View Point - Editorial

Old should still count for something.
And in most places it does.
Just not in Traill County.
Contrary to popular belief that we take care of our old here in Traill County, there’s reason to think otherwise.
We either knock down or threaten to knock down old but historic buildings, case in point: Union Block in Hillsboro.
We simply let old bridges fall in the river or we sell them down river.
Some, we give away. (more…)

Mobilized.
Word spread quickly Tuesday that the DOT had its eyes on Hillsboro’s main intersection — Caledonia Ave. and ND Hwy. 200. The counting had begun.
A 12-hour traffic count — a recount, as it were — would determine the fate of the four-way stop at the crossroads of the town’s two busiest streets. An initial count in November suggested a two-way stop was adequate. City officials and city residents disagreed. The N.D. Department of Transportation conceded to a second count — one residents were convinced would be a truer representation of the intersection’s heavy traffic flow.
At the suggestion of the Banner, the community was alerted to the count and its ramifications. When the counters were spotted the community mobilized and the town’s regular daily traffic was re-routed through the intersection to be counted. (more…)

Traill County’s board of county commissioners has turned its back once again on history.
A last-minute effort to save the Blanchard Bridge from being sent down river was shunned this week by Traill’s five commissioners, who apparently will honor an ill-advised decision two weeks ago to give the 107-year-old bridge to a Wisconsin man.
Listed in 1997 with the National Register of Historic Places, the historic Blanchard Bridge, not used in 40-plus years, we admit, but nonetheless epic not only in its crossing of the Elm River near Blanchard for more than a century but also in what it meant to the early settlers of the area, apparently has no place in today’s Traill County, one can only surmise by the most recent decision made by the commissioners.
In fact, one commissioner thinks the county would be better off if all the old bridges were similarly disposed of. (more…)

In a Page 3 story last week, we told how the county was giving away one of its bridges.
The bridge near Blanchard, not far off ND18 to the east, is surrounded by crop land where it crosses the Elm River. The iron and wood structure, hardly worth its weight in rusted iron, hasn’t carried traffic, let alone a lone tractor, in more than 45 years.
Having said that and having heard of a Wisconsin contractor who is searching out old and abandoned bridges, Traill’s board of county commissioners was sure it had a live one.
Give him the Blanchard bridge, and we’ll be rid of it.
Not so fast, fellas. (more…)

Stand and be counted.
Or rather, drive and be counted. Walk and be counted. Bike and be counted. Roller-blade and be counted.
State DOT official counters will be in town next week, monitoring the intersection of ND Hwy. 200 and Caledonia Avenue. They’ll be counting how many pedestrians and vehicles — cars, trucks, bicycles, tractors, motorcycles, electric cars, anything else on wheels — use the busy streets.
The official count will determine if the four-way stop at the intersection should be changed to a two-way stop, allowing traffic on ND Hwy. 200 to pass through town without stopping. A count was done in November that convinced the NDDOT that a two-way stop was adequate, based on nationally accepted guidelines. (more…)

It has been said that “assumption is the mother of all screwups.” That has been particularly true about society’s response to a teen culture struggling on the ragged edge of drugs, alcoholism, sex predators, promiscuity, and a host of other threats.
The problem with adults is that we assume we know where the kids are, behaviorally and geographically. That’s an assumption that has brought many a parent to grief. After over 20 years of polling, I have become convinced that most of us don’t have a clue about the opinions and attitudes of those around us.
As we launched each poll, I always foreknew what kind of answers would be coming out of the computer. More often then not, I was wrong — just like many parents these days who think they know their kids. (more…)