Tag: obituary

The Rooster Crows – Nov. 11, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

“Don’t know why … there’s no sun up in the sky … stormy weather…” moaned the late blues singer Lena Horn as she mourned the loss of a faithless lover in her classic theme song. Her sentiments were echoed by Republicans on the morning of Wednesday, November 9, as they awoke to find that their predicted Red Tidal Wave had not materialized as the votes had been counted the night before. There was not even a Red Wave, as many Democrats had feared, although the national results might be described as a Red Ripple. As of Wednesday morning, control of the U. S. Congress was still in doubt, although it looked as if the GOP might eke out a bare majority of a few votes in the House of Representatives. The Senate had 48 Democrats, 47 Republicans and 5 contests still too close to call. The election results indicate a fairly decisive rejection of Trump and Trumpism by America’s voters and may indicate that the flood of political poison unleashed on America’s body politic by Trump’s brand of politics may finally be receding. In North Dakota, the GOP, fueled by a flood of oil money, has retained control of State government by a substantial margin. The initiated measure that would have legalized the recreational use of marijuana in the State appears to have gone up in smoke, and the voters approved an initiated measure limiting State Legislators and the State’s Governor to two consecutive 4 year terms. Well, Election 2022 is over, and Election 2024 has begun. This year neither the red wave nor the blue wall controlled the result. Next time, who knows? 

The first winter storm of the season has been predicted to hit North Dakota, South Dakota & Minnesota on Thursday and Friday, November 10 & 11, threatening to disrupt activities and programs honoring America’s veterans on November 10 and on Veterans Day, November 11. According to Kaia Mahrer, a teacher at Sargent Central, if Thursday’s predicted blizzard causes the scheduled November 10 program at the Sargent Central Activities Center to be postponed, the program will be rescheduled to 2:00 p.m. on Monday, November 14. Keep your eyes & ears open for schedule changes.

The Rutland City Council met at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 7, in the Rutland Town Hall with Mayor Mike Mahrer; Auditor Deb Banish; and Council members Bill Anderson; Rodney Erickson; Delores Lysne; and Lori McLaen; present. Also present was City Maintenance employee, Scott Haan. The Council and Mr. Haan discussed a minimum hours guarantee per pay period for Mr. Haan’s position, and reimbursement of Mr. Haan for use of his personal vehicles while performing city work. The Council approved payment of a minimum of 50 hours per bimonthly pay period for City employee Scott Haan; and, authorized a payment of $50.00 per month to Mr. Haan for the use of his personal vehicles for City work. The Council also complimented Mr. Haan on the excellent work that he has been doing for the city. The Council discussed the State of North Dakota’s water operator certification requirement and approved the City entering into a contract with Southeast Water Users to maintain an appropriate valid operator certificate for the City of Rutland’s municipal water system. The Council authorized the purchase of the tax forfeited property in Rutland described as Lots 1 & 2, Block 5 of the Original Townsite of Harvard a/k/a Original Townsite of Rutland, at a cost of $1.00 plus delinquent special assessments, if the property is not sold at the County’s auction on November 15. The Council discussed the cost estimate for replacement of two exterior entrance doors at City Hall. The Council postponed action until other cost estimates have been received and reviewed. The Council approved the October financial reports and payment of bills as presented. The Council Adjourned at 5:45 p.m. The next meeting of the Rutland City Council is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 5, at the Rutland Town Hall. All meetings of the Rutland City Council are open to the public, and Rutland residents are invited to stop by to observe their City’s governing board in action.

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The Rooster Crows – Nov. 4, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

Pleasant weather has been the rule of the week. The temperature on the evening of October 31, Halloween, was so mild that homeowners could sit out on their front porches to greet the little princesses, pirates, werewolves, and witches who hit the candy Mother Lode on their “tricks or treats” route. This was one of the nicest Halloweens in recent memory, although the keepers of weather records have told us that Halloween 2016 was even warmer. Last year, the temperature on Halloween was 42. Take your pick!

No tricks, but possibly some treats, are in store for past and future patrons of The Lariat Bar in Rutland. At a meeting of shareholders called by the directors of Rutland Improvement d/b/a The Lariat Bar LLC, held in the Bar on the evening of Thursday, October 27, the directors disclosed that a manager for the business has been hired, and intends to be on the job by mid-November. The Lariat is expected to be fully stocked, staffed and open for business, both at the bar and in the kitchen, by December 1, 2022. The name of the new manager has not yet been revealed, but it is not expected to be: Ink; Bud; Toddles; Ronald; Martin; Darwin; Kathy; Calvin; Wendy; Junior; Art; Deadeye; Bruce; Paula; Norman; Rita; Janice; Bradley; Rebecca; Jeremy; Mike; Pete; or, Michelle. There are no clues suggesting that Jack Prindiville will be taking over again, either. Just be patient. All will be revealed in due time. Just plan to be in Rutland at the beginning of December, when there will be hot times in the old town, again.

Renee Cramton of this community has been under Hospice care at Sanford Hospital on North Broadway in Fargo for the past several weeks. Renee has been fighting cancer for more than 25 years. She had moved to Bemidji to stay with her son, Jim Cramton, in early October, shortly after Uff-Da Day, but declining health required the move to Sanford in Fargo. Renee’s many friends in Rutland extend their best wishes to her and her family.

CORRECTION: In last week’s column that appeared in the Sargent County Teller it was reported that Joy Harris had accompanied Mike Harris and Andy Harris from San Diego CA to Rutland, arriving in Rutland on Tuesday, October 25. That was incorrect. Joy did not accompany Mike and Andy to Rutland. In fact, she was visiting family in the Philippine Islands at the time. Apologies are extended to Mike Harris, Joy Harris, Andy Harris and the readers of The Sargent County Teller for the error.

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The Rooster Crows – Sept. 16, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

The long, hot days of Summer ended, and Autumn’s more moderate temperament, took over on the morning of Friday, September 9, with the mercury in the 40’s as day dawned and the high temperature for the day only hitting the 70 mark, replacing the high 80’s and low 90’s of the preceding week. The soybean and corn crops are beginning to show the effects of fewer hours of sunlight, cooler weather and dry conditions, as many fields are turning color, from green to gold, at a rapid pace. No combines are rolling, yet, but, with soybean and corn prices at astronomical levels, local farmers are not going to want to leave those golden crops in the field any longer than they absolutely have to. The cloud currently hanging over harvest plans is not a rain cloud but an impending rail strike. Most of North Dakota’s grain crops, including wheat; soybeans; and corn; are exported to other parts of the country, and other parts of the world, and dependable rail service is essential to that process. If the crops can’t move, they will just be big piles of grain on the ground. Sometimes, even with railroads moving the crops, local grain elevators end up with piles of grain on the ground. That’s likely to be a lot worse if the trains are not moving at all. Back in the 1940’s, when a rail strike endangered national security, President Harry Truman nationalized the railroads and called out the Army to operate them. Truman’s action was later declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court, but it did shock the rail unions and management into action to settle their problems and get back to work. North Dakotans can hope that the current President will follow the example of “Give ‘Em Hell” Harry, by taking firm, quick, no-nonsense action to keep the railroads moving.

Rick Bosse stopped in at the Rutland Seniors’ Center for coffee & conversation on the morning of Monday, September 12. He reported that he was one of a party of hunters from the Britton SD & Brampton ND area who were on a guided black bear hunt near Big Falls, in northern Minnesota, during the week of September 5 through the 8th. Rick has been hunting in this area before, and his guide this time out was Jeff Larson of Big Falls. Rick said that he had a couple of opportunities early in the week but turned down the first one because it was too small and turned down the second because it was a sow black bear with 2 cubs at her side. On Friday, the last day of his hunt, Rick was in a tree stand when a big boar showed up and went for the bait. The bait, a combination of stale bread, candy and other edible items that bears like because it tastes good to them, even though it smells bad to us, was covered up by a pile of logs so raccoons and skunks wouldn’t get into it. The big black bear flipped the logs out of the way with one of its huge front paws. It was about 50 yards away, said Rick, and quartering away from him. He was armed with a rifle that fired the .300 Remington Ultra-Mag, a new type of ammunition that is quite powerful. Rick fired one well aimed shot, and the bear went down. After it was field dressed, the bear tipped the scales at 405 pounds, a real trophy by northern Minnesota standards. Rick received a lot of advice about what to do with his black bear from the Wise Men at the Round Table: have a full body mount; make a bear rug; or serve it up for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Harvey Bergstrom was in Andover SD last Saturday, September 10, to take in the steam power exhibition there. Harvey reports that the centerpiece of the show was a 150 horsepower J. I. Case steam tractor that was old and new at the same time. Back in 1909 the Case company manufactured fewer than ten of the mammoth tractors before scaling back to build a steam tractor that had less power and more demand. Over the years that followed, the 150 horsepower tractors all made their way to the scrap iron pile, and there have been none in existence for many decades. A few years ago, though, a young man from Andover, Corey Anderson, went to the head office of the J. I. Case company in Racine WI, found the original engineer’s specifications and drawings for the big steam tractor, copied them, then transcribed them into a computer assisted design (CAD) program, bought a foundry and used the information he had retrieved from Racine to make all of the parts needed to build a brand new 113 year old 150 horsepower steam powered tractor. Harvey said that a plowing demonstration was presented last weekend in which the big tractor pulled a plow with fifty 14” bottoms. The plow had 25 gangs of two bottoms each. A crew of men rode on the plow to manipulate the levers to put the bottoms into the soil at one end of the field and to withdraw them at the other end. There was no hydraulic or steam assist to operate the plow, only muscle power. Actually, Harvey said that one of the plow operators was a woman who did a good job of handling the plow’s levers.

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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.

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The Rooster Crows – July 8, 2022

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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.

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The Rooster Crows – May 13, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

Spring has finally arrived, and the blizzards of April have been replaced by the thunderstorms of May. Last weekend, from the evening of Friday, May 6, to the morning of Monday, May 9, Rutland and the surrounding area received more than 2 inches of rain, every drop accompanied by a bolt of lightning and the rumble of thunder. There is some nervous pacing going on, as most farmers in the community have not yet turned a wheel planting the 2022 crop, due to the excessive moisture. Shane Breker has managed to get some wheat planted in the hills south of town, where the fields are better drained, but even Shane has about run out of hilltops that are solid enough to carry a tractor and planter. More rain is forecast through the coming weekend, and some are predicting that the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation will be looking at a lot of “prevented Planting” acres this year. Well, experience tells us that the weather can turn on a dime around here, and we might be crying for rain by Memorial Day, but, for now, just a little bit of “normal” would be nice.

If you can’t farm, you might as well go fishing. The local lakes are now full of water, and some of them are even full of game fish. Walleyes, crappies and northern pike just waiting to grab a hook and jump into the boat. During the first week of May, good catches of walleyes were reported at Buffalo Lake, about 6 miles north of town. No reports about fishing success at other lakes in the area have been received, but, in keeping with the Fisherman’s Code of Silence, that most likely means that the catching is even better on those bodies of water. The guys who aren’t fishing say that the fish aren’t biting, but they usually don’t bite if you don’t have a line in the water.

Roger Pearson reports that there is a shortage of good fishing minnows in the area. The ones that are available are either too small or already dead, he says. One bait shop in the area has a coin operated minnow dispensing machine that is a lot like playing the one-armed bandits at the casino. You put in your money, and you take your chances. It has been reported that minnows of the appropriate size are available at the bait shop in Britton SD, but transporting minnows across State Lines is illegal, so don’t do it. The minnows might get smart and turn you in.

Hal Nelson drove out to Beulah ND, out in the coal country on the west side of the Missouri River, on Friday, May 6 to visit his sister and brother-in-law, Lori & Larry Hruby. Hal says that the 40” of snow that was dumped on the Beulah area back in mid-April was very welcome, but not enough to break the drought that has devastated agriculture in that region for the past 2 years. Hal said that there was some green grass, but not much. 

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