This past weekend I watched the ACC Regional Basketball Tournament played in Atlanta. In both the Saturday and Sunday games the Florida State Seminoles faced off against other regional teams, Duke and North Carolina. Now they both were great games indeed but this isn’t what I am writing about. In both of those games the Seminole fans, the teams bands, and cheerleading squad were all doing the tomahawk chop, as well as thunderous accompanying music to keep everyone’s chops in beat to cheer their team on to victory. Now the only reason I bring this up is, how is that OK to the NCAA, but the Fighting Sioux nickname offensive to them? Please don’t get me wrong now because this is not a campaign to bring the nickname back. I believe the name should be left to rest so the school is not hit with sanctions against it for continuing to use the nickname. This is a plea of equality on this subject to the NCAA more than anything. It just amazes me at the hypocrisy of the NCAA. These college teams who choose to use symbols that represent courage, determination, and fortitude to represent their schools are not attempting to disgrace, or humiliate any culture. Now if you were to perhaps use a picture of Wylie Coyote getting blown up on a rocket while chasing the Roadrunner that’s humiliating. Get with it NCAA and stop being so hypocritical in your judgment. Use a fair and balanced approach that is applied to all colleges not just the ones you choose to single out and make an example of.
Hat’s off to Marilyn Haggerty
Grand Forks Herald writer Marilyn Haggerty at age 85yrs old just shocked the world and Grand Forks with her rise to fame for her Eat Beat article written in last Wednesday’s edition of the Grand Forks Herald. As I watched how she handled the fame all week and weekend long I couldn’t help but admire her humility and class as the spotlight shined down upon her. I saw her on several nationally syndicated news programs and WOW she really handled it well. Marilyn you are a bright spot not just in the media community but in the Grand Forks community as a whole. As I watched you I wondered to myself if I would handle it the same way and came to the conclusion that I probably would have blown it with the east coast demeanor that lives within me hahah. Anyways Marilyn hats off to you and thanks for representing our community and region in such a wonderful, wonderful way.
Does the Altru expansion plan help or hurt Grand Forks? You be the judge.
A few weeks ago we were on the verge of having another hospital in town, namely Doctors Hospital. After completing their final inspection and being two weeks away from opening their doors to the citizens of Grand Forks and the surrounding communities they had their lease abruptly terminated when Altru bought the building Doctors Hospital had leased for the hospital in the Aurora Medical Park from a group called PACES Lodging who owned the building. Not only was Doctors Hospital in round about terms kicked out of the building there are other medical clinics within the buildings also has now purchased who are probably not going to have their leases renewed. Those would be Northern Valley OBGYN, Aurora Clinic, Winmar Sleep Center, and Aurora Urgent Care. Sources say that letters were sent to those existing businesses inviting them to leave prior to their lease expiration if they so choose. Now why would anyone who owns a building invite their tenants to terminate their leases early? Had I received that letter I would be guessing that perhaps my lease was not going to be renewed? These are businesses with an existing clientele that they have worked long hard hours to build up, and now those businesses are at risk. I met with Mr. Dennis Reisnour, Chief Planning Executive for Altru last week to ask him some questions regarding the elimination of Doctors Hospital by their purchase of the building the new hospital was to be housed in. It appears that no definitive decisions for exactly what will be going into that building have been made as of yet. At that point I ask myself, why would I buy a building if I didn’t know exactly what I was going to put in it yet? It doesn’t make good business sense for me to buy something without knowing exactly what I plan to do with it. But that’s just my opinion. Mr. Reisnour did make it clear that Doctors Hospital was not welcome to be a tenant in their building. I asked Mr. Reisnour about what he thought the ripple effect on the community was. He told me of the improvement of healthcare services that Altru would provide, the hiring that would take place and talked nothing of what I was trying to get at. People without notice our now unemployed, money that would have been spent in the community by Doctors Hospital is now gone, and once again Grand Forks has but one hospital to choose from for services. Personally I don’t see at all how this betters Grand Forks access to healthcare or the community as a whole. People want choice! It is good for the consumer when competition exists in a marketplace whether it is restaurants or healthcare, it is good. I do believe that Altru is an asset to Grand Forks. They gave approximately “$20 million dollars” back to the community Mr. Reisnour stated which is great. But Grand Forks could have also had another business doing the same type of philanthropy had they been allowed to open. To allow a business to do all that hard work, spend all that money on equipment, staff, marketing etc.., and then without notice have them kicked out of a building is just pointless to me. Now who did the kicking out of the building to Doctors Hospital? I have no idea, but it doesn’t matter who did it, what matters is that Doctors Hospital did not open. That’s what matters here!
Bracketology…March Madness is finally here!!
Sleep deprivation, loss of work production, and dashed dreams of a pointless loss buy one of your bracket picks. It’s all part of March Madness. I love this time of year not only for the weather that we are blessed to have upon us, but for the NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament. So here is my pick. No not all of them just the important one. An ACC Team against a Big 10 team in the final. Michigan State vs North Carolina for the title with North Carolina winning it all!