel exhaust.

What To Do:

  1. Bathe regularly, always use soap and shampoo.
  2. Wear a moderate amount of deodorant after bathing.
  3. Wash your clothes regularly, and make it a habit to wear clean clothes.
  4. Clean and trim your finger nails so that they are clean and nice looking.
  5. Wash your hands so that they are clean.
  6. Brush your teeth with toothpaste at least once per day.
  7. Clean your ears regularly.
  8. Get your hair cut at least once every three months.
  9. Trim your beard or facial hair at least once every two weeks.
  10. Try not to use swear words in conversation.

In many societies, it is the women who try to encourage and enforce good manners, but something long ago went wrong in Dickinson.  I think that due to the barrenness and extreme cold in North Dakota, it was so hard to survive, that the women here just gave up on encouraging and enforcing good manners.

Now that there are modern conveniences like automobiles, indoor plumbing, electricity, hot running water, and washing machines, I think that the women in Dickinson need to start trying to encourage good hygiene and good manners.

To be fair, I should point out that at least half of the badly behaving people in Dickinson are construction workers, oil field workers, and meth addict women from out-of-state.

More Reckless Driving, And What Are People In Dickinson, North Dakota?

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At the apartment building where I live in downtown Dickinson, there are not enough parking spaces in the parking lot for each resident to have one.  Each night there are usually about ten residents who have to park their vehicle on the street beside the building.

Last week, a new resident in the apartment building parked his older Dodge sedan on the street on Saturday evening, and someone ran into it, completely destroying it, and then they drove away.  This resident’s vehicle was about  fifteen years old, and it was worth about $2,500.  I am sure that he did not have comprehensive insurance coverage on this vehicle because it was not worth very much.  So just like that, he was without a vehicle, out about $2,500, and probably without any money to buy a replacement vehicle.

About two months ago, I wrote about a foreigner resident in the apartment building where I live, getting his vehicle ticketed for being parked in the same spot on the street for more than 48 hours.  The battery in his vehicle was dead, and he did not understand that his vehicle was going to get towed if he didn’t move it to a different spot.  His vehicle got towed away, and within one week, the tow and storage fees were $405, and after that there no was chance that he was ever going to get his vehicle back.

This is a low-rent apartment building where I live, and it is sad to see that so many of my neighbors never get ahead.  It is like they take one step forward, and two steps back.  Every time they start to get back on their feet, they get knocked back down again.

One of the things that is so perilous about this neighborhood where I live, is the car crashes.  The street that I live on is not a main thoroughfare, the speed limit is 25 mph, and it is a straight road.  However, in the less than two years that I have lived in this neighborhood, there have been five car crashes next to where I live.

I thought back on everywhere that I had lived in my 47 years of life, prior to moving to this neighborhood in downtown Dickinson, and I counted five vehicle accidents on or around my previous residences.  In my seven years of living in Tampa with over 1 million people, there were only two vehicle accidents at the apartments where I lived.  In Dickinson, with less than 25,000 people, in less than two years there have been five vehicle accidents beside where I live.

Many people in Dickinson now are a special kind of stupid, it’s hard to explain exactly.  Historically, the people in Dickinson were farmers and blue-collar workers, these types of people normally have common sense.  The people in Dickinson though they might have been poor, they were not white-trash because they were honest and there was very little theft in Dickinson.

I don’t know how it happened, but all of a sudden it was like the offspring of the farmers and blue-collar workers in Dickinson had attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder, plus a methamphetamine addiction, making them run around and drive vehicles like weasels.

People used to be described as professional, white-collar, tradespeople, blue-collar, white, white-trash, red-neck, hillbilly, yankee, black, poor black, Hispanic, Asian etcetera, and these terms were sufficient to give an idea of the person’s characteristics.

Many people in Dickinson do not fall into any of the above categories or descriptions.  Many of the people in Dickinson could be described as ADHD meth addict weasels, because of their erratic, hyperactive, non-thinking, irresponsible, stupid, destructive behavior, especially when driving a vehicle.

The Epitome Of Stupid, Crazy People In Dickinson, North Dakota

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This morning, Sunday February 3, I was driving north on Highway 22, fifty miles south of Dickinson.  The temperature outside was -23 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was a 30 mph cross wind, making the temperature with windchill effect about -50 to -60 degrees Fahrenheit.

I did not want to hit a deer, go off the road, or have any kind of car problems because it was so cold, that getting stuck in such a remote area with a vehicle that is not running, could literally be life threatening.  The speed limit on this section of Highway 22 is 65 mph all the way to Dickinson.   I planned on driving 60 mph to 65 mph just to be safe.  There was very little snow on the road, but snow was blowing in the air across the road.

When I was about forty miles south of Dickinson, I caught up to a maroon color Ford F250 pickup truck that was travelling at about 55 mph.  I could tell from the large tires and suspension lift that this F250 truck was four-wheel-drive.  I didn’t know why the driver of this truck was going so slow, with such a big, heavy four-wheel drive truck.  I thought that maybe they were just being cautious due to the weather conditions.

I was trying to be cautious too, and I thought that maybe they knew better than me, maybe they were aware of some deeper snow drifts across the road further up ahead.  I decided to stay at least three hundred feet behind this F250 truck, because I was not in a hurry, I didn’t want to pass them, and I didn’t want to tail gate them.

For the next twenty miles, I stayed at least three hundred feet behind this Ford F250 pickup truck, though I thought that I could probably drive safely at about 60 mph to 65 mph, instead of the 55 mph that this truck was doing.  About twenty miles south of Dickinson, where the wind was much less strong, I passed this F250 truck, driving at about 70 mph in order to get around them, when there were no oncoming cars at all.

I then saw that in the back of this Ford F250 pickup truck there was a black piece of travel luggage with a pull-handle on the top of it.  I thought that they must be headed for the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Airport ten miles up ahead.  I thought that is why they are driving only 55 mph, they want to be sure to get to the airport in time to check in, but they don’t want to get to the airport too early either.

About ten minutes later when I drove past the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Airport, I looked in my rear view mirror, and I saw that this F250 pickup truck that I had passed earlier, it had really gained speed and it had nearly caught up to me.  In order to catch up to me so quickly, they must have begun driving at more than 70 mph.

They didn’t turn into the airport after all, but continued driving at about 70 mph, until they were tail gating me pretty aggressively just as I was reaching the Dickinson City Limits where the speed limit decreases from 65 mph to 45 mph.  When I began slowing down for the 45 mph speed limit sign, this F250 pickup truck got to within ten feet of my rear bumper.

I was pretty angry about suddenly being tail gated like this in an aggressive manner, considering the circumstances.  This truck had driven 55 mph, ten miles per hour below the posted speed limit, for almost the entire fifty miles to Dickinson, and I had followed them at a safe distance for twenty miles while they were driving well below the speed limit.  Then for some reason, in the last ten miles they drove at least 70 mph, and then began tail gating me aggressively while I was driving at the posted speed limit.

I was about ready to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road, get out of my vehicle, and see if they wanted to get out of their vehicle to tell me what their problem was.  This F250 pickup truck then made a left turn onto 20th Street SW, and I could see clearly that it was the same maroon color four-door truck that I had passed ten minutes earlier that was going so slowly for almost the entire fifty miles to Dickinson.

I wanted to turn around, and follow this truck to wherever it was going, get out, and ask the driver, “What are you doing?  Why were you driving at 55 mph the whole way to Dickinson when the speed limit was 65 mph, and then just before you get here you want to drive 70 mph and tail gate me, ten feet behind me, like you have some kind of emergency.  What is wrong with you?”

I have written a blog post before about tail gaters in Dickinson.  I can’t understand why the people in Dickinson are so stupid that they can’t understand that there is no way that running into the back of another vehicle is not going to result in them getting cited for an accident and being held responsible for the damage done to their own vehicle, the other person’s vehicle, and possibly the other person’s medical bills for neck or back injuries.

An Illustration Of What Dickinson, North Dakota Is Like

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I have tried to explain what Dickinson, North Dakota is like many times.  What people probably need to know most of all, is the great degree to which people in Dickinson hate people who are from someplace else, and that they also hate each other.

More than a hundred years ago when the first settlers arrived in western North Dakota, mostly Germans, Ukranians, Bohemians, and a few Norwegians, they were very poor and conditions were very bleak.  Back then, there were far less trees in western North Dakota than you see now.

The settlers had no wood to construct their homes, they had to cut grass sod and stack it to form walls, and they had to use grass sod for the roof as well.  There was no wood for the fireplace or stove, they had to burn dry animal dung for cooking and heating.

For a long time in the Dickinson area, people were so poor that there was no charity or hospitality, everyone was just struggling to survive.  Also, for almost the entire history of Dickinson, there was no way for most people to get ahead.  The only way that local people could feel like they got ahead, was when someone else failed.  So people in Dickinson became accustomed to hoping and helping other people to fail, which made them feel better about themselves.

I have thought about a way to describe what people in Dickinson are like, and what living in Dickinson is like.  Here is a story that I have come up with, to illustrate several points.  Imagine that I fell and hit my head, to where my mental faculties were permanently diminished, and I could no longer operate a vehicle or work at a job.  In this mental state of not knowing and not understanding completely what is going on, here is how my life would be in Dickinson:

After a long battle of having been repeatedly denied Social Security Disability benefits in Dickinson, my court appointed advocate was able to take me to Bismarck where I was evaluated and determined to be eligible to receive disability benefits due to my accident, head injury, and reduced mental capacity.

My advocate and public fiduciary were able to arrange for me to have a small ground floor apartment in Dickinson, and they managed my Social Security money to pay for my rent, utilities, food, and clothing.  There was a small amount of money left over each month which paid for the public fiduciary accounting services.

One of my activities which I had inside of my apartment, was braiding rope to make eyelets on each end of twenty foot lengths of rope.  I would make these ropes with eyelet ends, and try to sell them as tow ropes, for $20 each.  This activity was so that I had a job, of sorts, like everybody else.

At 10 a.m., I would put 10 tow ropes into my shopping cart, and leave my apartment to go make my sales route through Dickinson.  I would head west through the neighborhood where I lived in downtown Dickinson, to get to the business district and parking lots of gas stations, convenience stores, parts stores, fast food restaurants, and motels where I would offer my 20 foot tow ropes, for $20.

One of the first persons to spot me this morning as I pushed my shopping cart along the sidewalk, was a retired man of about 65 years of age driving a new Buick, named Florian.  This man was an important Catholic, and an important member of the community.  Florian did not like the looks of me, or what I was doing.  He made a right turn at the next corner, in order to go around the block and come up behind me again.

Florian thought about running me over with his car, but he realized that someone might see him, and that he might do damage to his car.  He didn’t like the looks of me, my shopping cart, my tow ropes, or what I was doing, this made Dickinson look bad he thought.  How to get rid of me and put a stop to this he thought?  After watching me for a few minutes, Florian came up with a plan of how he might poison me.

Florian decided that he would go buy some cookie dough mix, some rat poison, mix this up in his garage, heat it up on a hot plate, and that later in the day he would find me again and bring me some cookies.  Florian was very happy and pleased with himself, because now he had something to do today, and he imagined how sick I would be and possibly die.

As I continued to make my way through downtown Dickinson, another Catholic, a realtor lady driving a new Chevy Suburban was headed in my direction.  She was talking on her cell phone and she saw me about two blocks away as I was getting ready to push my shopping cart full of yellow tow ropes across the street.

This lady looked in her rear view mirror, her side mirrors, and she looked left and right, and she saw that no one was coming and that no one was outside.  Just as I was pushing my shopping cart into the street, she ran into the front corner of my shopping cart, causing it to yank out of my hands, and fly through the air, throwing my tow ropes everywhere.  My shopping cart was damaged and crooked now.

She laughed to herself as she continued driving, looking in the rear view mirror at the damage she had caused.  No one had seen her, I would not be able to identify her, she had gotten away with it.  Besides, who was going to care about what happened to me anyway, she would just say that it was my fault, who was going to believe me?  Hopefully, she had damaged my shopping cart badly enough, that she wouldn’t have to see me pushing my shopping cart around Dickinson anymore.

I picked my yellow tow ropes up, put them back into my shopping cart basket, and I continued on.  Just before noon, as I was going through the parking lot of the Motel 6, I was able to sell one tow rope to a motel guest.  He didn’t really need the tow rope, but he thought that it wouldn’t hurt to have one.

I now had $20, and I saw the Kentucky Fried Chicken sign up ahead, not far away.  I parked my shopping cart beside the KFC, and I went inside.  I was happy that I had enough money to buy whatever I wanted.

After I got done eating, when I went outside, my shopping cart was gone.  I panicked, and began looking all over for it.  It had taken me hours and hours to make all of those tow ropes, and now they were gone.  Finally, I found my shopping cart in the bottom of the canal behind KFC, someone had taken it and pushed it into the canal.

This is what Dickinson is like, the people here hate people who are from someplace else, and they also hate each other.  Anything that you do in Dickinson, it will probably make the people here hate you even more.  They do not want anyone to get ahead, or anyone to be happy, they can’t allow this to happen, as this would mean that someone was doing better than them.  The only way that people in Dickinson can feel good about themselves, is when someone else fails, so they help other people to fail.

What Living In Dickinson, North Dakota Is Like, Like Being In Prison

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In many previous blog posts, I have mentioned that living in Dickinson, North Dakota is like being in prison.  I want to give a recent example.

I have been working at a particular job site outside of Dickinson for a little over one year.  For the first eight months that I was at this job site, there were just a few employees from the company that I work for, and we had our own office trailer.  The employees that had been here before I got here, they had set things up, and they had established the rule that everything was going to be kept clean.

The refrigerator, the microwave, counter tops, floor, and outside portable toilet were all kept clean.  We each cleaned, purchased cleaning supplies, and took out the garbage.  Something that was very important, was that my co-workers had installed some insulation around the outside portable toilet, and inside the portable toilet there was a small electric heater beside the toilet seat.

For several years prior to me arriving at this job site, the few company employees that were here, they had made it through several winters where the temperature got down to -20, -30, -40 degrees Fahrenheit.  Once they even got snowed in, where they couldn’t drive home, and they had to stay here in the office trailer, which was O.K., because they set it up for people to be able to stay overnight if they had to.  When it got really, really cold, the electric heater inside of the portable toilet was left running all the time, which kept it at about 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Five months ago, due to increased work activity at this site, my company personnel got moved to a different location on this site.  We no longer had the use of the office trailer.  Due to many personnel changes, I became the only person on this entire site, who had ever been here through the winter, and knew that workers had been snowed in here before.

When it got to be November this year, where the temperature began to drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, I installed an electric heater inside the portable toilet that we were using, at a height of about two feet above the toilet seat, and two feet to the left of the toilet seat.  I brought my own 3500 Watt portable electric generator, which costs about $500 new, to power the electric heater.  I had to buy a poly containment basin to place the generator in per site regulations regarding fuel and oil spills containment.

Within about one week, it was reported to me, that someone tried to urinate into the electric heater inside of the portable toilet.  Someone used the portable toilet, and right after he exited the portable toilet, two of my co-worker saw that he had urinated all over the back wall and bench seat of the portable toilet.  One of my co-workers thought that he had had an accident, where the zipper got stuck on his overalls.  The other co-worker was certain that he had deliberately tried to urinate into the electric heater.  How could you accidentally urinate two feet up on the walls of the portable toilet?

I explained to my co-workers, not to let anyone vandalize this portable toilet and electric heater.  Though it might not seem that important now, it will be when it gets down to -20, -30, -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The next thing to get abused and misused was my 3500 Watt electric generator.  When I wasn’t around, people began putting garbage in the containment basin that the generator was sitting in.  The generator fuel valve was left on, some other things were done to it, and it wouldn’t start.  When I removed the generator oil tank filler cap, a bunch of fuel came out of the oil tank.

I took my generator home and I spent several hours working on it to get it to run again.  I got it to where it would start on the first pull of the starter cord.  I kept it on my truck, not being able to decide if I could leave it there on the job site without someone messing it up again.  Then, I was notified by my co-workers, that someone had ruined my electric heater that I had installed inside of the portable toilet, to where it wouldn’t work at all now.

I thought to myself, what kind of people, deliberately urinate into an electric heater that is two feet above, and two feet to the left of the toilet seat?  This week it has gotten to below zero degrees Fahrenheit at this job site, and it is only going to keep getting colder.  Why would site personnel try to destroy the only heated toilet anywhere on site that they could use?

Meanwhile, there is a small prefabricated building with no electricity to it, that has a small propane heater.  When the small propane heater is set on low or medium, it keeps the small building at about 60 degrees inside, when it is 20 degrees and windy outside.  A particular co-worker, has been found several times to be setting the propane heater to high, and then complaining about how hot it is inside this building.

Two co-workers have explained to this one co-worker, to stop setting the propane heater to high, because he has caused the small three to five gallon propane tank to run out of propane in a day or two, instead of this propane tank lasting four or five days if the heater was set on low.  We began using larger size propane tanks, but this one co-worker is still being found to be setting the propane heater on high, and then complaining about how hot it is inside of this small building that we use.  We are now completely out of propane, having nothing to heat this small building with now, or in an emergency.

My point is, that I can’t believe how these people in North Dakota are deliberately sabotaging the facilities that we use.  This kind of primitive, ignorant, destructive behavior is like something you would find in a prison amongst criminals.  It’s like these people in Dickinson are so fucking stupid, ignorant, and criminal minded, that they destroy and sabotage the things that they need to use, only making their own personal situation even worse.

As frustrated as I am, I realize that probably about 60% of the North Dakotans who read this will think, “Heh, heh, that is what I would do too.  Pee into the electric heater, and run the propane heater out of propane.  Yeah, that is what I would do.”

Even More Truth And Lies About Living And Working In Dickinson, North Dakota

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Today, Saturday November 10, 2018, I am yet again watching a couple move out of the low rent older apartment building in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota where I live.  No, this is not an across town move, because they have a pickup truck and a U-haul trailer, and they are very carefully trying to fit absolutely everything they own into this truck and trailer, because they are leaving Dickinson.

In the past thirty days, I have written two previous blog posts about two other couples who were moving out of the older apartment building where I live in Dickinson.  Both the first couple, and the second couple, the husband was truck driver.  Both of these two couples moved to Dickinson about six months ago.

On the radio in Dickinson, North Dakota for the past several months, there have been advertisements from local trucking companies about how they need truck drivers, they offer competitive wages, paid family health insurance, and a $3,000 to $6,000 sign-on bonus.

Why is it that truck drivers come to Dickinson for work, then they leave about six months later?  No, they didn’t make so much money that they are leaving.  I talked to them, I saw how they were living, I saw that they had very little, I sometimes saw and heard these couples arguments that continued through the parking lot and into the building, the kind of arguments that people have when money is scarce.

Also on the radio in Dickinson during the past sixty days, I have heard representatives from North Dakota Job Service talk about the great need for workers in Williston, Watford City, and Dickinson, about several hundred job vacancies in Williston.  Yet when I log onto the North Dakota Job Services website, and search for job openings in Williston, Watford City, and Dickinson, I see that there are less than forty current job openings in Williston, and less than thirty current job openings in Watford City and Dickinson.  One third of these job openings are for Registered Nurses, Travel Nurses, and Medical Doctors, more job openings in the medical professions than there are in the oil field.

What is going on?  I know exactly what is going on, and what is happening.  Business owners, property owners, property managers, and oil companies want to “keep things going”.  The business owners want customers, the property owners want their property to continue to be worth money, the property managers want tenants, and the oil companies want to have a large pool of skilled trades people so that they can keep wages low, have the threat of easily replacing workers, and being able to replace skilled trades people like they were shop rags when they get worn out.

In my previous blog post, I found a short way to put it, if you are not from this area, you are treated like a migrant worker.  No matter if you have a college degree, management experience, or a great deal of work experience, if you are not from this area you are treated like a migrant worker.

What does this mean, being treated like a “migrant worker”?  It means that you will be followed more, stopped more, and treated with more scrutiny by the local city Police.  You are a good candidate for a DUI, a good source of revenue for the city when you pay your court fines, and how the local attorneys stay in business with the $3,000 retainer fee you will pay.

If you are not from this area, you will be treated like a migrant worker in many businesses, establishments, city, county, state, and federal offices in Dickinson.  At work, you will be disliked, mistrusted, mistreated, and undermined by your local co-workers, local administrators, local managers, and local company owners.

The truth is, that there are some job openings in Dickinson, and the wage rates are still above average, because no one wants to live or work in Dickinson.  The local people are unfriendly and hostile, the real estate prices are way too high, there is not a lot to do, there are very few places to go, and the local employers and the local co-workers treat out of state workers like shit.

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.

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.

Some Suggestions For Dickinson, North Dakota

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

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

Here are some suggestions for Dickinson, North Dakota:

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

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

Catholic Church In Dickinson North Dakota

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

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

Re-Education Camp For Catholics In Dickinson, North Dakota

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

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

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

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

“He performed miracles that no man could perform.”

“He performed miracles that no…”

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

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

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

“He divided a few fishes and loaves…”

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

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

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

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

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

What Do I Mean When I Say “Street Survivor” or “Prison Life” Mentality?

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In my previous blog post, I wrote that I had thought that Dickinson would return to a kind of middle-class or lower middle-class normalcy after the Oil Boom was over.  Instead, the people in Dickinson appear to have returned to a Street Survivor or Prison Life mentality, which I never knew was going to happen.

Throughout my life, I have met and become friends with people who were convicted murderers, attempted murderers, thieves, drug dealers, and drug smugglers.  These were people who came from the Street, who were Street Survivors, and Prison Life people.  I learned from numerous talks and discussions with these people, what their crimes were, what their methods were, what their scams were, and what life in prison is like.

Also in my life, I have met murderers, attempted murderers, thieves, drug dealers, and drug smugglers, who were not my friends, who were trying to victimize me or steal from me.  I learned from these people too, their methods and their scams, these Street Survivors and Prison Life people.

Below are some examples of what to expect from Street Survivor people or Prison Life people, that are real incidents and not made up:

  1. The simple con of walking up to a person on the street and telling them some story about car running out of gas, wife being in the hospital, and begging for money.
  2. The next level con, of walking up to a person on the street and taking up their time distracting them with some story, while an accomplice enters their home and looks for valuables.
  3. The next level con, of walking up to a person on the street, talking to them to quickly learn specific details about their life, if they have money, are alone, or are vulnerable in some way, and being able to gain more access to valuables and bank accounts.
  4. The simple violent crime, of walking up to a person on the street, hitting them over the head or stabbing them, taking their wallet, purse, and vehicle.
  5. The more planned out violent crime, of walking up to a person on the street, hitting them over the head or stabbing them, putting their body in the car trunk, taking their wallet, purse, vehicle, key set, returning to or entering their home, taking their jewelry, firearms, valuables, money, credit cards, checks, and hiding the body somewhere so that there is a longer amount of time to access bank accounts, credit card accounts, and use the vehicle.

Regarding the numbered list above, if you went out to eat at a restaurant in Idaho, the other restaurant patrons would be thinking about the Thai iced tea that they ordered, the egg rolls that they had ordered, or the orange chicken that they had ordered, but in Dickinson if you went out to a restaurant, the local staff and the local patrons would be thinking about their list of things that they would like to try to do to you.

If you go out in Dickinson, or even if you don’t go out in Dickinson, the local people have such hatred, hostility, and meanness, that they are constantly trying to hatch some scheme to harm or steal from others, just like people in prison who have hours and hours to think and hate.

The people that I knew who had been in prison, would tell me about how the people in the prison kitchen had a huge vat of boiling water, which they dumped on someone who didn’t do what they wanted, and he died after several days.  Or, they would cut a mop handle on a long diagonal, but not completely through, so that it would break and have a long pointed end, and then when the person came who they wanted to kill, they would break the mop handle, and stab, stab, stab, stab with the pointy broken mop handle.

Dickinson is full of people with this Street Survivor mentality and this Prison Life mentality.  Once you understand this, everything else in Dickinson will make more sense and fall into place.

This is why the Police in Dickinson, North Dakota are so constantly ever present, up and down Villard Street and Main Street every single minute, while other Police vehicles are parked in the shadows on the side streets.  They are not a Police force, they are more like Prison Guards who have to watch these people in Dickinson every single minute.  Does this make sense now?

Simple-Minded Behavior About The Value Of Things In North Dakota

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I have had this happen to me many times in North Dakota, where I am kind of amazed at the simple-mindedness of people about the value of things.  I can’t really find the right words to express this, other than simple-minded, primitive, or child-like.

To begin describing this, I want to use the example of what I have seen on the television show “Pawn Stars”.  There is a large Pawn Shop located in Las Vegas, owned by Rick Harrison and his father Richard Harrison.  Throughout the day, people bring in items to try to sell to Rick.  On this television show, I have seen the same situation happen many times.  A person will bring in an autographed baseball, photograph, or document, and explain to the Pawn Shop owner Rick, about the famous person who signed it, when and how this happened, and how they acquired it.  Rick will ask how much they want to sell it for, and they might say $3,000.

Rick will reply, the value of this thing, is really in the signature being genuine, do you mind if I telephone a friend of mine who is a signature expert, who can authenticate this signature?  When the signature expert arrives, sometimes, he will say that this is a very nice piece, and actually quite rare, “I can definitely authenticate this signature, and I would say that this might sell at auction for $8,000 to $10,000.”

Rick would then say to the person, how much do you want for this item now?  The simple-minded, primitive, child-like people, say $10,000.  Rick then explains, “Look, the expert said that this might, might, sell at auction for $8,000 to $10,000, you never know what something will sell for at auction, there is no guarantee.  If I buy this item, I have to make a profit on it, and something like this might sit around here for quite a while before it sells, not many people come in here with that kind of money to spend on something like this.  The most I can give you is $5,000.”

To the simple-minded, primitive, child-like people, they can not see the absurdity in this situation, that the item they would have been happy to sell for $3,000 one hour ago, they are now refusing to sell this same item for $5,000.  Thanks to the help and honesty of a knowledgeable person, they discover that the item is worth much more money, and now they are unwilling to part with it.  However, they still have this item, no one to sell it to, and they still need money.

I used this example of what frequently happens on the television show “Pawn Stars”, to begin to explain, that people left on their own, have a view or an idea about how much something is worth, but then when you begin to discuss what they might sell it for, and begin to discuss with them its merits, possibilities, or uses, just the mere suggestion of possibilities to a primitive or child-like mind, makes something they own, grow enormously in price.

There is a recent incident that happened to me, that caused me to want to write this blog post, where something of no use or value to anyone, once I expressed an interest in it, it suddenly became very valuable.  But first, I want to describe a similar situation that will help to explain this most recent one.

I like cars, I read about cars, I do research on cars, I study certain cars, and I understand certain things about particular cars, that most people don’t know.  I look at cars for sale on internet classified ads, salvaged-title car auctions, printed publication car ads, parked cars for sale, and parked cars that are no longer being driven.  Sometimes, I like to talk to car owners about cars that I am interested in, to see what kinds of problems they have had with their cars, so that I know more.

A couple of years ago, on Bis-Man internet classifieds, I kept seeing a red 1987 Porsche 924 up for sale for about $3,000.  This was very interesting to me, because this ad kept getting renewed because this car hadn’t sold and no one wanted it, though the price was low, which indicated to me that no one knew what this car was.

I like Porsche 924, I have one. There are many things that people don’t know about them, all most people think that they know, is that they are slow.  They stopped making Porsche 924 in approximately 1983.  Whenever you see a Porsche 924 for the years 1986 and 1987, it is not a 924, it is a left-over 924 body that the Porsche factory put a 944 engine in. The Porsche factory called these cars 924″S”, they are fairly rare, and faster than 944 cars because they are smaller and lighter.  They will be collector cars very soon.

I called the car owner who posted this advertisement on Bis-Man.  Though he had re-posted this advertisement several times for about a year, he said that I was only the second person ever to have called about this car.  I asked him about this car, and he said that it was in good condition, no body damage, good paint, with not that many miles on it.

Then I explained to him what this car was, with a 944 engine, which he had not fully understood.  I did not want this person to be unaware of what he had, apparently no one in North Dakota knew what this car was.  I was so positive and enthusiastic in my explanation about the merits of this car, that he didn’t want to sell it anymore and he took the ad off of Bis-Man.  This was fine with me, I was glad that he had a new appreciation for this car, and he knew that it was worth more.

I don’t mind losing the opportunity to buy a car, once I have had an honest discussion with the owner about their car, explained why I am interested in it, and what I think the car could be worth.  I don’t want to take advantage of someone in a car sale, and later have to deal with a lawsuit or disputed ownership and title.

I also want to talk with the owner to find out what they know about their car and what they think of their car, so that I don’t insult them with too low an offer.  Many times, I have had to admit that I can’t even make them an offer because it is no where near what they would want.

In other words, I don’t try to convince women and the elderly that a $10K, $20K, …$80K old car is worth only $500 or $1,000.  And I have found some very valuable old cars.  I never even heard of a Porsche 912 until I found a 1968 model in the weeds beside a closed restaurant in Idaho.  I never even heard of a Porsche 911 “Sportomatic” until I found a 1970 model under a tarp in a garage in Idaho.

I was angry today, because a vehicle purchase that I wanted to make, was ruined by what I felt was simple-minded, primitive, child-like behavior.  This past summer, I was working on a road construction project in a rural area far outside of Dickinson.  The highway that I was working on, passed by an old abandoned farm house outside of a very small town.  There were old, beat-up, abandoned vehicles on the property.  However, I recognized one 30 year old vehicle, as being a good one, though nothing about it would make it stand out to anyone else.

I thought about this vehicle from time to time through September, October, November, and December.  In November, I stopped at the gas station in the small town near the old farm house, to ask who owned the abandoned farm, I wanted to contact the owner about a vehicle on the property.  I was given the name of the property owner.

Several days after learning the name of the property owner, I asked an old contractor from the area, if he knew this man.  The old contractor said that he did, and he gave me his phone number.  I called this number twice, but I did not leave a voice mail message because I wanted to talk to the property owner, in order to gauge what his feelings were about my offer to buy this vehicle.

Several days ago, the contractor who gave me the property owner’s phone number, asked me if I had had any luck buying the vehicle.  I said no, I called him a couple of times, but I didn’t leave him a message.  I said to the contractor, I wouldn’t be able to buy this vehicle for a couple of months anyway, I had so many bills due right around the first of the year.

I asked this contractor if he was interested in buying this vehicle, and he said no.  I explained to the contractor several reasons why this was a good vehicle.  The next day, I called the property owner again, this time it appeared as though his Meth-addict teen-aged children were in the home alone, and I couldn’t even get them to answer me one way or the other if this was his home.

Today, I drove by this abandoned farm house, and the vehicle that I wanted was gone.  I would have tried to offer about $500 to $600 for it, because it was a parked and abandoned in a field.  In this area, if the owner would have placed an advertisement in the newspaper, offering this vehicle for $1,000, I don’t think that anyone would have bought it, because there would have been no interest in it.

This vehicle would have just continued to sit there, for ever, had I not said anything about it.  However, once I went through the trouble of finding out who owned the property, trying to call him, and someone found out that I was interested in this vehicle, it went from something that no one noticed and no one wanted, to something somebody had to try to get immediately before I could get it.  This vehicle had no value to anyone, until I wanted it, then it became highly sought after.

Classification Of People In Dickinson, North Dakota

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In my previous blog post, I wrote about Bigfoot Hunter Tim “Coonbo” Baker and his classification of Bigfoot into at least four distinct species.  Tim “Coonbo” Baker’s classification system helps to clear up confusion, misunderstandings, and arguments that have existed for over 100 years concerning Bigfoot.  I thought, why not do the same thing for Dickinson?

Below I have created a classification system for people in Dickinson.  This list is arranged in order from most common, to least common in Dickinson:

  1. Local Catholics – Most common group of people in Dickinson.  Usually of German or Ukranian ancestry.  Typically unfriendly, uncooperative, not helpful, hostile, and mean.  Adult males are difficult to get along with at work.  Adult females usually sneer, scowl, glare, and tend to be overweight.  Catholic children in Dickinson can be quite nasty, especially if they go to Trinity School.
  2. Local Lutherans – Second most common group of people in Dickinson.  Usually of Norwegian or Scandinavian ancestry.  Typically helpful and friendly.  Adult females expect their husbands to rake and mow the lawn, trim the trees and bushes, and clean the cars, house exterior, roof, windows, driveway, and sidewalk.  Even though Lutheran women are notorious for their casseroles, the Lutheran men are skinny due to having to work all the time.
  3. Local Methodists – Not very common in Dickinson.  No one knows how they got here.  They stay hidden and keep a low profile.  If you meet a person who acts normal in Dickinson, they might be a Methodist.
  4. Local Mormons – Not very common in Dickinson.  They might have come from Illinois, Missouri, Idaho, or Utah.  Adult males are usually good reliable employees.  Adult females stay at home.  Young unmarried females are nice and pleasant to a fault.  Young unmarried males are annoying.
  5. Local Non-Denominational and Other Christians – Any individual in this group could have come from anywhere.  There is no telling what they will do, so don’t turn you back on them.
  6. Red-Necks from the South – Much more common in Dickinson from 2008 through 2014 during the oil boom.  Not very common in Dickinson now.  Adult males tend to be overweight and they like to stare and look at everything to see what it is, whether it is a lawn sprinkler, squirrel, taco truck, any vehicle for sale, etc.  Adult females in Dickinson are always “fixin to go to the store”.
  7. People from Texas – Just as common and annoying now, as they were during the oil boom from 2008 through 2014.  Adult males usually drive a Ford F250 4×4, faster and more erratically than necessary, like they would in Dallas or Houston.  There is usually something wrong with someone who had to drive all the way from Texas in order to get a job in North Dakota.  There are no women from Texas in Dickinson, they won’t come.
  8. People from Coeur D’Alene – Just about everyone who left Coeur D’Alene, Idaho to come to work in Dickinson, has been or still is involved in illegal drugs.  Adult males typically work for companies where there is no drug testing, like small construction companies or dangerous oil field service companies.  Adult females typically work where there is no drug testing, mostly in restaurants and hotels.  Vehicle license plates from the Coeur D’Alene area of Idaho, begin with the letter “K”.  A good rule to remember is, “If it starts with the letter ‘K’, stay away”, whenever you see an Idaho license plate.

Essential Information On Working And Living In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I was an outsider to Dickinson, North Dakota.  I have now lived and worked in Dickinson for 5-1/2 years.  For the past three years, I have been writing about Dickinson on this blog website.  After writing, thinking, discussing, and searching hard for answers, about why Dickinson is the way that it is, I finally think that I have the answers.

I have seen and experienced that the local people from Dickinson have hatred, hostility, bitterness, resentment, maliciousness, and malevolence for the non-local people who have come to Dickinson to work.  Non-local people will experience this most profoundly at work in Dickinson.

I believe that one of the causes for the hatred of non-local people, was the Catholic Church here in Dickinson.  The Catholic Church here in Dickinson, was probably the biggest social and cultural influence for many years.  This Church did not teach kindness and helpfulness to others, but instead it taught foremost to protect one’s own family, Catholics, and the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church here in Dickinson instilled an attitude of elitism and the belief of superiority of one’s own family, Catholics, and the Catholic Church, above all other people.

Another cause for the hatred of non-local people in Dickinson, has been the oil boom that made some local families rich, while other local families remained poor.  With it not seeming right to the local people to have hatred and resentment towards their local neighbors who became rich, the local people re-directed their anger and resentment toward the non-local people.

Another cause for the hatred of non-local people in Dickinson, has been that the local people have always had work as their main focus in life.  In Dickinson, life has always been hard due to the very long and very cold winters.  Work and surviving was the primary focus of people in Dickinson.  Unlike other places in the United States where entertainment, recreation, and social activities were a big part of people’s lives, Dickinson never had this.  In Dickinson, the local people’s identities, meaning, and purpose in life, was work.

During the oil boom that occurred in Dickinson from 2007 to 2014, and especially now that the oil boom is over and many jobs have recently gone away, the local people from Dickinson have been hostile, hateful, mean, uncooperative, and undermining to their non-local co-workers.  It wasn’t until recently that I determined that the specific primary cause for this, was that local people from Dickinson get their identity, meaning, and purpose in life, from work.

Unlike other places in the United States where people have many different interests and things that are important in their lives, the local people from Dickinson have just one primary focus, that is their job.  There is a shortage of women in Dickinson, and a scarcity of attractive women.  There are not enough women to go around.  The pursuit of romantic relationships is not common in Dickinson.  There is not much reason for people to go out or socialize in Dickinson.  Nor are there many places to go in Dickinson, or things to do.

The time that other people living in other places put into playing sports, exercising, recreation, entertainment, shopping, going out, socializing, dating, and having fun, the local people from Dickinson never had that, they just put all of their time into work.  Work was their focus, meaning, identity, and purpose in life.

In summary, the local people from Dickinson are so hostile, hateful, unfriendly, bitter, resentful, malicious, malevolent, and undermining to non-local people because the Catholic Church has taught the local people to feel superior to others; there is anger and resentment over some local families becoming rich, and this anger is re-directed toward non-local people; the local people have only work as the meaning and purpose in their lives, the non-local co-workers are a threat to the local people from Dickinson in their only purpose and reason for living.

What this means for people from out of state who come to work in Dickinson, is that your local co-workers from Dickinson will try to get you to leave because you are a threat to their very existence and reason for living.