McKenzie County ND

Meet-the-Candidates forums to be held:

One is scheduled Thurs., Sept. 18 in Alexander City Hall 6:00 p.m.

Another is scheduled Thurs., Oct. 16 in Watford City Civic Center 6:00 p.m.

Forum begins formally at 6:30 p.m. with panel presentations by four county commissioner candidates.
Coffee and light goodies are to be served by area’s respective American Legion Auxiliaries at 6:00 p.m.
The forum should last no longer than two hours.

The format is as follows:

Names drawn will determine order of delivery for prepared answers to five questions regarding
1. What are your top three concerns for the oil industry impact and some strategies to deal with them?
2. What are your top three priorities for modernizing county’s infrastructure?
3. How serious is the issue of underage access to alcohol and how do you propose to address it?
4. The same question is posed for the issue of underage access to tobacco.
5. If you were living in poverty, is McKenzie County a good place to be? Why or why not?
6. Each candidate, in random order, will be given the podium for four ‘free minutes’ to discuss any issue(s) they wish.
7. Finally, a Question and Answer period will be allowed for about 20 to 25 minutes.

All citizens welcome!!
Thank you, everyone, for your interest in this important citizenship effort!
Dale A. Swenson with the Watford City Community Coalition and American Legion Auxiliary 
journalistdale@gmail.com or phone 586-3340 or 701-421-1999

The Traveler’s Gift

by Andy Andrews.

Another book report on one of the fine selections the Horizon’s program has donated to our area. The books are located at the McKenzie County Library in Watford City.

Decision for Success

1. The buck stops here. I accept responsibility for my past. I am responsible for my success.

2. I will seek wisdom. I will choose to act. Charge!

3. I am a person of action.

4. I have a decided heart.

5. Today I will choose to be happy. As soon as I wake up, I will laugh for 7 seconds.

6. I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit.

7. I will persist without exception.

This would be a great text for today’s young persons. Besides giving them a glimpse into famous persons’ lives and a brief tour of the world, it gives some wonderful advice.

The final celebration for completing the Horizons Poverty Study Project was held at the RamKota in Bismarck on July 9, 2008. Attending from McKenzie County were Marcia Hellandsaas, Dale Swenson, and Dorothy Reil.

I liked Anita Rohde’s comment that the length of this program is about equal to the gestation period of an elephant. I would like to add that Mom Elephant’s milk nourishes the calf for 3 to 4 years. That means our work has just begun and we have four more years to devote to the nourishment of our goals. Change may not happen overnight, but it will happen.

Nolan Swenson, who will be a Senior at Watford City High School, organized a revitalization of a tall playhouse in Arnegard’s park, one in which he used to play. For the Eagle Scout honor, he has put materials, supplies, tools and local carpentry talent together to remake the structure, in addition to staining it a dark brown, inside and out.

The “small fry” of Independence Day play found the restored playhouse in the trees plagued by chalk graffiti and set to work scrubbing the writing off the dark boards.

“We want the playhouse to look nice and not be all marked up,” said one young boy with a wet eraser in his hand.

Nolan is pictured near the doorway of the plain board building standing high on six or seven foot footings.

Children played and Nolan smiled. More play was to be had on the large air-filled “inflatable games” just across the roped-off street.

Arnegard Boosters threw another marvelous party for the 4th of July Celebration. The parade was lead by Old Glory in the care of Watford City’s American Legion Color Guard. Remarkable in length, with horses, cars and fire trucks, its end meant the beginning of the dinner line. The plate of baked beans and tender roast beef was served by the Arnegard Lions and the ice cream dessert cups came from the McKenzie County Bank in Watford City.

The Family that provided the beef for the meal presented song and history of the Oluf and Annie Hovde family, whose homestead celebrates its centennial this year in the early afternoon. All veterans were honored near the dedicated memorial under the flag prior to the program.

Games continued for the children all afternoon, while adults visited in the picnic shelters, enjoying music provided first by Ordean Tweden and his wife, then by Jeff Nelson. Suppertime found the Lions serving up their usual Friday evening ‘Burgers in the Park’ and the line was long in the 94-degree sun.

Wilmington Lutheran Church’s cool basement provided education and entertainment with a DVD virtual walking tour of Washington, D.C. Newt Gingritch’s record of God in the Founding Father’s manuscripts and nation’s buildings ended at Arlington National Cemetery. Most amazing was the cameo of Martin Luther, whose work made possible the settlement of North America with Protestant Christian ethics.

The fire alarm went off around 9 p.m. and a grass fire on the northeast edge of town was quickly put down by the local fire department.

The Arnegard fireworks started around 10:30 and went on to around midnight, with boom, bang and “ahhhhhes……” Arnegard once again put on a marvelous 4th of July celebration.

Oh, yes, that R us! Butt (I think you are supposed to put sic here) it is a good feeling to know we have accomplished, and we will accomplish more!

We received some magnificent books through the Horizons program. Man, these books cost mega bucks, and we have a whole trough full. They are at the Watford City library so go and check something out. It won’t matter which one. All of the information is wonderful.

I took Leadership Gold by John C. Maxwell.

Subtitle: Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Leading.

I found some fantastic things to share with you. And I am sure you would jump over these and find something wonderful for yourself. So here it is:

“Criticism is something you can avoid easily—-by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”………Aristotle (We are used to this one.)

“Don’t put live eggs under dead chickens.” ……..Howard Hendricks (We tried but it didn’t work out.)

And now let’s address our own skills in communication. I UNDERSTAND this area needs some work.

Direct quote from the book:

You spend half your day—about 4 hours—-in listening activities.
You hear about two hours’ worth of what is said.
You actually listen to an hour of it.
You understand only thirty minutes of that hour.
You believe only fifteen minutes’ worth.
And you remember less than eight minutes of all that is said.

Ahem…………does this ring any bells? Ding ding ding

Another quote:

Control your destiny, or someone else will.
Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it were.
Be candid with everyone.
Don’t manage, lead.
Change before you have to.
If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.

Don’t send your ducks to Eagle School.

If you send ducks to Eagle School, you will frustrate the ducks.
If you send ducks to Eagle School, you will frustrate the Eagles.
If you send ducks to Eagle School, you will frustrate yourself.

I will equate this to trying to give a town a treasure. And everyone refused it.

I now invite you to check out this book and find some treasures for yourself.

And if you have a dripping wet cat who was outside when our rain/hail deluge hit……., get out the towel and the hair dryer! We need ACTION, when ACTION is needed!

Our bloggers posted many stories in a “Shoot for the Stars” competition and won big! Now who will tend this sweet machine we have as reward?

We bloggers of McKenzie County won the blog incentive and the Dell 1125 multi-purpose black and white laser printer that scan, copies, faxes and prints comes with “choice” of Dell Desktop (slim-line design) dual-core 2.4 GHz processor, Vista, Home Premium, 2 GB memory, 500 GB hard drive, 20-inch widescreen flat panel display

OR

the Dell Laptop-dual-core 1.7 GHz processor, Vista Home Premium, 2GB memory, 250 GB hard drive, wireless, 17-inch wide screen display.

Either machine comes with software to include Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

By June 25 Dale A. Swenson must fill in these blanks:

1. Community name:_____________________

2. _______Desktop OR ______Laptop

3. Where will it be kept in our community_________________________

Since Wednesday, June 18, I have been around Alexander looking for a Main Street area for the public access computer prize package. After several “No, thank yous, ” tonight, it is Jennifer Morton’s turn to think about providing space and monitoring it in her Country Cafe. I’ll call her Monday morning to see if we can set it up there, and if she will be responsible as the public location that can be monitored during the day-time hours and locked during non-business hours, like the city office or public library. While this prize is free to be used by our citizens, someone must assume the maintenance and liability for any/all of these items that are received.

I have also left a message for Dave Farver, Lions president, requesting assistance with this project. The Alexander Lions know all about Horizons-Leadership to Reduce Poverty in McKenzie County since Tim and I did a presentation to the group in February. See it on this blog posted Feb. 25.

Update June 24:

The Lions said, No.

Dorothy Reil suggested one last try with the local branch bank of First International Bank & Trust. I sent Steve Stenehjem an email message last night.

Update June 25:

At 1 p.m. today I’ll know if the public computer access can reside in the bank at Alexander.

I’ve received three new resources for our box of resources available at the McKenzie County Library. Check out these:

Impacting Community Vitality: Software for Demonstrating
Economic Impacts of Customers CD
The “How To”: Grants Manual
See Poverty…Be The Difference! Discover Missing Pieces for Helping People Move Out of Poverty Book

Thanks to the Center for Community Vitality with the NDSU Extension Service for purchasing all these wonderful resource materials for us!

Horizons has added a wonderful collection of materials to the McKenzie County Library. The book titles below will address community leadership, poverty reduction, entrepreneurship and self improvement. You will find them to be inspiring, enlightening and some will also be quite humorous! A couple curriculums, DVD’s, lessons for groups, and children’s books are included. Please request the McKenzie County Horizons library to check out these books titles and other materials:

The Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus
Making Vision Stick
The Traveler’s Gift
Leadership Gold: Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Learning by John C. Maxwell
The Quilt Makers Gift
The Quilt Makers Journey
8 Challenges Facing Community Leaders
Who Moved My Cheese?
Leadership 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know
Attitude 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know
Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Lead…and Other Don’t
Smart Communities: How Citizens and Local Leaders Can Use Strategic Thinking To Build a Brighter Future
The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
Rural Communities Legacy + Change: Third Edition
Your Field Guide To Community Building
The Magic of Thinking Big
Blink
The Tipping Point
The Power of Positive Thinking
Leading Without Power: Finding Hope In Serving Community
Everyday Creativity: Leader’s Guide, Workbook and DVD
6 Myths About The Future of Small Towns
Better Schools Through Public Engagement
Better Local Leadership: How To Start a Program For Your Town or County
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People–DVD
Establishing A Shared-Use Commerical Kitchen
Who, Me Lead a Group?
Vision To Action: Take Change Too Curriculum
The Entrepreneurial Community: A Strategic Leadership Appraoch To Community Survival resources material
The Leader In You: How To Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed In a Changing World
Do Something In Your Community
Energizing Entrepreneurs: Charting a Course for Rural Communities
Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations To Restore Home To The Future
A Framework For Understanding Poverty
Bridges Out of Poverty
Oh, The Places You’ll Go! (children’s book)
Getting Ahead In a Just-Gettin’–By Wolrd: Building Your Resources for a Better Life
Stone Soup (children’s book)

Striving to improve living conditions for families and individuals who struggle with poverty. Searching for proven or emerging approaches to reduce the numbers of people who struggle on a daily basis–long term.

These were underlying themes for the business and political leaders and nonprofit organizations and government service providers, including many Horizons program volunteers and staff who attended the Grassroots and Groundwork conference in Minneapolis May 28 to 30.

For me the experience was eye-opening and inspiring, to say the least.

One of the most interesting things I learned more about was social capital. Social capital, the relational foundation of a community, consists of trust, connections (networks), and involvement (action).

Strength of communities rests on the relationships we have with one another. Research has shown that communities with a strong foundation of trust between and among different individuals and groups are healthier and thrive economically and educationally.

These types of networks are an important part of social capital in communities:

Bonding Networks — close ties that help people to get by. These connections are usually with family, friends and neighbors.

Bridging Networks — weaker ties that can help people to get ahead and gain opportunities. These connections are usually with people who are different from themselves, who have different types of networks.

Linking Networks — Links to organizations and systems that can help people gain resources and bring about broader change. These connections are usually with organizations that have resources, both within and outside of the community.

Take a look at the social capital in your community. It will help you learn a lot about yourselves today and into the future!

I found some interesting sites for Methamphetamines. This site is a quiz. It would be good to do that.

http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/DrugIssue/MethResources/meth_quiz.html

Would you swallow a spoonful of drain cleaner? Does the thought of injecting brake fluid into your arm appeal to you? Care to top off your dessert with a bit of rat poison?

http://www.mappsd.org/Meth%20Ingredients.htm

Here are some common ingredients used in making meth

Alcohol -
Gasoline additives/Rubbing Alcohol
Ether (starting fluid)
Benzene
Paint thinner
Freon
Acetone
Chloroform
Camp stove fuel
Anhydrous ammonia
White gasoline
Pheynl-2-Propane
Phenylacetone
Phenylpropanolamine
Rock, table or Epsom salt
Red Phosphorous
Toluene (found in brake cleaner)
Red Devil Lye
Drain cleaner
Muraitic acid
Battery acid
Lithium from batteries
Sodium metal
Ephedrine
Cold tablets
Diet aids
Iodine
Bronchodialators
Energy boosters
Iodine crystals

Lab equipment - including tubing, unmarked Mason jars with tubes attached, stained coffee filters, 2-liter pop bottles, blenders, camera batteries, wooden matches, propane cylinders and hot plates - are tip offs to the production of Meth.

Individually, each product is legal and useful. But when mixed together and processed, the results are deadly - to the producer, user and innocent bystanders.

South Dakota has good sites which give the cost of meth use problems, clean up and so on:

http://www.mappsd.org/Community%20Costs.htm

http://www.mappsd.org/NACo%20LE.htm

Meth Basics:

Meth is a highly addictive stimulant
Prolonged use permanently destroys brain tissue
Smoking or manufacturing Meth releases toxic contamination
Meth ‘cooks’ can get almost everything they need to manufacture a batch in local stores – legally.
Producing one pound of Meth generates five to six pounds of toxic waste.
Property owners are responsible for the cost of Meth lab waste clean up.
A majority of lab incidents involve children
Many child abuse and neglect cases are the result of Meth use or manufacturing.

http://www.mappsd.org/Fast%20Facts.htm