The warmest April since 1915 came to an end last Friday, and with it ended warm temperatures and dry conditions, replaced by .6 inch of rain and temperatures in the 50’s.  The first week of May has seen occasional showers, lows in the 30’s, highs in the 50’s and winds that matched the thermometer readings.  Corn planting is proceeding, however, rain or shine, and a substantial number of acres in the Rutland area have now been seeded with the 2010 corn crop.

Diane Kulzer drove up to Washburn last weekend, to visit Jeff & Katy Kulzer and their family, and also to deliver a load of seed corn to Jeff from Kulzer Feed & Seed of Rutland.  According to Mike, Diane does not normally deliver seed corn that far from home, but Jeff is one of her favorite customers.

Rutland native Rob Bauman arrived in town on Saturday, May 1, for an extended visit with family and friends here.  Rob reports that he ran into snow and cold weather at several locations on his drive out from his home in Portland OR.  He is residing at the home of his nephew, Jesse Brakke, on the outskirts of Havana, during his visit in the home area.

The Rutland City Council held its regular monthly meeting at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, May 3, at the Rutland Town Hall, with Mayor Narum, Auditor Hoistad and Aldermen Arneson, Christianson, Mahrer and Siemieniewski present.  Also present were Taryn Maloney and Shane Jensen.  The Financial report showed all funds in the black, except for the Sewer Operating Fund, which is still recovering from the cost of repairs at the municipal sewage lagoon which were completed earlier this Spring.  Among the bills approved for payment was one in the amount of $15,030 for replacement of the heating and air-conditioning units at the Town Hall.  The Rutland Horizons Committee had previously awarded $1,500 towards this project.  The Rutland Community Club had also committed to reimburse the City for the remainder of the cost.  The Council took another step toward maintaining the City’s paved streets by approving the Engineer’s contract with KLJ Engineering of Valley City for $9,500 for the street repair and resealing project.  A preliminary estimate puts  the cost of the repair and resealing project at about $230,000.00.  Ms. Maloney & Mr. Jensen inquired about the possible sale of the City’s Allis Chalmers WD-45 tractor and mower.  The tractor and mower have rarely been used since the City acquired a new mower tractor in 2008.  The Council decided to put the tractor with 6’ Woods mower up for sale.  It will be advertised with an asking price of $4,000.00.  Offers are welcome.  The Council also voted to trade in the 2 year old John Deere mower tractor for a new one.  Estimates had been received from Green Iron at Milnor and RDO at Lisbon.  Members discussed setting up a 2 year replacement schedule for the mower tractor.  Alderwoman Bert Siemieniewski announced that additional grant money has been awarded for the Town Hall accessibility project.  Plans for the project are currently being completed by the City’s architect, she said.  Deb Banish, web manager for the community’s internet web site met with the Council to discuss putting more City information, such as minutes, ordinances, forms, agendas and meeting notices on the web site.  She also discussed the Rutland Blog site and Rutland’s Facebook page, and utilizing those sites to get the word out about Rutland, “The Pride Of The Prairie.”  The next regular meeting of the Rutland City Council will be at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, June 7, in the Rutland Town Hall.

The Rutland Community Club held its regular monthly meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4, at the Rutland Town Hall.  Club president Vicki Hausler was unable to attend the meeting, so vice-president Paul Anderson called the meeting to order.  Club members approved the disbursement of $13,530.00 to the City of Rutland for the new heating and air-conditioning units at the Hall, and also approved a $1,000.00 award to the Rutland Park District for improvements being planned at Lou Sanderson Field this Summer.  Planned improvements include: some landscaping to improve drainage from the playing field; painting and repair of shelter and restroom facilities; and, construction of new dugouts.  Two men’s softball tournaments are in the works for this Summer, as well as T-ball and Pony League for the youngsters.  Diane Pherson reported on the progress of the committee working on the Town Hall accessibility improvement project, and stated that substantial grants and gifts have been committed to help pay the estimated $125,000.00 to $150,000.00 cost of the work to be done.  The project will include: replacing the existing front entry with one that meets Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements; installing a new, handicapped accessible ladies’ room in the space now occupied by the City office; and, converting the existing men’s & ladies’ rooms into a new, handicapped accessible men’s room.  The committee is hoping to be able to start work on the project early this Summer, in order to have it completed by Uffda Day, the first Sunday in October.  Diane also gave a brief report on Uffda Day plans.  Chairperson Lori McLaen has been meeting with committee leaders to consider some scheduling and location changes for various events and activities.  In other business, the Club members discussed the upcoming Memorial Day program and community pot-luck dinner, and decided to sponsor a “Community Clean-up” from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 20.  Notices will be posted around town and on the Community Bulletin Board, as well as on the community’s internet outlets.  The next monthly meeting of the Rutland Community Club is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1, at the Rutland Town Hall.

Former Rutland resident Rita (Grammond) Trygstad visited in the old home town on the morning of Wednesday, May 5.  Rita has been residing in Britton SD since moving from Rutland back in the mid-90’s.  She reports that she is planning a move to Redfield SD later this year.  Her daughter, Dixie, and 2 grandchildren now live in Redfield.

Local farmer, entrepreneur, auctioneer and raconteur Wm “Dollar Bill” Smith of Forman stopped in at the Rutland General Store on Wednesday afternoon, and joined the Assembled Wise Men at the Round Table for coffee and conversation.  Bill was picking up some seed corn from his nephew, Rutland citizen Brandon Smith, but stated that he was having a tough time deciding whether he should pick 2009 corn or plant 2010 corn, as some of his last year’s corn fields are just now getting dry enough to enter with harvesting equipment.  Bill also gave a brief report on his visit to the Dakota Magic Casino at Hankinson a couple of weeks ago, when he dropped 3 quarters into a slot machine and hit a jackpot of over $12,000.00.  When the manager asked him who he wanted the check made out to, Bill replied, “I didn’t put a check into that machine, did I.”  He took his prize in cash, and said that it felt pretty good when he deposited most of it in his bank the next day.  Telling the story is as much fun as winning the money, and the story will last a lot longer.  You win some and you lose some, but winning usually feels a lot better.

Rutland native Janelle Brakke has recently accepted the position at the North Dakota Veterans Home in Lisbon.  She has been employed as Administrator at the Clay County De-Tox Center in Moorhead MN for the past decade.  Ms. Brakke owns the house at 415 Anthony Street in Rutland that was formerly owned by Mr. Lowell Kraig and by Gottfred and Martha Pearson.  Ms. Brakke plans to make her home in Rutland when she assumes her new duties.  She is a graduate of Sargent Central High School, and has also earned degrees in the medical field from Moorhead Vocational-Technical School; North Dakota State College of Science at Wahpeton; Sisseton Community College; and, Minnesota State University, Moorhead.  The Rutland community extends a hearty “Welcome Home!” to Janelle, and congratulates her on her new career opportunity.

Meanwhile, on the national scene, the oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that is pumping over 200,000 gallons of crude oil into the waters off the U. S. Gulf Coast each day, has given new meaning to British Petroleum’s advertising slogan, “BP – Bringing oil to America’s shores.”  The damage from this oil spill has the potential to be an environmental, ecological and economic disaster of global proportions.  It also, once again, highlights the necessity for this nation, and the rest of the world, to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels and to move toward less dangerous renewable bio-fuels as well as wind and solar generated power.  Oil, to be sure, will remain a significant source of power for the foreseeable future, but the recently developed ability to tap into deep oil fields, such as the Bakken Formation in the center of North America, and another, even larger, field that lies below it, gives oil companies the ability to shift production from environmentally dangerous off-shore wells to more stable, dry land production sites.  Right now, the central part of the country lacks the pipeline and refinery capacity to fully tap into this natural resource, however, and the question should be asked: “Why have North Dakota’s leaders not pushed for increased capacity?”  North Dakota’s Governor boasts that the State produces enough natural gas to heat several hundred thousand homes every day, yet the majority of North Dakota’s homes, farms and businesses have no access to this abundant and inexpensive source of power.  Millions of cubic feet of natural gas are simply burned off every day in North Dakota’s oil fields, wasting a potentially valuable resource.  Why does this State not have a Rural Gasification Administration, similar to REA, to extend the availability of this source of power to every community in North Dakota?  Why do the State’s political leaders resist construction of refinery and pipeline facilities to process and distribute North Dakota’s oil and gas production, providing good paying jobs for thousands of North Dakotans in the process?  Why is there no move to produce nitrogen fertilizer to enhance North Dakota’s agricultural production from the natural gas that is now being flared off and wasted in this State?  There are a lot of questions to be asked, but if the folks currently in positions of leadership in this State don’t want to lead, the people of North Dakota should consider replacing them with men and women who will.  In the Gulf Coast area, though, estimates are that it will take $14 billion to clean up the mess, and more than that to restore the damage to the economy of the region.  It is ironic that political leaders in that part of the Country, many of whom are extremely vocal in their condemnation of Federal government spending in other regions of the Nation, have been quick to demand billions in Federal assistance for their States.  It seems that Federal spending is only wasteful when it’s spent on someone else. 

Well, that’s it for this week.  For more information about what’s going on in the little city that can, check out the community’s internet web site at www.rutlandnd.com.  Later.