Bismarck speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Dec. 2, 2022
- Updated
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Bismarck Tribune.
On Nov. 6, 2012, North Dakota became one of the 29 states, including the District of Columbia, to pass the Smoke-Free Law. This law prevents civilians from smoking in all places of employment and enclosed public areas, including hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, schools, and more. As a member of the Bismarck Break Free Youth Board, we are committed to educating the youth in our community on the detrimental effects tobacco has on a person's body. When we asked a classroom of fourth graders, “by a show of hands, how many of you know someone your age that uses tobacco products,” over half of the 9- to 10-year-olds raised their hands. 33% of North Dakota kids aged 0-17 are tobacco users. As high schoolers and young adults, it is our obligation to set an example for the next generations. When most people pick up a tobacco product for the first time, they think of what it could do to their own body -- not the influence it will construct on the young children who look up to them. Our actions have consequences that do not just impact ourselves. The Smoke-Free Law has helped restrict the image of these deadly products in our schools and classrooms across the state. Rather than seeing this law as preventing someone's choice, we need to start seeing it as giving people the choice to live and a pathway for generations to come.
Nevaeh Mock, Bismarck
The announcement this week by our former president that he would again be a candidate for that office should give us pause. As Republicans, we claim to be the “Party of Lincoln and Reagan”. Both of these stalwarts of American history would be alarmed at where we have come. And of whom we might choose to lead our country.
I am not a Bible scholar. But someone recently pointed out to me three verses of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus):
“A wise magistrate will educate his people, and the rule of an understanding man will be well ordered.
Like the magistrate of the people, so are his officials; and like the ruler of the city, so are all its inhabitants.
An undisciplined king will ruin his people, but a city will grow through the understanding of its rulers.”
Now, reread the above and substitute “president” or “leader” for “magistrate” or “king”; and “country” for “city;” etc.
There is a need to attend to the heart and soul of this nation. That will be difficult without the right leaders. We need a return to calm leadership underpinned by decency, honesty and the recognition that seeking consensus, even when elusive, is a noble goal. We need a person founded in genuine Faith, for our country needs to be founded in Faith.
We can find a balance with immigration issues that brings order yet recognizes the plights of so many. We can be resolute with foreign policy without name-calling. We can minimize regulation and be measured dealing with the environment without political extremism. And we can wage a political campaign that respects our competition.
There are men and women who will campaign in the coming two years who can move our country in a direction suggested in Sirach. But they have not yet announced their candidacy…
Gene Jackson, Bismarck
As a landowner and being raised on a farm in Oliver County I was pleased to sign an easement with Summit Carbon Solutions. This project gives Summit an opportunity to lower the carbon score of energy plants in North Dakota. If we don't get onboard, the global market will turn to alternatives that will meet the low carbon demand.
In conversations with other landowners in Oliver County I have found most to be in favor of this project however there is a small percentage that are worried that the CO2 injected underground may have adverse effects on our land several generations down the road. I really don't think that's going to happen as I have the utmost confidence in the research Summit has done and I also feel Summit Management is comprised of top-quality individuals.
Refusing to adapt to new technology could be detrimental to these crucial industries that have carried our state's economy for so long. I could also mean losing several benefits to counties on the project route. North Dakota has a unique opportunity here and I hope we choose to take advantage of it. We all need to realize the carbon score needs to be lowered here and other states, so future generations can live in a cleaner and safer environment.
Kenneth Hintz, Beulah
Since my husband and I moved out to our farm four years ago, something inexcusable happens every spring and fall. Cats are abandoned on our country road.
Saturday, Nov. 12, 9 degrees above zero, as darkness fell upon us, I could see a vehicle pulled into our yard and hid behind a tractor. The vehicle turned around and took off as I saw a black cat run.
For the next three days the cat and me suffered together and I was unable to catch the cat despite having a building open with food and water. Abandoned cats are like that they all head out, scared to death, into fields. We have many trees and have sky predators, hawks, eagles, and two magnificent owls.
As darkness falls, owls, with some of the sharpest hunting skills on earth have already spotted the cat on day one.
I do know of something that would help, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. It could be mobile and travel from Bismarck to Fargo and Dickinson.
Let’s make it so we value a cat for the truly amazing animal that it is.
Susan Helm, Bismarck
I felt compelled to respond to a recent article by Tory Jackson.
Why has the Republican Party done so well since 1992? It’s because we listen to the electorate. Since the days of Ed Schafer, the Republican Party has worked very hard to show the people of North Dakota what Republican values mean and how these values have helped our state achieve an unparalleled record of success.
Under Republican leadership, we have maintained a balanced budget and created a management process in which the executive and legislative branches work together to save, rather than spend, every dollar. Under Republican leadership, we have achieved an ideal economic and regulatory environment to attract business, which has made North Dakota an energy and agricultural leader. Simply put: under Republican leadership, we have made North Dakota the very best place in which to live and start a business.
In choosing Republicans year after year, North Dakotans are not blindly picking a single political party; rather, they are making an informed choice to support individual liberties, personal responsibility, limited government, the rule of law, lower taxes, the right to bear arms, quality education, and traditional values.
The Republican Party is governed by an unspoken rule, which we take seriously as a party. We understand that the seats we hold are not our seats, but rather, they are the people’s seats.
We cannot – and will not – get complacent in our leadership. As Republicans, we always pledge to listen and to lead as the people. Thank you, North Dakota, for your trust and for your belief in the North Dakota Republican Party.
Perrie Schafer, Bismarck
Chairman, North Dakota Republican Party
Picking up where Judge Bob Wefald left off, we here at Red Oak House are delighted with the Tribune's comics, especially Baby Blues, Dennis the Menace, Zits, and ... the return of Doonesbury!
Lillian Crook, Bismarck
It’s no secret that small businesses struggled through the pandemic, and some are still struggling with the affects of the pandemic – higher input costs, changing consumer habits and higher labor costs, if they can even find the workers. Sort of long haul COVID for businesses.
However, the resiliency of small businesses should never be underestimated. For many entrepreneurs, their can-do attitude is what motivated them to start their business in the first place and that same attitude is what helped them pivot and persevere through the pandemic.
Small Business Saturday was created to help small businesses capture a larger piece of consumer spending during the holiday season. This year, Small Business Saturday is on Nov. 26 and will mark the 13th year Americans have increased their efforts to support our hometown small businesses.
According to American Express, last year shoppers came together in full force to support their local communities, and Small Business Saturday hit a record high with an estimated $23.3 billion in reported spending at independent retailers and restaurants.
Let’s keep up the momentum — small businesses still need our support now more than ever as they continue to fight the long-term effects of the pandemic and transition to stable, steady growth.
America’s 33 million small businesses, 75,000 of them from North Dakota representing 98.8% of all ND firms, need our help to “Shop Small” throughout this holiday season and on Small Business Saturday. Please join me by shopping at your local small business and dining at an independently owned restaurant during the holiday season and all year long.
Emily Oster, writing in The Atlantic (10/31/22), admits our pandemic policies were egregiously wrong. Yet she wants to declare an amnesty for wrongs committed during the pandemic because “we made complicated choices in the face of deep uncertainty,” and because most errors were made in good faith. Writing as a liberal/progressive, Oster advocated for reopening schools and suffered abuse for being a voice of reason. I applaud her willingness to forgive those who accused her of being a “teacher killer.” For my part, I forgive the A-Team for accusing me and other vaccine-hesitant folks of being misinformed (Andrist 7/20/21), living in fear and lacking common sense (Adkisson 8/27/21), and lacking civic responsibility (Adler 8/18/21).
While Oster may be clear-eyed about the harm caused by school closures, she is myopic about the scope of the wrongs, which range from chiding your neighbor for not wearing a mask at the beach, which is easily forgiven, to crimes against humanity, which should not be forgiven or forgotten.
My candidates for prosecution at Nuremburg-style trials start with Fauci and the rest of the medical-industrial complex, especially Pfizer executives. Starting in March, Pfizer was forced to release their vaccine testing data, which the FDA intended to hide for decades. Intrepid investigators (none from the major media), aided by hundreds of volunteers, have been analyzing Pfizer’s data. Their findings are shocking. For starters, listen to Naomi Wolf’s podcast “Destroying Women, Poisoning Breastmilk, Murdering Babies, and Hiding the Truth.”
As the damning evidence from Pfizer and other sources accumulates, our Department of Health still claims the vaccines are safe and effective. They even have a video on their website of Dr. Ana Tobiasz saying it is safe to vaccinate pregnant woman. Their failure to tell the truth is becoming increasingly difficult to excuse or forgive.
David Crane, Mott
More like this...
On Nov. 6, 2012, North Dakota became one of the 29 states, including the District of Columbia, to pass the Smoke-Free Law. This law prevents civilians from smoking in all places of employment and enclosed public areas, including hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, schools, and more. As a member of the Bismarck Break Free Youth Board, we are committed to educating the youth in our community on the detrimental effects tobacco has on a person's body. When we asked a classroom of fourth graders, “by a show of hands, how many of you know someone your age that uses tobacco products,” over half of the 9- to 10-year-olds raised their hands. 33% of North Dakota kids aged 0-17 are tobacco users. As high schoolers and young adults, it is our obligation to set an example for the next generations. When most people pick up a tobacco product for the first time, they think of what it could do to their own body -- not the influence it will construct on the young children who look up to them. Our actions have consequences that do not just impact ourselves. The Smoke-Free Law has helped restrict the image of these deadly products in our schools and classrooms across the state. Rather than seeing this law as preventing someone's choice, we need to start seeing it as giving people the choice to live and a pathway for generations to come.
Nevaeh Mock, Bismarck
The announcement this week by our former president that he would again be a candidate for that office should give us pause. As Republicans, we claim to be the “Party of Lincoln and Reagan”. Both of these stalwarts of American history would be alarmed at where we have come. And of whom we might choose to lead our country.
I am not a Bible scholar. But someone recently pointed out to me three verses of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus):
“A wise magistrate will educate his people, and the rule of an understanding man will be well ordered.
Like the magistrate of the people, so are his officials; and like the ruler of the city, so are all its inhabitants.
An undisciplined king will ruin his people, but a city will grow through the understanding of its rulers.”
Now, reread the above and substitute “president” or “leader” for “magistrate” or “king”; and “country” for “city;” etc.
There is a need to attend to the heart and soul of this nation. That will be difficult without the right leaders. We need a return to calm leadership underpinned by decency, honesty and the recognition that seeking consensus, even when elusive, is a noble goal. We need a person founded in genuine Faith, for our country needs to be founded in Faith.
We can find a balance with immigration issues that brings order yet recognizes the plights of so many. We can be resolute with foreign policy without name-calling. We can minimize regulation and be measured dealing with the environment without political extremism. And we can wage a political campaign that respects our competition.
There are men and women who will campaign in the coming two years who can move our country in a direction suggested in Sirach. But they have not yet announced their candidacy…
Gene Jackson, Bismarck
As a landowner and being raised on a farm in Oliver County I was pleased to sign an easement with Summit Carbon Solutions. This project gives Summit an opportunity to lower the carbon score of energy plants in North Dakota. If we don't get onboard, the global market will turn to alternatives that will meet the low carbon demand.
In conversations with other landowners in Oliver County I have found most to be in favor of this project however there is a small percentage that are worried that the CO2 injected underground may have adverse effects on our land several generations down the road. I really don't think that's going to happen as I have the utmost confidence in the research Summit has done and I also feel Summit Management is comprised of top-quality individuals.
Refusing to adapt to new technology could be detrimental to these crucial industries that have carried our state's economy for so long. I could also mean losing several benefits to counties on the project route. North Dakota has a unique opportunity here and I hope we choose to take advantage of it. We all need to realize the carbon score needs to be lowered here and other states, so future generations can live in a cleaner and safer environment.
Kenneth Hintz, Beulah
Since my husband and I moved out to our farm four years ago, something inexcusable happens every spring and fall. Cats are abandoned on our country road.
Saturday, Nov. 12, 9 degrees above zero, as darkness fell upon us, I could see a vehicle pulled into our yard and hid behind a tractor. The vehicle turned around and took off as I saw a black cat run.
For the next three days the cat and me suffered together and I was unable to catch the cat despite having a building open with food and water. Abandoned cats are like that they all head out, scared to death, into fields. We have many trees and have sky predators, hawks, eagles, and two magnificent owls.
As darkness falls, owls, with some of the sharpest hunting skills on earth have already spotted the cat on day one.
I do know of something that would help, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. It could be mobile and travel from Bismarck to Fargo and Dickinson.
Let’s make it so we value a cat for the truly amazing animal that it is.
Susan Helm, Bismarck
I felt compelled to respond to a recent article by Tory Jackson.
Why has the Republican Party done so well since 1992? It’s because we listen to the electorate. Since the days of Ed Schafer, the Republican Party has worked very hard to show the people of North Dakota what Republican values mean and how these values have helped our state achieve an unparalleled record of success.
Under Republican leadership, we have maintained a balanced budget and created a management process in which the executive and legislative branches work together to save, rather than spend, every dollar. Under Republican leadership, we have achieved an ideal economic and regulatory environment to attract business, which has made North Dakota an energy and agricultural leader. Simply put: under Republican leadership, we have made North Dakota the very best place in which to live and start a business.
In choosing Republicans year after year, North Dakotans are not blindly picking a single political party; rather, they are making an informed choice to support individual liberties, personal responsibility, limited government, the rule of law, lower taxes, the right to bear arms, quality education, and traditional values.
The Republican Party is governed by an unspoken rule, which we take seriously as a party. We understand that the seats we hold are not our seats, but rather, they are the people’s seats.
We cannot – and will not – get complacent in our leadership. As Republicans, we always pledge to listen and to lead as the people. Thank you, North Dakota, for your trust and for your belief in the North Dakota Republican Party.
Perrie Schafer, Bismarck
Chairman, North Dakota Republican Party
Picking up where Judge Bob Wefald left off, we here at Red Oak House are delighted with the Tribune's comics, especially Baby Blues, Dennis the Menace, Zits, and ... the return of Doonesbury!
Lillian Crook, Bismarck
It’s no secret that small businesses struggled through the pandemic, and some are still struggling with the affects of the pandemic – higher input costs, changing consumer habits and higher labor costs, if they can even find the workers. Sort of long haul COVID for businesses.
However, the resiliency of small businesses should never be underestimated. For many entrepreneurs, their can-do attitude is what motivated them to start their business in the first place and that same attitude is what helped them pivot and persevere through the pandemic.
Small Business Saturday was created to help small businesses capture a larger piece of consumer spending during the holiday season. This year, Small Business Saturday is on Nov. 26 and will mark the 13th year Americans have increased their efforts to support our hometown small businesses.
According to American Express, last year shoppers came together in full force to support their local communities, and Small Business Saturday hit a record high with an estimated $23.3 billion in reported spending at independent retailers and restaurants.
Let’s keep up the momentum — small businesses still need our support now more than ever as they continue to fight the long-term effects of the pandemic and transition to stable, steady growth.
America’s 33 million small businesses, 75,000 of them from North Dakota representing 98.8% of all ND firms, need our help to “Shop Small” throughout this holiday season and on Small Business Saturday. Please join me by shopping at your local small business and dining at an independently owned restaurant during the holiday season and all year long.
Emily Oster, writing in The Atlantic (10/31/22), admits our pandemic policies were egregiously wrong. Yet she wants to declare an amnesty for wrongs committed during the pandemic because “we made complicated choices in the face of deep uncertainty,” and because most errors were made in good faith. Writing as a liberal/progressive, Oster advocated for reopening schools and suffered abuse for being a voice of reason. I applaud her willingness to forgive those who accused her of being a “teacher killer.” For my part, I forgive the A-Team for accusing me and other vaccine-hesitant folks of being misinformed (Andrist 7/20/21), living in fear and lacking common sense (Adkisson 8/27/21), and lacking civic responsibility (Adler 8/18/21).
While Oster may be clear-eyed about the harm caused by school closures, she is myopic about the scope of the wrongs, which range from chiding your neighbor for not wearing a mask at the beach, which is easily forgiven, to crimes against humanity, which should not be forgiven or forgotten.
My candidates for prosecution at Nuremburg-style trials start with Fauci and the rest of the medical-industrial complex, especially Pfizer executives. Starting in March, Pfizer was forced to release their vaccine testing data, which the FDA intended to hide for decades. Intrepid investigators (none from the major media), aided by hundreds of volunteers, have been analyzing Pfizer’s data. Their findings are shocking. For starters, listen to Naomi Wolf’s podcast “Destroying Women, Poisoning Breastmilk, Murdering Babies, and Hiding the Truth.”
As the damning evidence from Pfizer and other sources accumulates, our Department of Health still claims the vaccines are safe and effective. They even have a video on their website of Dr. Ana Tobiasz saying it is safe to vaccinate pregnant woman. Their failure to tell the truth is becoming increasingly difficult to excuse or forgive.
David Crane, Mott
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