Month: July 2022

The Rooster Crows – July 29, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

When Mike & Debbie Banish returned home in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 24, Mike checked their electronic rain gauge and found that it had recorded .9 of an inch of precipitation since he had last checked it back on Tuesday, July 12. The Banishes, along with Mike’s brother, Rick, and friends Mark & Jeannie Bopp had been on a 12-day tour of Alaska that had culminated with a cruise down the Inland Passage from Whittier AK, near Anchorage, to Vancouver BC. The trip, sponsored by the Farmers Union and Colette Travel, had begun with a flight from Fargo to Fairbanks AK via Minneapolis; and a train and bus tour from Fairbanks to Anchorage that took them past Mt. Denali, formerly Mt. McKinley and through the spectacular mountains of the Alaska Range to the port of Anchorage. The scenery, both on land and on sea, was magnificent, Mike stated. The group flew from Vancouver back to Fargo, again via Minneapolis. Air accommodations were supplied by Delta Airlines. But that’s not the entire story. The .9 of an inch of rain mike noticed on his return home had come as the result of several thunderstorms that had rumbled over Rutland and vicinity during their absence. And that’s not the entire story, either. The thunderstorms, in addition to the usual thunder and lightning, had also been accompanied by some hail and high winds in some areas, from several miles west of Rutland to several miles southeast of town. The toughest storm hit on Wednesday night, July 20, damaging crops from the Lock farm in the middle of Rutland Township to east of the Breker farm in Tewaukon Township. The wind destroyed a pole storage building on the Doug & Cher Spieker farmstead, formerly the Clarence & Adeline Breker farm, in Tewaukon Township, and took several hay bales for a nighttime airborne trip to the east. Follow up rains on Thursday night, July 21 & Saturday morning, July 23 were more gentle in their nature and character, leaving a few tenths of welcome rain with each occurrence. Growing crops around the area could use some more rain, but the wind and the ice are phenomena non grata.

Kathy Wyum; Mary Beth Anderson; Joanne Harris; and Patty Breker departed Rutland on Wednesday, July 20, and drove up to Cavalier ND to take in the Frostfire Theater group’s performance of “The Sound of Music” in Icelandic State Park. They were joined at Cavalier by Rutland native Mary (Olstad) Indridson, who accompanied them to the performance. Kathy and Mary Beth had seen the musical a month earlier but were so impressed by the quality of the performance that they wanted to experience it again. A good time was had by all, and justifiably so.

Cayuga native Randy Kiefer stopped by Rutland on the evening of Wednesday, July 20, for a visit with an old friend, Bill Anderson. Randy has been visiting at the home of his sister and brother-in-law, Pam & Keith Hoistad, northeast of Milnor, for the past month. Randy is a bicycling enthusiast, and last year he rode his bike out to Portland, Maine, and spent the Winter there. This Spring, he rode from Maine down to North Carolina, then over to Missouri and up to North Dakota. Randy is planning to continue his summer pilgrimage on Thursday, July 28, when he intends to start riding west, heading for his former headquarters at San Luis Obispo CA. He plans to pause at Sheridan WY for a visit with a niece, Michelle Hoistad, before completing the ride to California. After he arrives in CA, he plans to fly off to Portugal for a bike tour of that country with friends before heading to Morocco on the North African coast to begin a tour of that region of the world, from the northwestern corner of Africa to the northeast corner, at Egypt. Due to hazardous conditions in that part of the world, Randy intends to forsake his bicycle for the comfort and relative safety of bus, train & plane travel. Bill & Randy drove over to Lidgerwood on Wednesday evening, and met up with another old friend, Kevin Oland, at Dee’s Bar & Café. The three enjoyed a very pleasant evening, reminiscing about “the good old days,” when Wednesday night in the Summer would have had every town in rural America full of people doing business. Last Wednesday evening, there were three vehicles on Main Street in Lidgerwood, one was Randy’s, one was Kevin’s and the third may have been abandoned. There were no vehicles on Main Street in Rutland, not even any that may have been abandoned. “The times, they are a’changin’,” sang Bob Dylan, and he was right.

Continue reading “The Rooster Crows – July 29, 2022” →

The Rooster Crows – July 22 2022

On By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster Crows1 Comment

By Bill Anderson

According to Siri, the little know-it-all who lives in the I-phone, we are now in the middle of “The Dog Days of Summer, that hot, sultry period of time when the days pass slowly and it seems as if Summer will last forever. It won’t of course. The Dog Days of Summer officially begin on July 3 and end on August 11, although they can be extended by a few days on either end, depending on the weather. So far, the weather has been hot and dry. The mercury hit a sweltering 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, July 18 with a blast furnace wind out of the west. The heat generated a thunderstorm on Monday night that blew down some tree limbs and left somewhere between 0.001 and .37 of an inch of rain in its wake, depending on which block in Rutland you are talking about. The .37 of an inch reading came from the weather app on Scott Haan’s cell phone, which registers the precipitation that falls at the old Rutland school grounds. The temperature dropped down to the mid-80’s on Tuesday, July 19, and, according to Alexa, a shower of rain that began at about 9:30 p.m. left another .1 of an inch of precipitation on Rutland. Chuck Anderson reports that the rain gauge in his Weber Township farmyard measured Tuesday night’s rainfall amount as .55 of an inch. Meanwhile, the crops keep right on growing. Corn that was knee high on the 4th of July was head high two weeks later, by the 18th of the month. A good rain, say an inch to an inch and a half, would be very welcome right about now. Soybean fields appear to be green & healthy. Whheat fields are filling and some are even beginning to take on that golden, pre-harvest hue. The Dog Days of Summer are doing their job.

Bill Anderson and his 12 year old great-grandson, Brody Mahrer, returned to Rutland on the afternoon of Saturday, July 16, after spending a week in Fredericksburg VA, where they attended a reunion of the U.S. Marine Corps unit that Bill had served with in Vietnam 52 years ago. They made the round trip on American Airlines, flying from Fargo to Reagan National Airport in Washington DC via Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. All flights were on time, or early, and everything went smoothly, Bill reports. Among other activities, those participating in the reunion toured the Fredericksburg Civil War Battlefield on Monday, July 11; drove up to Washington for lunch with James Webb, former Secretary of the Navy, U.S. Senator from VA, former Platoon Commander and Company Commander of Delta Company, 5th Marines on Tuesday, July 12; Visited the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico VA and took in other sites on Wednesday, July 13; toured the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Wilderness battlefields on Thursday, July 14; and, visited the Vietnam War Memorial Wall and the Marine Barracks in Washington DC on Friday, July 15. Each Friday evening during the Summer months, the Marine Band also known as “The President’s Own,” the Marine Corps Drum & Bugle Corps and the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team, all stationed at the Marine Barracks, perform for the public in a “SunsetReview.” The performance began at 8:30 p.m. and concluded at 10:30 p.m. It was very impressive and was enjoyed by all. Those participating in the reunion at Fredericksburg were Marines who had served in Company “D” of the 5th Marine Regiment in Vietnam back in 1969 & 1970. Brody also took in King’s Dominion Amusement Park in Fredericksburg on Thursday, July 14, and throughout the week received lessons on how to play “Back Alley,” a card game that the Marines played while in Vietnam, and which they continue to this day. Bill and Brody are making plans to attend next year’s reunion, which is tentatively scheduled to be held in Louisville KY.

The price of gasoline has been dropping since the 4th of July, but it was plummeting in northern Virginia last week. Bill Anderson reports that the posted price at most gas stations between Washington DC and Fredericksburg was between $4.89 and $5.00 on Sunday, July 10, but had dropped to as low as $3.98 by Saturday, July 16. The price of diesel fuel, too, had declined, but not by as much as the price of gasoline.

Harris Construction of Crete, owned & operated by the father-son team of Mike & Mason Harris, has been busy pouring cement for some sidewalk and front step projects in Rutland during the past couple of weeks. A new, handicapped accessible front step has been installed at Nordland Lutheran Church on Cooper Street; a new patio deck has been constructed at the Mark & Kathy Wyum home on First Street; a new sidewalk has been poured at Delores Lysne’s home on Anthony Street; and, a new sidewalk extension across the boulevard to the street has been completed at Paul Anderson’s house on Gay Street. Also, Kathy Wyum has been doing some Exterior Decorating on her own house at 217 First Street, and at the house belonging to Paul Anderson at 309 Gay Street. She has been decorating with lights, flags, pottery decorations and flowers on the front porch.

This community was saddened on Thursday, July 14, when it was learned that long time Rutland resident Lary Arneson had passed away at his home here after a multi-year battle with cancer. The funeral for Lary Arneson has been scheduled for Thursday, July 28, at Nordland Lutheran Church, with burial in the Rutland Cemetery. There will be more about Lary’s life among us next week.

Preparations for Uff-Da Day XXXVII are now in full swing. Rutland’s annual Fall festival with a Scandinavian theme will be on Sunday, October 2, in 2022. Several lefse making sessions have already been held, with the latest on Tuesday, July 19 and on Thursday, July 21. . Chairpersons of the various committees are lining up their helpers for the big event. As of Friday, July 22, there will be 72 days remaining until Uff-Da Day in Rutland on Sunday, October 2, 2022.

The Rutland Roosters played their last home games of the season on Tuesday, July 19, with play commencing at 6:45 p.m. at Lou Sanderson Field. Once again, Lady Luck deserted the Roosters as they dropped 2 games to the Squirrels of Sheldon, the first by a score of 16 to 6 after 6 under the 10 run rule, and the 2nd by a score of 15 to 12 in the regulation 7 innings. It was a tough season, but we’ll get ‘em next year.

Meanwhile, up at the State Capitol in Bismarck, the big “to-do” is over the $1.8 million in unauthorized spending engaged in by the late former Attorney General, Wayne Stenhjem, before his unexpected death earlier this year. The Ag’s office used the money to make improvements to a leased office building owned by prominent ND Republicans, including a State Legislator. Will anything be done to hold anyone accountable for an unauthorized expenditure of $1.8 million of the peoples’ money? Doubtful. No one in Bismarck is even asking why the State is paying millions to lease office space from wealthy Republicans while office space in the State Capitol Building stands empty. The Party of small government likes to spend big when they’re lining their own pockets with public money, it seems.

Well, that’s the news from Rutland for this week. For additional information about what’s going on in the little city that can, check out the community’s internet web site at http://www.rutlandnd.com, and take a look at Rutland’s Facebook page while you’re at it, too. Remember to patronize your local Post Office,and don’t forget to keep the pressure on the U. S. Postal Service and the North Dakota Congressional delegation to SAVE OUR POST OFFICE! Later.

The Dray Line

On By rutlandramblingsIn Rutland businesses, Rutland HistoryLeave a comment

Here is a little bit of Rutland history for your enjoyment until we get another installment of the Rooster Crows.

THE DRAY LINE

In the grey dawn, Oscar Hoflen climbed to the spring seat atop his dray wagon and ordered his team of large draft horses to “Giddap”. The two Percherons, Pride and Bess, easily pulled the heavily loaded wagon away from the freight house door on the north side of the Rutland Depot. Oscar swung his team and wagon south on Main Street to begin delivering the freight which had arrived during the night to the businesses in town. Most mornings several loads awaited the dray man when he slid open the freight house door. When the freight had been delivered there would be coal to haul. It was hard work, but good horses and a strong back would see the job through. 1924 was the height of the railroad age, but it still took men and horses to move the goods to and from the rails.

The dray line was a business separate from the railroad. The dray line operator, called the drayman, contracted with local businesses to haul their freight to and from the depot for a fee. Otto Anderson, who had come to Rutland from Norway in 1901, operated the dray line during the early years of the century. Later, Irving Preble and his brother owned the business. Oscar Hoflen recalls that his brother, George, purchased the dray business in Rutland from Lars Holen shortly after World War I. George operated a line for a while and hired Oscar to assist him. In 1924 George purchased the Rutland Meat Market and sold the dray line to Oscar. For $1,800.00 Oscar purchased three wagons, three teams, three teams sets of harness and one Model “T” truck.

In those days the freight trains came through Rutland at night. The Westbound freight arrived about 10PM and the eastbound freight arrived about 2AM. Goods destined for Rutland would be transferred from the boxcars to freight wagons and pulled into the freight house where they would await the drayman. The drayman would begin delivering by 5 or 6 AM so the freight could be at the business places by opening time. Everything from whiskey to watermelons and panties to pianos came in on the train so there was a lot of freight to move. The businesses paid the drayman every week based on the weight of the freight which he had hauled for them.

Another job of the drayman was to deliver coal. Most homes were heated by coal then. Coal was handled by both the lumberyard and the elevator. The elevator sold most. The delivery charge for coal was $1.00 per ton.

The Rooster Crows – July 8, 2022

On By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster CrowsLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

What would the 4th of July be without fireworks? There was quite a display of fireworks from every corner of Rutland commencing about 10:30 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, July 3, but Mother Nature topped off the evening an hour or so later with a Thunder & Lightning sound and light show of her own. She even added half an inch of rain for effect. 

The heat and humidity of recent weeks, coupled with plenty of soil moisture and a few timely rains, have had crops in this area literally jumping out of the ground. Despite having been planted only a little over a month ago, local cornfields had all surpassed the traditional “knee high by the 4th of July” indicator of a good crop coming. Well, a lot can happen between now and harvest time, and we don’t want to be counting our chickens before they’re hatched, or our corncobs before they’re picked.

Rutland’s City Election was held back on Tuesday, June 14, in conjunction with the North Dakota State Primary Election. The City had two 4-year terms on the Council up for election, and one 2-year term to fill out, Bert Siemieniewski’s unexpired term. Incumbents Rodney Erickson and Lori McLaen had filed petitions to be put on the ballot for the 4-year terms, and both were elected. No one had filed for the 2-year term, though, and some voters wrote in their choice for the position. The result was a tie, with Kathy Wyum and Bill Anderson each receiving four write-in votes. At the Council’s Reorganization meeting on Tuesday, June 28, the two names were put on slips of paper and placed in a bucket. The Council selected the winner by drawing out one name. Bill Anderson was declared to be the victor as the result of his name being drawn. No claims of election fraud, stolen election or shenanigans at the polling place have been made by either Kathy or Bill, and no riotous crowds have assaulted the Rutland Town Hall as the result of the election’s outcome. Bill had previously served on the Council from 1978 to 1985. He says that he intends to work with Mayor Mahrer; City Auditor Banish; and the other Council members: Rodney Erickson; Delores Lysne; and Lori McLaen; to maintain & improve Rutland’s services and infrastructure. In other business at the Reorganization meeting the Council set the first Monday of each month, with the exception of those months in which the first Monday is a legal holiday, as the Council’s regular meeting date; re-appointed Debbie Banish as City Auditor; re-appointed Mike Basingthwaite of Interstate Engineering as City Engineer; and, reappointed Attorney LeeAnn Even as City Attorney. The next meeting of the Rutland City Council is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 11, at the Rutland City Hall.

Rutland native Harold Young, now a resident of Mesa AZ, arrived in Rutland on the evening of Thursday, June 23, intending to vacation in his old hometown for a couple of weeks. Harold brought Arizona’s heat and North Dakota’s humidity together for a tropical experience. This is Harold’s first visit in Rutland since the Summer of 2019, pre-pandemic. This time, he was here for the interment ceremony for his mother, Gwendolyn (Prindiville) Young, on July 2, and said that he planned to start working his way back to Arizona on July 6.

Continue reading “The Rooster Crows – July 8, 2022” →

The Rooster Crows – July 1, 2022

On By rutlandramblingsIn Life In General2 Comments

By Bill Anderson

The fierce heat and wild winds that had afflicted this area on Fathers’ Day weekend eased off by Wednesday, June 22, and settled some very pleasant weather on Rutland and vicinity last weekend.  The tough weather didn’t depart without taking a final shot, however.  A rockin’, rollin’, rootin’, tootin’ thunderstorm rolled through on the evening of Friday, June 24, leaving an inch, or more, of rain to our north, but only somewhere between .05 and .1 of an inch at Rutland.  The green and growing crops around here still look good, though, and it appears that there is still ample soil moisture to keep them going, for now.  Well, it has been said that North Dakota is never more than 10 days away from a drought or 10 hours away from a flood, and folks around here would like to stay somewhere in between those two extremes.

A few weeks ago, Virginia Goerger of Wyndmere, a granddaughter of the late Caroline Kulzer Gooley Haring, drove over to Rutland to deliver some posters advertising a community play coming up in Barney ND.  On Thursday evening, June 23, Delores Lysne, Ann Erickson, Janice Christensen, Dianna Anderson, Bev Tesch, Janet Kiefer, Cher Spieker, Kathy Wyum, Mary Beth Anderson, Joanne Harris and Bev Kulzer drove over to Barney to take in a performance of “Don’t Talk To The Actors,” a comedy that was well done and very humorous.  The local ladies had stopped at the Black Pelican in Wyndmere for supper prior to heading over to Barney for the play. “It was a fun evening,” said Bev Kulzer, “and if anyone didn’t have a good time, it was their own fault.”  All of the ladies made it home all right, and there were no arrests reported.  

Mark & Kathy Wyum and Chuck & Mary Beth Anderson harnessed their heavy-duty pickup trucks to their travel trailers and headed north on Friday, June 24, headed for Cavalier ND and Icelandic State Park in northeastern North Dakota. The camping quartet arrived back home on the evening of Monday, June 27. According to Kathy Wyum, they had a very enjoyable trip.  One of the highlights, she said, was taking in a performance of “The Sound Of Music,” performed by the Foxfire Theater Group, in the scenic beauty of the Park.  According to Mark, the highlight of the trip was the thunderstorm that rolled through the Cavalier area on the evening of Friday, June 24, with continuous lightning that lit up the sky from horizon to horizon and heavy rain that washed out a section of North Dakota Highway #32 near the campground in which the Wyums and the Andersons were parked. The campers avoided the damaged area of Highway #32 by taking a different route, through Fargo, on the way home. If you happen to stop in Cavalier one of these days, Mark recommends the home made basil tomato soup at The Blue Fox Café. He said that the basil flavor kind of threw him off, at first, but by the time he finished the first cup of soup, he was ready for another.

Chuck Sundlie reports that he sold his fishing boat, motors and trailer on Saturday, June 25. The boat was equipped with electronic fish finding equipment as well as with 2 motors, one a 90 horsepower unit, and the other a 9.9 horsepower kicker. Chuck had acquired the boat a year ago, but found that he just didn’t have the time to use it as much as he thought he would.  He did stand in it and cast out into the front lawn a few times, he said, but it just didn’t have the same effect as being on the water. The new owner took his prize to South Dakota, said Chuck, and Chuck sent the check to the bank.  Everybody’s happy.  

Greg Donaldson and Hal Nelson drove to Minneapolis on Saturday, June 25, to take in a couple of Minnesota Twins’ baseball games. The Twins played the Colorado Rockies on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, winning the first game by a score of 5-0, and capturing the second contest by a 6-3 margin. The presence of Greg & Hal changed the Twins’ luck, as they had dropped the opener of the 3 game series to the Rockies in a 0-1 squeaker on Friday evening, before the 2 retired Rutland Rooster veterans came to the rescue.

The Rutland Roosters Men’s Slowpitch Softball team hosted the Cowboys from McLeod at Lou Sanderson Field on the evening of Tuesday, June 28. The Cowboys rode roughshod over the Roosters in Game #1, posting a 17 to 4 victory in that contest. Game #2 turned out to be a real slugfest, with the McLeod team squeaking out a 24 to 23 come from behind win. The Roosters next home games will be on Tuesday, July 5, when they are scheduled to take on Hankinson at Lou Sanderson Field. The final home games of the regular season will be against Sheldon on Tuesday, July 19.  Games start at 6:45 p.m. Whether the Roosters win or lose, the staff at the Rutland Park Board’s concession stand at Lou Sanderson Field are winners every time. Come on out to the ballpark to see real pros like Larry Christensen, Andrea Erickson, Hal Nelson and Mac Pherson in action, handling hot dogs, bratwursts, popcorn, soft drinks and other snacks with the grace & skill of gymnasts or ballet dancers, and the repartee is pretty sharp, too.

Members of Rutland’s Bergman-Evenson Post #215 of the American Legion were called upon to provide graveside military rites for the interment of 2 veterans at the Rutland Cemetery this week. The service for the interment of Noel Liermark, a U. S. Army veteran of the Vietnam era, was at 10:30 on the morning of Tuesday, June 28. It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining, birds singing, a gentle North Dakota breeze and the temperature about 70 degrees. Noel served with Military Assistance Command – Vietnam (MAC-V) back in 1960-61, before most of us knew where Vietnam was, or how to spell it. Noel’s spouse, Deborah (Vanderwolf) Liermark, continues to make her home in Rutland.  Members of the American Legion detail for Noel Liermark’s interment included: Post Commander Larry Christensen; Post Chaplain Ted Lee; Sergeant At Arms Cal Jacobson; Bugler Roger Pearson; Color Bearers Andrew Hoflen & Roger Lunde; Doug Olstad; Roger McLaen; Andy Harris; and, Bill Anderson.  The service for Gwendolyn (Prindiville) Young, a U. S. Army  veteran of World War II, was scheduled to take place at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 2, at the Rutland Cemetery. Gwen was residing at her winter home in Mesa AZ when she passed away at the age of 101 last Fall. She remained physically active and mentally sharp to her final day. Gwen’s Army service included an assignment in General Eisenhower’s Headquarters in Algiers during the North African campaign of 1942-43. The Rutland community extends its condolences to the families of Noel Liermark and Gwen Young, and expresses its gratitude for their service to our community and our country.  Welcome Home, Gwen & Noel, and thank you for your service.

Guests at the Joanne Harris home this week are her son & daughter-in-law, Mike & Joy Harris of San Diego CA. Mike, a Captain in the U. S. Navy, is getting ready to retire from the navy at the beginning of November.  Mike & Joy plan to fly back to San Diego on July 9, and will return to North Dakota this coming Fall. During his 37 year Navy career, Mike has served at duty stations on both coasts of the U. S., in the Far East and with NATO Command in Europe.  He began his career as an enlisted sailor on an aircraft carrier, then obtained a commission through the Navy ROTC program at Iowa State University. He said that the toughest part of officer training was learning how to sail a real, wind-powered, sailing vessel. At the present time, the only sailing vessel on the Navy’s list of active ships is The USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, commissioned in 1798 and berthed at its home port of Boston MA.  Mike says that, despite the fact that the Navy taught him how to sail a sailing ship, it never assigned him to Old Ironsides. Too late now.

Meanwhile, on the national scene, things are jumping. On Friday, June 24, the U. S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, cranked American legal history back half a century by overturning the Court’s 1973 decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. The 1973 decision had held that the U. S. Constitution protects an individual’s right to privacy, including the right of a woman to control her own body and obtain an abortion if she so decides. The holding in Roe v. Wade had been reviewed and upheld on several occasions during the past 49½ years. The big difference between then and now is the makeup of the Court. Although the 3 Justices appointed by former President Trump had all testified, under oath, at their confirmation hearings that the reasoning and holding in Roe v. Wade was “settled law,” all 3 voted to overturn it.  U. S. Senator Susan Collins, Republican, of Maine, was outraged that the 3 had lied to her, under oath, but she should not have been surprised. After all, they had been appointed by the biggest liar to ever hold public office in the history of this country, so what did she expect?  So, the Party that likes to call itself the Party of “small c conservatives,” and the Party of “small government,” is now celebrating the largest expansion of Federal and State Government power into the private lives of citizens in the history of the Republic, and the first time since the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 that a previously recognized Constitutional Right has been taken away from the people as the result of a Supreme Court decision. As if that wasn’t enough, a former staff member in the Trump White House testified before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U. S. Capitol by supporters of former President Trump, that the former President knew that the mob carried weapons and that he wanted them admitted to the Capitol, anyway, despite their threats to kill former Vice-President Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, among others. As justification for his appalling conduct, his supporters remind us, “You knew he was nuts, and you put him into the White House anyway.” Can’t argue with that.  

Well, that’s the news from Rutland for this week. For additional information about what’s going on in the little city that can, check out the community’s internet web site at www.rutlandnd.com and take a look at the Rutland Facebook page while you’re at it, too. Don’t forget to patronize your local Post Office, and remember to keep the pressure on the U. S. Postal Service and the North Dakota Congressional delegation to SAVE OUR POST OFFICE!  Later.