Every week, the headline is the same, “More Rain!” Well, at least we haven’t had 40 days and 40 nights of consecutive downpours, yet, although Lenny and Kathy Runyan have gotten a good start on collecting 2 of every species at their farm home, the old Francis & Rozilla Maly place, in the hills south of Rutland. There are no reports, so far, that Lenny has placed an order for gopherwood for ark building purposes, but the locals are keeping their water wings handy, just in case. In the meantime, Fargo and its downstream neighbors are bickering about the location, cost and adverse impacts of the proposed flood diversion around North Dakota’s largest city, and the folks up at Devils Lake continue to talk, walk and dance in circles as the waters rise closer to the overflow outlet. The uncontrolled outflow of water from Devils Lake would, or will, be catastrophic when it occurs, everyone agrees, however, no one wants to cooperate with anyone else to get the water out in a controlled manner. Both Minnesota and Manitoba seem to prefer the old Scandinavian method of dealing with the problem: “If we ignore it long enough, maybe it will go away.” It seems that the only acceptable method would be to levitate the water out of the Lake and transport it through the air to Hudson’s Bay. As BP has shown in the Gulf of Mexico, you can do what you want to the oceans, as long as you don’t mess up the beach. Well, one of these days, the rain will quit and drought will return, but until then, we’ll continue to complain about the wet weather.
County road superintendent Sparky Engquist, assisted by Jamey Lien, replaced the culvert through County Road #3, also known as Cooper Street, just east of the intersection with County #10, also known as First Street or Main Street, on Friday, July 23. The old culvert, believed to have been in place for somewhere between 40 and 75 years, had rusted through and collapsed this Spring. City officials had requested that the culvert be replaced before work commenced on a street repair and resealing project scheduled for completion this Summer. The old culvert was 18” in diameter, as is the new one, although the new pipe is several feet longer to allow for future construction of a 4 to 1 slope for the roadway.
Rutland’s Mayor, City Council and City Engineer held a pre-construction meeting with Morris Seal Coat & Trucking at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 26 in the City office, to discuss scheduling, safety issues and other matters associated with the street repair and resealing project. Those attending the meeting were: Lary Arneson, City Council; Mike Mahrer, City Council; Ron Narum, Mayor; Doris Hoistad, Auditor; Scott Middaugh, KLJ Engineering; Les Norton, KLJ Engineering; Bill Anderson, City Attorney; and, Craig Schnitzler, Morris Seal Coat & Trucking. The company’s representative, Mr. Schnitzler, stated that they intended to commence repair work on Wednesday morning, July 28, and expected to have the entire project completed by the evening of Monday, August 2, weather permitting. He stated that work would commence with milling of the damaged and deteriorated areas of existing pavement prior to patching those areas with asphalt hot mix. The crew will be working from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each day, except Saturday and Sunday. Anyone in the area who would like to have a driveway or parking area blacktopped while the men, material and equipment are here should contact Mr. Schnitzler, Mayor Ron Narum or Alderman Mike Mahrer.
The funeral service for the late Lenny Pherson of this community was held at Nordland Lutheran Church here at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 28, with Pastor Justin Fenger officiating. Mr. Pherson was well known and well liked throughout this area, and the number attending the funeral was very large. As reported here last week, Mr. Pherson had passed away at his Rutland home on Thursday, July 22, after a 1½ year long struggle with cancer. He would have been 49 years old on Thursday, July 29. Price Funeral Home of Britton was in charge of arrangements. Burial was in the Rutland Cemetery. A dinner was served at the Rutland Town Hall by the Lutheran ladies following the service.
Harold Young returned to Rutland on Sunday, July 25, following a brief trip to Phoenix, AZ, where he attended the graduation of his son, Chad, from the Arizona Police Academy. Harold had intended to fly to Alaska from Phoenix for a fishing trip with his uncle, Pat Prindiville, but returned to Rutland upon learning of the death of his friend, Lenny Pherson.
Shawn Breker of this community returned from Australia on Tuesday, July 27, after a 6 week educational visit to the “Land Down Under.” Shawn has made periodic e-mail reports on his adventure that have been shared with readers in this column. Here is his final transmission.
Tue, July 27 @ 1:15am
Location: Havana, ND, USA. The great people of the north: My six-week trip has drawn to a close. No more kangaroos or koalas and no more “good’ day mates” “How ya goin?” greetings and no more metric system, schooling (for now), Australian currency, or driving on the left side of the road.
I bungee jumped on Thursday from a 50 meter tower which was the second scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life. (Email me if you want to know the most scariest thing I’ve done.) To willingly dive off into thin air when the only thing to catch you is an entwined rubber band rope was ironically difficult. At first look I said, “That’s not too high”. While climbing and arriving at the top to glance down, things got very REAL quickly. I thought, “Why did I pay these people $100+ to harness me into an apparatus that might potentially kill me?!” I thought an intelligent (and stunningly charming) engineering graduate would have put two and two together to figure out NOT TO JUMP. I researched that the odds of dying on a bungee are dramatically less than the odds of dying in a car on the way to the bungee jump. My odds were roughly 99.6% of surviving. YES, in my favor! Germs don’t have a chance with 99.9% likelihood of dying when I use my Germ-X hand sanitizer, so I rolled the dice using this parallel. Long story shorter, I made the leap and survived. I was filled with glee. Although I jumped despite my intelligent idiocy (oxymoron), I DO KNOW that no one should be allowed to be in upper atmospheric levels for 18+ hours and have 9 hours of layovers in an airport. I’m Tweeting my buddy Barack tomorrow about it so this new law can go into affect immediately. No worries, I’m on it.
My godparents, Carleen and Marv, picked me up Sunday night at the MSP airport. Both of them were very supportive of my trip and I need to thank them again for everything. Thanks C&M! I drove home Monday afternoon after lunch with a great friend of mine in Edina. Got home, changed clothes, and helped Shane finish winter wheat before the sun went down. I’m truly thankful for my safe trip, experience, and supportive family.
I guess my next adventures include: Aug 4 – Keith Urban concert in Bismarck; Aug 5, 6, 7; We Fest in Detroit Lakes Aug 21; Young Life Triathlon in Detroit Lakes; Aug 24; and not attending first full day of class at NDSU (boo-ya!); Aug 25; attending first Blue Key meeting ? (boo-ya!) Sept 12; Ironman at Square Lake, MN, Sept 18; Marathon in Bismarck; Ongoing finding a job that pays my sizable bank loans. I won’t be transmitting about these adventures simply because they are more boring than my current and previous 12 transmissions. You can thank me later. Keep in touch. Take care. – Shawn B.”
Dick Johnson of Hot Sulphur Springs, CO, was a Rutland visitor on Tuesday, July 27. Mr. Johnson is a great-grandson of Rutland Township pioneers John & Maria Peterson, who homesteaded between Rutland and Forman back in 1887. Dick’s grandfather, Ole B. Johnson, was Sargent County Clerk of Court from 1896 to 1916 and Forman Postmaster from 1918 until his death in 1930. Dick stopped in Rutland to pay a visit to his cousin, Bill Anderson, while on the return trip back to Colorado. He had been in North Dakota to attend induction ceremonies at the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in Jamestown for the members of the 1958 Drayton, ND, American Legion baseball team that played in the National Championship series that year. Dick was a member of that team. The 1958 Drayton squad is the only North Dakota Legion team to play for the National Championship. Drayton, like Rutland, had a strong baseball tradition at that time. Many old-timers remember the Drayton amateur teams that had a battery and infield made up almost entirely of Halcrows and an outfield and coaching staff almost entirely of Brousseaus. As Dick recalls it, of the 18 members of the 1958 team and coaching staff, 17 were Halcrows and Brousseaus and 1 was a Johnson. He stated that he was pleased and impressed with Rutland’s neat and well kept appearance, as well as with the improvements to Main Street that have been made in recent years.
Justin & Katie Fenger were Wednesday evening dinner guests of Steve & Sheila Wyum at the Prairie Skies Guest Ranch in the scenic Coteau Hills south of Veblen SD. The quartet of Rutlandites enjoyed a delicious steak, beautiful scenery and good conversation, reports Katie.
Another quartet of Rutlandites: Paul & Sue Anderson; and, Mark & Kathy Wyum; has been exploring the Far North, and the following report was received from the Yukon Territory on Thursday, July 29. “We are in Dawson city, Yukon Territory. Had a good day getting updated on the history of the area and spent the evening on the Yukon River having dinner. Mark hasn’t seen any corn or beans so is getting nervous about writing this trip off. Gold mining is going pretty good here. The price is right so individuals are showing up to do panning and placer mining in the area. We were told that the tourist business is better than last year. We had a good presentation on Robert Service today. I had almost forgotten about him until they started talking about Dangerous Dan Macgrew and Sam Macgee. Got a CD of him reading some of his verse. All is well so far, nice day here, in the 60′s and the sun is shining. Hope all is well at home.” The Anderson-Wyum expedition expects to be in Skagway, Alaska, on July 30, where they will board a cruise ship bound for Seattle. A stop at Ketchican, Alaska, is planned en route. The foursome is scheduled to be back in Rutland on August 4.
The Second Annual Rutland Rib Fest, scheduled for the afternoon and evening of Saturday, August 14, will give visitors to the community the opportunity to tickle their palates with ribs prepared by a number of local chefs, as well as to inspect recent civic improvements and enjoy some good music provided by the Earl Fust Band. Anyone interested in having a rib stand at the Rib Fest should contact Debbie Liermark at the Rutland General Store, 724-3784, to get a spot reserved.
Rutland Sportsman’s Club secretary, Travis Paeper, reports that the Club’s Annual Youth Day will be held at the John Narum Memorial Trap Range and Rifle Range north of Silver Lake on Sunday, August 15. Young folks who attend the event, the largest of its kind in the United States for the past several years, will have the opportunity to receive instruction in handling shotguns, rifles, BB guns, archery and fishing equipment, states, secretary Paeper. Ammunition will be furnished to the youthful participants by the sponsors of the event, free of charge. Lunch will be served on the grounds. The event is co-sponsored by the Rutland Sportsmen’s Club, the Windy Mound Chapter of the Wild Turkey Federation and by the Sargent County Chapter of Pheasants Forever.
The 2010 political campaign has been fairly quiet of late, but the candidates for U. S. Senate have put Sargent County on their agendas in recent days. Gov. John Hoeven, carrying the banner for the GOP, was in Gwinner on July 17, making an appearance in the “Gwinner Days” parade. State Sen. Tracy Potter, the Democratic-NPL Party standard bearer, has announced that he will be at the Sargent County Courthouse in Forman at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 1, on his “Get Acquainted Tour” that is taking him to all 53 County Courthouses in the State. Mr. Potter says that he will speak on the history of Sargent County, as well as about the issues of the current campaign. Sen. Potter will be making a similar appearance at the Richland County Courthouse in Wahpeton prior to his Sargent County visit on Sunday.
Well, that’s about it for this week. For more information about what’s going on in the Little City That Can, check out Rutland’s Internet web site at www.rutlandnd.com, and take a look at the Rutland blog and Facebook pages, too, while you’re at it. Later.
The Rooster Crows – July 30, 2010
Every week, the headline is the same, “More Rain!” Well, at least we haven’t had 40 days and 40 nights of consecutive downpours, yet, although Lenny and Kathy Runyan have gotten a good start on collecting 2 of every species at their farm home, the old Francis & Rozilla Maly place, in the hills south of Rutland. There are no reports, so far, that Lenny has placed an order for gopherwood for ark building purposes, but the locals are keeping their water wings handy, just in case. In the meantime, Fargo and its downstream neighbors are bickering about the location, cost and adverse impacts of the proposed flood diversion around North Dakota’s largest city, and the folks up at Devils Lake continue to talk, walk and dance in circles as the waters rise closer to the overflow outlet. The uncontrolled outflow of water from Devils Lake would, or will, be catastrophic when it occurs, everyone agrees, however, no one wants to cooperate with anyone else to get the water out in a controlled manner. Both Minnesota and Manitoba seem to prefer the old Scandinavian method of dealing with the problem: “If we ignore it long enough, maybe it will go away.” It seems that the only acceptable method would be to levitate the water out of the Lake and transport it through the air to Hudson’s Bay. As BP has shown in the Gulf of Mexico, you can do what you want to the oceans, as long as you don’t mess up the beach. Well, one of these days, the rain will quit and drought will return, but until then, we’ll continue to complain about the wet weather.
County road superintendent Sparky Engquist, assisted by Jamey Lien, replaced the culvert through County Road #3, also known as Cooper Street, just east of the intersection with County #10, also known as First Street or Main Street, on Friday, July 23. The old culvert, believed to have been in place for somewhere between 40 and 75 years, had rusted through and collapsed this Spring. City officials had requested that the culvert be replaced before work commenced on a street repair and resealing project scheduled for completion this Summer. The old culvert was 18” in diameter, as is the new one, although the new pipe is several feet longer to allow for future construction of a 4 to 1 slope for the roadway.
Rutland’s Mayor, City Council and City Engineer held a pre-construction meeting with Morris Seal Coat & Trucking at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 26 in the City office, to discuss scheduling, safety issues and other matters associated with the street repair and resealing project. Those attending the meeting were: Lary Arneson, City Council; Mike Mahrer, City Council; Ron Narum, Mayor; Doris Hoistad, Auditor; Scott Middaugh, KLJ Engineering; Les Norton, KLJ Engineering; Bill Anderson, City Attorney; and, Craig Schnitzler, Morris Seal Coat & Trucking. The company’s representative, Mr. Schnitzler, stated that they intended to commence repair work on Wednesday morning, July 28, and expected to have the entire project completed by the evening of Monday, August 2, weather permitting. He stated that work would commence with milling of the damaged and deteriorated areas of existing pavement prior to patching those areas with asphalt hot mix. The crew will be working from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each day, except Saturday and Sunday. Anyone in the area who would like to have a driveway or parking area blacktopped while the men, material and equipment are here should contact Mr. Schnitzler, Mayor Ron Narum or Alderman Mike Mahrer.
The funeral service for the late Lenny Pherson of this community was held at Nordland Lutheran Church here at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 28, with Pastor Justin Fenger officiating. Mr. Pherson was well known and well liked throughout this area, and the number attending the funeral was very large. As reported here last week, Mr. Pherson had passed away at his Rutland home on Thursday, July 22, after a 1½ year long struggle with cancer. He would have been 49 years old on Thursday, July 29. Price Funeral Home of Britton was in charge of arrangements. Burial was in the Rutland Cemetery. A dinner was served at the Rutland Town Hall by the Lutheran ladies following the service.
Harold Young returned to Rutland on Sunday, July 25, following a brief trip to Phoenix, AZ, where he attended the graduation of his son, Chad, from the Arizona Police Academy. Harold had intended to fly to Alaska from Phoenix for a fishing trip with his uncle, Pat Prindiville, but returned to Rutland upon learning of the death of his friend, Lenny Pherson.
Shawn Breker of this community returned from Australia on Tuesday, July 27, after a 6 week educational visit to the “Land Down Under.” Shawn has made periodic e-mail reports on his adventure that have been shared with readers in this column. Here is his final transmission.
Dick Johnson of Hot Sulphur Springs, CO, was a Rutland visitor on Tuesday, July 27. Mr. Johnson is a great-grandson of Rutland Township pioneers John & Maria Peterson, who homesteaded between Rutland and Forman back in 1887. Dick’s grandfather, Ole B. Johnson, was Sargent County Clerk of Court from 1896 to 1916 and Forman Postmaster from 1918 until his death in 1930. Dick stopped in Rutland to pay a visit to his cousin, Bill Anderson, while on the return trip back to Colorado. He had been in North Dakota to attend induction ceremonies at the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in Jamestown for the members of the 1958 Drayton, ND, American Legion baseball team that played in the National Championship series that year. Dick was a member of that team. The 1958 Drayton squad is the only North Dakota Legion team to play for the National Championship. Drayton, like Rutland, had a strong baseball tradition at that time. Many old-timers remember the Drayton amateur teams that had a battery and infield made up almost entirely of Halcrows and an outfield and coaching staff almost entirely of Brousseaus. As Dick recalls it, of the 18 members of the 1958 team and coaching staff, 17 were Halcrows and Brousseaus and 1 was a Johnson. He stated that he was pleased and impressed with Rutland’s neat and well kept appearance, as well as with the improvements to Main Street that have been made in recent years.
Justin & Katie Fenger were Wednesday evening dinner guests of Steve & Sheila Wyum at the Prairie Skies Guest Ranch in the scenic Coteau Hills south of Veblen SD. The quartet of Rutlandites enjoyed a delicious steak, beautiful scenery and good conversation, reports Katie.
Another quartet of Rutlandites: Paul & Sue Anderson; and, Mark & Kathy Wyum; has been exploring the Far North, and the following report was received from the Yukon Territory on Thursday, July 29. “We are in Dawson city, Yukon Territory. Had a good day getting updated on the history of the area and spent the evening on the Yukon River having dinner. Mark hasn’t seen any corn or beans so is getting nervous about writing this trip off. Gold mining is going pretty good here. The price is right so individuals are showing up to do panning and placer mining in the area. We were told that the tourist business is better than last year. We had a good presentation on Robert Service today. I had almost forgotten about him until they started talking about Dangerous Dan Macgrew and Sam Macgee. Got a CD of him reading some of his verse. All is well so far, nice day here, in the 60′s and the sun is shining. Hope all is well at home.” The Anderson-Wyum expedition expects to be in Skagway, Alaska, on July 30, where they will board a cruise ship bound for Seattle. A stop at Ketchican, Alaska, is planned en route. The foursome is scheduled to be back in Rutland on August 4.
The Second Annual Rutland Rib Fest, scheduled for the afternoon and evening of Saturday, August 14, will give visitors to the community the opportunity to tickle their palates with ribs prepared by a number of local chefs, as well as to inspect recent civic improvements and enjoy some good music provided by the Earl Fust Band. Anyone interested in having a rib stand at the Rib Fest should contact Debbie Liermark at the Rutland General Store, 724-3784, to get a spot reserved.
Rutland Sportsman’s Club secretary, Travis Paeper, reports that the Club’s Annual Youth Day will be held at the John Narum Memorial Trap Range and Rifle Range north of Silver Lake on Sunday, August 15. Young folks who attend the event, the largest of its kind in the United States for the past several years, will have the opportunity to receive instruction in handling shotguns, rifles, BB guns, archery and fishing equipment, states, secretary Paeper. Ammunition will be furnished to the youthful participants by the sponsors of the event, free of charge. Lunch will be served on the grounds. The event is co-sponsored by the Rutland Sportsmen’s Club, the Windy Mound Chapter of the Wild Turkey Federation and by the Sargent County Chapter of Pheasants Forever.
The 2010 political campaign has been fairly quiet of late, but the candidates for U. S. Senate have put Sargent County on their agendas in recent days. Gov. John Hoeven, carrying the banner for the GOP, was in Gwinner on July 17, making an appearance in the “Gwinner Days” parade. State Sen. Tracy Potter, the Democratic-NPL Party standard bearer, has announced that he will be at the Sargent County Courthouse in Forman at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 1, on his “Get Acquainted Tour” that is taking him to all 53 County Courthouses in the State. Mr. Potter says that he will speak on the history of Sargent County, as well as about the issues of the current campaign. Sen. Potter will be making a similar appearance at the Richland County Courthouse in Wahpeton prior to his Sargent County visit on Sunday.
Well, that’s about it for this week. For more information about what’s going on in the Little City That Can, check out Rutland’s Internet web site at www.rutlandnd.com, and take a look at the Rutland blog and Facebook pages, too, while you’re at it. Later.