View Point - Editorial

It must be admitted that the chokecherry people caught those of us who revere Juneberries off guard. Enthusiastic Williston 7th graders have teamed up with veteran Senator Stan Lyson to push a bill through the Legislature designating the chokecherry as the official “state fruit.”
We didn’t even know the title was available or we would have been seducing legislators with Juneberry muffins in the Great Hall. The chokecherry people couldn’t match that kind of political clout — chokecherry muffins have never been popular. Neither has chokecherry pie.
With all due respect to Senator Lyson and his powerful chokecherry lobby, I have chokecherries in my arboretum but I have never held them in high regard as fruit. In fact, it would have been more appropriate to name the chokecherry the official “state pit.” They are 98 percent pit, one percent meat and one percent skin. (more…)

There’s something about a sunny North Dakota summer day. Even better, perhaps, is a sunny winter day in North Dakota.
Sunshine all year-round would be the ultimate condition and that’s the aim of North Dakota’s newspapers when it comes to open government for its people.
North Dakotans are fortunate to have had legislative and executive branch leaders in its past who firmly believed that government operating in full view of the people was the best prescription for government unencumbered with suspicion. (more…)

2007 is just a dozen days old, yet we feel quite safe making this prediction. This will be a year that changes Hillsboro — dramatically. Of course every year changes us, but we suggest that 2007 will be a year remembered for historic changes.
The reasons are clear. Developers want Hillsboro to be home to a new 32-lot neighborhood. Our medical center has proposed a $12.5 million construction project for a renovated hospital, a new nursing home and the community’s first assisted-living apartments. The county is still considering building a new jail and social services offices. The city is continuing improvement projects targeted at streets, water lines, storm sewers and related infrastructure. (more…)

In a Page 3 story three weeks ago that told of sheriff Mike Crocker’s search for a direction to take in regards to the proposed new Traill County Courthouse addition, readers were left wanting.
So were we.
In the Banner account of a meeting three days earlier, Crocker was quoted as asking, “Which direction should we go? Do we want a 22-bed jail?”
The sheriff needed to know, which was why he was at the Dec. 19, 2006 meeting.
“Should we proceed and which direction should we go?” Crocker asked Traill’s five commissioners.
Best the county’s highest panel of decision-makers could do was: “Show us how we’re going to fund this and we’re willing to listen.” (more…)