HOLD ON THERE, MR. ATTORNEY GENERAL
About a week or so ago, The Forum’s Terri Finneman wrote an article in which she quoted a number of crime statistics given out by North Dakota Attorney General, Wayne Stenehjem’s office and a quote by Mr. Stenehjem that put’s the “S” squarely in the phrase “SPIN Doctor.”
Mr. Stenehjem said—and this is a direct quote from the article in the Forum: “While it is certainly accurate that crime is up and up considerably in a worrisome way in some of those counties in the Oil Patch, the major reason that is happening is because the population is up.”
REALLY? Noooo kidding? So tell everyone something they are not aware of! Such as what your office is doing about it? Because from what I hear — (and considering I have an adult child now working as a police officer in one of those counties—I hear what the local newspaper does not print) where the “crime is up considerably in a worrisome way” unfortunately, not much is being done to alleviate the situation .
While Attorney General Stenehjem puts the spin on statistics and plays down the numbers in assault crimes, robberies, domestic abuse , vehicle accidents, drug busts with a shrug of his shoulders by saying “the populations have gone up,” he neglects to mention that the police agencies hired to quash these “considerably worrisome” crimes have not increased their numbers! As a matter of fact, in Dickinson, they are working with fewer numbers than a year ago! Why? Because a) officers have left due to conditions they are forced to work under, such as having only minimum state-required officers on a shift ; b) the ridiculous pay they are working for! Oh, yes! They are all getting plenty of overtime hours in, which certainly increases their wages per pay period. It also means an entire police force exhausted from working too many hours covering for missing and much-needed officers they cannot replace because the conditions are dangerous, the pay is ridiculously low, and the district attorney pleads down more than they convict. And this does not even address the tripled numbers in traffic arrests and citations. Nor does it address the fiasco going on with apparently a corrupt Sheriff who is losing deputies left and right. And what is the number one state police officer, States Attorney General Stenehjem, doing about it? Giving out spin speeches, shrugging his shoulders with an acquiescent manner of “Well, gee. More people have moved in to our towns… so whatcha gonna do?”
According to Terri Finneman’s article, Stenehjem’s “greatest concerns” are the “increasing number of aggravated assaults and DUI’s across the state.” Well, he certainly should be. Question is, what is your plan to deal with these problems? Or, do you believe giving spin speeches filled with platitudes such as “the populations have grown” is enough?
The question I’d be asking if I lived in North Dakota is, “When is the Attorney General’s elected term up?”
NO OFFENSE, BUT…
North Dakota’s Senator John Hoven crowed about the recently approved Federal Transportation bill worth $764 million for federal highways to be built and reconstructed through 2014. Combine that with another $317 million for emergency road funds passed last December to repair and reconstruct flood damaged roads and bridges—all told the state of North Dakota with a population of fewer than a million people will rake in $1.08 billion dollars for a three year period. That’s great. It’s great that western North Dakota can begin to join the rest of the modern world. My question is, if there’s fewer than a million people actually populating North Dakota—who else is paying for the infrastructure within a state that is flush by a billion dollars from oil revenue monies?
Meantime, the citizens in the 4th ward of Moorhead, Minnesota are facing additional assessments on their home properties because the Feds decided in their benevolent wisdom to allow the rebuilding of the Main Avenue ramps off I-94– (the same ramps the same Federal nimrods insisted Moorhead tear down and remove over a year ago) so, could someone please explain to me why the citizens of Moorhead are having to pay for infrastructure it was forced to remove and now is being allowed to reinstate because the city of Moorhead cannot afford to pay for it alone? Maybe if we had an oil rig on one side of the soon-to-be-replaced ramps, we could get Federal funding , too. In the meantime, 4th ward residents, dig out your check books. This is not exactly costing “petty cash” for anyone. If your home escrow account begins to look depleted, blame the Federal Highway Commission. They are the ones who mandated the removal.
COMING SUNDAY
STREETS ALIVE! It’s a pedestrian paradise. All downtown streets in Fargo/Moorhead will be closed to all motor vehicles on Sunday, July 15 and 26th. Only ‘human’ transportation will be allowed on these two Sundays from Noon – 5 p.m. for fun and demonstrations and participation in walking, strolling, pole vaulting, cycling, skateboarding, and whatever else that is ‘motorized’ by human muscle and sweat. For a map on where the activities will begin and are located, go to: www.fmstreetsalive.org.
MOORHEAD BIKE NITE! July 12: Meet on the east side parking lot of the Center Mall. Lots of bikes, food and camaraderie! The fun starts at 5 p.m.
SPECIAL NOTE to all those who sent emails on my column about Moorhead Chief Ebinger, sorry, no word yet as to whether he’s staying put or leaving. The Chief and I saw each other recently and he let me know he was none too pleased with my column. His complaint was it was “fact-less.” Not totally true. Fact is he did state he planned on retiring when his tenure in Moorhead was up. Fact is he didn’t convince the Moorhead City Council to ban synthetic marijuana. The state of Minnesota had already passed the ban on synthetic marijuana. The ban on pipes simply put two local downtown businesses out of business. Fact is, even with no one selling marijuana pipes in Moorhead—it has not made a huge impact on people who still smoke marijuana. They are still smoking it —they just don’t have a place to spend their money in Moorhead anymore. Fact is Moorhead lost taxing revenue because of the ordinance.
Comments, questions, complaints, letters for print can be sent to: sooasheim@aol.com or to The Extra’s managing Editor, Tammy Finney, at : tfinney@ncppub.com. Please remember to sign name and city on all letters for print and include a phone # for verification.